review Mission: Equilibrium - Patch 636 Analyzed

[Venerable 2,967]

The developers have embarked on an important mission, their goal being the attainment of "equilibrium". With game balance in mind, a new patch update has been released, and the Newspaper is back with another Patch Update Review. This time we shall be analyzing Patch Update #636, which is packed with balance tweaks. From changes to hulls & turrets to minor bug fixes - this patch update has it all. Let's take a look at what has changed and how it affects players.

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 Changes to Number of Players in Maps

 What is it?

The number of players per map has been changed for the following maps:

Spoiler

 

• Aleksandrovsk: 16 → 20;
• Archipelago: 12 → 16;
• Barda: 16 → 20;
• Bridges: 12 → 16;
• Chernobyl: 24 → 20;
• Desert: 24 → 20;
• Future: 16 → 20;
• Iran: 20 → 16;
• Osa 24 → 20;
• Red Alert: 16 → 12;
• Silence: 20 → 16;
• Stadium: 24 → 20;
• Wolfenstein: 24 → 20.

 

What does it mean?

It simply means that some maps will feel less crowded, while others will suddenly seem to have a few extra players. Aleksandrovosk, Archipelago, Barda, Bridges, and Future will have four players more than before, whereas Chernobyl, Desert, Iran, Osa, Red Alert, Silence, Stadium, and Wolfenstein will have four players less.

Impact

Having a few players less on each team always allows for more breathing space and you do not spend more time respawning than playing. Maps having fewer players than before will be more fun to play in. Personally, having less players on Desert and Iran is a welcome prospect - Iran feels cramped anyway, and Desert with twelve players on each team is a massacre. 

Increasing the player count on Archipelago would hopefully solve the problem of spawning on the same island multiple times or spawning on an island full of enemy tanks. Extra tanks on Aleksandrovosk and Barda won’t be that noticeable because they’re quite large maps. Bridges is a pretty balanced map, so a couple of tanks more on each team wouldn’t really disturb game balance.

Future, however, might have some problems. In Assault mode, more players on each team means that the defending team will crowd around their already small base and the frequency of attackers will increase. Chances of utter confusion and mayhem in Rugby mode are higher. 

More importantly, some players might face lags and FPS drops in maps having an increased number of players. We advise such players to reduce their graphics settings or reduce their device’s screen resolution. 

 

  Changes to Groups

What is it?

While searching for a battle in a Group, the range of ranks for the group of players can only go up, and cannot go down.

What does it mean?

When you are queuing up for a battle in MM in a Group, the system doesn't allow the range of ranks to go below the rank of the lowest ranked player in your Group. For example, if you are a Legend, and are grouping with a General (four stars), you will never be in a battle with a Lieutenant General (three stars) or Major General (two stars). The battle will have only those players who are ranked higher than General.

Consider another example for clarity: You are a Warrant Officer 5 (WO5) and are in a group with a First Lieutenant (three diamonds). When you queue up for a MM battle, the system will put you in a battle having all players ranked WO5 and above. So you wouldn't find WO4s or WO3s in the battle.

Impact

If you play MM in a group, you will rarely be the highest ranked player in the battle, unless you're a Legend (duh). If a group has only Legends, then that group will always find itself in Legend-only battles in Matchmaking. 

Hence, while making a group or joining a group, always keep in mind that all players should have nearly the same rank - otherwise lower ranked players in the group will always face stronger opponents.

 Note!

This is not 100% confirmed but rather our interpretation of the change. Please do not sue us demanding reparitions in the form of cookies if the above information is not true to size.

 

Defender Nerf

What is it?

Instead of giving you boosted armor for 30 seconds, the Defender drone now grants you a 20 second bonus effect. That’s ten seconds less.

What does it mean?

That's quite self-explanatory. You’ll get ten seconds less to capture a flag or score a goal with increased armor. 

Impact

You might find that you get killed right before completing an objective (capturing a point/flag or scoring a goal). You might also find it easier to destroy Defender-users and prevent them from completing any objective. However, the change isn’t that significant. It’s a minor tweak which is very difficult to notice or exploit.
Defender is still potent - do not get lulled into a false sense of security. 

"Never underestimate the power of Defender drone." ~ The Wise Pizza.

 

 Changes to Isida

What is it?

Isida has received a buff - it now deals 15% more damage at all modifications. Check out the increase in damage in the spoiler below:

Spoiler

NOTE: The commas are basically decimal points.

• Mk1: 500 → 575 (hp);
• Mk2: 573,53 → 659,56 (hp);
• Mk3: 632,35 → 727,20 (hp);
• Mk4: 705,88 → 811,76 (hp);
• Mk5: 750 → 862,5 (hp);
• Mk6: 808,82 → 930,14 (hp);
• Mk7: 882,35 → 1014,70 (hp);
• Mk7+: 1 000 → 1150 (hp).

 

What does it mean?

Isida now deals more damage than before. It’s a pretty direct buff. In technical terms, Isida now has a higher "damage per second" value.

Impact

Isidas will start sapping your health faster than before - or at least that’s how it’ll seem. A red Isida beam will deal more damage to your tank within a fixed time interval. You should give Isidas a wide berth now.

 

 Changes to Hammer

• Faster Magazine Reload: Hammer's stock version (without any augments) now reloads the magazine (of 3 shots) 2 seconds faster! Check out the new data right below in the spoiler:
  Spoiler

  NOTE: The commas are basically decimal points.

  • Mk1: 6 → 4 (s);
  • Mk2: 5,82 → 3,82 (s);
  • Mk3: 5,74 → 3,74 (s);
  • Mk4: 5,62 → 3,62 (s);
  • Mk5: 5,471 → 3,471 (s);
  • Mk6: 5,352 → 3,352 (s);
  • Mk7: 5,235  → 3,235 (s);
  • Mk7+: 5 → 3 (s).

  This means that you won't have to wait too long to shoot again after exhausting your clips, which is a direct buff. Two seconds is a lot in a game where even milliseconds matter, so be prepared to face seemingly overpowered Hammers in battle.  

• "Duplet" Augment: This augment allows you to fire two shots rapidly with almost no delay. The reload time for this augment has been tweaked a bit - the magazine takes 50% longer to reload as compared to the new reloading time of stock Hammer. That's the only tiny tweak. For example, Hammer Mk1 with the Duplet augment will require (4 + 50% of 4)s = (4 + 2)s = 6 seconds to reload the magazine.

 

 Changes to Striker

• Faster Reload: Another turret has been buffed - Striker. The stock version of Striker now reloads faster! This means that you can now fire single rockets at a faster rate. The new values are compiled in the spoiler below:
  Spoiler

  NOTE: The commas are basically decimal points. 

  • Mk1: 2,5 → 2,2 (s);
  • Mk2: 2,356 → 2,097 (s);
  • Mk3: 2,294 → 2,053 (s);
  • Mk4: 2,191 → 1,979 (s);
  • Mk5: 2,129 → 1,935 (s);
  • Mk6: 2,047 → 1,876 (s);
  • Mk7: 1,965 → 1,818 (s);
  • Mk7+: 1,8 → 1,7 (s).

   

• Greater Initial Velocity of Missiles: The developers seem to find Striker too slow, for they have even increased the initial velocity of Striker missiles by 5 m/s for all modifications! This reduces the chances of your rockets hitting everything other than your target, which surely comes as a relief to many. Higher speed of the rockets implies that enemy tanks won't have much time to escape the deadly missiles.

 

 Changes to Hopper

A nerf for Hopper was much awaited. The new changes do not drastically temper Hopper's abilities, but they're at least tiny nerfs. One step at a time.

• Reduced Acceleration: The acceleration of Hopper has been nerfed - it now accelerates 2 m/s slower. In simple terms, Hopper will take more time to attain its maximum speed. This is already evident in battles - Hoppers are unable to change their direction effectively and tend to crash into obstacles because of the slow acceleration. Personally, I feel that Hopper doesn't respond to my keystrokes fast enough - so it feels as if it's stuck in glue until it gets moving. This also affects its strafing ability negatively.
• Overdrive Mechanism Altered: Hopper no longer receives an overdrive charge for useful combat actions within 10 seconds of using the overdrive. That is, after using the Hopper overdrive, you won't receive any bonus overdrive charge for "useful combat actions" (like capturing flags/points, scoring goals, etc.) for 10 seconds. If you capture a flag or a point ten seconds after using your overdrive, then you will receive some overdrive charge.

 

 Miscellaneous Changes

• You now get points if you destroy enemy tanks using Ares's overdrive, the BFG. [*My interpretation of this change was off the mark. Thankfully, @At_Shin (and @TheCongoSpider) came to my rescue!] You can now instantly get OD charge by completing battle objectives after releasing the BFG. Earlier, it had a 10 second grace period (like Hopper has now) for gaining OD charge after activation. Using Ares's overdrive on enemies gave battle points before as well.
• Smoky's newly inducted augment, "Rubberized Rounds", now allows projectiles to bounce off walls not once, but twice!
• You can now change the game interface language in the Settings. No need to log out and change the language.
• Flag icons can now be scaled in the drop-down menu in Clans. 
• Changes to Containers:
  • Containers now have a sound effect, just like in the mobile version of the game!
  • Augments are now displayed along with an image of the turret they're for!
• The much-awaited ignore feature is here! We can now ignore a player's messages in chats by "hiding" their messages. You can do so by clicking on a player's nickname and then clicking on "Hide messages".

Click on "Hide messages" to ignore a player's messages.

• Now, if you get stunned, you cannot activate your supplies for the entire duration of this status effect. Do not confuse this with the EMP effect. When the EMP status effect gets applied,  you lose your active supplies. But in case of the new stun effect, you will retain your supplies, but will not be able to activate other supplies as long as you are in the stunned state.

 

 Bug Fixes

Wheeee bug fixes! Who doesn't like them? Some of the most annoying bugs have been fixed this time... check 'em out!

• The bug due to which items did not get equipped in the Garage is now fixed!
• The bug due to which augments were not visible in the augments menu has been fixed!
• The bug due to which it was impossible to add a newly entered friend to the group is also fixed! (You won't notice it now... unless you actually faced this problem.)

 

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This update was quite ambitious - the developers are intent on completing the seemingly impossible "Mission: Equilibrium".  After all, "equilibrium" must be attained, and thereafter maintained. 

We are now a tad more knowledgeable, I hope, with this comprehensive analysis of Patch Update #636. What are your opinions on these updates? Let us know below!

[Person_Random 4,991]

Let's take a look at this week's Patch Update, in which the developers made a push towards equilibrium in the game. Did they make it? Well, check out our new reporter Venerable's take on this update right here!

[dolarichi 30]

Nice one

[Tanker-Arthur 2,971]

Nice article :D

 

Spoiler

Now why isn't Gauss touched at all? You'd think with all the people complaining, a nerf to it was bound to happen XD

 

Edited February 11, 2021 by Tanker-Arthur

[NikmanGT 4,362]

Nerfing defender is a huge turn, lets hope its works perfectly

[E_polypterus 2,374]

This was a nice read, thanks bro 

[Excited 78]

Enjoyed reading, explained all the new update meanings and some other stuff I missed myself. 

[brainhoo 735]

Really Nice Summary! Thanks for the write-up Venerable. Would like to add to remember to fix the "open weekly container bug". Affects everyone and has been around for a long time.

Edited February 11, 2021 by Venerable
We Reporters can't fix 'em bugs :/ ?

[Iron_Man 2,376]

Really nice article Venerable. Enjoyed reading it. Keep up the great work!

[Mursal 58]

I think Chernobyl should be evacuated because we'll be all contaminated with radiation..

Anyways, good article, enjoyed reading it - it looked attractive and simple.

[die3458 53]

tbh the striker buff is really miniscule it doesnt change anything about striker at all. striker is trash because of its lock on speed, the fact it has a laser, super dumb missles, and the fact that the striker cant hit anything in arcade mode. good article tho! :D

[vecky 93]

9 hours ago, brainhoo said:

Really Nice Summary! Thanks for the write-up Venerable. Would like to add to remember to fix the "open weekly container bug". Affects everyone and has been around for a long time.

Which  bug? Maybe I maybe experienced, but I didn't remembered because tanki has many and I can not remember all.

[brainhoo 735]

10 hours ago, brainhoo said:

Really Nice Summary! Thanks for the write-up Venerable. Would like to add to remember to fix the "open weekly container bug". Affects everyone and has been around for a long time.

Haha, rest assured i know you guys can't fix the problem but maybe the complaint hasn't reached the dev's ears enough.

1 hour ago, vecky said:

Which  bug? Maybe I maybe experienced, but I didn't remembered because tanki has many and I can not remember all.

When you open the weekly container after playing battles and doing other things in the dash, and you've earned that weekly container, the container cannot open. It just suspends there. You need to logout and login again to open it. 

[vecky 93]

13 hours ago, brainhoo said:

Haha, rest assured i know you guys can't fix the problem but maybe the complaint hasn't reached the dev's ears enough.

When you open the weekly container after playing battles and doing other things in the dash, and you've earned that weekly container, the container cannot open. It just suspends there. You need to logout and login again to open it. 

Yes I agree but if you do what you told to do you can see that nothing wrong happens and if you repeat a opening you will see that everything is ok.

I repeat it is problem when you see that opening is blocked and first thing what you think is OH! No My precises container gone.. But no.

I agree it will be good to solve that problem but I slowing give away that any reported problem in this game will be ever solved.

I am sure we will see a new shiny hulls, new weapons, new paints, new shards what ever they will call that, but these problems,

I am absolutely sure they will never solve.

Edited February 12, 2021 by vecky

[tankicola 111]

Nice!  ( I liked it! )

Edited February 12, 2021 by tankicola
By removing a prior reaction, you can react again!

[vecky 93]

The list of problem is not ended.

Sometime in the middle of a game when you most unexpect you goes to the garage and

when you return you can hear the sound but of video you only can see a grayed screen.

The problem is worst because you have a overdrive on a 100% but if you refresh session and you must do that

if you want to play you loose your OD.

Never matter if you do that with your drone or a simple waiting to fill it up.

[Venerable 2,967]

1 hour ago, vecky said:

The list of problem is not ended.

Sometime in the middle of a game when you most unexpect you goes to the garage and

when you return you can hear the sound but of video you only can see a grayed screen.

The problem is worst because you have a overdrive on a 100% but if you refresh session and you must do that

if you want to play you loose your OD.

Never matter if you do that with your drone or a simple waiting to fill it up.

My dear friend, please be mindful of where you post your complaints. This is a Newspaper article, in which I have merely analyzed the latest patch update. Newspaper Reporters have no powers when it comes to fixing bugs or adding new features - all that is in the hands of the Developers. 

If you wish to complain, do so in the Complaint Book. Forum Moderators will forward your complaints to those in authority. If you wish to report bugs, please reply in the Bugs and Glitches Report topic. Not here.

Feel free to contribute to the discussion constructively!

[Tokamak 1,021]

Nice work!

We want more of this!

[vecky 93]

17 hours ago, Venerable said:

My dear friend, please be mindful of where you post your complaints. This is a Newspaper article, in which I have merely analyzed the latest patch update. Newspaper Reporters have no powers when it comes to fixing bugs or adding new features - all that is in the hands of the Developers. 

If you wish to complain, do so in the Complaint Book. Forum Moderators will forward your complaints to those in authority. If you wish to report bugs, please reply in the Bugs and Glitches Report topic. Not here.

Feel free to contribute to the discussion constructively!

Same thing here or there the bug will not been solved.

I just tried to draw attention on so many bugs which irritates but no one wants to solve it.

Bye

[coconuttree 519]

oh cool. You're a newspaper reporter now. Nice work man.

Edited February 13, 2021 by Venerable
Thanks a lot coconuttree ?

[vecky 93]

Just fine equili... what ever but it is not equal.

About rang tac tac but the number is important too.

In my team developers trying always too put lowest and most of the lowest players, and in the enemy almost all legend

and one of the lowest rank.

Bravo Big successor.

For lag I don't need to say anything it is awful, jumpy FPS from 2 to 5,

killed in every 3 or 5 second in relation of where are you spawned.

[vecky 93]

It is enough for me about lags and speed of internet and speed of my PC.

After the restart of the servers I play almost like a water with a very little jump

in a FPS and freeze the screen for a 2 seconds which is not noticeable.

There is a little jumpy but I can say that almost like a flash game.

I can conclude that for lag guilty laying in a multidisciplinary problem.  

 

[E_polypterus 2,374]

3 hours ago, vecky said:

It is enough for me about lags and speed of internet and speed of my PC.

After the restart of the servers I play almost like a water with a very little jump

in a FPS and freeze the screen for a 2 seconds which is not noticeable.

There is a little jumpy but I can say that almost like a flash game.

I can conclude that for lag guilty laying in a multidisciplinary problem.  

 

 

5 hours ago, vecky said:

I just want to ask one question,

Why my team is always with more players with more lower ranks then enemy?!

 

I think “game discussion” would be the right place for these bro

[vecky 93]

6 hours ago, E_polypterus said:

 

I think “game discussion” would be the right place for these bro

I think it is the thematic for a money discussion not game.