Guns Of Icarus Online

Main => General Discussion => Topic started by: Byron Cavendish on August 28, 2015, 05:38:27 pm

Title: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: Byron Cavendish on August 28, 2015, 05:38:27 pm
For those that saw it, or those that didn't go here (http://www.twitch.tv/gunsoficarus/v/13267775), what are you thoughts and opinions on everything you saw?
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: DrTentacles on August 28, 2015, 05:44:03 pm
I'm liking how hard hard mode looks. I was worried it wasn't going to be a challenge. The Magnate looks awesome, I can see myself flying it a lot. It feels like a Goldfish made love to a Galleon. The Crusader looks incredibly vulnerable to being flanked-I'm going to be curious to see it's role.

Attack mode appears to be the most difficult game mode. I'm wondering about the potential for sniping ships if any of the modes except defense.
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: The Mann on August 29, 2015, 08:27:23 am
Hell mode was... Hell...  :'(

Also, I feel that Defence mode was the Hardest. There are a lot of attackers and the Boss ship is intense.
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: Newbluud on August 29, 2015, 10:36:58 am
I love how the gameplay looks so far, but I'm a little iffy on the design of the Magnate. It's pretty but feels over-designed.
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: DJ Logicalia on August 29, 2015, 12:19:14 pm
Well, since the new ships were officially shown off, I guess these pictures can be released now

(http://i.imgur.com/9779hIZ.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/oehs2VO.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/tHkplJD.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/TcXiWzQ.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/pjOZlAO.jpg)
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: DJ Logicalia on August 29, 2015, 12:21:32 pm
I got to fly both of these ships for a reasonable amount of time. If anyone has any questions, let me know
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: Keiran Gold on August 29, 2015, 01:06:09 pm
...does the Magnate only look like it doesn't have any fencing or...
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: Kamoba on August 29, 2015, 01:10:44 pm
I got to fly both of these ships for a reasonable amount of time. If anyone has any questions, let me know


How many times did you want to give up while trying to turn or stop these damn things?!
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: DrTentacles on August 29, 2015, 01:11:56 pm
Turn speed, and armor, past what's on the ships graphs?

Can you get a trifecta on the Magnate? (It looks like it's pretty easy to get on the Crusader?)

How hard are repair/chem cycles?

Vertical acceleration for both ships?

Is there a way to get someone, like, say, a blenderfish out of your blindspot as the Crusader?

How badly does the upward tilt of the Heavy Gun mounts hose Close-Range guns. It looks like the ship, as a whole, might be designed as a "ground skimmer." Am I correct?
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: BlackenedPies on August 29, 2015, 01:17:05 pm
As I told Muse

People don't like the armor break indicator. A partial solution may be changing from smooth curves to jagged lines to stimulate cracks.

I'm concerned about the role of ranged and disable weapons. Ranged doesn't work if there are many brawl enemies and is best against fewer stronger enemies. Disable (flechette/shatter) is a strong commitment to sacrifice dps in favor of locking down one enemy. If there are many weak enemies you need to kill as fast as possible. I'm concerned of strong metas favoring kill guns.

I dislike the design of the small AI aircraft. They move slowly and mechanically without flight physics. Flight behavior can be fixed with program tweaks.

The twin-boom fighter closely resembles the specialized multi-role fighter model P-38 Thunderbolt used in WW2. Instead I would recommend removing the center cockpit to transform it into a twin-fuselage aircraft. This was often created by simply joining together two existing fuselages and reduced design and production costs. It capitalized on existing designs to create a heavy fighter version such as the F-82 or Bf-109Z. The twin-boom fighter looks too much like the iconic  P-38, and switching to a twin-fuselage design would make it more unique and practical.

The other fighter I saw had long curved swept back wings. This suggests it's designed for high speed high attitude. Swept back wings weren't necessary until the introduction of jet and rocket power, and long wings are for lift at high altitude. The current design would have poor low speed low attitude performance. If this is the fast fighter in the game I'd recommend shortening the wings.

The bomber is also designed for speed at high altitude with its long thin wings and fuselage resembling the B-29. I'd recommend a 2 engine medium bomber for the game instead of 4 engine heavy bomber, but if 4 are necessary I'd recommend a stocky design with wider wings and shorter fuselage like the Avro Lancaster.
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: Kamoba on August 29, 2015, 01:49:53 pm
As I told Muse

People don't like the armor break indicator. A partial solution may be changing from smooth curves to jagged lines to stimulate cracks.

I'm concerned about the role of ranged and disable weapons. Ranged doesn't work if there are many brawl enemies and is best against fewer stronger enemies. Disable (flechette/shatter) is a strong commitment to sacrifice dps in favor of locking down one enemy. If there are many weak enemies you need to kill as fast as possible. I'm concerned of strong metas favoring kill guns.

I dislike the design of the small AI aircraft. They move slowly and mechanically without flight physics. Flight behavior can be fixed with program tweaks.

The twin-boom fighter closely resembles the specialized multi-role fighter model P-38 Thunderbolt used in WW2. Instead I would recommend removing the center cockpit to transform it into a twin-fuselage aircraft. This was often created by simply joining together two existing fuselages and reduced design and production costs. It capitalized on existing designs to create a heavy fighter version such as the F-82 or Bf-109Z. The twin-boom fighter looks too much like the iconic  P-38, and switching to a twin-fuselage design would make it more unique and practical.

The other fighter I saw had long curved swept back wings. This suggests it's designed for high speed high attitude. Swept back wings weren't necessary until the introduction of jet and rocket power, and long wings are for lift at high altitude. The current design would have poor low speed low attitude performance. If this is the fast fighter in the game I'd recommend shortening the wings.

The bomber is also designed for speed at high altitude with its long thin wings and fuselage resembling the B-29. I'd recommend a 2 engine medium bomber for the game instead of 4 engine heavy bomber, but if 4 are necessary I'd recommend a stocky design with wider wings and shorter fuselage like the Avro Lancaster.

Nothing gets past you! :)
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: DJ Logicalia on August 29, 2015, 03:02:48 pm
Turn speed, and armor, past what's on the ships graphs?

Can you get a trifecta on the Magnate? (It looks like it's pretty easy to get on the Crusader?)

How hard are repair/chem cycles?

Vertical acceleration for both ships?

Is there a way to get someone, like, say, a blenderfish out of your blindspot as the Crusader?

How badly does the upward tilt of the Heavy Gun mounts hose Close-Range guns. It looks like the ship, as a whole, might be designed as a "ground skimmer." Am I correct?

Magnate basically flies like a goldfish. I had to engi pilot since a Muse guy had to be at the helm in order to access the ship, so I only brought kerosene and it was fine. Armour is basically pyra armour, and the hull is junker hull. It's a more mobile glass cannon than the spire is.

Crusader is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. So bad. It's like a mega galleon. I had to bring phoenix claw and even then it turned like a beast. So slow. It is really tanky, even more so than the galleon from what I could tell. More perma and armour.

Magnate trifecta is pretty easy. You can also get a bifecta with the front guns. Crusader is a bit more difficult actually. I'm sure you could get it down with practice, but the arcs are so unique from any other ship, I had a hard time getting it down right away.

Hard. I assume a good engineer could get it with practice, but I wouldn't put a new player on the Crusader. Magnate is a little easier, but not much more. Both ships have very odd component placement, especially in regards to the engines. I'd imagine eventually crews will find a way to divide it up into halves like people do with the Goldfish and the Squid, but I didn't see a pattern straight away.

Sadly, with the hecticness of co-op, I wasn't really able to observe vertical movement. That, and I didn't have pilot stamina or hydro really sort of hindered my ability to test it. I'd love to be able to test them in a less wild environment.

Not really, in my opinion. It's parts are concealed and protected pretty well, and it has a lot of guns, but it's gonna be like a galleon with a squid.

The upward tilt is really weird to say the least. Hypothetically, one could get used to it, but it'd take some serious practice
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: DJ Logicalia on August 29, 2015, 03:03:55 pm
...does the Magnate only look like it doesn't have any fencing or...

The Magnate and the Crusader both are missing a lot of railing that make crewing it pretty risky. I assume more rails are gonna be added at some point, but I don't know for sure
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: Saull on August 29, 2015, 05:57:05 pm
Does the crusader at least have good acceleration? It seems fast-ish and I'm sorta getting the impression of it being a heavy pyramidion
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: DrTentacles on August 29, 2015, 06:56:21 pm
I actually liked the Red Glow, so put me in as the voice of dissent. Either that, or massive billowing clouds of smoke from the ship would be my recommendation.
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: BlackenedPies on August 29, 2015, 07:00:37 pm
For the testers: is disabling balanced? From the footage I've seen it seems exclusively centered around killing quickly and flechette especially doesn't appear very useful. What are your thoughts on disable and non brawl tactics/strategy?
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: DJ Logicalia on August 29, 2015, 08:02:45 pm
For the testers: is disabling balanced? From the footage I've seen it seems exclusively centered around killing quickly and flechette especially doesn't appear very useful. What are your thoughts on disable and non brawl tactics/strategy?
I was discussing this exact thing with some of the other testers. In PvP, most of the ships are difficult to kill quickly, so you need to try and wear the crew down in some way. Straight up kill ships work too, you all obviously know how this game works. The thing with Co-op is, most of the AI ships don't have very prominent balloons or components and they die very quickly. On top of that, they die so fast anyway, it's safer just to bring something that can kill as fast as possible or it just feels like you're shooting carronades at a brick wall. On top of both of those things, there are a LOT of ships that spawn. To say the least, it's impractical to keep many of them disabled for long periods of time. The best strategy is to engage one, kill it, and move on.

I flew a blenderfish to test this exact thing, and by the end I found myself using the side gat and side banshee more than the carronade. 
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: Daft Loon on August 29, 2015, 08:09:51 pm
Can lumberjacks on the crusader use stamina to tip over backwards?

2 vs AI = goodbye wait times.
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: BlackenedPies on August 29, 2015, 08:23:58 pm
I was discussing this exact thing with some of the other testers. In PvP, most of the ships are difficult to kill quickly, so you need to try and wear the crew down in some way. Straight up kill ships work too, you all obviously know how this game works. The thing with Co-op is, most of the AI ships don't have very prominent balloons or components and they die very quickly. On top of that, they die so fast anyway, it's safer just to bring something that can kill as fast as possible or it just feels like you're shooting carronades at a brick wall. On top of both of those things, there are a LOT of ships that spawn. To say the least, it's impractical to keep many of them disabled for long periods of time. The best strategy is to engage one, kill it, and move on.

This sounds like my biggest fear for balance. One option is to simply buff the damage/modifiers for shatter and flechette in Co-op for the players. A carronade may be useful to shotgun blast a group of enemy fighters, or an artemis to target AI artillery. Due to the covered balloons heavy carronade may need to one shot balloons with extended range, and due to many enemy guns artemis may need a high burst radius similar to old heavy clip hwatcha. To balance between the two damage types shatter might have a higher modifier against hull and flechette higher against armor. The goal would be guns that are highly effective at disabling and competent at killing.

Affecting damage+modifiers and tweaking gun stats seems the only simple solution to me. The game can't be released with guns that are mostly useless. I hope you guys have ideas and will share them with Muse.
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: Richard LeMoon on August 29, 2015, 11:22:03 pm
I would replace the red break with fire, smoke, and falling bits, halfway between current armor break animation and death animation.
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: Queso on August 30, 2015, 01:52:18 am
Can lumberjacks on the crusader use stamina to tip over backwards?

I believe that you can get beyond world vertical yes. All thanks to the magic of quaternions.
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: Daft Loon on August 30, 2015, 02:34:11 am
I believe that you can get beyond world vertical yes.
Double lumberjack uppercuts will clearly be the winning strategy then  :D

All thanks to the magic of quaternions.
Learn something new every day

As far as armor break animation maybe scale the effect based on the size of the ship/building, making it less blatant on the larger targets where its easier to see anyway.
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: Dementio on August 30, 2015, 08:35:04 am
I liked the armor break animation with the smoke from the live version more than the red glow of doom. It feels more like GoIO.

Maybe disable works better in 3 player coop? (Will that even be a thing?) One ship disabling the guns on the big guys, while the other two focus on getting objectives while mortaring through the smaller ones, or something, I guess.

Also: Rydr approved
(http://i.imgur.com/HHvezZE.png)
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: Kamoba on August 30, 2015, 01:44:25 pm
Apparently from insider info, disable builds will hold a better home within the Hell mode, as there will be way too many enemies to legitimately kill, also boss battles will allow meta or disable builds to work, obviously we've only seen a fraction of what Alliance will have to offer, but I've been assured that balancing will be double checked before release to make sure it is not a meta fest.
Title: Re: PAX Alliance Streamed Content
Post by: Saull on August 30, 2015, 01:52:22 pm
Also with Friday's stream we were able to see, more or less, what every faction's fleet looks like save for a few boss ships and that the last and only public image of the yeshan fleet was an untextured WIP. So any thoughts on how the factions look? Has anyone thought of switching sides now based on the kind of ships/weapon they could potentially be unlocking? Personally in the earlier days after the kickstarter I had thought I'd be more of a Guild man but looking at the Baronies fleet and the Crusader I maybe switching my initial allegiances. Angleans are pretty neat too.