TTK's Thoughts on: The ZERO Supply

[TTK_229 1,080]

Welcome, fellow tankers, to the series where I give my (totally unbiased, of course) opinion that nobody asked for, and where you get to listen. Today I'll be talking about a temporary supply that almost none of us expected, and that tons of people loved: the ZERO supply.

 

 

Just a few short days ago, Tanki finished celebrating May Day. Being the ignorant American I am, I didn't know what the heck May Day was until I looked it up.Wow am I stupid   This celebration brought some good discounts and the normal celebration stuff,  but it also brought something entirely new. In non-PRO battles, a new box sat beside the Repair kit, which was the ZERO supply. 

 

 

I hadn't ever expected the developers to make something like this. Essentially, it would charge up over time and with every experience point earned. It would activate all five supplies at once, for you and every teammate within a short radius of you. It was somewhere in between 10 meters (Thunder's splash radius/2 Vikings) and 15 meters. (Magnum's splash radius/3 Vikings) It would also show a gigantic red star over whoever activated the supply. It put all other supplies on normal cooldown. Experience earned during use would count towards the next activation, and another teammate's use of it would not affect your ZERO supply. I don't know the exact rate of charge, but it appeared to be about 1% for every three to four seconds. I think that one exp=1% of charge, but again, that's a rough guess. Also, it didn't cost the activator any supplies. A much better explanation by @KillerGnat can be found here.

 

I absolutely loved this supply. It caused teams to think more critically and coordinate, so they could get the most use out of one single supply. I played in an hour's worth of four separate, memorable Serpuhov CTF matches where everyone would constantly type in their percentage and people would always activate it around a Shaft/Mammoth. I remember having four or five people charging straight up the map by my side, with a Shaft to cover our back. We were practically unstoppable, and if ever the supply ran out, we would usually just activate another one. In the end, the Sniper racked up about 120 kills, with a good 3 deaths. The other team stood no chance.

 

ZERO also lead to some interesting tactics. One very effective one was for everyone to activate ZERO around a flag. That would then drop one mine per teammate, and essentially create an extra set of defense while the tankers themselves could attack the enemy base. Another was for people to use someone else as a sort of rally point. I occasionally made the mistake of activating it when fighting one-on-one against someone in a match. It would sometimes work, but they would usually activate their own right after mine, usually nullifying my use. Correct usage could sometimes result in a supporting Isida or two, invincible fire support, and a strong attacking front. One strategic use of it could swing the result of a game, especially at the beginning. The smartest team could smash the other one by getting their ZERO up faster than the other team.

 

Even though it was fantastic, it could have used a bit of tweaking. I think that charge time was way too fast. Maybe doubling the time it would take to normally charge, and halving the amount of charge earned per experience point. People could use it just way too often to be fair; the first team to use it would usually win. This could make its use even more tactical. Another good change would be to show what charge everyone on the team was at. Instead of wasting time constantly typing the percentage, players would be able to simply glance at the TAB window. The indicator could be a percentage on the left of the player name, and everyone with a fully-charged ZERO could have a red star in place of that percentage. This way, chat coordination would be much easier. The final critique I have was that the hotkey was not actually zero. Yes, it was actually Shift. I don't get why, maybe it was a coding reason, but still...was it not in the name?

 

The main reason why I love this supply is because it finally brought balance between druggers and non-druggers. If spammed supplies vs. a non-drugger, he or she could simply use the ZERO supply and be able to fight on equal terms. Victory was no longer determined by willingness to press the number keys, but by timing and earning experience. One solution to supplies is to have them on cooldown not by time, but by experience points. That way, one couldn't just drug whenever they wanted to, or whenever their timed cooldown wore off. They would have to fight for the supply, not just wait. Of course, this part is never going to happen, becuase the developers seem to be unwilling to change anything about the current system of supplies.

 

In short, I loved this supply, and it finally made the time in non-PRO battles feel worthwhile. Supply users and non-supply users were finally on mostly equal terms, and teams were using a new level of tactics hardly ever seen in battles before. I am certain that I am not alone in saying that I would accept this update permanently returned, and with open arms. 

 

~ttk

Edited May 16, 2017 by Savage

[Crip 4,735]

Approved!

 

 

Edits:

- Two punctuation errors fixed.

- Link added as requested

- Remember to capitalise all hull/turret names.

- Changed a word that didn't flow.

- "Halving" not "Halfing".

 

Another nice review TTK. Cedric mentioned in the original announcement that the range for the "ZERO" supplies was 10 metres.

 

I don't think this feature did completely balance "Druggers" and "Non-druggers" as you say. People that use supplies will make more kills faster and thus gain more experience (filling their ZERO button) faster than their non-drugger rivals, meaning they would reach 100% before the other players. But this feature definitely made battles more balanced. I suffered a lot while using my "camper" alt during the celebrations because of this feature (I mentioned this in Gnat's article).

 

Nice work anyway. Looking forward to the next one!

[yonatanthesuper 314]

Nobody wants to read so much about such a little feature.

[TTK_229 1,080]

Nobody wants to read so much about such a little feature.

http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?showtopic=356979 Well, you're wrong.

If you don't like it, then go read something else :mellow:

[Misery 1,415]

Nobody wants to read so much about such a little feature.

Unless my name is nobody. You are mistaken.

I could read this all day, I'd like to see you try to do a better article, plus, its a compliment. It shows how much detail you can get from such a small update :) good work

 

 

 

 

Also,

http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?showtopic=357036&page=2&do=findComment&comment=6138896

Referring to limmy's *lies,lies,more lies* post

 

 

[LIMITFULL 1,793]

Nice article TTK..!  I hope Tanki developers throw in the zero supply game again one day!!
LOL Dedi - nice spoiler!!  :P

[KillerGnat 3,135]

<3333 pro review. Better than mine hands down.

[fe4f3 1,002]

Good work.

[zaintahir 458]

Dont worry I didnt know what mayday was either.