Other [Issue 40] The Generalissimo's Handbook - Month 5

[hogree 4,179]

 
Welcome to The Generalissimo's Handbook - a monthly column in the Tanki Newspaper dedicated to going past the baby-food and providing readers with advanced tips and techniques directed at those who have already reached a high standard in the game. Our intention through this institution is to spur advanced players confident in their ability to improve, learn and ultimately become better players. At the same time, we hope to see less experienced players coming along here and learning some advanced tips to help them in their quest to improve.
 
Before we begin, just like to say that I'm sorry we weren't able to post a Handbook last time out - we're still adapting to the new Newspaper system. Same organisation in this article as ever - Tips, Video, Question of the Month and Q&A Session! Enjoy!
 
Previous Handbooks:
~ Gen's Handbook - Month 1 ~
~ Gen's Handbook - Month 2 ~
~ Gen's Handbook - Month 3 ~
~ Gen's Handbook - Month 4 ~
 
►The Tips◄
Written by hogree
 
I. Manipulating Opponents' Minds
 
Manipulation of the mind might sound a bit extreme for Tanki but when you reach the upper end of the game and want to use all you can to get an advantage, it is a valid technique that can take you places. Manipulating opponents' minds, simply put, is making opponents move where you want them to move. Don't think it's possible? Hopefully after this you might think twice.
 
Let's get straight down to the tips - there is a simple but vital concept to master before we begin here - you must be able to see the battle from another player's eyes. Let me give an example. You're in a Fort Knox CTF and you're taking away the enemy flag don't one of the sides - as you go, you spot an enemy spawning on the other side of the map and his turret is facing you - he's clearly seen where you're going.
 
This is where being smart comes in - think from his perspective and he's probably thinking "I'll make a beeline for the opposition base and grab their flag before he's able to capture". This would undoubtedly take the fastest route, right? In light of this,  you can wait by the side of the map till he goes past and cut in behind the fella as he's going through the centre into your base - you can spring onto his back by surprise and easily outnumber him.
 
Now of course this isn't manipulating the mind, it's just reading. Manipulating comes in when you begin to move yourself into certain areas to purposefully trigger off a thought into an opponent's brain. Don't quite know what I might be getting at? Here's an example.
 
Let's take Fort Knox CTF again since it works and an enemy Freeze-Viking is protecting his flag. You're a Railgun-Viking. You pretend that you're going for a mad run for a flag capture so you run in and grab the flag, knowing full well that the fella's going to come after you and literally freeze you to death. You drive away from him desperately and turn your turret away from him as if in desperation to get away - you're just approaching the side of the base and you're clearly gonna die. You drop the flag, the Freeze chasing you immediately returns and your team-mate runs into a Freeze-less base and gets away. Cheeky.
 
That's manipulation on the most obvious level. You can take it further, even though I won't. You could shoot as a distraction to get your opponent thinking you're a threat when you're almost fully dead. You all can think of more ideas. There's a lot you can do to manipulate the mind of an enemy. What do you think looks threatening in an opponent? Imitate that. There's the name of the game - imitation.
 
Something to think about, at the very least, I hope. I'm pretty dumb when it comes down to playing Tanki but this is something I feel could be considered a lot greater, especially for those in the higher end of the ranks.
 
II. Using your Hull
 
Slightly less exciting and much shorter but this will be a to-the-point passionate piece of writing. For me, the worst (and I intentionally use the superlative there) thing about the way Generalissimos play in this era is the inherent belief that seems to exist on the battlefield that once you're out of charge or you're unable to shoot, you're out of the game and you have to run away. This is classic - tips saying "get into cover when you're out of charge" and other things like that only help to build up this brainwashing that seems to have pervaded into many players' minds on the battlefield.
 
My point in this short piece is only this. Your hull is much more important than you think it is. Much much much more. YOU HAVE TO USE IT!!!! The thing that gets me is when you see a team-mate sniping at enemies from his base whilst they're running away with the flag. Yay, you're doing damage, congratulations. That is the type of team-mate that I would call a world-class mult. Disguised as helping the team but they're not doing anything. Whenever someone grabs your flag, you RUN IN. You BLOCK. You put your HULL on the line. Whenever your team-mate grabs the opponent's flag, you run in. You block enemies. You do the dirty work. Whenever your team-mates are flooding in to grab that Control Point, you run in. You block enemies. Seriously.
 
I'm getting so so so so so tired of seeing folks out there on the battlefield think they're smart Tanki players because they can snipe well in Monte Carlo. Get a life. Put your tank on the line. Get rid of your pretty D/L. Help your team. Sheesh.
 
►The Video◄
Created by Fen-Harel
 
This issue, our Gen's Handbook video will be themed on the issue of communicating as a team. Hopefully the gold box clips in the background won't be too distracting! Give your suggestions for the video theme as well below.
 

 
►Question of the Month◄
 
The Question of the Month is back - a short question directed at a few of the Generalissimos in the English community to see opinions from some of the high-rankers around the community. Just so you know, feel free to suggest questions for this too that you would find interesting! This issue's question...
"If you could only have 3 weapons, 3 hulls and 3 paints in your garage, which ones would you choose - and why?"
 
Choices are explained beneath each spoiler. BTW watch out for Issho's answer... :L
 
@LadyYuna:
Picks: Isida, Railgun, Firebird, Wasp, Hornet, VIking, Clay, Graffiti, Lumberjack

I would choose:
 
Weapons -
 
*Isida (I like to heal and play defensive sometimes)
*Railgun (for parkour)
*Firebird (nice area damage)
 
Hulls -
 
*Wasp (for parkour)
*Hornet (to be fast but not so weak as Wasp)
*Viking (best hull for my gameplay)
 
Paints -
 
*Clay (best protection against most common weapons)
*Graffiti (looks cute <3 )
*Lumberjack (best protection against low range weapons in small maps)

 
:
Picks: Hammer, Isida, Firebird, Dictator, Hornet, Wasp, Lumberjack, Africa, Clay

hammer - good for parkour and good with dictator m3. and its good for games.and good for DM
isida - its good for battles. and that give score fast. its easy kill and that good with many drugs. its good for CP
fire - its good for TDM battles and its fun play with that. its kill many players fast, and not a hard gun.
dictator - because its high and have many life, and that good for gold boxes.
hornet - because its good for XP and its very fun play with that.
wasp - because its very fast and good for parkour.
the paints i choose: 
Lumberjack - because he have many defense from many guns. and that my favorite paint.
Africa - because that paint with Lumberjack, and with Clay they defense from all guns. and than i can change color for which i need in battle ( if in battle many ricochats i will change to Clay because its have 50 defense from ricochat.
Clay - if i have all this 3 colors i have defense from all guns.

 
:
Picks: Viking, Wasp, Titan, Hammer, Twins, Shaft, Clay, Zeus, Rock.

Hulls
 
1. Viking. Probably one of the most popular choices as an all round hull, good combination of speed, armour and agility allow it to perform well in almost all situations. I personally like it's low profile style, as it's a much smaller target compared to Dictator or Hunter. Works well with Hammer, Twins and Shaft.
 
2. Wasp, I only have it as M1, but from my test server experiences I prefer it to hornet. Very agile, fast moving, and a small target allow it to be a very irritating opponent, and it's very fun to use. Especially with nitro. It's armour is meh but I think it more than makes up for that. Once paired with hammer you can have quite the little beast.
 
3. Titan. One of my all time favourite hulls, big, heavy and powerful, the ability to push any other hull backwards makes it useful for golds, as well as it's huge chunk of health allowing it to carry the most clueless teams and survive a ton of incoming fire. Great as a heavy sniper with Shaft or the ultimate cp tank or base defender with Twins, can be utilised for work on small maps with Hammer. 
 
Turrets
 
1. Hammer, a very powerful close range opponent and can do incredible damage at surprising distances. It's impact force can mess up almost every enemy, even dedicated close range weapons that are mounted on a light hull. 
 
2. Twins, probably one of my favourite turrets, it's rapid fire makes it a turret to be reckoned with, and it has enough range to be effective on the majority of maps, at least in my experience. I love it's unique design, although it can be tricky to hit moving targets at midrange, but I don't find that too much of an issue.
 
3. Shaft, for the third turret it was either Smoky or Shaft, and since I have M3 of both I feel like I can offer a good insight into why I choose Shaft. Don't get me wrong, smoky is a very powerful gun, I just love shaft, it's massive damage per shot, optical scope and pinpoint accuracy. Although, you need a half-decent team to be able to use shaft, you will not be able to carry with such a long reload.
 
Paints
 
1. Clay, excellent camouflage and the ability to be micro upgraded to 50% off Railgun, Thunder and Ricochet makes this one of my favourite paints.
 
2. Zeus, an aesthetically pleasing paint job that looks gorgeous, able to go to 50% smoky, 50% firebird and 50% freeze, micro upgrade potential is strong.
 
3. Rock, a nice look and decent protections make this a personal favourite. It's also rather under popular compared to paints like Prodigi and Zeus which makes your tank a bit more unique.

 
@Issho_Fujitora:
Picks: Smoky, Firebird XT, Isida, Hornet, Viking XT, Titan, Rustle, Alligator, Prodigi

Well, having to decide what I would choose between such a big variety of items which can be found in TO is, surely, not easy at all.
I think I will stick to those that helped me "grow up" and enjoy the most this fantastic game, which are:
 
SMOKY. This is a great, incredible, weapon which, most of the times, is underrated for how it looks: a tiny gun barrel and a minimalistic design, who would think it as one of the best weapons in the game?
I would, without any exitations! It's ROF (Rate of Fire) and Impact Force are the features that everyone need in a battle field to knock off enemies, while the Critical Hit is the "spicy" effect, the "thrill" you have when you see it hitting an enemy tank and destroying it with a single blow!
 
FIREBIRD XT. I wanted to pick Firebird as my second preferred turret, but, as you can see, not its standard version (and I'll tell you why below). I grew up with the standard Firebird and it is, indeed, the most powerfull weapon you can find in the game, in my opinion. It's ability to burn other tanks and keep damaging them even after your flamethrower finish it's charge is something really awesome, in addition to the fact that you can deal with multiple opponents at once, thus allowing you to create a real ambush, an incredible amount of mess and distruction in few seconds!
I took the newly implemented XT version of Firebird since it represent a Dragon - Dragons are the mythological creatures I love the most and that resembles part of my personality: Personality - Dragon.
 
 ISIDA. The latest turret I decided to pick is Isida. This is seriously the most "teamplay-oriented" weapon in all the game! You can protect your allies by placing yourself in front of them, take all the damage coming on your way and, to survive, steal the life of your enemies - all for the sake of saving your mates.
You can, again, protect your allies by HEALING them: there is nothing more important than having someone near to you able to support you and "cure your problems" when you need it!
 
HORNET. Hornet is the most flexible hull of the game: you can use it in all the different kind of battle modes and different maps you may play. If you manage to learn how to play it at its best performances, you will never regret buying it for sure!
 
VIKING XT. Again, I'm taking an XT version of an item for specific reasons - Viking XT resembles a Wolf (would be easier to imagine it with Thunder XT over it, they surely give the idea ofa Wolf when seen combined). Wolfs, like Dragons - match with another part of my personality: Personality - Wolf.
Anyways, Viking is your "best friend" while being in an ambush, inside a huge mess of tanks firing their shots: it allows you to survive enough time to always fight back, or at least damage seriously your opponents, it let you rush behind one of those "flag stealers" running out from your allied base with the allied flag, but also let you escape, with a great amount of protection, far away from the enemy base with their flag!
 
TITAN. Titan is simply the best heavy tank of the game, in my opinion - many tankers consider Mammoth as the best, but only due to its greater amount of Health Points. When comparing tanks, we must look at the overall characteristics of them aswell as their performances - Titan wins over Mammoth due to its greater speed, manouvrability, acceleration and low profile. 
A Titan, as its name express, refers to another mythological creature which was considered a powerfull and unstoppable entity, something which could not be stopped by an army of common soldiers but had to be fought by Divinities themselves, so you can imagine your own Titan fighting against a huge army of enemy tankers defending their base and still survive that ambush and escape with their flag, for example!
 
RUSTLE. The paint I always wanted and that, when I finally bought it, I completely Micro-upgraded. This paint was my dream since when I joined the game due to its shiny aspect, it's ability to protect you from the most terrifying weapons that were in the game before stronger paints were implemented and due to its wonderfull design when applied to any Hull / Turret combination.
 
ALLIGATOR. Even if it doesn't protect against enemies' turrets, this paint resembles the hard skin you must grow to protect a Community, the "strong arm of the law" you must train to defend other users from violators and hackers, but also the smooth and smart thinking mind you need to have to deal with all the different help requests coming your way - this paint resembles the will of working to help others, nothing more and nothing less, this express all what this paint means.
 
PRODIGI. This was, in my opinion, the "most wanted" paint in the old days due to its protection against one of the biggest fears in the game - Railgun. It may have become less wanted due to the fact that some newly implemented paints have overall better protections against other stronger turrets, but this paint is still great, at least for its look and for its ability to protect you from dangerous enemies hiding far away from you.

 
:
Picks: Vulcan, Smoky, Railgun, Mammoth, Hornet, Dictator, Zeus, Taiga, Africa

 
Vulcan being the most deadliest turret in the game, and the fact that it has unlimited reload makes it so unique <3 Also its amazing impact force makes it almost impossible for any other person too shoot it.
 
Smoky's quick reload speed and critical shots makes it one of a kind - it could also be used in mid ranged and long ranged weapon so I feel that its an amazing all rounder.
 
Railgun would be a pretty obvious choice for everyone (XP)
 
________________________
 
I loving defending and Mammoth helps a lot in that. Mammoth and Vulcan could be a pretty deadly combo  ^_^
 
Hornet is everyone's first go choice. Obviously a very versatile hull which could be practically used in every mode. Not forgetting the fact that I love XP.
 
As a Youtuber I know that Gold videos are the ones which go most popular on Tanki. Dictator is the king of golds.
 
________________________
 
Zues has beautiful deadly looks - it offers amazing protection against turrets which we see almost in every battle (Fire, Smoky and Freeze)
 
Taiga being my favorite paint as its that one paint which I have since a long time and it looks amazing.
 
Africa is a must - we see hammer and Vulcan in every battle these days  :blink:
 
JAG

 
@DEMONEKxD:
Picks: Smoky, Railgun, Thunder, Wasp, Hornet, Mammoth, Zeus, Tiger, Inferno

My choices are:

Turrets:
Smoky - Good balance between speed of reload and damage.
Railgun - Good damage and range.
Thunder - Good damage and splash.

Hulls:
Wasp - Very fast good to avoid shots.
Hornet - The best balance between speed/armour.
Mammoth - Stable good at defense.

Paints:
Zeus - Looks good. + Best Protection from Firebird
Tiger - Looks good. + Best Protection from Hammer
Inferno - Looks good. + Good Protection against Fire/Freeze

 
@DoubleSh0t:
Picks: Railgun, Ricochet, Hammer, Wasp, Hornet, Viking, Inferno, Rock, Clay.

Railgun- Most popular weapon in the game, I like playing format battles (XP/BP)
Ricochet- My first gun I had, I like it, its my favorite gun, its powerful and good.
Hammer- I havent got this gun for a long time, I got it couple of weeks ago
 
Wasp- I chose this hull because I like doing parkour with it.
Hornet- Probably my favorite hull in the game, as I said before I like playing XP/BP, you just cant have your garage without a hornet.
Viking- I like this hull, siutable with almost every weapon in the game
 
Inferno- Its paint is good for short-range battles, perfect for a 3 vs 3 or 4 vs 4 map, its looks are just amazing aswell.
Rock- For me twins is the most powerful weapon in the game, so I had to choose this paint, It had a decent protection against, Isida, Freeze and Hammer.
Clay- Protects you from the most popular Weapons in the game, this paint is just incredible.

 
►The Q&A Session◄
 
No Questions this issue! There's not enough being sent in! We want more!!!!! Any questions that pop into your head - send them here! Feel free to quiz us regarding issues that you feel experienced Generalissimos may be able to give light on or even just to see their opinion on certain subjects you want to know more about. Once again, we will pick up to 5 questions from those entered on the form below and answer them next issue. So send your questions in! PLEASEEEE! Anything?
 
Enter your questions here
 
► Ideas and Suggestions (Again Again Again...) ◄
 
Use your voice! We still want some ideas!
 
Thanks for reading!
Hog & Fen

Edited January 7, 2018 by Hexed

[classyplebs 1,786]

Loved it! <3

 

Helps nuba Gens like me that only got to the rank because of 100% SMP

Edited September 18, 2015 by classyplebs

[Tiramisu 172]

I always try to act as a bait during CTF battles. If I'm using viking, I rather like to attract opponents against me in order to allow a team-mate getting the flag with less enemies around him.

Also, I totally agree the tactic of using your own hull as a shield and obstacle: even when you die, your burnt and destroyed hull is still an obstacle for gunshots and for an eventual chasing by the opponents.

It's a sort of "sacrifice for the team", where you don't get points, but your role becomes essential.

[anuclearbomb 220]

 

I'm getting so so so so so tired of seeing folks out there on the battlefield think they're smart Tanki players because they can snipe well in Monte Carlo. Get a life. Put your tank on the line. Get rid of your pretty D/L. Help your team. Sheesh.

 

Hog & Fen

but i'm a sniper, it's my JOB to get a high D/L  cover my team mates, and stay in one spot.

[Quarks 2,255]

but i'm a sniper, it's my JOB to get a high D/L  cover my team mates, and stay in one spot.

Then it is my job to run at you with my railgun and annoy you. Or my thunder, or smoky, or ram you, and then shot your turret, Have fun :D

Alt+MAlt+N

[anuclearbomb 220]

 

 

Alt+MAlt+N

 

run, before it infects us all!

and what if i snipe with vulcan? or... firebird?

[rothro3 50]

I just entered the XP-BP world after tankers' day, and I was surprised at how many of the Gens never used their hull.  There was literally almost no blocking, deflecting or even use of corpses in the games I have played so far.  I kinda feel alone.  Too bad most players don't read the paper.

[The_Smoky_Project 25]

So, basically...

 

 

Appear strong when you are weak, and appear weak when you are strong.

 

                                                                                                            ~Sun Tzu

[Rad-Powered 1,694]

Nice read!

[AliceTreatPU 92]

Nice topic, really interesting :D Agree 100%, Good job

 

Just add tips about reading other mind.

Mind when u place mines.

1. Dont only place mines in near flag, study opponent attack well, and place on there.

Really useful against health pack player

2. If 1 mines is stepped by opponent drugger (or supplier :P),

about 80% he/she will step the mine on second time in that exact place :3

If he/she already get a second mine,

about 80% he/she will not step the mine in that exact place :3

He/she will try new route, mine that new route :3

If he/she already get a third mine, he/she will be a mad genius, hide at all cost :3

If u success living, u might get a love/censored massage in chat from your opponent :D

 

 

Reading mind is really make difference, if you do it well, you even unconsciously manipulating too.:3

Edited September 23, 2015 by AliceTreatPU

[Sleek 43]

I always try to act as a bait during CTF battles. If I'm using viking, I rather like to attract opponents against me in order to allow a team-mate getting the flag with less enemies around him.

Also, I totally agree the tactic of using your own hull as a shield and obstacle: even when you die, your burnt and destroyed hull is still an obstacle for gunshots and for an eventual chasing by the opponents.

It's a sort of "sacrifice for the team", where you don't get points, but your role becomes essential.

I don't even care what you said cuz ur my favorite dessert <3

[huddy_2002 81]

http://prntscr.com/8jk4cw Spelling....

[Real_Uchiha_Sasuke 189]

FOR ME

Turrets

Vulcan ( epic front line aider in most situations )

Thunder  ( mid field aider thing )

Freeze ( For box lock defence )

Hulls

Titan ( for vulcan and perfect defence )

Hornet ( For attacking and mid fielding )

Hunter ( For attacking and mid fielding )

Paints

Zeus ( for vulcan )

Africa ( For thunder )

Clay ( for rico )

 

these three combos = perfectness

[KIngJack21 1,923]

Need some strong steps against the mult players.
I have some of them here»→
http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?showtopic=283904

[epanastasi1821 80]

Nice piece about using your hull as a blocking weapon. It annoys the hell out of me when I am doing that and no one else on my team is. Perhaps this will help point people in the right direction.

[r_Soldier280 478]

Gizzimos will rule the world :C