Crusader: The New Meta?

[Viking4s 10,791]

Hello, Tankers, this new year is the harbinger of a new hull on Tanki: Crusader. Lucky players already managed to get it during the early access period, but is it worth the wait?  Will it be a good hull or just a gimmick? Let's find out a little bit more about it with this review.

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Introduction

With the early release of Crusader, Tanki has introduced three new hulls in just five months, expanding the hull range from eight to eleven (including Juggernaut). All these new additions were of the hovering type; instead of using caterpillar tracks for moving, they use a futuristic feature based on anti-gravity, a technology that allows hulls to float above the ground, and move in any direction. But this also provides good stability that prevents them from flipping so they can jump from high cliffs and be sure to land upright. The heavy “hover tank” Ares became the first hull with an anti-gravity feature in August; it was quickly followed by the light-weight Hopper in September, and eventually, the medium hull Crusader came in December to complete the range. As of now, the hull is only obtainable through Ultra Containers during the early access period. After the 15th of January, it will be available in your garage to buy with the good old crystals. 

Let’s review Crusader's stats and Overdrive ability and see its fighting potential in battles.

Hull Specifications

Crusader is a hovering hull with all the characteristics of the medium class hull, similar to them in speed and health points. The hull also combines the characteristics of the hover tank range, with its special manoeuvrability, strafing, and its uncanny stability. The anti-gravity force of the engine keeps the hull in a stable position and compensates for uneven surfaces as well as for the recoil when shooting. To overturn a hover tank in a battle, you need to put high effort into doing so or use lag.  

 

> Hull Name
A Crusader is either a fighter from the medieval Crusades or a person who campaigns vigorously for political, social, or religious change. Therefore, Crusader's name does not stray away from the unspoken rule of giving medium hulls names that belong to a unique category of individuals with fighting abilities or strong military power, such as Viking, Hunter, and Dictator. 

The Polish and the Russian communities used the full name, Krzyżowiec (Crusader) and the Крусейдер (Kruseyder) respectively, while the German community shortened it to Ritter (Knight) instead of Kreuzritter (Crusader) which is a more specific class of warrior: Knight of the Cross. 

Crusader is also the name of an English tank used in World War II mainly to support the North African military campaign.

 

> Hull Design
The hull appears large especially in the middle where it accommodates what looks like the two anti-gravity engines. For reference, Hopper goes only one of them, while the heavy Ares gets four. I was not fond of Ares design, while Hopper is quite beautiful, and expected Crusader to be as good as Viking's aesthetic; unfortunately, it is closer to Hunter's blandness. At the front, we can clearly notice the large built-in cannon - the overdrive that shoots an icicle. This design looks very similar to Ares’ BFG. 

In my humble opinion, Crusader's default skin was not blessed by the goddess of beauty. What I dislike most about it is its wideness in the middle and then the standard complex details of the default skin which is overloaded with tiny details that make it look like an unfinished piece inside a swiss clock watch with a transparent casing. Fortunately, the elite XT Skin does improve the design, but unfortunately, it is only obtainable by opening Ultra Containers during the early access period. 
 

List of skins available per hull (left) - Crusader's Standard and XT skins (right).
 

Spoiler

[Animated gif in spoiler] CRUSADER XT with Galaxy paint close up view.

When compared with Viking, Crusader is wider and longer; however, the lumps on both sides are actually not tangible objects and you will see them disappearing against walls and buildings (pure Tanki magic), so where a Viking Hull goes, Crusader hull can also fit. 
 

Spoiler

[Animated gif] Part of the hull disappears in the thickness of the house so the hull hitbox is slimmer than its visible body.
 

> Hull Control
The hovering hulls were introduced by developers as the perfect equipment for mobile gameplay; they were not wrong. With the turret fixed to the hull, the set-up removes the requirement to control the turret aiming as it points where the hull is pointing, giving more leeway for the right hand to manage shooting, supplies selection and overdrive activation.

On computers and laptops, there are two options available to control the hull:

1/ Mouse and keyboard. In that configuration, the hull moves forward, backward, and strafes to the side. The camera, the point of view of the player, follows the hull. With mouse control, you also can control your camera.

2/ keyboard only (mouse controls is disabled). This configuration allows the control of the tank like any other tracked tank, but no strafing is possible. The hull moves independently of the turret and the camera follows the turret. This more conventional control is better for players that do not like strafing and that prefer to use the advantage of turning their turret.

Crusader jumps from high while staffing and always lands on its tracks upright like a cat.

The only time that Crusader do not hover is when dead (obviously) and when struck by the stunning effect of the Hunter and Hopper: the hull will stop hover and while keeping its momentum it will touch ground and slide for some distance. 

 

> Hull Specifications
As Crusader is only available to a few people blessed with luck, I looked in the Tankiwiki to find all the specificationa of the hull, and they confirm that the hull truly belongs to the medium hull class alongside the Viking, the Hunter and the Dictator. The hull sports the same Health Points (HP) range as the medium hulls (from 1500 to 3000) and its top speed range matches the Dictator’s range, the slowest of the lot with 7.30 to 8.5 m/sec.
 

Crusader	Мark 1	Мark 2	Мark 3	Мark 4	Мark 5	Мark 6	Мark 7	Мark 7+
Rank Available From								-
Price of Modification	150	6 000	16 000	29 000	54 000	87 000	130 000	388 000
Protection (HP)	1 500	1 852.94	1 985.29	2 117.65	2 294.12	2 470.59	2 647.06	3 000
Top Speed (m/sec)	7.30	7.58	7.69	7.79	7.94	8.08	8.22	8.50

The fact that two hulls with the same weight have the same speed range suggests that Tanki has planned to cap the top speed range within each hull class weight to keep the three hulls class clearly separated. This is interesting information as it would help us to anticipate some specification of the future hull addition to the game.
 

Crusader	Мark 1	Мark 2	Мark 3	Мark 4	Мark 5	Мark 6	Мark 7	Мark 7+
Hull Weight	1 800	2 223.53	2 382.35	2 541.18	2 752.94	2 964.71	3 176.47	3 600
Hull Power	800	829.00	859.00	882.00	912.00	929.00	953.00	1 000
Hull Acceleration (m/sec²)	9	9.94	10.29	10.65	11.12	11.59	12.06	13
Hull Reverse Acc. (m/sec²)	11	11.94	12.29	12.65	13.12	13.59	14.06	15

Another specification that Crusader shares with the Dictator is its weight range, they are both identical from 1800 to 3600, so they are the heaviest hull of the medium class. However, its power, from 800-1000 units, is close to Viking specs and both have the lowest power range, but the hovertank only improves it by 200 units when fully upgraded which makes it the weakest of the medium class. 

Regarding acceleration and reverse acceleration range, Crusader seats in the middle, but what makes it stand out is that the increase across the marks is the smallest of all. For the deceleration only an increase of 4 meter/sec² versus 8 for the other hulls. For the acceleration only 4 meter/sec², slightly less than Viking (with a variation of 5.3 meter/sec²), both hulls are therefore the slowest to decelerate.

Crusader turning speed start has the highest a low Mark (100deg/sec² versus 75 for Dictator), but then again, this parameter does not improve much with upgrades finishing as the lowest with 120 degree per second versus 150 for Hunter.

The parameter for recoil is not specified in the wiki, but it is powerful and even exacerbates with hover tanks that have no friction with the ground; consequently, upon firing the icicle, the hull will slide effortlessly. Be careful when using the overdrive as the Crusader will quickly move backward over 3 to 5 meters, therefore keep your back foot away from the edge of a bridge or cliff if you do not wish to fall down.

Despite being stable when jumping and hovering over small obstacles, Crusader is very sensitive to impact force from other turrets, which will make you easily miss your shots.

In short, Crusader is not blessed with exceptional specifications: the hull is the heaviest, the weakest in power and barely gets better when upgrading, so even when it starts strong, it finishes either average or weak. I would not select that hull for this specification only. However, what would make you buy it is probably its stability and being of the medium class (difficult to overturn), but what about its overdrive?

 

Overdrive

The Crusader overdrive is a built-in cannon which the second hull equipped with this mechanic (with the first being Ares), but unlike Ares, this one is purely offence-oriented. The projectile fired is made out of a thick layer of ice and shaped like an icicle for better aerodynamics. Upon activation, the overdrive requires three seconds before firing it as it has to manufacture the icicle. The whole process starts with the cryo-generator absorbing the surrounding moisture (large blue light in front of the hull) which is then cooled down and cast into the shape of a sharp icicle; eventually, the projectile is shot at high velocity. When hitting a solid obstacle, the projectile shatters into small ice shards dealing cold splash and armor-piercing splash effect to the opponent in the vicinity of the explosion; tanks will take on damage, partially freeze, and temporarily lose their armor protection.
 

Crusader overdrive full mechanics demonstration.

 

> Overdrive Charging Parameters
The charging of the Crusader overdrive depends on two parameters, the charging by point and the basic charging overtime. 
 

Overdrive Charging per Hull	Wasp	Hornet	Hopper	Ares	Titan	Mammoth
Charge per battle point (%)	0.6	0.5	0.7	0.7	0.5	0.6
Charge per second (%)	1.0	0.9	1.0	0.7	0.8	0.7
Overdrive Charging per Hull	Viking	Hunter	Crusader	Dictator	Juggernaut
Charge per battle point (%)	0.5	0.6	0.6	0.7	0
Charge per second (%)	0.4	0.9	1.0	0.7	2.5

Crusader's Overdrive increase for each point earned by a factor of 0.6. This is the same rate as for Wasp, Hunter, and Mammoth, which is better than Hornet, Viking, and Titan with only a factor of 0.5. When Crusader kills a tank, it will earn ten score points and consequently its overdrive will increase by 6% (0.6 * 10). 

Its overdrive passive charge per second is the highest with the factor of 1. It shares this fast charging parameter with Hopper and Wasp by taking only 100 seconds for a full charge (100 / 1). The longest overdrive charging is for Viking with 250 seconds (100 / 0.4) and the fastest is Juggernaut with 40 seconds (100 / 2.5).

Even if you do not manage to score, points the quick charging will be beneficial; this overdrive is more suited for players that stay in defence or support where they have less opportunity to score and wait the right moment to support once the charge is completed.

 

> Overdrive Effective Range
The effective range of the Overdrive has two components, the first one is the distance that the icicle can travel across, and the second is the splash damage range of the icicle explosion. 

Crusader's cannon range belongs to the long-range category (unlimited) as the icicle travels in a straight line until it reaches a solid obstacle. It would then explode and cause melee range splash damages. (Solid obstacles in the game are enemy and ally hull, supply drop (including gold box), walls, tree trunk, pylon, bridge, ground, icicle…) However, the projectile will not explode if it crosses way with intangible obstacles like turrets, Titan’s dome generator, drones, flags, rugby balls or control points. The vertical auto-aim angle of the Crusader is identical to the close-range turrets (Twins, Ricochet and Hammer) with angle of 11 degree upwards and a 14 degree downwards, which means it is slightly more efficient to shoot from an elevated position.
 

Splash damage performance (%) of Crusader (light green) compared to existing overdrives and turrets.

The splash damage reaches a 10-meter radius from the point of explosion (light green line). The damage percentage profile is similar to splash damage from Terminator rockets (white line) in maximum radius distance and final weak damages (10%), but 30% weaker at 5 meters radius. Compared to Striker's (dark green line) rocket it is also less powerful at 5 meters radius, but then it becomes stronger after 8 meters radius. 
 

The gun range is unlimited like for Ares, but the effective damage range (10m) is third worst after
Ares healing/killing power (6m), and Mammoth AT-field (7.5m).

As a Crusader player, be careful to where you aim your overdrive to as splash damage deals self-damage so make sure that you stay away from the explosion range! Therefore, maintain 10 meters distance from your enemy, ally, or any obstacles that stand in the trajectory of the icicle if you do not want to taste your own medicine. 
 

Spoiler

Fire the overdrive too close will result on self-damage and eventually death .

 

> Overdrive Damage and Effect
When the powerful icicle explodes, any enemy tank within a 10-meter radius vicinity is not only damaged, but they feel the explosion impact force, the cold effect and lose their armor for three seconds. When a tank is destroyed by the direct effect of the icicle the cause of death will show the red atomic cloud mushroom  which is also used for the overdrives of Wasp and Ares.

Both damage and impact force parameters of the overdrive are upgraded with the hull Mark, and this is a first for an overdrive. This is very strange, the Hull becomes a turret on its own right, if it has a gun, shoots like a turret and can be upgraded like a turret: then it is a turret. Was this Icicle technology first developed as a Turret concept? Viking also has an overdrive mechanics that indirectly follow the Mark level, but it does not behave like an independent turret.
 

Crusader	Мk1	Мk2	Мk3	Мk4	Мk5	Мk6	Мk7	Мk7+
Overdrive damage (HP)	1 500	1 852.94	1 985.29	2 117.65	2 294.12	2 470.59	2 647.06	3 000
Overdrive Impact Force	500	617.65	661.76	705.88	764.71	823.53	882.35	1 000

 

The overdrive health point (HP) damage range from 1500 at Mark 1 to 3000 HP at Mark 7+. To improve the low damage output, an efficient strategy would be to aim at a group of tanks and let the splash damage do its work. Furthermore, Double Damage supply and drones with damage boosting ability (Crisis and Booster) increase the damage output of Crusader's Overdrive, just like they do with turrets! Therefore, the maximum out put at Mark 7+ equipped with a fully upgraded Booster drone can deliver 12600 HP damage for a direct hit (over 60% health point of a Mark 7+ Juggernaut). But the health points damage is also reduced by other protection features that the enemy will gear up: double armor (halves it), Defender drone, passive protection of drones and Titan’s dome. Surprisingly, the universal turret augment Adrenaline also boost the Icicle's damage output, and the boost is related to the turret range. Is it per design or is it a bug? Let's wait and see.

The icicle has a huge impact force  on exposing which also follows the hull parameters upgrades: 500 at Mark 1 to 1000 at Mark 7+. Crusader's Overdrive impact force is superior to the Gauss (in sniping mode) and Magnum's explosion impact force from 300 at Mark 1 to 900 at Mark 7+. It is similar in strength to the BFG explosion; however it is superior with a radius of 10 meters versus 6 meters for Ares. But the icicle explosion is nowhere near the Wasp N2-Bomb or the Juggernaut overdrive blasting power. Use the strong impact force to knock off your enemy's aim. This is an especially useful tactic against enemy Juggernauts. 

When hit negative status effects  Freeze and Armor-piercing will be displayed.

Tanks hit by the Icicle or the resulting splash damage within the 10 meters radius will lose their armor for five seconds while Armour-piercing (AP) status indicator will show-up  (broken purple shield status effect). The AP effect is totally countered by the AP immunity hull augment  but not by Titan's dome. The negative AP effect is not applied when self-damaging.

Additionally the tanks will be frozen for about four seconds (just like with Dictator's overdrive), and the Freeze status indicator will show-up(blue snowflake status effect). Affected tanks will have slowed movement, speed and turret rotation will move to a fraction of their original speed. The freezing effect can be diminished or ignored by equipping a Cold Resistance  or Cold Immunity hull augment  but not by Titan's dome. The negative Freezing effect is not applied when self-damaging.

Last but not least, the top advantage of this overdrive is that its whole mechanics does not have any interaction with other overdrives, which means that once activated the process is not stoppable unless you die of course. This is a great plus for the gameplay and strategy of this hull. However, there are three main issues with this overdrive. The first, as we have seen already, is self-damage, so do not use it in tight spaces or crowded areas. The second is lag, it will make your precise aiming miss your original target, therefore if you are prone to lag, I would not buy Crusader if I were you. And the third and last is the poor stability of hover hulls to small terrain bumps and obstacles, and above all its sensitivity to impact force from other turrets (Thunder, Magnum, Smoky...), which will make your icicle easily miss its intended target. 

Icicle fired to oblivion after impact force from Thunder’s explosive shell.

Now that you have all the details of the mechanics and specification of the hull and its overdrive, it is time to put it to good use in your gameplay. 

 

Gameplay & Strategy
Overall, this hull is meant for the destruction and neutralization of standalone targets at medium and long-range, therefore medium and large maps with clear spaces are all suitable for Crusader overdrive. But as the hull is on the slow side, the medium maps are better matched allowing it to express its full potential. And if you keep your 10 meters distance to avoid self-damage, a small map can also be profitable for this medium hull.
 

Destruction of a cluster of tanks near the control point in Wolfenstein.

The freezing and armor-piercing capability of the overdrive makes Crusader the perfect weapon for crowd control as it quickly wipes clean a strong defence or stuns dead a raid of attackers. Thanks to the splash damage effect, enemies hidden behind protective walls or sniping in a corner of the map are not safe from its wrath. This hull is also perfect for tanking from the middle of the map and for supporting the attacking allies by weakening defenders on the frontline prior to their arrival. 
 

Neutralisation of foes nested on a high and fortified position on a Kungur map. Watch out for the recoil.

The icicle travelling speed, far faster than Ares BFG, is the ideal weapon to attack control points in CP and Siege battle modes where enemies tend to flock in numbers. Furthermore, it's immune to the shield effect of Titan’s dome, a commonly used hull in these modes. For maximum efficiency, aim at a tank in the middle of the group or the wall close by to maximize the splash damage output radius. After the icicle’s explosion finishes off your enemy, whose armor is temporarily deactivated by the AP effect with your turret, the maximum damage will be achieved with splash-damaging turrets such Striker, Magnum or Thunder. All this splash damage business makes the Crusader well suited for a splash damage specialist. 
 

Aim for maximum splash damage: middle of the flock (left) and solid obstacles (right).
Make sure you are 25 meters away from any Hunter or Hopper to avoid ill-timed stunning.

[Animated gif] Three kills by aiming for maximum radius splash damage output on Scope map.

Spoiler

Leave 10 meters distance to avoid your own splash damage.

However, the warm up delay of the overdrive before firing gives away your position and warns enemies of your imminent deadly strike. As this mechanics is very similar to the Railgun one, skilled Railgun players will be quick to adapt and master it. If you are not familiar with Railgun gameplay, here are some quick tips. When facing enemies, use the terrain and nearby obstacles to hide the activation mechanism and time the firing to aim at the enemy at the last moment. When in open space, pretend to fire in one direction, but then rotate the hull to your true target at the last moment to catch your enemy by surprise. If you use these techniques, you'll find that you'll achieve better results with Crusader's overdrive.
 

Pretending to leave before aiming the overdrive straight to the enemy face.
Within five seconds shoot again to finish wounded enemy without armor protection.

Another possible approach is to flank the enemy,= and attack from the side from a safe and far away position, like the scenario shown above. You have all the time to aim properly and time your attack. Remember that the icicle can be seen from far and despite its speed, enemy players can still avoid it.
 

Spoiler

On the race map, large avenues are perfect for Crusader to flank and launch attacks from long-range.

The good stability provided by the two anti-gravity generators allows an effortless and smooth jump from cliffs and bridges without any stabilizing techniques needed by regular hulls; therefore, any turret can be used. However, due to the nature of the overdrive (splash damage) and relatively slow speed of the hull, melee range turrets are not the best fit. Saying that you can still use close range and melee range to kill enemies and achieve other battle objectives to charge up the overdrive and then use the overdrive for long range support. In that case, the overdrive becomes a secondary firing mode that extends your damage range firepower that a versatile defender can use temporarily and venture out of the base to accomplish some supporting gameplay.   

 

Ratings & Conclusion
 > Hull novelty - Being the third hovertank, there is not much originality; however, this medium hovertank was definitely a must have to complete the full portfolio giving mobile player one playable hull in each of the three class: Ares a heavy hull and Hopper as a light hull.  
    Ratings: 4/5

> Design creativity - Meh, I clearly do not like the hull design; the base is a lean sport car silhouette to which you welded two large and ugly fans on each side: the result is gross. Maybe 3 or 4 smaller fans would have given a better look to the design. Fortunately, the XT skin looks better but it is not easy to get. It is my own opinion, but some players call it a fried egg hull…
   Ratings: 2/5

 > Overdrive - The overdrive is strong and perfect for offensive gameplay when handled by a skilled player; Railgun and Thunder users would be quick to leverage this asset. The icicle mechanics offers a lot of potential in all battle modes and can be leveraged in any map size if enough room is given, but most optimally in medium size. Beware the self-damage though.
    Ratings: 5/5

> Overall - The hull is quite stable as it cannot be flipped and can jump effortlessly from heights, but it is quite sensitive to impact force like a light hull. This quality is both a strength and a weakness; however, this is the price to pay considering the benefit of being stable, having medium health and carrying a strong long-range overdrive. It could easily be the next meta in the game.
    Ratings: 4/5

Of the three hover tanks, Crusader is the most interesting and I hope you will succumb to it if you haven't already for one of the two others. It is not about its exterior design obviously, but for the trick under its hood: good speed, better than Ares, and for its strategic Overdrive, something that Hopper lacks. For me, Crusader's greatest asset is the overdrive, the broad range of opportunities offered by the overdrive when properly leveraged would benefit both solo and team players. Once fully released, the hull will quickly become the major contender in the medium hull range; Hunter and Viking will be badly upset by the new kid on the block.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks for reading - I hope you enjoyed. What are your opinions on Crusader? Be sure to let us know by participating in the poll above!

See you later lagger.

VKG4S

Specials thanks for @Akame, @Jay and the Tankiwiki, whose materials (videos and gif) were used to make new animated gifs. And especially @Akame for doing further testing with Crusader hidden abilities.

[Person_Random 4,991]

The Tanki Newspaper is back again with a perfect article to start off the year. If you're pondering whether or not to spend your hard-earned crystals on Crusader, then you're in the right place - we've got a complete review of the hull. Check it out right now!

[Akame 4,577]

Amazing article, well detailed and explained. Don't think I can add much to it tbh, it's all pretty much there.

So far the highest damage counter I have obtained from Crus OD; although I believe it to not be a sole Crusader counter as I shall explain below; 13897:


Gif of the moment:

Spoiler

Some more info; from what I figured, the game seemed to have added a vulcan damage counter to the OD, as you see, two 257 counters are there and conveniently it adds to a number that ends in a 7.

I was using Vulcan adrenaline (Medium-range turret's damage: +0-33% ) along with booster.

Applied the reverse calculation, 4.33, 4 for booster, and .33 for adrenaline, sounds pretty close since I was almost dead. As you can see, I took away the 257, because if I didn't, adrenaline's buff came to 41% which is impossible for vulcan.

Now if I assume for an exact calculation of my Max damage with my current combo:

Since Tanki likes to truncate damage counters, this would come to 13639 damage at most with this combo.

Now my damage counter was 13897, if I take away 257, I get 13640. So hold up, for the perfectionists, where is that '1' damage. Well, my explanation is, that the vulcan 257 damage, may have actually been equal to or greater than 257.5 and less than 258, since remember, Tanki truncates damage. Now we take 257.5+13639.5, which equates to 13897, which matches the counter, also we have the potential of the upper bound being 258 (well just less than but let's approximate) + 13639.5, which comes to 13897.5, which when truncated also matches the damage counter I hit.

So, yes the damage counter has mixed 1 vulcan counter.

Now to calculate the actual max damage 1 may deal with Crusader Booster, we must use a melee adrenaline, let's take isida as a basic example. (Melee turret's damage: +0-39% )

Leaving the maximum legal value of a crusader OD shot with an assumption of a maximum adrenaline boost with isida will come to 13828 damage. Be the first to hit such damage in Matchmaking games.

Do note, Juggernauts take full damage and have no passive defences, BUT a titans dome will reduce damage, so do not use the Crus OD then. Also spectrum modules will reduce damage, so also take that into account.

 

That is all for now, see you on the battlefield.

Edited January 8, 2021 by Akame
Additional information included

[Tanker-Arthur 2,971]

On 12/23/2020 at 11:21 AM, Viking4s said:

Was this Icicle technology first developed as a Turret concept?

I wished we had a turret that shot freezing Icicles.

[mjmj5558 2,346]

I feel that the OD of crusadier is a reworked and better hornet OD.

Anyways, it's a really long article, so i could only read some parts of it, but it's already visible that it is great. 

Edited January 8, 2021 by mjmj5558

[Far-away 13]

10 hours ago, Akame said:

Amazing article, well detailed and explained. Don't think I can add much to it tbh, it's all pretty much there.

So far the highest damage counter I have obtained from Crus OD; although I believe it to not be a sole Crusader counter as I shall explain below; 13897:


Gif of the moment:

  Hide contents

Some more info; from what I figured, the game seemed to have added a vulcan damage counter to the OD, as you see, two 257 counters are there and conveniently it adds to a number that ends in a 7.

I was using Vulcan adrenaline (Medium-range turret's damage: +0-33% ) along with booster.

Applied the reverse calculation, 4.33, 4 for booster, and .33 for adrenaline, sounds pretty close since I was almost dead. As you can see, I took away the 257, because if I didn't, adrenaline's buff came to 41% which is impossible for vulcan.

Now if I assume for an exact calculation of my Max damage with my current combo:

Since Tanki likes to truncate damage counters, this would come to 13639 damage at most with this combo.

Now my damage counter was 13897, if I take away 257, I get 13640. So hold up, for the perfectionists, where is that '1' damage. Well, my explanation is, that the vulcan 257 damage, may have actually been equal to or greater than 257.5 and less than 258, since remember, Tanki truncates damage. Now we take 257.5+13639.5, which equates to 13897, which matches the counter, also we have the potential of the upper bound being 258 (well just less than but let's approximate) + 13639.5, which comes to 13897.5, which when truncated also matches the damage counter I hit.

So, yes the damage counter has mixed 1 vulcan counter.

Now to calculate the actual max damage 1 may deal with Crusader Booster, we must use a melee adrenaline, let's take isida as a basic example. (Melee turret's damage: +0-39% )

Leaving the maximum legal value of a crusader OD shot with an assumption of a maximum adrenaline boost with isida will come to 13828 damage. Be the first to hit such damage in Matchmaking games.

Do note, Juggernauts take full damage and have no passive defences, BUT a titans dome will reduce damage, so do not use the Crus OD then. Also spectrum modules will reduce damage, so also take that into account.

 

That is all for now, see you on the battlefield.

Bro 

Teach me all this things 

It us very useful

Never saw tanki this practical

I have been doing a little practical was but not as advanced as this..

Pls teach me :(

[Tokamak 1,021]

3 hours ago, Far-away said:

Bro 

Teach me all this things 

It us very useful

Never saw tanki this practical

I have been doing a little practical was but not as advanced as this..

Pls teach me :(

Something coming soon... stay tuned.

[Flexoo 6,980]

Very nice and detailed topic from Vik, as per usual. I always eagerly check what new visuals you come up with and use for your articles to further support and explain the points made in the paragraphs.

[Akame 4,577]

4 hours ago, Far-away said:

Bro 

Teach me all this things 

It us very useful

Never saw tanki this practical

I have been doing a little practical was but not as advanced as this..

Pls teach me :(

Stats are very important, me and a couple others always look at things more statistically, theorise and apply it practically, tbh it's the only real thing keeping me intrigued in the end.

Wiki has the most information, then it's all about applying it with different combo's and game knowledge.

[Let 1,398]

I'm not sure about crusader's good or OP, but i like this OD, it's the balance with hopper fiery overdrive.New tactics are added and the institution of thinking grows even more in the game.

At the same time I would like to say that light tanks have multiplied, I am not in favor of adding another new flying or ground tank as all possible interfaces are already in place. 

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by Mentalist
new opinion

[Akame 4,577]

Yeah, with how things are right now, I's stick to using Crusader in mainly TDM/CP/SGE, the odd TJR if you use booster with it too.

The projectile can be dodged by quick hulls so you gotta be smart with it.

Main use for crus OD realisitcally is to hit a Dome'd area to AP a few targets and finish those you can off.

I did try run tests, seems Titan or Hunter OD activation doesn't disable the icicle, although it's very hard to test or do, so it could be false.

Avoid wasting shots on targets who have AP immunity, that is the most important part, AP is more important than it's freezing effect.

If however 'freeze' reduced turrets firing rate, then it would be nice to use, but it only would effect hull speed and turret rotation.

[Viking4s 10,791]

On 1/9/2021 at 10:13 AM, Flexoo said:

Very nice and detailed topic from Vik, as per usual. I always eagerly check what new visuals you come up with and use for your articles to further support and explain the points made in the paragraphs. 

Thank you master. 

 

On 1/8/2021 at 8:30 PM, Tanker-Arthur said:

I wished we had a turret that shot freezing Icicles.

It would be similar to Thunder e.g. similar speed and splash damages difference is the Freeze activity. At least the overdrive do not freeze you every five seconds. 

 

On 1/8/2021 at 10:18 PM, mjmj5558 said:

I feel that the OD of crusadier is a reworked and better hornet OD.

Anyways, it's a really long article, so i could only read some parts of it, but it's already visible that it is great. 

I disagree, it does have some similitude but Hornet as the scouting radar (which is a big plus for strategy decision) and AP cover the whole area. Reworked, yes, better... it would depend for which purpose.

Thanks. The length is ... but I added images
 

On 1/9/2021 at 12:09 PM, Mentalist said:

I'm not sure about crusader's good or OP, but i like this OD, it's the balance with hopper fiery overdrive. New tactics are added and the institution of thinking grows even more in the game.

At the same time I would like to say that light tanks have multiplied, I am not in favor of adding another new flying or ground tank as all possible interfaces are already in place. 

3 light hulls, 4 medium hulls and 3 heavy hull. + super heavy Jug. I thinks devs are done with caterpillar and hovering tanks, it is time to explore something new and futuristic. 

[Far-away 13]

Give us some new turrets...

I have some crazy ideas...

But maybe me alone cannot influence the community so I will just DM in discord 

[Viking4s 10,791]

25 minutes ago, Far-away said:

Give us some new turrets...

I have some crazy ideas...

But maybe me alone cannot influence the community so I will just DM in discord 

I will be glad to hear it   
There is a turret which is more or less ready but that the developer have not yet released, see here what it is about: [Review] The Tesla Turret 

You can use that to prepare and develop your idea before posting it in Ideas and Suggestions topic.

[Venerable 2,967]

Whew, I finally finished reading this review...

Once again, Viking4s, I am amazed by your knack of presenting numbers and details with so much tact! This was a really informative review, and was quite fun to read!

And the media - wow, they were excellent. The GIFs were really good and so were the graphs and tables (though I might have skipped them )

[SONIC-BOOM 326]

 and for its strategic Overdrive, something that Hopper lacks.

Flying hack does not need any strategy, it just plows in with its OP 3-1 overdrive, jumps onto flag and flies all the way to base to cap, and in most cases the legal hack does not even use it's turret.  

[RIDDLER_8 5,552]

Next, I would like a hull with wheels. Lets roll and roll and dive and rise like this: Half-track - Wikipedia

[Maf 32,300]

27 minutes ago, RIDDLER_8 said:

Next, I would like a hull with wheels. Lets roll and roll and dive and rise like this: Half-track - Wikipedia

A hull is not just about the way it looks, but also the way it controls and functions. If devs do plan on adding more hulls, I don't think they will go back to traditional, realistic configurations. Tanki is moving to a futuristic style, so we're more likely to see something like a strider hull with legs, that's able to walk over enemy tanks, or something.

Half-track vehicles just feel way too antique for Tanki.

[RIDDLER_8 5,552]

OK. If there is such thing as a walking hull, then its overdrive should either destroy enemies by kicking them in the butt. That's something similar to the walking giant hulls you see in the Star War movies. Something like this:

In Star Wars, those hulls are simply called "Walkers"!

I do like the idea of adding hulls which have legs to walk.

Edited January 14, 2021 by RIDDLER_8
Walkers in Star Wars.

[Akame 4,577]

On 1/8/2021 at 7:58 PM, Akame said:

Now to calculate the actual max damage 1 may deal with Crusader Booster, we must use a melee adrenaline, let's take isida as a basic example. (Melee turret's damage: +0-39% )

Leaving the maximum legal value of a crusader OD shot with an assumption of a maximum adrenaline boost with isida will come to 13828 damage. Be the first to hit such damage in Matchmaking games.

Well tankers, the maximum damage I calculated here, is no longer an assumed theory, but it is certain in actuality.

After Blood, Sweat and Quik Mafs, through pain, confusion and despair, we have reached our destination.

To start off, let me begin off with damage counters. we know they are truncated, BUT the decimals in the damage still actually hit the tank, and are not lost, which caused me so much pain due to me having been hit with just above 0.5hp of damage over 3000, leaving me dead.

Yesterday I was trying out one of the ways to reach 2999 hp, and this is when I realised that the decimals are not lost:

Spoiler

So close, yet so far.

Today, with the help of a friend, we finally achieved the goal of becoming 1hp to give us the maximum damage.

Now the road to 2999 damage, was a painful one, but was done with 3 damage counters, with 2 different turrets, the steps taken for this will be shown below.

Phase 1, dealing 2784.6115 damage:

Spoiler

Shaft MK7-1:

Wiki stats:

Damage explanation:

Phase 2, dealing 69.1540625 damage:

Spoiler

Freeze MK2-8:

Wiki stats:

Explanation:

Phase 3, dealing 145.5875 damage:

Spoiler

Explanation:

Now,I was dealt a total damage of 2999.35306:

Spoiler

Which left me at 0.6469375 HP:

Spoiler

This maximized my adrenaline damage buff to 38.99% (2dp):

Spoiler

Leaving my total damage to become 13828.2351 damage:

Spoiler

The final outcome, the goal, the reward:

13828 damage counter conquered.

Doing this in MM, will be extremely hard, if anyone does, give me a shout with an image/video.

[Viking4s 10,791]

On 1/21/2021 at 7:24 PM, die3458 said:

Crusader is a great concept. slap on a striker, and you can get nearly instant kills on the juggernaut. however, that is not what i'm writing for.

I am writing about the way the overdrive charge is returned.

I am sure there is a mechanic that when you die halfway during a overdrive, it gives you back some of the charge.

Crusader's overdrive acts quite differently from differently from all of the other overdrives.  it is a 100% shot based and should not have the same mechanism with the others.

It is very frustrating when someone kills you, the shot isnt even done, and you get like 20% of the overdrive back.

Put  your opinions in the comments :)))

However, I have a concept that can be considered

Make it so that if the shot is not fired in the 1st place, make it so that you get 60% charge (im trying to be reasonable here :D)

Then, if your shot doesn't hit anything at all, return 45% of the charge

you guys said that it is supposed to pick off standalone targets at a range, and I have to say that the crusader does not deliver very well. trying to pick off a moving target is incredibly difficult (if possible) at a range is more like picking a needle out of a haystack. in short, good luck hitting one. 

crusader overdrive should be actually viable in long range combat, but in it's current state, it isnt. if you guys think my above suggestion is "bad" I have another suggestion. remove the crusader splash (its literally useless) and make it charge up at the same speed as the hopper's overdrive. I can clearly see that you, the devs, are trying to create a "versatile" tank, and I think some changes could make it more balanced.

another way is to give the icicle some better characteristics. give it a very, very garbage homing capabilities and it could be a heck of a ton better.

Hope all yall tanker agree

The hull is new so it is still possible that it might undergo further parameters changes.

It is true that it is not pure long range weapon, trying to aim at moving target is difficult even for many turrets (except the instant salvo from Gauss). The devs already reduced the sped of the projectiles and increase the AP length effect (form 3 to 5 seconds) so you can fell that they want to reduces its long range capability to a medium range, a bit like they did with thunder when they introduce shell speed in the mechanics. So I don't think they would consider your idea to increase its long range efficacy.

I do prefer to keep the splash damages because if you miss you can still have some effect (damages, AP and freeze) and it fit the concept with an icicle exploding on impact and damaging tanks in the vicinity. Splash damage also nerf the hull at melee range (self damages) and prevent players just to rush in with it. 

An icicle with homing capability? seriously?
 

On 1/21/2021 at 11:45 PM, DestrotankAI9 said:

Having played with Crusader a bit on my alt accounts, and also against it I think it is a great addition to the game so far - seems interesting to play and not overpowered. Had some very satisfying overdrive hits, and yes it is awesome with Striker in TJR mode. In terms of the meta it is perhaps a slight nerf to Defender drone, and a slight nerf to Titan with its armor penetration - neither of which is a bad thing with Defender being strong overall and Titan strong in Siege.

I really like that the overdrive scales with upgrade level, this needs to be done for other hulls too - Wasp bomb should also increase in damage/impact force depending on upgrade level, and possibly vary in activation time or range also, and Ares overdrive should scale in terms of damage and healing. Crusader fills the gap with a medium hovering hull for mobile players and I definitely think it is a good and fun addition to the game from what I've seen so far.

It is s good overdrive. 

I don't think that Wasp or Mammoth needs to have mark upgrade, I prefer that overdrives work in different ways to keep their originality.

Edited January 24, 2021 by Viking4s

[Viking4s 10,791]

On 1/14/2021 at 5:33 AM, RIDDLER_8 said:

OK. If there is such thing as a walking hull, then its overdrive should either destroy enemies by kicking them in the butt. That's something similar to the walking giant hulls you see in the Star War movies. Something like this:

 

In Star Wars, those hulls are simply called "Walkers"!

I do like the idea of adding hulls which have legs to walk.

They will come, but not that big :D - unless it is for a new big Juggernaut mode and the "walker" will drop N2 bomb from behind 

Hopefully one per class weight (light, medium and heavy).

Let's have the Juggernaut to follow the hull type that the player use, if track-tank then standard jug, if hover-tank then it will be an hovering juggernaut and finally if the player had a walker-tank then the juggernaut would also have legs...

[DestrotankAI9 1,513]

On 1/22/2021 at 12:22 PM, Viking4s said:

It is s good overdrive. 

If you don't think that Wasp or Mammoth needs to have mark upgrade, I prefer that overdrives work in different ways to keep their originality.

I think you may have made a typo here? Did you mean to say "I don't think Wasp or Mammoth needs to have mark upgrade"?

I assume so - in that case I have to say I don't think originality has anything to do with having scaling properties or not. All Hulls overdrives to which scaling would be applicable, should have scaling properties - this would be proper game design and better for balance. The Crusader overdrive from this perspective is better designed than that of Wasp etc.

Wasp's overdrive is vastly more powerful at Mk1 level than it is at Mk8 level, dealing with the same damage and with hulls being much slower at Mk1. Your chance of dying from the wasp bomb even if you are caught in the outer part of the blast radius is much greater at Mk1, and it is much more difficult to get away in time. Equally, for Ares at Mk1 level its overdrive is much more dangerous to Juggernauts than at Mk8, where they can very often manage to survive even a direct overdrive hit since it deals the same damage.

Just as with Crusader, the damage and impact force of Wasp's bomb should scale. Debatably either its activation time or radius should scale also. For Ares its damage should scale, it should have double the damage and healing at Mk8 at least as it has at Mk1. This would definitely help balance Wasp, and Ares at all modifications. Mammoth's damage should also scale - but this is much less important since Mammoth deals so much damage if it makes contact, it is almost an instant kill anyway.

PS: If I have wrongly guessed your typo, my apologies! But this discussion about implementing full scaling for all overdrives to which need it is valid.

Edited January 23, 2021 by DestrotankAI9

[Viking4s 10,791]

18 hours ago, DestrotankAI9 said:

I think you may have made a typo here? Did you mean to say "I don't think Wasp or Mammoth needs to have mark upgrade"?

I assume so - in that case I have to say I don't think originality has anything to do with having scaling properties or not. All Hulls overdrives to which scaling would be applicable, should have scaling properties - this would be proper game design and better for balance. The Crusader overdrive from this perspective is better designed than that of Wasp etc.

Wasp's overdrive is vastly more powerful at Mk1 level than it is at Mk8 level, dealing with the same damage and with hulls being much slower at Mk1. Your chance of dying from the wasp bomb even if you are caught in the outer part of the blast radius is much greater at Mk1, and it is much more difficult to get away in time. Equally, for Ares at Mk1 level its overdrive is much more dangerous to Juggernauts than at Mk8, where they can very often manage to survive even a direct overdrive hit since it deals the same damage.

Just as with Crusader, the damage and impact force of Wasp's bomb should scale. Debatably either its activation time or radius should scale also. For Ares its damage should scale, it should have double the damage and healing at Mk8 at least as it has at Mk1. This would definitely help balance Wasp, and Ares at all modifications. Mammoth's damage should also scale - but this is much less important since Mammoth deals so much damage if it makes contact, it is almost an instant kill anyway.

PS: If I have wrongly guessed your typo, my apologies! But this discussion about implementing full scaling for all overdrives to which need it is valid.

Yes, typo, sorry.

I agree with Wasp analysis, however the difference (in number of kills) is rather small as the damages is so huge to start with and no protection possible. Regarding Ares, there's some good thoughts regarding Juggernaut mode, however the heavy hovering hull is not popular so I think making OP a low level helps with having more of them in battle, the plasma ball is so deadly that any hulls dies if caught in it. Just my thoughts.

Overdrives, in my opinion, where meant as equalizer, all you needed was to buy the hull and nothing would change its potency. But with Crusader buyers (and top Legends with fully upgraded drones) are the ones that get the most of it, as a few drones greatly boost the damages output. If Mark level upgrade influence is bounded with drones influence and double damage, then no I would rather Wasp, Mammoth and Ares to stay as they are.

[DestrotankAI9 1,513]

18 hours ago, Viking4s said:

Yes, typo, sorry.

I agree with Wasp analysis, however the difference (in number of kills) is rather small as the damages is so huge to start with and no protection possible. Regarding Ares, there's some good thoughts regarding Juggernaut mode, however the heavy hovering hull is not popular so I think making OP a low level helps with having more of them in battle, the plasma ball is so deadly that any hulls dies if caught in it. Just my thoughts.

Overdrives, in my opinion, where meant as equalizer, all you needed was to buy the hull and nothing would change its potency. But with Crusader buyers (and top Legends with fully upgraded drones) are the ones that get the most of it, as a few drones greatly boost the damages output. If Mark level upgrade influence is bounded with drones influence and double damage, then no I would rather Wasp, Mammoth and Ares to stay as they are.

I have to disagree about Wasp - at high rank it is so much easier to get away in time I find the number of kills with Wasp is greatly reduced. Personally I think Wasp needs a buff at Mk8 level, and the problem is lack of scaling. Scaling is surely an essential in good game design - there is no excuse not to have it where needed, in my opinion. Fair point about the damage being less significant, although I think either activation time or radius should decrease/increase respectively to account for the much greater hull speed at Mk8 level. I think damage at the core of the blast should be for instance: 6000 at Mk1 and 12000 at Mk8. It is very easy to get a clean kill on the Juggernaut at Mk1 with Wasp,  the damage relative to Juggernaut's health is much lower at Mk8 so Wasp is much less significant - as well as the fact the Jug will be faster too.

Fair point about Ares, its damage is good even at Mk8.

I definitely don't think any overdrive other than Crusader should scale with double damage - to be honest I think even Crusader should not scale with double damage - it would be much better if it dealt 6000 damage instead of 3000 at Mk8, unaffected by double damage. I definitely don't think it should be affected by drones either - it is quite bad in my opinion that you are somewhat forced to use Booster/Crisis if you want to get the most out of Crusader, and to be honest I think it is potentially overpowered with these drones. Thanks for raising this interesting point - I didn't really think about that too much as I happen to have neither of these drones. It is an interesting idea to have an overdrive which scales with double damage and drones but really this is an inconsistency - I think it should be changed not to do so, just like all the other overdrives to prevent obvious issues. And another thing - it certainly shouldn't scale with Adrenaline.