[Issue 56] Smeargle: Pacifist's Route (Days 2 - 10)

[Shedinja 1,488]

 

Day 1 and Introduction Here

 

For the first painful hours of Smeargle's existence, initial hardships and irks foreshadowing the road ahead have sobered me and revealed the full gravity of my task. Functioning without a weapon has already proven incredibly difficult. I mean, it's called Tanki Online, for goodness' sake, not Rocket League, so I suppose I should have known what was coming. Despite my expectations, though, it really has been a rocky road.

 

However, I have finally earned this project's saving grace: M0 Isida. 

 

---

 

With this machine in my arsenal, I can finally begin executing the original purpose of this experiment without the hassle. Frankly, if I was to try and go for the truly weaponless run for the duration of the test, I'd be doomed to wander the maps forever as a Sergeant. It took 5.6 hours of continuous play in order to cross the threshold of 7,100 experience points and claim my third stripe. Take into account all of the headache inducing factors that make or more frequently break a match, I would have lost my mind after a week.

 

The first day was a unique experience all its own, warranting its partition as completely separate article. If you missed the "Day 1 Here" underneath the title logo, then you can click here to take a look at my first few hours playing as a pacifist. However, the following days are more likely to blend with similarity due to consistent use of one tool, granted, this time around with more function than the useless Smoky I wandered about with before.

 

Anyways, the system I will follow to depict a day's events is shown below.

 

         I.) I will play on the account once a day or so.

         II.) After a few matches, I will record any new finds or phenomena.

         III.) Alongside these, I will record the fluctuation of my crystals and experience points.

         IV.) I will take a screenshot of a match best suiting the data I uncover and place it with the respective day.

 

Granted, I understand that some of the days may blend together; while every day is a unique new experience, at some point, there are guaranteed to be areas of repetition. I will try my best to avoid saying the same things over again, but frankly, there's only so much that can be said about this playstyle. Until I run out of consistent new material, this is the route I'll be taking to describe the lifestyle of a pacifistic player.

 

---

---

 

Day 2

 

Crystal Count: 982

Experience Count: 8905/12300

Current Rank: Sergeant

Time Played: 1.4 hours

 

End Result: -868 cry, +2368 exp, +1.4h

 

v v v NOTES v v v

After a few grueling hours of banging my head against a wall in an Esplanade CP, desperately pushing other boorish Hunters aside to gain experience, I finally ranked up to Sergeant (adding 700 crystals to my wallet) earned my brand new Isida, so I decided to add a few micro upgrades to it. For a grand total of 2150 (1800+350 in upgrades), it's now running at 30.7 health recovered per tic; that is, 61.4 per second. Chances are that I may leave it at that number; a payment of 160 only makes the number increase by 0.1, only boosting the CDR (cumulative damage rate) to 61.6. Not exactly game changing, there.

 

I've made my first few allies in a different variation of Esplanade, this time TDM. Like I stated in my original article, this match style is fan-tas-tic for an Isida, and the points were abundant. Granted, I was expecting a bit more per medic task, but I suppose it doesn't really matter. I'll reach my end goal soon enough.

 

Remember that comment I made about a Titan/Vulcan and infinite health?

 

It's pretty close to true.

 

Izzat03 may not have hit everything, but by golly, it was sure hard for Shafts to take him down while I was around. Speaking of Shafts, there were many on Esplanade that day, fighting for both sides. It was interesting to watch them coordinate with each other with their shot timing. Nothing was making it past that rooftop without their say so.

 

Logically, they declined visitors.

 

On another note, I received a three hour Premium pass from the experience I gathered patching up other tanks in that TDM. I made good use of it today through pulling myself close to the thousand crystal mark once again.

 

 

Day 3

 

Crystal Count: 1374

Experience Count: 10354/12300

Current Rank: Sergeant

Time Played: 3.1 hours

 

End Result: +392 cry, +1449 exp, +1.7h

 

v v v NOTES v v v

Instead of tracking injured souls at a TDM, I figured trying my hand at a CTF might be a good option, so I found the nearest Future map and joined the blue team, of which was losing 2-6.

 

While their offensive game was faring well, my team had next to no defense, cutting my responsibilities in half. Albeit, this seems like an excellent option to begin with, but it was really only leaving me the harder choice of chasing the Hornet/Freezes engaged in stealing the flag.

 

Though I was able to keep DeathsRow, the3rddiamond and ethalaw900 alive for considerable amounts of time when on the offensive, it was only a matter of time before their Speed Boosted hulls outpaced me and left me incapable of further repair, the nearby Hammers and Isidas deemed me more threatening than the flag thief and destroyed me, or they wound up destroying the tank I was trying to protect anyways due to my Isida running out of charge.

 

Frankly, at this rank, many players don't seem to have their priorities straight. I understand that many players are new to this game, but Capture The Flag is a well recognized game around the world in various environments. A caveman could figure out that all you have to do is get in and get out, no strings attached. Kills essentially just get players out of the way.

 

I wish sometimes that the chat was available before Master Sergeant. I'd be able to efficiently organize the team, then. I know it seems selfish but frankly, the only way I'll have a chance at gaining any points at all is if the team around me is capable.

 

For Missions, I managed to hammer out two CTF-based options, granting me 150 crystals, 2 Double Powers, and 3 Speed Boosts. I had to jump to a Tribute in order to attempt to claim the last one (which would've added 3 Double Powers and 2 Speed Boosts to my arsenal), but everyone decided to leave halfway through it, leaving my 300 experience point quota unsatisfied. On the subject of supplies, I deem it necessary for the bare minimum number of supplies I must have in each category to be in the double digits; that is, they cannot go below ten under any normal circumstances.

 

In the event of a gold box falling or something like that (I don't expect to capture any past Sergeant-major, due to my Wasp being very insignificant in terms of power, not having a recoil weapon, and not wanting to risk accidentally killing someone by healing the tank pile), I want to have a small collection of supplies available and ready. The rest I can use at will.

 

 

Day 4

 

Crystal Count: 1701

Experience Count: 11752/12300

Current Rank: Sergeant

Time Played: 4.4 hours

 

End Result: +327 cry, +1398 exp, +1.3h

 

v v v NOTES v v v

As a completely pacifistic player, one can easily discover that they are only as useful as their teammates are.

 

Now, this may seem rather obvious, considering that someone who cannot attack other players is clearly reliant on their allies to get anything done. But to someone who is used to taking the front lines by storm with Wasp and Railgun, the speed and precision of which my allies try to accomplish things is unbearably poor at times. More of the time than not, my allies were more of an impediment than my enemies, which is a fairly bold statement considering that I'm a free kill for whoever decides to go out of their way to get me.

 

What's more, not only are my allies working against me, but the Missions weren't too kind to me, either, only offering a miserable shipment of Speed Boosts. I couldn't even use them properly, due to the maps I played today (Esplanade and Sepurhov) having either wide open spaces that I had no reason to navigate unless I suddenly sprouted suicidal tendencies, or tiny passages that clogged faster than an airport security check at 5 pm when the team tried to squeeze through.

 

This was especially irritating at Esplanade, where one miscalculated tread placement could send an unprepared Wasp onto its side at any given moment.

 

The average player at my rank is rather slow on the uptake with events, typically requiring a one and a half second reaction time to deal with anything. This was enough to leave them in pieces by anyone who saw them first. Granted, this was a great buff for me since I was an Isida, but then the same fella who was trying to tackle the Hornet/Thunder nearby would turn on me and proceed to finish us both off.

 

Frankly, at this rank, allied Isidas aren't quite appreciated enough to protect. People nearby would rather let the enemies crush the medic to add a few extra seconds to their lifespan instead of taking the brunt of the attacks for the Isida and letting them heal indefinitely.

 

 

Day 5

 

Crystal Count: 3066

Experience Count: 13710/20000

Current Rank: Staff Sergeant

Time Played: 5.7 hours

 

End Result: +1365 cry, +1958 exp, +1.3h

 

v v v NOTES v v v

After dealing with some of the most incapable Brest CTFers that I've ever come across and even less capable Polygon CPers, I finally tore the threshold between the ranks and brought myself up to Staff Sergeant, adding a lovely buff of 740 crystals to my wallet. Granted, this isn't very useful at the moment, but once I rank up three more times, I'll be able to jump straight to M1 Wasp and Isida at once.

 

Frankly, Wasp has already started giving me problems in terms of its durability; while it can take advantage of its speed to outpace opponents and avoid many close ranged encounters, this lil' RC car cannot take a hit from a Shaft at even half-charge, and Railguns have a high chance of 1-hit-KOing it. (This is especially true for those tankers that micro-upgrade their Railgun for the very purpose of decimating early M0 Wasps.)

 

However, being small and fast allows you to hide behind larger tanks, a tactic that can not only save your life, but the larger one's as well so long as you heal them consistently. As a pacifistic player, I can't attack them directly, so I try winding the key of a machine that can - that is, my bulky Viking/Twins buddy who very much appreciates the extra life. Shout out to m4_isida for tearing apart everyone desperately trying to clip my wings.

 

 

Day 6

 

Crystal Count: 3381

Experience Count: 15548/20000

Current Rank: Staff Sergeant

Time Played: 7.2 hours

 

End Result: +315 cry, +1838 exp, +1.5h

 

v v v NOTES v v v

Well, it's reassuring to know that the missions generator has a sense of humor. It dangles a three hour premium pass in front of me, but alas, I have no means of grabbing it. Disappointment in a nutshell. I guess I'll have to settle for a mine that I'll never use and a pair of Speed Boosts.

 

While playing a bunch of Polygon CPs, I made another discovery, this one more painful than many of my previous. We all know that Isida, Smoky, Hammer, Twins, Ricochet, and Vulcan are not piercing weapons -- that is, they can't hit a tank through another tank. Then, there are the weapons that do have piercing damage: Firebird, Freeze, Thunder, Railgun and Shaft. While Thunder isn't quite a piercing weapon, it does have a pseudo-capability in being able to hit one target and leaving the splash radius to damage any other tanks in the vicinity. Railgun and Shaft have diminishing piercing power, or power that goes down by a certain percentage per tank.

 

However, Firebird and Freeze have absolutely no trouble with clumps of enemies, as their sprays allow them to hit every single one in a single burst. This would be the Achilles' heel to my strategy of using a bigger tank for cover.

 

To boot, M1 Firebirds are everywhere at this stage. Even worse, they don't even need a full second to end my life; with 40.6 raw damage at stock purchase level, it only takes about 3/4ths of a second to take me from full health to a pile of cinders.

 

Take this factor in conjunction with my need to release the space bar before I die in order to receive points for healing, and you'll quickly realize I'm going to get nowhere fast.

 

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to drop Polygon CPs from my playing list for now.

 

However, the following Aleksandrovsk CTF matches were somewhat rewarding. I managed to keep one of the Viking/Shafts alive for quite some time, of whom made great strides to defend our base.

 

 

Hello darkness, my old friend.

 

 

Day 7

 

Crystal Count: 3756

Experience Count: 17199/20000

Current Rank: Staff Sergeant

Time Played: 8.5 hours

 

End Result: +375 cry, +1651 exp, +1.3h

 

v v v NOTES v v v

Remember what I said yesterday about piercing weapons? About how Firebird and Freeze have absolutely no issue with fighting through my player-shield?

 

Well, I may or may not have found a solution.

 

The trick lies within a ramp, with a fellow tanker before you (preferably something heavy, like Titan/Hammer or Mammoth/Twins) and you at the horizontal end of said ramp. Manipulate the heavy to climb the slant and proceed to fire from there, and when they get low on health, they'll come crawling back to you for more health if they're under fire. This works better if you're fighting uphill, but if the downhill ramp is short enough and the other tank stays close enough to you, you can nip the tail ends of the huge machines and let them do their magic.

 

The beauty of this tactic is that it gives the onslaught of Firebirds and Freezes one of two options: either try to spray them from their altitude of flat ground (which, typically, will lead to the waiting game), or they'll try to come down to you and attack. They'll damage the buddy's hull, no problem, but you won't have a scratch if you're behind the nearby cliff face or far enough back.

 

Essentially, the little shielded spots beneath or above cliffs have become my number one haunt when I decide to stop chasing my friends around the map. I've already held plenty of final lines of defense with this tactic in Gravity and Sandbox, and this allows Polygon to become a viable option once more. (That's also how I met my new pal, Eternus. ^_^) Now I just need to figure out how to dodge those blasted Thunders effectively...

 

​Also, I finally received my Nurse achievement today. I, for one, think 10k experience in a week isn't too bad for someone who can't kill anyone.

 

 

Day 8

 

Crystal Count: 4552

Experience Count: 18915/20000

Current Rank: Staff Sergeant

Time Played: 10 hours

 

End Result: +796 cry, +1716 exp, +1.5h

 

v v v NOTES v v v

I'm glad I chose Wasp over Hornet as Smeargle's hull, and here's why.

 

While Hornet may have more health than Wasp, ensuring a hit from a stock M0 Railgun will not kill it, Wasp has an ace in the hole with its excellent driving precision. Sporting little to no drift, the little tank is able to weave through crowds of other tanks with much less difficulty than a Hornet.

 

Secondly, the placement of the turret on the hull is more advantageous on Wasp than it is on Hornet. The turret is placed directly in the center of Hornet's hull, keeping a stable center to the machine. However, with Wasp, the hull is on the back of the tread set. This allows for a variation as to how much of your hull you expose when fighting from behind a wall. This detail is vitally important when it comes to Smeargle, since I can minimize the amount of exposure my tank has to the battlefield, while simultaneously suffering no drawback from lacking a recoil weapon to offset the balance of Wasp.

 

Granted, there are times where I wish I did in fact have some sort of recoil. My Wasp has been upended countless times by impact from Shaft and Railgun shots during travel on rough terrain (assuming they don't wind up killing me), tankers pushing me on slopes, or just on my own faults. 

 

On another note, I've been considering buying the Vampire kit once it becomes available again. My coinage right now is far from sufficient, but quickly having access to both of my desired M1s and a paint and module that can ease my fight against Freezes could go far in helping me rack up points quicker. I've seemed to average ±200 experience points per 15 minute match, and I'm sure that can be boosted with a stronger hull and a quicker healing agent.

 

 

Day 9

 

Crystal Count: 3652

Experience Count: 21178/29000

Current Rank: Master Sergeant

Time Played: 11 hours

 

End Result: -900 cry, +2263 exp, +1h

 

v v v NOTES v v v

Well, a lot has changed today.

 

The new modules became available for purchase, and I have to admit I'm impressed with the level of availability they offer in juxtapose with paints. Granted, the paints were a bit more diverse percentage-wise, but now that the modules are available, you can get the defenses you need near the start of the game. I splurged a bit myself and bought the Eagle D-A M0 and added +1 to its stats for just 10 extra crystals. Sadly, the next upgrade was 3k crystals, so I decided against furthering the boost. At best now, my Wasp is guaranteed to survive a Railgun M0 shot, while still being able to take a Shaft blast at 60% power.

 

I'm not only investing in this one, though. I wish to acquire at least one trio module that has protections from Firebird, Thunder and Freeze, the only weapons that can really hurt me otherwise while I'm heal-shielding someone. Badger T-D M0 seems like a great start, but I might hold onto Eagle D-A for a bit longer before making that move. I've grown fond of using Wasp's speed to clear Kungurs and Esplanades in record time to heal my fatter allies.

 

When I do get Badger T-D, though, I'll have to also consider buying Dictator. As much as I like staying as a Wasp, sometimes in Polygon CPs or defending the guys defending the flag, 68 hit points just isn't enough to keep me alive for very long when confronted with scores of M1 Firebirds. After about six micro-upgrades, it would have 130.7 hit points, more than double of what my Wasp has now.

 

Another reason I wish to purchase Dictator over Titan or Viking goes back to the details I mentioned on Day 8: the placement of the turret on the hull. With Dictator's rear-mounted core, I'll be able to peep from around corners in Gravities and Polygons and keep my buddies alive for even longer. Speed wouldn't be a problem, since these are relatively small maps. In conjunction with just more raw health, the number of hit points that I gain when using a module increases greatly as well in comparison to when I use them on Wasp.

 

On another note, my efforts at trying for Mary have effectively been shot out of the sky. Pity.

 

Since the update took much longer than usual, the developers decided to hand out the gift of Premium Passes (24h) to appease the crowd. That would explain the more or less massive boost of experience points and my rank up. My goodness, it's a lot easier to work with people when you have a method of communication. (That doesn't mean some players are absolute imbeciles at times and disregard my valid warnings...)

 

 

Day 10

 

Crystal Count: 3652

Experience Count: 21218/29000

Current Rank: Master Sergeant

Time Played: 12 hours

 

End Result: +0 cry, +40 exp, +0.2h

 

v v v NOTES v v v

Well, folks. It happened. I accidentally killed some hapless Wasp/Freeze with low health that got in the path of my Isida beam as I was trying to heal my Viking buddy. I was hoping that this wouldn't happen, hoping I'd be careful enough to avoid injuring anyone. Barely ten days into the project, not much more than a week (17 hours of continuous play), I failed. In the first match of the day, to boot!

 

If I was more careful, this would have been possible. You'd think that accidentally killing someone would be too difficult to accomplish. My Isida never even made it past M0, for goodness' sake! I only just started Day 10 before I crushed my goals...

 

 

Anyways, I guess this my final score would be as listed above. I made it to 21218/29000 as a pacifist, wound up with a balance of 3652 crystals, made it to Master Sergeant, and logged 11 hours using Isida. In the process, I died a whopping 911 times. I guess this is the end of the road now. Until next time, folks.

 

[Remaine 4,687]

smeargle used dark void

[Shedinja 1,488]

smeargle used dark void

Pfft, I'd trust Spore more.

[Night-Sisters 2,139]

Annnd it devolves into what I assume is Pokemon talk. GG. 

[GoldRock 6,165]

Just leaving this here as a powerful example of the immense focusing powers of our team  :ph34r:

[Ninja 10,468]

Ohhhh, noooooo you killed somebody. :( My day is ruined.

 

 

It's night time now so it doesn't matter Mr Smeargle. :)

 

[Quarks 2,255]

Pfft, I'd trust Spore more.

But Darkvoid can hit all types, whereas spore can't touch grass types. A sunkern could wall you. SHAME.

[Hex 11,520]

RIP Smeargle :)

[Blackdrakon30 2,943]

Yessss more smeargles! 

 

Smeargle used Healing Wish!

Ally tank was restored to full health!
Smeargle has fainted been decapitated by a railgun!

:ph34r: 

[falcosenna1 8,320]

I was so looking forward to the continuation of the prev article. I was curious to see whom you had killed and if it was on purpose or not. Great article!! :D

[Anonono 1,233]

Loved your idea :D Unfortunate number to finish on though...

Edited September 4, 2016 by Anonono

[falcosenna1 8,320]

:o Indeed. Let the conspiracy theories commence. :p

Unfortunate number to finish on though...

[Shedinja 1,488]

The player I killed was an insurgent from one of the loomynaughty's data collecting facilities. You can thank me whenever you feel able.

[Penguin40 1,714]

Nice article, Shed! But I don't think you should stop just now, cause it's nearly impossible to play weaponless for long enough without a kill, and I think it should be "make it to Generalissmo without making a kill, except few accidental kills". Eh?

[blackflag444 256]

continue the series! :D

[Aachu_Turbo_GTO 1]

Yep Shreds! Continue the series! I really wanna watch you buying Vampire kit or something! :angry:  :P 

Lets see what you can do! ;)

[marc.jp_44 20,837]

Goldy did 9/11. :o