Touch Tanks' Seat of Enlightenment

I never really understood, for quite a while , what the Gs stood for in  2G, 3G and 4G... Of course "generation" sounded awfully simple. The only solace being , whatever it stood for, could be interpreted as twice as good, thrice as good and so on....bought myself the Ipad from the crony in my contact list. . Soon.the plethora of free and paid apps ,  games and the rest ....a whole world , competing online for the first time, .. a whole new arena. Welcome to the age of the interface.

Touch Tanks Europe by Flipside, particularly,  caught my attention,   an engrossing RPG as a tank commander. My first tank was a an A12.Matilda II a light weight, nimble, low armor,  shoot and scoot vehicle , speed of gun reload being the only feature worth mention .Thirty games later, i had myself , nitro fuel, a pack of mines, enhanced armor and a zillionith in rank amongst other " online always " geeks from all around the world. My military career began as a 1st Private, whatever that means, in the parlance of Flipside, in any case,  the only noteworthy achievement being that my general awareness of armored assault vehicles was growing by the second  . A.12Matilda II, SDKFZIIIF,T-2637, M1340, Char B1, A-15 Crusader, Sherman, KV-1, T-34, A272 Cromwell, A.27 Centaur, Panther D, Sherman VC Firefly, T-3485, A.30 Challenger,  Tiger E, Pershing M-26, A.34 Comet , IS2. I handled 28 tanks and their upgrades with varying degrees of armor, speed, gun sight, shell speed , shell damage, and reload , and decimated online opponents in the battles of Cyrenaica, Hurtgen, Kiev, El-Alamein and Stalingrad. My new found skills and points collected ensured my promotion gradually , from a rookie  I Private , II ,and  III Private, onward  from I to IIICaptain. General to Commander in Chief.. I was now in management, probably at level 20 ,  am at the brink of becoming Field Marshall.It had been an interesting career, my opponents were now familiar with my screen name ( not telling you what it is) and familiarity made some wary , some aggressive, some nonchalant and some completely fool hardy .  I was quickly assigning the approach of my cyber opponents to people I have been with and situations I have seen people in. I call this post my  "Touch Tanks Seat of Enlightenment" The similarity and parallels that i could draw is what this is about. Touch Tanks may be a game  however , offense , defense , strategy is no strange place and is probably apt. I will try and draw parallels to the script i know in the texts i have read,   if you find it offensive, take a walk. After, all every war hero has his right to memoirs.

* When you are light and nimble , you are impressionable.  :

A12 Matilda

My rookie tank A-12 Matlilda, used by the British Infantry in WWII remained in service till the end of the war. Quick , light and nimble   The parallel i could draw as a beginner in career, marriage, relationships and as a rookie, impressions are easy to form. The risk of being destroyed is high, because you do not know much at this level, either you must base yourself on training or emulate those before you .  " Catch em young" is probably an embodiment of this level. Mark records in his Gospel " ...Truly I tell you , anyone who will not enter the kingdom of God, like a little child  will never enter it " Blind, unquestioned belief is everything at this level.

* As you grow in achievement and merit, the compromise is your adaptability "

Finer choices had to be made as i grew in the game, every tank became formidable, however the strengths and weakness of each vehicle / opponent were now pronounced. Some opponents were easily beatable others were impossible. Enhanced armor came at the cost of speed , extended gun sight came at the cost of shell delivery.  Paradigm shift . The much told story of Solomon comes to mind, commonly accepted as the wisest of men, who fell to the basic carnal challenges.   In fact  going by first principles,  my souped up Pershing  should suffice for an outright victory. However,  heavy armor reduced my speed and increased my vulnerability.. My acquired immunity became  an impediment to my  success. Its not that I had not read John Maxwell, Blanchard, Ravi Zacharias, Paul Coelho and others of the like , to asses a possible stand point of being strong , yet susceptible,   however,the  true state at this level is well put by Paul in his letter to the Romans " ..but I see another law at work in the members of my body , waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisioner of the law of sin at work within my members" In fact John Maxwell extrapolates  " The higher you go , the more evident your integrity or the lack of it becomes ".  Fancy ...here was enlightenment in an online game. Was it  King Gautama Buddha had left home for this kind of stuff.?

" Your enemies  best shot is a timed tracer to where you are going, not where you are or have been "

Handling the online version of the the IS2 , on my promotion as General was destructive entertainment redifined, mammoth,  T-122 guns on the IS2 could make an impression , and a novice stood slim chance. The IS2, 

( other wise called Iosip Stalin 2 ), was developed by  Russians and was put into use in 1944 in the Battle of Berlin , by the Red Army, and later by the Koreans, Chinese ,  Mainly used as a breakthrough tank in the several conflicts, breaking down buildings , devastating fronlines and well dug in bunkers , before the lighter tanks  with improved mobilility viz. T- 34 took over and finished the good work . What surprised me was my online opponents had learned to work around the challenge of a killer tank The judicious novice would dent my 130 mm armor with a timed shot estimating where i would reach in the next 4 seconds or so. Much, like the launch of unguided missiles or torpedoes, somebody in the fighting compartment could work this out quickly assessing speed , distance  and turrent turning radius This could really hurt. Paradigm shift. I remember the US primaries and the kind of muck that was being thrown around at candidates. Not that, and this intends to justify or condemn, attenton is drawn to timing. Hours of debate probably go in to ensure that timed release of sleaze would have maximum impact and deter progress.  Eventually the results would hinge on your reputation and not necessarliy the accusation. Wise king Solomon , gave direction  to the dilemma when he recorded in Proverbs  " A good name is more desirable than riches, to be esteemed is better than silver or gold" . .....he continues " the prudent see danger and take refuge , but the simple keep going and pay the penalty"

Speaking at the strength of being CINC of my  virtual battlefield, and my discources  from my 

" Touch Tanks Seat of Englightenment" i assure you that there is more from where all that came ....however i have few more battles to win. This time wiser and stronger.......and knowing the devices of the enemy..........ironic that this game is by " Flipside" ...ive seen one .heck of a Flipside...... ......now where is  that Ipad !!?