Issue 1

TANKI ONLINE NEWSPAPER ISSUE 1

Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Clans Clans FAQ The "Perfect" Combination Magadan Our Stories Smoky XT Chronicles: "Discovery" Prehistoric TankiOnline to Now Limited Vs. Unlimited & Update 1.78.0 royjonesjr interview Interview - Koolwalky "What maps?" Contest Tanki Online Сrossword "Clan logo" Contest

Editors Note: I've had to make some changes to the articles, such as removing hyperlinks and emotes, and changing the formatting, to make them fit as a PDF, but the actual articles themselves are unchanged.

Lhamster

Note: A fair bit of this has been copied-and-pasted from an old forum topic I posted quite a while back. If you notice something which you think you've seen before, it's probably from there мσѕт тαикмєи киσω αвσυт ¢ℓαиѕ. мσѕт тαикмєи нανє ѕєєи тнє fℓαѕну вαииєя тσωαя∂ѕ тнє вσттσм σf тнє тαикι σиℓιиє ωєвραgє α∂νєятιѕιиg тнє ¢ℓαиѕ, αи∂ тєℓℓιиg ρєσρℓє αвσυт тнє ¢ℓαиѕ. нσωєνєя, мσѕт тαикмєи αяє иσт ιи α ¢ℓαи. ωну‫ ؟‬ιи тнιѕ αятι¢ℓє, ι’м gσιиg тσ συтℓιиє ωнαт α ¢ℓαи ιѕ, αѕ ωєℓℓ αѕ ѕαуιиg ωну ρєσρℓє ѕнσυℓ∂ вє ιи α ¢ℓαи ιf тнєу ωαит тσ мαχιмιѕє тнєιя ρℓαуιиg єχρєяιєи¢є. ώhατ ïṡ α сlαṉ?

First of all, what is this thing called a “clan”? What is it's purpose? How are they run? I've been surprised to see how many members of the community don't know about clans at all, and have all kinds of odd interpretations about what clans are. So I’m going to try to answer some of these simple questions.

To start, what is a clan? To put it simply, a clan is a group of Tanki Online players who have grouped together. They communicate together through chats and other mediums, and normally tend to join games together, working as a group of friends. They sometimes also have special, planned, battles against other clans, which are called “Clan wars” and are considered the pinnacle of Tanki Online battles and “true” battles. They often help each other out in contests as well, and also work together in special contests made only for clans. Some clans also have internal clan activities, like contests and planned internal trainings.

So, now that we all know what a clan is, secondly, where can you find the clans? In answer to that, you can find them in the “Clans” section of the Tanki Forum. In this section are found the clans from all around the world, except for the Russian and German clans which can be found in their respective sections. In the English section, there are not just English language clans, but French Clans, Arabic clans, Italian clans, and all sorts – clans for everyone. See below for a short guide on joining a clan and which clans to join.

And a third common question about the clans is, “How do you create a clan?”. In answer to that, every clan is player-created. You don't need to be a moderator or anything special to create a clan. You don't even need to get a moderator's permission to create a clan. All you need is a loyal group of friends, and to be above the rank of Major, and then you can create a topic with your clan in the “Clans [English]” section of the forum.

See below [“What about creating a clan?”] for more details on creating a clan.

There are some good guides about clans around the forum and the clan rules can be found there too. ώhÿ сlαṉṡ?

So now you know what a clan is. You also know how they work, how to find them, and how to create them if you so wish. However, you may not think that being in a clan really is such a good thing. You may not see how it enhances your Tanki Online experience by a great margin. Let me explain to you a few good reasons why to join a clan.

Firstly, everything is more fun with friends. You probably know this from real life experience – playing sport, for example, is always more enjoyable with people you know.

It is the same in Tanki. You get a far more enjoyable experience when you are playing the games with people who you know. A clan is a good way to find new friends, as well as keep in touch with those you make – without an in-built friends list, it is very easy to make a friend one day whom you never meet again. Clans are a good way to keep your friends.

A second good reason is the fact that you never have played a real battle until you've played a clan war. In an ordinary battle, everybody attacks, or plays how they want to play; Very rarely is there any kind of team playing or co-operation. On the other hand, in a clan war, co-operation is of the essence. To fight for the victory as a team, and not as your individual, is always far more of a real battle than any ordinary games, where the aim is to get battlefund and/or experience points.

And thirdly, a clan is a good place to improve your skill. When you are competing with other people for those coveted spots in a clan war, improved skills and weaponry become far more important. Add on to this learning from other people's abilities and following tips from experienced players, and clans are a great place to improve your overall Tanki Online skill.

ώhïсh сlαṉ?

Ok, so you now know what a clan is. You also know why joining a clan is something that greatly enhances your playing experience. You are possibly interested in finding a clan.

However, you aren't sure which clan is best to join, or what to look for as favourable characteristics when looking for a clan. Here, I'll try to tell you what is important and that you should be looking for in a clan.

First of all, and probably most importantly, you have to work out whether the time zones and languages suit you. The English community is a worldwide place, and there are clans from all around the world: you have to make sure that you find a clan in your part of the world. There's no point being in a primarily European clan if your Australian, for example – all clan events will be at very awkward times for you, and you probably won't find anyone on the clan chat when you visit it at those times, either. To make sure that you get a clan at the right timezone for you, ask the clan leader (Politely, and with good grammar – that is important) of a clan you think looks suitable about what times most of the clan activities are and when most of the clan members are online. If it turns out the times don't suit you, then there's no point joining the clan. So many people have been in very active clans, but have found themselves frozen out of the clan because they simply were not online at the right time. As for language, there really is no point being in a clan when you cannot speak the language the clan communicates in.

Secondly, you have to find a clan with members around your rank and strength. If you have m2 railgun as your strongest weapon, for instance, and you want to play clan wars, there's little point in joining a clan where everybody has m3 of every weapon and tank: what kind of chance will you get in playing clan wars? It's always good to be in the strongest clan, but if the fact that you are in that clan makes you unable to fight wars, then you have to wonder whether it was the right choice to join the clan.

Thirdly, you also have to find a clan where the conversation and people suit you. Some clans have highly explicit chats, whilst others try to keep everything family-friendly.

Some clans have Tanki as the sole subject of discussion, others also chat about real life, the news, or other online games. What is sure, however, is that you have to make sure that the clan you are in doesn't completely run against what you want and what you were expecting from a clan. One way to make sure this doesn't happen is to have a kind of “trial period” with the clan. Tell the leader that you are considering joining the clan, and that you wish to have a week or so as a member, interacting in games and in the

chat, to see how the clan suits you. Chances are, the leader will respect you for that and grant you your request. If he/she doesn't, then that clan isn't worth your salt anyway, and you should look for another one. You should be joining a clan with an attitude of being in it for a long time, and so should not want to join a clan without knowing much about it beforehand. høώ ḋø ÿøυ јøïṉ α сlαṉ?

Once you've decided that you will join a clan, and know which one to join, then you should apply to join it. Most clans gain applications on their thread in “Clans [English]”: those that don't normally tell you how to join on their page in that forum section. If a clan doesn't mention about applicants, chances are that that clan isn't looking for applicants anyway. Make sure you apply properly and sensibly, and only once. If none of the leaders of that clan reply to you, you can remind them of your application. If you get accepted, great! If you don't, make sure you don't argue with the leaders of the clan over it, but either look for another clan or wait until you fulfil the requirements of the clans you are trying to join. øќ, ï'ṿε јøïṉεḋ α сlαṉ. ώhατ ṉøώ?

Firstly, and most importantly, be active! Stay involved in the clan activities! Come to the clan's chat whenever you have time to, whether it be on skype, xat, or any other medium – and make sure you are involved in the clan. Don't try to take on authority that isn't yours, and try to keep your peace in the clan. At the start, you certainly will feel a little left out, as people will be chatting to other they know better rather than you, but as time goes on, you should get to know people and become accepted as a full member of the clan. Take part in clan wars if you are needed, join in in clan activities, and most importantly, stay loyal! Leaving a clan to join another one should be the last option you should consider if the clan isn't what you want it to be.

ï ḋøṉ'τ ṡεε αṉÿ сlαṉ ï lïќε. ώhατ αвøυτ сɾεατïṉģ α сlαṉ?

Maybe, however, you have seen through all the clans and seen none which suit your fancy. Maybe you have even been denied from all the clans which you have tried to join and have seen to be good. And maybe you are now considering creating your own clan.

Let me say three (Is it ever not three?) important things about creating a clan – there are many other tips, but these are a few key points: Firstly, clan leadership is not easy. If you take a skim through all the clans in the clan forums, the vast majority of the clans have more than one leader. This is not a

coincidence. The fact simply is that clan leadership is often too hard for more than one person to shoulder all the responsibility. Two points can be made in this regard, the first one being that you should be absolutely certain you can take on clan leadership, having the right personality skills. And if you do feel that you do have the right personality to lead a potential group of up to 30 people from all around the world, with different personalities, cultures and ambitions, then I would recommend that you don't do it alone. Try and get a friend, preferably in real life, who wants to start the clan with you and do the leadership together. Two heads are far better than one.

Secondly, you'd need the members. Clan rules state that you must have 10 members confirmed within 24 hours of creating your clan, and whilst the moderators often allow a little flexibility of the rules, getting 10 people to join in a very short time when starting from scratch is a very tough ask. As a result, it is probably best, when creating your clan, to be “unofficial” for a while – i.e. not to have a presence on the forum, but to be a clan in nearly every other way, such as having a chatbox and joining games together.

During this period, you can recruit people into your clan via tanki chat and real life until you have ten members over third lieutenant and are ready to “go official”. A good number of the official clans you see on the forum were “unofficial” at the early stages of their history, and the fact is that being unofficial and gaining members slowly is certainly better than attempting to be official and getting your clan closed within a matter of days.

Thirdly, as the saying goes, “Rome was never built in a day”. To explain, if you attempt to become the strongest English clan straight away, then you are destined for nothing but failure. The majority of the people who are clanless are lower ranks rather than higher ranks, and most of the higher ranks are unwilling to join a new clan immediately anyway. Thus, setting your clan requirements as M3-turret; M3-hull when you don't have members already is asking for failure. Try to go slower. When you do create a clan, don't have any turret/hull requirements, or if you do want them, make them minimal. As you do gain in members, then you can increase your turret/hull requirements, if you so wish.

But if you make them high when you create your clan, then you are just asking for failure.

Of course, there are numerous other important things about leading a clan that cannot be mentioned here. If you wish to know them, feel free to private message me (skitee) on the Tanki Online forum, or ask anyone else with experience of clan leadership – more English clans are always encouraged, and most people will be willing to help.

So, if you are going to create your clan, get your members, make sure you are above the rank of major, get a clan logo, dress up your forum page, and create your clan! I wish you all the best of luck.

And on that note, I'm going to finish. f you have any questions about clans that are not there and you do not want to ask in that thread, please feel free Private Message me (skitee) on the forum, with the title "[Tanki Online Newspaper; Clans]". Good luck with you in your quest to find or create a clan, and I look forward to playing (and hopefully beating) your clans in clan wars!

God bless, ~skitee~

Clans FAQ ¢ℓαηѕ αяє σƒтєη ¢σηƒυѕιηg ѕυв ‫נ‬є¢тѕ ƒσя мαηу тαηкмєη. нєяє αяє α ƒєω σƒ тнє мσѕт ¢σммση qυєѕтισηѕ тнαт ι ωιℓℓ αттємρт тσ αηѕωєя.

Q: The rules state that “you must be above the rank of third lieutenant to join a clan”. I am still a Warrant Officer. Can I nonetheless join a clan?

A: Officially, no. What I mean by that is that in terms of official activities (Clan wars and clan tournaments), tankmen under third lieutenant cannot take part/gain the reward in crystals. However, most clans do recruit people under Third Lieutenant as “Future members”. These people are normally considered as a member of the clan in every way except for being ineligible for clan wars. If you do wish to join a clan as a Warrant Officer, try to find one that recruits “future members” down to your rank, and be prepared for not playing any/many clan wars in the near future.

Q: Are “unofficial clans” against the rules?

A: No. However, “unofficial clans”, which do not have a presence on the Tanki forum cannot take part in clan competitions, nor compete official clan wars – they can have practices against other clans, however.

Q: Why are there rank requirements to join and create a clan? Surely there would be more clan participation if the rank requirements were scrapped?

A: Clan rank requirements are put in the rules to make sure that clans are more serious and don't have uncommitted, uncaring members. I know that there are many, many, exceptions, but on the whole, players becoming more committed to Tanki as they increase in the ranks. The rank requirements are put in to stop “casual” people from creating and/or joining clans. Whilst the rank requirement can isolate many people, it does do some good as well.

Q: How do you become a sticky'd clan?

A: At the time of writing, there is no certain way to guarantee this. The “sticky'd” clans are normally regarded as the strongest clans, and it is up to the moderators' discretion which are the strongest, depending on clan war history. In the future, the "sticky's" will depend on clan war history.

Q: What actually is a clan war?

A: A clan war is a battle between two clans. Often, it is a game with high stakes attached to it, so lots of preparation is normally involved, as well as team-work and often voice discussion during the games.

Q: How do you organise a clan war?

A: If you are a clan leader, or have permission from your clan leader to organize clan wars, you may want to play other clans in clan wars. The best way to do that is by talking to the leader of the enemy clan you want to play, via skype or Private Message.

First of all, tell the other leader which clan you are representing (with a link to your forum thread and/or clan website), asking them whether they are interested in a clan war. If they are, then the two of you can organize times, dates, the map, whether it is a no-supplies game or not, whether it is an official war or a practice, and all kinds of other things that you need to organise. Note: When organising a clan war, it is normally best not to ask for the map “Silence”: among a lot of the clans, asking for a clan war in Silence is one of the main signs of clan “noobiness”.

Q: Are all clans the same?

A: Not at all! As I have mentioned before, all the clans are all very different. Some use skype to chat, others xat; Some have a requirement of having the whole garage – others have no requirements at all; some have explicit chats, others don't; some prefer to play deathmatches together, others like capture the flag matches; and so on. What is certain, all the clans are very different. If you want to find one that suits you by asking the leaders about the clan.

Q: Can I be in two clans at once?

A: In terms of official membership – fighting in clan wars and clan tournaments – no.

However, if you know lots of people in a certain clan yet are in another clan, often these people are treated as if they are a member in most senses. This is very rare, however, and in normal circumstances you cannot be a member of two clans, but only one.

Q: Which was the first English clan ever created? Which is the oldest clan?

A: The first English clan was a form of Shadow Strikers (SS), created by PhantomMeat.

However, that clan has changed name, leader, and members many times, and the most recent time that they re-opened after being closed was about six months ago. This was after the creation of other clans, such as Dare Devils (DD), Ironclads (IC) and Kings of Tanki (KoT), so it is debatable whether they are the oldest English clan. If age of the clan is counted from when they last did not exist, then Dare Devils are the oldest clan, having just had their first birthday at the time of print. Ironclads are the clan to have gone longest with the same leader, being eleven months old at the time of print, during which they have always had the same leader.

Q: Are there going to be any clan official clan tournaments upcoming?

A: There probably will be an official clan tournament solely between the English and German clans sometime soon; on the other hand, the English clans are normally invited to join the Russian clan tournaments, which are pretty regular.

Q: If I create a clan, it'd be very weak. What's the point of creating a clan if we're going to lose all our clan wars?

A: Lots of point! First of all, there are lots of things that clans do outside clan wars.

Secondly, weak clans will inevitably get stronger – every clan has to start somewhere.

Who knows? You might end up leading the strongest English clan. And thirdly, even if you lose clan wars, it's always fun and a good experience. Someone has to lose, and there's no shame in losing to stronger clans.

Q: What are “clan paints”?

A: “Clan paints” are the paints that a clan tends to prefer to use in clan wars. The only requirement to them is that they cannot have protection from any turrets.

Q: Can I have a clan war in maps other than the “official” maps?

Yes you can. Whilst the official maps – Osa, Solikamsk, Tribute, Bridges, Kungur – are the favoured maps for clan wars, and normally deliver the best clan war enjoyment, but you are permitted to have a clan war in any map, even Island!

Q: Are the clans officially monitored by the Tanki Online management? Can I be banned from tanki chat/forum by anything I say and do on my clan chat?

A: No, and no.

Q: Is there be a “world map” for the clans, like there is in World of Tanks? Is it planned?

A: There is no world map at the moment, nor is it being planned in the near future, as far as I know.

Q: Is there a limit to the amount of clans I can have been in at all points?

A: Whilst you cannot be in more than one clan at once, there is no limit to the amount of clans you have been in. However, if you are known as someone who changes clan regularly, you will find it harder to join clans as most clans care about loyalty.

Q: Are there any negatives about being in a clan?

A: There can be some potential negatives. First of all, and probably the most important negative, clan chat can be fairly distracting when going for big funds and the like. Also, “clanning”, i.e. being in a clan, just doesn't suit some people. Those, however, are all the negatives I can think of.

Q: Who are the strongest English clan?

A: This is a controversial issue! I am tempted to say Ironclads, my clan, but that would not be accurate. Shadow Strikers have historically been the strongest English clan and the benchmark for most of the clans. They also won the recent unofficial clan tournament, even if that was suited to their strengths and uncontested by some of the other strong clans, such as Dare Devils and Try To Stop, and only partially contested by others, such as Domination, The Tactical Fighters and Ironclads. These left the competition fairly meaningless. However, the general consensus is that either one of Dare Devils or Shadow Strikers are the strongest English clan. This, however, is solely opinion and people have different opinions.

And that's all the time I've got for questions in this article. As I keep mentioning, feel free to ask me any questions you have on the forum in a private message with the title "[Tanki Online Newspaper; Clans FAQ]".

Thanks for reading, and God bless, ~skitee~

the 'perfect' combination wнιcн groυp oғ weaponѕ worĸ вeѕт тogeтнer? ιғ тнere waѕ an 8-мan тeaм ιn тanĸι, wнaт woυld вe тнe perғecт groυp oғ weaponѕ тo нave?

These are two big questions that have bugged many people - mainly clan leaders - for a long time. And they will probably continue to bug people trying to work out the best range of weapons to win a clan war. However, to help me here I asked a few widely respected members of our English-speaking community what they feel in terms of the "perfect" group of players.

I asked them four simple questions: First of all, their username; then their rank; the 8-man team which is perfect in their opinion in a map like Tribute, Silence or Bobruisk; and why they chose that group. In order of how quickly they replied, they are listed here with their opinions on this subject. All ranks are correct at time of sending me the reply.

First of all, the leader of the clan "Bloody Mary", arguably the strongest French-speaking clan: "2 Isidas, 1 Shaft, 1 Rico, 2 Freeze, 2 Thunder".

"I'm saying this because I have played with this team, when I add my use of Rico m3, it's a very good team for me".

Secondly, a highly respected member of the community who has stuck with Tanki for over two years now: "2 Ricochets, 3 Thunders, 1 Shaft, 1 Freeze, 1 Isida" "Rico's are good for knocking enemy's aim off. The 3 thunders will destroy enemies if they attack at once, and a freeze and isida can sneak in for the flag. Whilst this is happening, the shaft provides long range cover for the whole time."

Thirdly, a player who certainly tries his hardest to work to benefit the Tanki community: "In Tribute, 1 Shaft, 2 Thunders, 2 Freezes, 2 Ricochets" - he seems to be very confident with this line-up, he only selected 7 players!

"The thunders and shaft would provide great long range shooters. One of the freezes could be guarding the flag and the other one attacking with speed. The Ricochets can be used for combat action moving everywhere."

And whilst most of the people who I asked are higher ranks, I did ask some Warrant Officers: "Isida, Isida, Shaft, Thunder, Thunder, Freeze, Freeze, Rico" "2 Isidas to heal everyone and also good to capture the flag. 1 shaft because a sniper is always good to have. 2 thunders because they can be good for sniping and attacking, and I think it is one of the best weapons. 2 Freezes, because on silence there are a lot of places that they are good, especially for a group of people who are all in one spot. Last but not least, 1 Rico for those round-the-corner shots.

And from one of the lowest ranks to the joint-highest rank: "4 thunders, 3 rico, 1 freeze" " I believe that the numbers vary very STRICTLY accord to the map. Whether the map is small or large, and if the weapons are equally effective, it still makes a difference for the team. Above, I chose the weapon combinations (Assuming everyone uses viking and everyone is m3/m3) that I would prefer to have in a common "clan war" map. Maps such as tribute, kungur, bobruisk, etc that are all a medium size and are made up for different landscapes including open and enclosed areas. The reason I think most of the team should be thunder is because thunder is a good weapon for playing all 3 roles of a war: namely, Defender, Attacker, Supporter. Normally what I would have is 1 thunder defending the base, to assist a freeze that is guarding the flag. 2 thunders are to camp in the middle of the map and constantly shoot down enemies hiding in their bases. The rest of the team, 1 thunder, 3 ricos are all focusing on flag capturing.

This guy has two accounts, both within one rank of each other! His other account, Nk001, is a First Lieutenant: "1 shaft(to defend) - 2 ricochets(attack) - 1 isidas(support) - 2 thunders(attack/defense) + 1 rail(attack/defense) + 1 freeze (to defend)" "The Shaft cannot move or lose their sight. The Thunder serves to combat with maps of average size. It serves both for attack and defense. The Isida helps the team capture and take flags and, obviously, recover hp. The Ricochet is a weapon to attack (in defense, it may not be very effective because it can end up hitting its team-mate and not the enemy. The Rail is used for attack and defense. To use this weapon you need strategy and skill. It serves as a support to defend and attack, and is great for medium and big maps. The Freeze is great to attack and defend."

The lowest rank I asked has an interesting choice of one of the weapons: "Two thunders, one railgun, one freeze, two shafts, one ricochet and definitely a smoky."

"Thunders and railgun for super sniping. A freeze to slow the enemy down (it is a help for the team even if the freeze dies). Shaft is very good for sniping as well, but on top of that it can kill most other tanks with one shot which is great. Ricochet and smoky take the life out of people very quickly."

Been around in the community for a long time, taking part in clans, teams and contests as well: "1 Isida, 2 Thunder, 3 Rico, 1 Shaft, 1 Freeze."

"Well, you need 1 isida to heal the campers and the flag takers, but not more than 1, since it's not a so powerful weapon and if there are 2 or 3 isida your team will become weak and not able to defend. 2 Thunders are needed to cover from the distance the flag taker. 3 Ricos because rico is a weapon that can be used everywhere so it's always good.

1 Shaft - and not more - or your team will be a defenders team and not able to attack.

You need 1 Shaft to cover flag from the distance and also cover the flag taker. 1 Freeze to stay near the flag to freeze someone who could take it."

He reached Marshal with only M2 weapons, so he must have a lot of skill to make up for it: "I would pick 2 Rail Guns, 2 thunders, a Shaft, a Freeze, an Isida, and a Ricochet."

"The 2 rails with their long reload time could take turns shooting. A Shaft would be in the back, Shaft is the ultimate defender and would also do well to back us on offense.

The Thunders shooting into an opponents base together can create a lot of damage and chaos. The Freeze is an obvious one, if it is in a defensive position no one gets away. In an offensive position, Freee can damage or kill a lot of opponents at once, and a good Isida can really be valuable to a team. Last but not least, Ricochet in my opinion is the best weapon in the game for most maps, a good Ricochet user can cause a ton of problems for a whole team."

He's a relatively new player, but has already got up into a high rank, and has already got m3 hornet and m3 viking: "1 x shaft, 2 x freeze, 2 x thunder, 2 x isida, 1 x ricochet" "All weapons have pros and cons. Using different weapons can eliminate their disadvantages, and these 8 weapons cover well whole range from close-combat to longdistance. Two isidas make sure that other weapons stay alive and perform continuous fire on the opponents" He's been highly respected at all the clans he's been in, and has written a helpful guide on clans as well: "Depends on the map A LOT. There is a huge difference between silence, tribute, and bobruisk.... but I'mma do silence cos it's my favorite.. 2 M3 shafts, 1 M3 freeze, 1 M3 ricochet, 3 M3 thunders, and 1 M3 isida."

"Shafts are really strong and will keep flags from being capped, freeze helps on defense and could go offense if needed. Rico is good for offense, thunders are good for offense and cover. Isida should be used for offense and healing."

Last but not least, my real-life friend who told me about tanki and brought me to the game!: "1 Shaft, 1, Isida, 2 Freeze, 3 Thunder, 1 Rico". This would be my dream team in Tribute."

"What is the most annoying to play against? Shaft is the first weapon that comes to mind.

The reason I don’t have more than one, however, is i think that having 2 shafts means they steal each others kills, and tribute isn’t a big map. The Isida is needed, because it gives the team a huge advantage if the other team doesn’t have one. The ability to heal other team mates, as well as heal themselves when attacking makes isida very powerful and useful. The other 6 spots go to thunder, freeze and rico, 3/2/1 in that proportion.

This is by no means 100% perfect, and if i think about it, I probably will change my mind, but here are the basic reasons: The Freezes get their places because freeze is the most powerful weapon in the game, is brilliant at flag defence and killing an enemy flag carrier. 3 freezers could be used if you want 1 to camp by the flag, but I think that that is a waste of a freeze. Thunder and rico I gave the other 4 places: both of them have very good reasons for a place in the team. Thunder is amazing at mid to long range, whereas rico is best at short-mid range. The reason i didn’t go for 2/2 is that i think that a group of Thunders work very well together, especially if there are three or more. But the rico still gets a place because rico is very good and very helpful for getting the flag."

So there we go. Twelve members of the English community sharing their views on what is the perfect 8-man team. Let's try to sum up their views and create a perfect 8-man team with all of their opinions together: -Nearly everybody thinks that a defensive Freeze is a good idea. I can see this, and it's quite hard to disagree: who hasn't been unable to capture a flag thanks to that annoying camping freeze that stops you every time you get close? Freeze gets 1 position in our "dream team".

-Thunders and Ricochets are the most common choices. You can see why, as these two weapons are the most versatile in the game. Most of them put them down for 4-5 spaces in an 8-man team between them, which is quite big when you think about it. Over 50% of the team is shared out between these two weapons! 5 positions are allocated between these two weapons in our "dream team", and as Thunder is more popular among the twelve people, 31-19, Thunder gets 3 positions and Ricochet 1 position.

-Isida is another weapon which nearly everyone selects, thanks to it's healing capabilities. Most people, however, feel one isida is enough, thinking that two would hamper a team too much. Isida gets 1 position.

-The final position goes to Shaft, which most people also jot down for one position in the team. This must be clear to all: M3 Shaft doing 180 hp of damage per shot is phenomenal for a team to stop enemies with the flag! Shaft gets 1 position.

-Railgun also features quite highly among some people, with Snyper22 even feeling that 2 railguns is perfect. However, there isn't enough space in our dream team for any railguns, although I am sure that their powerful damage and all-round capabilities are an asset to any team.

-About the other weapons: Firebird is obviously not featured, being outplayed in every aspect by Freeze. One player, Selena12121, thinks that a Smoky would be useful, and certainly Smoky's ability to back people up with it's powerful knockback is very good.

Twins is surprisingly not featured - Twins certainly is quite a handy weapon if used well.

So, the dream team is: 1 Freeze, 3 Thunders, 2 Ricochets, 1 Isida and 1 Shaft. A pretty formidable outfit, if coupled with top skills and the perfect hulls underneath each turret. This, incidentally, is the view held by Hawkster167, who seems to have a pretty popular view! Try to beat that team if you dare - and I'm sure many of you do dare! Why don't you try the team in your clan wars and see how it works?

Finally, one last thing: What would be my view on the subject? After all, I did write it, so I must have some kind of interest in the issue. I, personally think: "1 Isida, 4 Thunders, 2 Freezes, and 1 Shaft." Why? "A Shaft + Freeze defence is basically impossible to penetrate, if used with skills and the correct defence positions - if the enemies even get to the flag, past a wall of thunders.

Having used thunders in co-operation with other thunders myself, I know that four thunders used correctly is more or less unstoppable - they would be able to kill m3 mammoths in less than five seconds! These thunders can not just defend the flag but also create a wall of flak cover to enable the remaining freeze and isida to do a stealthy attack down a side and capture the flags: the thunders could even help in with capturing themselves, to create a two-pronged attack."

That's my opinion - what's yours? Try and get your clan leader to use it, and see how it works in a clan war!

God bless, ~skitee~

Magadan Welcome to the first edition of the Tanki Online Newspaper, and my first ever article!

Looĸιng тнroυgн тнe average ѕerver, тнe lιѕт oғ тнe мapѕ υѕed can вe very мonoтonoυѕ... ѕιlence тнιѕ, ғorт ĸnoх тнaт, polygon тнoѕe, ĸυngυr тнere, ιѕland нere, вlaн, вlaн, вlaн, ѕaмe old, ѕaмe old, ѕaмe old. ѕaмe мapѕ нere, ѕaмe мapѕ тнere, тнe ѕaмe мapѕ all тнe тιмe. тнυѕ, ιn тнιѕ ғeaтυre, every arтιcle, ι wιll вe тryιng тo “dιg oυт” ѕoмe oғ тнoѕe мapѕ wнιcн ѕeeм тo вe overlooĸed wнenever people creaтe gaмeѕ...

The first map I’m going to be featuring just has to be my favourite map in Tanki online, Magadan. This map is by far and away my favourite map in the whole of the game, if only for the sheer beauty of the map.

Magadan, after all, is one of the few, if not the only, symmetrical maps in the whole of the game. It is more or less square and has the blue and red flags on top of two sandalesq ledges on half of the sides of the map. It also has a central depression in the map where all of the crystal boxes and drop boxes fall, which is surrounding by four ramps down towards it and four small humps which are fair sniping positions for railguns and thunders. The two “sides” of the map have Bobruisk-style alternate walls, making it not easy at all to drive backwards.

Magadan was one of the maps accompanying Island, Farm, and the other smaller maps in the fairly recent Third Lieutenant update, mainly due to its small size. However, whilst the other maps got a fair range of complaints in the forum, Magadan was hardly mentioned – which I think is barely fair, considering how epic a map I am convinced it is.

So what is it about Magadan that makes it such a beautiful map? First of all, there is its symmetry. Very few maps in Tanki Online are so counterbalanced, and whilst it certainly wouldn't do for all maps to be symmetrical, the symmetry is certainly one thing that is special about Magadan. This shapeliness is one thing that sets Magadan apart from all the other maps in Tanki.

And what's more, Magadan is a map that I think is perfectly balanced: small, yet without it being impossible to be played by shafts and railguns; Defensible flags, but not so much that games often degenerate into stalemate with neither team able to capture any flags; lots of props, but not so many that you can keep running into obstacles. Magadan, as far as I can see it, is simply the perfect map.

On top of the symmetry, the perfect balance, and the beauty, there is one more thing that I really love about this map, namely, the central section. Magadan is the only map that has this central section of the square surrounded by four ramps down, and I wish more maps had it. And what's more, the four “sniper hills” surrounding the square make it even better – but why don't you go and check it out for yourself?

Anyway, aside from the map itself: Is there anything else about the map that has some allure to it? Well, first of all, what is the name “Magadan” all about? Magadan is actually named after a small town in Eastern Russia with the same name. The map was named

after this town because Magadan was the location of numerous high-security prisons during World War II, and afterwards as well. I think that the comparison serves it well – it certainly is pretty hard to get out of Magadan without dying! It does have a general outlay similar to a prison as well!

And what's more: on top of all of that, Magadan was one of the maps featured in the “Tankmen day quest”. During that period, Magadan was hinted to from a barcode on all of the billboards in the game that hinted towards the name “Magadan”.In the map were some co-ordinates for the town of “Gubakha” written on one of the walls, which told people to head on to the map Gubakha. View the full information about the quest here: http://tankionline.c...e-tankman-day/.

Surely now that is enough to convince you how great a map Magadan is? Surely? Come on... it's symmetrical, perfect for all weapons, small but yet not too small, defensible but not overtly, featured on quests, and even named after a real place in Russia that is known for high-security prisons! Surely that is good enough for you?

So, for all of you guys who are third lieutenant – the rank where you unlock Magadan – and above, make sure you play in my favourite map and see what you think of it! If you like it – great! That'd make two of us. If not – why don't you try out some of the other older maps and see whether you like them? Surely Silence and Polygon all the time is getting a bit too monotonous? Others you should check out – and which could be featured in this column in a future issue – include Solikamsk, Bridges, Barda, and Cross.

But why don't you look about yourself and try and see if there are any other hidden gems out there?

By the way, send me a Private Message here on the forum with the subject "[Tanki Online Newspaper;Maps]" if there's any old maps you don't see played enough that you want me to feature. We need some of the older maps played more!

God bless all, ~skitee~

Our Stories Archive note: This is the very first article of the English newspaper. After reading this, Bruce Lunga gave a certain team of reporters permission to go on and create the first newspaper for the English community.

From individuals, came this society.

To honor those among us who started it all, for us.

Everything has a story, from inanimate objects to human beings. No matter how small or insignificant they may seem, every story plays a role in the prodigious timeline of the Universe. For each tale, there is another, larger one, that engulfs it entirely.

The featured stories are ones of determination friendship, loyalty, curiosity, and romance. This is the story of our community, this tells how many of our earliest [and newest] members came to be here (and somehow found enough courage to stay.).

He is one of the members left from the early days of our community’s founding, when the English forum was first introduced to Tanki.

Cablaz -Red Team Loses.

I banged my fist against the table creating a rattle. My brothers staring at me, their eyes saying “What’s wrong with him?” I was on Casual Collectives playing a game of minions, once again my team lost. I was getting pretty sick of losing. People messaging on the info tab to the right, I replied to them all. Browsing through Casual Collective forums, arguments here, fights there, random stuff there. Nothing really to do. I had 150 friends on CC and that’s the highest you can go. The Casual Collectives is a site where it hosts

games and you can message your friends, play games, join the forums and all, I’ve been playing on it for almost a year now, it was getting boring pretty fast. Just then a little icon turned orange signaling that I had a message, I clicked on it. When it loaded it was from my friend, Retry. He said he had found a great game called Tanki Online. He said I should go try it, “It is sort of like minions but in 3-D and way cooler.” I decided, why not? Lets try it! I waved at my 6 year old brother, trying to get his attention.

“Hey.” I said “What?”

“Found this new game, go try it.”

So we both went on Tankionline.com and clicked the start button, the homepage looked pretty cool, I scanned through the stats.

Total Players 254,414 Online 2714 So I guess that was pretty popular. I searched around for a register button-There was none on the homepage, confused I scrolled down and clicked every link and button there was. Still couldn’t find the register button, at last I decided to press the big glowing orange “Start!” button. Thinking that I don’t even have an account yet does this require accounts? As it loaded I realized this was where you register, feeling stupid I did so.

As it started to load, I laid back in my chair and waited. And waited…and waited… I leaned forward in my chair, thinking “Is this even loading?! Jeez hurry up”! I actually went to go eat a bag of chips in the kitchen, hoping that it’ll be done once I came back, guess what? It didn’t. After 30 minutes of loading it finished, I was automatically put into a game and a help screen popped up showing the controls. I studied it realizing that it was fairly simple.

Arrow keys to move, Space shoot Z,X,C to turn turret. It disappeared before I got to read the rest. I started playing, I loved the game play, sound and the animations. It was really fun and enjoyable. Once I ranked to private I felt a rush of joy and pride wash through me. Pumping my fists I continued to play. I was immediately addicted to it.

I had made a few friends and even was in a clan---Phantom Clan. It was lead by PhantomMeat. He was a nice guy and showed me the game further, the clan was fairly disorganized though, it was basically a name. We didn’t actually do anything as a clan, in fact I didn’t know 99% of the members in it.

Life continued game evolved, more friends came, some left. The Clan evolved into a permanent name – ShadowStrikers. I have stuck with them ever since Day 1. I was never actually able to quit Tanki, It was too addictive and enjoyable, often I would dream and daydream about it. Tankionline has come far from the beginning I hope it will go further.

This guy has his own turtle and bird, who are avid supporters of his Tanki career! Enough said. 8)

Chriswu -I learned of tanki in one of those dog days of summer. My little brother had told me about this game. At first, I was disappointed at how slow and laggy it was on the netbook he showed it to me on. However, when I decided to try it on his account on our new desktop, I was a little more than amazed at the quality of the game, as opposed to the simple 2d flash games I had previously been sucked into in the previous months. I decided to create my own account, and worked my way up from there.

I believe there are two distinctions which separate tanki from your average online browser game. First, it is free. It was possible to rank up, get to know people, and have

fun in the game without spending much money. My first several months in tanki were completely free, with hours of entertainment as a result. Unfortunately, as more and more people are starting to buy, I find that it is harder and harder to enjoy the game with the same sense of equality as I had previously a little more than a year ago. Buyers aren't a problem for lower ranks, but tanks and equipment become more inflated as you climb the ladder. Thus, the free play of this game made me stick to this game for the first several months of my involvement. What is keeping me now that it is becoming more and more necessary to pay money for good equip,ent? That's my second point: the general public and community of English users. Though not strictly because of the guidelines and/or administrator influence, I have been blessed by a welcoming community of (mostly) friendly and humorous players. True, there are some haters, trollers, complainers, etc. out there who can become quite meddlesome, but for the large majority I always enjoy chatting, playing, and blogging with tanki. Another plus on the community side of tanki is that you don't have to buy excessively and have the most beautiful tank to make impressions on others and stand out. This part is most credited in my mind to Bruce Lunga, who by his actions has greatly expanded the horizons of the English community. He is always friendly and accepting, even when I make some blind mistakes, etc. A couple references on scavenger hunts, blog videos, and general blogs are also nice. I stuck with tanki in the beginning because of the free aspect of the game.

With inflation and the necessity to buy, that is no longer a driving force for me. Now, it is solely on the friendliness and thrill of being able to interact with other tankmen of all nationality, skill level, and wealth.

This guy has been around for quite some time; the forums wouldn't be the same without him!

Shadybig -Well, I first found Tankionline when I was in 8th grade. Two years ago I was in math class using a laptop for a activity the teacher wanted to do when I over heard some friends talking about a game they were playing and how they needed to create a battle only for S.V.M.S students only. I proceeded to ask them what they were talking about and they said “it’s non of your business, if too many people start playing it the school will block it.� So I went to walking past them pretending to sharpen my pencil. When I passed I saw the link and typed it in and created a account. My tank nick was originally going to be shadybigfan because I listened to Eminem at the time and i had to shorten it to shadybig.

I have many reasons for staying in tanki. The one major reason is that I have bought using real money $100+. Other than that its small tiny reasons like all the friends that I have made in tanki over the past two years. Even though that is a big reason I could always talk to most on skype. The last reason for me staying in tanki is because I have no other form of entertainment other than a television. All the other online games (runescape, dragonfable, etc. etc.) are less quality and less fun as that of tanki. Those are my reasons for staying with Tanki!

He's been playing for so long, even he doesn't know how long Tanki has been a part of his life!

TheMan07 -My story begins in 2009, here I was surfing the web, and searching through game websites, when I stumbled upon a game called "Tankionline.com", I click the inviting “Start,” button, not knowing anything about the game. Now this was the time of Tanki!

Back when viking wasn't a tank, and thunder was just new out! It took me a few minutes to figure out where the log in was, but after many, long seconds, I clicked “sign me up!”, and then began the loading, in 2009 my internet was slow, I sat loading for 20 minutes. Many times I thought about just closing the window but I was too interested about the game.

I finally got to the log in screen, and I hit “Sign up,” which back then was really simple process. I got to the screen, and here it was asking me for a tank username. I thought for a moment, wondering, thinking what was available, I typed ‘Enforcer,’ “and dang!

Already taken!" Then, I typed ‘TheMan.’ "Oh darnit, that's taken too!!!" So then I thought, “my birth month,” and that is my story.

A relatively new member, yes. But that has not stopped him from becoming a part of the English community.

Ranger7 -Well, I was away when my brother first found tankionline on a flash game that had an add for tanki. Liking the looks of the game, he clicked on the add. He singed up first as "Nathanagent7". I got back, and seeing the game was eager to sign up as well. I signed up as "Ranger7" (As you probably know) because I had played a flash game and I loved Rangers. Anyway, my parents weren’t ready to let us play MMOs, so we stopped playing.

After finding another MMO and playing it my parents felt better about MMOs. Well, we couldn’t play the MMO all the time, and I was looking for another one when I remembered tanki. I looked for the game with the add and found it. I signed it as "Ranger7" and found my rank was corporal. The date on which I originally singed up was around 2009, around the beginning of Tanki.

I loved the ranking aspect of the game. I really wanted to rank up to my favorite ranks such as "Captain" and "Lieutenant" (The ones that sounded "Cool" to me). As of now, I have found out that it is not that easy to achieve these ranks, and I still have not achieved any of these. Second of all, I liked the quality. Till then, I had played flash games, and this MMO had incredible quality compared to those. Also, the download of ‘World of Tanks’ completely baffled. Me, and when I finally found out how, (After about 5 tries) and found it WAY hard. I decided to stick with tankionline, and I have since.

He has not gotten the most posts in our forums, but perhaps the most friends.

hogree I was first introduced to Tanki back in March 2010. One of my friends, whose Tanki callsign is cheese3000, told me about the game. I wasn't interested however. I was already playing some fun online games and I wasn't appealed to join another one. I glanced at the website, then left and gave it no more thought. However, in May 2010, my brother, skitee, started playing Tanki. I occasionally watched him play, but I disliked the graphics and the "slow" gameplay. Again, I put off joining. Gradually however, I started to warm to the game especially with my brother's Firebird. It quickly became my favourite game and I created my own account, hogree, in October 2010, and have remained playing since.

I have stayed with Tanki for two simple reasons: the fun and the community. Both have been really key as to why I have not left. Firstly, the fun. I still enjoy Tanki as much as I did when I created my account back in October 2010. I have no hesitation in saying it is the best and most fun onilne game I've ever played. Secondly, the community. Over the months, I've made friends with people on the forum, in-game and especially in my clan.

It would be hard to leave all the friends I have on Tanki, and they are a key reason to me staying with the game.

Friends are met...

Even our beloved staff members had to come here some way or another...

EddyBeGood I’m not much of a bla bla person…

When I was surfing the internet one day I came across one of those advertisements that lets you shoot in flash. While on the site, I found that I had been linked to another first person shooter game: Tankionline. Hesitant of the site’s security, I slowly made my way through the various links on the page. Seeming to be legitimate, I started the game, and fell in love with the graphics and control configuration. I was hooked.

Initially, I stayed, seeing as I found it a challenge to move through the ranks and open up new items in the garage. When I joined the Dare Devils’ clan, there was reason to stay as things got more and more interesting. After seeing a chat box filled with swearing and other profanities, I realized that I didn’t want my son (who also has an account) to be exposed to that stuff on a daily basis. This caused me to send in my application for becoming a mod. I am now moderator and although I don’t play so much anymore (due to the responsibilities of moderation), I like to keep the game fair to all.

Despite his heavy British accent and insanely long text walls, it obvious what this guy wants to do: to better and help the game.

skitee A friend told me about Tankionline. I had been an online gamer for a few years back then, and a friend mentioned to me about Tanki online, which he had been playing for a while. I googled it, tried it out, and here I am! Nothing special, but that's how I got here.

When I first tried out the game, I was impressed by the graphics. I've never had a console, and tanki was the first proper 3d online game I had played (I'd played some little-kids 3d games, but nothing like tanki). However, at that point, my gaming experience was very much alongside my brothers, and they weren't very interested in tanki - thus, I didn't play much - we used to compete with each other on the same game.

For the first month or so of my tanki life, then, I rarely played - it took me 30 days to get to gefreiter! However, a couple of opportunities came for me to increase my rank and soon enough I started to play tanki more than any other game. I soon discovered the forums, and eventually my brothers joined in playing as well and now - here I am.

The thing that drew me to tanki, in reality, probably is it's style. The 3D shooter genre has always been my favourite, and I like tanki's style of fast gameplay and lots of frags rather than the ‘World of Tanks’ style: more tactics, less action. It's just a lot more fun, in my opinion, and that has kept me in tanki.

We are a community. ~Tommy60~ A great many thanks to Les_Alterman, who made this all possible.

Smoky XT Chronicles: Discovery

The crackling of gunfire awakens me. I find myself in the middle of a raging battlefield, tanks roaming everywhere. I find one that shares the same, basic construction that I have. I follow him for a few meters, before he rounds a corner and disappears behind a bush. Curious of his whereabouts, I turn the same corner and am confronted with—a bullet! The small yet fast projectile penetrates my hull. Too stunned to move, I become a helpless target. The first death was a nauseating feeling. The sensation of one’s physical being cracked and exploded is not the most pleasant of feelings; nor is the immediate reincarnation of one’s self in a different region of the battlefield. I felt a fit of anger rise from within the core of my chassis.

“I want to crush the one who destroyed me!” is only my thought as I was pushed onto my side, then my back, and finally killed by a barrage of large shells. Then, for the first time, I hear something other than the roar of engines and the firing of bullets. It is a repetitive sound—it is laughter! They are laughing at me! Outraged, I ignore the sickening respawn and stalk over to the nearest group of bushes. I wait there until another tank appears, and I fired at it, charging full speed ahead. I am able to take a few good shots before I am sighted by two others, and am sickeningly torn to pieces before I can make the kill. “This time, I will stay under cover,” I resolve.

I begin to adjust to the respawn’s nauseating effect, and I do not notice it anymore.I take to another outcropping of foliage on the opposite side of the field, and stay there.

Some prey appears on the elevated area in the center of the map. Fire one! The enemy keeps going in the same direction as it was previously. Fire two! He stops, and begins to look for his attacker. Fire three! He fires a blind shot in the direction of my cover. He misses. Fire four! A sensational feeling sweeps through me as I destroy my first tank. I yell out in joy, but find to my surprise, that I have no voice. –But why?! try to remember any specific details about the others who had found their voices, and only one thing comes to mind. On the side of every tank that I have seen so far, there has been a small, colored bearing. Mine is two flattened ‘V’s’, blue and red, respectively. Above the two colored stripes lays a dull, grey "R. "Theirs, I recall, were only one flattened ‘V’ that was yellow in color. The thought runs through me, and I conclude “I must destroy more

enemies to find my voice!”, my only explanation for that statement seems to be instinct. I stay in the bushes, waiting for more opponents for me to unleash my wrath upon.

Within the next five or so minutes, I have gloriously destroyed many more enemies, and have achieved the rank of <>. I find that I am now able to speak. However, it comes at a cost. I can only use my voice when I am completely still. That being so, I do not speak very often. Why bother, if it does not help me in battle? I have killed many people who are too busy blabbering on about what they think.

Suddenly, I realize that a new tank has entered the field. This one is different from others. It has a larger, wider chassis, and a turret with a metallic pipe instead of a thin barrel, like mine. It has not moved since it spawned, so I decide to investigate it. As I near the newcomer, he begins to move. Startled, I stop. From his turret comes a tongue of scorching red-orange flame! I feel myself being melted, and after many incredibly painful moments, I die. Spawning again, I am cautious not to enter the enemy’s range of fire, since it appears to be limited to the length of his flame. Circling around the middle plateau, I see the big guy chasing one of my kind. Knowing that he is near death, I fire upon my twin, destroying him, and giving me the ecstatic feeling of the kill. I can hear the "flamer" roar in rage, and I see him rush towards me. I simultaneously fire and retreat. “Gee, this guy is slow,” I think to myself as he explodes a good couple of decameters from where I stand. Not a single flame reaches me.

After destroying the same guy ten times without being scathed, I take pity on him. I resolve to no longer shoot him, only to run away when he approaches. This game of "chase" continues for five minutes, until I hear a dull roar. I look up to the blue grey sky I see a faint figure fly over the battlefield, dropping boxes on parachutes. Once they contact the ground, I can see that there are four varieties : A white box with a red cross in the center, another with a shield, another with an ominous-looking circle, and another with some yellow writing on each side, surrounded by a grey hued background. Suddenly, the flame-spitter engulfs a box of the latter variety, and begins to gain ground on me— fast! Desperate to find shelter, I turn around, swerve around the back of the sole house in the corner of the battlefield and see--- a door?! It is only slightly open; hardly noticeable from a greater distance, but nevertheless, it is still open. I nudge it a bit, and the light of the outdoors reveals a table half engulfed in shadow. Without hesitation, I roll into the small room, close the door, and wait.

I can hear the dumbfounded moans of my enemy through the thin, wooden door. His proximity to my own, fragile frame was rather unnerving.By the time [I assume] he has driven away in search of less intelligible prey, I have grown adjusted to the dark room that I have found myself in. It is obvious that I am within a single-roomed shelter, and I could make out the shape of a table directly in front of me. There is an object on the table, with a more-than-familiar design about it. As I near the object of my curiosity, it occurs to me that, it is--of all things—a turret! It bears a striking resemblance to my current one, with a few, obvious modifications to its chromed frame. “What good would a lot of fancy decorations do,” I asked myself, “in the middle of a war zone?” Eyes adjusting further, I realize that these ramifications are not merely superficial; they seem to integrate a look of unreal power and terror into the overall design of a gun as simply built as my own. It is beautiful. With a sudden urge of necessity rocking my mind, I quickly store my newfound treasure away into the main storage unit of my body. I open the door, cautiously look about for any unwanted observers, shut the door, and leave the battlefield in my normal manner of silence.

In the privacy of my garage, I further investigate the turret. I find a title sketched in the bottom of its frame: <<Smoky XT>>. I roll back in awe. I know now that my own weapon is known as <>, and, at higher modification levels, it can be a highly destructive force in battle. Never before have I heard of an “XT,” level! I take a deep, long, evaluating look at the menacing looking thing… and dawn it.

Next issue: Domination ~Tommy60~

Prehistoric TankiOnline to Now

Enjoying your time with Thunder?

Can't get enough of Ricochet's awesome power?

Love flag capturing with hornet?

Cherish your moments of triumph by taking out multiple enemies with mammoth?

Can you imagine the time without them?

TankiOnline came into existence in 2009. It was freshly new and introduced, during the release of original TankiOnline there was no Thunder, Viking, Hornet, Mammoth, Ricochet etc.

Let me tell you an old Tanki Legend.

A long long time ago, when Tanki was newly formed, the Developing gods created four main Tanks. Each with their own special and unique qualities. They were called - Wasp, Hunter, Titan and Dictator. They had companion partners - Smoky, Firebird, Twins and Fearmachine.

Mr. Wasp was a nice Tank, small, easy to handle and pretty fast Mrs. Hunter was a balanced tank, had some speed and can take some hits.

Dr. Titan is a whole new idea. Full of armor, can take quite a few hits.

But Professor Dictator them all to another level, Dictator had the speed of a Wasp, the HP of a Titan and the balance of a Hunter.

These four lived in harmony for quite a while. They would play battles with each other, against each other and communicate. They were the best of friends. As time passed, Professor Dictator grew power hungry, they grew dominant and populated Tanki World, almost wiping out the the entire population. Dictator using the maximum power of Fear

machine turned many of the other 3 tanks into dust. Eventually the 3 other tanks formed the Tier 1 trio, banding together in hopes of defeating the Dictators once and for all. But the Dictator population was already out of control, dominating every map with their Fear machines. Researching technology at their labs, they coded different looks into different levels to make them look better and more fearful. But the sneaky trio was there, watching them, they eventually stole the technology and made it onto themselves, having different looks as they grew more powerful and leveled up.

Soon war broke out as the Dictators found out. It was Dictators Vs. The Tier 1 Trio. The Dictators were sure that they were going to win, as they made hundreds of thousands of clones of themselves. Little did they know that the Tier 1 trio did the same. During the first few days of war, there was no progress on either side of the war. But soon the Trio's army started to lose ground and maps - Fast. The trio made a final stand at their capital - Sandbox.

The Developing gods did not approve of the Tier 1 trio going extinct. They introduced Isida to the trio's army. It had the ability to heal allies or damage enemies. This helped the trio's army quite a lot. Healing wounded allies, the trio's army once again began to grow, they pushed the Dictators back, but they still were too much. Now the Developing gods had given the Isida another ability, if no enemies or allies are in range, it is now possible to heal yourself! Now the trio's army pushed the Dictators back. Eventually the Fear Machine name was dropped and re-named Railgun as they weren't feared anymore.

A spy Dictator was sent to retrieve the Isida technology, it was copied with ease and the Dictators once again flourished with power. The war eventually came to an end as Dictators won and ruled the land for many centuries as the Tier 1 trio went into hiding.

The Dictators eventually gave our daily bonuses to anybody loyal within their empire, but one Dictator pitied them and gave some of his to the trio in hiding. They got small amounts of Medic kits, Double Armor, Double Damage and Nitro. If they were high rank enough, they would get rewarded also with mines. The trio began evolving, and morphed into a new species, taking their unique abilities further, Wasp became Hornet a really fast tank with a suitable amount of health. Hunter became Viking where its balanced between Health and Speed, Titan became Mammoth where it has some speed but a massive amount of Health. Realizing that they can take the Dictators on now, they came out of hiding and cloned many of themselves and went to war once again, with new hopes. But during this time, the Dictators didn't slack on technology research to, they turned the classic Smoky into Thunder, a real damage dealer and great camping.

Firebird was made into Freeze, able to slow down enemy engines and make opponents slower. Twins was enhanced in power and became fire with much power that it is able to bounce off walls. War broke out, the trio however was able to take the Dictators technology and make it their own. The trio quickly overwhelmed the Dictators by using the bonuses they had. This was quickly labeled drugging. The Dictators realizing that they lost, fled to the older maps and stayed there.

The trio however realizing their own power wanted to be king, civil war came as each tank wanted to hold power with their special unique abilities. The gods however introduced Smoky XT, a gun that can overpower any other gun, it was trashed before it was completed, however copies were made on the black market, Smoky XT lasted two weeks before they were shutdown. Clans formed as wise Tanks realized that it was better to defeat the enemy with a group rather than facing them alone. Soon they wanted to take Railgun further and upgraded it into shaft, campers quickly flooded the market each wanting a piece of it, however it was quite expensive, as only the richest

tank were able to buy it. Unfortunately its overheating was a problem and soon upgraded to where shafts cannot over heat, with the help of a fan from a trashed M3 Freeze. War continues to wage even to this day.

You are one of the many.

~Cablaz~

Limited Vs. Unlimited & Update 1.78.0

Recently we had a new update of the Tankionline Project. Yay! But it has caused many to disagree with the developers. Why is that you ask?

The new update 1.75 has limited the players to create a various ranked game. Now a lower level rank can only be played with by his/her peers, other lower levels with the same or similar equipment, while high ranks now play with other players similar to their rank. For example, a recruit can only create games that are 4 above its rank, as you rank up, you are allowed to create games that allows you to play with higher ranks.

While a Marshal can play with ranks that are up to 10 ranks below it. This brought joy to many, since there are even fewer hackers now in the high ranked games since hackers don't appear in them. Also more games have been in the lobby now to choose from.

Hurray! Lets Play!

Another added mechanism is that players are no longer able to create 999:000 time game neither can they create 999 flags anymore. The max time limit is now 300 minutes and max flag count is 100. The community however have mixed feelings for this. This will have a limit to the high reward games where the player just keeps playing 999 flags or time games until server update, but it also enables more games to be made as old ones end faster. I'm sure none of you were going to sit through a 999 time game the whole time.

Although this is a new update, players have already started to express their feelings about this.

We are now talking to Contaminated, famous among many tankers and the community and leader of Domination Clan

Hello Contaminated Hello, sir Recently an update has been released, limiting ranks and took out 999 flags and time, are you For or Against this update?

Against On the forums you have even started a petetion, why is this so that you are against this update?

It discourages clan gameplay and makes it difficult for experienced, dedicated players to play with their referrals.

It also makes it more difficult for low ranked players with good skill and gear (Buyers) to rank up as they get very low amount of EXP for killing other players their own rank. It is also boring since they have no competition whatso-ever unless a second buyer shows up.

What are you hoping for from this petetion?

That the administration will hear from it's playerbase and make more reasonable changes Do you believe they will change it back?

I hope so Do you have any final opinions on Tankionline?

No Thank you Also another known player within the Tanki community, not so completely famous but known, he however has asked me to keep him anonymous.

Hello Hey Recently there was an update on Tanki where it limits the rank system and puts limits on number offlags and limited time, are you For or Against this update?

I am For this update, definitely For. Go Developers!

Why is it that you are For this issue?

With this new system there will be no 999 flags or 999 time games where my friends will drag me into and then I have to leave half way through the game, resulting in no reward and I believe that I have wasted my time in there, but hey, their my friends. I'm a loyal friend I don't ditch them.

Also with this new limitation on ranks, I can now happily play games with my fellow players without the worry of hackers ruining my game, since I am one of the higher ranks, hackers don't appear here as often as before.

And there are more games to play and choose from in the lobby now, at least that's what I noticed.

There recently has been a petition against this new update,what are your opinions on it?

To be honest, I admire the creators courageousness to speak out and even start a petition, but since I am for this new update, I like the way it is.

What will you do if they do change it back?

I wouldn't like it very much, but its just a game, continue playing of course, already invested much into this game, why quit because of 1 minor dislike?

Any final opinions on Tankionline?

Good job to all staff members, moderators, administrators, testers map makers etc.

They're making Tanki a better place.

Recently, another update was introduced. Update 1.78.0, this update included a change in bonus drops. Now the bonus drops (First Aid Kit, Double Armour, Double Damage and Nitro) are now dropped at random times and not all at once. Before the bonus drops will fall at a time interval and all the bonus drops will be dropped at the same time. Now each bonus will fall randomly and at random times, however the position of each drop is the same as before. Now players can mask themselves drugging easier as before if the bonus drops didn't fall yet, it will be assumed as drugging.

Crystal drops drop at a constant rate now. Before crystal boxes fell at a interval at 6 battle fund, now its different. Crystal boxes now falls at a constant rate, meaning more crystal boxes will be dropped within a game! Helping lower ranks get crystals faster.

The last new mechanism is about gold boxes. Before gold boxes fell at the interval of 700 battle fund, this encouraging "Gold Hunters" to join a game, after the gold drops, leave it and unbalance the teams. Now the gold box will drop at a random fund. Meaning it can drop at 600,800,100, even below 50. This helps many players get the 100 crystal box easier as now it drops randomly and wont have big M3 mammoths drugging in your way. However the community has mixed feelings about this gold box mechanism change, it may be easier to get golds, but it also takes the "thrill" of the gold box away as it drops and your heart pounds. So is this update for the better or worse? There was also some constructive feedback from tankmen, someone suggested that the gold box should fall at different places on the map so as to increase it randomness even more. ~Cablaz~

conanthedestroyer: Can you tell me a little about yourself?

Royjonesjr: I'm 20 years old, lithuanian, but at this time living in New York, USA. My name is Eimis.

How do you come to live in New York, being from Lithuania?

These years is hard for teenager to live in Lithuania, so I always wanted to go somewhere else, and start new life Do you have family that lives in New York too?

My father and my brother That is good to have family here. Are you a student or do you work?

I'm working at this moment How did you first learn about TankiOnline?

From my father, he first started to play this game What is your father's tank name?

I don't want to publish it but he is well-known player and most of readers will know his nickname ok. My son also plays tanki, but we have yet to play in a battle with each other, I would imagine it is great fun to play with your dad?

Yes it is, you should try it. It's really funny when you playing in same room next to each other. He included me in this game so from the beginning I gained a lot of lessons and experience from him How did you come by your nickname?

It's a nickname of already retired boxer Roy Jones JR, I always watched his fight and he was best boxer for me. And when I had to create nickname for my tank, I haven't minded about it because I thought I'm not going to be caught by tanki and I won't play this game for long I too am a fan of the boxer, he was a great fighter. Tell me a little about your battle tactics. How would you describe your style of play?

It's pretty clear, everyone who know me as a player know my playing style. It's simple, just pushing forward all the time including some experience in this. I always want to win, and if you want to win, you need to capture flags, so I'm always pushing forward to capture more flags than opposite team doing. Very rare you will see me staying at base and defending my team flag

I know from experience in playing with you, that you are very aggressive and competitive!!

Thank you, this is a big compliment for me. Playing style same like in my life. Always move forward, push it if needed, never look to the past. Pass everything to move forward.

That is a great attitude to have in life. You can do nothing to change the past and everything to influence the future. You have recently, I think, been playing in more No Supplies battles. How do you like them compared to using "drugs"?

Yes you right. At this moment I'm enjoying no supplies battles more than the ones with supplies. The reason is because in supplies battles there's a lot of cheaters, well known power of mults, a lot of amateur players. No supplies battles are much more competitive, and of course, is much better way to gain playing skills and experience I would agree completely. What do you think can be done about the cheaters in game?

I don't want to complain about it or anything else, but administrators should know better how to solve this all, because players losing their desire to play this game Who would you consider the most challenging players to play against? Ones you have respect for and know will give you a good battle?

No one at this time. The players and enemies which had mine respect before, they all lost it and they know why. Now I just respect my clan and my friends. I'm always ready to go anywhere and do anything I can to help them There is great value to loyalty and having loyal friends Yes, I'm happy to have friends like I do. A lot of times I wanted to quit this game but I'm still here because I can't leave them. If we will leave tanki, we will leave all at same time Well, I want to thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me, it is greatly appreciated I thought this will be longer. It was pleasure for me. Nice to know that I'm interesting for someone in this game. Thank you for doing this interview with me.

~conanthedestroyer~

Hello koolwalky Hello How did you get into TankiOnline?

I played a game called Minions with my friends on the "Casual Collective" But as the developers stopped updating that game people started to leave. I was invited into Tanki by a player called 0uchie. We were in a small community in that website together.

What made you stay on TankiOnline?

At first it started a little badly, the first battle that is, it took some time to load so I thought I can't play this game. But after that I was never alone in the game for as long as I can remember. I started together with some friends at the start and we played together to get to First Sergeant. The forum community and the "friends" part was the factor that kept me on Tanki.

How did you get into the Moderator position and what made you stay?

As the chats separated around late 2010, I understood that all of the moderators before that were Russian speaking. So I asked an Admin in the forum about how to apply to become a moderator. I was told to contact help@tankionline.com and so I did. I recieved a Private Message from AndreiKin on the forum some weeks later saying I was selected as a moderator, and he'll be contacting me on Skype.

I stayed because at first, because of the fact that I was the only English-only moderator for the first few months until dingus got accepted, After that I just didn't want to quit the job because I could help the game in one way or the other. That's when I applied to become a Forum moderator and got accepted.

Do you have any goals in TankiOnline? If so, what are they?

I believe no matter how many times I have declined it my goal would be to become a Marshal. But that is everyone's goal. Apart from that I have always hoped for a Clan championship, with a valuable reward just for the English speaking clans. As I think we are being ignored. There is some good potential in the English clans and we have seen some of it in the little tournament that we hosted ourselves. Clans like TTF, DC and IC are able to become the next Shadow Strikers or Dare Devils if they had an aim.

When playing Tanki games, do you have any strategy or tactics?

No, Strategies or tactics in regular games are highly overrated, they only work if you know what your enemy is going to do. Which is never true in a game of tanks.

What would be your favorite Tank, Weapon and Paint? Your favorite combo?

It was always and still is Viking, Thunder and Prodigi.

Do you prefer playing with friends or unknown players?

I hardly play games with unknown players. I think Tanki is more of a social game with the World chat and the Clans. There is no fun in playing with strangers, Maybe that is because most of the strangers speak Russian or maybe that's because there's a high chance you won't meet that person ever again in Tanki specially because of the absence of a friends list.

Do you have any final opinions on Tanki? Any suggestion on how TankiOnline project can improve?

I think after the last update on things that Bruce gave Tanki is going in the correct path.

Instead of upgrading directly from the current version to Tanki 2.0 they'll be much better to implement things one by one.

In my final opinion, I would say work a little on the forum, make it a little more stable.

It is usable right now but not helpful as much as we would like it to be. Perhaps completely separate the English and the Russian forums.

As a final Opinion, I'd just like to say that Tanki is an amazing game and my life would be completely different (not better in any sense) if I hadn't played this game, I met a lot of friends over here that I will probably keep in touch with for a long time.

A great thanks to 0uchie for referring me to this great game. ~Cablaz~

Tanki Online Crossword Tankmen!

As this is the first issue of our newspaper, for those who like to turn over to the last page for puzzles we present the monthly Tanki Online crossword.

Clues: 1. The name of the contest where the winner was the one with the maximum kills.

2. The Chief Technical Officer at Tanki Online.

3. The meaning of "D" in D/L. 4. The map that has deathmatch only.

5. The figure that determines the amount of points a player makes in the battle.

6. The Art Director at Tanki Online.

7. The second strongest hull.

8. The meaning of "L" in D/L. 9. The meaning of the German word "Panzer".

10. A tank is made of a gun and a ....

11. The loudest gun in the game.

12. This is how all the Tanki players are called.

13. A town close to the home of Tanki Online and also one of the maps.

14. Everyone is after them.

15. The name of system against the use of third party software written backwards.

16. One of the most popular game maps.

17. Where one buys supplies.

18. This is how often a good tankman plays Tanki.

19. The full official name of the league of clans.

20. One of the english moderators.

21. The name usually given to newcomers in the game.

22. The most protected in CTF. 23. One every 700. (was) 24. The Tanki Online project as a whole.

25. Shoots long range laser rays.

26. Tanki has 25 of them.

27. A famous Russian gun.

The first 20 correctly filled forms receive 1000 crystals each.

The following players have correctly filled in the form and sent it. They receive 1000 crystals each.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 â&#x20AC;&#x201C;

datie9 joostcool BigWar FederalBureauFBI nuclearbom BLACK-HISTORIE Lhamster Beast8008 Inui waldsee Bulgarian_klan joja93 hogree guhjkl tankcalm Reiki12345 MadeInSlovakia_IC oRoadkillo WhiteKnight170 Blackoutwarrior

~Bruce Lunga~

'What Maps?' Contest Tankmen!

There are those of us that claim to have played in all the different Tanki maps, here is a challenge for you to test your memory and spot the maps you have played in.

Reward: 400 crystals Only the first three people to correctly list all maps (spelling and order) and send their names to me will be rewarded. Start looking for clues and good luck! ~Tommy60~ This contest is closed and was won by A.R-Tankibo0om, THEKINGOFDARK and speedy56.

'Clan Logo' Contest Dear Tankmen!

Do you have a clan? Then this contest is specially for you! Does your clan have a logo?

Maybe it's time to create it!

We're starting a new contest "Clan logo Tanki Online" Your task is: Post the link to the picture of your clan-logo in this topic. The main element that qualifies your logo in this contest is your clan's name, in other words the clan-logo should show the name of the clan.

Image specifications: 1. The file size shouldn't be more than 2000Kb (2Mb) 2. Logo should belong to the clan of www.tankionline.com . Any other logos will be deleted. Logo should contain the clan name.

3. Load your images to imageshack.us.

3. Your image shouldn't contain any : filthy language, statements and vocabulary of sexual content, harm, threats , insults, harassments, defamation, anything arousing racial or ethnical hatred and conflicts (including ethnical and religious signs).

Publication specifications: 1. Publish your images only in this topic! (Don't send it to my PM).

2. Only the clan-leader or his assistant can submit an application for participation. In case of victory he will decide how to share the prize.

3. Your message should contain the link to the clan logo, link to the clan topic in the "Clans" section, name of the clan and the nickname of the representative.

4. One contestant can publish only one picture.

5. This topic contains only the requests!!! No discussion allowed! Topic is controlled and checked by moderators.

6. Incorrect and wrong arranged works will automatically quit this contest without the chance to take part in this contest later.

Prizes: 1st place - 12000 crystals 2nd place - 9000 crystals 3rd place - 6000 crystals Contest results and winners will be announced in the next issue.

The authors, who don't get the prize-winning places, but worthy of attention, will be awarded too. ~Les Alterman~