Since Tanki Online decided to offer boosters (supplies or drugs as they are more commonly known in the game) I have mixed feelings about the game these days. While these supplies are certainly useful to either protect, increase the speed of or increase the fire power of your tank where situations demand it, there are a host of players that seem to be unable to enter battle without the constant use of them. This is often to the annoyance of anyone playing against them, myself included I have to admit.
However, at times you have to admire just how effective they can be and how just one player using them well can make the world of difference in a battle. Today I entered a 30 minute Capture the Flag battle on the Rio map with about 20 minutes left and the score was pretty even (3-3 I think). It was not long after that the game began to change quite dramatically following the introduction of a player using Smoky turret on a Viking hull. With the assistance of an Isida and a few other tanks in his team he managed to effectively stop the opposition team from doing anything to stop his team catch the flag almost at will. So how did he do it?
However, at times you have to admire just how effective they can be and how just one player using them well can make the world of difference in a battle. Today I entered a 30 minute Capture the Flag battle on the Rio map with about 20 minutes left and the score was pretty even (3-3 I think). It was not long after that the game began to change quite dramatically following the introduction of a player using Smoky turret on a Viking hull. With the assistance of an Isida and a few other tanks in his team he managed to effectively stop the opposition team from doing anything to stop his team catch the flag almost at will. So how did he do it?
The tank was positioned within the green circle shown on the map to the right, in an elevated section of the map where he is protected by some pipework to the west, where a red player attack is most likely to come from. It is easy enough to hide behind the pipe and receive no damage but to be sure that no red team p[layers got close enough he also laid out a minefield which stopped most incoming tanks dead in their tracks. If he did take any damage then the Isida tank would simply heal him if in attendance. When the Isida was not available he would simply use a repair kit to heal himself. In addition to this, Double Armour was used throughout, making the M2 Viking a tough cookie to destroy and capable of taking hits from the likes of Railgun loaded with Double Damage boosters. (I know - I hit him several times with this, bit to little effect). Any tank that tried to hit him from adjacent to the red team flag was easily dealt with either by him or one of the supporting tanks. | Click on image for larger view |
To destroy enemy tanks he also used the Double Damage booster that would drop every few minutes in the little zone he was occupying, and once that wore off he would just use one of his personal supplies. The end result was that his M2 Smoky, with boosters, could easily destroy tanks nearly at will, while remaining virtually untouchable and he did this for a solid 18 minutes if memory serves me right. He was impossible to destroy and made it so easy for his team to drive over the roof top to grab the flag and take it back to their base. Those who were doing the flag catching also used lots of boosters, just to make sure (Mostly the second top scorer in the blue team).
He managed an impressive 92 kills without being destroyed even once - truly indestructible and you have to concede that it is impressive. It is rare that any player can go through a battle of 15 minutes or more without being blown to bits at least once.
If you look at the statistics a little closer you could come to the conclusion that he alone made all the difference to the outcome of the battle as the majority of his team mates had far less kills, four of the ten players with fewer than 10 kills.
If you look at the statistics a little closer you could come to the conclusion that he alone made all the difference to the outcome of the battle as the majority of his team mates had far less kills, four of the ten players with fewer than 10 kills.