BlackenedPies: great tip on the extinguisher! I like my gunner up top to bring heatsink but as captain an extinguisher would be very helpful on the top deck.
So, my preferred build after being on hiatus for the best part of a year:
- Twin arties on the wings
- Gat on lower hull side
- Banshee or flak on lower balloon side
- Hades up top
Engies to tend to their sides of the ship -- no leaving your posts! Lesmok for gat. I'm flexible on the banshee/flak side. Buff engies can be handy.
Gunner stays with Hades looking after their gun and main engine. Brings burst or heatsink, lesmok, and incendiary (for short arm-time) or greased.
I bring phoenix claw for quicker turning (will see how I fare without this!), drogue chutes, and tar barrel for ships that get where they shouldn't get (saved my bacon no end of times). I used to bring hydro but the mob balloon gets a lot of hammer and often popping hydro would kill it so I decided to redirect that damage to the engines in the form of tar. Buffed balloon helps with this though. If I can ditch phoenix claw, I might bring hydro again as it was handy as well.
I prefer the arties to be high because of their poor upward arc (and their horizontal arc is great for the wings). The lesmok gat means that the engie can release a clip at range before tending to repairs with some piercing overlap from the dedicated hades gunner. The banshee can have at it constantly but with the flak a bit more patience and timing is required. The fire from the hades and banshee is a bonus.
I have a lot of success with this build, it's competent close range but works very well medium to long. The other plus is that all crew members get to gun and engineer and have very defined roles and responsibilities.