Yeah, I haven't been using fire since I lucked into heat immunity (containers have been good periodically...just got a cold resistance and stun immunity too)...still get fried by firebird, but no afterburn:) So my 3rd protection is normally rico now.

I want it and would gladly swap any number of augments I never use. Unfortunately I quit playing for 2 years and when I came back the augments are extremely high priced. I am at 150k right now and still saving. Even then I am not sure if I wouldn't be better served getting my protections up to 50%. Right now my most used protections are at 47-46-48. Also trying to get my dictator to m8...almost there. I love the OD because it helps the team do better.

You nailed a nice trick of hitting walls...A few more things I love about Thunder (which was my primary turret until everyone got protection) was: Landing substantial damage to multiple enemies Ability to land damage without direct hits...this has saved me in a fast moving battle when my accuracy starts dropping The ability to humble isidas in a train since they get 40-50% of damage with each shot The ability to rock your shot to hit the ground beside a barrier when someone is camping behind The ability to hit above barriers where enemies are camping and landing solid damage The ability to use splash damage to locate shafts, gauss, and other long range turrets in hiding I will say since other turrets have been buffed or part of the Hornet OD meta, there have been much fewer Thunder protections to contend with...On CP and Siege (where multiple enemies cluster) Thunder is a nice tool.

It all depends on protections to me. I use sledgehammer and it is actually a good turret on the viking. When the overdrive kicks in you will absolutely clear a point in siege in 2 seconds...6 kills last night. Staying mobile with the faster fire rate and splash damage seems to be a great weapon...not my favorite, but in no way is it the "worst" turret.

Well, I understand the "sniper" side of things, but (assuming you remember) the olden days of "Campers" who would DA and RK all game long with minimum movement. Everyone hated it/them. I hated playing that way and decided to try to move and engage more than sitting in one place. I have long used shaft (although in all fairness I tend to use medium range turrets the most) and have long loved light Capacitors. I bought every augment for the shaft but never enjoyed using any of them other than LC. After the buff to RFM I enjoyed the freedom of being more in the open. Odd that the OP meta only lasted a week or so...I remember other OP metas lasting for month(s). Bummer. Regardless, I prefer a midfield role and will ditch the shaft unless using LC...it can still perform somewhat helpfully for the team in the midfield with LC. Totally agree with you on RFM and SBE, both are completely wrecked by the hyper-Nerf of range. I was landing shots in the medium distance the day I noticed the nerf...70-80 points of damage per shot...while getting destroyed by every turret (smoky, thunder, rico, twins, etc.). It now has the lowest DPS of any turret in the midfield. Again, bummer. Don't think it should be relegated to only sniping.

Wow...the nerf on the shaft is a bit worse than before. It is unplayable in the midrange now. Back to Rico and smoky.

I think the decrease in player numbers make the old system impossible to implement. You'd be waiting forever on certain boards or battle modes.

It is nice to have the turret hold its own now. Before it was on the weak side overall. Now it is moving up with the recent buff. It has long been my favorite turret...I prefer team strategies and creating spaces for team members to score!!!

Not that this is the focus of this conversation, but what about the plasma torch is broken? I don't have it, but am trying to round out the garage. Is it good?

As a special reminder almost any turret on Hornet OD is OP...just add shaft with RFM to the list which is growing.

That's impressive. What's really odd is that this has NOT happened to me since I've returned to tanki until this week. Normally I assume it is a hornet/rail in OD mode. But not recently. I know a few times they were using LCR for sure. I have the RD, but it simply isn't consistent enough to one shot the same tank multiple times in one game...at least that has been my experience. The Hyperspace might be the kicker however. I just am so used to being one-shotted by hornet+magnum/rail/gauss that when it isn't a hornet I don't worry too much.

Did the railgun get a bump? I know that the Vulcan got a stealth nerf, but recently (last 2 days) I've been getting one shotted by railgun (not using hornet OD). I am a maxed out Viking with 47% protection vs. rails. Anyone else having that happen?

No doubt...it makes it much less playable. Without Hornet OD it couldn't dominate a field. While I don't have access to the usage data, I would love to see the percentage of vulcan users (pre-nerf) that were using hornet.

I didn't know that Vulcan got nerfed. I just noticed I was finishing lower than normal and couldn't figure out if protections were higher or my playing was worse. Good to know it got nerfed. Didn't think it needed it as much as hornet OD getting nerfed.

Yeah, my point is that if everyone complains about OD being OP, then the simple solution is to make them the same...the original OD was Dictators. That was all. Not what I want, but certainly the fairest rendering of OD.

Or allows the original OD (which is now Dictator's) to be the same for all hulls.

Hornet OD + railgun M8 + LCR + Double Damage will destroy any hull with any defense and any help in one shot too. The ultimate overdrive since you get it faster than the Viking's

I am too. However, a week ago I got a fire immunity...or at least I think it is. So don't give up hope!

While I am not a camper...in my experience (and I play primarily CTF) a strong shaft player paves the way for me to capture a flag by killing the pursuing tanks without me being aware of it. They also often kill the other team's flag carrier before it is capped saving a score. That might not be how your teammates are playing, but in general every team needs a strong shaft (on medium and large maps) to open the board.

I can play with every turret on the HTML client except Shaft. It is jumpy...way too jumpy. Can't figure out why. I miss so many shots when zooming in (I use LC alt)...it isn't worth playing for me. So I switch to Vulcan or Rico or Smoky on the HTML and do just fine.

The vulcan isn't anymore op than other turrets. I bet you were facing a vulcan mounted onto a hornet deploying its OD repetitively coupled with a drone to boot. That's when it is OP...you could however swap the vulcan for a magnum and you will get the same horrific outcome. The issue is with the hornets OD rather than the turret mounted to it.

That might be why I am not for slowing down the vulcan bullets. I have loved using the Vulcan long before the incendiary bands. I use it for sure, but do not spray hoping to hit a target and causing random damage. I tend to see where I need to help my team and try to damage those specific tanks...I need accuracy at a distance to do that. As far as resolving the typical OP dynamics within games, I am for nerfing the culprit to most ridiculously imbalanced battles...Hornet OD. Whether it is the magnum or vulcan or thunder...mount it on Hornet and it is OP. Maybe reducing the length of it 1 to 1-1/2 seconds, eliminating the spawn kill exemption, and adding another second to the cool down could help rebalance without eliminating the OD.

Only if you are hitting the target. Slow the bullet speed and long distance shooting with the vulcan is gone. I don't care what the damage output is, if you can't hit the target the target receives no damage (or afterburn). Sort of like shooting the thunder equipped with sledgehammer rounds at distance...forget the reduced damage, if the target is moving it is incredibly hard to hit due to the slow down of the shot.

I agree with your thoughts on this. When you are shooting the vulcan the rotation of the turret is already super slow, which makes tracking a moving enemy hard enough. slow the bullets and forget it.

Gameplay of Vulcan with incendiary bands = twins gameplay