pyramidions, pyramidions everywhere

[maitreya]

I'm not certain why, maybe it's simply a comfortable or easy style of play, but the pyramidion is everywhere. Yesterday, a crew and myself went about five battles where the other side changed captains every time and every time they were both pyramidions. On top of this, all but two of them had the gat-flack layout.

Perhaps it's a balance issue? I've only played a few weeks but there has been a consistent lean towards pyramidions in just about every round, minus a few where the winners were galleons with four hwachas. It got to the point I simply adopted using the pyramidion and overnight began winning relatively reliably.

TL;DR: how does one cull the pyramidion population

[Letus]

They're easy.
Just point and shoot.

And they have strong ramming.

Hwatcha and Lumberjack

A good hwatcha can take out their guns.
And a good Lumberjack can take out their balloon and hull rapidly...thus disarming one of those guns since that engineer is now focusing on either the balloon or hull.

Both require decent gunner and pilot skills.

[RearAdmiralZill]

I say this in the nicest way possible, but it is a very easy ship to fly and manage.

The design itself makes it very new player friendly, and for all of us, it's a good way to put points on the board. The front guns makes it so you just have to point the ship and shoot, and crewing one is also easy as besides the main engineer, the others aren't moving much. It has good stats for sustainability too, so it is forgiving of poor choices like splitting up from your teammate.

The gat/flak combo just culminated from its use of two front guns. It honestly is not the only combo that works up there, as I haven't used it since it gained popularity. People like it for its ease of use for the gunners, and results it provides in quick kills in comparison to other layouts.

I don't think it's OP in any way. It's something that works and has become popular over other strategies. While it does grow a little tiring seeing all pyras against you, they are not invincible. Their turning is slow compared to other boats, and they have perhaps the biggest blind spot of all boats in the game.

Of course, this is my opinion.

[JaegerDelta]

yeah, pyra is the most common because it is one of the easiest to captain and crew. two guns facing forward, despite having a deck division, vital systems are grouped together near the front, and all engines can be repaired with out stopping running around that back lower walkway.

in the current build, at least the pyra has the proper turning abilities before it had those two front guns and could turn like a junker can today

that being said, try using a junker that makes use of component breaking weps and the gat flak combo. or even a disable goldfish with support from your teammate(s) you should be able to take them down

[Spud Nick]

I see more Junkers than pyramidions these days.

[N-Sunderland]

I see more Junkers than pyramidions these days.

I haven't been seeing nearly as many Junkers ever since the Artemis nerf.

[Letus]

I see more Junkers than pyramidions these days.

Being able to see a junker is rare as you have to squint through all that tar barrel now a days.....

[JaegerDelta]

Being able to see a junker is rare as you have to squint through all that tar barrel now a days.....

QFT

[Machiavelliest]

Being able to see a junker is rare as you have to squint through all that tar barrel now a days.....

QFT

These things.

[dragonmere]

In my opinion, calling a pyra overpowered is like calling Ryu/Ken in Street Fighter II overpowered. It's just an incredibly easy/standard way to play. It's very easy to pick up and learn, and when mastered, it's quite deadly. The same analogy can be carried to the gat/flak combo and the hadouken. It's not overpowered, it's just so standard that it will be used very very frequently in just about all of the matches. The thing is, when a game is so finely balanced, the combinations that are used the most appears to be overpowered because, statistically, you're much more likely to get shot down with them.

[Machiavelliest]

Gotta learn the Squid FADC to beat them.

[HamsterIV]

Totally agree with Zill on this one. It has the most effectiveness out for least skill in. It is also one of the easiest to repair ships in the game with core components very close to guns. With the massive influx of new players I fly Pyramidion almost exclusively. I can give a bunch of new players a good experience without expecting them to learn the complexities of the ammo and shot drop.

It is also easy to teach crew specialization on a ship like the pyra. The balloon is so far away from the hull that it doesn't make sense for the hull engineer to leave his post to fix it. Likewise the flack/balloon engineer (where I normally stick the new guy) allows me to train one crew member in repairs and shooting without having to depend on them for mission critical stuff like the chain gun or hull repairs. Every one also gets a chance to shoot which will keep my hull engineer from getting board and doing something unproductive.

[maitreya]

Now to figure out a counter to pyramidion that makes them horribly obsolete. Then again they do have that huge blind spot.

Feel the turning issue is largely removed by simply using Phoenix claw by the way, I've been able to easily out-turn goldfish with ease.

[RearAdmiralZill]

Keep in mind, if they have to constantly use claw, they are constantly damaging their engines. Eventually they have to stop or break their engines, each of which is in your favor.

[maitreya]

There have been matches where I used claw constantly in labyrinth and been just fine, just having the engineer tap the engines now and again.