Guide [Issue 57] Pro's Advice #1: Swinging your Hull

[Shedinja 1,488]

 

 

 

In the previous V-Logs, players of uncontested skill and mettle granted us humble players some excellent advice and insight into ways we can increase our chances of success in battle. In the first of these, one clever player by the name of Arakelyan delved into the topic of how to utilize your hull to hit players from angles that auto-aim can't quite reach.

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLuhltwN-Wc&list=PLoGHE_kS3ppNjijtBsuSuGJGYvc-5Ye5R&index=1

 

 

 

The Basics

 

The main focus of this video is on a turret's auto-aim statistic, or how much the turret's projectile will divert upwards, downwards, left, or right when there is a target in range. This means that instead of around staying true to its trajectory from launch to impact (and potentially missing the tank by a few pixels), it may be shot to hit a tank within the given auto-aim zone of that weapon. For example, Railgun, instead of firing a direct shot that always takes a ramrod straight path from the barrel, the shell may divert a few degrees to hit an opponent within that auto-aim range. This is demonstrated during 0:06 - 0:19 of the video, and in PX1 and PX2 below. 

 

 

 

Bear in mind that each weapon has various angles of degree with their auto-aim, and they can all checked respectively in their individual weapon statistics areas by clicking weapon names under the Tanki Online Wiki's 'Turrets' Section. For example, Railgun has a degree range of +9° upwards and +6° downwards with almost no variation sideways.

 

 

Understanding how to swing, or rock your hull, can easily double or even triple this range, but whether the shot impacts or not depends on which angle you fire the shot from. If you're moving forward and suddenly reverse quickly, your tank will tilt itself forward, allowing you to shoot downwards to an extent. Likewise, driving backwards and abruptly thrusting forward will force your machine to lean backwards, letting you fire at positions higher than average. Arakelyan displays excellent examples of this during 0:15 - 0:24.

 

This is best attempted when your tank's turret is aimed towards the front or rear of the hull, while angles perpendicular to that of the tank's treads, such as immediately left or right, will grant almost no angle change. This is due to a combination of the turret's placement on the hull and the method that the hull tilts. Since the axis of revolution, or where the machine tilts when swinging, cuts through both tank's treads near the center (as denoted in PX3 below; this is the same for all hulls), the angle of elevation of the front and back of the tank are going to experience the greatest change, of which gradually decreases to zero upon rotating the turret parallel to the axis of rotation. With most hulls harboring a centered turret slot, this means that a shot fired from a left or right facing weapon will not acquire an altitude change of any kind. Wasp, Dictator, and other likewise hulls are somewhat exempt, having a non-centered turret slot.

 

 

Besides using the swing method to target enemies at higher or lower altitudes, you can also use it to throw off the aim of DPS (damage per shot) weapons like Thunder, Hammer, Railgun, and Shaft, so long as you are also using a weapon with respectable impact force. Since these weapons rely on impeccable aiming to deal any damage, albeit in large amounts at once, being able to knock off their aim is probably one of the most valuable skills a player can acquire. When firing from a higher or lower playing field towards your opponent through swinging your hull, your turret's auto-aim will lock onto either the top of their turret or hull and knock them sideways, forcing them to tilt away from you and ensuring they will not be able to attack you for a moment.

 

The impact is far more significant from heights or valleys than when received from a level field, thanks to differences in the trajectory of the shell. It's not quite rocket science, but both do involve basic laws of physics involving thrust and angle. Rockets have a propulsion system on the bottom for catapulting themselves into space because they need thrust from the opposite direction to move in the direction they want to go. Likewise, a player hitting another with a strong impact projectile from below or above is going to throw them off-course more than if the playing field were level. This is thanks to the extra leverage gained to push them off of the ground, tossing their entire machine airborne and removing the barrier of safety that the edges of treads would provide the tank to slow down the tipping process when hit.

 

This tactic is still fairly effective on level terrain, going a bit further than just nicking the sides of an enemy tank. Swinging your hull upwards when firing can allow you to potentially throw their aim above you. This is due to the opponent's turret taking the impact force instead of the hull, which means all of the force is going to be absorbed by the top of the tank, yanking and tilting it backwards to a small extent. This may be just enough for the shot to whiz over your head without leaving a mark. Level-field shot deflecting through targeting the turret is more focused on the hull's weight base being manipulated by the gun's lack thereof.

 

While this is a bit riskier, a tanker with a heavily impacting weapon can use this swinging technique to potentially flip or considerably slow down other tankers climbing ramps. It's usually done through simply shooting at the front end of their tank and throwing the base of the hull backwards. However, since they're on a slanted surface moving upwards, the player on top has considerable leverage, enough to lift their treads off of the ground and give them nothing to grip. This leaves the other player in a defenseless wheelie for a few seconds, if not flipping them over entirely. However, note that a tank suffering from this blow can always reverse their momentum and drive back down the ramp as quickly as possible, bringing them back to level terrain and allowing themselves to land aright again.

 

If you don't know how already, it's also a fairly good idea to be well-versed in flipping tanks that are just exiting the ramp the old fashioned way: hitting a fast one that's about to leap off at full speed onto the platform above. If they're going fast enough to toss themselves into the air, a shot for your Smoky, Railgun or Hammer can bowl them sideways, since they have nothing solid to grip and steady themselves.

 

Lastly, Arakelyan goes over how to counter being hit with a high impact weapon from the side. Generally, you'll want to avoid exposing your side to someone with such a weapon, as anyone in this position is susceptible to being flipped. Should you be in a position where this is unavoidable, however, you can possibly save yourself by making a sharp turn while still moving forward to keep the impact from charging solely through your tank, alleviating some of the pressure from the top of your tank and exerting a force on the ground below. This is often enough to keep you from reaching a tipping point. If executed properly, you can pull off a short wheelie and land treads-down, ready to plunge into the fight once more.

 

 

 

What's Changed Since

 

The most apparent difference between then and now is the lack of impact force of epic proportions tossing tanks aside like cardboard. Railgun, Smoky, and Ricochet were previously convicted for being too powerful against lightweight tanks, so they had the hull's weight reorganized so that they wouldn't be flipped by the aforementioned turrets without effort and incredulous timing.

 

Now, this affects the number of tankers a player with such a weapon will flip. It's become nigh impossible to flip a Hornet with a Railgun of equal modification unless the driver is also using a high recoil weapon akin to Railgun. Admittedly, the realm where the most flips were occurring was the XP/BP universe. Nowadays, in order to flip an XP combination, you have to fire at the side of a tanker while swinging your hull just before they fire. This will cause them to launch a round into the sky, completely missing the target and pushing their hull past the tipping point, up-ending them and giving you that precious 20 seconds to do what needs to be done.

 

 

 

In a nutshell, Arakelyan's video boils down to these few points:

 

• Be conscious of your hull's positioning when firing, as it could be the difference between you making a shot or missing by a meter.
• When swinging, remember to drive the opposite direction or simply stop pressing the key before firing to angle a shot upwards or downwards.
• Do everything in your power to continue turning sideways to counter the impact of an enemy shot. You tank is in charge of where momentum is distributed, so use that to guide your unbalanced hull back to safety.

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If y'all decided to stick around this long to pick up everything there is to know, good for you. Whether you learned something new (or not), I hope you enjoyed reading this article. Feel free to leave your feedback below; there'll be more of these coming shortly. Tread carefully, cadets.

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Edited July 20, 2017 by Hexed

[Hex 11,520]

A well-structured article. Informative!

[H-A-Z-A-R-D-O-U-S 3]

I'm gonna buy the gunslinger kit (consists of a railgun m1 and hornet m1)  soon enough. The advice was fabulous. So, I'm ready before I could even buy the kit. Imagine how 'pro' I would be after I bought the kit. This forum helped me a lot. Thank you.

[TheContractKiller_GT 374]

I'm gonna buy the gunslinger kit (consists of a railgun m1 and hornet m1)  soon enough. The advice was fabulous. So, I'm ready before I could even buy the kit. Imagine how 'pro' I would be after I bought the kit. This forum helped me a lot. Thank you.

hey dude i just played a polygon Dm with u on my alt

[shaurya471 313]

I thought We self destructed in 10 seconds...

Y is it written 20 secs?

[Shedinja 1,488]

I thought We self destructed in 10 seconds...

Y is it written 20 secs?

It takes only ten seconds to self-destruct after hitting Delete, yes. However, this does not accurately reflect the time that the player is incapacitated.

• The player realized they are flipped, and press Delete. (1 - 2 sec)
• The player self-destructs. (10 sec)
• The player's corpse lies on the field after exploding. (4 sec)
• The camera swings around to the next spawn location. (3 sec)
• The player spawns into the game, sporting brief intangibility. (3 - 4 sec)

Potential total elapsed time: 21 - 23 seconds.

[TTK_229 1,080]

I try to aim towards the turret of enemies, and it works very well. Since Thunder's I pact has been buffed, it is easier to knock off their aim.

[arampage 58]

Really informative article  :)