Review [Issue 57] Tailored to Taste: The Alteration Update

[Thekillerpenguin 1,731]

 

 

Recently, the somewhat-long-awaited Alteration update has reached the game. A starting set of 11 alterations has been released, each one for a different turret. But what exactly are these alterations? How can they be bought? What changes do they make to the turrets we all know and love? Are they worth it? If you've got any of those questions, I'll do my best to answer them in this article.
 

What are Alterations?

 

Alterations are variants of the standard turrets with modified statistics that you can switch between freely, provided that you own the turret in the first place. There is 1 alteration for every modification of the turret (M0, M1, M2, M3), and all of them have gameplay changes besides the M0 ones. Regardless of what modification your turret is, you can purchase and use any Alteration you've unlocked. Some may deal more damage, others may have lower reload time, and others modify the unique properties of each turret too. Although they will play differently from their base variants, alterations should feel familiar, just being modified for different uses. Maybe you want your Thunder to reload a bit more quickly, and are willing to trade off damage for that. Or maybe you want your Railgun to be more consistent. Although the selection of alterations is quite limited at the moment, there being only 1 Alteration for each turret, you should be able to adapt your favorite turret to a different playstyle if you choose.
 
In battle, you can switch between Alterations like you can with hulls, turrets, paints, and modules. You will self-destruct if you change while your tank is alive and will just respawn if you change while you're dead. As always, there is a 1-minute cooldown for changing alterations.
 
We can all agree that Alterations are cool, but I'm sure you are asking "well, how much do they cost?" The answer is that they are more expensive than early turrets (i.e. an M2 Isida alteration is more expensive than the Isida itself) and occasionally slightly cheaper than the late turrets (i.e. an M2 Smoky alteration is slightly cheaper than M2 Smoky). M1 alterations cost 50,000 crystals, and M2 alterations cost 100,000, for example. If you like your turret and want something different, but don't want to purchase another turret, buying an Alteration might be a good choice for you. As mentioned earlier, unlike turrets, they can be bought and used in the future for as long as you'd like, so they're good long-term investments. But they're still pricey, and you don't need them to perform well. In fact, I'd argue that you'd perform better without certain Alterations.
 
So, the prices are kind of steep. What if you're not sure if you're going to like an Alteration? The good news is that you can rent them by selecting the Alteration in the Garage and pressing the "Rent" button, and you can rent them for a few days. The issue is, as discovered by a certain explosive fellow reporter:
 

 

Yep, you have to pay cash to rent alterations. The rate appears to be same for all Alterations: 1 USD for 7 days of use. Kind of a bummer if you don't buy, huh? If you don't wish to rent them (which would be the best way to judge how you like them), a good substitute would be to study and read up about them, and that's what this guide is for.
 

How do I know if an enemy is using an Alteration?

 
You can't.
 
Yeah, that's disappointing. Some Alterations are more noticeable than others- you will probably be able to tell if an Isida is using the wide-beam alteration or not-  but others are almost unnoticeable, like the one that makes Railgun more consistent (more on that later). The developers are supposedly considering making them visible to other players in the future, but at the moment, they're being "treated as micro-upgrades". I find that odd since you can see how many micro-upgrades an opponent have by pressing the R or V button. Ah well, hopefully, you'll be able to tell soon.
 

The Initial Alterations

 

Alright, we've covered what Alterations are, how you can get them, and how much they cost. Let's get to the meat of the update: the alterations themselves. I'm going to talk about each Alteration in depth and give you my opinions and recommendations on them. I'm not going to try any of them out until maybe the next sale, so what I say will be a mix of conjecture and what I've heard from other players.
 
Let's start with the turret that, for most of us, causes the most anguish at close range. Especially if you don't have a repair kit or a nearby Isida available.
 

Firebird: Compact Tanks (M2)

"LIGHT EM UP UP UP LIGHT EM UP UP UP LIGHT EM UP UP UP FIIYAAAAHH" - Firebird

"Hmm, someone's roasting ham...wait, is that me?" - hogree

"This has terrible gas mileage, would not buy again" - TNT

 

Long story short, this Alteration turns your Firebird from a mere flamethrower into a raging firestorm. The damage, range, and reload are unaffected, but it consumes fuel significantly more quickly (50% increase), which means you won't be able to attack for as long and won't deal as much raw damage per clip. To (over)compensate for this, it makes your afterburn ridiculously deadly. It will heat up your target four times as quickly and now has literally twice the temperature limit. What does this mean for you if you're unlucky enough to be in range? If you're religious, pray to your deity of choice. If you're an atheist, well, pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster or something, because you're going to need help. Your target will ignite to a shining red with just a brief wisp of flame, and they'll be burning for twice as long once your onslaught ends. Because it reaches the normal temperature maximum extremely rapidly and keeps it in excess of that for the rest of the duration of the flame, the lower fuel is compensated for, so your damage output in the short term isn't affected too much and the long term damage is massively increased.
 
Imagine a delicious creme brulee. It's a French dessert, and if you haven't had it yet, you should. Imagine it raw, creamy white and looking a bit like yogurt. This is like an ordinary tank. Now imagine a skilled chef using a torch to caramelize the surface, turning it into a hard, sticky, and chewy layer of caramel. This is how a normal Firebird torches your tank. Now imagine the same creme brulee being torched with a plasma cutter, turning the entire thing black, ruining all the delicate ingredients involved, making it inedible, and creating copious amounts of smoke. That is what this alteration does to your beloved tank should you be on the receiving end of it.
 
Due to the higher fuel consumption, it doesn't take as long for you to empty your clip, and as such this alteration is a good fit for light hulls. What you'll want to do is to sneak up to a target and incinerate them. Once you run out of juice, immediately get out of there and let the afterburn take its toll. If done properly, this will lead to higher survival rates and possibly more kills than you would have gotten with the base Firebird variant, since you'll be less exposed to enemy fire.
 
However, as gloriously powerful as a Firebird with Compact Tanks is, it does have a few drawbacks. The extra damage that it deals is dependent on the afterburn. If your target uses a Repair Kit to heal your damage and cool down their tank, you're kind of stuck. You'll have very little fuel left due to the higher consumption, and your recharge speed isn't any better, so chances are you won't be ready for a second round. In that case, your opponent might be able to mop you up before you have enough fuel to torch them again. This is a perennial problem with Firebird, and it gets worse with this alteration.
 
If you primarily use Firebird on a medium hull like Hunter or Viking, this Alteration may not be for you. Since you can't escape as easily with those hulls, your best bet is to annihilate your targets with direct damage as quickly as quickly as possible. Compact Tanks reduces that in favor of afterburn, but since you're still going to be there once your tank is empty, you will want the better fuel efficiency of the standard Firebird. Well, at least it should be this way. Honestly, it's kind of broken right now, so for the most part, it's a straight upgrade over the normal Firebird.

 

The upcoming game balance update will make the base Firebird more of a DPS weapon, given that the heating rate will be halved. Once the update kicks in, Compact Tanks will be more balanced, since it will no longer heat things up almost instantaneously.
 
Here is some expert testimony from a certain mafska.
 

 
Overall, I'd give this alteration a very high rating, given the number of people that are complaining about it or singing its praises. It's overpowered, like most new turrets when they're first introduced, but in its current iteration, it's a good buy.
 

Freeze: High-Pressure Pump (M1)

"fweeeEEeEEEHHEHHHEHHHH" - Freeze

"GǸIZ͏E̢E̕RF F҉O͠ T̕N͠EMU̕RT̡ŞN̨I ̡S̵IH͞T ̀F̶O͢ ̵E̵V͘O̷R̢P͟P̸A҉ YLH̸G̸U̧ÓROH͟T I̴" - Atnas

"This makes the best snow cones." - anonymous tanker

 

This Alteration is pretty simple, only modifying 2 statistics. The spread of Freeze is reduced by 70%, but the range of the maximum damage is doubled to compensate. This means that catching people in your icy grip is a bit more difficult (the cone is comparable to Isida), but it will hurt more from a longer distance if you do. While this is very nice against single-targets, the reduced cone of fire makes it worse for crowd control, hitting enemies at different elevations, or for damaging enemies around corners. It's not as significant as the Compact Tank alteration above, but it's not bad either. It basically turns Freeze into a powerful laser beam. A laser beam that freezes tanks.
 
It's important not to confuse the range of the maximum damage with the overall range. The maximum damage range is, at the moment, a uniform 5 meters at all modifications, which is right around point blank range. This is the distance where Freeze deals its full damage and is the most deadly. The range that most of us think of is the minimum damage range, which goes up with each modification and increases the reach of the weapon. There is no modification where the minimum damage range is less than 5 meters, so the Pump doesn't let you attack opponents from further away. It means that you can attack enemies for maximum damage within 10 meters  instead of 5, increasing your overall damage output in practice, which is still helpful.
 
If you use Freeze as a defensive weapon, the High-Pressure Pump can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, the extra damage range allows you to make shorter work of opponents heading to the flag. On the other hand, the lack of crowd control makes it difficult to spray down a group of opponents like you can with a normal Freeze. For CTF, maps with lots of choke points near flags are probably better suited for the standard variant- a train of enemies headed up the Blue Team ramp in Silence can be stopped in their tracks by a good Freeze. For maps where enemies are more likely to come in alone or choke points are not present, the alteration may be useful. For use in DMs and TDMs, your choice will depend on whether or not you tend to attack lone targets or multiple targets at once. And for CPs, Freeze's constriction effect isn't as useful, so I'd think that this would be more or less a straight upgrade.
 
There aren't really any countermeasures for this particular alteration, so if you go against it, just don't get too close. That's the advice for all of the close range weapons, sure, but you don't have as much leeway with this Alteration.

 

The balance update will increase the range of maximum damage for Freeze, which means that at M4, you will be able to deal full damage at 20 meters, which is 80% of your effective range. This means that Freeze will be a bit more like Isida in terms of damage dropoff and significantly more powerful at a distance.
 
Overall, this one probably depends on your taste more than the other Alterations. I've heard some negative feedback about it. Since I won't have any experience with this particular alteration for the foreseeable future, you may want to ask others about it or keep an eye out for it in battle. I'd give it an ok rating.

 

Isida: Broadband Emitters (M1)

"Merwmerwmerwmerwmerw" - Isida

"This thing always jams my wifi." - Sheddy

"Life is short. You know what else is short? Fen. You know what's shorter than that? Your Isida's range if you use this thing. " - TKP

 

Remember the old Isida? The one that had electric-looking beams and excellent lock-on? Or perhaps you've tried the Isida in Tanki X (which is a beast, by the way). If you're aching for those versions, you'll feel mostly at home with the Broadband Emitters. It expands the lock-on radius significantly, which means that enemies will find it difficult to escape from you provided you're in range. The issue is that it cuts your range almost in half. I'm not kidding, it reduces it by 40%. The old Isida had more range than that.
 
Although players complained when Isida's lock-on was reduced, most found that the increased range granted by the update compensated for that. It's easier to escape with good driving from the standard Isida, but if not, you're in for some trouble. This alteration is kind of like the opposite of the Freeze alteration above; it makes it easier for you to stay locked-on to your target, but it becomes pretty trivial for most enemies to run away from you, which more than offsets any benefits the lock-on would have given you. If you have functional Z and X keys, this is almost a straight downgrade.
 
If you go against an enemy with this Alteration, just stay out of range. If you use something like a Smoky-Wasp, you can laugh as they futilely try to get close to you. If you happen to be in range, however, you won't be able to circle-strafe or wiggle around as effectively.
 
I would not recommend this Alteration, but if you choose to use it, I would recommend that you use it on a light hull for more defensive purposes. The extra speed will partially compensate for the horrible range if you're chasing a slower target, and if your enemies come to you, closing the distance will be easier. I'd give this a meh rating.
 

Hammer: Slugger (M1)

"BLAM" - Hammer

"All tankers are hereby banned from using the "Slugger" for actual boxing matches." - Tanki Base Command

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS LIKE, MAN!! YOU WERE NEVER THERE!!" - Wasp pilot, on Hammer-induced PTSD

 

In real life, shotguns typically have something called a "choke", a device inside/affixed to the barrel of the weapon that controls how wide the spread will be. Hunters like to use a wide choke on small game animals and tighter choke for more difficult prey. When Hammer was first put seen the test servers, it had pretty horrible spread. It was difficult to get 2-shot kills on light hulls unless you were at point blank range. Soon after release, the spread was tightened a bit, and it's remained roughly that way up to now. The Slugger alteration halves the spread by 50%, theoretically allowing you to hit targets easily at twice the distance, and increasing the effective range at the cost of rotation speed, so it looks like some tank engineer somewhere installed a choke in there. And somehow broke the rotation components, good job.
 
The end result is much more reliable and effective performance at much of Hammer's overall range, but you're less effective up close. Hammer's spread gives you leeway when aiming, allowing for rapid reaction shots, and has good rotation speed. With the Slugger, you'll have to be more precise in your aiming due to the tighter choke and might have issues with reaction fire due to the slower rotation speed. The tighter spread also does quite a bit in amplifying Hammer's massive impact force, allowing you to deflect targets even more easily. Hammer has been described as a "close range Railgun", and the Slugger makes the similarities more apparent.
 
One thing to remember when using Slugger is that the spread is tightened, but the range isn't actually increased. This means that you can't really use it very effectively at Thunder distances and you may not necessarily be able to 2-shot light hulls or 3-shot medium hulls even if all the pellets hit. Still, it's better than having half of your pellets go haywire and miss.
 
There are a few countermeasures for the Slugger. First, you can try using a medium or heavy hull (or equip Hammer protection), which means that you can't be destroyed in 1 hit at any range and won't be annoyed quite as much by the tighter spread. If you happen to be using a light hull without protection, you may actually be better off closing the distance and circle-strafing your opponent, since they will find it harder to hit you.

 

The upcoming balance update will apply a minor nerf to most of Hammer's stats, but it will allow it to deal "weak damage" beyond its maximum range. This means that, provided the pellets hit, Hammer will be able to hurt enemies from a greater distance. It's unlikely that this will be of much benefit to the standard Hammer, but the tighter spread of the Slugger may allow you to tickle people from pretty good ranges. The rotation speed will also be increased, which lessens the penalty that this alteration applies to it.
 
If you like to use Double Damage with Hammer to get those instant kills on light hulls, then Slugger will be your friend. You'll be able to get those one-shot kills or kill steals from longer distances, making you significantly more deadly. However, you lose effectiveness up close. As such, your choice of alteration, if anything, depends more on the map and team composition, and less on your hull. If you're on a map that's a little bit too big for your standard Hammer to be effective in, the Slugger will help. If the enemy team is full of light hulls and you've got your finger on the 3 key, the Slugger will be fantastic. But in other situations, the standard Hammer is more effective.
 
I'd give the Slugger a good rating.

 

Twins: Plasma-Core Accelerators (M1)

"I am a simple turret. I hear pew - I am happy." - Twins

"whoah, twins' projectile speed and power increased 100%? ima rent" - TNT, misconstruing the changes

"Gotta go fast" - Sonic the Hedgehog

 

Twins have been thought of a close-range machine gun, capable of suppressing enemies at medium range and mowing them down at high speed if they stray too close. For longer distances, most players prefer the precision and range of Vulcan. The Plasma-Core Accelerators, which I will just call Accelerators, turn Twins into something more akin to the version seen in Tanki X: higher velocity, longer range, shots fired more slowly. The minimum damage range and velocity are doubled while the rate of fire is reduced by 25%.
 
With this alteration, you will be able to sit at longer distances and lay siege to opponents in your way. Your shots will be much easier to hit, increasing your damage output at longer distances and making it more consistent up close. Unfortunately, you won't shoot as quickly. The standard Twins has a damage-per-second graph that looks a bit like the side of a mountain- starting high, dropping down significantly as range increases, and then dropping to zero. The Accelerators flatten and extend the graph, making the differences less sharp and increasing the range, but your damage output within the original range will be lowered. This is all theoretical, of course. In practice, it seems like being able to land all of your shots is making it more deadly.
 
Countermeasures for the Accelerators basically boil down to closing the distance. It's still powerful up close, but the extra velocity doesn't help at point blank range and the lower rate of fire hampers the maximum damage-per-second. A normal Twins will win against an Accelerated Twins at close range. Alternatively, you can try using a longer ranged turret like Vulcan.

 

The balance update will, among other things, make Twins' rate of fire lower at lower modifications, which increases the rate of fire penalty of the alteration. The weak damage will also be halved, but since the Accelerators increases the minimum damage range, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. Indeed, the max damage range will be increased slightly.
 
If you're having trouble hitting pesky Wasps or Hornets, the Accelerators will help, and if getting close to a point is dangerous, the range increase will give you a safe position to suppress targets from. I get the feeling that this Alteration makes Twins into a watered-down Vulcan, easier to use at close range but not as good for combat in its extended range (the minimum damage is low). Regardless, if you want to use it, I would recommend that you use it with a heavy hull so that you can survive long enough to overcome the damage deficit and use it on more open maps where the normal Twins may fall short.
 
From statistics alone, I'd give this a decent rating, but it seems like a lot of people think it's overpowered. Try facing it in battle (or renting it) to make your own decision.

 

Ricochet: Minus-Field Stabilization (M1)

"pew pew pew pew" - Ricochet.

"I have the best turrets, the very best, the most tremendous turrets. People come up and tell me 'Donald, you have the best turrets. Nobody makes turrets like you do.' This thing's range isn't big... it's YUUUUUUGHHE." - Donald Trump

"How cute." - Vulcan

 

This is very similar to the Plasma-Core Accelerators mentioned above. It slows down the rate of fire, similar to the Twins alteration, and doubles the projectile speed and the range. There's almost no dodging the projectiles. Seriously, it's almost hitscan. Scary.

 

Functionally, it broadens Ricochet's effective range and allows it to be used on a wide variety of maps and in a wide variety of situations. I mainly use my Ricochet on maps with close quarters environments due to the difficulty in hitting targets at a distance. No matter how well you lead your shots, your targets will always be able to evade you somehow. With this Alteration, not so much. You can use it on almost any map you would use a medium range weapon like Smoky on.

 

There are few countermeasures for this Alteration. While you can't outrun or dodge the shots as easily, take solace in the fact that the damage per second is cut down by 25% due to the lower rate of fire. Depending on what turret you have, you may be able to get close and win the damage race. Otherwise, stay far away and avoid exposing yourself.
 

The balance update will, among other things, reduce Ricochet's velocity, slow the reloading speed somewhat, and drastically cut down the maximum damage range. However, it will gain weak damage (25%), extending its reach (if not ranged effectiveness) somewhat, and will have more ammo. The reloading penalty will hurt more post-update, but the other changes make Ricochet more of a close-medium range weapon. If you'd rather have the current (as of 10/4) iteration of Ricochet back, this will make it feel more like home. Except for having a slower rate of fire.
 
The Stabilizers are highly useful and almost a straight upgrade if you play Ricochet on larger maps and don't have to deal with nonstop combat. If you're in a close quarters battle, this will probably hurt you. If you're planning on sitting away from the flag and providing supporting fire, this will be up your alley.
 
I'd give this a good rating. It's hard to miss with this version of Ricochet, and it's a Shaft's worst nightmare.

 

Smoky: Assault Ammunition (M1)

"What have you done..." - Smoky

"Hey Smoky, remember before the rebalance? When you had no crits and were weak? Yeah, let's go back to then." - Engineer

"The only thing the so-called Assault Ammunition attacks is your dignity." - TKP

 

This Alteration increases Smoky's impact force by 27%, which means that Railguns and Shafts will have an even harder time getting a bead on you, but this comes at the cost of all your critical damage. No, seriously. Crits with this alteration active just look pretty, they don't hurt any more than a normal shot. The only place this thing would be useful in is an eSports battle, perhaps if you want to practice for Light Format battles (where you get an otherwise normal Smoky that can't crit). It's good to be able to deflect your enemies easier, but it's not going to do you much good if you can't actually kill them in the process. This alteration is passable against light hulls but is a peashooter against medium or heavy hulls.

 

The balance update will kind of make Smoky more like the Tanki X iteration, having stronger normal shots while not hitting as hard in terms of impact force and having neutered critical damage, although it's worth noting that the change isn't quite as severe; the basic Smoky in TX shoots nearly as fast as M2 Smoky does in TO, and the critical hits only do about 5 more points of damage, so we still have it pretty good here. With this in mind, Assault Ammunition becomes a bit more tolerable (you can get some of your impact force back, you don't miss out on as much critical damage), but I still wouldn't really recommend it.
 
The following totally definitely 110% unmodified quote represents my views on this alteration:
 
"What in the hell  has been done to this poor turret!? Stupid engineer, look at the perfectly fine smoky turret and says 'NO, TURRET NEED MORE DUMB THINGS IN IT'!

WHAT IS REASON FOR REMOVAL OF CRITICALS!? If you need to kill in an emergency, now you fire weapon and a tennis ball comes out!  Look at a cheap cartridge with excess rotten propellant jammed into it! You increase impact force and still cannot deflect broad side of a barn. 

Sure, slave labor is mass production type but is still the proud design of Zhukov Research Institute. This is like sending designer birthday cards with severed off thumb of your daughter in the envelope. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I STOMP ON ALL YOU CREATE!!" a large mound forms over the designer's grave by the constant tumbling off his angry corpse. It is the fault of people like you.

The turret was fine before you ruin it. NOW IS TRASH. Maybe you check in the garage and original ammunition is still there. Maybe is not too late to keep turret something not shameful to use in battle. TAKE THE ALTERATION AWAY and it could still be a good weapon." - Ivan Chesnokov
 

 

Vulcan: Faster Horizontal Tracking (M1)

"Dakakakakakaka...wait, could you get off that stool for a second?" - Vulcan

"Vulcan and I, we go way back. But something happened to him..." - Dictator

"Say what?" - Viking

 

Vulcan is well known for its quite insane auto-aim angles, capable of hitting enemies from above and below easily. I have had a lot of fun playing on Sandbox with Dictator-Vulcan, since you can fire on enemies on the platform from the lower levels. However, one of its drawbacks is its low rotation speed when firing, which makes it easier to use at a distance than it is to use it on, say, a Hornet-Isida right next to you. This alteration decreases the slowdown of firing by 75% and decreases the upwards and downwards auto-aim by 60%.
 
This alteration makes Vulcan much more suitable for close-range combat. Normally, if someone runs up to you at close range, your best bet is to use a Speed Boost to increase the rotation speed and then back off so you can get a bead on them. With the tracking upgrade, you need not panic too much if a Wasp-Freeze tries to outmaneuver you. You can fill them with lead at point blank range with some good aiming. Of course, the drawback is that you won't be able to hit enemies as well if you're not on the same surface. The auto-aim with this alteration on is only slightly better than Railgun, and tipping doesn't help you much with a constantly damaging weapon like Vulcan.
 
Against Vulcans with this Alteration, don't get close, lest you want your tank to look like swiss cheese. Instead, try to abuse the lower vertical auto-aim by attacking from ramps, hills, or valleys, where they will have difficulties retaliating against you.
 
On flat maps like Zone, there's little reason not to use this, since vertical auto-aim isn't as useful, while the increased rotation speed is. If you're planning on using Vulcan as an offensive weapon (instead of fire support), this may come in handy as well. But if you're planning on being a static machine gun turret, the reduced auto-aim hurts more than the rotation speed buff, especially if you have an Isida near you to deal with pesky attackers already. Your choice to use this should depend on whether or not you plan on fighting at close ranges or if you plan on ripping your opponents apart before they get into close range, and of course whether or not the map you're on has variable elevations that you can take advantage of.
 
I'd give this a good rating.

 

Thunder: Lightweight Ordinance Loader (M2)

"POW...POW...KABLAM!" - Thunder

"Looks like you lost some weight." - Smoky

"Whoah, where'd you get that time machine?" - Isida

 

Most of us probably remember the version of Thunder from a little more than a year ago. The reload time at M4 was exactly 2 seconds, the splash damage was a bit higher, and the damage was lower to compensate (almost exactly 1/3 of Hornet's health). The current version is slower but hits harder. If you disliked that update, you can kind of bring the old version back with this Alteration. It increases the rate of fire by 25 20% [Edit: Since the release of this article, the reload improvement has been reduced to 20%] and decreases the maximum and minimum damage by 15%.
 
So, the Loader makes Thunder hit lighter but shoot faster. After doing the math, it actually increases your damage-per-second. Sounds really great, right? Unfortunately, it also means that you'll need more shots to down your opponents. An increase in raw damage per second won't be very useful if you need another shot to kill. At M4, Thunder with this Alteration shoots as fast as M1 Smoky, but it probably won't be able to destroy a Dictator in 4 shots. Taking the range into account, you also won't be able to 4-shot other medium hulls. While this may not seem like a big deal, given the reload improvement, it means that you'll have to expose yourself more to land those shots, while a normal Thunder can stay in cover for longer and deal the same damage, if not more (if they pop out of cover 4 times, you can only hit them 4 times, all for less damage). The damage per second increase is low enough that you'll only notice it if you fire at a target for a significant amount of time, and the reduced damage also reduces your chances at successfully stealing kills. As nice as damage-per-second is, the shot-per-shot damage is important too.
 
Dealing with Thunders with this alteration equipped can be quite annoying at close range since the lower damage doesn't really kick in until medium to long range. Try engaging them with long-range weapons or even a Thunder of your own from a distance, preferably behind cover. At close range, get into barrel-stuffing range to cause self-damage as you would with a normal Thunder.

 

Post-balance update, Thunder will reload slightly more quickly (2.4 seconds at M4) and deal slightly less damage, which makes it a bit more like this alteration. This means that a Thunder with this alteration will fire even more quickly and deal even less damage, possibly becoming close to a pseudo-Smoky.
 
The description for this alteration recommends it for close quarters combat. It serves admirably in that role (provided you don't blow yourself up), being capable of downing enemies quicker. You pay for this with not your soul, but your long range effectiveness. If you have a fragile tank and/or don't plan on using it for closer distances, stick with the standard variant. If you want to get in the thick of things, the Loader has your back.
 
I'd give this a good rating.

 

Railgun: Shell Stabilization (M2)

"I know what you're thinking. 'Did he deal 199 damage, or 133?' Well, truth is, I kinda lost trac-...oh, ok" - Railgun

"Don't complain, you got it better than I did" - Smoky

"This shell is more stable than my personal life." - anonymous

 
For a weapon that's hailed by pros and people pretending to be pros as a weapon of pure skill, unlike, I don't know, Smoky, Railgun is somewhat random. At M4, the maximum damage is 199 and the minimum damage is 133. Most of the time, the damage will be somewhere in the middle due it being subject to a normal distribution, but occasionally you will hit the maximum or minimum values. According to the wiki, it is theoretically possible to actually exceed the maximum and minimum values, although it's worth noting that I've never seen that in combat. If you hate to gamble, this Alteration is for you: it raises the minimum damage by 23% and reduces the maximum damage by 15%, narrowing the range of values that can occur.
 
For the most part, the variability in damage is only significant if you're trying to destroy an unprotected Wasp. You have a good chance of killing the Wasp in one shot if you are lucky enough to score highly, but otherwise, it will limp away with a sliver of health. Other examples include being able to destroy a Viking/Dictator in either 2 or 3 shots depending on your luck. Regardless, Railgun is consistent enough that you usually won't have to worry about variability too much.
 
Seeing as this is more or less a change in statistics, you don't really have to adapt your tactics when faced by this alteration.
 
Still, this upgrade might have some use. The minimum damage is raised more than the maximum damage is decreased, so overall you may be slightly better off than the stock Railgun due to the lesser frequency of bad shots. Still, I don't really see the need for it, and I think 100,000 crystals could better be spent elsewhere. I'd give this a meh rating.
 

Shaft: Heavy Capacitors (M2)

"I am become death, destroyer of worlds." - Shaft

"STOP, STOOOP, I'M ALREADY DEAD!" - Hunter

"I'M TOO POPULAR TO DIE!' - Viking

"THIS ISN'T RIGHT, THIS ISN'T RIIIIGHT!!" - Dictator

"We hereby ban the use of...NO NO NO DON'T SHOOT WE'RE NONCOMBATANTS!!!" - Geneva Convention

"Kept you waiting, huh?" - Jade

 

 
Capacitors are more or less devices that can store energy and release it. As a particle weapon, Shaft does quite a bit of energy storing. Now, imagine it could store 25% more power. If you do the math, an M4 Shaft equipped with this alteration deals 350 damage. For reference, an M4 Dictator has 330 health. That's right, you can one-shot medium hulls with this thing. If Shaft hits like a truck, this Alteration hits like a runaway freight train. It hurts.
 
Imagine that you are using Shaft and notice an Isida-Viking with Double Damage, Double Armor, and Speed Boost active approaching your base. He's not using any protection, but there's no way you'll be able to win against him in a straight fight. You pop a Double Damage, charge up, and hit him with a fully charged shot. He shrugs it off with a sliver of health and repairs all of the damage you dealt as he sucks the life out of you in seconds, laughing.
 
Now imagine the above scenario, except you're using Heavy Capacitors. You pop a Double Damage and charge up a shot. It takes twice as long, and your charging is barely complete by the time the Viking enters your vision. He notices a Shaft aiming at him and scoffs, approaching you with the not the least sense of risk. You can feel the tension and danger in the air, but you manage to line up your crosshairs with the corner of his tank and let go. The drugger's Viking explodes gloriously, illuminating the surroundings as you wipe the sweat off of your fingers. The drugger flies into a nuclear rage, embarrassed and incredulous at the fact that a lowly Shaft, simply cannon fodder to him in the past, somehow managed to kill him, ruin his D/L, and let his drugs go to waste. He respawns, too proud and angry to switch to Shaft protection, and pops a Double Damage while picking up a Speed Boost, intending to come back and make you pay. But it is too late, for you have already lined up a killing shot. His tank bursts again as he furiously slams his keyboard, shouting "**** U NOOB SHAFT" into the battle chat. Fed up with the situation, he presses ESC and leaves the battle in search of easier prey that won't resist.
 
So now that we know it's very powerful from a damage perspective, let's take a look at the other statistics. First, it doubles the time you need to charge it in scope mode, which also means that you'll zoom in twice as slowly. Second, it reduces the horizontal aiming speed during scope mode by 30%, which makes it a lot more difficult to track rapidly moving targets.
 
The doubled charge time means that you'll have to wait twice as long for a 25% increase in damage. While the ability to one-shot medium hulls makes up for that, you're charging fewer points of damage per second overall. This means that you'll actually be at a disadvantage against light hulls since it takes longer for you to charge up a kill shot against them than with a normal Shaft. It's also worth noting that the aiming speed in scope mode hasn't been changed uniformly, as only the horizontal rotation has been slowed down. This means that it will feel not only slower during aiming but different due to the new ratio of vertical-to-horizontal aiming. You could probably get used to it after a while, but it will feel awkward. Lastly, the increased charging time means that enemies noticing your laser sight will have a bit more time to get out of your line of sight and go elsewhere.
 
Unlike a normal Shaft, using a medium hull is no longer a surefire way to protect yourself from one-shot kills. As such, protection is very important to have if you are faced with a Capacitor Shaft. Interestingly enough, using a light hull is actually advantageous versus Capacitor Shafts, since you will often be able to exit their line of sight before they are finished charging and can evade their fire more easily. Heavy hulls are also useful because they obviously can't be one-shot, and the Alteration's overall lower damage over time can give more time to end them. In sniper duels, a normal Shaft can win, provided you are good at knocking off the enemy Shaft's aim and then ducking into cover, or at the very least force a stalemate where your Capacitor-using opponent is pointing their laser sight at your cover in anger.

 

After the balance update, Shaft will become more of a marksman rifle/light sniper than a full-blown sniper rifle, having reduced damage in scope mode but vastly improved arcade shots and superior aiming speed while zoomed in. The Capacitors will be less overwhelmingly powerful, and at M4, they will be just powerful enough to destroy medium hulls in 1 shot, provided you are 100% charged. The decreased charging time for M0-M3 will make the double charging time necessitated by the alteration more tolerable. Overall, if you don't like the new Shaft post-update, try out the Capacitors. It'll be more like the old version.
 
So, let's talk about what you should use it for. If you are the kind of Shafter that uses Mammoth and preemptively charges up shots, this is the alteration for you. No longer do you have to awkwardly try to squeeze arcade shots to finish off foes that you've weakened and have receded into cover. Your extra health and stability allows you to take your time aiming, and you spend most of your time in scope mode already, so the detriments aren't a huge issue. But if you prefer to use light/medium hulls, stay closer to the front lines, and prefer to charge up when enemies are visible, this is not suited for your playstyle. The standard variant's higher charging speed and ease of use allows you to pull off those important clutch shots rapidly and allow you to stay moving. Still, it's now the most powerful weapon in the game, so who knows. A Hunter-Shaft equipped with this thing would be useful in drug wars too, provided you can catch your opponents unawares.
 
Pending further combat experience, I've given this a very good rating. Players who have bought it seem to agree that the damage is helpful, but the charging time and rotation nerf make it significantly harder to use.
 

 
That's about it for this article. If you've got any questions, comments, or reviews of the alterations, post them below. Which one of these is your favorite? What cosmetic alterations are you looking forwards to? What do you think the secret M3 alterations are? If you've got answers to any of these as well... post them below! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time.

Edited July 20, 2017 by Hexed
Correction on the details of Minus-Field Stabilization.

[TTK_229 1,080]

What is isida-thunder supposed to mean? Fix it pleez

[ToHoYoNTaDa 1,147]

Nice

[TJ.RJ 206]

Good article .

[I.ZEUS.I 865]

Nice

[Mr.Perfect 207]

Nice

[Chaos1997 4]

I have a thing to point out.

 

Some days ago thunder alt stated +25% speed, but it's actually changed to +15% (After I bought it on my other account of course... -.-).

 

This makes the DPS equal.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Chaos1997

[Ciara 27]

Smoky is still good but....it would be better they put it at 30% impact force than 27%....just put that 3% more and now it will be even out with the crits

[AavoPeep321 9]

Finally i don't ahtu worry about druggers ruining the battle :) . Gonna start using shaft when druggers are in :P . (Finaly tanki made a good update)

[Captain.x 511]

When is the next sale?  I hope there is one before Halloween

[LittleWillie 3,199]

i notice Smoky is so bad, you could not even conceive of a rating!  :rolleyes:

 

Overall quite the good article. Thank you.

Edited October 11, 2016 by LittleWillie

[LittleWillie 3,199]

Smoky is still good but....it would be better they put it at 30% impact force than 27%....just put that 3% more and now it will be even out with the crits

I used th alteration on the test server over the weekend and I couldn't tell it was active. I made one Wasp flip quite amusingly, but given the situation a normal impact force would certainly have flipped it too. Against heavy hulls it does essentialy nothing.

 

From the other point of view, I recall driving a Hornet and a Smoky turned my facing pretty sharply. But it had no real effect on combat  I remember at the time thiminking "so that's probbly the impact force variation".

 

Bottom line this review is right. there's no benefit in throwing off the other guy's aim if you cannot do enough damage to kill him. The game does not give exp points or Cry for throwing off someone's aim.

[DESTROYER_GTX_R 77]

Don't like these alterations to be honest.

[peter2003tankist 17]

i don't know  to use Alterations . :mellow:

[JoswelGrima 6]

Hello, As  some mods,admins ect . . .  might know  me. I  played tanki since 2011 I got hacked at 2012 I created lots of accounts (TankiOnline) Was really fun I used to spend 6 hrs a day  spec.. at summer  I spend even 9 hrs  but not all the times. This year TankiOnline has  made a magic - Planning about how to get money Or How to make the game better? Please replay to me back thankyou.

[RIDDLER_8 5,552]

Thekillerpenguin

 

You are a very good Tanki Online writer on alterations.

 

well done.

 

In my point of view, the best alteration is the Freeze alteration because Freeze does double damage. This means that players using the High Pressure Pump does not need to constantly use and waste the double damage supply box.

 

Freeze deals twice as much damage overall.

 

There is no need to use double damage with Freeze with this alteration.

 

I have read this complete article on all the turrets. Overall Freeze is best suited with or without this alteration after the re-balance update, but other turrets would be weaker at M4 level which makes them feel like M2s.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Thekillerpenguin
Merged doublepost :P

[bc200214_777 582]

I think that the "secret M3 alterations" might just be an option to revert back to the old versions of turrets before the rebalance, except they might charge you a lot more than 100k crystals for it....Just a guess.

[Inui 0]

Great article! In my opinion it would be a great video script, besides that It gives a funny and realistic view about the alterations!

 

Keep with the good job man!

 

 

ʕ╭ರ ͜ʖ ಠ ʔ

[murcielagoes 331]

can alterations go on sale?

[Heles 9,220]

can alterations go on sale?

I was wondering about that too :) 

[Ninja 10,468]

Great article, I wasn't too sure of alterations before. The only one that I like is Firebird, wether its worth 100k is another matter.

[xX_I.Love.Her_Xx 2,650]

wow this is awesome. Great article!

[Viking4s 10,791]

PDVDM

Edited October 14, 2016 by Viking4s

[Phoenix.Raised 5,992]

any comment :)

See you latter laggers

VKG4S

Depends on the price -_-

 

 

 

Started

 

This is already a work in progress. After an upcoming update you will be able to customise your turrets' visual effects and technical parameters.

Yeah, devs announced that the M0 stage will affect visual details.

 

 

[Viking4s 10,791]

Depends on the price -_-

 

 

 

 

Price? This has nothing to do with what I wrote and the request from Thekillerpenguin.

 

For the different ideas posted for the 3 turrets, it is best to put aside: cost, lag, price and complexity. If you start with those it will always end up the same way:

 

Leave cost, lag, price and complexity to be solved by THEM.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Viking4s