Designers Obsession with Supplies

[austen_pierce 1,948]

This is neither a tirade nor a rant. I want to have a discussion about the pattern we’re seeing with updates and supposedly new features boiling down to little more than new and interesting ways to use the same supplies we’ve had in the game for a very long time... yes the 0-5 key supplies ranging from Repair Kit through Mines.

 

The pattern seemed to start with Overdrives (formerly Zero Supply) which activates all five existing supplies. Tactically interesting and good for gameplay, but at the end of the day, not a new game feature. Just a new way to use an existing one.

 

We already had Missions and Mission Chain rewards which did give out precious crystals but also flooded casual players with supplies they couldn’t use as fast as they obtained them.

 

Shop bundles increasinlgly award players with hundreds of each supply, whether the player needs them or not.

 

Then Containers appeared. Again, this was a great idea for the game. Containers are wildly popular, but again, at the end of the day, anyone who has opened containers know what you mostly get from them. You guessed it - Supplies.

 

Next came Drones. Guess what they do. Allow players to use... wait for it... Supplies in different and (only slightly) more effective ways. But wait, they introduced a new supply, right? Well, yes and no. Batteries are new, but batteries themselves do nothing more than power Drones, which takes us right back to Supplies.

 

Most recently, Designers teased us with a new supply drop, Nuclear Energy. Players offered great ideas as to what this might have brought to the game. But when the release arrived, we learned that Nuclear Energy supply drop is nothing more than a way to activate Overdrive, which is nothing more than Supplies.

 

All of this brings me to two questions.

 

1-Why are the designers so focused on Supplies and their use as the basis for so many game updates this past year?

 

2-Does the future hold anything for the game beyond more variations on how to obtain and use Supplies?

[austen_pierce 1,948]

Ugh - if there is a mod out there, kindly correct my typo in the Thread Title :(

[Guest]

IDK... cause they're on drugs

[BRO0088 1,724]

To some extend your right but there is one problem the developers are out of ideas. Ir they are just waiting.

[u812ic 1,629]

The increase in supplies and different ways to obtain and use them was created because so many non-buyers wanted a way to get supplies and still have crystals left over for MUs. This is NOT a slap in the face against non-buyers. They had a legitimate complaint and the Devs tried to accommodate them a little by introducing missions, containers, OD, increase in funds and now Nuclear drops. Of course, these are open to buyers as well, but they do give the non-buyers' a little easier row to hoe. 

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

Making a supplies an easily obtainable, core element of the game decreases the game's P2W aspect.

[GorgoBlesk 831]

Making a supplies an easily obtainable, core element of the game decreases the game's P2W aspect.

Removing supplies completely (except drop boxes) would also decrease P2W aspect of Tanki (and make drop boxes stronger).

 

Tanki has enough paints, skins and modules for dedicated buyers xD

[FogOfWar_XXX 793]

What to even say to this.

 

AMEN brother.

 

Supplies, supplies, supplies (say that all Gomer Pyle style)

 

I won't bother writing an essay.  Yes, supplies are all that seem to matter, and their effects.  Juggernaut is the closest to novelty yet in years, and it's not especially awesome, in my opinion.  I'll even give credit where it's due, they did add game play style with assault and rugby.  That said, as far as tankers and personalizations, and what they can do, yeah, it's all in the supplies of the beholder.

[austen_pierce 1,948]

Supplies, supplies, supplies (say that all Gomer Pyle style)

 

...it's all in the supplies of the beholder.

This post, for the win.

 

JGR, ASL, and RGB have been great adds to the game. So yeah, my original point is a bit unfair. But only a bit. In my opinion there has been orders of magnitude too much functionality built on top of, and on top of again, Supplies.

[Total_SkiIl 1,983]

Removing supplies completely (except drop boxes) would also decrease P2W aspect of Tanki (and make drop boxes stronger).

 

Tanki has enough paints, skins and modules for dedicated buyers xD

Rather remove the game itself, eh?

 

No game = No "Tanki is p2w !1!111!!!!!!!"

Edited August 30, 2018 by Total_SkiIl

[FogOfWar_XXX 793]

This post, for the win.

 

JGR, ASL, and RGB have been great adds to the game. So yeah, my original point is a bit unfair. But only a bit. In my opinion there has been orders of magnitude too much functionality built on top of, and on top of again, Supplies.

You'll get no argument from me.  I know, devs gotta eat, supplies are the bread and butter of purchasing, Legends have it all already, they won't be buying anymore things that aren't there to buy, and everything else they already have.  That said, yeah, supplies are here, so why not take that and run, and start throwing new stuff in.  It is down right boring.  Every time I heard about the hint of something new, it turns into a yawn fest for me.  I know somehow it'll be consumer based something or another, not durable goods, or hell, something totally different.

[GorgoBlesk 831]

Rather remove the game itself, eh?

 

No game = No "Tanki is p2w !1!111!!!!!!!"

Supplies are NOT core part of Tanki. Removing garage supplies and overdrives would not ruin the game but it would make it better.

 

I started spamming DD every time I encounter enemies with my M2 Titan Rico. Since I started using this tactic, I get even to top 3 in team.

 

Pay To Win? What about Press Number Keys To Win?

[Total_SkiIl 1,983]

Supplies are NOT core part of Tanki. Removing garage supplies and overdrives would not ruin the game but it would make it better.

 

I started spamming DD every time I encounter enemies with my M2 Titan Rico. Since I started using this tactic, I get even to top 3 in team.

 

Pay To Win? What about Press Number Keys To Win?

They are a core part of the game, and removing at the very least just supplies would very much ruin the fun for me, and a lot of others.

[FogOfWar_XXX 793]

They are a core part of the game, and removing at the very least just supplies would very much ruin the fun for me, and a lot of others.

This has been beaten so badly that it's barely even worth touching upon, but, they were MADE a core part of the game.  Many of us feel that a known constant quantity, the enemy and the equipment, would be a far better game than drugs and heal ups.  That said, to each their own.  And folks, don't turn this into supplies vs no supplies, it's about supplies being the only game in town in terms of innovation and features.

[CabbageRoll 3,018]

lol if you count now there are actually 8 different supplies  :mellow:

[MLG_Keemstar 176]

[Total_SkiIl 1,983]

 it's about supplies being the only game in town in terms of innovation and features.

That part I agree with. Rest, not.

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

I started spamming DD every time I encounter enemies with my M2 Titan Rico. Since I started using this tactic, I get even to top 3 in team.

 

Pay To Win? What about Press Number Keys To Win?

This is strange logic . . . have you considered it is not using supplies that makes you worse and not that using supplies makes you better, if that makes sense?

[MLG_Keemstar 176]

This is strange logic . . . have you considered it is not using supplies that makes you worse and not that using supplies makes you better, if that makes sense?

Out here asking the real questions

[austen_pierce 1,948]

lol if you count now there are actually 8 different supplies :mellow:

Well..... if you think about it:

-Gold Box isn’t a new supply, rather a bundle of crystals which are already in the game

-Batteries aren’t a new supply, they only give access to slight improvements to the usage of the 1-5 Supplies.

-Nuclear Energy is not a new supply, it merely activated overdrive, which again does nothing beyond the existing 1-5 supplies.

 

Why can’t there be a supply which does something *gasp* DIFFERENT? Invisibility. Detonation. Shot Reflection. Range Increase. There are endless possibilities.

 

devs gotta eat, supplies are the bread and butter of purchasing,

.

I’ve heard this too but find it really hard to believe. I have literally tens of thousands of supplies in my garage. Even my M2 alts have about 2k of each, okay more like 1k for RKs. Point is, if I’m swimming in them, how can anyone need to buy with real money?

 

.

Edited August 31, 2018 by austen_pierce

[MLG_Keemstar 176]

Well..... if you think about it:

-Gold Box isn’t a new supply, rather a bundle of crystals which are already in the game

-Batteries aren’t a new supply, they only give access to slight improvements to the usage of the 1-5 Supplies.

-Nuclear Energy is not a new supply, it merely activated overdrive, which again does nothing beyond the existing 1-5 supplies.

Why can’t there be a supply which does something *gasp* DIFFERENT? Invisibility. Detonation. Shot Reflection. Range Increase. There are endless possibilities.

I’ve heard this too but find it really hard to believe. I have literally tens of thousands of supplies in my garage. Even my M2 alts have about 2k of each, okay more like 1k for RKs. Point is, if I’m swimming in them, how can anyone need to buy with real money?

.

Ever heard of parkour wars and stgs?

[wild004 35]

wait for supply alternation,

 

which make 

DD = fast reload

DA = energy sheild

SB = invisible

Mine = Spider mine

 

based on my guess from tanki x

[Viking4s 10,791]

It would be nice if they could introduce more protective/defensive supplies like flash bang and smoke screen (among others idea from I&S), more strategy and less bang bang.

[FogOfWar_XXX 793]

It would be nice if they could introduce more protective/defensive supplies like flash bang and smoke screen (among others idea from I&S), more strategy and less bang bang.

From your mouth to the devs ears, hopefully. I'm thinking we'll never see that until they get everything HTML 5 first. They're not gonna do the complicated vector graphics for smoke in flash and then have to move it all over. That said, no promises they ever will do that. Everything has always been to press the agenda of, how you put it, bang bang, and in that of course, they increase the usage of, dun dun dun, yes, say it with me, say it loud or quietly, or however you feel, but, say it, "Supplies".

 

I had a huge conversation with Hazel a number years ago, here, about Shaft, about sniping, about game mechanics. My point was the game was too in our face for anything resembling armored combat. Sure you had brawls, but one would hope that was the culmination of planning after laying out a path to a base and getting in there for a flag. It shouldn't be easy to get flags, it should be work, and brawls should only serve to destroy everyone, and not be used as the modus operandi for game play. His response I am summarizing here, but it went like this:

 

I hate campers, I hate people who hide and pick people off from afar, if I had my way, shafts would be gone or nerfed to the point of uselessness.

 

The body politic that followed was his. We saw close quarter unit and long range units that all required much more exposure, Hammer and Stryker. Everything is about moving and frenetic action. Lasers ensured no amount of cleverness by snipers could ever overcome the changes desired. Then came the "chaos". Changes were constantly being made to turrets and their behavior. It became impossible to gauge what one was going to have to do in order to defeat an enemy in terms of timing and overall effort as turrets effectively changed. I tweak here, a change there, one day you were doing well, the next you couldn't get ahead at all. Again, we descended further into brawls. Then came Magnum and Overdrive. Now we have a situation where a offender can cross a map, heal up, take a flag, Overdrive, battle their way back to a base, and in the time taken, heal up is cooled down again to save them in the last leg of their trip. Supplies, always supplies. Magnums, in terms of innovation, were a great idea, the indirect fire bit, but I've said my peace on that elsewhere, they need to be overhauled or removed, but then, no, and again, convo for a different place. The point about them is they are NOT used as intended, but rather over-sized Thunders that wreck havoc on defenders and force everyone to spawn and scramble to chase after offenders, and what will be the deciding factor if they can rip the flag from the clutches of the enemy? Supplies. A brawl to the enemy base, again, always a brawl.

 

There was a time where teams could hold down their end of a map for minutes without a single breach (given, it was the best of the best, and it happened rarely, but I was in battles like that and saw it myself). Items such as flash bang, smoke, etc, would all get in the way of forward, direct movement towards an objective, and even now, I laugh. I had said sometime time ago that the game was degenerating into some sort of armored rugby match, and low and behold, they even introduced Rugby as a gameplay model. The game is made for the lowest common denominator of player. Start tank, kill and blow up stuff, rinse, repeat. Hell, they added mouse controls because the stats said new players came and couldn't figure out how to use the turret buttons. If you can't read simple instructions and use three keys, your not really anyone who should be playing games, you need to go back to school because you have much bigger problems, but alas, they were catered to.

 

Point is, don't hold your breath for lots of cool stuff that will transform gameplay in any fashion that will change the standard dynamic of spawn, drug, drive forward, blow stuff up, come back with something or continue blowing stuff up. Strategy, tactics, use of terrain (with the exception of Ledgy Online), and clever gameplay is not something likely to be seen in the future. I had high hopes for Tanki X, and to it's credit, the module system is far superior, but, all this innovation but the maps are ridiculously small often times, and the lack of variety makes it frustrating there as well, albeit for different reasons.

[Viking4s 10,791]

From your mouth to the devs ears, hopefully. I'm thinking we'll never see that until they get everything HTML 5 first. [...]

Smoke or flash effect is not a big deal to create. Even if html is the future of TO flash will still be there for some time. I am a realistic dreamer, bang bang ideas have stronger appeal to devs approach of this game: bigger, better stronger. So I'm not holding my breath but only dreaming.