Chaos Skirmish this Friday, December 23, 2016.

[Ayetach]

Descriptions:

Option 1:
ARRR!: AVAST! Set the sails, swap the poop deck, drink yer fill o' moonshine and give 'em a FULL BROADSIDE with all yer cannons, matey! Send 'em down to Davey Jones' locker 'n' prove yerself the mightiest of pirates!


Option 2:
Gods & Monsters: Mortals have taken the gods for granted for far too long! With lightning and flame, the ancients will dominate this world once more! Insolent captains and their cowering crews will beg for mercy...


Option 3:
Bumper Boats: Most gamers tire of grinding, but we're about to get literal. Weak weapons, extended clips, and extra padding mean this battle is going to be up-close and personal, so wear a helmet. And a cup.


Event Information:

You can find event information at this Steam Group page. Poll ends officially at 9:30 PM EST. THIS EVENT HAS BEEN MOVED TO FRIDAY THIS WEEK!

If you have questions regarding this event they should be directed to Atruejedi, or you can contact competitive@musegames.com to have them forwarded to the player.

[Atruejedi]

Typically brand-new rule sets are kept a surprise until we debut them during the third match of the Chaos Skirmish, but so much work went into this rule set's Tips and Strategy section that I thought it would be wasteful if I didn't share it with our players. So, spoiler alert: this is the rule set we'll be using for our Christmas Eve Eve Chaos this FRIDAY. Study up, chumps! I'll be there WITH MY RANGEFINDER! Also, consider it your Christmas gift (I'm still hoping for a #ChristmasMiracle from Santa Muse!). Now, without further delay (because pasting this from the Chaos Steam group was a real formatting chore), we present to you...

Boomstick
TL;DR: All Spires, All Carronades

Description	(WIP) Pop, Loch, and drop 'em. My whole crew brought our shotties to the party, and homie don't play. Don't just give 'em both barrels: give 'em the whole damn distillery/brewery/arsenal.
What makes this special?	The only weapons allowed are Heavy and Light Carronades and they are mounted exclusively on Spires. Besides that, this rule set is a stat geek's dream because of the ammunition choices, not to mention exciting for those who obsess over tactics and strategy involving target priorities.
Tips and Strategies	Alright, let's nerd out. We'll begin with a lesson on the guns themselves and how the ammos available affect them. The following data comes from The Gun Range, a "utility" I created to visually display the ranges and arcs of weapons on the in-game map. It even takes into account the effects granted by most ammos. Keep in mind, each square on the map is 500 meters. For clarity, I'm simply going to list the weapons and their ranges using the different ammos first, and then you, conscientious Chaotic™, can refer to it at your leisure. The "Max Range (mpsq)" column represents (in decimal form) how far across a single map square (mpsq) a gun can reach (when aligned with the X- or Y- axis). The list is in ascending order, organized first by range from shortest to longest, then damage from weakest to strongest. So: Heavy Carronade Ammo Max Range (meters) Max Range (mpsq) Shots Pellets/clip Notes Incendiary 280 0.56 2 40 Starts mad fires Greased 320 0.64 2 40 Reduces damage (don't use this!) Heatsink 320 0.64 3 60 Reduces damage, grants extra shot, rotates quickly Burst 400 0.80 2 40 Reduces fire rate (don't use this!) Normal 400 0.80 2 40 Bread 'n' butter Heavy 400 0.80 2 40 Increases precision by reducing spread Charged 400 0.80 2 40 Increases damage Lochnager 400 0.80 2 40 Increases damage and precision, self-damages (only for pros!) Lesmok 680 1.36 1 20 Ineffective but annoying Light Carronade Ammo Max Range (meters) Max Range (mpsq) Shots Pellets/clip Notes Incendiary 227 0.45 4 64 Starts mad fires Heatsink 260 0.52 7 112 Reduces damage, rotates quickly Greased 260 0.52 6 96 Deals reduced damage very quickly Normal 325 0.65 5 80 Bread 'n' butter Burst 325 0.65 6 96 Reduces fire rate (don't use this!) Heavy 325 0.65 4 64 Increases precision by reducing spread Charged 325 0.65 4 64 Increases damage Lochnager 325 0.65 2 32 Increases damage and precision, self-damages (only for pros!) Lesmok 552 1.11 4 64 Ineffective but annoying It's very important to note that maximum range does not mean effective range. Effective range is hard to compute at worst, subjective at best, because both Light and Heavy Carronades use a shotgun mechanic when firing, which spreads out pieces of buckshot (see the table above for numbers). The farther away the target is, the farther the buckshot will spread; the closer the target, the more pellets will hit the enemy. This makes Heavy Clip and Lochnager Shot very attractive for use in Carronades because they concentrate the buckshot in a more precise area, making the guns much more effective at long (near maximum) range. The reduced jitter of Heavy (-70%) and Loch (-60%) also allow specific components to be targeted at medium to short ranges. Lochnager will be a very popular choice for experienced and confident Gunners, while the cautious and doomsayers among us (me) will likely stick with Heavy Clip. Many other interesting choices are available, however. ...But Burst ammo is not one of them. It only truly benefits weapons that have Area of Effect (AoE) damage, and Carronades do not, so we've saved you the embarrassment of ignorantly bringing it by banning Burst. The general consensus among the community (and stated on the Wiki) is that Charged ammo is a great choice for the Heavy Carronade, but less so for the Light Carro. Greased ammo has the opposite situation; many players use it on the Light Carronade for the increased clip size and fire rate, but eschew it for the Heavy Carro because Greased reduces range and damage and doesn't increase the capacity of heavier gun's magazine. Depending on your role, either of these ammos are solid selections, but very vanilla. Incendiary is my personal favorite for both Light and Heavy Carronades, if I have the benefit of taking more than one ammo type. Incendiary ammo significantly reduces your range, but it gives each projectile a 20% chance to start a fire. For a Gatling gun, this means a single bullet has a 20% chance to start a fire. For a Carronade? Every blast from the Heavy Carro shoots 20 pellets and the Light Carro sends out 16 pellets. This means, per clip, a Heavy Carro with Incendiary will set eight stacks of fire and a Light Carro with Incendiary will set 13 stacks of fire. "Thirteen, Jedi? Learn to math! It should be 16." Nope. You forgot the 25% clip size reduction. And that, dear reader, is why we're only allowing Gunners to take this ammo. Otherwise, the fires would be out of control and close-range combat would be hell. We want to encourage (but not require) the captains to get down 'n' dirty. Dozens of fires on each ship would discourage that. Heatsink is also available and attractive to Gunners to prevent pesky flames from engulfing their guns. Plus, having three shots on a quick-swinging Heavy Carronade is freaking awesome for disabling the enemy at point-blank range. Bringing the final ammo we'll discuss, Lesmok, is not encouraged but also not forbidden. In a battle with short-range weapons, Lesmok could (could) make a difference. Typically nobody in their right mind would use Lesmok on a Carronade because, yes, while it increases the range, it also increases the spread... but the reason they never consider Lesmok Carro is because the enemy brings other weapons.. now that everybody has to use Carronades, there might be a small niche Lesmok can fit into... especially if an entire fleet brings Lesmok. A Lesmok Spire team victory is my ultimate fantasy, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Still, imaginging those glorious crews focusing fire fleet-wide to disable each enemy balloon one-by-one is intoxicating... anybody courageous enough to try it? I didn't think so. Cowards. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about what you should aim for. Recall that every gun in the game does two types of damage, and every type of damage is effective against one type of component. Carros do flachette damage, which is effective against balloons, and shatter damage, which is effective against guns and engines. Many players forget that! Carronades do not do piercing damage to strip the armor and do not do explosive damage to destroy the hull. Disabling an enemy is going to be easy... destroying him will be more difficult. Ideally, during the initial skirmish, your Heavy Carronade will target the enemy balloon to drag their crew away from their guns and ease your approach. Once your Light Carronades are in range, target prioritization becomes interesting: do you focus on the balloon to keep the enemy under pressure and at least one engineer busy? Do you knock out their guns so they can't return fire? Do you target their engines so they can't maneuver or escape? When should your crew switch their focus to slowly stripping the armor with hundreds of pellets? Another important question is when to start shooting. I may regret this, but whenever we play Boomstick I will be taking the Rangefinder (if I'm not the pilot!). Getting that initial disable on the enemy Spire's front gun or balloon could determine the course of the entire battle. Directing your crew when to shoot and advising what ammo to use could really give a ship and therefore a team the edge necessary to squeeze out a victory. Better get to memorizing those numbers! When the battle does unfold, pilots are going to have a rough time keeping aloft, but it won't be too awful. Drogue Chute is required so pilots can stall their inexorable descent toward the ground below. Hydrogen can be utilized when the balloon is rebuilt to gain some quick altitude, but be careful: Carronades are terrible at shooting downward, so don't rocket too high! The third helm tool (pilot's choice) can be anything, but I expect Kerosene, Phoenix Claw, and Tar Barrel to be popular, with a smattering of Moonshine and Impact Bumpers and only fools with Chute Vent. If the pilot has time and the armor is holding, it could benefit the ship to have the captain mount the slot 1 or 2 Light Carronade while the engineers are likely busy with repairs or split between decks firing guns, leaving a top slot weapon free. Now that you've read my book, I hope you understand why this rule set is a dream come true for Guns of Icarus geeks. If you want to be a nerd like me, go check out the Guns of Icarus Wiki!
Appropriate Map Modes	Death Match, King of the Hill
Ships Allowed/Required	Spire
Ships Prohibited	Galleon, Goldfish, Junker, Mobula, Pyramidion, Squid
Weapons Allowed/Required	Heavy Carronade and Light Carronade
Weapons Prohibited	All except the above
Classes Allowed/Required	Standard Chaos Rules: 1 Pilot, 1 Gunner, 2 Engineers
Classes Prohibited	N/A
Pilot Tools Allowed/Required	Hydrogen, Drogue Chute (the third helm tool is the pilot's choice)
Pilot Tools Prohibited	None
Repair Tools Allowed/Required	All
Repair Tools Prohibited	None
Ammunition Types Allowed/Required	All ammo types allowed, but Incendiary can only be taken by the Gunner
Ammunition Types Prohibited	Only the Gunner can take Incendiary; Burst ammo is banned (because it does not grant Carronades Area of Effect damage and is therefore fairly useless)

[Atruejedi]

In the above post, the description of the event was a work in progress. I've since revised it (many times) and finalized it (but can't edit the post). I always put a lot of effort into crafting the descriptions for Chaos Skirmish rule sets, and I thought I'd give you scrubs a bit of insight into my thought process. I'm particularly proud of this one for Boomstick:

"Those doggone teetotalers are here to shut down our distillery! Don't give 'em a single barrel... give 'em two! It's a good thing alcohol inspires courage. Let's pop, Loch, and drop these windbags."

References/jokes/puns:
1. Boomstick: the title of the rule set, a "boomstick" is often a sawed off shotgun; this type of firearm is typically used by outdoorsmen, and bootleggers are often outdoorsmen
2. doggone: a reference to the Barking Dog Light Carronade and Hellhound Heavy Carronade, the only weapons allowed in the rule set
3. teetotalers: these silly humans who refrain from imbibing are an allusion to the Spires in the rule set, which are shaped like the letter T
4. distillery: the overall theme of the description is alcohol, which is often utilized while playing the game, especially for Chaos Skirmish, and this distillery implicitly produces moonshine, which is a part of the lore and a helm tool
5. single barrel: since we're at a distillery, the barrel is a reference to a container of illegal moonshine
6. two [barrels]: a reference to a double-barrelled shotgun, the weapon the Carronade most resembles
7. inspires: Spires are the only ship allowed in the rule set
8. pop, Loch, and drop: a reference to utilizing a firearm, like a shotgun, which the players will be using against their enemies
9. pop, Loch, and drop: a reference from the awful song which gained popularity in 2007
10. pop, Loch, and drop: an explicit nod to Lochnager ammo, which will be popular in this rule set
11. pop, Loch, and drop: an allusion to popping the enemy balloon and having them drop to the ground
12. windbags: an allusion to the dirigible balloons which will be deflating during the rule set

If you're impressed, be even more impressed because everything I write MUST fit in this window:



That's how I formatted the Chaos poster. It was pretty ad hoc, but I like the challenge. Hope to see you all TOMORROW for Chaos!

p.s. hire me i gud wiht words

[Lysanya]

Chaos Skirmish #37 will be the featured attraction of my charity livestream tomorrow!  Come join in and help out a great cause!

Initial Announcement: http://tinyurl.com/zvhp39w
Announcement video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH0p_ybCHjY