Review [Issue 41] Blockheads: What to Buy?

[Shedinja 1,488]

~Blockheads~

What to Buy?    

 

Just so y'all know, the title is not indeed an insult to the players below the Third Lieutenant line. It's just intended as a less-than-clever article title made by yours truly.

 

I'm assuming you've had enough of fooling around with the bare basics. By this point, you'd be looking to upgrade your equipment to deal with your enemies with less fuss on your end. However, a wise man once said, "The first step is always the hardest; you must generate momentum from where there was nothing before." The difficulty in breaching the membrane between M0s and M1s is a great testimony to this dictum. It's no chore to obtain all pieces of M0 equipment before Master Sergeant, so you can try and tool around with all items you see fit and decide what your favorites are. Therein lies a near ultimatum class choice, of which returning from a decision made is near impossible: If I'm going to move my equipment to the next step, which path should I take? What should I buy?

 

This series is dedicated to those between the ranks of Master Sergeant - Warrant Officer 5.

 

What's On The Market?

 

Any new tankers out there better read this section. Since Master Sergeant is the rank limit to forum access, this article might be more crucial than ever to their future economic resolve. Master Sergeant is reportedly the hardest rank for new-time players to complete, not only due to the sheer increase in experience points required (this is nothing new, but the growth rate just seems to be incredibly notable here for some reason or another), but also in regards to the psychological daunt of the knowledge stating that this is only the beginning of the game, of which stayed relatively level during its entirety. Honestly, a Private can be tossed into the same ring as a Master Corporal and they'd have relatively even chances at defeating each other. But as soon as hierarchical equipment upgrades come into play, the flat plain of the stripe ranks gives way to a slope with no sign of decrease in degree or elevation ahead. This, I believe, is why many newbies are frightened off here. If you do, however, have the guts to strap your boots on and begin scaling the hill before you, rest assured that there is indeed a decrease in the game's intensity, but only slightly. They say that training in the worst conditions can prepare you for anything, and I understand the logic behind this while studying the playing habits of tankers having made it here.

 

Anyways, I've blathered on long enough on in-game sieves; it's time to identify what's for sale. While only a minority of M1s are accessible this far down on the chain, their popularity is hard to compare with the Warrant Officer M1s. For example, it's very hard to see a match at this rank without M1 Firebird. Honestly, you have to honestly try in order to dodge one of these, and even then, they're still viable to join at any time. If you're ever going to buy an M1 just for the sake of buying an M1, these ranks would be the time to do it. Learn about how the increases in stats work, mentally compare them to how other hulls and turrets of the same modification would work, and make a conclusion from there about what you're planning on adding to your shopping list. Just think with your wallet, though -- unless you've already bought loads of crystals, you're probably going to be working harder than a plow ox to obtain those crystals.

 

Master Sergeant

 

 

M1 Firebird

 

For some reason, I still see these floating around at Brigadier. I understand that longevity is something to be respected, but criminy, this is the first available M1 turret in the game! Anyways, before we get into the statistics of this weapon, you'l notice that the fuel's emission color when burned is a much deeper red hue than any of the other variants. I'm guess they wanted to make M1 Firebird easily distinguishable from its M0 counterpart so that younger players would take notice. But I digress...

 

With M0 Firebird being available as one of the Recruit weapons, having the next stage appear as the first seems rather fitting. Of course, this also makes this weapon owner of the closest experience point divisors, only having an offset of 8 ranks. This is only true because, despite there being a healthy eight ranks between the two, the experience point buffer only reaches about 20,000 points. In other words, it's very easy to reach the M1 modification of Firebird. The purchase price also happens to be extremely low -- only 7,100 crystals. A few gold boxes, some rankups and a few scattered quality matches can put this weapon in your hands almost instantly. And the improvement over its outdated parallel is significant, to boot: 8 more damage points per half second of fire, a rotation speed that doesn't want to make you pull your hair out, improved burn time, and most noticeably, improved burn damage. With M0 Firebird, it was hard to tell if you had successfully attacked them or not, since the tint that the napalm left behind was darn near imperceptible. Now, it's not too hard to notice whether you've wounded a tank -- the bright red glow will tell you everything you'll need to know.

 

M0 Wasp and Hornet are some of the best candidates for our favorite flamethrower, and not simply due to their hit-'n-run tactics that they're oh-so-notorious for. (Of course, that doesn't mean that these aspects aren't nightmarish to fight all on their own.) The most common maps at this rank, varying from Serpuhov to Factory, have something important in common -- lots and lots of places to hide. Tentative players will likely shrink away from the sudden blast of heat from behind a dark, blind corner, giving you a few extra seconds to charge them and make their hull begin to drip like a Popsicle left out in the sun. By the time they decide to retaliate, they're most likely not going to have time to let off more than a shot before bursting. 

 

 

M1 Titan

 

Unlocked shortly after Mammoth's first modification, Titan M1 doesn't sport many different characteristics that contrast with its chubbier brother, Mammoth. The only truly noticeable differences between the two heavy hulls at this rank is based on the inital power stats of each machine. While Mammoth's is considerably low, Titan has one of the best power stats around, making it possibly more valuable to players who are searching for a well rounded tank. This boosted power stat also aids your quest for gold boxes, due to obvious reasons. The harder you can shove in a gold swarm, the better. Its speed might be just enough to allow you to reach a cliff and catch a ride on an unlucky Viking that won't be able to shake you easily due to its low speed at M0. If you can get a Titan onto the top of a gold pile, you're likely to stay there. Just make sure that if you are using a weapon with recoil (preferably Thunder, Smoky, Hammer, or Ricochet, due to their steady flow of shots having enough recoil to keep you on top while still reloading faster), take advantage of being able to guide yourself. If you can, lay a mine on the guy beneath you. That's synonymous a death sentence to most tankers with M0s lacking Double Armor.

 

Anyways, besides increased power and duly acceptable speeds for a heavy hull, titan has nearly the same gameplay style as Mammoth, and the two are completely interchangeable at this stage. Not many glaring bulletpoints to list here, folks.

 

Mary

 

And here we come to our first ever 'advanced paint', Mary. The name choice is somewhat intriguing in relation to its design, leading me to believe it must have something to do with one particular urban legend, the nature of which will be disregarded for the integrity of this article. If you didn't find Lava quite to your liking, this paint will do just as well, lagging only a single percent behind its competitor in Freeze resistance while aiding your defensive front against the likes of Smoky and Isida. With a single glance at the stats, anyone can recognize this protection coat to have a central short ranged core with the exception of Smoky. Due to its anti-Freeze and Isida nature, this paint will scrape the most benefit from offensively oriented players in CTFs, light hull, Firebird and all. Yes, I did indeed single out one weapon for this rank. Bet you can guess why. (Fun Fact: The old description of Mary described the 'blood' as tomato juice. Honestly, I've never seen tomatoes generate such dark liquid... but hey, it's an MMO with little storyline whatsoever. Why not add a little mystique to the mix?)

 

 

 

 

First Sergeant

 

 

M1 Smoky

 

The second modified turret you come across in your travels is about as much as a letdown as Firebird M1 -- by that, I mean almost none at all. Smoky's first true upgrade is worth the buy since absolutely nothing outdoes this weapon at a range at this stage, except possibly Shaft and Railgun, but this is due to the fact that they're both designed to be long ranged cannons, which allows the homefield advantage card to be synced into play. Nonetheless, even with distance factored in, M1 Smoky really packs a punch versus M0 hulls with the major boost in damage and critical hit chances. The reliability of critical hits is still painfully low, but when they do hit, they get the job done. Since Smoky is the standard that most turrets are based from (being a truly neutral, IC weapon), sorting this weapon into the epicenter of any statistical graph, there is really a hull or map that Smoky does poorly on, and even in rare cases like Berlin and Ping Pong, where specialist items reign supreme, Smoky is still able to hold its own. A decent quality specialist paint, however, is suggested for tackling these maps.

 

Storm

 

Storm should be on every early tanker's shopping list, if not only for its low price and advanced classification, but for its immense initial Firebird resistance. Honestly, 20% right off the bat is one of the best offers you can get in the game at such a low rank, especially with the popularity of the recently arrived M1 Firebird skyrocketing the further along in the early game you go. Mirroring that same Firebird's longevity is what makes this paint such a winner next to items such as Mary and Carbon. Yes, M0 Freeze and M1 Smoky are common around these ranks as well, but in relation to Firebird's lower price, unlockability, and just raw damaging power, most rising tankers label Storm as a trademark item of their garage over the other two. (I know I did. Strangely enough, however, I was a Captain when I made the decision to purchase Storm, having no better options available at the time due to constricted funds. It still managed to stay a contributing member of my garage until Marshal, but at that point it remained in my garage as purely an emergency defense system, only seeing the fields when half of the map consisted of Firebirds. Then I bought the Prometheus kit and met Zeus. Good times.) The only paint available at First-Sergeant works best on any field where the players are forced to get cozy with one another under tight boundary resistance.

 

 

 

 

Sergeant-major

 

 

M1 Isida

 

Come the first modification of this turret, you can automatically identify the subtle yet noteworthy increases in damage dealt through viewing the speed at which your health regenerates. Like its cousins, it has an early unlocking point in juxtaposition to Tanki's other M1-class items. Certainly, it's no lead runner like its M2 and M3 relatives, but it's still early enough in the game to obtain simply to understand how an M1 works. If you don't already have Firebird in your arsenal by this point, make this piece an edition to your garage. With less sheer power but more durability than its napalm-spewing counterpart, an Isida can be the star or any team-based match, keeping allies at full strength while chipping away at opponent's health with its increased power levels. Armed with 5 extra damage points per half second, M1 Isida can match the damage of an M0 Freeze, allowing it to fight any close range turret with a high chance of success. Firebird's after-effect, however, might be enough to take you down in the end if you don't have a good resistance paint. A light hull combined with Isida can do well in mid-sized to teeny maps, as long as teammates are nearby. With the weakest damage per second rate of any of the close ranged turrets, weapons like Freeze and Firebird might suit you better in an every-man-for-himself style combat.

 

M1 Shaft

 

Everyone's favorite vehicle-mounted sniper cannon gets its due upgrade at Sergeant-major, and it sticks around for a loooong time. Its first upgrade can be almost unanimously voted the ultimate highlight of this weapon's life in terms of popularity. even here, however, it's still outnumbered roughly 2 to 1 next to the number of Railguns in commission at this time. See, kids, this is the point in a tankers' career where they discover YouTube videos of professional XPers, and, being the absorbent characters they are, attempt to mimic them. In hindsight, seeing the effectivity of some players on YouTube nowadays makes me wonder if this recreational goal isn't completely unrealistic... Other than the clear favoritism, when it comes to basics, there isn't far too much that separates M1 Shaft from M0 Railgun.

 

The power levels on both are insanely high, they both do their damage regardless of distance, and they're both generally hated by players without a high quality protection paint. This version of Shaft plays like a predator, being able to 1HKO everything available at this rank that doesn't have Lead equipped, pardon the Titan and Mammoth series, which can survive a blast from these regardless. Another bonus is the insanely low price of 17,900 crystals: not only is the damage of Shaft higher than that of M0 Railgun when having time to perform a long distance snipe, but the modification is unlocked far earlier, to boot; however, it should be stated that Shaft is notably less fluid than Railgun on the battlefield, having to slow to a complete stop in order to fire. As the garage description says, this turret is meant for purely snipers, working mainly as defensive or support roles on a team. I emphasize 'team' because of one slight problem with Shaft's design: it can't watch its own back. This is thanks to the tunnel-vision peripherals of sniping mode, having the slowest turret rotation speed in the game bar none, and, yet again, being generally less adept to tactic change than Railgun. Shaft is one of the few weapons that works best backed up against a wall, although certain strategies involving light hulls and rapid position swapping can unleash the full terror aspect of the weapon. You'll never know where it is until the little line of color pastels itself all over the side of your tank. By then... it's too late.

 

M1 Wasp

 

People who buy M1 Wasp go one of two ways with their Tanki Online career: most people enjoy this hull for about two or three ranks before purchasing consecutively M1 and M2 Hornet, in which they pit their faith as their best light hull. The road less traveled follows the line of micro-upgrading every statistic available to this petite hull and waiting until Colonel for their next to free upgrade. Regardless, if you're going to test the waters of M1 territories, this would be one of the hulls to go for, thanks to its low pricing and vast differences from the treaded fortresses available in the ranks past. Based on individual player studies and interviews, faster, more mobile play styles are overall preferred to squatting and taking hit after hit, if only in part to the variety of tactics employable via scuttling about post haste.

 

The advantages at hand for a measly 13.1k crystals easily fail to reflect its low price. Albeit the general armor is only increased by a few degrees, only allowing for more consistent survival versus M0 Railguns and taking one or two extra bolts from IC class weapons, the main purpose of this war vehicle reaps the greatest reward from upgrading: agility. While the increased turning speed doesn't quite allow you to quite turn on a dime, the total radius of a revolution shrinks enough to allow escape strategies involving clusters of props and other tanks to be born in its purest form for the first time in the game. Yes, M0 Wasp has the rigidity to clear some tight corners, but the acceleration simply wasn't enough now to bring itself out of a nasty situation in time, whereas the newest upgrade can shift into high gear from a complete standstill in much less time. If you want the full Wasp experience, however, I'd suggest skipping the other quick tanks and pumping your crystals into micro-upgrades in order to be comfortable with M2 Wasp's controls. Take it from someone who's done it -- buying M2 Wasp after an eternity of Hornet piloting can lead to plenty of steering misinterpretation and winding up crashing turret-first into that wall time and time again. Trust me, it's hard to work around the absence of drift until you have a taste for both hulls' play procedures.

 

M1 Wasp, being not only a popular hull in general but also having one of the highest votes in first M1 hull besides Mammoth or Titan, will be seen everywhere on your adventure through the Sergeants, and can still be sighted as far along as the late Lieutenants. The best maps to take this baby for a spin at, however, are the same maps that Shafts, Railguns and the like enjoy frequenting. Buying a good quality long-ranged paint to resist the abrasive natures of these weapons probably won't keep you alive for too much longer, but it'll at least keep you from being 1HKO'd all the time. Y'know, since Wasp is the weakest hull in the game and whatnot. Tighter turning and higher-class acceleration will make for good flaghunting trips on almost any map, and its lightweight nature allows it to flip itself back onto its side with little prompting from most recoil weapons. (Twins and Vulcan simply refuse to flip their owners back onto their tracks, regardless of hull used.) As we all know, this can go both ways, as enemies with high-impact weapons simply love turning over any Wasp in sight, or at least knocking off their aim. Just look where you're driving, and all should be well.

 

Carbon, In Love

 

...

 

 

 

 

Attention!

 

This month, I won't be adding one of those fun spoilers you guys love so much. Don't worry, I'm not here to deprive you of the joys of making your own choices through a poorly constructed option distribution mechanism. Because, this time next month, you'll be treated to a full blown combo-article on how items can be selected. Because these ranks fly by so quickly in juxtaposition to everything beyond Third Lieutenant, I've decided to bundle both this article's What's My Strategy? section and next month's out of convenience and easy item distribution. This is mainly due to the mild controversy that's been swelling in my last several titles within this series. Anyway, I'll see y'all when November rolls around. Happy hunting, folks!

 

 

.

Edited July 29, 2017 by Hexed

[Quarks 2,255]

First!

 

Anyway, I agree with all your statements, again. Bought both m1 fire and smoky (I never use fire but hey, I was a nug, not any more... right... :wacko:) Anyways, m1 smoky is a best to fight when it first comes out. I remember getting (after m1 fire, bad decision) and placing it on my m0 hornet and caused havoc at any map I went to. I could knock off most rails, do tons o' damage, and I ranked very quickly. It would have lasted longer, had I not gotten m1 rail.

 

I also love m1 wasp. I still use it every now and then for BP with nugs :P I actually bought it at the end of 4th warrant, as my first m1 hull (m1 mammy don't count). I was running around with my m0 hornet and I kept on getting 1 shotted by every stinkin m1 rail, they are very common place, as I am sure you know. I was sick of it, I raised my hands to get rid of it, to have a fighting chance ~skillet, sorta. but m1 wasp lasted me 1.5 ranks, as m1 hornet soon replaced it due to the necessity of m1 wasp sucks at poly CP's. Now I do use hornet, because XP is an earlier unlock than BP, but after I buy legend kit, m3 wasp is for me :lol:

[anuclearbomb 220]

i found one!

 

Another bonus is the insanely low price of 17,900 crystals: not only is the damage of Shaft higher than that of M0 Railgun when having time to perform a long distance snipe, but the modification is unlocked far earlier, to boot; however, it should be stated that Shaft is notably less fluid than Railgun on the battlefield, having to slow to a complete stop in order to fire. 

 

 

.

 

either it unlocks later and is more expensive, or it's m1 railgun....

i think so, if not, ignore that

Edited October 2, 2015 by anuclearbomb

[T.O.R.N.A.D.O.XXX 184]

 

 

~Blockheads~

What to Buy?    

 

Just so y'all know, the title is not indeed an insult to the players below the Third Lieutenant line. It's just intended as a less-than-clever article title made by yours truly.

 

I'm assuming you've had enough of fooling around with the bare basics. By this point, you'd be looking to upgrade your equipment to deal with your enemies with less fuss on your end. However, a wise man once said, "The first step is always the hardest; you must generate momentum from where there was nothing before." The difficulty in breaching the membrane between M0s and M1s is a great testimony to this dictum. It's no chore to obtain all pieces of M0 equipment before Master Sergeant, so you can try and tool around with all items you see fit and decide what your favorites are. Therein lies a near ultimatum class choice, of which returning from a decision made is near impossible: If I'm going to move my equipment to the next step, which path should I take? What should I buy?

 

This series is dedicated to those between the ranks of Master Sergeant - Warrant Officer 5.

 

What's On The Market?

 

Any new tankers out there better read this section. Since Master Sergeant is the rank limit to forum access, this article might be more crucial than ever to their future economic resolve. Master Sergeant is reportedly the hardest rank for new-time players to complete, not only due to the sheer increase in experience points required (this is nothing new, but the growth rate just seems to be incredibly notable here for some reason or another), but also in regards to the psychological daunt of the knowledge stating that this is only the beginning of the game, of which stayed relatively level during its entirety. Honestly, a Private can be tossed into the same ring as a Master Corporal and they'd have relatively even chances at defeating each other. But as soon as hierarchical equipment upgrades come into play, the flat plain of the stripe ranks gives way to a slope with no sign of decrease in degree or elevation ahead. This, I believe, is why many newbies are frightened off here. If you do, however, have the guts to strap your boots on and begin scaling the hill before you, rest assured that there is indeed a decrease in the game's intensity, but only slightly. They say that training in the worst conditions can prepare you for anything, and I understand the logic behind this while studying the playing habits of tankers having made it here.

 

Anyways, I've blathered on long enough on in-game sieves; it's time to identify what's for sale. While only a minority of M1s are accessible this far down on the chain, their popularity is hard to compare with the Warrant Officer M1s. For example, it's very hard to see a match at this rank without M1 Firebird. Honestly, you have to honestly try in order to dodge one of these, and even then, they're still viable to join at any time. If you're ever going to buy an M1 just for the sake of buying an M1, these ranks would be the time to do it. Learn about how the increases in stats work, mentally compare them to how other hulls and turrets of the same modification would work, and make a conclusion from there about what you're planning on adding to your shopping list. Just think with your wallet, though -- unless you've already bought loads of crystals, you're probably going to be working harder than a plow ox to obtain those crystals.

 

Master Sergeant

 

 

M1 Firebird

 

For some reason, I still see these floating around at Brigadier. I understand that longevity is something to be respected, but criminy, this is the first available M1 turret in the game! Anyways, before we get into the statistics of this weapon, you'l notice that the fuel's emission color when burned is a much deeper red hue than any of the other variants. I'm guess they wanted to make M1 Firebird easily distinguishable from its M0 counterpart so that younger players would take notice. But I digress...

 

With M0 Firebird being available as one of the Recruit weapons, having the next stage appear as the first seems rather fitting. Of course, this also makes this weapon owner of the closest experience point divisors, only having an offset of 8 ranks. This is only true because, despite there being a healthy eight ranks between the two, the experience point buffer only reaches about 20,000 points. In other words, it's very easy to reach the M1 modification of Firebird. The purchase price also happens to be extremely low -- only 7,100 crystals. A few gold boxes, some rankups and a few scattered quality matches can put this weapon in your hands almost instantly. And the improvement over its outdated parallel is significant, to boot: 8 more damage points per half second of fire, a rotation speed that doesn't want to make you pull your hair out, improved burn time, and most noticeably, improved burn damage. With M0 Firebird, it was hard to tell if you had successfully attacked them or not, since the tint that the napalm left behind was darn near imperceptible. Now, it's not too hard to notice whether you've wounded a tank -- the bright red glow will tell you everything you'll need to know.

 

M0 Wasp and Hornet are some of the best candidates for our favorite flamethrower, and not simply due to their hit-'n-run tactics that they're oh-so-notorious for. (Of course, that doesn't mean that these aspects aren't nightmarish to fight all on their own.) The most common maps at this rank, varying from Serpuhov to Factory, have something important in common -- lots and lots of places to hide. Tentative players will likely shrink away from the sudden blast of heat from behind a dark, blind corner, giving you a few extra seconds to charge them and make their hull begin to drip like a Popsicle left out in the sun. By the time they decide to retaliate, they're most likely not going to have time to let off more than a shot before bursting. 

 

 

M1 Titan

 

Unlocked shortly after Mammoth's first modification, Titan M1 doesn't sport many different characteristics that contrast with its chubbier brother, Mammoth. The only truly noticeable differences between the two heavy hulls at this rank is based on the inital power stats of each machine. While Mammoth's is considerably low, Titan has one of the best power stats around, making it possibly more valuable to players who are searching for a well rounded tank. This boosted power stat also aids your quest for gold boxes, due to obvious reasons. The harder you can shove in a gold swarm, the better. Its speed might be just enough to allow you to reach a cliff and catch a ride on an unlucky Viking that won't be able to shake you easily due to its low speed at M0. If you can get a Titan onto the top of a gold pile, you're likely to stay there. Just make sure that if you are using a weapon with recoil (preferably Thunder, Smoky, Hammer, or Ricochet, due to their steady flow of shots having enough recoil to keep you on top while still reloading faster), take advantage of being able to guide yourself. If you can, lay a mine on the guy beneath you. That's synonymous a death sentence to most tankers with M0s lacking Double Armor.

 

Anyways, besides increased power and duly acceptable speeds for a heavy hull, titan has nearly the same gameplay style as Mammoth, and the two are completely interchangeable at this stage. Not many glaring bulletpoints to list here, folks.

 

Mary

 

And here we come to our first ever 'advanced paint', Mary. The name choice is somewhat intriguing in relation to its design, leading me to believe it must have something to do with one particular urban legend, the nature of which will be disregarded for the integrity of this article. If you didn't find Lava quite to your liking, this paint will do just as well, lagging only a single percent behind its competitor in Freeze resistance while aiding your defensive front against the likes of Smoky and Isida. With a single glance at the stats, anyone can recognize this protection coat to have a central short ranged core with the exception of Smoky. Due to its anti-Freeze and Isida nature, this paint will scrape the most benefit from offensively oriented players in CTFs, light hull, Firebird and all. Yes, I did indeed single out one weapon for this rank. Bet you can guess why. (Fun Fact: The old description of Mary described the 'blood' as tomato juice. Honestly, I've never seen tomatoes generate such dark liquid... but hey, it's an MMO with little storyline whatsoever. Why not add a little mystique to the mix?)

 

 

 

 

First Sergeant

 

 

M1 Smoky

 

The second modified turret you come across in your travels is about as much as a letdown as Firebird M1 -- by that, I mean almost none at all. Smoky's first true upgrade is worth the buy since absolutely nothing outdoes this weapon at a range at this stage, except possibly Shaft and Railgun, but this is due to the fact that they're both designed to be long ranged cannons, which allows the homefield advantage card to be synced into play. Nonetheless, even with distance factored in, M1 Smoky really packs a punch versus M0 hulls with the major boost in damage and critical hit chances. The reliability of critical hits is still painfully low, but when they do hit, they get the job done. Since Smoky is the standard that most turrets are based from (being a truly neutral, IC weapon), sorting this weapon into the epicenter of any statistical graph, there is really a hull or map that Smoky does poorly on, and even in rare cases like Berlin and Ping Pong, where specialist items reign supreme, Smoky is still able to hold its own. A decent quality specialist paint, however, is suggested for tackling these maps.

 

Stora

 

Storm should be on every early tanker's shopping list, if not only for its low price and advanced classification, but for its immense initial Firebird resistance. Honestly, 20% right off the bat is one of the best offers you can get in the game at such a low rank, especially with the popularity of the recently arrived M1 Firebird skyrocketing the further along in the early game you go. Mirroring that same Firebird's longevity is what makes this paint such a winner next to items such as Mary and Carbon. Yes, M0 Freeze and M1 Smoky are common around these ranks as well, but in relation to Firebird's lower price, unlockability, and just raw damaging power, most rising tankers label Storm as a trademark item of their garage over the other two. (I know I did. Strangely enough, however, I was a Captain when I made the decision to purchase Storm, having no better options available at the time due to constricted funds. It still managed to stay a contributing member of my garage until Marshal, but at that point it remained in my garage as purely an emergency defense system, only seeing the fields when half of the map consisted of Firebirds. Then I bought the Prometheus kit and met Zeus. Good times.) The only paint available at First-Sergeant works best on any field where the players are forced to get cozy with one another under tight boundary resistance.

 

 

 

 

Sergeant-major

 

 

M1 Isida

 

Come the first modification of this turret, you can automatically identify the subtle yet noteworthy increases in damage dealt through viewing the speed at which your health regenerates. Like its cousins, it has an early unlocking point in juxtaposition to Tanki's other M1-class items. Certainly, it's no lead runner like its M2 and M3 relatives, but it's still early enough in the game to obtain simply to understand how an M1 works. If you don't already have Firebird in your arsenal by this point, make this piece an edition to your garage. With less sheer power but more durability than its napalm-spewing counterpart, an Isida can be the star or any team-based match, keeping allies at full strength while chipping away at opponent's health with its increased power levels. Armed with 5 extra damage points per half second, M1 Isida can match the damage of an M0 Freeze, allowing it to fight any close range turret with a high chance of success. Firebird's after-effect, however, might be enough to take you down in the end if you don't have a good resistance paint. A light hull combined with Isida can do well in mid-sized to teeny maps, as long as teammates are nearby. With the weakest damage per second rate of any of the close ranged turrets, weapons like Freeze and Firebird might suit you better in an every-man-for-himself style combat.

 

M1 Shaft

 

Everyone's favorite vehicle-mounted sniper cannon gets its due upgrade at Sergeant-major, and it sticks around for a loooong time. Its first upgrade can be almost unanimously voted the ultimate highlight of this weapon's life in terms of popularity. even here, however, it's still outnumbered roughly 2 to 1 next to the number of Railguns in commission at this time. See, kids, this is the point in a tankers' career where they discover YouTube videos of professional XPers, and, being the absorbent characters they are, attempt to mimic them. In hindsight, seeing the effectivity of some players on YouTube nowadays makes me wonder if this recreational goal isn't completely unrealistic... Other than the clear favoritism, when it comes to basics, there isn't far too much that separates M1 Shaft from M0 Railgun.

 

The power levels on both are insanely high, they both do their damage regardless of distance, and they're both generally hated by players without a high quality protection paint. This version of Shaft plays like a predator, being able to 1HKO everything available at this rank that doesn't have Lead equipped, pardon the Titan and Mammoth series, which can survive a blast from these regardless. Another bonus is the insanely low price of 17,900 crystals: not only is the damage of Shaft higher than that of M0 Railgun when having time to perform a long distance snipe, but the modification is unlocked far earlier, to boot; however, it should be stated that Shaft is notably less fluid than Railgun on the battlefield, having to slow to a complete stop in order to fire. As the garage description says, this turret is meant for purely snipers, working mainly as defensive or support roles on a team. I emphasize 'team' because of one slight problem with Shaft's design: it can't watch its own back. This is thanks to the tunnel-vision peripherals of sniping mode, having the slowest turret rotation speed in the game bar none, and, yet again, being generally less adept to tactic change than Railgun. Shaft is one of the few weapons that works best backed up against a wall, although certain strategies involving light hulls and rapid position swapping can unleash the full terror aspect of the weapon. You'll never know where it is until the little line of color pastels itself all over the side of your tank. By then... it's too late.

 

M1 Wasp

 

People who buy M1 Wasp go one of two ways with their Tanki Online career: most people enjoy this hull for about two or three ranks before purchasing consecutively M1 and M2 Hornet, in which they pit their faith as their best light hull. The road less traveled follows the line of micro-upgrading every statistic available to this petite hull and waiting until Colonel for their next to free upgrade. Regardless, if you're going to test the waters of M1 territories, this would be one of the hulls to go for, thanks to its low pricing and vast differences from the treaded fortresses available in the ranks past. Based on individual player studies and interviews, faster, more mobile play styles are overall preferred to squatting and taking hit after hit, if only in part to the variety of tactics employable via scuttling about post haste.

 

The advantages at hand for a measly 13.1k crystals easily fail to reflect its low price. Albeit the general armor is only increased by a few degrees, only allowing for more consistent survival versus M0 Railguns and taking one or two extra bolts from IC class weapons, the main purpose of this war vehicle reaps the greatest reward from upgrading: agility. While the increased turning speed doesn't quite allow you to quite turn on a dime, the total radius of a revolution shrinks enough to allow escape strategies involving clusters of props and other tanks to be born in its purest form for the first time in the game. Yes, M0 Wasp has the rigidity to clear some tight corners, but the acceleration simply wasn't enough now to bring itself out of a nasty situation in time, whereas the newest upgrade can shift into high gear from a complete standstill in much less time. If you want the full Wasp experience, however, I'd suggest skipping the other quick tanks and pumping your crystals into micro-upgrades in order to be comfortable with M2 Wasp's controls. Take it from someone who's done it -- buying M2 Wasp after an eternity of Hornet piloting can lead to plenty of steering misinterpretation and winding up crashing turret-first into that wall time and time again. Trust me, it's hard to work around the absence of drift until you have a taste for both hulls' play procedures.

 

M1 Wasp, being not only a popular hull in general but also having one of the highest votes in first M1 hull besides Mammoth or Titan, will be seen everywhere on your adventure through the Sergeants, and can still be sighted as far along as the late Lieutenants. The best maps to take this baby for a spin at, however, are the same maps that Shafts, Railguns and the like enjoy frequenting. Buying a good quality long-ranged paint to resist the abrasive natures of these weapons probably won't keep you alive for too much longer, but it'll at least keep you from being 1HKO'd all the time. Y'know, since Wasp is the weakest hull in the game and whatnot. Tighter turning and higher-class acceleration will make for good flaghunting trips on almost any map, and its lightweight nature allows it to flip itself back onto its side with little prompting from most recoil weapons. (Twins and Vulcan simply refuse to flip their owners back onto their tracks, regardless of hull used.) As we all know, this can go both ways, as enemies with high-impact weapons simply love turning over any Wasp in sight, or at least knocking off their aim. Just look where you're driving, and all should be well.

 

Carbon, In Love

 

...

 

 

 

 

Attention!

 

This month, I won't be adding one of those fun spoilers you guys love so much. Don't worry, I'm not here to deprive you of the joys of making your own choices through a poorly constructed option distribution mechanism. Because, this time next month, you'll be treated to a full blown combo-article on how items can be selected. Because these ranks fly by so quickly in juxtaposition to everything beyond Third Lieutenant, I've decided to bundle both this article's What's My Strategy? section and next month's out of convenience and easy item distribution. This is mainly due to the mild controversy that's been swelling in my last several titles within this series. Anyway, I'll see y'all when November rolls around. Happy hunting, folks!

Edited October 3, 2015 by Shedinja
Please use spoilers on large posts, thank you.

[anuclearbomb 220]

 

 

 

 

~Blockheads~

What to Buy?    

 

Just so y'all know, the title is not indeed an insult to the players below the Third Lieutenant line. It's just intended as a less-than-clever article title made by yours truly.
 
I'm assuming you've had enough of fooling around with the bare basics. By this point, you'd be looking to upgrade your equipment to deal with your enemies with less fuss on your end. However, a wise man once said, "The first step is always the hardest; you must generate momentum from where there was nothing before." The difficulty in breaching the membrane between M0s and M1s is a great testimony to this dictum. It's no chore to obtain all pieces of M0 equipment before Master Sergeant, so you can try and tool around with all items you see fit and decide what your favorites are. Therein lies a near ultimatum class choice, of which returning from a decision made is near impossible: If I'm going to move my equipment to the next step, which path should I take? What should I buy?
 
This series is dedicated to those between the ranks of Master Sergeant - Warrant Officer 5.
 
What's On The Market?
 
Any new tankers out there better read this section. Since Master Sergeant is the rank limit to forum access, this article might be more crucial than ever to their future economic resolve. Master Sergeant is reportedly the hardest rank for new-time players to complete, not only due to the sheer increase in experience points required (this is nothing new, but the growth rate just seems to be incredibly notable here for some reason or another), but also in regards to the psychological daunt of the knowledge stating that this is only the beginning of the game, of which stayed relatively level during its entirety. Honestly, a Private can be tossed into the same ring as a Master Corporal and they'd have relatively even chances at defeating each other. But as soon as hierarchical equipment upgrades come into play, the flat plain of the stripe ranks gives way to a slope with no sign of decrease in degree or elevation ahead. This, I believe, is why many newbies are frightened off here. If you do, however, have the guts to strap your boots on and begin scaling the hill before you, rest assured that there is indeed a decrease in the game's intensity, but only slightly. They say that training in the worst conditions can prepare you for anything, and I understand the logic behind this while studying the playing habits of tankers having made it here.
 
Anyways, I've blathered on long enough on in-game sieves; it's time to identify what's for sale. While only a minority of M1s are accessible this far down on the chain, their popularity is hard to compare with the Warrant Officer M1s. For example, it's very hard to see a match at this rank without M1 Firebird. Honestly, you have to honestly try in order to dodge one of these, and even then, they're still viable to join at any time. If you're ever going to buy an M1 just for the sake of buying an M1, these ranks would be the time to do it. Learn about how the increases in stats work, mentally compare them to how other hulls and turrets of the same modification would work, and make a conclusion from there about what you're planning on adding to your shopping list. Just think with your wallet, though -- unless you've already bought loads of crystals, you're probably going to be working harder than a plow ox to obtain those crystals.
 
Master Sergeant

M1 Firebird
 
For some reason, I still see these floating around at Brigadier. I understand that longevity is something to be respected, but criminy, this is the first available M1 turret in the game! Anyways, before we get into the statistics of this weapon, you'l notice that the fuel's emission color when burned is a much deeper red hue than any of the other variants. I'm guess they wanted to make M1 Firebird easily distinguishable from its M0 counterpart so that younger players would take notice. But I digress...
 
With M0 Firebird being available as one of the Recruit weapons, having the next stage appear as the first seems rather fitting. Of course, this also makes this weapon owner of the closest experience point divisors, only having an offset of 8 ranks. This is only true because, despite there being a healthy eight ranks between the two, the experience point buffer only reaches about 20,000 points. In other words, it's very easy to reach the M1 modification of Firebird. The purchase price also happens to be extremely low -- only 7,100 crystals. A few gold boxes, some rankups and a few scattered quality matches can put this weapon in your hands almost instantly. And the improvement over its outdated parallel is significant, to boot: 8 more damage points per half second of fire, a rotation speed that doesn't want to make you pull your hair out, improved burn time, and most noticeably, improved burn damage. With M0 Firebird, it was hard to tell if you had successfully attacked them or not, since the tint that the napalm left behind was darn near imperceptible. Now, it's not too hard to notice whether you've wounded a tank -- the bright red glow will tell you everything you'll need to know.
 
M0 Wasp and Hornet are some of the best candidates for our favorite flamethrower, and not simply due to their hit-'n-run tactics that they're oh-so-notorious for. (Of course, that doesn't mean that these aspects aren't nightmarish to fight all on their own.) The most common maps at this rank, varying from Serpuhov to Factory, have something important in common -- lots and lots of places to hide. Tentative players will likely shrink away from the sudden blast of heat from behind a dark, blind corner, giving you a few extra seconds to charge them and make their hull begin to drip like a Popsicle left out in the sun. By the time they decide to retaliate, they're most likely not going to have time to let off more than a shot before bursting. 
 
 

M1 Titan
 
Unlocked shortly after Mammoth's first modification, Titan M1 doesn't sport many different characteristics that contrast with its chubbier brother, Mammoth. The only truly noticeable differences between the two heavy hulls at this rank is based on the inital power stats of each machine. While Mammoth's is considerably low, Titan has one of the best power stats around, making it possibly more valuable to players who are searching for a well rounded tank. This boosted power stat also aids your quest for gold boxes, due to obvious reasons. The harder you can shove in a gold swarm, the better. Its speed might be just enough to allow you to reach a cliff and catch a ride on an unlucky Viking that won't be able to shake you easily due to its low speed at M0. If you can get a Titan onto the top of a gold pile, you're likely to stay there. Just make sure that if you are using a weapon with recoil (preferably Thunder, Smoky, Hammer, or Ricochet, due to their steady flow of shots having enough recoil to keep you on top while still reloading faster), take advantage of being able to guide yourself. If you can, lay a mine on the guy beneath you. That's synonymous a death sentence to most tankers with M0s lacking Double Armor.
 
Anyways, besides increased power and duly acceptable speeds for a heavy hull, titan has nearly the same gameplay style as Mammoth, and the two are completely interchangeable at this stage. Not many glaring bulletpoints to list here, folks.
 

Mary
 
And here we come to our first ever 'advanced paint', Mary. The name choice is somewhat intriguing in relation to its design, leading me to believe it must have something to do with one particular urban legend, the nature of which will be disregarded for the integrity of this article. If you didn't find Lava quite to your liking, this paint will do just as well, lagging only a single percent behind its competitor in Freeze resistance while aiding your defensive front against the likes of Smoky and Isida. With a single glance at the stats, anyone can recognize this protection coat to have a central short ranged core with the exception of Smoky. Due to its anti-Freeze and Isida nature, this paint will scrape the most benefit from offensively oriented players in CTFs, light hull, Firebird and all. Yes, I did indeed single out one weapon for this rank. Bet you can guess why. (Fun Fact: The old description of Mary described the 'blood' as tomato juice. Honestly, I've never seen tomatoes generate such dark liquid... but hey, it's an MMO with little storyline whatsoever. Why not add a little mystique to the mix?)
 

 
First Sergeant

M1 Smoky
 
The second modified turret you come across in your travels is about as much as a letdown as Firebird M1 -- by that, I mean almost none at all. Smoky's first true upgrade is worth the buy since absolutely nothing outdoes this weapon at a range at this stage, except possibly Shaft and Railgun, but this is due to the fact that they're both designed to be long ranged cannons, which allows the homefield advantage card to be synced into play. Nonetheless, even with distance factored in, M1 Smoky really packs a punch versus M0 hulls with the major boost in damage and critical hit chances. The reliability of critical hits is still painfully low, but when they do hit, they get the job done. Since Smoky is the standard that most turrets are based from (being a truly neutral, IC weapon), sorting this weapon into the epicenter of any statistical graph, there is really a hull or map that Smoky does poorly on, and even in rare cases like Berlin and Ping Pong, where specialist items reign supreme, Smoky is still able to hold its own. A decent quality specialist paint, however, is suggested for tackling these maps.
 

Stora
 
Storm should be on every early tanker's shopping list, if not only for its low price and advanced classification, but for its immense initial Firebird resistance. Honestly, 20% right off the bat is one of the best offers you can get in the game at such a low rank, especially with the popularity of the recently arrived M1 Firebird skyrocketing the further along in the early game you go. Mirroring that same Firebird's longevity is what makes this paint such a winner next to items such as Mary and Carbon. Yes, M0 Freeze and M1 Smoky are common around these ranks as well, but in relation to Firebird's lower price, unlockability, and just raw damaging power, most rising tankers label Storm as a trademark item of their garage over the other two. (I know I did. Strangely enough, however, I was a Captain when I made the decision to purchase Storm, having no better options available at the time due to constricted funds. It still managed to stay a contributing member of my garage until Marshal, but at that point it remained in my garage as purely an emergency defense system, only seeing the fields when half of the map consisted of Firebirds. Then I bought the Prometheus kit and met Zeus. Good times.) The only paint available at First-Sergeant works best on any field where the players are forced to get cozy with one another under tight boundary resistance.
 

 
Sergeant-major

M1 Isida
 
Come the first modification of this turret, you can automatically identify the subtle yet noteworthy increases in damage dealt through viewing the speed at which your health regenerates. Like its cousins, it has an early unlocking point in juxtaposition to Tanki's other M1-class items. Certainly, it's no lead runner like its M2 and M3 relatives, but it's still early enough in the game to obtain simply to understand how an M1 works. If you don't already have Firebird in your arsenal by this point, make this piece an edition to your garage. With less sheer power but more durability than its napalm-spewing counterpart, an Isida can be the star or any team-based match, keeping allies at full strength while chipping away at opponent's health with its increased power levels. Armed with 5 extra damage points per half second, M1 Isida can match the damage of an M0 Freeze, allowing it to fight any close range turret with a high chance of success. Firebird's after-effect, however, might be enough to take you down in the end if you don't have a good resistance paint. A light hull combined with Isida can do well in mid-sized to teeny maps, as long as teammates are nearby. With the weakest damage per second rate of any of the close ranged turrets, weapons like Freeze and Firebird might suit you better in an every-man-for-himself style combat.
 

M1 Shaft
 
Everyone's favorite vehicle-mounted sniper cannon gets its due upgrade at Sergeant-major, and it sticks around for a loooong time. Its first upgrade can be almost unanimously voted the ultimate highlight of this weapon's life in terms of popularity. even here, however, it's still outnumbered roughly 2 to 1 next to the number of Railguns in commission at this time. See, kids, this is the point in a tankers' career where they discover YouTube videos of professional XPers, and, being the absorbent characters they are, attempt to mimic them. In hindsight, seeing the effectivity of some players on YouTube nowadays makes me wonder if this recreational goal isn't completely unrealistic... Other than the clear favoritism, when it comes to basics, there isn't far too much that separates M1 Shaft from M0 Railgun.
 
The power levels on both are insanely high, they both do their damage regardless of distance, and they're both generally hated by players without a high quality protection paint. This version of Shaft plays like a predator, being able to 1HKO everything available at this rank that doesn't have Lead equipped, pardon the Titan and Mammoth series, which can survive a blast from these regardless. Another bonus is the insanely low price of 17,900 crystals: not only is the damage of Shaft higher than that of M0 Railgun when having time to perform a long distance snipe, but the modification is unlocked far earlier, to boot; however, it should be stated that Shaft is notably less fluid than Railgun on the battlefield, having to slow to a complete stop in order to fire. As the garage description says, this turret is meant for purely snipers, working mainly as defensive or support roles on a team. I emphasize 'team' because of one slight problem with Shaft's design: it can't watch its own back. This is thanks to the tunnel-vision peripherals of sniping mode, having the slowest turret rotation speed in the game bar none, and, yet again, being generally less adept to tactic change than Railgun. Shaft is one of the few weapons that works best backed up against a wall, although certain strategies involving light hulls and rapid position swapping can unleash the full terror aspect of the weapon. You'll never know where it is until the little line of color pastels itself all over the side of your tank. By then... it's too late.
 

M1 Wasp
 
People who buy M1 Wasp go one of two ways with their Tanki Online career: most people enjoy this hull for about two or three ranks before purchasing consecutively M1 and M2 Hornet, in which they pit their faith as their best light hull. The road less traveled follows the line of micro-upgrading every statistic available to this petite hull and waiting until Colonel for their next to free upgrade. Regardless, if you're going to test the waters of M1 territories, this would be one of the hulls to go for, thanks to its low pricing and vast differences from the treaded fortresses available in the ranks past. Based on individual player studies and interviews, faster, more mobile play styles are overall preferred to squatting and taking hit after hit, if only in part to the variety of tactics employable via scuttling about post haste.
 
The advantages at hand for a measly 13.1k crystals easily fail to reflect its low price. Albeit the general armor is only increased by a few degrees, only allowing for more consistent survival versus M0 Railguns and taking one or two extra bolts from IC class weapons, the main purpose of this war vehicle reaps the greatest reward from upgrading: agility. While the increased turning speed doesn't quite allow you to quite turn on a dime, the total radius of a revolution shrinks enough to allow escape strategies involving clusters of props and other tanks to be born in its purest form for the first time in the game. Yes, M0 Wasp has the rigidity to clear some tight corners, but the acceleration simply wasn't enough now to bring itself out of a nasty situation in time, whereas the newest upgrade can shift into high gear from a complete standstill in much less time. If you want the full Wasp experience, however, I'd suggest skipping the other quick tanks and pumping your crystals into micro-upgrades in order to be comfortable with M2 Wasp's controls. Take it from someone who's done it -- buying M2 Wasp after an eternity of Hornet piloting can lead to plenty of steering misinterpretation and winding up crashing turret-first into that wall time and time again. Trust me, it's hard to work around the absence of drift until you have a taste for both hulls' play procedures.
 
M1 Wasp, being not only a popular hull in general but also having one of the highest votes in first M1 hull besides Mammoth or Titan, will be seen everywhere on your adventure through the Sergeants, and can still be sighted as far along as the late Lieutenants. The best maps to take this baby for a spin at, however, are the same maps that Shafts, Railguns and the like enjoy frequenting. Buying a good quality long-ranged paint to resist the abrasive natures of these weapons probably won't keep you alive for too much longer, but it'll at least keep you from being 1HKO'd all the time. Y'know, since Wasp is the weakest hull in the game and whatnot. Tighter turning and higher-class acceleration will make for good flaghunting trips on almost any map, and its lightweight nature allows it to flip itself back onto its side with little prompting from most recoil weapons. (Twins and Vulcan simply refuse to flip their owners back onto their tracks, regardless of hull used.) As we all know, this can go both ways, as enemies with high-impact weapons simply love turning over any Wasp in sight, or at least knocking off their aim. Just look where you're driving, and all should be well.
 

Carbon, In Love
 
...
 

 
Attention!
 
This month, I won't be adding one of those fun spoilers you guys love so much. Don't worry, I'm not here to deprive you of the joys of making your own choices through a poorly constructed option distribution mechanism. Because, this time next month, you'll be treated to a full blown combo-article on how items can be selected. Because these ranks fly by so quickly in juxtaposition to everything beyond Third Lieutenant, I've decided to bundle both this article's What's My Strategy? section and next month's out of convenience and easy item distribution. This is mainly due to the mild controversy that's been swelling in my last several titles within this series. Anyway, I'll see y'all when November rolls around. Happy hunting, folks

 

 

 
ummm...ok, thanks for that also, is broke, i can't comment here anymore...

[Shedinja 1,488]

i found one!

 

either it unlocks later and is more expensive, or it's m1 railgun....

i think so, if not, ignore that

I was talking in juxtaposition to the future M1 Railgun, having a higher price of 31,400 crystals.

 

EDIT 10/8/2015 5:56 -- Not quite sure what happened to the page. I thought it was my computer at first, but oddly enough, it managed to break the page for everyone... Strange.

Edited October 9, 2015 by Shedinja

[HUGHIY 568]

Oh great, who broke the page...

[Guest]

I was talking in juxtaposition to the future M1 Railgun, having a higher price of 31,400 crystals.

 

EDIT 10/8/2015 5:56 -- Not quite sure what happened to the page. I thought it was my computer at first, but oddly enough, it managed to break the page for everyone... Strange.

Oh great, who broke the page...

Simply an error with the "Spoiler" used in the post made by @anuclearbomb, I fixed it already  :)

 

The issue is shown below:

[spoiler]
[quote]
something
something
[/spoiler]
[/quote]

As you can see, the

tag was closed before the

tag and that is an error, you need to respect the order of the tags you opened when you go to close them, like this:

[spoiler]
[quote]
something
something
[/quote]
[/spoiler]

Thanks for reporting this, enjoy  :)

[anuclearbomb 220]

Simply an error with the "Spoiler" used in the post made by @anuclearbomb, I fixed it already  :)

 

i didn't put the spoilers there, i swear, i'm innocent

[anuclearbomb 220]

I was talking in juxtaposition to the future M1 Railgun, having a higher price of 31,400 crystals.

 

ok, then, nevermind

[Anonono 1,233]

 Because, this time next month, you'll be treated to a full blown combo-article on how items can be selected.

.

Oh really?