Felt like writing. No idea why. A window into my average Dust 514 life as a tanker when I'm not busy QQing about TvT/TvP balance, trying to run people over with a Soma for giggles or deploying a mass of militia tanks for blueberries to use. It's somewhat long; might be nice to read as you sit on the throne.

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Today, I decided to take a break from taking Dust 514 so seriously. I hopped on a few hours before downtime and played a few matches in random squads. I decided to only use a cheap build (Gunnlogi, 3 ENH Shield Hardeners, 2 MLT Blaster Ammo Expansion, 80GJ Blaster) to avoid frustration. Around 160k, effective. As the tank is cheap, I feel free to exit at any time, placing uplinks on all the terminals, hacking them if need be, killing players that are hiding from my tank, etcetera. I meet up with some friends from State Patriots and all is going well, except the last match where I lose multiple tanks (any hardened tank with decent DPS tears it apart) to a member of Opus Arcana. State Patriot @Rickitikitaffy hands me 3,000,000 ISK, enough to restock my tanks and pocket the rest, before leaving.

I hop from squad to squad until I end up squadding as a duo with corp mate @Lightning Polaris. We play several matches and by the end of it, after Polaris has left, I check my wallet to find I have a 6 Skirmish win streak. Many were close matches, down to a single clone or point of MCC health. However, 2 losses before the streak stick out in my mind: both to Opus Arcana. I'm talking in #DevHangout (@CCP Logibro was chilling there) about how much more WP I've been getting by being proactive (hacking, driving to and placing uplinks at a flanking point, etcetera) in a cheap tank and @fragmentedhackslash is looking for a squad. I tell him to make one and I'll join. He does and I do. It's 30 minutes from downtime, now. We manage to pick up some more players before we go and set out for one last Skirmish. None of us have played together before.

The enemy team has the remnants of the squad from Opus Arcana that redlined my blueberry teammates earlier. At first, we outnumber them, drawing my attention ever more to their names I saw in the killfeed so often, but within several seconds the roster fills, making them a smaller part of a larger conflict. A dropship is deployed and we wait and spawn cancel before spawning in the air. I drop over E, the map is Spine Crescent, and land on a building. I drop an uplink and deploy a cycled hardener Gunnlogi. The battle revolves around A; we strike out and capture all the points, before they settle into a flipping swirl. The enemy team has deployed a Madrugar with an 80GJ Ion Cannon and a Sica with an 80GJ Rail Gun, amped and hardened. I end up losing my cycled Gunnlogi, somehow, twice; my DPS is too low to breach the defenses of the Madrugar appropriately and it outlasts my hardeners.

As the points are flipping, I spawn in on D and think "Screw this, I'm bringing in a more powerful Gunnlogi!" I deploy, 2 ENH Shield Hardeners, 1 BSC Blaster Damage Amplifier, 1 BSC Armor Hardener + Armor Plates combo and an 80GJ Neutron Blaster; I keep the Blaster so I can wipe out any infantry I see as well as tanks. I position myself at the end of A behind my allies and wait, gunning down a group of redberries at the end of the bridge. The Madrugar on the other end activates its hardener as AV pelts it. I boost across A through a barricade of infantry and stop with the Madrugar to my right and a Federation Gunnlogi to my left, though I don't notice it at the time due to it's location in my blindspot from across the bridge. I activate my amp plus hardeners and start firing, 1000 DPS against armor, 1200 to shields. We soak up damage, his HP slowly depleting and mine remaining stable. As I thought, his hardeners have been running too long and run out. I leave his tank a fiery wreck and turn; the Federation Gunnlogi, so intent on sniping something across the way through the sights, has somehow failed to notice my presence not 50m away. I tear him to shreds and as my hardeners run dry, I rush back across the bridge to safety as my shields drop completely and my armor hardener kicks in, protecting my vulnerable core.

Then I get stupid; 15 seconds to victory, I've positioned myself back on the bridge. I lurch forward poised to get a few more kills and another Madrugar, possibly deployed by the owner of the original, starts to tear into me. Before our conflict can be resolved (obviously through peaceful means, such as Blaster rounds to the face ), the targeting lasers of an Orbital swirl around my tank. It lands, full force, and my tank is toast. Literally the second it explodes into flames, victory has been achieved and my death marks the last kill of the match, the screen frozen for a few seconds on the fireball of stupidity that had become my HAV and piloting "skills."

The match has ended, I am second on the board, behind @fragmentedhackslash, who's swift judgement and calm orders made everything run smoothly; he was talking and leading the whole time through the explosions of war. The enemy team lost a lot of prototype gear; first place from Arcana went 2/12. I made almost 500,000 ISK. A satisfying victory, though I could've been far less sacrificial of my vehicles. 7 victories in a row, 2 million ISK in profit, an arsenal of restocked tanks and 15k SP from my cap, 5 minutes remain until downtime. The minutes tick away until the server boots me.

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This is just what I remember. I think I lost one more tank and popped a Sica or two with my cycled hardener Gunnlogi in the final Skirmish as well, but my memory is as toasted as my tanks. I also remember squadding with @CYBER COBRAS at some point before @Lightning Polaris but my PS3 crashed on deployment and almost imploded, so it wasn't very interesting.

Federation Gunnlogi

Ummm its a State Gunnlogi and Federation Madruga. otherwise good story

Sorry, typed that quickly; got confused over whether it was a Gunnlogi + Federation Madrugar or State Gunnlogi + Madrugar I guess. Will fix, thanks.

I saw this post and thought;

'Damn.. I wonder if he can still feel his legs after writing all of that?'

I saw this post and thought;

'Damn.. I wonder if he can still feel his legs after writing all of that?'

Your thread stinks. My eyes are burning.

TL;DR Version

Tank blah, blah, blah, made a lot of ISK, blah, blah, blah.

After I gave you dozens of likes, too.


TL;DR Version

Tank, blah, blah blah, actually got out, blah, blah, blah, used cheap tanks, blah, blah, blah, didn't squad with 5 tankers in a q-synch with 6 protos, blah, blah, blah, had a lot of fun in some close matches.

The ISK, SP and restocks are the spoils of war but not the reason to play or write a thread. It's not like I need more ISK, lmao.

I was joking about the 'stinks' part. Toilet/stinks......got it? Didn't read the essay.

How many people read on the toilet? Here's some humor.

my son was a picky eater when he was a younger. I explained the digestive system and how we needed different foods to keep us healthy. I answered all of his little five year old questions. Matter settled.

a couple of weeks later I was sittin on the john doin my doody. I was reading warhammer 40k, gonna finish the chapter I was on. I guess it had been a while because I get a knock on the door "Dad, did you eat alot of food"?

TL;DR Version

Tank, blah, blah blah, actually got out, blah, blah, blah, used cheap tanks, blah, blah, blah, didn't squad with 5 tankers in a q-synch with 6 protos, blah, blah, blah, had a lot of fun in some close matches.

The ISK, SP and restocks are the spoils of war but not the reason to play or write a thread. It's not like I need more ISK, lmao.

TL:DR Version of your TL:DR Version,

Tank.

TL:DR Version of your TL:DR Version,

Tank.