Guide [Issue 8] Maximizing Crystal Income

[SakuraVisions 120]

Maximizing Crystal Income


Introduction

Crystals! Everybody wants them. It’s not so perplexing to define why, as they’re the core currency of Tanki and enable purchases in the garage to help in battle. The recent rebalance radically changed the dynamics of what a crystal is worth now that prices of items are higher overall. There is much more to buy and previous expensive prices have only built upon, but it’s still more than possible to succeed. This article highlights some good ways to get them and some wisdom on handling them. You don’t want to end up like that one guy that spent all his crystals on experience and became a Generalissimo with Smoky m0 and Hunter m0, do you? Didn't think so.

Methods of Obtainment

Tanki offers several different ways to obtain crystals that everyone should be relatively acquainted with. There is a wide range of options and some work better for one person than they do for another. Crystals can be achieved through pickups in-game (including gold boxes), battle rewards, friend referrals, bought through real money, rewarded by admins through contests, through daily bonus, and completing small achievements when first starting the game. This section will review all of them and offer some tips to maximize the income.

In-game pickups

We all remember our favorite source of income as a newbie, that rare blue box falling from a parachute landing on the top of Sandbox, resulting in a mad but very slow race of wasps attempting to get it. Ah, the days spent in the “For newbies” battles. Now, at a higher ranked level, there’s a bit more science behind pickups- including the eternally prized gold boxes. Most of it has to do with the battle fund indicated in the bottom right of the battle screen, which is also a key factor of the battle reward source of income.

The following is not based on any true or announced facts, simply my own observations. Obviously, a crystal box occasionally falls and only when there is action on the map to increase the battle fund. How often do they fall? Quite simply, at a rate proportionate to the incremental rate of the battle fund. It is also dependent on another factor- the number of “drop points” in the given map. Every time the battle fund increases by one, there is a chance a crystal will fall. The chance can be written as the number of drop points in the map over the number six. Suppose we call variable “x” the fluctuating amount of drop points from map to map. An equation to describe the chance of a crystal dropping on a given fund increase can be written as x/6.

Perhaps you’re not a math person, but the application of it can be useful. Take a map like Polygon, which has six drop points. Plug it in and the equation is 6/6 which simplifies to 1, so every time the fund increases in Polygon, a crystal falls. Meaning maps like Polygon with many drop points combined with a lot of action to increase the battle fund are great to collect crystals. Island only has two drop points on the minuscule surface, so on average every increase of three in the fund a crystal will fall, which is a 33.3% chance per singular increase. Fort Knox III has four drop points, or a crystal every increase of two. It can be valuable information if you’re hunting for some crystals.

Anyways, onto another important element of pickups- the legendary gold box containing a hundred crystals. It falls at a completely random point in time but it is safe to say the faster the fund increases the faster the gold will fall, on average. Taking to account that the old gold box mechanics dropped it at every multiple of seven hundred, and Tanki announced it would be the same frequency of golds just randomized times, it is okay to assume that every time the fund increases by one, there is a one in seven hundredth (1/700) chance of the gold falling. For two golds to fall back to back, which is certainly possible, it requires a one in four hundred ninety thousandth (1/490,000) chance. Interesting and quite unlikely, but possible.

Should you want to catch a gold, as most do, it is wise to know the gold drop points of every map. Some have one, some have more than one. Polygon golds can fall by the billboard near the ramp to the sniper perch, or by the bridge on the other side of the map. Highland golds always fall in the middle by the “stop” block. Silence golds can fall on the skinny ramp to blue base or the other tight entrance near the pipes by the red team platform. It’s smart to know the drop points and cover areas by them, but be sure to always help your team regardless of whether or not you are hunting a gold box.

Battle Rewards

Probably another of the most common methods of getting crystals, battle rewards are a main source of income. After a long, hard battle the victors receive the majority of the battle fund to split, proportionate to the score of the battle and the score of the individual players. Time for some more math. To get more reward from battles, it is crucial to win them. lt is also important to remember that the more score you have the more crystals you will win, especially when compared to the other members on your team. In deathmatch mode, the crystals are solely divided by kill count. The crystals are split based on a system of numeral squares, meaning that if someone has twice the amount of kills as you, they will get four times as many crystals. This difference really starts to increase exponentially as the kill difference increases. Someone with thrice the kills will rake in a whopping nine times as many crystals. Four times the kills, sixteen times as many crystals. Five times the kills, twenty-five times the crystals. Keep going and eventually ten times the kills is worth a hundred times as many crystals. Meaning if the score of a duel is ten to one in kills, the fund would have to be a hundred crystals for the loser to even get a single crystal. That perhaps shines some light on the importance of closing the gap in score in an attempt to win more crystals.

In team games, it’s a bit different. The winning team always gets the majority of the fund to split, leaving the losing team with next to nothing. If the score of a battle is 10-0 to red team, red will get all the crystals, no matter if the fund is ten or ten quadrillion. The closer the battle score is, the more percentage of the battle fund the losing team will get. Both teams still split what crystals they are allotted to the team members based on the same system of squares that applies in deathmatch mode. These rules go for team deathmatch, capture the flag, and control points. Clearly the bigger fund, the more crystals for all, win or loss, so it’s important to increase the fund. Longer games with more action makes the battle fund go up a lot faster. Kills and flag captures increase the fund the most, so make sure for there to be a lot of those. Battle fund and pickups are the two kinds of income through battle, but there are still a few more sources to cover.

Friend Referrals

This source of income is as profitable as you want to make it. By sharing your friend code with, well, your friends, you gain a profit based on the crystals they buy and the ranks they achieve in the game. You will receive a respectable 10% of all crystals bought by your friends, and get a small sum of crystals every time they rank up. It’s only still a few hundred for the highest ranks, so it requires many friend referrals to start to become a good source of income. To access your friend code, simply press the button between the garage icon and settings, where you can get the link, send to a friend by email, or even get your banner code to show off your cool tank and rank, which when clicked reveals the link to become your referral. Overall, friend referrals are not excessively profitable unless you have a lot of referrals or a friend that will buy a lot of crystals with real money.

Buying

Buying crystals for real money is definitely the fastest means of gaining crystals, as long as you’re willing to spend the cash. Through buying, not only do you gain crystals but you directly support the developers of the game that are actively working to make the game a better place for all. There are many means of buying crystals so there is sure to be a method that works for everyone. It’s possible to buy through Paypal, SMS, prepaid cards, credit, and many other options. Some methods cost more for the crystals than others so be sure to watch out for that. Also, double crystal cards are so common that I would recommend only buying when you have one, they simply double the crystals you get for the same price, so considering the mass of double crystal cards in daily bonuses it’s a great deal to wait until you get one. Occasionally there are sales on certain methods of pay that usually stack with double crystal cards, watch out for those as they are a great way to get even more than double the crystals paid for.

Contests

Crystals can also be sent (or taken away) directly by the administration of Tanki Online. The main reason this is used for is for winners of contests. Contests are a great way to get a lot of crystals, especially since they are so common. There are a wide variety of contests so there is sure to be something for everyone. Usually a contest is running on the forum, as well as some kind of clan championship which makes it a great reason to join a clan, and there are very commonly other contests that can be found through sites like the Tanki facebook page, or livestream shows and events. Be sure to follow all of them for a great chance to win!

Daily Bonuses

Daily bonuses can sometimes hold crystals, but it is very rare. The amount of crystals in daily bonus is dependent on rank, capping at 335 crystals for the rank of Generalissimo. The higher the rank, the more crystals, with the amount increasing from ten to fifteen every rank up. Daily bonuses provide an unreliable but randomly pleasant method to get free crystals, also providing a good incentive to log on and play some every day. Also, daily bonuses can hold double crystal cards, which can be used to nicely double crystal output on any payment.

Rewards for Beginner Tasks

While it’s not applicable for most of the community, as a new player or account to the game there are a few achievements to be completed that result in a five crystal reward each, from joining or creating your first battle to putting in your email. Should you make a new account or have a friend start one this might be a great way to earn a few extra crystals to start you off.

Crystal Strategies

Saving crystals can be almost as hard as earning them. With everything to buy with crystals, the opportunity to buy more stuff is more tempting the more crystals you have (I don’t know how I lasted two weeks without spending 205,000 crystals)! It’s important to concentrate on saving for one thing at a time, and working up to it without giving into the temptation to buy anything else. Crystals can be spent on supplies, passes, weapons, tanks, paints... so there’s a lot of options. Try and figure out what you want early on and stick with it the best you can. Invest in one weapon and tank to start off with instead of wasting crystals to upgrade two, it will be regrettable later when you have the rank to upgrade what you wanted but no longer the crystals because of your decision.

To earn more crystals, become active in the community and play with others. Battles will be much easier when you’ve got a clan or a group of friends to have your back. Crystals will start to flow in and eventually you’ll lose track of how many you have in your bank! Ask others and do some research to get some advice on what to buy, you’ve already started by reading this article, and another of my articles the issue titled “A Shopper’s Guide to the Rebalance” is a good guide on what’s worth it after the huge rework of the game. If experience is needed alongside crystals to buy something but the experience to directly buy it is way out of your cost range, the 30% experience pass is a great deal if you play a lot. In general, if you’re saving don’t buy supplies, they won’t pay you back what you spent on them unless you’re very skilled. Also, if you’re fairly certain there may be an upcoming sale in the garage, don’t be afraid to save your crystals for it. A 20-25% discount will result in colossal savings and will do a huge favor to your budget. You’ll thank yourself for it.

Conclusion

Overall, crystals are what makes Tanki run. Everybody wants them, everybody needs them, and the smarter you are about the matter the more you’ll be able to earn. Save crystals well and concentrate on a single item for purchase at a time. Make use of all sources of income, in battles and out. Tell your friends about the game, and get active in the fantastic and voluminous community. Watch your crystals skyrocket and enjoy the game! Good luck!

Thanks for reading,
ShadowVisions

Edited September 26, 2017 by Hexed

[Lankbouv 6,347]

Awesome article

i didn't know about friend refferals

cud u write a little more about it please

 

[hogree 4,179]

Some brilliant details in there that I never knew about, especially those equations. A good read, well done :)

[Corruption13 15]

Nice one!

[getreadytodie 20]

fund increases by one, there is a one in seven hundredth (1/700) chance of the gold falling. For two golds to fall back to back, which is certainly possible, it requires a one in four hundred ninety thousandth (1/490,000) chance. Interesting and quite unlikely, but possible.

 

lol this has happened to me once, a double gold box, saddly i only caught one though...

[getreadytodie 20]

thanks!

[jays16989 0]

great

[I-N-S-T-I-N-C-T 22]

wow getreadytodie, really? that happened to me except 1 crystals separated the gold boxes.

[I-N-S-T-I-N-C-T 22]

i only got one aswell :D

[I-N-S-T-I-N-C-T 22]

In Iran lol

[r_Masoon0 1]

Lol, haven't even seen a gold box, but have been playing for over 3 years!

Edited February 5, 2013 by r_Masoon0

[WookySpolf 63]

And I've over 10 and I've been playing for one and a half years. Funny how that happens.

[Scribo 167]

fund increases by one, there is a one in seven hundredth (1/700) chance of the gold falling. For two golds to fall back to back, which is certainly possible, it requires a one in four hundred ninety thousandth (1/490,000) chance. Interesting and quite unlikely, but possible.

 

lol this has happened to me once, a double gold box, saddly i only caught one though...

I was playing Noise CTF, and two gold boxes dropped within probably 5 minutes of each other, and they both happened to fall practically right on top of me. That's the only time i've gotten both.

[GoldRock 6,165]

Lol, haven't even seen a gold box, but have been playing for over 3 years!

So unlucky... even at my rank, I've taken at least 5 gold boxes, and seen another 5 drop when camping with my railgun :P

[Catamolho 0]

Did you remember worldwide soccer?

i caugth 2 gold boxes of 200, and 4 of 500, thats rigth 4 of 500 and another maybe 8, 10 of 100 in the past three years.

you can tell me im a lucky guy but i one time in old tanki online i saw a gold box with 1000 crystals, i was with shaft and i saw others catching it :(

but i like my account and my tank. and if you see time i alredy played its true but i did not started with this account.

Edited February 5, 2013 by Catamolho

[Arcohhs 67]

Ive gotten several goldies its great to earn them but it's true about the equations its very rare to see the gold but when it's spotted its more like survival and a race to get it! It's more of a one chance thing suceed the atempt= GOLD! Die when atempting getting the GOLD= YOU'RE SCREWED!. Catching a gold takes time and patience and it's better to wait instead of going hyper about it when it all screws up! its just time and skill that needs to be. But i liked the article also with the tips.:) GOOD ARTICLE! :D

[inplatform 82]

One time there really fell 2 gold boxes in polygon after 543 fund and then directly at 701. I took the gold box when it fell second time. But i think its 1/1400 chance of falling the gold box on the fund of 1

[zelnikml 1]

Nice one Shadow that will help me a lot :)))))...))

[zelnikml 1]

THANKS!!!!

[canucks1 11]

Munes all of that, I think that the crystals that fall from the sky during the battle should be more.

 

 

Because I have about 400 crystals and that's the most crystals I ever got, and people have like 2337 crystals and they said it was soooooo easy

 

 

How do you get sooooooooo many crystals?????????

Edited February 11, 2013 by canucks1

[Pouetpu 0]

Munes all of that, I think that the crystals that fall from the sky during the battle should be more.

 

 

Because I have about 400 crystals and that's the most crystals I ever got, and people have like 2337 crystals and they said it was soooooo easy

 

CRYSTAL COLLECTORS

How do you get sooooooooo many crystals?????????

[cookiemonster321 37]

Munes all of that, I think that the crystals that fall from the sky during the battle should be more.

 

 

Because I have about 400 crystals and that's the most crystals I ever got, and people have like 2337 crystals and they said it was soooooo easy

 

 

How do you get sooooooooo many crystals?????????

 

Spend less time whining and more time battling.

Edited February 12, 2013 by cookiemonster321

[DoomLOVER12 23]

Cookiemonster321 your advice is god-like!

Edited February 3, 2014 by DoomLOVER12

[Skyote 0]

Munes all of that, I think that the crystals that fall from the sky during the battle should be more.

 

 

Because I have about 400 crystals and that's the most crystals I ever got, and people have like 2337 crystals and they said it was soooooo easy

 

 

How do you get sooooooooo many crystals?????????

Do you use them a lot?

[deathfromabove_tanki 92]

Great article, through the Crystal amounts for gold boxes and daily awards are a little dated.

Still great article.