Gameplay tweaks/improvements, new tools etc..

[KominAaa]

Hi,

I bought a four pack so my friends and I could play as a whole crew and it has really been a great pleasure discovering this game and it's various mecanics so far.
It seems like Guns of Icarus Online is one of the rare games you get hooked on for months and I see a whole lot of potential in getting this game a lot more reputation to both the competitive/cooperative players on Steam.

As a crew, we discussed a lot about about the best loadouts to use, what tools to equip and so on... sadly I haven't played the older versions of GOIO so maybe some suggestions are redundant.


First, it seems as you are far better off with a crew full of Engineers and a Steerer than having any Gunners in your team. Each Engy picks a different Weapon perk and can shoot as good as any Gunner. On the other hand a gunner cannot fix a ship as well as an Engy does...

This can be solved by having more effective perks for Gunners than different damage types.
An Engy would then be limited to only one of these orientations.
These perks could be *+15% rotation angle for turrets* *+25% reload speed* *range finder telescope*
This would make it a real advantage to have someone dedicated to using weapons on board.

Maybe perks could be sorted between Active and Passive (turret rotation speed, reinforced hull perk for the steerer and so on..)

At the moment its annoying to leave a Turret to fix something and when you use it again, your ammo type has been reset. Maybe the last used ammo type could be automatically loaded when you are mounting a Turret?

You often find yourself stuck in small edges on the deck while rushing to some engine to fix or the forward turret, I think streamlining even more the ship's deck with clipping brushes that would seal off all the small objects you can ram into while running around would be great

It seems that damage feedbacks could be enhanced not to be more intrusive but to feel more precise. At the moment it feels really satisying to see you scored a hit while shooting and this could carry more information if the hit effects were different (piercing would produce puffs, shattering would make debris fall, explosions..well...)
Different sounds could be used to let players understand if the sail or the hull have been hit on his ship.

Overall, this game is awesome and it could use some more granularity in the player's loadout decisions, kind of like how you customize your weapon loadouts in TF2 to suit your playstyle.

Thank you for that game and sorry about any english mistakes, not a native speaker here.

[Shinkurex]

Hey,

I like where you are going with the Gunner perks (specially the range finder). Most crews have a general makeup of

1 Pilot
1 Gunner
2 Engineers

The main benefit of having a gunner on board is the 3 ammo types you bring with you. Usually, your gunner will bring with him a long range type, Disabler round, and a close quarters high damage type. You could effectively do this with 3 engies, if each engie carries a different round, and switches out for the different scenarios, but that can become a hassle in a firefight. as for repairing, 1 engie should be your dedicated engie who manages main repairs (balloons and hull and whatnot) and then your secondary engie helps out on guns, as well as being the "oh crap fix that hull" engie...  I'm always interested in how people arrange their crew classes, as it will lead to different strategies.

[N-Sunderland]

You should almost always have a gunner on the ship, as Shinkurex said. You can get so much more out of, say, a heavy flak by being able to switch between charged, lesmok, and heatsink as you go rather than having people jumping on and off constantly. Also, since the engineers should have ammo for other guns, you're probably going to end up missing the right rounds somewhere. As for ammo loading, it'll still be there no matter how much you get on and off, provided you give it a chance to fully reload. If you jump off mid-reload, it'll be gone. Otherwise it'll still be there.

If you're getting stuck on small edges, try taking a slightly different path. Once you get used to the ships and their layouts, you'll never be getting stuck.

Finally, if you want to know what type of damage you're dealing, read the gun description

[HamsterIV]

The medium weapons benefit from three ammo types, but the light ones usually need only one. Ships like the Junker have enough light weapons that a gunner is needed to supply all the right ammo types. However ships like the Pyramidion and Squid can be effectively run with three engineers. Defiantly take a gunner if you are flying anything with a medium gun. Having one person dedicated to shooting will hopefully prevent your engineers from asking if they should get on gun at the wrong time.

[Pickle]

Lots of stuff in your post, and most of them already have threads running along the themes you suggest.

I'll just pick out one..

At the moment its annoying to leave a Turret to fix something and when you use it again, your ammo type has been reset. Maybe the last used ammo type could be automatically loaded when you are mounting a Turret?

The weapon will retain the last ammunition type you use, providing that:
- You don't get off it during a reload sequence
- Another player doesn't use the weapon (AI gunners won't cause your ammunition type to be deselected)

[HamsterIV]

*range finder telescope*

If you can mark an enemy with your regular telescope (spyglass) you can look at the relative positions of both your ships on the game map (press M). Each grid square is 1000x1000 meters. This should be sufficient information for finding the range to target.

Usually I just eyeball it, but I hear the sights on the lumberjack are marked off in 1000 meter increments. That is if you target is 2000 meters away you should line up the 2 of the sight to get a hit.

[KominAaa]

Thanks a lot for the replies guys,

Lots of stuff in your post, and most of them already have threads running along the themes you suggest.
...

The weapon will retain the last ammunition type you use, providing that:
- You don't get off it during a reload sequence
- Another player doesn't use the weapon (AI gunners won't cause your ammunition type to be deselected)

Ye well sorry I thought I had read most of the threads on this board before posting...

Ok maybe it's more realistic this way... it's more the frustration of having to switch special ammo back on pretty much all the time halfway through the clip because one did not pay attention to when he entered the Turret. If it only bothers me then well that's no big deal.

Having one person dedicated to shooting will hopefully prevent your engineers from asking if they should get on gun at the wrong time.

You're probably right... I had a few games with random crew tonight we got slaughtered in a few salvos a few times, maybe they had someone using the right rounds at the right time, still I think Gunners could benefit from more perks that would set them aside from the Engies.

If you're getting stuck on small edges, try taking a slightly different path. Once you get used to the ships and their layouts, you'll never be getting stuck.

Finally, if you want to know what type of damage you're dealing, read the gun description

Well its nearly already all cleaned up, just a few spots here and there plus a useless ladder on the Gallion

About the damage types, yes you should know why you use the turrets you chose, still distinct visual and sound feedbacks are always a plus if it adds to the immersion and comprehension of the game events.

About the range finding thing, looking on the map is a good reflex I did not have, maybe some other weapons could have a range indicator? I was suggesting that so there were more perks to choose from

[N-Sunderland]

On the subject of range, the best thing to do is just to practice. When I get on a flak, I can usually tell if the ship is close enough to hit or not. It's something that comes with experience. You'll get the hang of it eventually