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Aboard a Spire

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Xacharon:
This is a belated reply, but I wanted to point out that there is a Practice mode, and the ability to apply damage and fire (using function keys) to your own ship as part of the practice process.  :)

Helmic:
The Spire has to be my least favorite ship.  I just don't find its turning speed all that useful, ESPECIALLY when sniping.  A hwacha/gatling spire can sometimes outperform a Goldfish because of its ability to keep two guns trained on one target and keep it in arc, but I have trouble figuring out how it's more useful than a Galleon when sniping.  I mean, the Galleon gets a whole extra heavy gun to snipe with on its port side, and can stand a chance up close to boot with an appropriately outfitted starboard.  The second I see a Spire I'll call it as a target, it's perhaps the easiest ship to shoot down, moreso than the much more agile Squid.

The best ones I've faced have abused the livining hell out of hydrogen and drogue chute to avoid enemy attacks, while spamming the everloving shit out of tar barrel.  The extra turn speed lets them cover a larger area up close making it difficult to approach them, and of course they're going to be shooting up or below their own mess so they don't get disabled themselves.

Captain Smollett:
The Spires biggest advantages over a galleon are it's ability to rapidly acquire and switch targets so it always is putting out dps, and it's ability to approach a fight while firing and even more importantly flee an engagement while putting out dps.  They're also a bit easier to hide in a cloud.

A Galleon may still be your preference but they do perform differently. Don't forget you pretty much lose use of a gun on the Galleon when under heavy fire.

-Muse- Cullen:

--- Quote from: Kyren on March 10, 2013, 04:34:26 pm ---Phoenix ClawNo, you won't need them, I'm sure. A Spire turns faster than any other Ship.

--- End quote ---

I never fly a Spire without taking the Phoenix claw. The fast turning speed, plus the claw, is invaluable in close encounters. While the Spire does do better at a farther range, fights will always end up close (for the most part). In that case, the real 'glass cannon' aspects of the Spire come to light- without the main gun dishing out damage, the fight will be over quickly, and without the gun facing the right direction, it'll get disabled quickly.

Echoez:
Marvelous guide and surely something anyone wishing to pilot the Spire should look at before doing so.

Some personal input from my experiences with the ship, since it's one of my favorites:

I never go close range Spire, not realy sure about its effectiveness, since you can potentialy do a lot of damage with a gatling and a Manticore both onto one target, but as you mentioned, what keeps me from doing that is the horrible survaivability this ship's armor and hull have.

Crewing a Spire should be the standart 1 Pilot, 1 Gunner, 2 Engineers. You absolutely need the different ammo types on the heavy long range weapons and of course no less than 2 engies to keep it in shape, though it is also the pilot's job to make sure his ship can be kept together by avoiding enemy fire, rams and keeping distance properly.

For piloting equipment:

I usually take either Chute Vent or Hydrogen depending on the map, I honestly don't think you need both, but they are both amazing tools for the Spire.

Droge Chute I realy never use, usually a popped ballon means you are either being peppered by carronades or getting hit by a Lumberjack, which you should be avoiding in the first place with the use of your other tools, but if it happens, I usually instruct my crew to go full on repair mode and keeping everything up till I manage to get us out of there. Don't forget pilots, if the balloon is down, you still have momentum and thrust, your ship is still moving! Make clever use of it.

Completely agree on what you said about the Impact Bumpers and Moonshine, you won't be ramming and if you are at the point of getting rammed the bumpers won't save the fragile Spire from turning into scrap metal.

About Kerozene though, it's realy useful on a Spire, you can have a burst of speed, even if not by much to avoid rams with it as well as it helps keep the enemy at range for a bit longer, it also greatly helps with manuvering and turning rate of the ship while doing less damage to the engines overall than a Phoenix Claw for a very small loss in turning rate compared to it but with a ton of other advantages. Definately give it a try.

The Spyglass is something you personaly as a pilot shouldn't have to bring, realy. It's the only pilot tool that doesn't require you to be on the helm to use it and it's something your crew will always have on them since they won't be piloting so it would be best if you let this one up to your gunner and gun-engineer, you realy need all the air manuvering gear you can get while on a Spire when things get hairy.

The Tar Barrel is a marvelous tool on the Spire, switching between it and Kerozene while avoiding enemy fire can save your life a lot of the time, as it greatly obscures enemy vision and renders their ship useless if they make the mistake of entering a tar cloud. Very good to lay some tar when you hide behind some cover as well as your unexpected enemy follows you, they might fall victims to your clouds.


The only other loadout suggestion that I can put out there is what is in my belief the other most popular Spire build by equiping a Lumberjack Heavy mortar up front along with a Mercury gun on top deck, Flare gun on Middle deck Starboard for when you need to flee and can get a shot on their balloon with it or spot enemies within clouds (I'm looking at you Fjords) and also equiping an Artemis light Rocket launcher on Top deck Dock side to assist in disabling and finishing power when someone can man it. All in all it is a very long range focused loadout, don't expect to be effective at close range and your success will also depend on whether your ally pilot(s) are willing to co-operate with you and take some hits for you as you help them slaughter everything.

Hope I managed to deliver some feedback, I'm by no means an expert on this game so as always it's up to the captain to fit their ship according to their liking. Great guide, again! c:

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