One of the most interesting aspects of Guns of Icarus is the rich variety ship builds. There are a lot of viable weapon combinations that can be used and need to be played entirely differently. However randomly mixing guns will barely ever yield an acceptable build. Hence I'd like to provide some guidelines how to find good ship-loadouts.
Use guns with a similar effective Range!What's better than guns?- right more guns! Most ships in GoI have got a Layout which allows a relatively easy establishment of a bifecta or even trifecta (that's the GoIO terminologie for bringing two or three weapons in a gun arc which allows them to shoot at the same target). Make sure that your guns can actually shoot at the same target at the same time. In order to do so, your weapons need to have a similar effective range which can be looked up in the table below:
(++) Ideal range for the weapon, (+) The weapon can be used efficiently but is somehow restricted to operate like it should (e.g. special ammunition may be needed, or it's hard to aim with the weapon), (-) the weapon can operate in this range, but it's clearly not at home. It's not recommended to avoid this range with this weapon (special ammunition might be required, dps might be reduced, aiming might be very hard, etc), (--) The weapon can't operate (efficiently) at this range.
Know your guns!Guns are usually specialized on taking out a specific set of components. Experience is probably the best way to find out how a gun can be used for what properly. Use the gun and toy around with it! Try different ammo types, pair it with different weapons and see how it handles what tasks. However this process takes time and it's really not necessary to find out that some builds can't work out by dieing over and over again. So here's a Chart which rates the efficiency of guns at taking out specific components. It can't really substitute ingame-experience, but it's something that can get you started:
Performance of guns against components: (++)excellent - get the job done alone in a short time; (+) decent - can do the job alone but needs a long time to do so. Better pair it up with an additional damage-source of this type if you want to do the job properly; (o) poor - the damage can be out-repaired by an engineer. Still it might make sense to point the gun into the general direction of this component if you can still hit your main target while doing so; (-) very poor - if you've got anything better to do, don't shoot your gun at this target. reloading your gun or just waiting for a better target are better things to do in most situations; (--) useless - the gun either can't inflict any damage on this component or it can be ignored. Point it at something else or leave it alone!
For further information regarding specific guns, take a look at
this thread!
Think of a Strategy!The game starts in the match lobby. Take a look at your enemies build and discuss with your co-captain how to counter it. On death match your goal is to destroy the enemy ships more often than they do. To kill ships you need to get rid of their hull and then inflict damage on their permanent hull. Whether you do so straight forward with a piercing dmg + explosive damage weapon-pair or if you want to pop your enemies balloon to crash them into ground is up to you. You could also choose a painful and prolonged disabler-death for your foes if you're a meanie. Just make sure to discuss your strategy and build with your ally. Your builds need to fit together and should synergyze well together.
As a rule of thumb: If you and your team mate can point and shoot weapons at your enemy at the same time which sum up a total of 3-5 plus-signs against the Armor and 3-4 plus-signs against the hull if looked up in the Gun-Performance table, your setup is likely viable. Remember the arcs of the guns and their effective range!
In addition to keeping an eye on a sufficient total team-killing power, you might also want to be able to kill an enemy on your own in a 1vs1 situation, as Allies have the bad habit to die occasionally. In order to do so you need roughly 2 plus-signs in armor and hull damage each. Alternatively, if you fly a relatively quick ship (squid, goldie, pyra) you could likely just run away from your enemies and rejoin your ally once he respawns.
Remarks regarding the weapon "Terrain (crash)": Your enemies will likely crash into the ground or collide with terrain, if your team uses a balloon-popper-heavy loadout (either 3 or more plus-signs against balloons in the performance chart or if one of you brings a lumberjack or heavy carronade as a main weapon). Crashes with Terrain help to get rid of your enemies hull-armor and to finish the permanent hull as well. Feel free to add this "weapon" to your calculation if you fly a balloon-popper build!
Remarks regarding the weapon "Ship (rams)": if you fly a close range pyramideon or a close range goldfish you can harrass your enemies by poking them around during your engagements, inflicting damage to the component you hit. If this fits your play style, feel free to add this "weapon" to your calculation. Piloting tip: use moonshine or kerosene to ram your enemies! Not only do these increase the velocity of your ship (and hence the impact damage of your rams), but it also prevents your ship from bouncing out of your gun-arcs during the rams due to the reduced angular drag perk of these steering tools.
