Guns Of Icarus Online
Main => The Classroom => Guides => Topic started by: BufferOverflow on February 27, 2013, 11:31:47 am
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This is your 3rd game you have ever played in Guns of Icarus and your repairing a engine on a galleon as an engineer and you see that someone else walks up beside you and starts hitting it with a tool too. You hold down "x" and tell him that you have the engine under control but he ignores you. You start to get irritated but then realize that he holding a tool that you have never used. You've only been using the default class and haven't had the time to look at any of the other tools that the game might have to offer. After the game you log out and click the "Role" button on the upper right of your screen. You scroll down to the tool layout out and see what other tools there are. Sure enough you see a hammer shaped white silhouette of the tool that the person was using.
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/66494592/Public/Guid/eng/buff.png) You hover your mouse over the tool and your eyes catch the word "Buffing". Whats this? I'm going to try it out.
Buffing for the new player:
First thing I want to mention is that the Buff Tool doesn't actually repair anything. I have seen a lot of engineers not understanding why the hull's health wouldn't go back up and only a yellow line formed on the edge of the hull icon (They rage quit). The Buff Tool doesn't repair anything. The Buff Tool can be used on any part of the ship. Guns, Hull, Balloon, and Engines. When Buffed, each part becomes more, well I guess you could say "Buff" in different ways.
The Affects of Buffing:
Guns: When a gun is buffed, it becomes for power full and it's damage output is greater.
Hull: When the hull is buffed, it the hull's maximum health is increased.
Balloon: When the balloon is buffed, the balloon can move faster vertically (Up and Down.
Engines: When an engine is buffed, the engine will have more power and speed(Ship moved faster).
Important note on Engines:If you Buff a Engine on the right of your ship, because that engine has more power than the Engine on the left side of your ship, the ship will start to turn to the left and be off balance. The same situation would happen again if you only buffed the left side Engine except this time the ship would turn to the right. If you are going to only Buff one engine, make sure that the Engine you are buffing is the main Engine. Because the main Engine is mostly in between the left and right Engine, your ship won't go spinning out of control.
How to Start Using the Buff Tool:
To use the Buffing tool Effectively, you must first walk up to a part on your ship so you are in hitting distance of the part. Buffing has a similar mechanic as rebuilding because one hit from the Buff tool isn't enough to Buff that part of your ship, you have to keep clicking until the ship part is actually Buffed. Once you start clicking on the ship part, you will see that a yellow line will start to get longer and longer on the left hand side of you ship part icon. Once that yellow line has reached the top of the ship part icon, you will see that the line moves over to the right hand side of the ship part icon and the line on the right hand side becomes shorter and shorter. That part you have been hitting with the Buff tool is now Buffed until the yellow line depletes in length fully.
Important note when Buffing:
Some parts of the ship take longer to Buff than others. Also, some parts of the ship stay Buffed for a smaller amount of time than others. Also, you can still Buff a part even if it is in a cool down state.
Shortest time to Buff to the Longest time to Buff:
Engines, Guns, Balloon, Hull.
How to be an Effective Engineer with the Buffing tool:
The first thing that you want to make sure about before you go in game is that you have a Pipe Wrench as your secondary tool.
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/66494592/Public/Guid/eng/pipe.png)
This way you can repair part faster than a Spanner and you can rebuild parts faster than a Mallet.
Like I mentioned before, once you Buff something it is only Buffed for the time that the yellow line is visible, so if you start Buffing and Buff a Gun, Balloon, or Hull, before even entering battle, it is a waste of a good Buff. The Engines however are okay to Buff if your captain wants you to because then you are able to approach your destination faster. The best way to use your Buff tool if you are not in battle would be to start Buffing but don't actually Buff the part you are Buffing. Instead, hit the part enough times so that in one hit, the part will be buffed. Do this for all the parts of the ship if you have time so that when you do enter battle all you have to do is tap each ship part one time and walla! You are ready and Buffed!
Thanks for reading my Buffing guide. If you have any other good idea's on Buffing please let me know.
Best of luck in the air!
-CrazyRihron
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Once again very good guide. I prefer having two regular engineers than one buffing and one regular but there are situations where a good buff has been helpful. In this game communication is key, and I would advise letting your captain know you are a buff engineer before the game starts. There may already be another buff engineer aboard, or he will ask you to take a specific type of ammo and assign you to a secondary gun.
It is also worth mentioning that you can buff while a component is in repair cool down. If your ship is under fire and you are babysitting the hull you can buff it too for some extra armor while the repair cool down prevents you from doing anything else.
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Ahh, good point. I would but my "Modifying Time" is up. I really sucks that you can't mod it after a certain number of minutes...
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Give me the info you wish to add and I can toss it up there for you.
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Oh thanks man! Just copy and paste this line to the spot where it originally was.
[/color=red]Important note when Buffing:[/color]
Some parts of the ship take longer to Buff than others. Also, some parts of the ship stay Buffed for a smaller amount of time than others. Also, you can still Buff a part even if it is in a cool down state.
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I see you put my info up there for me! Thank you!
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I like this, good execution on the guide!
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The buff tool/pipe wrench is the best combination if you are rolling with a buff engineer. However, if your ship is running three engineers, because the guns only need one type of ammo to use, then the one buff engineer can go with a spanner/buff/mallet set up since there are already two fire extinguishers being used by the other two engineers on the ship. *note- I have yet to try this idea since I do have a go-to crew to test these ideas with, but it should work fine.
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The buff tool/pipe wrench is the best combination if you are rolling with a buff engineer. However, if your ship is running three engineers, because the guns only need one type of ammo to use, then the one buff engineer can go with a spanner/buff/mallet set up since there are already two fire extinguishers being used by the other two engineers on the ship. *note- I have yet to try this idea since I do have a go-to crew to test these ideas with, but it should work fine.
I've gone with this loadout before, and it works excellently.
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A couple of quick questions, if you don't mind.
1) Does which engine you buff impact turnspeed/max speed improvement? IE; if I'm on a Junker, and I buff the two side engines right behind the pilot, does that mean we'll turn quicker, but won't go faster?
2) Does the fixed "+25 Power" (Instead of "+25% Power") of an engine buff mean that buffing the weaker engines of, say, a Spire gives a greater advantage over buffing the stronger engines of the, say, Junker?
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Well I can certainly answer the first question.
Buffing any engine will increase thrust and forward speed, with the turning engines giving a small boost and the main engines giving a larger boost however the only way to increase turn speed is by buffing the turning engines as center engines don't assist in turning.
As for 2 I don't think it's a particularly great example as the engine strength of a Junker and Spire are very similar (same top speed, similar weight). Not sure of the answer to the question though.
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how does it work for gun damage and ammo types? I presume its (Gun + (gun x buff) + (gun x ammo)).
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how does it work for gun damage and ammo types? I presume its (Gun + (gun x buff) + (gun x ammo)).
I've always assumed they stacked (Gun +gun x buff x ammo). This may have been answered by a dev in the old forum.
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Ive always done this, but perhaps sometimes it does not work. Because i swear i have done it and it dissapeard.
When you build the buff right until the last hit, you can keep it there until you need it. But sometimes the buff counter dissapeared. (Maybe destroyed in the meantime or something)
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Either the component was destroyed, or a teammate finished buffing it and it ran out.
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Got one more tip for you:
When you buff the hull, the hull will actually be repaired by a bit w/out a repair cooldown. I'm not sure exactly how much, though. I'd say it's somewhere around a mallet's repair. So, instead of buffing the hull right before you get into battle, it might be a good idea to buff it once you've actually taken some damage. That way, you'll be able to get a sudden burst of hp to your armor, thus allowing the ship to soak up a little more damage.
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That's not entirely accurate. When you buff the hull, it adds 30% armour. This is no different whether you're damaged or not. So in the end, buffing after taking damage doesn't really carry that particular benefit.
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Ah, okay. I was under the impression that it would repair the hull armor. Sorry for the misunderstanding and thanks for clearing that up. :P
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Ah, okay. I was under the impression that it would repair the hull armor. Sorry for the misunderstanding and thanks for clearing that up. :P
No problem. It really does look like it's straight-out repairing, so the mix-up is totally understandable.
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There is nothing more annoying than having a buff engineer who only buffs a ship at the start of the match. I want to continue this thread by asking engineers how they keep a ship buffed. What do you buff first? How many parts can you keep buffed? Do you buff everything? What is the best route to take in order to buff the most parts?
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Depending on the ship, I usually ask my buffgineers to focus on buffing the hull and balloon over everything else. On a Goldfish, for instance, I'll ask for buffed hull and a buffed front gun as necessity with engines and the balloon as secondary.
Tell your engineers to smack the component with the Buff Hammer while they're waiting for the repair cooldown. (Unless they're on a circuit.)
If they aren't repairing something, then they should be Buffing. Ain't no rest for a Buffgineer.
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It depends on your crew loadout (buffing everything is much easier with two buff engis, and it also depends on other ways you run the ship), but here's the way I do it
Pyra (two buff engis): buff and pre-buff engines, then hull, then balloon/pre-buff front guns
Junker (two buffs): one guy buffs/prebuffs turnings and balloon, then pre-buffs top guns, then buffs/pre-buffs hull. Other guy buffs main engine, pre-buffs bottom guns, buff/pre-buffs hull, buffs front gun
Galleon: buff/pre-buff engines, pre-buff bottom guns, buff/pre-buff hull, buff/pre-buff balloon.
Goldfish: buff/pre-buff engines, buff/pre-buff hull, pre-buff main gun, buff/pre-buff balloon
Squid (two buffs): buff/pre-buff engines, then balloon, pre-buff front and right guns, if there's nothing else to do buff/prebuff hull.
Mobula (two buffs): Haven't tried, but I suppose you'd want one handling each side, so both get two guns, hull/balloon, one turning engine, then move on to main engine (and front gun?) once done.
Spire (two buffs): one gets main engine, then balloon, then top left gun. Other pre-buffs main gun while loading ammo, then turnings, then hull.
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On most shis u have to priotize the primary weapons hull and engines are good things to have a buff on. A balloon buff gets most pilots distracted so only use it when pilot says so.
Good weapons to buff are all medium ones, gatlings, carronades. A mortar doesnt need it that hard cause it will kill the hull without buff too when armors down.
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The balloon buff used to be a nightmare, but a couple of patches ago they improved it to the point where just about every captain I've flown with wants one.
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The balloon buff used to be a nightmare, but a couple of patches ago they improved it to the point where just about every captain I've flown with wants one.
I love a buffed balloon, it tickles my special place.