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[Issue 52] A Guide to Stealth


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Night. The city of Kungur sleeps. Well, not exactly, since anyone actively driving a tank is probably not asleep, and any civilians there probably fled in terror when tanks started materializing out of nowhere and destroying each other. In any case, you're driving a Firebird-Hornet, a brutal close-range combination that can annihilate groups of enemies. You notice after spawning at the Red Team base that most of the enemy team is preoccupied with your teammates, who are busy engaging them on the right side of the map. You see an opportunity to sneak into the Blue Team base from the left- after all, most of your enemies will drive straight to where their (besieged) flag is, hoping to get there before your team's ludicrously effective drugging Isidas and Hammers do, and they won't be watching their flanks. Or backs, for that matter.

An easy task, you think. Your hands sweat coldly as you pop a Double Damage, pick up a Speed Boost, and drive out of the safe confines of your base, well on your way to wreak havoc.

Until you drive past a building and get one-shotted by a waiting Hammer.

You slam your keyboard furiously. 50 crystals down the drain. When you respawn, you end up on the right side of your base. Hungry for retribution, you pick up a Double Armor, activate a Double Damage, and storm over to where you died. "This guy won't get the drop on me twice", you think.

But on the way you get shot from the side, cutting your health in half. Furious once again, you press the worn-out 1 key on your keyboard, rapidly refilling your health. The enemy Hammer retreats behind the building behind the flag, keeping its turret at you in defiance. After picking up a Speed Boost, granting you the oh-so-powerful 234 drug combo, you drive over to the Hammer's hiding spot, ready to burn him/her to a crisp.

And then you get sniped by a Shaft hiding on the left border of your base that you didn't notice because you were so distracted.

Then you press the ESC key, click Yes, and ragequit.

 


Stealth isn't very common in Tanki. Most of what we see in ordinary battles is a camping Shaft hiding in bushes with a nice camouflage paint. That's stealth, sure, but only one type of it (I've already covered it in A Guide to Camouflage, now more than a year old!), and staying still in bushes isn't horribly useful for players on offense. This guide will teach you the best ways to infiltrate bases and stalk enemies, perfect for players who want to sneak in and grab a flag or destroy those unlucky enough to wander into their area.

Ever played a stealth-oriented game, like Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid? In the former, you can avoid detection by staying out of sight, hiding in shadow, or climbing on ceilings or walls, while in the latter, you can use camouflage, stay out of sight, or walk around in a cardboard box. Alas, there are no ceilings/walls to hang on (although I guess some parkourists would disagree) or cardboard boxes to hide in in Tanki, so we'll have to do with camouflage and staying out of sight.

Let's get camouflage over with. My previous guide to camouflage goes over this topic pretty in-depth, but it was written with camping in mind. If you plan on infiltrating enemy territory, you're going to be hiding at times, so camouflage isn't useless, but at the same time you're going to be moving (which reduces the benefits of camouflage) and doing so over varied terrain (so no paint will match perfectly with your environment at every time). In general, you should be using paints that have good protection (unless you're really confident in your abilities) and are not horribly conspicuous. For example, think of Urban. It doesn't blend in perfectly with grass/bushes due to the grey, and doesn't blend in perfectly with concrete due to the green, but it does not really stand out a whole lot on any sort of terrain- a tank with, say, In Love will be visible on any environment, so never use that. Yes, even the lovely INT Spring Showdown paint sticks out on a sore thumb.

When sneaking into enemy territory, make sure you hide behind cover and survey the area before you advance, especially if there are enemies nearby. For example, let's say I'm sneaking into the Red Team base on Kungur from its left side (my right). Take a look at this picture. The wall I'm hiding in is a nice spot for small hulls like Hornet or Wasp to hide in, and you will be invisible to enemies spawning at the base. Now that you're safe, look around for any enemies present, and make a decision on where to go accordingly. If the coast is clear, I might decide to go up the front ramp and enter the base that way. If there are enemies there, I might decide to drive around the perimeter and enter the base from the sides or back. Use your judgement.

Of course, no plan is perfect, and respawning enemies or unseen campers can easily complicate your plans (sometimes fatally). If I were to enter from the front, I'd stop by the red area to survey the place once again- remember to adjust your camera to get a good view the the interior of the base. If you see any enemies, use your judgement once again- if they haven't noticed you, just keep hiding behind the building and wait until they pass and you have an opening to enter. If not, floor the gas pedal and run in before anything has the opportunity to spot you. If I was sneaking in from the perimeter, I'd survey the base from the yellow spot before continuing my trip to the back or jumping in.

It's worth noting that you don't always have to stop to look around- turn your turret and adjust your camera angles (turning it upwards in particular lets you see past buildings and walls) while you're driving.

To sum the basics up:
-Don't use a paint that will give away your position easily
-Take a moment to look at your surroundings before you make your trip, you don't want to step on a hidden mine or get blown up by a camping Hammer, do you?
-Hide behind cover if an enemy gets close
-Remember to keep your eyes peeled for any threats that you haven't noticed, and constantly inspect your surroundings even when on the move.
 

 

Recommended Turrets and Hulls

 

Not all equipment is suitable for stealth missions. Let's talk about what you should and shouldn't use.

Your choice of turret should either kill quickly, be subtle, or both. Muzzle flash, explosions, and especially plasma balls will give away your position very easily, especially on night maps. You should not be using Twins, for example, since it takes many shots for it to kill something and every one of those rounds is glowing neon blue/violet/yellow/green. Vulcan is also a pretty bad choice since its stream of bullets and very audible sounds are not conductive to surprise attacks- it also doesn't kill exceptionally rapidly. On the other hand, Smoky doesn't kill particularly quickly, but it's quiet, has little muzzle flash, and doesn't produce huge explosions upon impact, making it a nifty stealth weapon in the right hands. Shaft is also very useful despite its laser sight since the laser beam can be hidden, and its low muzzle flash combined with its one-shot kill potential makes it a terrifying weapon for stealthy players- I regard Wasp-Shaft as the perfect stealth assassin. If you plan on using a close range weapon, Hammer is probably the most conductive to stealth since its shotgun pellets are less visible than the stream of napalm/freon/nanobots produced by Firebird, Freeze, and Isida, respectively. It is, however, very loud, so it can draw attention to yourself from your enemies if there are no Hammers on the enemy team (if they hear your shots, they will know it's an hostile Hammer).

If you don't plan on remaining stealthy for long (e.g. if you're sneaking in to grab a flag or to just go on rampages), your choice of turret is less important since blowing your cover has less repercussions. If you're planning on doing that, just take whatever works best for you.

Now for the hulls. This is more simple. You should use something that's fast and not conspicuous. Naturally, Wasp and Hornet are suited for stealth missions, since they have small profiles and are fast enough to move between cover rapidly. I personally like to roll with Hornet since it's better in a direct fight if you get caught, but if you like using Wasp, then all the more power to you. Hunter and Viking are maybe OK for stealth purposes since they're not horrifically slow and have more health, but I would rather use ditch stealth and go for more active playstyles with those two tanks. And while I adore Dictator as a heavy assault tank, it's really bad for stealth due to its huge hitbox.

Oh, and you should ideally not be using heavy hulls for stealth, since they are really slow and can be spotted easily.

Other notes:

 

  • Buildings make great cover, but you need to readjust your position to hide from advancing enemies. Take a look at this image. My tank is safe from being seen by foes in the large red zone just in front of the ramp, but I would be seen if someone decided to head to the large green zone. To remain unseen, I would drive to the small green zone to the right of the building. Same goes for the large and small orange zones. Really, just use your head.
  • It's hard to stay unseen when enemies know you're there. Let's say I was camping at the building in the previous image. If I destroyed someone there once, they would know to either avoid that area or storm over and try to destroy me. To remain stealthy, I would leave the area and maybe hide in the place under the bridge, close to the Speed Boost drop zone, and attack them from behind as they search for me pointlessly at the building.
  • Note that enemies can also change their camera angles to find you even if you're behind cover. If you are discovered several times and your opponents grow wary, your stealth will be a lot less effective. If that's the case, I recommend that you ditch your stealth equipment, switch to a devastating assault combination, and obliterate them with superior firepower while they're busy searching for ghosts. That's not subtle at all, sure, but it's a unexpected tactic that can catch your opponents by surprise. And doesn't that sound a little like stealth....

That's it for this article. Did you have trouble reading this? Don't worry, I'll make it readable and adjust the formatting once the April Fool's celebrations are over. Hopefully you learned a thing or two for this. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Edited by Flexoo
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Awesome guide TKP.

 

Hint: if you guys think that this article is empty; you're wrong. Just quote the front page and you will see the text written in black and enjoy reading!

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Awesome guide TKP.

 

Hint: if you guys think that this article is empty; you're wrong. Just quote the front page and you will see the text written in black and enjoy reading!

No need to quote, just highlight it

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What the hell is this all I see is a blank background...

EDIT: surely posting text in THAT color violates forum rules

Edited by bossman161

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