Carbine

The Carbine is a Tier 4 tank branching from the Rifle and Obliterator at Level 45.

Design
Like Rifle, it's predecessor, the Carbine features a long barrel on it's front, with a smaller and wider barrel layered beneath it that does not fire. Carbine's barrels are noticibly larger than those of Rifle.

Technical
The Carbine combines the 2 main attributes of the Rifle and Obliterator. The main benefit of the Carbine is being able to quickly pick fights, and deal massive amounts of damage on a first strike. The poor firing speed makes maintaining fights difficult, but against weakened opponents (such as victims of a successful ambush by the Carbine) is usually a smart choice, as the Carbine is able to take out most lighter tanks in 2 shots, give or take.

Comapred to Rifle, the reload speed is signficantly lowered and bullet speed is lowered slightly, but the bullet damage, penetration, and health are increased, giving the tank a more balanced close range, and making ambushes significantly more rewarding.

Compared to Obliterator, the reload speed increases, while bullet size is decreased, giving the tank extra long-range potential, but doesn't do much to change the overall playstyle.

Upgrades

 * Mega Basher
 * Caricaturist
 * Targeteer

As the Carbine

 * Carbine's high damage output and FOV make it a great ambush tank. Use your enhanced vision to drop on weak, busy, or unsuspecting tanks to wipe out a large chunk of health.
 * Carbine's mediocre reload makes sustaining fights with any bullet spammer that can outpenetrate a death sentence. If you see a tank like Twin Twin, run and don't look back.
 * However, Carbine's main specialty is finishing off weakened tanks, so after an ambush, attempt to get to close range for an easy shot. Carbine's bullets provide average recoil and have high penetration, so it's quite easy provided you have a few points invested in movement speed.
 * Attempt to stay out of mid-range. Carbine's lacklustre reload is a massive detriment.
 * Carbine is also very good at exploiting weak spots. An ambush on an unsuspecting tank will usually result in a kill provided they do not have many cannons around their body (tanks like Octo-Tank are a no go.)
 * Builds should prioritise bullet offense and movement speed. Reload, Penetration, Damage, and Movement Speed are the key stats. Bullet Speed, Max Health, and Bullet Health are helpful as well, but shouldn't be prioritised.
 * If forced to, Carbine's reload is just enough to make taking out Propeller and Pounder branch tanks an achieveable feat, rather than just being outclassed and immediately gunned down.
 * Avoid getting into crowd situations, as Carbine does not have the tools to escape, nor does it have the defense to fight.

Against the Carbine

 * Carbine's subpar reload make it a free kill for tanks with a specialty for mid-range combat. Tanks like Twin Twin and Sprayer branch excel due to limiting the Carbine's options for escape
 * Snipers such as Warden and Radiolocator are also good counters for Carbine, as their FOV is much larger than Carbines, thus making them nigh impossible to ambush. Invisible tanks also have an advantage over Carbine for similar reasons.