This has been bugging me a bit, there have been times where I could simply overcome the effects of these weapons and hopelessly lost my ship, arcs and matches. So I ask, as a Pilot, what ships or builds could I make use of to counter/reduce the effects of these weapons? I know it's not a 4 Hwacha galleon for a start.
As stated previously there are builds that you will find to be easier to utilise against your opponent's ship build. While bringing a hard-counter will always be most efficient, the truth is that you won't be able to guarantee that you will be using a counter build for every battle. The ship suggestions will give you the tools to make the kill but what you now need to do as a commander and pilot is to counter their tactics. Anyone can work out that bringing a Carro-Fish against a Lumber-Spire will have an edge, the trick to being a great commander and pilot is creating the opportunities for you to facilitate that edge.
The first thing you must do is practise wildly different flying styles against equally levelled pilots. Try one match to only operate at extreme long ranges and learn how to keep your opponents at those ranges. Try the next match as a fast brawler with high manoeuvrability. The next one as a medium range turret. The following match as a disabler and then a killer next round. Keep doing this until you know what
you are great at. As a pilot you need to be comfortable with all ships and all flying styles, but you need to know the ones that you are naturally exceptional at. Once you know what you are capable of as a pilot you can start to exploit your opponent's flying capabilities.
When you know yourself you need to focus on knowing your enemy. As time goes on you will naturally figure out how most pilots in the community like to fly, as Napoleon put it
"You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war." But when you are engaging someone you've never fought against you will need to become exceptionally fast at identifying how they fly. I would recommend that you and your ally develop a loose or flexible strategy that you can both easily disengage from. For example if you are flying in Canyon and you know that they have a close range spire and you have a close range goldfish then you could both glide around the bottom of the canyon and pop up once the target has been identified. This is a simple strategy that you can quickly retreat from if it fails at first but also gives you room to commit to the kill if you have the advantage. Even if you die you can learn a lot from the engagement. Don't lose your calm because you gave away an early kill, because the only kill that ever matters is the last one.
From here on out though your priority is to watch intently what your opponent does. What you're trying to do is to know how they think and apply tactics and strategy. If they rush into the canyon and aggressively hunt you, then retreat into an ambush and bait them. If they move into the canyon but cautiously stalk you, then spot them and use yourself or your ally to out flank them. If they never enter the canyon then you know that they must be either traversing the rim of the canyon or waiting at their spawn, giving you the opportunity to engage when you have the advantage to press. The caveat here is that they will also learn about you. So unless they display poor judgment, every couple of kills you must reengage with new strategies to counter their own defensive strategies that they will definitely employ.
Hopefully in time you should have the experience to know how you can counter almost any opponent, not only with your ship, or weapons, but with strategy.
