Hello fellow Icarians, collected below will be the various tips, pointers and witty sayings provided by captains, crews and sharp tongue or minded observers.
Post updated 3/12/2013
The Tips
1. If you want to turn faster, go in reverse! A sudden reduction in speed will greatly improve your turning velocity!
2. Get up to top speed faster by using a short blast of moonshine!
3. Stop suddenly by throwing the engine in full reverse and blasting a touch of moonshine then put the throttle in nuetral.
4. If you need to change horizontal fields rapidly up and down, dont use chute vents and hydrogen immediately after each other. It takes a few seconds for one to cancel out the momemtum of the other.
5. Always wack a component with the mallet before using a fire extinguisher!
6. If your an engineer, take out that spy glass and spot some ships!
7. When captaining dont bring a spyglass, fill that third spot with something to improve your tacticle advantages at the helm.
8. The Mercury Field guns primary purpose is to knock out enemy ship components. Aim for the engines of escaping ships, or the guns of approaching ones
9. Left click on the name of a ship in the match lobby, this will show you a detailed layout of its fitting.
10. Use the terrain to hide in! Some ships can get very low to the ground and can use hills or wreckage as shields as they approach an enemy.
More Tips! The following where submitted by forum users in this thread.
11. Before you ever captain in a live game learn the other two rolls and learn them well.
12. Some captains suffer from tunnel vision, if you spot something let your captain know verbally.
13. If you just spawned and your ally is getting double teamed on the other side of the map don't rush blindly to his aid. Sometime it is better to let your ally die to reestablish the formation, than to feed the other team a steady stream of 1v2 fights.
14. Pick the squishiest ship on the other team and gang up on it with your team mate, forcing the other team into a steady stream of 2v1 engagements is a fast path to 5-0 victories.
15. If you take cover in the clouds immediately change your direction and altitude when the enemy team looses spot. A good gunner will predict where you went and try to blind fire you.
16. If you are hiding in clouds to repair tell your gunners not to shoot. A good gunner on the other team could track the path of you bullets back to the source.
17. If an enemy ship takes cover in the clouds, and you have a large clip weapon (like a Manticore or Whirlwind) spray the clouds around where you last saw the target with bullets. The hit confirmation box will show where the target is to the other gunners on your ship.
18. When piloting only rarely leave the helm. Even if your Balloon is down you can still pilot the ship to a safer spot and give your crew more time to repair.
19. Know your limitations of your ship. This goes double for Squid pilots I see charging to the front of a Goldfish.
20. Know when to run. Most maps offer some sort of cover to escape and give your crew a breather.
21. For Engies. Know all the jumps to get around a ship. The quicker you can get to a component the higher your chances for survival.
22. Use uninspiring ship names to throw off the other team (We Will Die, We Will Lose, We Will Blow Up). Over confidence can kill! =)
23. If your pilot tells you to get on a particular gun, get on that gun and that gun only.
24. Don't use lochnagar unless you've got a really powerful gun with a small clip, like the flak or the merc. Even then, I'd recommend charged instead.
25. Your ships momentum is transferred to your bullets if you want your gunners shots to go where they aim them, have as little perpendicular movement to the bullet's path as possible.
26. Never park a squid in the open.
27. Your ship is not a fighter plane. It has multiple throttle positions for a reason.
28. Make sure you have some idea of what your guns do. Dont charge face first into an enemy with a weapon that has an arming time.
