We’re back, and this week we’re Crossbowing another amazing Weapon off our list of spotlights!
Welcome back to another Spider Tanks Showcase! This week, we’re exploring a Weapon design plucked from Earth’s distant past to unleash a wave of destruction on the arena fitting of the new millenia!
This week is, in fact, all about the Crossbow. This medieval warfare tool was originally outfitted on an archaic weapon of war called a “batmobile” in the early 24th century. Clever Earth scientists though quickly developed this into an easy to carry hand weapon, and the Crossbow was born as the height of modern destruction. Today, the Weapon has been revamped and retrofitted for Tanks throughout the Planetary Union.
The Crossbow is an extremely long range Weapon. The longer it is charged, the further it goes and the more damage it potentially does. That’s not to say it can’t be deadly at close range, but short pull backs only result in half the damage of long shots. All shots from the Crossbow pierce opponents though, so you could always fire that long shot through the adversary in your face to your real target to take out two birds with one bolt. Look out though! Whenever you charge the Crossbow, your movement will be massively slowed!
Skewering the Competition
When you’re playing as a Crossbow, you want to prioritize your ability to maneuver and achieve good position in matches. This isn’t to say that you always need the fastest Tank, but any bulk you add into your build should serve your positioning. Obviously, a Titan with a Crossbow won’t need to scramble and run from opponents as often as a Flea, so that could mean you get more shots off with time to line them up.
A Crossbow on a heavier Tank can give you some versatility in both the range you use it and how you maneuver.
The learning curve on Crossbow can be pretty high for most Pilots, so don’t get discouraged if you have trouble with it early on. Its single projectile style and massive range require you to hone your ballistics instincts a bit. When both you and your target are zipping across the arena and you’re firing halfway across the battlefield there are a lot of variables to account for. Eventually with practice, however, you’ll be able to shoot from the hip and time your bolts well to lead targets.
Whether you choose a small or bulky Body, you’ll need to account for those drawbacks with Abilities. Crossbow isn’t totally helpless up close, but if you’re a medium to large Tank that’s unable to quickly put distance between yourself and your opponent you may need to consider a defensive Ability for those “Oh $#*&!” moments. Shield Drone, Reactive Plating or even a quick Relay Drone can be extremely valuable to buy you a moment to regroup.
Combatting Crossbow
When you’re up against a Crossbow in the arena, it can be easy to feel like nowhere is safe. The range on the Crossbow is very long, but you can minimize the danger they pose by understanding how they exploit the weaknesses of opposing teams.
Grouped up enemies are paydirt for a Crossbow. Every crossbow-wielding hunk of metal in the arena would love to make a Tank kabob out of all three members of a team while they’re grouping up for a Heal Zone or on the Command Point. When you are close to your opponents, shift your attention to the enemy Crossbow to make sure you aren’t giving them any easy opportunities. While your team is scattered, they can only concentrate on one of you. While grouped, they can ruin your match pretty quickly.
With the enemy team all spread out, this Crossbow doesn’t stand a chance.
The best way for a Crossbow to hit opponents unaware is to line up long shots laterally. Often in matches, a firing line develops where both teams are squaring off on either side of some imaginary barrier. While more straightforward Tanks are lobbing cannonballs and laser blasts at each other across the line, however, an enemy Crossbow will often sneak off to the side.
Attacking diagonally across the field like this allows the Crossbow to potentially hit more enemies and makes misses much more likely to find some chassis behind their intended target. Don’t ignore the Crossbow in these situations… it can turn the tide of battle very fast.
When you get close up on a Crossbow, don’t think they’ll be an easy kill. Short charges do indeed do considerably less damage on a Crossbow, but that doesn’t mean all short shots do. A fully charged bolt can still do full damage point blank, which could easily mean a one shot kill for a small Tank in a Crossbow’s face.
Crossbow Tactics
When you’re playing Crossbow on a team, you need to remember that you depend heavily on the other Pilots with you. You’re not carrying a 1v1 Weapon, even if you can pull it off sometimes.
While a Crossbow leaves something to be desired solo, it does complement other long ranged Weapons very well. A Crossbow can lend much needed mid-range support to a Sniper Rifle or Railgun.
Snagging kills with Crossbow often depends on catching opponents when they are distracted. Look for opportunities where enemy Tanks are clearly paying attention to your allies. Catch opposing Tanks en route across the battlefield when possible. If they’re looking at that repair kit, they may not see your bolt zooming towards them as they come around the corner.
Never underestimate the power Crossbow can have for zone control to benefit your team. This may result in your kill count ending up lower than your allies, but that’s not always a bad thing. If your enemies know that you are covering a particular angle of approach with a deadly rain of bolts, you’ve successfully controlled their movement. If you can effectively limit opponents’ options for much of the match, that’s usually far better for your team than a kill or two along the way.
Pew Pew Power
Crossbows are a very unique Weapon in the arena. They can take practice to be truly deadly, but in the hands of a master they can unleash unparalleled destruction. In this age of high tech weaponry, never underestimate the little analogue arrows sniping from the corner of the arena.
Deep in the jungles of Silvanus, an ancient ruin from a mysterious, departed race hides beneath the canopy. Perhaps this was the site of great battles or horrific sacrifices in ages gone by.
Today, the grandeur of the crumbling structures and the great device in the center of the ruins bear witness to some of the greatest destruction in The Planetary Union.
The Shrouded Shrine arena is a favorite of Spider Tanks Pilots among the Silvanites. The balanced, circular arena allows evenly-matched starting points like no other arena can, and the 180-degree path of the carnage creates unique avenues to leverage superior strategy and teamwork.
Whatever this ruin was originally designed for… it sure feels like it was designed just for Spider Tanks.
Know Your Battlefield
Shrouded Shrine has several key features that distinguish it from other Maps and require you to fine-tune your strategy to excel. There’s no large open area on this map, which may shift the advantage towards speedier Tanks. There are only two Repair Kits available here… one on a bridge in the North and one on the cliff at the South end.
Area 1: The Outskirts
Both the East and West sides over the bridges are questionable areas to dig in. These locations allow any enemies surrounding you easy access to repair kits, while you have none.
Don’t get stuck here, there are too many angles to approach you. Instead, use these lanes as a second and/or third vector of attack when the enemy is bunkered in on the North or South side.
Area 2: The Cliff’s Edge
The South side of the arena is a mixed bag. On one hand, with readily available Repair Kit and the center mechanism to hide behind, this are offers a lot of cover. On the other hand, there are four lines of approach to attack you here.
With some clever maneuvering, this could be a great place to maintain a stronghold. Attacking Area 1 through this area is particularly effective, since you can brush off early hits with the Repair Kit.
Area 3: The Runway
On the North side of the arena, you’ll find a large strip of straightaway with only one bridge to access it. Controlling this area is often the easiest, if you can maintain the bridgehead enough to keep enemies from using the Repair Kit to their advantage.
You’ll be open to fire across the chasm, but there’s plenty of room to shelter outside of most Weapons’ range. Controlling this area is a particularly effective way to have clean access throughout the entire map.
Area 4: The Killbox
Area 4 is where it all happens. Here, you’ll find the Control Point during King of the Hill.
Literally any other area on the map can threaten this position from some angle. That having been said, you can threaten everyone else from here as well. If a team can properly control this area, the other team will have no choice but to hide out trapped on this cliff or the south side of one of the outskirts.
Shrouded Shrine Best Practices
Keep Moving
Staying mobile is absolutely key. The arena is a circle, so you if you stay perceptive of enemy and ally positioning, you can bob and weave through the level without ever needing to turn around or run a straight line for too long.
The outskirts and the runway are large enough to weave back and forth… and you’ll need to. There’s no fence protecting you, so keep zigging and zagging as you serpentine through the level to get the advantage on your enemies.
Stay in Contact
Always know your allies’ position on this map. On Shrouded Shrine, it’s easy to get cut off as enemies move around the circle.
If you let the enemy get between you and your team, they could easily just herd you down into the Southeast or Southwest corner and separate you. Then you explode.
Solid example of how quickly Shrouded Shrine can turn on you 👆
No Cover Is Reliable
The bridges have no fences on them. The chasm has no fences. What cover there is on the South side is even made vulnerable by the gaps in cover around the SE and SW bridges.
The mechanism in the middle isn’t even particularly reliable cover, as any enemy could bring you into their sites by just running around the opposite side a bit, only to duck back into cover right away.
Bridges Are NOT Safe
The bridges on the East and West sides can be hit from the bridge opposite them to the North and South. This makes them ways to get from point A to point B rather than reliable bridgeheads to hold.
The North bridge is less exposed, but still very dangerous. It can be hit from a wide range and is arguably the most exposed spot in the map, but very powerful if you can hold it.
Rumble in the Jungle
Shrouded Shrine can be hard for beginners to wrap their heads around, since you can get everywhere from everywhere basically. This can be an advantage though… once you learn to use it.
That’ll be all for us this week, but we’ll be back next week to knock up our bolts and zoom in on the Crossbow Weapon!
Let us know your favorite ways to destroy Tanks with the Crossbow for a chance to be featured in the next edition!
Spider Tanks was the first game launched supported by GalaChain, and it’s always held a special place in our hearts. As one of our original collaborations with an external studio, many of our long-term community members and employees love Spider Tanks.
We wish to respond to community comments about development on the game, which has stalled in the last half year. We agree with you: this has gone too far.
The community deserves official word about Spider Tanks, so we’d like to share information about the current situation and what we hope to do about it.
Spider Tanks Today
Spider Tanks has always been a game that inspired fun development and progress. The addition of custom Pilot contracts, missions and other features increased the engagement of the game. We were very excited to see where the arena was going next.
The developer that we hired, GAMEDIA, however, slowed development of the game, then stopped altogether. Over months, the game received less and less GAMEDIA support. Eventually only one GAMEDIA employee was supporting the game at all… then no one.
GAMEDIA entered a long-term contract with Gala Games to support the game, and it is our belief that they have failed to do this. We have tried to find a friendly resolution to this, whether it be allowing us to bring in another developer, work out a new arrangement or allow us to access source code and develop the game internally. GAMEDIA has been unreceptive from our perspective.
At the same time, GAMEDIA has openly discussed waiting out the licensing period on the contract with inaction and then releasing on other platforms. It has also said that it won’t respect the entire licensing period. Basically, GAMEDIA wants to abandon its partnership with GALA and to be the only company to control the game. GAMEDIA’s promises weren’t only made to us, they were also promises for you, the community.
The Future
Because of our commitment to the community, we are currently actively pursuing legal mechanisms to enforce the contract terms upon GAMEDIA.
Our goal is simple: to continue the development of Spider Tanks and meet the community’s needs. We were reluctant to do anything to show GAMEDIA in a negative light originally, because they helped make a great game, and we still believe they are talented developers. However, we also believe they are significantly out of alignment with our expectations for the support of the game.
We were informed that development stopped nearly 6 months ago on Spider Tanks. There are still hundreds or thousands of people playing every day. That is a testament to how awesome this game is, and we don’t want it to die.
We hope to see you in the arena soon! You can find a link to our legal action here.
Rev up your engines Pilots, because you’ve got a new way to grab upgrades in the arena!
$SILK: The Universal Arena Token
From now on, every item will be able to be purchased in $SILK! While items like Components and Drop Ships have always been available in $SILK, certain Weapons, Bodies and Hero Tanks have only been available in $GALA, ETH or USD up to this point.
Being able to use $SILK on any explosive, implosive or otherwise destructive toys in the arena means you can turn your rewards into a new kit much easier!
While new Tanks in the arena may eventually mean more Victory Points coming from matches, all the $SILK that players use on those tanks increases the available $SILK to be distributed to all VP holders at the end of the day!
Scuttle on over for another ST Showcase with the hard-shelled body you all know and love.
Welcome to another exciting edition of the Spider Tanks Showcase! In this week’s episode, we’re taking a closer look at the first Generation 2 Body to grace the arena with its presence. That’s right, today we’re all about The Crab!
Crab is a medium-sized body with extra Armor and balanced Speed and Energy. While other middleweights like Hurricane or Junker have their own niches as balanced death machines, Crab cranks up the Armor just enough so that it can put up with some punishment without slogging around the arena like a Titan.
Boomsticks: Crab/Shotgun
The Crab Body’s extra Armor makes it a perfect choice for players who like to get up close and personal with the Shotgun. This combination is all about dealing devastating damage at close range.
With the shotgun’s wide spread, you’ll be able to hit multiple enemies at once, and the extra Armor on the Crab Body ensures that you can take a hit or two while you close the distance.
You shoot a Crab, but it just keeps coming. That’s terrifying when it has a Shotgun.
Crab’s balanced Speed and Energy let you quickly maneuver around the battlefield and take down your opponents before they even know what hit them. If they do catch you and give chase, the Shotgun is perfect for gunning on the run. As you shoot at your pursuer, they’ll be walking straight into even more of your Shotgun blasts if they dare follow you too far!
Nuclear Torpedo: Crab/Railgun
The railgun is a powerful weapon that’s perfect for taking out enemies from a distance. When paired with the Crab Body, you have a deadly combination that can wreak havoc on the battlefield.
Crab‘s general thickness ensures that you can take a hit or two while you line up your shots, and the Railgun’s long range means that you can pick off enemies from afar. With the Crab Body’s balanced Speed and Energy, you’ll be able to quickly reposition yourself and take advantage of your enemies’ weak spots.
The patience to line up a perfect shot comes a lot easier when you’re sporting some heavy Armor.
Railgun is an all or nothing Weapon… there’s no points for getting close to an enemy. A Crab gives you the flexibility to concentrate on your quarry rather than just worrying about some stray laser blast knocking you out in one hit.
Front Line Medic: Crab/Repair Gun
The Repair Gun is a great support Weapon that’s perfect for players who like to help out their team. When paired with the Crab Body, you have a combination that can keep your team in the fight for a lot longer.
The Crab Body’s extra chonk ensures that you can take a pummeling while you provide cover fire with your Repair Gun. Thanks to the Crab Body’s balanced speed and energy, you’ll be able to keep up with your team and provide support where it’s needed most.
Even in the heat of battle, Crab can still get those heals out.
This combination may not be the most offensive, but it can be an amazing build for players who want to be a valuable asset to their team while still staying a little tough. With the versatility of Crab, your toughness is further enhanced by the fact that you just don’t have to get hit as often as the front line Tanks. Stay alive and keep your team alive.
Crab Power
The Crab Body is a versatile choice that can be a real game-changer in the arena. While it’s not without its weaknesses, in the hands of the right Pilot, it can be a force to be reckoned with.
Just like with any Tank Body, there are countless ways to play the Crab. Mix and match it with different Weapons to find your favorite!
Don’t forget you can play around with all the Bodies and Weapons in the Shooting Range!
We’ll be back in a few weeks to shine a spotlight on Movement Abilities. Have big feelings or thoughts on Relay Drone and Speed Boost? Let us know in the comments or shout at us @Spider_Tanks!
PS!!!
The Wallpaper contest vote just ended, did you see the results?!?
Congratulations to Spike!
Be on the look out for lots more cool stuff.
We even hear that GiveawayBot3000v3.crVMtSlRpDyfNAW has delivered some goodies, but we haven’t figured out where yet… maybe one of you brave Pilots can find it!
