Let's Discuss Drones!

[FrozenRailgun 1,771]

1 hour ago, enri_chill said:

So what does Defender drone do? 

Soups up your Boosted Armor to reduce incoming damage by 2/3.

[enri_chill 135]

2 hours ago, FrozenRailgun said:

Soups up your Boosted Armor to reduce incoming damage by 2/3.

So does that mean it does more than brutus does? Brutus makes it 50% reduction if it is 20/20. Correct? 

[FrozenRailgun 1,771]

5 minutes ago, enri_chill said:

So does that mean it does more than Brutus does? Brutus makes it 50% reduction if it is 20/20. Correct? 

Yes.

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

13 hours ago, Arjun24 said:

What is your favourite drone?

Driver 

[DestrotankAI9 1,513]

On 6/2/2021 at 12:23 AM, TheCongoSpider said:

Driver 

R.I.P. Driver =/ . It seems like it has been hit by a massive unwarranted nerf today. Don't really understand why, when it was not even as strong as Booster/Defender/Trickster/Crisis, and only about as strong as certain other drones - nowhere near OP yet a viable and interesting drone to use.

@TheCongoSpider or others, can you remember the original cooldown time of Driver? According to the patch notes it was 15 seconds, now changed to 3 seconds (3 seconds from in-game, patch notes wrongly claim 5 seconds). I would like to know as I am trying to work out how much driver has been nerfed by.

I am almost certain that Driver originally had a 12 second cooldown, with a 30 second overcharge time decrease. That means you had to kill a tank once every 12 seconds, for a 30 second overcharge time decrease. Now you must kill a tank every 3 seconds (impossible for some turrets which have a longer reload, such as Railgun or Shaft using the Sniping mode), and you will only achieve a 24 second overcharge decrease time if you have the luck to manage that exactly every 3 seconds.

Edited July 9, 2021 by DestrotankAI9

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

41 minutes ago, DestrotankAI9 said:

R.I.P. Driver =/ . It seems like it has been hit by a massive unwarranted nerf today. Don't really understand why, when it was not even as strong as Booster/Defender/Trickster/Crisis, and only about as strong as certain other drones - nowhere near OP yet a viable and interesting drone to use.

@TheCongoSpider or others, can you remember the original cooldown time of Driver? According to the patch notes it was 15 seconds, now changed to 3 seconds (3 seconds from in-game, patch notes wrongly claim 5 seconds). I would like to know as I am trying to work out how much driver has been nerfed by.

I am almost certain that Driver originally had a 12 second cooldown, with a 30 second overcharge time decrease. That means you had to kill a tank once every 12 seconds, for a 30 second overcharge time decrease. Now you must kill a tank every 3 seconds (impossible for some turrets which have a longer reload, such as Railgun or Shaft using the Sniping mode), and you will only achieve a 24 second overcharge decrease time if you have the luck to manage that exactly every 3 seconds.

Driver had a 15-second cooldown. 

 

41 minutes ago, DestrotankAI9 said:

I am almost certain that Driver originally had a 12 second cooldown, with a 30 second overcharge time decrease. That means you had to kill a tank once every 12 seconds, for a 30 second overcharge time decrease. Now you must kill a tank every 3 seconds (impossible for some turrets which have a longer reload, such as Railgun or Shaft using the Sniping mode), and you will only achieve a 24 second overcharge decrease time if you have the luck to manage that exactly every 3 seconds.

Shaft is still the best turret to use with Driver practically. You can reliably activate it, though now you'd need to be more aggressive or if you're camping, put in some more effort. You can also use Light Capacitors to make it more efficient. 

Vulcan also works well, but it's still bad. This is a huge hit to Driver and a lot of my fun combos have been gutted. If they're going to be keeping this format of Driver, then at 20/20, it needs to be at least 12 units. 

 

Sadly now I won't be able to beat my record of recharging a Dictator OD from only kills with Shaft, which is 20 seconds. 

[DestrotankAI9 1,513]

On 7/9/2021 at 3:44 PM, TheCongoSpider said:

Driver had a 15-second cooldown. 

Ah OK, thanks for confirming about the cooldown, I knew you'd be the man to ask lol. I was sure it had a 12 second cooldown, I don't trust the figures given in the patch notes especially since it wrongly states Driver now has a 5 second cooldown, when in fact a check in-game can confirm that it is actually 3 seconds. At least if the previous cooldown was 15 seconds this is not quite as heavy a nerf as I thought, but it is still a big nerf and results in Driver being much worse with certain turrets now.

 

On 7/9/2021 at 3:44 PM, TheCongoSpider said:

Shaft is still the best turret to use with Driver practically. You can reliably activate it, though now you'd need to be more aggressive or if you're camping, put in some more effort. You can also use Light Capacitors to make it more efficient. 

Vulcan also works well, but it's still bad. This is a huge hit to Driver and a lot of my fun combos have been gutted. If they're going to be keeping this format of Driver, then at 20/20, it needs to be at least 12 units. 

 

Sadly now I won't be able to beat my record of recharging a Dictator OD from only kills with Shaft, which is 20 seconds. 

It is truly bizarre that they have decided to give Driver a 3 second cooldown, if they wanted to nerf it (which it didn't need) surely they should just have reduced the amount of overdrive cooldown reduction it gave. It is now substantially worse with certain turrets than with others, which makes little sense. Some turrets (such as Large Calibre Railgun, or Adrenaline Shaft) literally can't possibly kill fast enough to get the full benefit from Driver now (not that you are likely to do that most of the time anyway, regardless of what turret you use). A 15-second cooldown was perfect, and there was absolutely no need to change it.

Very strange to nerf a drone that was not OP, while leaving stronger drones untouched. The developers certainly don't operate under principles guided by logic, that's for sure.

Edited July 10, 2021 by DestrotankAI9

[Abellia 504]

18 hours ago, DestrotankAI9 said:

Ah OK, thanks for confirming about the cooldown, I knew you'd be the man to ask lol. I was sure it had a 12 second cooldown, I don't trust the figures given in the patch notes especially since it wrongly states Driver now has a 5 second cooldown, when in fact a check in-game can confirm that it is actually 3 seconds. At least if the previous cooldown was 15 seconds this is not quite as heavy a nerf as I thought, but it is still a big nerf and results in Driver being much worse with certain turrets now.

 

It is truly bizarre that they have decided to give Driver a 3 second cooldown, if they wanted to nerf it (which it didn't need) surely they should just have reduced the amount of overdrive cooldown reduction it gave. It is now substantially worse with certain turrets than with others, which makes little sense. Some turrets (such as Large Calibre Railgun, or Adrenaline Shaft) literally can't possibly kill fast enough to get the full benefit from Driver now (not that you are likely to do that most of the time anyway, regardless of what turret you use). A 15-second cooldown was perfect, and there was absolutely no need to change it.

Very strange to nerf a drone that was not OP, while leaving stronger drones untouched. The developers certainly don't operate under principles guided by logic, that's for sure.

I'm gonna leave something from the QnA here as for why I think the drone balance is going out the window:

"We definitely understand that set some limits for new players on what drones they may use. We are setting these limits on purpose. New players have the simple 'Brutus' drone to use at first. It doesn't consume batteries and gives a passive boost to supplies, while all the other drones introduce more opportunities and strategies with their different mechanics. So it's harder to play with these drones equipped. Earning crystals is not that hard nowadays. So by ranking up and earning more crystals, you can unlock and buy these drones when you have enough skill to use them."

tldr; go use booster/defender/trickster because they're "harder" to use and f2ps can maintain them so they get to be strong

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

On 7/10/2021 at 2:10 PM, DestrotankAI9 said:

It is truly bizarre that they have decided to give Driver a 3 second cooldown, if they wanted to nerf it (which it didn't need) surely they should just have reduced the amount of overdrive cooldown reduction it gave. It is now substantially worse with certain turrets than with others, which makes little sense. Some turrets (such as Large Calibre Railgun, or Adrenaline Shaft) literally can't possibly kill fast enough to get the full benefit from Driver now (not that you are likely to do that most of the time anyway, regardless of what turret you use). A 15-second cooldown was perfect, and there was absolutely no need to change it. 

Until they change it again we can only adapt. So far, the combos I have that I've seen make me feel the least indignant about the change are:

 

Scout Railgun + Viking/Dictator

Adrenaline Vulcan + Ares in small maps, preferably CP

Autocannon + Dictator (when lucky) 

Light Capacitors + Dictator/Crusader 

 

Yeah, that's all. 

Every other turret I use kill too intermittently to make use of the new Driver compared to the old one. 

 

 

 

[DestrotankAI9 1,513]

On 7/12/2021 at 2:00 PM, TheCongoSpider said:

Until they change it again we can only adapt. So far, the combos I have that I've seen make me feel the least indignant about the change are:

 

Scout Railgun + Viking/Dictator

Adrenaline Vulcan + Ares in small maps, preferably CP

Autocannon + Dictator (when lucky) 

Light Capacitors + Dictator/Crusader 

 

Yeah, that's all. 

Every other turret I use kill too intermittently to make use of the new Driver compared to the old one. 

It really is the most absurd nerf. I didn't see a single player asking for a nerf to Driver, yet I have seen many requests for nerfs to other drones. And if you wanted to nerf it, WHY do so by giving it a 3 second cooldown??? Why not just reduce the overdrive recharge reduction? It really seems as if they draw suggestions from a hat when deciding on balance changes for this game sometimes, and how to implement them.

Edited July 13, 2021 by DestrotankAI9

[Cleric 1,385]

4 minutes ago, DestrotankAI9 said:

It really is the most absurd nerf. I didn't see a single player asking for a nerf to Driver, yet I have seen many requests for nerfs to other drones. And if you wanted to nerf it, WHY do so by giving it a 3 second cooldown??? Why not just reduce the overdrive recharge reduction? It seems as if they draw suggestions from a hat when deciding on balance changes for this game sometimes, and how to implement them.

Welcome to Tanki, a game which is apparently made by "One of the best game development studios in Russia". Don't even try to put that in ideas and suggestions section because those moderators will simply tell you revert of updates are not accepted despite  everyone knows those changes make zero sense.

Either deal with it or give up this piece of crap.

[DestrotankAI9 1,513]

1 minute ago, Aegis said:

Welcome to Tanki, a game which is apparently made by "One of the best game development studios in Russia". Don't even try to put that in ideas and suggestions section because those moderators will simply tell you revert of updates are not accepted despite  everyone knows those changes make zero sense.

Either deal with it or give up this piece of crap.

The fact that they refuse to revert changes is simply stupid, most of the top game companies are willing to revert bad changes based on player feedback. This is a definitely a case where a change should be reverted, it makes zero sense at all, and it makes Driver operate in a bizarre manner where it is much better with certain specific turret/augment combos than others - whereas the old cooldown was perfect with everything.

Edited July 13, 2021 by DestrotankAI9

[G-92 104]

30 minutes ago, DestrotankAI9 said:

It really is the most absurd nerf. I didn't see a single player asking for a nerf to Driver, yet I have seen many requests for nerfs to other drones. And if you wanted to nerf it, WHY do so by giving it a 3 second cooldown??? Why not just reduce the overdrive recharge reduction? It really seems as if they draw suggestions from a hat when deciding on balance changes for this game sometimes, and how to implement them.

 

22 minutes ago, Aegis said:

Welcome to Tanki, a game which is apparently made by "One of the best game development studios in Russia". Don't even try to put that in ideas and suggestions section because those moderators will simply tell you revert of updates are not accepted despite  everyone knows those changes make zero sense.

Either deal with it or give up this piece of crap.

 

21 minutes ago, DestrotankAI9 said:

The fact that they refuse to revert changes is simply stupid, most of the top game companies are willing to revert bad changes based on player feedback. This is a definitely a case where a change should be reverted, it makes zero sense at all, and it makes Driver operate in a bizarre manner where it is much better with certain specific turret/augment combos than others - whereas the old cooldown was perfect with everything

The answer to all the questions ever asked by every single player.  

[Incorp 2,084]

2 minutes ago, At_Shin said:

Blaster is such a fun and powerful drone!  Just pair it with AP Freeze and you have got a mini-wasp bomb at your disposal.

It is absolutely hilarious. Wow.

I got a 4 of them with my blaster and those who survived it did not last long thanks to my nuke - which exploded seconds later. I wish I had captured that mega-kill image.

Blaster gets an A+ Grade from me. :D

Plus, I have found out that blaster is very effective against dumb tesla players who do not use ball's chain lightening properly (we all know that blaster is good against melee ranged turrets). Blaster is good for ambushing players and even smart players succumb to my bait.

How many damage at 20 mu?

[2shots2kills 2,364]

A quick question. Drones now give DA and DD boost, up to 100%, but what happens if you have the drone equipped and no batteries? Do you only get the default 50% effect?

I guess so, or Brutus would have no sense, but I'll ask just to be sure.

[Potdindy 866]

On 9/5/2021 at 4:29 PM, 2shots2kills said:

A quick question. Drones now give DA and DD boost, up to 100%, but what happens if you have the drone equipped and no batteries? Do you only get the default 50% effect?

I guess so, or Brutus would have no sense, but I'll ask just to be sure.

I was wondering about brutus too...what does it do exactly. Seems legit to use since it uses no batteries

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

Just now, Potdindy said:

I was wondering about brutus too...what does it do exactly. Seems legit to use since it uses no batteries

All it does is increase your supply strength back to 100% with no additional bonus. That is why it no longer uses batteries. 

[Frylock 1,617]

On 9/5/2021 at 8:37 AM, At_Shin said:

Blaster is such a fun and powerful drone!  Just pair it with AP Freeze and you have got a mini-wasp bomb at your disposal.

It is absolutely hilarious. Wow.

I got a 4 of them with my blaster and those who survived it did not last long thanks to my nuke - which exploded seconds later. I wish I had captured that mega-kill image.

Blaster gets an A+ Grade from me. :D

Plus, I have found out that blaster is very effective against dumb tesla players who do not use ball's chain lightening properly (we all know that blaster is good against melee ranged turrets). Blaster is good for ambushing players and even smart players succumb to my bait.

I dislike that evil combo lol. This is why I ended up using long ranged turrets in the first place because combos like these. XD Sometimes Ill end up using hornets OD randomly to see the outline  of what tank combo they are using to form my counter strategy. 

Edited September 16, 2021 by MysticBlood
Grammar

[Potdindy 866]

1 hour ago, TheCongoSpider said:

All it does is increase your supply strength back to 100% with no additional bonus. That is why it no longer uses batteries. 

Thank you for your answer! Increase supply strength? Does dd not do double damage any more?

Edited September 15, 2021 by Potdindy

[Okami 3,041]

15 minutes ago, Potdindy said:

Thank you for your answer! Increase supply strength? Does dd not do double damage any more?

If you have no drone, it does only 50% more damage. Buying a drone and upgrading it increases your supply power until you have a maxed out drone, where it’s like the old DD. 

also they’re called Boosted Armor and Boosted Damage now. 

Edited September 15, 2021 by GrayWolf8733

[Potdindy 866]

17 minutes ago, GrayWolf8733 said:

If you have no drone, it does only 50% more damage. Buying a drone and upgrading it increases your supply power until you have a maxed out drone, where it’s like the old DD. 

also they’re called Boosted Armor and Boosted Damage now. 

Oh thats kinda neat. I was a fan long ago of lessening the benefits of supplies. Makes it less necessary to use them when they do less overall

[Okami 3,041]

9 minutes ago, Potdindy said:

Oh thats kinda neat. I was a fan long ago of lessening the benefits of supplies. Makes it less necessary to use them when they do less overall

I don’t know about that last part. At least in the Legend ranks, the game is less “You don’t need supplies” and more “You need a drone”

However, not much has changed regarding drone use in battles. There are still meta drone users, and some non-meta drone users, but there are also a lot of droneless Legends. It’s just more obvious now that you can do more damage to them. 

Edited September 15, 2021 by GrayWolf8733

[enri_chill 135]

On 9/15/2021 at 3:31 PM, Potdindy said:

I was wondering about brutus too...what does it do exactly. Seems legit to use since it uses no batteries

Brutus does not need batteries. It effectively makes BA and BD, 100% and 100% with zero depletion of batteries. Solid and affordable to use.

[wolverine848 13,097]

On 9/15/2021 at 6:28 PM, Potdindy said:

Oh thats kinda neat. I was a fan long ago of lessening the benefits of supplies. Makes it less necessary to use them when they do less overall

But that's only temporary.

Eventually players will have fully upgraded drones and then it's back to same-old same-old.

It really only punishes lower ranked players.  They don't have upgraded drones, but because of wide rank-spreads end up playing against enemies that DO have fully upgraded drones.  So now they are at two disadvantages - weaker supplies and weaker drone.

[enri_chill 135]

Okay...I scored a Crisis Drone in an Ultra container...Lucky me (possibly). Since the speed leveling of the hulls, I have started using the Dictator and enjoy boosting my teams power via the OD. My question is that Crisis only lets one supply be in effect at a time. How does the Dictator OD impact use of supplies and how does picking up a dropped supply impact consumption of supplies when using the crisis drone? 

I am very curious if it is worth upgrading or not.