Other [Issue 10] Skitee's History of Tanki

[skitee 555]

As some of you already know, this issue will be my final issue as a Tanki Online reporter. I have been playing Tanki Online actively for almost three years now, being part of the forum community and a member of a clan for the majority of that time period. As this is likely to be one of my final articles, I thought that I would educate you readers (most of whom I expect will have registered more recently than I have) about the history of the game, particularly from my perspective.

Like I said, I joined the game nearly three years ago, on my birthday in May 2010. I had heard about Tanki from a friend and decided to give it a go and see what the game was like. I enjoyed it and began to play. I joined around a week after Thunder, Viking, Hornet and Mammoth had been first released, the first of the “Tier Two” garage items to be produced. This meant that I never was able to experience the “Railgun-Dictator” gameplay which other players who were before me enjoyed so much. Soon after I registered, the 300,000^th account was created. For reference, there are now over 22 million accounts, of which over 90% would have created their account after I did. Awesome, huh?

When I was a younger player, gameplay was very similar at the low ranks to how it was before the rebalance, which most of you will be aware of. There were three weapons to choose from – Smoky, Firebird and Twins – with Railgun unlocked later on at Staff Sergeant. It was similar with the hulls – Wasp, Hunter and Titan were three choices with Dictator unlocked at Master Sergeant. It took me a long time to rank up, as I was not able to find too much time to play (it must have been about four months before I reached master sergeant). I was, however, able to earn crystals very quickly, using referrals and daily bonuses, and I never had a problem in achieving a enough crystals for my next upgrade before the rank where that upgrade is unlocked. I chose to use Firebird and Hunter, it being an extremely useful combination for me in Highland Deathmatches and Ping-Pong team matches, the two grounds I loved most to play in. I also got Railgun M0, M1 and M2, so by First Sergeant, and that, combined with my M3 Firebird, M2 Railgun and M3 Hunter (a net worth of around 2000 crystals) I was set. I bought crystals and got M3 Railgun, which I used for a long time.

Whilst I was at First Sergeant, Freeze and Ricochet were released, out of the blue. There had been no rumours leaked, so when the two weapons were released everyone was surprised. I remember searching around to try to find my first glimpse of Freeze or Ricochet. (I got my first glimpse of Freeze in Fort Knox II and Ricochet in Madness, if my memory serves me correctly) The two weapons brought balance to Tier Two and gave variety to the game which had been sorely lacking up till that point.

That was, however, the only major update which took place whilst I was in the sergeant and early Warrant Officer ranks. A few paints were released, the hall of fame was removed, a few different ways to buy crystals were released, a few maps were released, but nothing dramatic. No ground-breaking or earth-shattering update which changed Tanki. Smoky XT was around for a while, but that was a novelty rather than a large change to how Tanki was played.

The reason? At that time, the big fuss in Tanki was about v2.0, which the developers were working on. It was originally planned to be released in late 2010, but the release date was continuously delayed. The original game, 1.0, was left predominantly alone whilst development took place on 2.0. Unfortunately, however, 2.0 was continuously delayed. Originally we were told it would be released in August, then September, then October and into the new year of 2011. 2011 was said to be the “Year of Tanki 2.0” but even that failed to materialize as the official release (set for June 4^th that year) was cancelled, despite a Beta test server, v2.tankionline.com, being released temporarily.

Whilst that was all going on, I was progressing in my Tanki career and the community was flourishing. The first English moderator, koolwalky, had been appointed and he had been followed by a few more, including dingus and Slickdc. The first English clan championship (albeit unofficial) followed soon after, which was entertaining (in part) for those involved, although it had a number of unfortunate problems with scheduling. Despite that, the community had been growing and the first few English community contests were started, beginning with “Artist of Tanki Online”.

As the year progressed, it became more and more clear that 2.0 was way behind schedule and was not going to be released on time. The first actual gameplay videos we received were in march, and when the beta testing server was released in April that year it was apparent that a lot of work remained for 2.0 to be fully functional. It was not released on June the 4^th that year, apparently delayed. The first Russian competition which included the English clans also took place (although the two English clans which entered performed very poorly), and our community was growing.

Meanwhile, I was progressing through the Warrant Officer ranks (slowly). I had left the first clan which actually meant something to me, Shadow Strikers, and joined the clan which I am currently a part of, the Ironclads. I was performing admirably with M3 Railgun and M3 Hunter, both of which I enjoyed playing with very much. I then bought Mary paint and M0 and M1 Viking, intending to use Railgun until I had M3 Viking.

At this point in my career, I liked Tanki very much. It was a good game. I knew that it could be improved – most notably in the graphics – but it was entertaining and a worthwhile play nonetheless. I enjoyed the variety in the game and gameplay especially, and I had made friends in the game. I found Tanki to be a very enjoyable leisure activity.

But whilst 2.0 was not released, Shaft was, which is still the latest addition to be made to the weapons and hulls in the game. I bought it the day it came out, just for fun, and whilst it was not a weapon suited to my style, I did use it a number of times and found it very enjoyable. Along with Shaft, there was also a shift as the amount of updates to 1.0 increased as 2.0 became less and less likely to be released.

Towards the end of 2011, there was also another change that changed the English community for ever – Bruce Lunga became the English community manager. He revolutionized the English community, creating contests, organising teams of consultants and moderators, and changed a lot for all of us.

One of the big changes for me happened in one of the contests. It was “Mr Tanki Online” - and there were only five entrants! Fortunately for myself, I won, and that gave me enough crystals to buy myself M3 Thunder, which was soon followed by M3 Viking. From just being a typical Tanki player who enjoyed being part of the forum and clan community, I became famous, and not just that but also had extremely good weapons and hulls in relation to my rank, which was still a measly Warrant Officer Five.

Meanwhile, big changes were happening, both in Tanki and in the English community. That New Year (2012 new year) period had amazing New Year celebrations, with a host of holiday paints and such, but there was more. We had a large array of new competitions, and the first few cybersport competitions. At first, they were only single-person competition, including the Mosquito battle, a railgun-wasp tournament, which I took part in. It was very entertaining, although a large number of the participants didn't take part and there were times in which I got a “bye” straight through to the next round because too few players had qualified. I managed to qualify for the final and finished fifth, which was quite good going, I thought. It was at least pretty good fun.

There was also in the start of 2012 a new aspect of the English community – two in fact – one of which would complete radicalise my Tanki life. The first was the Tanki Online radio and cybersport channel, run by Snyper22. That was, for the first few months at least, a great place to hang out and listen to cool music and have Tanki-related competitions and chats. It was later replaced by the more efficient cybersport channel we have now and the “Tankionline forever” skype chat, but in the early days of 2012 that was the place to hang out.

The other new community feature was the newspaper. I had had some vague ideas about an English newspaper for a time, after reading (via Google translate) the Russian equivalents, so when Tommy60 and Bruce asked me whether I would like to join the English newspaper, I jumped at the chance and never looked back.

The first issue was a small one, with only four reporters (including conanthedestroyer as editor) but we, as a newspaper, gradually expanded and continue to try to bring out as high-quality produce as we can (and the rest of the newspaper will continue to do so after I leave). Since then, the newspaper has expanded and I have been a part of it ever since. It's been a fantastic experience and a great way to learn and practise my writing skills, not to mention meeting some great people in the reporting team.

Over the summer of last year, there were a few special events - “Best of May” and “Euro 2012 gold boxes” were the two most high-profile, as well as the start of the cybersport events in the English community, the World Cup being the first. I was the leader of “Team Great Britain” during that tournament, and, whilst we performed extremely poorly, it was good fun nonetheless. The concept of the tournament, particularly, was great, although some of the implementation was not foolproof.

As the year progressed, I increased my Tanki Online garage. I bought M3 Freeze, M3 Hornet, Needle and Rock (both of which were 10,000 crystal paints at the time). I enjoyed using a variety of weapons and hulls to suit different occasions. Freeze-Hornet was probably the combination which was most suited to me.

As the year progressed, more and more began to be built up towards what everyone knew would be a series of big updates towards the end of the year. Tanki had quite a few lags and new graphics were planned. 2.0 had been permanently cancelled and now the developers were focusing all of their attention upon updating the existing version of the game, 1.0.

The first of these updates came in September, being the new graphics and the Control Points game-mode, update 1.100.0. It completely changed the game, decreasing lags but, in the opinion of many people, coming at a cost of decreasing the allure of the game. Personally, I really enjoyed the Control Points release, and, whilst I probably preferred the original graphics to the newer ones, I did not care. The gameplay is what counts, graphics are secondary!

Towards the end of September, there was also the first ever English Clan Championship. It had been something which I had been waiting for for a long time, and I was anticipating great things. It, as a whole, was a very well-organised and well-oiled Championship. Apart from a few uncertainties about the streams, the championship went very well (although, again, the performance of my own clan did not live up to expectation) and was an overall success.

After the championship, the big news was the build-up towards the so-called “rebalance”. I, for one, was really looking forward to it. I was beginning to find the four-weapon (Thunder, Freeze, Ricochet and Shaft) gameplay of Tanki monotonous, and I was looking forwards to a greater variety. I tested the rebalance a few times in the Test Server, along with everyone else, and had high hopes. Unlike other people, who said that “if it isn't broke, don't fix it”, I believed that the original Tanki, whilst maybe not “broke” as such, was boring and monotonous and required a change. I expected the rebalance provided that.

When the rebalance was released, I was both disappointed and pleased. Pleased that there was sufficient variation in hulls and weapons to make the game exciting; disappointed that I would have to buy a large amount of experience to get an M3 weapon or hull. I was uncertain what to do, but eventually, in the hope of getting an M3 weapon and hull to be an able performer in Clan Wars, I bought experience up till the rank of “Commander”, where I got M3 Firebird and M3 Viking. After the rebalance, I found gameplay refreshingly new and interesting. It was more varied than it had been before the rebalance, and some of the older and more enjoyable, maps were being played a little bit more as well, which I appreciated.

Which brings me to where I am now. I have enjoyed my time at Tanki. It's been a great experience so far, and I will still play the game for entertainment – it is a good game, after all, otherwise I wouldn't be here. I will no longer be part of the reporting team though, and I wish them – and you readers all – the best of luck in the future.

Edited September 26, 2017 by Hexed

[GoldRock 6,165]

A fascinating read; best of luck to you, too :)

[MONKBLOB 33]

Great article as always. Your Tanki career seemed so cool, but it's sad to see you leave the reporting team. Thanks for all the awesome articles! :)

[r_SwagBoy110 421]

Good job, you will be missed as a reporter. :(

[comeandgetit2 27]

What was Smoky XT? And you were always the most active newspaper reporter. Too bad you are leaving.

[Raphael2 3,263]

I hope the new reporter will be as good as you ^_^

I'll miss you ;)

[Lhamster 4,081]

That was a great read, I'd say best this issue. You'll be missed.

[Beerme 106]

Brilliant read skit and you will be missed-not only in the reporter team but in tanki overall.

Tbh you are probably the best reporter imo (don't kill me other ones xD)

[hogree 4,179]

*kills beer*

[Beerme 106]

Hog u don't count :P ur not a reporter tbh ur the brother or reporter skitee :P

[SpreadLoveNotHate 374]

You'll be missed :( Good luck in the future!

Beer: Better say the same thing you said to hog to me :P

[65536g 20]

Hello,

1. There was more to the story of Shaft wasn't it? Or have you given up the weapon after it was rebalanced the first time?
    
   
2. Also, what about flying in Madness. Thought it became extremely popular at some point in time. Haven't you ever joined in the fun?
    
   
3. I think that the new map introduced during the 2011-1012 festive season (called something like "Station" or "Railway station") is also worth mentioning. It was great fun. Too bad they've given up on fixing it and withdrew altogether. I'm still missing that one.
    
   
4. And what about that change when they stopped displaying supplies? Hasn't it produced the strongest outcry of protest in the community?
    
   
5. Also that neverending war against cheaters is definitely worth a separate mention: at some point in time there barely was a battle without at least one cheater engaged and it was lucky if he was just sitting quietly on some roof waiting for the gold crystal to fall. It looks like a distant history now, but I'm sure that at some point the game was losing that battle qite seriously.
    
   
6. Which reminds me that until gold crystals were made falling at random there was a whole sport for players joining in any battle and drugging like hell just for the sake of sitting in the spot waiting for the gold and then leaving the game. When I was playing Shaft these moments were quite some turkey shootouts! :-)
    
   
7. Wouldn't you agree that the gameplay has changed considerably since the time the rank limits were introduced? Previously it was all to easy for the higher ranks to score easy kills against some weaker sergeants of the opposing team. Now the higher ranks were forced to play against each other, which was a whole quantum leap more challenging. A number of maps suddenly lost in their popularity to the point, that now the usual choice is quite different from what it used to be a year ago (as one can see in your RIP articles). A part of history also worth mentioning IMHO.
    
   
8. How come you haven't mentioned your roaring success with the last year predictions? If there ever was one single reason for me reading the community blog it was just that one great article :-)
   

 

Cheers

:tank:

Edited April 1, 2013 by 65536g

[Beerme 106]

Na lok u arent worthy xD

[r_BLASTOISE-T120 241]

stupendous!, wonderful!, marvelous!, and it was good too ;D

 

*looks closely at skitee in the pic* HEEHEE i see your little man mustache :D or it could be chocolate milk :P

Edited April 1, 2013 by r_BLASTOISE-T120

[SilentShadow 104]

I would like to know your opinion on the Economics Update 123, since it wasn't mentioned in your very-good topic :)

[GoldRock 6,165]

I would like to know your opinion on the Economics Update 123, since it wasn't mentioned in your very-good topic :)

True, I think it was purposely omitted... Well, I would, anyway :)

[MrJudge 1]

well done skitee, thats loads of info about the history of tank which i didn't know since im renect to the game.

 

nicely written and i enjoyed reading :)

[marc.anthony 101]

1.I know about the monotony.I was a sergeant before the rebalance,and every one around me had Rail-Dictator,and I was stuck with my trusty Firebird(M1)-Hunter(M1).So basically I was dying there.So I liked the rebalance in that sense.

2.Why are you leaving???Are you leaving Tanki or just stop being a reporter?

[Beerme 106]

Skit Team Great Britain wasn't that bad :P

we did beat team USA :D

[r_Damn_Slow0 12,476]

I've had this tab opened on my browser and it sat there for several days now, and each time I wanted to read it always something came up. And lately since having just taken leadership of a clan I have had even less time to read. But today I finally managed to read it today, and although I can be fussy about editing mistakes sometimes, this tab was worth keeping open all these days on my browser.

 

The whole community will miss your great articles Skit . Farewell my dear and good luck with your future endeavours. ^_^

 

v2.tankionline.com

btw anyone got any video or pictures of that, I unfortunately wasn't around at the time and I wanted to see how it actually was on the test server at the time. Thanks

Edited April 7, 2013 by r_Damn_Slow0

[r_Damn_Slow0 12,476]

Click on the little arrow to see what 65536g said

 

Hi, I had something I tried to start in Off-Topic section a while earlier. It was just a conceptual idea I had back then which would give any tankman/tankgirl the opportunity to contribute a few lines to the history of tanki the way they lived it. Unfortunately due to time shortage and lack of participants I couldn't maintain the topic any more. But if I do get more people like you who've been around long enough to write about it, just a few lines like you did up here ↑ , I'd be more than happy to breathe new life in this ongoing project .

 

Here's the link to the topic btw. http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?showtopic=169809&hl=

[Zues_God_of_the_Sky 2]

Bye skitee.You will be missed greatly.

[skitee 555]

Hello,

1. There was more to the story of Shaft wasn't it? Or have you given up the weapon after it was rebalanced the first time?
    
    
   
2. Also, what about flying in Madness. Thought it became extremely popular at some point in time. Haven't you ever joined in the fun?
    
    
   
3. I think that the new map introduced during the 2011-1012 festive season (called something like "Station" or "Railway station") is also worth mentioning. It was great fun. Too bad they've given up on fixing it and withdrew altogether. I'm still missing that one.
    
    
   
4. And what about that change when they stopped displaying supplies? Hasn't it produced the strongest outcry of protest in the community?
    
    
   
5. Also that neverending war against cheaters is definitely worth a separate mention: at some point in time there barely was a battle without at least one cheater engaged and it was lucky if he was just sitting quietly on some roof waiting for the gold crystal to fall. It looks like a distant history now, but I'm sure that at some point the game was losing that battle qite seriously.
    
    
   
6. Which reminds me that until gold crystals were made falling at random there was a whole sport for players joining in any battle and drugging like hell just for the sake of sitting in the spot waiting for the gold and then leaving the game. When I was playing Shaft these moments were quite some turkey shootouts! :-)
    
    
   
7. Wouldn't you agree that the gameplay has changed considerably since the time the rank limits were introduced? Previously it was all to easy for the higher ranks to score easy kills against some weaker sergeants of the opposing team. Now the higher ranks were forced to play against each other, which was a whole quantum leap more challenging. A number of maps suddenly lost in their popularity to the point, that now the usual choice is quite different from what it used to be a year ago (as one can see in your RIP articles). A part of history also worth mentioning IMHO.
    
    
   
8. How come you haven't mentioned your roaring success with the last year predictions? If there ever was one single reason for me reading the community blog it was just that one great article :-)
   

 

Cheers

:tank:

1. This was a history of Tanki from my point of view. I picked and chose the events that mattered to me, the key events that affected Tanki in my opinion. Shaft's rebalance was one which I ignored.

2. Yes, I did - in fact my youtube video of myself flying in madness has around 2000 views, I think. When Space Madness originally came out, everyone expected it to be temporary - so I joined in with everyone in creating youtube videos of myself being part of "the fun"

3. Train station, yes, that was a map.

4. View "1". That was a trial which took place once, I can't remember when. I wouldn't say that there was a great outpouring of wrath, the fact that everyone knew it was temporary meant that it was just respected as a trial which failed.

5. That was the case at times, yes.

6. I quite enjoyed that. Those were the perfect times to capture flags. I once finished a game on 703 fund, capturing the final flag before the gold box fell. It's fair to say that that wasn't the most popular thing I've ever done.

7. I'm ashamed to say that I forgot that. Yes, I should have mentioned it, what you said is completely true. :)

8. Hah.

I've had this tab opened on my browser and it sat there for several days now, and each time I wanted to read it always something came up. And lately since having just taken leadership of a clan I have had even less time to read. But today I finally managed to read it today, and although I can be fussy about editing mistakes sometimes, this tab was worth keeping open all these days on my browser.

 

The whole community will miss your great articles Skit . Farewell my dear and good luck with your future endeavours. ^_^

 

 

btw anyone got any video or pictures of that, I unfortunately wasn't around at the time and I wanted to see how it actually was on the test server at the time. Thanks

Thanks.. P.s. http://playtanki.com/photo/tanki_online_20_pre_release/early_screenshots/6

[jokjinari 160]

 

Thanks.. P.s. http://playtanki.com...y_screenshots/6

Hah, you know that site too! That's where I got all my tips from when I first started playing. :)

[Nltobh 498]

this was a very good read for me