Looks like a wonderful contest. Looking forward to watch the entries.

Happy Bday AD ))

Thanks.

Is there a difference between the terms "adevkat" and "ctporo"? If anyone knows Russian well, could they tell me? I believe Adevkat means "Only", whilst ctporo might mean "Pros"? Any help please?

^I can barely get my head round that combination... Impressive!

Completely understand what you mean - however, I don't know if you noticed, but in the "Helpful Information" section, I linked to Yele's Turret&Hull Micro-Upgrade Tables. I didn't really see the point in doubling up on an already perfect information source written, and wasting my time doing something that would probably be less helpful, rather than just posting the links. As for paints, I was unable to put that in since it had not been published. As for the empty table, it was there simply to show each parameter that can be upgraded with each weapon, rather than the cost. Once again, I would have liked to do a bit more work on this article, but I was pushed for time, so I was only able to produce a limited amount of information. Hope you understand.

It's catch-up time for this series as we enter 2013, growing ever closer to the current day. Though 2013 still may feel like yesterday for many of us, the progress the game made in those twelve months cannot be understated. We start off with players still settling in with the shattering rebalance - and traverse through many of our memories of the last year! Let's get started... _________________________________________ Previous articles in this series: Read Part 1 Here (Beginning - December 2009) Read Part 2 Here (January 2010 - June 2010) Read Part 3 Here (July 2010 - December 2010) Read Part 4 Here (January 2011 – June 2011) Read Part 5 Here (July 2011 – December 2011) Read Part 6 Here (January 2012 – June 2012) Read Part 7 Here (July 2012 - December 2012) _________________________________________ “Happy New Year” goes the cry as 2013 starts, a new year dawning on Tanki Online. But for quite a number of players, saying HAPPY New Year would be pushing it. The rebalance had taken Tanki by force less than a month ago, and to say that it had come as a bit of a shock to the system would be understating it. For some of the players, who had been playing Tanki for 2 years +, it was an unwelcome entry. Now, why, you may ask? After all, rebalance may seem to many of us now like one of the best Tanki updates of all time. It gave a new sense of balance and variety to the battlefield - and suddenly, there was a lot more to aim for in regards to buying and goals for players. But lets traverse back in time to what we thought when it came out. Maybe you weren't there, but I'm sure you can imagine. Just think of it this way. Ever since Tanki had begun, there had been Tiers. Everyone had always had a goal - whether it be M3 Thunder, M3 Freeze or M3 Rico - and those were the main focuses of the players. The rebalance completely shook this outlook on things. Suddenly, everything was equal. Most players couldn't wrap their head around it. For months after the update, players always referred to Ricochet and Shaft as the "best weapons", and still didn't manage to latch on to the fact that now, they were no longer the best. The turrets had all become equal. Just think - all those re-thought goals, the whole idea... it was a lot for players to take in and consider. This, unfortunately, was a big blow for many of Tanki's veteran players. For many, they couldn't be bothered to take in the changes and moved off to other games. I was one of the relatively few 2010'ers who stuck around at this point - though the rebalance nowadays is attracting tons of players to the game, it actually was a key reason to a lot of old players leaving. It's fair to say that the rebalance heralded the beginning of a new era. The cold was still rushing by, as players settled into their post-NewYear discount equipment. The rebalance was still causing many players to consider what was best on the battlefield. Its fair to say in the first few days that Thunder, Twins and Isida were certainly the most common weapons on the battlefield. Isida's massive power raiseled people to go crazy at the amount of damage it could weald. Thunder was mass-power and people from before the rebalance were sticking with it too - and Twins seemed to be much better than Ricochet in the early days. And as for tanks, the majority used Mammoth as the Rebalance started to make its effect on gameplay. The health was just massive - too massive to ignore. It was mid-January that the first main event for the English Community begun - the infamous CSL 1 started. Now when I say infamous, I mean infamous infamous. This was what I would certainly class as the biggest saga of all time in the English side of Tanki. The Cybersport Team, at that time, was run by moderator BarKode. Bruce Lunga, the community manager, was getting more busy with real life activities (which was a reason he had to later quit his role as manager), and so BK had a primary "boss" role in the Cybersport Business. With his DJs including ShadowVisions, Arya777, AnuBoi, PistolenPaultje, GeneralVeers and Vikingsrall, Cybersport was thriving - though people questioned BarKode's leadership, and rightly so. BarKode had his own clan - called Sinister (later known as Syndicate), and they were entering the CSL. Dare Devils had been dominating all the clan contests at that point - and BarKode didn't want that to continue. Using the argument that he wanted it to be more interesting, he purposely rigged the contest so that Sinister would avoid meeting Dare Devils right until the end. This didn't mess up the CSL much at the time - as Sinister eventually came out quite early, and the main famous event was when The Mighty Midgets beat DD in an incredible showdown to state their claim for the Number One spot in the history of clans. It was only after the CSL was over, and as CSL Season 2 was beginning that the truth was unfolded. BarKode lost his job, role and status, which led to him quitting Tanki. With this event, the shaky floor beneath Cybersport collapsed - and the whole previous Livestream Channel with all the incredible games of old times was obliterated. For someone who has followed clans for a long time, it was an incredibly sad but dramatic time. Meanwhile, there were still in-game tweaks occuring. With the rebalance, there had come in a new burst of cheats and lagging - which the developers were seeking to fix as quickly as they could. To fix the lags, what was coming was a new server platform - an update not to be understated in its effect on us nowadays. It entered the game in late January. As well as fixing glitches, the platform enabled far more players to join each server as well as reducing lag. There is no doubt in my mind that 2012 heralded the greatest improvements as for the community side on the English side of Tanki. However, Bruce was doing his best to keep things moving in 2013. He was compiling a few funny Video Blogs, as well as some simple Breaking News posts (which co-incidentally are helping me a lot in organising this article). The Artist of Tanki Online Contest also returned in January. An incredibly successful contest with a fantastic organisation, the contest format was done by selecting the best 8 entries, and then doing a "play-off" stage till the final following different themes which gave a great sense of theatre to the contest. For the developers and players, it was soon February as the Russian winter blues started to melt away into Spring, and players got settled into a new arena that the rebalance was offering. Players were beginning to warm to the rebalance ever so slowly, but certainly one of the most unsatisfactory updates was going to hit sooner than the players wanted. And of course, I'm jumping ahead of myself. Issue 8 of the Newspaper was released in early February, featuring one of the best and longest articles of all time written by ShadowVisions (Yes, even longer than mine!) - the Shopper's Guide to the Rebalance. The rebalance clearly wasn't stemming the new accounts - if anything, it was speeding up the growth of the game, as Tanki hit 20 million players! It had already been a decent while since the New Year's Discount and devs were starting to realise the weapons and hulls that were completely dominating the battlefield. What may come as a surprise to you readers now is that one of the least popular weapons at the beginning of the rebalance, if not the least popular, was Smoky. Yes, what some people class as the "most over-powered weapon by far" was largely unseen in the first battles, particularly at higher ranks. This was probably a main factor in the idea behind discounting it at 50% early in February! Smoky fever grew, and I got M2 Smoky too mainly due to the fact that I thought Smoky was less mainstream, and I wanted to be epic hipster. However, I never settled into the Smoky gameplay, and now its sitting, dust settled all over it in the garage. It was only a couple of days later that the foretold update was added to the game. I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about. Unfortunately, I will have to say this - but on the 13th of February entered the infamous Update 123. Now, there was at heart nothing wrong with this update - in fact it was great! The crystal collection was a wonderful change - as it spread out crystals more fairly. As all crystals were alloted x10, not only did players seem to get a lot more cash, but most significantly, beginners begun to get a fairer share of funds. So what was the problem? Ultimately, the problem cut down to this - the funds had been drastically decreased. Suddenly, funds were incredibly hard come by. What had used to be a simple 100 fund in 30 minutes became a struggle to even make 500 (previously worth 50). And, as you can imagine, players weren't happy. It was hard enough to get funds at the time - now crystals would be hard come by. It was the beginning of a struggle to generate quick crystals in the game, steering many people to quit. It seemed at this point that Tanki were slowly beginning to take a different political look on the game. Gone were the days of cheap buying and easy-to-earn crystals with very occasional sales - and coming in was the Tanki we see today - more expensive and harder to earn, but more sales. And boy do we see that! Firebird sale entered for Valentine's Day, just a couple of days after Smoky, another largely unseen weapon on the battlefield. And later in the month, just at the end of February, all the hulls were reduced by 25%. Though this did quite a lot to appease some of the unhappy players, it wasn't ideal, and the developers were searching for a way to keep players playing but also keep the money flowing in. March came, and the internet craze of the Harlem Shake was starting to make its move into Tanki. Not only did the Tanki developers make their own and Bruce make his own V-Log dedicated to it, but they opened up a clan contest for people to do an "organised dance routine" to the soundtrack of the Harlem Shake. Clans all over made their own video, and in a crazy vote-to-the-death, Behemoth edged Kings of Genocide to become the winners at the tightest margin to be possibly thought up. A number of updates joined Tanki in March including a number of new or updated maps, as well as a new "sort through battles" interface and some serious graphic updates. Firstly came a few tweaks to maps. Fort Knox was removed, and Fort Knox II renamed to it. Fort Knox III was tweaked with and re-named Edinburgh. There were minor updates to other maps with glitches and/or uneven teams. The Interface Sorting-through-game-modes system joined Tanki first in March. As shown here, players were able to find their mode of choice easier by selecting what type that wanted to play. Tweaks were later added to the system to make it what it is today. Graphics in Tanki had been a major update of the past months, and joining Tanki in March were some new graphic updates. Dust underneath tanks were added to give a new more natural feeling and shadows were given some more detail. The game was improving in looks as the days flew past. Bruce hadn't finished with contests or clans yet - The Dusseldorf Royal Rumble, a massive Deathmatch where representatives from each clan came together each week to fight for prizes began in March. As for contests, the Tanki Online Body Art contest also begun which got a surprisingly huge amount of entries, players all over participating to win the crystals that had become so recently tough to find. Spring was approaching the game, and developers were warming up for two of what I would call the happiest updates during my Tanki history. The month, however, was scattered with updates. A substantial, but controversial update was brought to light that month, as developers enhanced the Tanki team-kick system with the "Thumb-down" Arrows coming in. Though this has caused a number of players to be kicked from battles even after helping their team to quite a high amount, I personally love it, as you so often find low rankers joining a high-rank game and refusing to leave, which makes for a lopsided battle often spoilt by that fact. The Team Kick System also helps to get rid of sabotagers quite effectively. The first product kits also entered the game in April. Though people were found to be quite wary of this update since it gives a large advantage to buyers, it has been quite a success for the developers as it encourages the players to spend on crystals to get a massive, but not too overpowering, advantage in battles. It was later in April that I'm sure one of the happiest updates many of us will recall occured. The devs surprised us with an awesome 60% permanent Fund Raise, after seeing the problems that the low funds had been doing to their playerbase. It was a great encouragement for players to join back - what I would call a definite success... well certainly for us tankmen!!! The month wasn't over; not near it. A fantastic update near the end of the month, at least in my opinion, was the addition of a "Gold Box will be dropped soon" signal. I'm sure many of us will have seen this; doesn't it set your heart wild! Before this, there had just been a random drop... I personally think it lost the point of a gold box hunt. The previous way of dropping also had meant that a lot of players had been sitting in certain positions waiting for the gold since it could have fell without alert at any time period. The new way of doing things was a big hit on success as the epic feeling of the gold rush slowly returned to the game! Later in the month, another controversial feature in the game was put to rest. Since the rebalance, the possibility to "buy experience" had been available for all ranks. This had been great for people like me who were seeking for M3 weapons and hulls immediately and had lots of crystals to spend, but it was leaving many aspects to the game decidedly unbalanced. Players were getting to Generalissimo with minimal skill, and no longer could you look at a rank and be certain of the experience of the player. There were, as with many updates, disadvantages and advantages. However, there were only few people using this update and Tanki decided that it was causing more problem than solve. They did, however, give a warning before removing it, enabling me to spend that little bit more cash to rank up to Lieutenant General! The English community was still thriving. Embedded in what I would call the "Contaminated days", the forum was moving forward quickly with mods and consultants joining often. During the month, another serious influence on the Community joined... in Perm. We know his name. Semyon! Semyon joining started the fading effect of the incredible 2012 Community Manager, Bruce Lunga. But I definitely will never forget his work in helping me really enjoy the vibrant nature of this community... May was soon upon us. Players were beginning to truly appreciate the rebalance gameplay, people were joining by the quadrillions. The annual May Holidays began, with the Russians celebrating the annual V-E Day celebration with some tasty discounts and the first raised worth of the Gold Box since Update 123. The updates were gradually coming to a halt, as Tanki developers slowed down for the summer. May passed, people as always settling into their post-discount combinations. The month did hold a couple of contests. After the successful "Best of Guides" Contest in 2012, they re-did it in May 2013, earning a great number of applications with the new range of weapons the rebalance offered. A staff vs players game was also introduced for the English Community. The map Moon Silence, a take on Silence as you can probably guess, had been introduced and the developers were keen on having a cool battle called the "300 Astronauts" Battle. Though I didn't play, as a staff, I needed M3 Smoky and M3 Wasp in case I was going to play, and so Tanki made my rank Generallisimo for about a week. I must admit, I did enjoy that feeling! :lol: The battle did go well, the players putting up a fight, but the staff overcoming them.. as we always do :P June. It was already mid-2013. The Devs weren't holding back with the discounts though with early June boasting an awesome "Discount Week", where Tanki discounted seperate parts of the garage throughout the week, before ending it with a massive 90% off the Score Multiplier - irresistible, even for some Generallisimos! During the month, there was a largening of battle creation, as players were able to start to stretch the limits to enjoy a more variable battle experience. WO5s now could play Generallisimos... even though thats nothing compared to the good ol' days when a Private could kill a Marshal! It was time for the summer to settle down. Crash and Gallery, the two future-gen maps were removed, with preparation on the scenes for the future new maps coming out. The paint Traceur was added to the garage for the Masters of Parkour Contest. Though promised to be removed, it never has - players still using it at low ranks and in XP-K Battles. Cybersport was also starting to get moving again with the Lucky Seven Tournament starting later in June. Only half-way in the year... I'm sure you'll now understand what I mean by it being a rather influential year! And there's so much more to discover... stay tuned for next issue, what will be the final look-back on the History of Tanki! Well, 2013... we've not even got close to exploring it yet! I'm sure many of you will have your own cherished memories of last year; fancy sharing it - please do below! Thanks for reading!

The "Хоре-Рель" Battle Mode is an increasingly popular mode in Tanki, particularly aimed at show-casing a player's skills at shooting and driving. Battles set apart for only Hornet-Railgun, these CTF games, better known as "XP" battles, are great fun to play, and give the sense of a purely skillful side to Tanki. It is well-known among players that those who are confident and able at playing in XP battles also thrive elsewhere on the battlefield, due to the way they build up your driving, aiming and awareness like no other. However, there are many players out there who have never even heard of this awesome battle mode, let alone know what it is about. In this article, I will seek to bring to you all not only the basics on what this game-mode is; but also bring some of my own tactics for the more experienced players, as well as some useful in-game tips. As common readers of my newspaper articles would well know, I do like to split up my articles, especially guides, into different sections to help differentiate between each aspect to the game mode. I will put this into two main sections - one at the beginning, one at the end - as well as two smaller sections in the middle to address the different questions that are asked when seeing this topic raised. My hope is that, through this guide, you would be informed and persuaded to try out this game-mode, with some new helpful insights that can help you on the battlefield. If you still have any questions left at the end, feel free to ask and I'm sure that, if not me, one of many XP players who have read this article will be ready to help you out. Just before I start this article, I would like to make it clear that, as a lot of you have pointed out - some more so than others *cough* Elain *cough* - I am nowhere near a pro XP player. In fact, on the day I write this, I have suffered a 5-0 duel defeat. However, at the same time, I have played this mode for a decent time now, and I have learned some things that I would like to share with you all. So here goes - and I hope you find at least some of it beneficial. What? Its always a good place to start in a guide cutting right down to the basics, right from the very beginning. To put it simply, XP battles are "Battles with only Railgun and Hornet allowed played in 'No Supplies & No Micro-Upgrades' CTF Mode." Primarily played in Sandbox, they are played to hone skills and offer a unique sense of "solely skill" to the battlefield - which is one of the main reasons people play it. For this reason, it is also definitely the most popular 1v1 Duelling Combination. The XP combination of Railgun-Hornet is a unique combination - in the sense that it offers an arena where manoeuvrability, aiming and timing, three key skills that show up in much of gameplay, are focused upon. Currently, as you all well know, creating a battle will not offer you any "limits" on guns and hulls - and thus, the only way to tell if a battle is an "XP" Battle is by looking at the name of it. It is likely that if the title of the battle contains any mention of the term "XP" or "Хоре-Рель", you will be joining an XP Battle. Firstly, and most importantly, though not impossible, it is rare for you to find an XP battle below the rank of Warrant Officer Five. Very few players actually play it at that rank, as they are still getting used to driving their tank in normal battles, and have not gotten advanced enough to focus on playing a tough, skill-orientated game mode like XP. It is also down to the fact that very few players know about this battle mode at that rank - which is one of the reasons I am writing this article. Now, is Railgun-Hornet the only thing allowed in XP battles? Firstly, can other hulls be used, for example? What about Wasp? Now, here's a confusing-ish side to the story of XP battles. If you notice, many battles go by the title of "XP/BP". This means that Railgun Hornet as well as Railgun Wasp are allowed. (Look below at my Russian translations for more information.) However, in battles titled XP, it is generally accepted for players to use Wasp with the suggested paint limits below. However, you should not take this for granted. Many players will not want people with Wasp joining the XP battles. This is especially true for battles titled "XP адекват/строго". Secondly, there is the issue of the paint. Are paints allowed? Many XP battles are called "XP-K" - which in Russian, is short form for "Hornet-Railgun -Paint (The - interpreting No Paint). However, this is only used when dealing with M3 Hornets, which are not allowed to use paints in XP's. What about the lower upgraded Hornets, however? There is an important rule to remember - Paints in XP (And XP-BP) are balanced according to health so as to make sure that you will be able to survive one shot of M3 Railgun, but not thus be able to survive 2 shots of M1 Railgun. This means care must be taken. Now, I will quickly sum up a basic list. Basic List of Protections Allowed in XP Battles M1 Hornet - Max 30% - Tundra M1 Wasp - Max 30% - Tundra M2 Hornet - Max 20% - Savanna/Sandstone (10% is acceptable too) M2 Wasp - Max 20% - Savanna/Sandstone M3 Hornet - NO Protection Paint. M3 Wasp - Max 10% - Forester/Emerald/Corrosion For more information on this, please take a look at Lord-of-the-Snipers' article, which can be seen here. This displays a visual look on what can be used and what cannot be used in an XP Battle. It is one of those things about Tanki that it is a Russian game played with a large majority of players speaking Russian. And learning the XP (Also referred to as XP-K, as mentioned above) terms is one of those very difficult things to master in a game dominated by Russian speakers - a large amount of which don't know English fluently enough to talk to you. And that's why, below, I have compiled a short few words for you to know which can help you in a Russian game dominated by Russians. Some helpful Russian translations for Dialogue in XP Battles: Хоре-Рель - Railgun/Hornet [short Form] хр-краска/XP-K/XP-KP – Railgun-Hornets No Paint. XP adekvat/ ХР адекват– Only Hornet-Railgun Without Paint др к – Dictator-Rail 1 "дикорельса", 3 - "хоререльса" / "ХР" – 1 Dictator-Railgun, 3 Hornet-Railgun [Per Team] ХР (треня) – XP Training XP/BP / XP/BP + 10% - Railgun/Hornet and Railgun/Wasp дай место/dai mesto – Give Place видди/viddi / выход/vykhod – Leave строго/strogo – Strictly (Similar to adevkat - used for battle titles to make sure players without Railgun-Hornet don't join) нуб - Noob по б / po b - Go to Base гo - Go! сtoп - Stop One important thing to remember, that I can't really describe to you in a list, is when asking someone to leave who doesn't have the correct equipment for XP-K. I simply say "#Username, viddi. XP-K." It normally works, and its one key thing that is often comes in more handy than you would expect. There are a fair few players out there who do not know what XP-K means, and sadly, some who do just want to join to spoil the battle. There will often be players who mess up an XP-K game by joining with the wrong combination and refusing to leave. Unfortunately, that's life. However, it does not normally take much time to set up another one. I can be pretty sure that some of you readers will have a lot more useful words to add to that Russian list of words for XP-K battles. If so, please leave some below to help our readers. Which? Of course there are a lot of different types of XP Battles - ranging from Different amount of players, Different Maps, to Different Settings and Different Limits. So which is best to play? Undoubtedly, a lot of this comes down to opinion. However, let me express the BASIC rules about what kind of XP battle you are looking for. Firstly, you should make sure that the battle you are playing is a Pro Battles and that it has "No Supplies" and, also crucially, "No Micro-Upgrades". The point of playing an XP battle if Micro-Upgrades is allowed is, in my opinion, absolutely brainless. XP battles are for fair and purely skilled games. If someone has Micro-Upgraded their Railgun to the point where it can one-shot your Hornet - is there really any point in playing? So remember this. I see lots of XP Battles where Micro-Upgrades is turned on, and whenever I see that, I repeatedly feel like banging my head onto my desk. Like, seriously. I wouldn't play with Micro-Upgrades in any No Supplies Battle - let alone an XP battle where skill is supposed to be the final letter. Remember, also, that you can create a Pro Battle without having a Pro Battle Pass, and join it for free if you are the creator. Thus, if you are out of crystals, you can still play XP Battles, by creating your own. As for Bonus Boxes and Crystal Boxes, it is more down to opinion than anything else. I personally prefer in XP battles if both are turned OFF. However, the large majority of games use Bonus Boxes equipped to give a more "exciting" feel to the battles. I personally reckon that Bonus Boxes give a lopsided feel to what I think is a game mode that should be purely orientated by skill. Crystals are also optional, but most find it a disturbance more than anything - the only reason would be to hope for the Gold. Most at higher ranks prefer the temptation of a big fund to picking up lots of boxes. Now, maps. Well, there's many options. Undoubtedly, the most popular is Sandbox, and I would recommend that as a good starting place for XP Battles. It gives all the necessary tactics for you to learn with higher levels, and some ramps into the middle to provide extra routes, as well as a fair bit of cover. Sandbox is a map made for XP Battles - and to be honest, its certainly my favourite map to play XP. Other common maps include Zone, Island, Boombox, Sandal - and as you approach higher ranks, bigger maps for more players of which most popular are Solikamsk and Barda (the latter, particularly down to the recent release of the new layout of this map). Don't forget that there are also other main points to think about. For example, game size. 2v2, 4v4? I would definitely recommend for players to begin their XP-K playing with a 4v4 Sandbox. This is because you have other players to rely on, and also can learn more from seeing skills from other players. 2v2 is for the more pro players, as it requires more skill - since each shot matters a little bit more. Where? Just a mini section here to tell you all about the one place to go to play/find XP battles - if you have never seen them before, this may be why. XP battles are always found on Server 1. Occasionally, you may see one on Server 2 and maybe once in a blue moon on another server, but that is rare. Therefore it is crucial that if you want to play XP battles, you must go to Server 1 to find them. Server 1, is unfortunately, often full, due to the amount of players that want to play on the first server. Understandably, this can get annoying when you keep refreshing to want to join - but I have never had to wait more than a minute refreshing before getting into the server - and trust me, its worth it if you intend to play XP Battles. So where do you go for XP Battles? Remember. Server 1. And if you want a direct link to get there from here, now, just click here. Remember that even if the server is "Red" via the homepage, you can still load it by going to the server address - unless of course it is so full that no one can join, even by the server address. Just simply remember to replace the number of the server you are in with 1. Simplez. And to remind you all: Where? Server 1. How? My final section in this article will be my tips for success in an XP Battle. My "Things to Remember" List. Probably the only section of it that really well and truly is a guide. In this last part, I will give you in-game tactics for success, basic rules to follow and ways to practise your XP skills all in a list of twenty-six points. And guess what. All will start with a different letter. Now, thats taking tips to a new level. Tips in an acrostic. :o Hopefully, it will encourage you to remember each of them - and maybe you can suggest your own too. So, we start off at the beginning of the alphabet. Anticipation - Anticipating enemy paths is an absolutely crucial thing to learn in XP Battles. Because of the charging feature, players have to completely rely on their anticipation to work out the perfect timing to charge up. Lets say an example. Think of an enemy running back across the middle of Sandbox to capture your flag. You are running from the right hand side of your base down the channel towards the enemy flag. Without anticipation, it would take far too long for you to get your shot in before the enemy captures. However, with skill and charging your Railgun early, you can drive your tank to an angle where you can just get the enemy flag in sight - and more than once, I have been able to kill the enemy just before they capture the flag, and return it. Without the simple art of anticipation, it would have been impossible. Learning to predict an enemy's moves, particularly in duels, can make the difference between a victory and a loss. Be Patient - Patience - not something we're all too good at, if I'm going to be honest. However, sometimes you just haveto wait. I'm not saying "Don't be alert", but rather not to commit yourself too rashly. This is especially important in a 1v1. Commiting yourself, even when something as luring as a flag is in sight, needs to be done with care. If an enemy is watching you, Be Patient. Charge Early - This is dead cert one of the most important ones for readers to remember. Charging Early is CRUCIAL! Firstly, and most obviously, you should not always wait to see an enemy before charging. This ties in with anticipation. Secondly, popping out is another thing that is needed. Dont go into the open before you charge - or else the enemy may charge just before you, which almost always means that you will miss. Don't forget this. This is one of the most important. Drop The Flag - Particularly in 4v4s on Sandbox, dropping the flag plays a key part. You will find so many times where you are either running away or in your base with the enemy flag, and there is a person with full health near you, while your health is low enough to be killed in one more shot. Dropping the flag is necessary - it is always best to have someone with full health holding the flag. But there is a key factor in this - you need to make sure the player is ready to collect it. I see so many people just drop a flag to no-one in particular, and a random enemy runs in and returns it - leading to an easy enemy capture. You must pick someone to drop it to before just dropping it wildly. Note that when you are running away with the flag, you also just can't drop it - the ideal scenario is for your team-mate to be in a position that he immediately runs onto your flag. Be careful - a failed drop-off can have severe consequences. Every Shot Counts - Obviously, you might say - but this is definitely more true than if you are a Twins-Mammoth in a Silence Drug-War. Landing a shot - any shot - makes a big difference in a game. And please dont play for the kill in XP Battles - I must admit I am guilty of this occasionally. Just make sure you land your shot whenever you have the opportunity. It matters. Focus on Drops - Unfortunately (in my opinion), many of the XP Battles are played with bonus drop boxes, and so it is crucial to go for them - even going out of your way to pick them up. Double Armours - one extra Railgun shot, crucial. And when the enemy has the flag, picking up a Double Power can decide a flag and a non-flag. Nitro isnt so important, but remember to bomb aim for the drops. They are important. Get priorities right - When I say "Get Priorities Right", I am particularly meaning about learning whether to focus in attacking or defending at points in matches. If you are winning by quite a way, you may be able to risk hunting down the opponent more frequently than defending your flag - since it will not be so bad if they capture, and it opens up the game more when teams attack. However, there are times when you must defend. This point also addresses learning which enemy to attack - the flag is always the big deal. If an enemy has your flag, make sure you aim for them. Sometimes, you may even have to go without shooting a different enemy who may be directly next to you - but save your shot for the player with your flag. Get priorities right. Hide! - Hiding in an XP Battle - particularly Sandbox - is not easy at all. However, sometimes you just have to stay in a hidden position. The ideal position for this is the house - this is one reason why the Blue Team in Sandbox is, I would say, greater than the Red - since you can snipe into their base at the same time as having cover. However, when with the flag particularly, Hiding must be done. Sometimes you will have to stay open on one side to protect yourself from another. This means you need to be constantly alert. Keep checking whether ghosts are spawning, or if tanks are coming in your direction. Hiding is an art - and it must be practised. Invisibility - Keeping invisible is really something that is important for all areas of Tanki - not only XP Battles. But sometimes you have to not play the shot. Even when you have a bar available, its often needed just to be able to creep away without being noticed. Make sure you dont focus on not being noticed unless neccessary however - after all, Every Shot Counts. Jutting out - Jutting out - an art that needs honing but can pay you great dividends, particularly in duels. Just jutting out a tiny bit of your tank can make people hungry to shoot it - and if you dodge, you will immediately have an advantage due to the lack of their charge. Jutting out is not crucial - but a useful thing to learn. Keep Moving - Trust me friends, you have GOT to keep moving. Keep Moving. When you shoot, while you shoot, before you shoot, don't stay still. This is especially true for larger battles - a moving target is incredibly hard to aim at. This is a general rule, of course - there will be times when stopping to take stock is important. However, when on the hunt especially, don't stop moving. Line up Double-Shots - If I'm honest, this is the most difficult technique to master out of all of these strategies - something that particularly the more skilled upper ranks need to learn. Lining up a double-shot is an incredibly useful tactic to have under your belt. It comes in line with careful manoeuvring - it takes time to practise. But its worth it. Lining up a Double-Shot in XP Games pretty much counts for damaging two people with a shot at the same time - whether you shoot through someone to hit them or not, they will still probably require only one more shot to destroy. Of course, if you don't trust your skill with this, don't try and delay your shot just to hope you get a double in. However, if you see the opportunity, go for it. You need to be always on the watch for a double shot. Subsequently, you need to help avoid these double-shots too. Never run directly in line with another team-mate unless you cannot avoid it. Even when "protecting them", its unwise to cover them completely, since both of you will get damaged and it will cause more problem than solve. Morals & Manners - Morals in an XP Battle make such a big difference to the friendly atmosphere around which it is played. I'll run through them here for you all. Basic morals include stopping play when a team goes down one player; not capturing flags when the teams are lopsided (unless the score is already almost "finished"); and following basic orders. Stop when someone tells you to ("cton") - and don't start shooting until someone says "ro". Remember also that just simply saying "ro" yourself then starting is not fair. It is always best to ask first: "ro?" and if an enemy says "ro", you can begin battling. It is also good manners to give back a flag if you captured whilst there was an unfair advantage in the game. It is so easy to be selfish in XP Battles - but they are there for pure skill; and unfair players make an XP Battle's sense of fairness dead. Never Risk Turtling - I'm sure that saying Never is taking it a bit far - but risking turtling in any XP Battle (Particularly a duel!) can prove costly. Seriously costly. By turtling here, I mean flipping upside-down. It is never wise to try to do a shot to the side whist in mid-air - and trying to jump on top of opponent tanks can also be dangerous. Make sure you are extremely careful - turtling can cost your team. Openings – Capitalize on them - Capitalising on openings is an art that demands not only XP skills, but basic Tanki knowledge. You have got to know when to confront the people in your base, and when to immediately concentrate on attack. Lets give an example. Say, there's an enemy running away with your flag - and all his three team-mates are surrounding your flag; all your team-mates have been killed. You respawn on the right hand side. You might say: "Confront the most enemies, and remove them"; but there is an opening to the enemy flag - and if no-one catches the player with your flag, it will be a capture. Thus, you have got to make the right decision. In other opportunities such as turtled opponents, you have got to make sure you don't surround your flag when you have a chance to make an impact; whether it be drug boxes or an empty enemy base. Perfecting your aim - Of course, what's a good Railgun if he can't aim? Playing XP Battles means you have to have a good aim - particularly in the larger maps such as Barda. There's no fun playing if you can't learn to hone your shooting; and so practise it! Try set a target for yourself in a map - perhaps a window to aim at on a house from far away. Shoot whilst moving; shoot from different distances - if you perfect your aim, your skills will be so much more useful, and can be used for not only XP Battles, but also Clan Wars. This is also done by playing with Railgun-Hornet in normal battles - we'll come onto that later. Quick Turns - Aha, now here people are often surprised. With the recent update of the new physics, the turning of the tank has been made so much easier. This co-incidentally means that it is piles easier to dodge an enemy shot. You would not believe how many times I have missed a shot by a simple "reverse" technique to dodge a shot - even when the enemy is right next to me! (That might be partly due to my poor XP skills... but still the point stands!) Learn to turn quickly. That includes quickly turning up ramps to avoid enemy shots when you are under pressure - take full advantage of the new physics and let it flow with your gameplay. Return the Flag? - Once again, a general technique for the whole of Tanki. There are times when its not wise to Return the Flag. Perhaps, you will have enemies already crowded round your base and one is sitting on the flag. It is never ever EVER wise to return a flag whilst a player is sitting on your flag. Sometimes, you can draw them out to where you are, and where the flag is; and then return it so they will have to go back to take the flag. It is not so disastrous if they are close to it, since it will take a bit of the flow out of their movement when you return it, and hopefully help your team. Of course, this needs to be balanced out with the position of your flag - don't just go and wait to return your flag if its inches away from being captured. On the other hand, do remember that returning the flag isn't always the best idea. Spawn-Shooting - Spawn-Shooting is an art that everyone can do, but not everyone can perfect. Back before the rebalance, M3 Railgun-M3 Wasp combination duels used to be recipes for spawn-killing - but now, its simply the art of charging up before your enemy can. Now, now, now - this goes both ways. Not only should you make sure you charge early when someone is respawning, but also... alert here! I see so many XP players be foolish and hold down the spacebar from spawning. This must be done with extreme care. If facing off with an enemy as you are spawning, they will take every advantage they have of their earlier shot to shoot you off target. Only do this if you know for sure that the player you are facing has recently shot and has not loaded their bar yet. I have missed many an important shot by holding down by spacebar rashly. Tipping Backwards and Forwards - Tipping - a very big Railgun-Hornet art to learn. Especially in maps like Sandbox with levels to make aiming just that little bit harder, tipping backwards and forwards to get the right aim is an important skill to hone. Firstly, you must know which way to drive and stop for the different level you are aiming at. Secondly, you must know when to stop moving during your charge. This is, I must admit, one of the toughest techniques to learn - smoothly tipping whilst moving. Especially hard when you are trying to shoot someone on a different level whilst running away with the flag. Getting the balance between stopping and keeping moving is surprisingly hard! Use your power to flip 'em! - Earlier, I considered the care you need to take not to flip - it goes the other way too. Flipping an enemy can turn a game around. And I'm serious. All us XP players will know the difference a momentum shift can have on a game. And with the new physics and the power of your Railgun, it is very possible to flip your enemies with your power. Take all advantages of ramming into them from the side. Try all you can to flip your enemies. If you can get one player out of the game, just think of the difference it can make. You know how important it is when a player is red-carded in a game of football and the difference it makes when it goes to 11v10 - just think of that, but suddenly smallened to the gap of 4v3. The time that an enemy will take to self-destruct is absolutely pivotal in many battles, especially if you are on the back foot. Value Opponents' Skills - "Learning to appreciate enemies' skills will help you hone your own." And that quote was from me. Watching your opponents will undoubtedly help your own skills. Make sure you don't write off the opponents skills as their own style - you can use it too! It is often more useful to go through a painful 7-0 defeat than winning 7-0 against easy opposition - if you don't fight the big guns, you won't get much better yourself! Warn your team-mates - This is particularly useful when in bigger maps, since in smaller, it is easy to notice flag warnings anyway. All the same, it is useful to keep alerting your team-mates on issues. If you are low on health for example, and need a hand with the flag, simply typing "f" can help alert them to your issue. Similarly, if your team is endangered at the flag, type "f". Remember to type them out in Team Chat however - alerting your enemies can be a costly mistake if they know, for example, that you are weak; or that your team is challenging the opponent's flag. XP in normal battles - One thing that I have found useful is practising my Railgun-Hornet skills in normal battling. Playing battles such as Polygon DM's, or other bigger-map drug wars can help you really learn how to play your XP Combo in a correct manner. Though things will obviously be different in those maps, don't underestimate its effect on your skills. If you only play Railgun in the same XP Games, you won't be able to fully appreciate everything that can be brought out of the weapon. Youtube Rail-Hornet Gameplay - This may sound a bit odd, but watching videos of other Rail-Hornets can be incredibly useful. Though there may not be that much footage of XP Battles on Youtube, there will still be some about. And of course, if you want to watch Light Format Clan Wars, many of them can be found on the English Cybersport Channel. One that you may find silly for me to suggest, but that I have found particularly useful is this video by gamepiong that won the "Best of Guides" Contest in 2012. This may have been before the rebalance, but it still shows the incredible skills of a Railgun-Hornet on fire. Watching people play from an outside perspective can be a great help in honing your skills. Zig-Zag Driving - And, finally, the first point that I thought up of - the one that led me to the idea of doing an acrostic. Zig-Zag Driving - the art of dodging the enemy Railguns by turning while moving. Zig-Zagging in movement is a fantastic way of dodging enemy shots. Don't let this disturb your aiming, but its crucial to learn the art of driving in an awkward formation for the enemy to aim at. One missed shot can make big differences in an XP Battle. ________________________________________________________________ Thanks for reading this guide. Once again, its been long - but worth it, I hope! Feedback appreciated, and do remember to give your own tips, words, and everything else you can think of that may be relevant for this subject! Go to Server 1 now, and try XP Battles out - trust me, they're great fun. Once again, thanks for giving this a read. Hog - signing out.

Welcome back to the January edition of Behind the Breaking News where I, Hog, will reveal all the shocking truths behind this month's Tanki news. Take a seat, grab some popcorn and buckle up tight - and be prepared for some unbelievable revelations as we discover what really happened this month... Once again, as I start this article, I recite the ever-lasting lines of my predecessor, Sir GoldRock. I really must get round to putting up a statue of him on the front door. What a wonderful man. And after twenty-three days of studious contemplation in my study, I suddenly gained an inspiration for my very own line. Yes, that's your cue, adoring fans. *Accepts rapturous praise* Why, thank you! I always knew I had it in me... The new rule is written in purple rather than red, to avoid it being related with any outsider's bloodstained rules. Goodbye Co-Ownership, Hello Dictatorship. - Do not take this article seriously; it is very difficult to do so anyway. - Any apparent reference to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental and unintentional. - It is highly recommended that you eat popcorn whilst reading this article. Preferably Butter Toffee. It all seems to stick together far better when you do. January 1st: The GAME is on! Barely a couple of hours had passed in 2014 and the devs were already trying to wreck the brains of the players with a new form of torture. Unsurprisingly, the idea behind The Game was rooted in anger. Aleksey Khushainov and Maksim Osin had been battling out a game of "Magic: The Gathering" as we know they always do, and just as Aleksey was about to play the winning move, guess what. A power cut. Maksim claimed a draw due to lack of light at the end of match, shouting with a thick Russian accent: "THE GAME IS OFF CNC NARA HY6S." Of course, the infuriated Aleksey yelled back: "GOLD BIL THE GAME IS ON ф пр л ". After a good few weeks of fighting in the offices, Aleksey sprung an evil masterplan to gain his all-important victory by challenging Maksim that all the first hundred entries in The Game would be Russian. And lo and behold, when the entries opened for "The Game", some of the Russians "guessed" the final answer and stole the top presents before the last video was released, sprouting mutterings among the players that Aleksey had rigged the contest. The case continues in the Russian High Court. January 10th: Where Have I seen that Contest - Part 2 Temptations come in many different shapes and forms. I'd say this is one of the more... tempting temptations. Let's give ourselves a beautiful visual picture, shall we? You see a pretty sign, decorated with many flowers, stars and Firebird-Hunter-Hohlomas and on the front is a picture of your crush smiling at you. Written in full capitals, the words shout at you: "20,000 Crystals going free! Don't miss it!" Meanwhile, behind the sign, sits an evil bird. And every time you send a tweet through, he transforms it into rotting human flesh. And eats it. And each tweet you send, he grows more and more. Until one day he will eat you. Have a nice day. January 12th: New Cybersport Community Manager: Alex! 10 Days of no proper news; some would have guessed that it was a sign that a threat to Semyon's rule would appear. Enter Alex, a new Cybersport Manager for the Tanki Communities. With a Cybersport Manager coming in, the rumours have been heating up for an upcoming World Cup. Well, let me confirm those rumours. There will 100% be a World Cup coming up later this year. If you want to watch it, just head over to Brazil. January 13th: "Come to Light" Contest for Facebook A new contest came to light on January 13th - aimed to get players to take some pictures of the colours the Dynamic Lighting offered. For Facebook. Yes, you heard me. Can you believe it? Only Facebook get to enter the Come To Light Contest. I call that discrimination. Even the prehistoric MySpace would demonstrate more class. - I personally find the lights lighting up space much more attractive than the lights lighting up your face. No offence intended whatsoever. January 14th: Photoshop Contest After the recent discovery that only 22 1/2 people in the world actually own Adobe Photoshop legally, the Tanki developers have decided to create a contest to check out whether people who download Torrents actually know how to use them. All the same, even though it was probably more fun last year adding facial hair to Ksenia, Maksim looks pretty intimidating when someone's giving him a piggyback. You win some; you lose some. January 15th-16th: The Discount Depends on You! Voted for Isida The fact that Isida gets yet another discount tells us a lot once again about the genius Tanki player base. Looks like Isida protection is the next big thing... being in a Silence CTF nowadays seems like being in a parasite zoo - all those zappers feeding off me. The only logical explanation as to why the cheapest and one of the most over-powered weapons in the game was given a 50% discount is that the majority of "people" who play Tanki are vampires. How didn't I figure this out before? It all makes so much more sense. January 16th: Helpers of the Year 2013! What point is there to a New Year if you don't sum up the best of the last 12 months? With the new "Helpers" addition in the latter part of the year, the kind Tanki developers decided to chuck out a few extra bonuses (1000 of each to be precise) for the people who had helped them that year. The list featured incredible tankmen such as hogree, hardworking staff members including hogree and the best reporter of the year. I'll let you decide who that might possibly just be. Modesty Level = king ok. January 17th: Battle of the Rusty Barrels It was January 1903. The sun was shining in downtown Texas. "You old yellow-bellied good-for-nothing [censored]!" shouted Travis R Levi Jr, as he whipped up his old horse, Rex, on the way up the hill. Chewing a wad of tobacco, he jumped off his horse, his leather belt catching on the saddle. He swore and spat out his tobacco, the saliva melting on the stirrups. Tucking his plaid shirt in as he attempted to untie his jeans from the saddle, he unintentionally scratched Rex, and the old horse neighed in pain and immediately bolted. Travis went flying. Like, literally. He flew into space, and never was to be seen again. A few hours later, he landed on a rusty barrel. 111 years later, Tanki celebrate the fact that Travis landed on a rusty barrel with a new contest. No-one knows why. January 22nd: Vote for Discount - Hulls! Tanki didn't want to discriminate and break their equality laws by giving a discount to the weapons and not the hulls in one month, and thus it wasn't long before another discount hit the scenes... Once again, voting was allowed (I still don't understand why the developers can trust us to influence even the tiniest decision in the game) - and lo and behold, Hornet won. So the cheapest hull and the cheapest weapon - both two of the best pieces of equipment in the game get 50% Discounts. Tee-pee-cull. But hulld on, you say! Viking and Wasp get discounts too, you say! One word I have for you, son. Piddlewhack. January 25th: Guides Contest Incredible. That's been five contests this month? *Puts on Doesnt-the-time-fly-grandpa-voice* "You know, ol' boy, back in the day, we didn't have none of this. We had to work ourselves for the most part, you know that? You could do with a bit of toughening up too, you know... *guffaws* I'm only joking, old chap. Ah, those were the days. When contests were the moments of our lives. You know, once, back when I was in school, years ago now, one of these contests came out and I went ballistic with joy. Won it too, I did - still got the trophy in my cabinet! Fancy a look? You couldn't believe it - all those winters without central heating - I used to..." *voice trails off into distance* #truestory _________________________________________ "Tanks" for reading!

http://i.imgur.com/guBvnLj.jpg :ph34r:

Surprise Surprise guys, Hornet then Viking then Wasp. I'm sure none of us were expecting this. Voted for Hunter personally, cos its the most beautiful hull.

Haha. If you think thats a lot, maybe you should read the whole series.... :lol: _________________________________________ Articles in this series: Read Part 2 Here (January 2010 - June 2010) Read Part 3 Here (July 2010 - December 2010) Read Part 4 Here (January 2011 – June 2011) Read Part 5 Here (July 2011 – December 2011) Read Part 6 Here (January 2012 – June 2012) Read Part 7 Here (July 2012 - December 2012) _________________________________________

Oh hey there eragon. Yeah, I saw you too. Turtled, of course. Almost was going to take a picture, but you know, I'm too nice for that. But yeah, once I saw you, I ran. It was a bit much for me, seeing you there. Scary would be putting it lightly. So I ran, ran ran as fast as I could. I was very scared of your over-powered M2 Isida-M2 Hornet-Alien. It was all too much for me. If I recall rightly, I cried for 5 minutes straight after leaving the battle.

Dictator-Rail is the only combination in my garage I would never ever ever use. So hard to control. Rail demands a much lower tank or at least easier to control. Some recent fun battles!

Isida-Dic-Prod

New All-time Biggest Post-Update 123. Woop de woop. Thanks Lank, Mandra and Mara.

Can we close this conversation with a simple "Hunter is the hawtest" statement to appease everyone's minds? Thank you.

I actually dislike this. :( It loses some of the freshness that I think the current homepage holds. In my opinion, the current homepage looks a lot more simple and beautiful. If the homepage comes out like this, I can't say I will support its look. However, I do like the idea of a "News Feed" in the middle of the page.

http://i.imgur.com/yFKlw5l.jpg

^And that is how you spoil games for low ranks.

Oh darn. Is this even real life. :o

Use 1, 2 and 8 primarily now; even though I still occasionally use 4.

Just to re-inforce the plan. [Pls dont bully camera split. 2MP. Allow it.]

神奇的