Let's Discuss Shaft!

[FogOfWar_XXX 793]

God it’s quiet in here.  They have “tankedkeyed” this game with all their drugs and drones.  I’m done complaining but once in while I have grumble.  Nuance was everything once.  Clever use of combinations of turrets and terrain.  Hopping bs and Rico’s that shoot the length of the map now.  It’s ridiculous.  Throw in crisis drones and your left with something that no longer resembles armored vehicle combat.

I want to hear anyone who can say this even feels marginally satisfying to play anymore.  I have to bust tail with my my”8” just to break even on k/d, and that’s if I’m not playing against buyers.  I’ve come out battles with one kill in 15 minutes.  
 

the only thing remotely satisfying about game play with shaft any more is picking off hoppers.  Camp at an angle to a position they consistent ly hop at right before taking a flag and fry them as they get beat up on the way in, smug in their hop, and then chopping legs right out from under them.  Of course you do it three times and then they spend the rest of the game hunting you calling you a worthless camper.  Worth it though, they ruined game, might as well ruin their fun.

[Me0w_XP 523]

On 2/27/2023 at 2:23 PM, FogOfWar_XXX said:

Anyone have any thoughts on why Shafts are seen a little more than before?

Shaft modules are less frequent now. During RFM's short reign, Eagles were quite common in battle. I barely see them now, likely due to the number of OP weapons such as Assault Hammer, Vacuum Thunder, and even Railgun. More OP weapons = less Shaft prot = more Shaft. Eventually this may see a new rise of Eagles and a reduction of Shafts.

[khalil1 1]

which update made the sniping  mode unavailable  till the shot is completely charged?

[FrozenRailgun 1,771]

On 10/26/2023 at 1:08 PM, khalil1 said:

which update made the sniping  mode unavailable  till the shot is completely charged?

I think that was when Shaft was a new turret back then (some 10+ years ago)?

[PirateSpider 1,489]

On 6/5/2023 at 11:17 AM, FogOfWar_XXX said:

God it’s quiet in here.  They have “tankedkeyed” this game with all their drugs and drones.  I’m done complaining but once in while I have grumble.  Nuance was everything once.  Clever use of combinations of turrets and terrain.  Hopping bs and Rico’s that shoot the length of the map now.  It’s ridiculous.  Throw in crisis drones and your left with something that no longer resembles armored vehicle combat.

I want to hear anyone who can say this even feels marginally satisfying to play anymore.  I have to bust tail with my my”8” just to break even on k/d, and that’s if I’m not playing against buyers.  I’ve come out battles with one kill in 15 minutes.  

Supplies have become an integral part of the game. Without them, you wont be able to survive very long or travel very far or get many kills. And drones make that even more clear.

Free players today can easily get supplies by opening containers, progressing in challenges, or buy a daily set of them in the shop for a very small fraction of what they would cost in the garage.

[FogOfWar_XXX 793]

On 10/28/2023 at 11:44 AM, PirateSpider said:

Supplies have become an integral part of the game. Without them, you wont be able to survive very long or travel very far or get many kills. And drones make that even more clear.

Free players today can easily get supplies by opening containers, progressing in challenges, or buy a daily set of them in the shop for a very small fraction of what they would cost in the garage.

Well, the time it took to get a reply, not that I was awaiting one, speaks volumes.  
 

Shafts are like the archetype of all that WAS good about Tanki and ruined.  I was playing g yesterday on the Halloween map just for missions, and I couldn’t help but notice the drone usage.  It’s like all crisis all the time.  Heal ups too.  I can literally full charge a wasp now and not kill it.  Light hulls aren’t supposed to with stand a full charge from a shaft, drugs or not.

 

What really makes me mad are the floaters (yes, allusion to the term referencing what you find in toilets is not a coincidence).  Shafts lowering themselves to hover tank game play.  Shaft and Smokey are the last two turrets in Tanki with any dignity, and someone has to make a Frankenstein.  They don’t turn their turrets, they just float side to side while in zoom and use shaft while moving .  Does no one have even an ounce of decency any more.  We all know floating hover hulls should not be in the game, but if you’re going to use them, at least use them with all the other ridiculous turrets like twins.  Don’t stain the image of Shafts by using your crisis drug induced stupor with a stupid hull.  *ards running around without turning their turret.

 

My plea to tanki:

 

don’t let shafts connect to floating hulls, show some self respect (the little that remains, if any.)

Edited October 31, 2023 by FogOfWar_XXX

[khalil1 1]

@FrozenRailgun thanks for the reply 

[Jeers4U 665]

Can I ask what is the literal point of a sniper tank when you can't have a sniper's pin-point accuracy?

Shaft can't hit anything worth feces.

 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Jeers4U

[FogOfWar_XXX 793]

I played last night and if anything, patch update seems to have given given back to tanks.  I did much better than I have in a long time (yeah yeah, I don’t drug, so if you saw me and I was third to last, that’s the difference of before and after, but I digress) I think this might have had something to do with it, I even took third in a battle last night, unheard of now for me.

 

anyone else notice shaft play doing better since the patch?

[Akame 4,577]

On 11/16/2023 at 10:24 PM, Jeers4U said:

Can I ask what is the literal point of a sniper tank when you can't have a sniper's pin-point accuracy?

Shaft can't hit anything worth feces.

 

Spoiler

 

It can be painful, but we get used to it

 

Latest change makes AP a bit more viable again, but Healing emitters basically just got a buff, sbe is pretty decent too. Until shaft gets piercing, it will still remain one of the as one of the weakest single target long range turrets, especially since charging down is a thing and it has a more reactive reload duration unlike other long range turrets.

[Potdindy 866]

Ive been messing around a bit lately. Shaft is my favorite turret but definitely feels powered down compared to many others. Even the other long range turrets have decent damage output seemingly.

Any augments I should be running?

[Master120 19]

@Potdindy Magnum main here, this is due to players using shaft protection/defender drone/crisis, there's the augment "Heavy Capacitors" it deals more damage but takes more time to charge your shot to the maximum damage, using hornet OD helps a lot in your situation.

[Potdindy 866]

On 12/21/2023 at 9:12 PM, Master120 said:

@Potdindy Magnum main here, this is due to players using shaft protection/defender drone/crisis, there's the augment "Heavy Capacitors" it deals more damage but takes more time to charge your shot to the maximum damage, using hornet OD helps a lot in your situation.

That makes sense. I just played a somewhat frustrating game. Started out well, but then the three main players on the other team swapped prots to shaft and with defender drone I couldnt do anything to them. Felt like I was useless lol

[Master120 19]

@Potdindy same happens with Magnum e-e

[Potdindy 866]

So Ive been going back and forth between light Caps and RFM...still not sure which I like more. Ive seen some ppl using healing emitters lately altho I cant find it in my garage. Is that a worthwhile augment to use?

[Dedicated 8]

@Potdindy Healing Emitter is actually a good augment that you can use for example for Juggernaut when he has low HP or for ASL when you need to capture the flag to the base. You can only find this augment in your garage once you get it out of the container. This augment is legendary and actually not that easy to get

[Venerable 2,967]

On 12/24/2023 at 9:56 PM, Potdindy said:

So Ive been going back and forth between light Caps and RFM...still not sure which I like more. Ive seen some ppl using healing emitters lately altho I cant find it in my garage. Is that a worthwhile augment to use?

RFM is frowned upon by "mobile snipers" (  ), but if you're just looking for easy kills, and perhaps faster mission-progress, then it's a good augment. It's not great from a fun point-of-view, though.

Light Capacitors has become almost obsolete now. I'm pretty sure no one uses it anymore. A much better alternative is Short Band Emitter, at the moment. It's not as fast as LC, but the higher arcade damage compensates for this. 

Regarding Healing Emitters, I agree with what Dedicated said above. The downsides of this augment (no critical damage and impact force) are negligible if you know what you're doing. 

[Potdindy 866]

On 12/24/2023 at 12:06 PM, Venerable said:

RFM is frowned upon by "mobile snipers" (  ), but if you're just looking for easy kills, and perhaps faster mission-progress, then it's a good augment. It's not great from a fun point-of-view, though.

Light Capacitors has become almost obsolete now. I'm pretty sure no one uses it anymore. A much better alternative is Short Band Emitter, at the moment. It's not as fast as LC, but the higher arcade damage compensates for this. 

Regarding Healing Emitters, I agree with what Dedicated said above. The downsides of this augment (no critical damage and impact force) are negligible if you know what you're doing. 

Is RFM frowned upon because it is too good? I do enjoy the aggressive gameplay it leads to but havent had a lot of success with it.

Why is light caps obsolete? Ive been using it a bunch lately...is it because it rarely can one shot tanks?

[Venerable 2,967]

On 12/24/2023 at 11:00 PM, Potdindy said:

Is RFM frowned upon because it is too good?

To be very honest, I'm not really sure. Maybe it's because it almost completely removes the sniping aspect of Shaft. There's no reason to charge up your shot if you can destroy an enemy tank with three rapid flashes. And it's very difficult to counter in 1v1 situations. Frankly, if you enjoy the RFM gameplay, then by all means, go right ahead. I'm not judging you lol. The only thing that matters is that you have fun.

 

On 12/24/2023 at 11:00 PM, Potdindy said:

Why is light caps obsolete? Ive been using it a bunch lately...is it because it rarely can one shot tanks?

Yeah, it's obsolete because the damage it deals is quite poor. The effort-to-result ratio (how much effort you put in to get the desired result, i.e. kills) is not favorable at all, in my opinion. Players prefer RFM or any of the status-effect augments (which can be obtained via containers or special events, not in the Garage). I prefer SBE.

[Potdindy 866]

I have since these replies switched to using SBE and RFM and have seen more success.

Shaft struggles in closed maps or small maps but I can either go RFM or just leave and find a new game in those cases

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

On 12/24/2023 at 1:30 PM, Potdindy said:

Is RFM frowned upon because it is too good? I do enjoy the aggressive gameplay it leads to but havent had a lot of success with it.

Use it if you like it and are looking for variety with Shaft outside of sniping. 

 

On 12/24/2023 at 1:30 PM, Potdindy said:

Why is light caps obsolete? Ive been using it a bunch lately...is it because it rarely can one shot tanks?

Shaft from 2020/2021 is different to the current Shaft. It's pretty much what Venerable said. There is not a large difference between the sniping augments of Shaft. The way Shaft works now is it does not use energy for arcade shots. Instead the energy is used for sniping shots only. When you fire a sniping shot, it will take significantly longer to reload it compared to 2020/21. In that time, you will be firing arcade shots.

Shaft is once again able to retain energy from partially charged sniping shots. When you fire a sniping shot, it deducts 200 energy (20% of your total energy) + however much energy you used to charge the shot before firing. For example, if you released your shot when you used 450 energy, it will deduct 450 + 200 = 650 energy, then starts recharging. Each variation plays with this. 

 

Heavy Capacitors essentially makes you more of a camper by not letting you effectively use the energy retention mechanic. Instead of 200 fixed energy being deducted, it will now deduct 400 energy. And your energy recovery rate (how long you have to wait until you can go into sniping mode again) is lower meaning you take longer to get it back. 

 

Stock Shaft, which encompasses most other augments (Adrenaline, Status, SBE, Healing Emitters) is the base. It deducts 200 energy. At Mk7+, your energy recovery rate is 100 eng/sec so 10 seconds before you can get back into sniping mode if you fired a fully charged sniping shot (Heavy Capacitors is 12.5 seconds in comparison). 

 

You then have Light Capacitors. It has lower damage on the sniping shot but charges quickly. But the problem is when you compare it to the 3,000 damage Shafts. It is effectively a quickscope augment. Your damage is lower but you charge it faster. But you're not always going to be able to hit a target immediately on the 2 seconds after you entered sniping mode. The longer you stay in sniping mode after 2 seconds is the worse value you get from Light Capacitors, and that is primarily because the energy recovery rate increase that is has is too small. At the moment, an Mk7+ LC takes 8.33 seconds to reload the sniping shot after a fully charged one. Almost close to Stock's 10 seconds. You deal less damage on the sniping shot, possibly making the target still be able to retaliate, and then you take almost the same time to get back into it as Stock. 

The second part is energy retention. You get this by partially charging a sniping shot. Light Capacitors' purpose is to be a quickscope, i.e full-charged shots most if not all of the time. LC only deducts 100 energy instead of 200 but that doesn't matter if it charges the shot so quickly anyway. LC has doubled maximum sniping rotation speed but that will only start kicking in after 1 second of constant rotation, and by that time you're already past the 2 second mark and losing value from the augment, because it doesn't increase the accelration, only the top speed.

All of this combined makes Light Capacitors not do well at its intended job, because a 3k Shaft can do that and more. It can basically have the same reload as an LC if it fires the sniping shot exactly on LC's damage. If it does decide to keep in sniping mode, it can one-shot full HP medium hulls with LC cant. Status Shafts can apply statuses on sniping shots, and playing them like a quickscope Shaft is ideal.

Akame made three charts that quickly show why LC is outclassed.

 

 

 

Edited January 4, 2024 by TheCongoSpider

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

@Kimura Is your secret Shaft strategy still working in 2024?

[Hypersomnia 1,695]

On 1/10/2024 at 5:04 PM, TheCongoSpider said:

@Kimura Is your secret Shaft strategy still working in 2024?

lol yes. 

You rly obsessed with this huh? It's annoying and somewhat OP but at this point I think you think that the strat is a bug that allows you to get infinite tankoins 

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

On 1/10/2024 at 12:50 PM, Kimura said:

lol yes. 

You rly obsessed with this huh? 

Yeah because on a surface level you could be talking out of your rear and I wouldn't know because you haven't showed it to us or explained how you do it. 

 

I'd like to understand the limits of Shaft and your supposed secret strategy pushes that. I've never been able to see you play Shaft whenever I spot you in battle.

[Hypersomnia 1,695]

On 1/10/2024 at 6:54 PM, TheCongoSpider said:

Yeah because on a surface level you could be talking out of your rear and I wouldn't know because you haven't showed it to us or explained how you do it. 

and im not going to my battles already overfilled with annoying stuff and the strat makes campers even more annoying. A simple trick that for some reason only like 3 shaft players in the entire game know but then it took people like 3 days to figure out you can shoot Tesla ball and hide behind a wall to kill enemies without being exposed so i guess i expect too much.

 

On 1/10/2024 at 6:54 PM, TheCongoSpider said:

I'd like to understand the limits of Shaft and your supposed secret strategy pushes that.

It's not rly pushing the limits. More like playing around with intentional game mechanics. Imagine it as the time when spinning with scorpion basically turned its rockets into melee.

 

On 1/10/2024 at 6:54 PM, TheCongoSpider said:

I've never been able to see you play Shaft whenever I spot you in battle.

Shaft trophy is at 350k+

Isida is at 150k

and Striker at 70k

So I use shaft pretty often lol but now that I have healing emmiters I rarely even touch enemies I just go full healer mode and there is no reason for me to use sniping shots with crisis. 

The trick is a 9/10 annoyance and 5/10 OPness if I had to guess. If I used and took a closer look at each hull + turret combo i'd probably find way more specific tricks like that but im too lazy.
EDIT: I don't make the trick public cuz I once fought an enemy that used it and to say he was annoying. Oh yeah... NO. 

Edited January 10, 2024 by Kimura