“Sir, there's a problem.” a nervous technician said, as he turned from the panel he was facing. The man he was addressing turned and spoke sharply: “What is it?” “Erm...” the technician stuttered off. “Yes, Lord Ostencius, its Mamout.” another technician helped him out. “Yes, I know it is, but whats the problem?!” Lord Ostencius stepped out, towards the sight of the new design that they had been planning. “Sir, the panels show some -” the first technician started nervously, before he stopped, his eyes open in a mixture of fear and amazement. Mamout had already woken. The small created tank growled as he woke for the first time. His eyes flashed, and the technicians flinched back. Something was wrong. The creature spoke in a grating voice: “You call me your Mamout, but I will be your master.” There was no doubt that something was wrong, this specially programmed cloned weapon had gone rogue. The technician turned, intending to run, but Mamout stopped him with an ear-shattering explosion from his specially-programmed gun. As his first victim lay there in spasms, Mamout gave a roar, before speaking. “You are mine.” *** Hex was getting used to being frightened. Being on top of Kungur, discovering an unknown island, invading the rebellion's base – if not particularly enjoyable, it certainly was memorable, and gave him some good experience for being frightened. But not today. Hex was frightened – and he had a good reason too. Recent reports of the escape of the rogue weapon which was codenamed “Mamout” had flooded in since his early awakening that morning. Just after they had a chance to consider all trouble was over after the rebellion's defeat just a few months ago when their base was attacked (read here), a new threat had come, unexpected as it was. He remembered Lord Ostencius' speech just two days back – his phrase stuck in Hex's mind: “This project will bring glory to the loyals.” Some glory thought Hex, grimly. Now the project had gone wild, who knew what would happen. Trouble magnet as he was, all Hex could think was that it couldn't be good. He left his house, feeling the chilly breeze ruffling against his patchwork, whilst he moved steadily towards his favourite part of the state, the peace of the outskirts of the land, a spot overlooking the whole state where he stayed when he wanted to do some serious thinking. As he trudged across Masaker, a movement caught his eye from just beyond the border into Suporhev. He strained his eyes in interest, but no – it was nothing. He continued, convincing himself it was just a figment of his imagination. As he approached the outskirts of the state, he heard the slight movement of a tank, and span in lightning speed, only to be caught under the glare of a shining light. He was about to shout for help, before he was shot hard in his hull, and a feeling of total inability to act fell over him. He strained with all his might in spasms, before pain took its toll. Just before he slipped into unconciousness, he heard a grating voice mutter: “Mine.” **** It was late night when Hex's eyes opened again. As his eyes recovered from their lack of light, he took in his surroundings. He was clearly in a room, and somehow the layout of it was familiar, though Hex could not pick out what it was. He must have been captured – the familiar feeling of fear leapt into his heart. As he turned, he saw through the darkness the figure of other tanks asleep in this room. He thought back to the last moment he could remember before he passed into unconciousness and remembered the power and utterly mechanical voice of his capturor, a sense of dread seeped into his mind. He had a fair assumption of whom held him captive, and it wasn't good. He had very little time to wonder. As he lay in his thoughts, brainstorming plans of how to escape this situation, light suddenly shone into the room, and he heard a voice summon everyone out. Hex was intrigued – what would want them out at so late at night? But he had no power to stay in, his capturor held all the cards at the moment. In obedience, Hex and his fellow prisoners stumbled out of the stuffed room, and and he scanned his surroundings by clear light, Hex suddenly remembered where he was. The room in the rebellion's base! Thousands of thoughts flooded through his mind, as he wondered what he was doing here, and why the rebellion's base was being used again. Hex was suddenly greeted with the chance that he may not make it out of here. He was transported along some corridors by some very nervous-looking guards, who seemed like they wished they could be anywhere apart from there. Eventually, the trail of what seemed to Hex at least 30 prisoners ground to a halt, as they reached a large pair of doors. The guard at the front, clearly the lead guard, spoke something into his microphone, and the doors opened. In front of the group was a small tank in a very empty hall, and as they were being herded in, he suddenly turned around, a mad look on his face. “Oh hello, hello there” he said, with a grating voice. “I would like to introduce myself as what you idiotic kingdomers called me: Mamout.” An evil smile crept onto his face. “Any last words”? A burst came out from the side of the room, “How dare you do this? You will be -” An explosion was released from Mamout's turret, and the tank on the side of the room crumpled in spasms, and lay still. Hex realised the situation they were in. “Oh, I'm sure your all wanting to know whats going on.” said Mamout. “And rightly so. You will be my part to gain full power of everything in this ugly kingdom of “Tanki Online”. He said the last two words with clear disdain. “I will rule after this.” A dreamy look came on his face. Suddenly, he turned and used his powerful mechanical voice again upon the guards. “Put Ostencius on the screen now.” he commanded. Immediately, a live feed of Ostencius was sent and shown on a screen behind Mamout. He turned and grinned wickedly, as he greeted Ostencius. “Oh hello there, Sir. You may notice I have some hostages here. How pleasant to see you.” Mixed emotions flooded on the Lord's face, but his voice remained clear and straight: “Don't try anything Mamout. You wouldn't dare. You were not meant for this.” A booming mechanical laugh escaped the tank's mouth. “No, I was not meant for this, but this is what I am. Ostencius, I hold the cards. You lose. Now, on to business. I command you and your troops to come here immediately. Every hour you take will result in one of your men being killed.” Suddenly, out of nowhere, a tank from the side of the room roared and flew at Mamout. Though he had no weapon, he rammed into the small tank, denting him. Guards immediately ran onto him, but Mamout was shaken. Hex knew this was his chance to act. He turned while no-one was watching him, and escaped to the side of the hall. While Mamout was busy coping with the attacker and the guards, whilst wanting to maintain his composure in front of Ostencius, Hex ran seeing a bag of supplies and weapon lying by the side of the hall. As he quickly equipped his weapon and took down the supplies, he heard the guards shouting, noticing where he was. He turned and focused on the threat, Mamout. Mamout clearly was not prepared. So confident he was, he had become complacent, and that was his downfall. Hex took on him, blowing round after round of attack at him, tipping him onto his side, and leaving him unable to attack with his deadly weapon. As the guards took after Hex, the fellow prisoners blew round after round at Mamout, till he lay still, a loud gasp the last thing escaping his voice before he went. could hear. The guards, seeing the leader was out of the way, immediately surrendered. The relief on their face was clear. They had not admired Mamout's power over them. As the men celebrated their success in front of Lord Ostencius, an elated feeling of gladness filled Hex, and he knew this was his greatest victory. And more was to come... Now, the infamous project of Mamout is remembered with the beastly tank of Mammoth. In contrast to Mamout's small frame, Mammoth lies as a reminder with its beastly tank against the failure of the project of Mamout. Hex's adventures are not over yet... more will come, you can read about his two previous adventures here. Silence: The Discovery Why CTF? Thanks for reading!

Thread Closed - FlipSquad. Just made me laugh :P Pretty useful though, I admit. No more dingus to find all the "Thread Closed" pictures anymore!

Lolz, nice one SwagBoy. Clearly making yourself popular with the new clans :P

Wow, I need to make my decision quick...

Im pretty sure it used to be unlocked at Private back in the ol days..

Official ShadowVisions fan club? I am his fan club. ISI BROS 43V3R

Just as a point here, FBI, reading your argument, I still am on the side that the developers are open to players' views. At least, I hope so. For example, if they dont care about the players' views, why would they create a poll on the Tanki homepage asking what people like best about the game, or what people want most for the future? For example, this was once a poll on the homepage, just after "Experience Buying" was released. If the dev's did not care a penny about what the players thought, that poll would never have come out. I am pretty adamant that if there had been a massive anti against that update, it could easily have been re-buffed. Now, I realise that you would know more about the developers than me, but from the developers that I have talked to to some extent, they seem willing to admit changes to their recent updates. Now, lets just imagine that dev's bring in updates and will never take them away, never do anything, even if it endangers their business in the process. That would be bad business management in my opinion. They should be willing, if in some cases, there is a massive loss in their income, to change. And I believe they are. Im not arguing that this topic has a massive point, but I wouldn't be so sure that the developers are NEVER EVER EVER EVER going to change any of their updates. They would NEVER EVER EVER EVER change their fund system again? Just my personal opinion, but I believe that the developers could turn around some updates, if things are not going the way they expected after it. Now, Im not saying that the developers are dumb, and just bring in massive updates just to check whether they work, before changing them every other day, but I believe there is at least a possibility of them turning around some of their updates. :)

Ever thought of what's the reason you still play Tanki? This newspaper series that we have this issue explores some of the reporters' favourite things about Tanki, that started them to play, and keeps them playing this wonderful game. The subject I chose upon at hearing these series lies on the basic gameplay Tanki works around. I can easily imagine you guys muttering under your breath that my title is a contradiction in terms, but let me explain what I mean in a nutshell. I'm going to write about Tanki's aspect of how easy it is to learn the game, but yet how many things can be fit in in such a basic yet encapturing fashion. The Simplicity My love of Tanki that keeps me staying through thick and thin – or even that started me off playing – depended so much on the simplicity of driving my tank and shooting. The gameplay was so easy to understand. It was just the most easy game to get your nose stuck into. Once you load in the game, a simple “control” feature pops up, and you know everything. Im just going to split this up into different sections, for easiness to read. Gameplay: The way Tanki can make such an impressive game so simple in the gameplay basics is just – well, impressive. I bet if you left your six-year-old brother to the computer while you were in the middle of a Tanki battle, it probably wouldn't take more than five minutes for him to know the aim of what he has to do, and how to control his tank. Gameplay is definitely the big deal on simplicity in Tanki. This is the main point of Tanki where simplicity is key. You see, Tanki being so simple in gameplay gives such a lift to the playerbase of the game also. Have you ever experienced scrolling through internet games and coming across one of those games that takes over an hour to learn how to play. There may be exceptions, but generally, those games are decidedly not my favourite. Its always a relief when you come across a game where you don't require to use over-powering brain knowledge to start the game and know how to play. For example, there's just four simple game modes to understand. Deathmatch – kill people. Team Deathmatch – Kill people on the enemy team and try not to die. Capture the Flag – Capture flags and kill people. Control Points – capture points and kill people. Easy enough, right? Its not as though you need to run about, do this task, run about, do that task, blah blah blah. The gameplay in its basics is simple, whether you like it or not. Of course, what makes Tanki so good, is the extensive different types of gameplay you can have, in different lines of attack etc. But we'll get onto the complexity part later. Controlling: Another simplicity feature that I find so relieving about Tanki is the controlling of your tank. How easy it is to drive is just another added bonus of the wonder of the game. Now, I guess you can take this for granted – of course its easy to control, if the game was good. But yes, I still think its worth a bringing up here. The simple swift controlling regarding the tank driving, the simple physics movement, the simple shooting features – yeah, you've probably got the point – its simpile. I personally prefer its controlling over using the mouse. I find arrow keys and simple turret turns with your keyboard buttons way easier to use rather than a random moving about on your mouse. Requires more skill, gains more fun – win, win, in my opinion. On top of that, a simple difference for changing your camera view – and pow, your set. Turret, Tank and Camera – as easy as that. Its so good to be able to focus solely on your keyboard. The good thing though, is that Tanki does not finish there. Think of it if Tanki was just that - a simple game. If there was no complexity to the game, you may as well be playing a minigame on Club Penguin (at least there's less lag there). However, Tanki is not all simple, you'll be glad to hear. As you can see, Tanki is not a completely decrepit game – but rather, a brilliantly complex and simple game. Both compliment each other, lifting it up beyond anything a plainly complex game could hold. The Complexity Now, we get to the more serious stuff. What has stuck me in this game for almost 30 months, is partly due to the beautiful complexity of the game. I'm going to split up the complexity into two simple small sub-sections. Variety: Yep. Variety in Tanki also counts as a complexity that is simple to learn, and much more fun for the players. The mass differences between maps like Opposition and Island, and Dusseldorf and Desert – not to mention the whole complete gameplay differences between a Shaft and a Freeze, make for a variety that is so key for a game of this calibre. And, variety counts up to the amount of combos you can hold too. Just think of all that range of combinations for differences on the battlefield. As Raphael2 pointed out in my article last issue regarding the Beauty in Tanki, there are, upgrades included, 80,640 different combos a tankman can choose in the game. Now that is a pretty large amount, you got to admit. The amount of variety adds to a complex game, with the mass amounts of options for people to play in. Of course, the key is the weapons variety. I personally think the amount of weapons Tanki has, is a pretty perfect amount. Not enough to confuse people, but enough to make people understand differences and have, of course, a touch of good standard variety involved in the game. Gameplay Enhancers: Now, I bet your thinking Im contradicting myself here. If gameplay is simple, then gameplay can't be complex as well. No, rather, what I'm talking about is parts of gameplay, what I would like to call gameplay enhancers. Gameplay in itself is simple. Gameplay enhancers make it complex, so the minds of those who get bored easily will be given food. Included here are drugs, speeds, and the mass amount of damage effects, that enhance the gameplay in Tanki. For me, drugs are just epic. Without them, tanki would just go bam – I know a lot of people disagree with me. But they enhance the gameplay so much, making it a lot funner. Mines give a different sense of skill, in blocking escape routes for defenders and attackers of the enemy team. The damage effects enhance the gameplay too – as a team, particularly in clan wars, its often different tactics to choose a Firebird or Freeze in attack. The question running through the organiser's mind is whether a tad more damage and burn people is more useful or whether freezing people to minimal speed is. This gives an enhancing to the gameplay – the complexity and different approaches anyone can take is good. The Physics also play a part in the setup of the complexity here. Having the ability of turtling, jumping on top of enemy tanks, falling of heights – boy, its really amazing when you start thinking about it. Im not sure whether I would say it is complex in of itself, but its also an enhancer that makes the game a lot more complex and fun for us. Conclusion Just a couple of important points before I close: -These are MY opinions – do not feel you have to agree that this is your favourite part of Tanki. Disagree with anything – feel free to mention in the comments below! -If I haven't driven this home, Tanki being solely simple or solely complex would be decidedly poor. What I want in a game is where the basics are easy to understand but the lesser details are more complex and variable. And that is practically the definition of Tanki. Thanks for reading!

Yes. There is nothing you need to do after you've invited them to the game. If they create an account via your link, you will get crystals every time they rank no matter what you do.

Tanks. And I do read books. :rolleyes:

I thought it was one of the nicer of the weird paints. I think its because you chose the right tank combo that makes it look nice :P It sort of suits rico-mammoth.

As in, a man of the old days. Back when the forum was cool.

Nooooooooooooooooo. Another forum historian leaves... Goodbye friend :(

No offence to the dude, but I did find this quite funny.

Got six of my paints in for the fighting right now. Time to decide my favourite.

I did see his body art. And i was very impressed! That is why he is in my list.

Whoaaaaaa.... chill out. So many entries.. However, I just compiled a list of those I thought were worthy of a prize. nurbek21487 wdani tsunami95 joselyn rocael zasi44 JeepZuke913 KIFOTERS BADBO0OY pritukandel asadarshadsair2 ayazarshadsair2 niek1999 enzofill benji003 jokjinarii Bopokippo Exenium_666 daaxeer CooperO I voted for jokjinari, due to the creativity I felt was involved.

WB Kool. Kungur is a lovely map for a drug war. Bridges, on the other hand, is a very good No Supplies battle map. Kungur is obviously more common today in servers, though I don't konw why so many create it no supplies. It is better, IMO, as a drug battle. Not my favourite maps, either, but both have their fun parts of them

An okay start, but you really need to get into your textures. They just look like a picture, not fully prepared for the role of a paint,

The thing is, it totally depends on your opinion on what is a dumb drugger. I would call that a simple drugger. If you saw me in that sort of battle, I would just constantly drug, because its funner to play like that, and I have a lot of drugs to waste. It depends on your perspective - some people doing that would be dumb - due to their lack of drugs. Then they complain later on about lack of drugs. Others just drug for fun. Im with the hamster here.

Apparently, I have a talent for the piano.

Superb. Looking good Dev's

Superb. I've been waiting for this contest since the beginning of my Tanki career. Lets do this.

Yes I agree, I said what I said as a question mark because that was what loktin had suggested. :)