Other [Issue 55] Smeargle: Pacifist's Route (Day 1)

[Shedinja 1,488]

 

We all understand that the basis of Tanki Online's (and, coincidentally, most other video games) play structure revolves around three critical points: kill, die, and repeat. Juxtapose most modern games together, and you'll notice the only real variation being the way they go about killing, dying, and repeating. It's become a common theme, due to being relatively easy to follow and construct. Imagine, though... what if one of these revered steps was removed?

 

Repetition is a necessary, immovable base of games that does not find itself pliable. Without repetition, one can never fully understand how a game is played, and therefore, ruin the overall purpose of games.

 

Death is inevitable. No matter how 'pro' you may claim to be, or how many health boxes or double armors you use, or how many times you leave a battle and rejoin just so you don't have to self-destruct, you are going to die. If tankers didn't, then no one would be able to make progress, making for a rather boring game.

 

But what about killing? Is this always a required trope for Tanki Online?

 

I consider it to be of high importance, but not entirely required.

 

 

 

TotalPacifist

 

I wasn't the first one to believe this was a possibility. Once upon a time, after the implementation of a revolutionary turret known as Isida, a player named TotalPacifist decided to test a theory after studying how this machine works. His mission was to make it to the highest rank (at the time, it was Marshal) without ever killing another tank. Now, this seems a bit of a far-fetched task in a land where everyone's primary goal was to kill, die, repeat.

 

However, lo and behold, he managed to make it to Captain before vanishing into obscurity. Now, Captain requires 332,000 experience points to reach, so considering that plenty of completely normal killing machines decide to quit before this point, I have to admit that making it this far without harming another machine is quite an impressive feat.

 

Of course, times have changed since way back when, and I'm certain that he's not the only fella to have tried this out. Multiple updates have occurred, such as the rank jump to Generalissimo, the redaction of the option to buy experience points, smart cooldowns, new weapons, and new map varieties and play styles. All of these could pose a nigh insurmountable obstacle to anyone who dare tried to act as the proverbial lamb dropped into the lion's den...

 

 

 

My Mission

 

...but, being the absolute ignoramus that I am, I've decided to test the durability of my own statement anyways by conducting a large scale experiment that follows in TotalPacifist's footsteps. The ultimate goal of said experiment is to make it to Generalissimo without ever destroying another player.

 

And here I was, thinking that fighting players with a weapon at my disposal was quite the challenge. This is gonna be a blast.

 

 

 

Smeargle

 

To start this mission, obviously, I'd have to start a new account. For standard control group's sake, I could not buy crystals or anything of the sort for this account; it had to be entirely natural, as I would assume it would grow under any other circumstance. Sales and other events were to be treated as normal, and would in no way affect my gameplay tactics or strategies.

 

In order to determine what would increase my chances of survival the most, I needed to pick a hull that suited my goals best. Since I'm to be paired with Isida in order to have any chance at gathering points, I'd need a hull that could work well with it. In conjunction with being able to move from teammate to teammate quickly, I'd also need to be able to find cover fast and recover flags in desperate kamikaze missions. It's not like I'm going for a good D/L, here. May as well try to be somewhat useful offensively. So, for concise movement and rapid transportation, I deemed Wasp the best candidate.

 

As for the name... well, you know. I'm a sucker for Pokemon, alright.

 

 

Some of you out there might have already figured out why I chose this fella, and kudos to those who did.     ^_^

 

To those that didn't, it's primarily a support Pokemon in competitive matches, really only capable of aiding its teammates since it's fast and can learn just about every move in the game, but having notably poor offensive and defensive statistics.

 

 

 

The First Day

 

Starting the account was the easiest part, next to buying M0 Wasp. It wasn't too hard to add two micro-upgrades to the hull and analyze the road that lies ahead. I looked at the turrets and stopped on M0 Isida, the likes of which requiring a down payment of 1,800 crystals and 7,100 experience points. None of the starter kits available at the moment (Universal Soldier, Yin Yang, etc.) held Isida anyways, so there was no point to looking towards those for future supplement.

 

What I needed to do in order to reach Isida was gather points without harming people. From what I've gathered, this can only be done through capturing flags or control points in their respective match types.

 

Looking back at my Wasp, I discovered that I was rather vulnerable to Railguns and Shafts due to my low health, but I decided to opt out of buying Forester immediately. I figured waiting for something that could handle both would be a better use of my time, possibly Dirty or Chainmail. The thought occurred that I may have trouble with close ranged weapons if I'm not careful, too, but those are more easily dodged in a Wasp. 

 

After waiting for step two to finish and starting three, I headed to the nearest Aleksandrovsk I could find.

 

The first thing I noticed was the sheer number of players there. I automatically assumed it would be more difficult for me to capture flags without attracting attention from someone. Surely enough, a wall of angry Firebirds flicked my Holiday-clad machine away before I could even breathe on their flag.

 

It took a few arduous minutes before I finally found a breach in their defenses, swiping a flag from under a rather slow-minded Mammoth/Thunder's big, metal nose. Unfortunately, someone grabbed a flag on my side before I could return, so I had to go into hiding for a bit before I could finally capture the flag and pick up my points.

 

 

(Shout out to RailBroPro for getting rid of that pesky Twins that kept taking the flag. Thanks dude!)

 

Since I wasn't quite capable of doing anything else except shoving the living tar out of enemy Hunters leaning precariously on cliffs (they were surprisingly easy targets to bowl over, at that), I made it my mission to be wherever the flag was, or at least where it was going to be. I've spent my fair share of time lurking behind the red team's plethora of buildings, prepared to dive for the flag once it reappeared on its point.

 

However, no matter where on the map I seemed to be, my teeny tank was constantly plagued by things I couldn't handle from a distance: Railguns and Shafts. Just as I had predicted, they took every opportunity they could to take potshots at me, and there was literally nothing I could do in return besides desperately take blind corners to stay out of their sights. Occasionally, I would net myself a free pass to move from one hiding spot to the next unscathed when I would peep the end of my hull out, feigning flight and causing an inexperienced Railgunner to discharge early, only for me to pop right back in as they fired. They soon waited for me as I swept their base for flags, ripping through my small frame whenever I decided I wanted to get some points.

 

In the end, we managed to do rather well, with I scoring a decent number of the flags caught (since I couldn't really do anything else, as mentioned above). I left shortly after the second round began, however, as the Firebirds that were irking me before realized that I was not in the least bit threatening with my vestigial Smoky and began to chase me all over the map.

 

 

Seeking solace from the burning platoon, I decided to try my hand at a different CTF, this one a bit more close ranged and easier to manage hit-'n-run missions: Farm. I figured the size of Aleksandrov was what was keeping me from being effective as a flag carrier, considering my enemies could hunt me down with range at ease, so this would be the solution to those problems.

 

Boy, was I mistaken.

 

I forgot my own Laws of Map Relativity:

• LAW I: In relation to the size of the map, the hull durability increases and decreases inversely.
• LAW II: In relation to the size of the map, the range of the turrets increases and decreases congruently.
• LAW III: In relation to the size of the map, the density of weapons with a high CDR (cumulative damage rate) increases and decreases congruently. 

So, the smaller the map is, the heavier the hulls get, right? It didn't really matter to me much, since I couldn't kill anyone anyways.

 

The smaller the map gets, the number of Railguns, Shafts and things like that were supposed to go down. Essentially, this was my ace in the hole to score lots of points without impediment.

 

However, I seemed to have forgotten about Law III. Y'know, the one stating that Twins, Firebirds and Vulcans would be crawling all over the place.

 

Oops.

 

If I thought I was role-playing as a member of a floating chrysanthemum before, I would never have been prepared for the sheer uselessness of my position on this team. When they realized I wasn't shooting, they saw a huge neon sign above my head blare "PLEASE, ERASE MY EXISTENCE FROM THE PLANET AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE, THANK YOU." I was completely unable to snatch flags after the first five minutes, as I was hopelessly pinned behind both entrances to the other side of the arena.

 

 

I couldn't fare well offensively or defensively after the first few flags were swiped. My teammates were in no mood to let me aside to grab the flags, either; the Mammoths and Vikings were too focused on trying to snail their way to the flag first, and I was growing weary of driving through their trails just to watch them crumple under the sheer number of Vulcan and Twins bullets being launched at them because they were too slow to escape.

 

However, late in the game, I managed to slip through their defenses when both Hornet/Firebirds decided they were tired of camping at their flag and wanted to bring the fight to our side. It was interesting to see the Hunter/Twins perk up the moment I hit the flag spawn point, but he was far too late to start launching any kind of assault on me. 

 

Once I returned to base, I stumbled across an unforgiving realization: Wasps are great at bringing the flag back, but they're terrible at holding onto it. Of course, I wouldn't dare leave the flag to my nimrod teammates (the Mammoth/Twins had decided he wanted to be even less useful and transform to Wasp), so I spent a good amount of time trying to hide from my assailants in a vain hope that my allies would breach their side and return our flag.

 

 

But, believe it or not, they somehow wound up pulling through after all, and I managed to swipe about four more flags from them over the next fifteen minutes. By the end of the match, we had almost pulled ourselves out of the slump we were stuck in, but it wasn't quite enough. My D/L was painful to look at for someone who tries to set 2.00s as a standard.

 

 

I wasn't accumulating points at near the speed I wanted. Not having the use of a turret severely ******ed my capability to defend myself when I was attempting to break through an opposing siege, much less act as a viable teammate in general. If Claws were available for players of that rank, I'm sure the total crystals spent on sending me a less-than-friendly message would have been more than enough to pay for M0 Isida off the bat twice over.

 

Then I remembered that there's a second way to gather points without killing anyone: Control Points. After attaching a third micro-upgrade to Wasp, I searched the battle lobby for a multi-point CP. I figured that having several targets would ease the offensive pressure on me, allowing me to take a more mobile standpoint from control point to control point.

 

While these were a bit more of a rarity, I managed to find a suitable Rio CP. And at that moment, I discovered that under the right circumstances, gathering points on one of these is a breeze. When players of the opposite team sweep forward, trying to collect as many points as possible, I would easily be able to slip behind them and rewind their efforts with relative ease. Even when I was found out, I could always jump to another point without very much difficulty.

 

 

Essentially, when all of the balances are set in just the right way, multi-point CPs could be a proverbial gold mine. However, this wasn't always the case, since circumstances fluctuated rapidly in matches like these. The number of players and their skill levels have to be similar through a very unforgiving spectrum; if my opponents were too skilled, they could easily quash resistances that my admittedly less capable allies would dare to rectify. Typically, this would be no problem, as I could use Smoky to start a war of attrition, but not being able to shoot rendered me just as defenseless as the rest of them.

 

Secondly, if the opposing team was notably weaker than my own, I'd be hard-pressed to gather points here, too. In a reverse situation of the one I just described above, all of the points would be taken by my side, meaning I couldn't use them to accumulate experience. More often than not, I found myself using a hiding spot or vantage point to watch my enemies claim one point, and once witnessing their capture, sneaking around them to find it again before they decided to return. Much of the time, the match was a seesaw effort between my enemies picking up points and my allies and I erasing their progress.

 

 

I knew the gold mine would begin to run dry once either team started gaining notable momentum. After one side declares their dominance over the other, it was a rare event for me to gather any useful experience points, even less so being able to capture a point single-handedly. I was beginning to have trouble even staying at a point long enough to flip the switch to uncaptured.

 

Essentially, if the team balances don't match a certain set of parameters, it would prove difficult to accumulate anything useful there without the use of a weapon. What's more is that in every circumstance, there are plenty of opportunities to pick up a few extra points from tankers just begging to be killed.

 

 

However, when everything is set under a perfect environment, there are many points to be made. For someone that was incapable of inflicting bodily harm, I've still somehow made it pretty high on the scoreboards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the end of the day, I was becoming rather sick of pinning my hopes on my allies to accomplish things. I was forced to rely upon them in situations where they were more likely than not incapable, such as killing a lurking Vulcan/Hornet on a point or returning the flag to spare me ten minutes of hiding. (No joke, that's how long I'd typically wait for someone to try and return our flag at times.) But, having only my hull at my disposal, I was capable of aiding none of their efforts; I couldn't even lay a mine to defend myself from potential pursuers. Many instances came and passed where I bit my tongue to keep from yelling at the screen in futility.

 

I studied what micro-upgrades would be necessary for the road ahead. Since Wasp is unlocked at a relatively early point (Sergeant-major), I figured maybe four or five upgrades maximum would do the trick. I'd only have a 250 crystal deficit plus the extra hundred I spent on buying the hull, and despite my slow going, I've been accumulating a sufficient amount of coinage anyways.

 

 

Thus far, the pacifistic route has proven to be rather grueling at times, but still a neat experience. Most of the time, I've been totally dependent on my teammates to accomplish everything, only able to cling to the coattails of their success. I'm banking on the hope that once I reach Isida, I could not only gather points at a much less sluggish pace, but become a valued member of any team I join. Once the tool is available to me, in addition to gaining a wider variety of tactics in CTFs and CPs, I would also be able to partake in the gamestyle that suits Isida to a tee: TDMs.

 

Now, if you haven't read the Isida dedicated sections in my What To Buy? guides (M0, M1, M2 and M3, respectively. Yep, leave it to Sheddi to go for shameless free advertising), I'd suggest to do so at some point; many of the points I bring up in those partitions revolve around how awe-inspiringly effective Isida has been in TDMs. I'm certain once I gain access to this piece of nanotechnology, I'd be able to push teams to victory almost every single time without fail if I play my cards right. Let's face it: a Titan/Vulcan with nigh infinite health is an incredibly difficult opponent to conquer, wouldn't you agree?

 

By the next issue, I will have already picked up Isida and have begun truly testing the waters of a "kill 'em with kindness" campaign. Hopefully, I can reveal a few interesting points that aren't readily apparent to those who haven't walked in TotalPacifist's shoes (erm, treads). Until next time, folks.

 

 

Part Two Here

 

.

 

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by Hexed

[eefschietscheef 246]

I know a First Third Lieutenant with less deaths than I believe he's called @9IRK

Edited July 30, 2016 by eefschietscheef

[falcosenna1 8,320]

I know a First Lieutenant with less deaths than I believe he's called 9irk

He has 294 deaths right now. :P

 

Interesting article. It must be so hard to not kill opponents when you're able to do so. :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

 

 

:o  :ph34r:  :ph34r:  :ph34r:

 

Edited July 29, 2016 by falcosenna1

[Quarks 2,255]

2 things I would like to mention 1.) Lol, smeargle, I got that reference(poke nerds 4 life), and 2.) You only said you could not KILL another tank, however, that does not technically include damage before death, and getting exp for that.

[Shedinja 1,488]

2 things I would like to mention 1.) Lol, smeargle, I got that reference(poke nerds 4 life), ^_^ and 2.) You only said you could not KILL another tank, however, that does not technically include damage before death, and getting exp for that. While that's fairly true, it would be ridiculously difficult to deal the damage without risking accidentally killing someone. It's not practical for accumulating points when it's evident that healing other tanks without risk is a more reliable solution.

[androidb7 177]

 

:o  :ph34r:  :ph34r:  :ph34r:

 

Lol I noticed that too

 

Where'd that one kill come from?

 

Also, @Shedinja, how long r u planning to be working on this for? It'll take like 1 or 2 years to get to generalissimo unless u play like 6 hours a day on this account every day...

Edited July 30, 2016 by androidb7

[marc.jp_44 20,837]

I'd like to see how many DD's he lands up with at Gen. Also, he can't get any DM Missions or he's stuffed! :lol:

[Blackdrakon30 2,943]

:D  I'm just going to say that the title made my day. Spore/Dark Void + Sticky Web tactics for life.  :lol:

Edited July 31, 2016 by Blackdrakon30

[Shedinja 1,488]

:D  I'm just going to say that the title made my day. Spore/Dark Void + Sticky Web tactics for life.  :lol:

Spore + Tail Glow/Agility + Baton Pass. Always my favorite when using Eviolite Trace Porygon2 or Air Balloon HP Fire Probopass. Their more-than-ample defenses make a sweep possible with some special attack investment. ^_^

[VaudeVille 1,428]

Who did murder? Who is this innocent soul you ruthlessly slaughtered?

[GHOST68INVINCIBLE 152]

Who did murder? Who is this innocent soul you ruthlessly slaughtered?

Illuminati? :ph34r:

[Shedinja 1,488]

Who did murder? Who is this innocent soul you ruthlessly slaughtered?

There's another article coming out next month, it'll be explained then. I had this idea a considerable time ago, resulting in both articles being created around the same time. However, for continuity purposes, I decided to hold off from posting them both all at once, letting them take a series-like posture.

[dude10-tanki 2]

He got so many deaths and no kills but he still got so many to go and he won't gain ranks by just capturing flags.

Edited August 2, 2016 by dude10-tanki

[TTK_229 1,080]

Bruh, his name was AbsolutePacifist.

[bryanchua 33]

Lol he killed somone

[PauliusDaOne_Jr 7]

this article is a troll

[kydapoot 570]

Wow. I'm impressed by your progress and all the details you have gathered. Oddly enough, I had tried this before I read this article. I screwed up. I will now recount the sad but informative story of my very strange and now retired alter-ego: IKillNobody.

 

I was inspired to do this by the same tanker you were after reading about him in the wiki or forum sonewhere and so I decided to give it a shot. 1,400,000 experience points without killing. How hard could it be?

Turns out, seemingly not hard at all once I figured some strategies out. Here they are, and may they help you all:

-Use wasp primarily because it can escape enemies and run with flags

-Use titan for CP's. You wont last long otherwise without defending yourself. Mammoth is too slow, it gets killed before getting anywhere.

-Buy twins because its cheap, rotates quickly, and is unlikely to kill anyone upon accidentally firing.

-Once you can, buy vulcan. It is then virtually impossible to accidentally shoot someone due to the firing delay.

-For CTF's: Go one way lr the other, but not in the middle: Either a big battle that you sometimes get lucky or outsmart the enemy and capture occasionally for lots of XP or small ones where its very easy to capture but with smaller rewards.

-For CP's: Maps with lots of points and lots of platers are best.

-Missions are an excellent source of supplies and crystals. Change destrow tanks and target boxes, flags, and points. Earn XP and finishing first missions are hard.

-If you do the whole damage before death thing, be careful. You sometimes arent looking when they get damaged and so could kill them accidentally. I don't recommend it.

-I did not reach this point (see the story's continuation below), but get isida as soom as possible.

-I also didnt get here, but use the chat. Get some friends to help you out and maybe some enemies to give you a break.

-Keep your head and think. Not doing this is why I retired IKillNobody. Dont ever get flustered and accidentally go into kill mode.

Thats is exactly what happened. I had been playing on this account for a while and when I returned to IKillNobody I wasn't thinking about not killing and so mindlessly kilked another tank even though I had vulcan.

 

One silly mistake, and it was all over.

 

I would have started again but I wouldn't have time because of school, so currently I am just kydapoot.

 

Good luck on your quest!

Edited August 11, 2016 by kydapoot

[studyacc051203 5]

This is an amazing idea! On my last account I gave up Isida because although I loved the idea of being the adamant war time nurse in WW3, aka hour long Massacre CTFs, but my skill wasn't improving with the turret and my D/L was shaming me. But I'm going to try this out, and see how far I go. And this way, my ego doesn't get hurt when I fail at running away! Thanks for the idea, and I'm sorry it didn't work out for you

[kydapoot 570]

Thanks, and I hope my advice helps. I will most likely try this again at some point, but I have difficulty managing even one account during the school year so it'll be a while. Im glad to see that I'm not the only one that does weird things like this in tanki. :)

[Goshy-the-man 0]

If u look at the Profile there is one kill!!!!! so does that mean u failed? Plz tell us what happened.

thanks.

[Shedinja 1,488]

If u look at the Profile there is one kill!!!!! so does that mean u failed? Plz tell us what happened.

thanks.

There's another article coming out next month, it'll be explained then. I had this idea a considerable time ago, resulting in both articles being created around the same time. However, for continuity purposes, I decided to hold off from posting them both all at once, letting them take a series-like posture.