It is important that you find MM battles that are somewhat balanced. I suggest you press tab once you enter a battle and assess the situation. If there is a significant imbalance against you, I suggest you leave and pick another battle. Leave early, not late. If nothing else, pressing tab will at least tell you if your turret will deal good damage to the other side. MM sometimes put you on the stronger side so keep trying.

Unless you have a lot of crystals to burn, your crystals are better spent on turret/hull/protection upgrades. I think most of the stock turrets are balanced. From time to time, an alteration will be overpowered but those get rolled back. Some alterations make a turret better for long range or short range for example. However, you will not know which map you'll get when you go to MM. Changing an alteration in the middle of a match will waste valuable time.

Yes, gauss is slightly overpowered in its current state. Most experienced or P2W players can still deal with it (me not included) with protection module and drones. To land that kill shot, gauss needs to lock onto your tank and that requires time, a slower target hull and teammates not stepping in front of you (or pushing you). Players who use gauss mostly are after kills. They usually can't cap or come out of their hiding spot to return a flag. This is not so bad for gauss as the current scoring system rewards kills more than winning/losing.

Yes, hornet's OD is too powerful in its current state, especially with the long duration. My guess is it will be nerfed in the future. For those will the core skills, hornet is too fast to be killed effectively even at medium range. If you have 1 or 2 teammates without the core skills, your team is basically done in MM against a skilled hornet player with max GS. You can't land enough blows before it kills you. Enjoy it.

Yes, there will be times when you face P2W organized players in MM. How can you tell? When you have to take on enemies, top, down, front, back, left and right with no teammates support. You need to recognize those situations and leave early. Pressing tab once you enter a match helps. Any team with more than one player with GS 9999 will be a clue. There is no point to take the abuse for the full match and earn little rewards for your time. Of course, if you're on the other side, it is a different story. Good luck.

For the players with the core skills (driving + turning turret + firing), hornet is a very good choice now. They are fast enough to avoid shafts and rail guns to one shot effectively. I would rate vulcan, fire and magnum as the best to go with hornet currently. Thunder is good too. Hornet's OD is a big part with this. The damage is too high with those turrets for you to get your shot off or to hide. And guess what, the health pack is just close enough so when you die, somebody picks it up...continuing the cycle.

Game play has changed somewhat for the buffed vulcan. In the past, most players paired vulcan with a big hull. With hornet's overdrive + drones, I am seeing skilled players using vulcan or magnum with hornets provided the other side has little protection. Those were unheard of before. Make sure your driving + turning turret and aiming is good before you pair vulcan with hornet.

If you are F2P, you'll have a much bigger challenge. Once you are in a MM battle, press tab and see if the teams are balanced. If there are players on the other side with much better GS than your side, I suggest you look for another battle. MM will sometimes put you on the stronger side. Good luck.

I am seeing lots of vulcans with hornet. For those who can drive + turn turret, this can be very effective especially with isida support.

Unfortunately, the state of tanki rewards DL ratio players regardless of battle modes and whether you win or lose. Check out the top tankers under ratings. Everyone has an outstanding DL ratio. So, when in doubt, play for kills. On the losing side, if you play for DL ratio, you are almost guaranteed to finish close to the top of your team (even if you use mammoth/shaft in cp). To combat teammates who only play for kills in cp for example, I leave early.

Is the mobile version playable? I tried it about 6 months ago and it was not.

Good to know,

Vulcan for a period was underpowered. You rarely see it. To deal with vulcan after this upgrade, you need to get the vulcan protection module. Usually, I'll only switch to that protection module if I see 3 enemies with that turret. However, I was in a battle recently against a helper with that spectrum B module, and he wrecked everybody on our side with just vulcan and hornet and booster. He had an isida healing behind him and he was the only vulcan on that side. Scary.

The only way I know how to treat RSI properly is giving your body rest to heal. You can have the best keyboard, mouse, chair, medication, braces, physio etc but nothing will beat time off. Take care and battle another day.

Yes, protection module is part of strategic game play and they are expensive to buy and MU. However, in practice, you can only use 3 modules At most, you can only switch your protection once in a MM match. Otherwise, you're wasting too much time in the garage. Most of the times, I don't even bother switching as the game has probably been decided after one change. My suggestion is to go to rankings and find out what modules top tankers are using and stick with those to start. Somebody also posted what combos are used most often by top tankers. Go through that list and pick the modules against turrets most commonly used. It is more important to find out what protection the other side has and pick your turret accordingly.

Unfortunately, as a F2P player in tanki, you will face a lot more challenges. I am not aware of any modes in tanki for F2P players where you don't have to grind. Watch out for special events. My suggestion in tanki is always the same. Pick a hull/turret combination and get good with those. A medium hull may let you cap a flag or survive against those one shot wonders so I would stick with viking/hunter/dictator. Master the core skills (driving + turning turret + firing at the same time). Good luck in your search for peace in tanki.

I try to be selective in the missions I participate in. I avoid missions where I don't know if I'll get anywhere after playing a game. Examples are like cap flag, score goal, destroy juggernaut, etc. No matter how good you are, if you're put in a team of weak players, you may not get anywhere. Something like deal damage to enemies and finish a ctf are good. You will always keep the needle moving. Unfortunately, finish in the top 3 in the weekly mission cannot be changed so you will have to grind through it. It is doable still as you will be put into battles where you are in the stronger side. Half way through those, if you are close to the top, power up.

If the juggernaut is more powerful, it will be harder to destroy. The player with the juggernaut will get more xp/crystals. There is a mission for destroying the juggernaut also.

I suppose hornet + twins combo can be effective up to a certain rank. However, at the legends level, those are far and few. Have a look at the active top tankers under ratings and see what combos they've used the most (along with drones, protection, type of battles, etc). That will give you a clue as to what you can expect.

Check the stats of my pal, linusvip. At the legends level, I've seen him get 0 kills and up to 20 deaths with this combo. Yet, I applaud him for sticking with it.

A shaft on a big hull is fine but a rail gun needs a more hide and seek approach.

You are doing well for your rank being a non buyer. Unfortunately, there is no fast or easy way to rank up and get lots of crystals. If you rank up too fast, you'll face greater challenges against better equipment. Keep doing the missions daily and only buy when there is a 50% off. Settle on one hull and maybe a few turrets. Get the max out of them. Only spend your crystals on hulls and turrets at this point. Stay in battles where there is a chance to get a fair amount of rewards for your time and effort. Leave battles when your side is too weak and leave early, not late. No need to complain about drugging, buyers, etc. Get used to it. At a certain level, most players will power up. If you are a F2P player, I think the best you can expect is win about 50% of the time.

Another not so good combo is wasp + vulcan.

There are many good combos mentioned here already but no mention of bad ones. One of the worst is rail gun on a big hull.

At his rank with Mk7 turret(s)/hull and GS of 9400+, you will have no chance. Whether you are a F2P or P2W player, you need to recognize these situations. Press tab once you're in the battle. This will give you valuable information about the players on both sides as well as whether you have the proper turret to deal maximum damage. If he plays on your side, great. If he is on the other side, you're better off leaving the battle and join another one. Even at the highest ranks, you'll find these inequities between players/teams. Recognize the situation and make your call. The worst thing is to stay in the whole battle where you will earn relatively little rewards for your time...not to mention wrecking your DL ratio for good ?