Guns Of Icarus Online

Main => Gameplay => Topic started by: Shinkurex on February 27, 2013, 01:15:47 pm

Title: Team Tactics
Post by: Shinkurex on February 27, 2013, 01:15:47 pm
Figured I would start this thread. Discuss the multi-ship tactics you like to use in battle to dominate your opponents.

The main thing that I've come across is literally the "Bait and Switch". Whereas a lone Squid, or goldfish searches for the enemy team, and once found. Lures them back to a point where their allies are lurking.

Unfortunately this has never worked in my experience. most of the time, the enemy doesn't bite. likewise the other captains get impatient :P. So I'm curious to see what you guys think
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: HamsterIV on February 27, 2013, 01:31:27 pm
I have fallen for the Bait and Switch before. It works better if the bait has a long range gun and looks like it is attempting to stay our of range than baiting for a trap. Also Galleons make great bait if all the enemy can see is a Galleon they may think it has fallen behind and is unsupported. Also a galleon at range is a legitimate threat that it is foolish to ignore.

Another tactic which works well is the Cloud Sniper. Where a glass cannon ship hides in the clouds and lets his teammates spot targets for him.

For multiple ship assaults it is a good idea to designate one ship to go high and another ship to go low. this lessens the possibility of collisions and blocked shots when the furball starts.

I have had limited success hiding behind allied ships and shooting through their rigging during long range sniper fests. I heard it can be done, but it prevents the allied ship from dodging shots which is one of the better ways of surviving a sniper fest.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Jazzza on March 01, 2013, 06:45:06 am
The only team tactics I've used are focus firing on weaker targets (shooting the Pyramidion or Squid first), all massing in one sector to regroup to attack, keeping one ship in the cap zone and everyone else defend... those kinds of things. Nothing serious or difficult to do.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: HamsterIV on March 01, 2013, 12:16:17 pm
This is less of a tactic and more of good advice:
Don't move away from you ally when taking fire from a balloon popper. In fact unless you are about to crash into them, don't move away from your teammate period. Many a time I have watched a new pilot in a Galleon get pounced by a Cannonade equipped Squid or Goldfish. Instead of asking for help swatting it off, they ran in the opposite direction from their teammate and ended dying alone. Unless there is a brilliant piloting maneuver I am not aware of, it is next to impossible to shake a good pilot's carronade ship without help. You can't retaliate because the other ship is always too high and you can't lift because you balloon is always being popped. Help from your teammate is the only way you are getting out of that situation and into a situation where you can be useful. So ask for that help and make it easier for your team mate to render that help. Trust me your team mate wants you to use those big ol' guns as much as you do.

On the flip side if you are running a ship with a Carronade as the main gun, your goal is to separate your opponents, so you can have enough time alone with one of them to hammer them into the dirt. While you do this you will be a slow moving juicy target. So having your victim's teammate show up and start beating on you is undesirable to say the least.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Pickle on March 03, 2013, 05:16:41 am
Stay together - that's the best advice I have for new players in team matches, particularly in 2v2.

Communication between Captains - essential, whether that's via the Captain's chat channel on "C" or the team channel on "K".  Identify the priority target and focus fire.


A double-Pyra or double-Goldfish team, both are relatively easy to work as close-formation teams by new players with no complex tactics required other than identifying the priority target and focussing fire.  With the Goldfish team it's important not to duplicate the main gun, so if one team member has the Carronade the other probably should have the Flak or Hwacha.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Skrimskraw on March 09, 2013, 06:23:43 am
The squid bait can work. Fell for it when i started . My best advice is to stay together and ignore the squid or use the manticore to disable their engines
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Queso on March 09, 2013, 11:05:08 am
Although I've had some trouble getting enough people to pull this off properly, I've been working on a squid galleon setup that would have the squid make an enemy ship immobile using some clever harpoon tactics I may describe later (to put it shortly, I once killed a spire by slamming into the ground with a harpoon) and a galleon that waits until I have a ship immobile and then kills it.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Skrimskraw on March 09, 2013, 11:22:21 am
Although I've had some trouble getting enough people to pull this off properly, I've been working on a squid galleon setup that would have the squid make an enemy ship immobile using some clever harpoon tactics I may describe later (to put it shortly, I once killed a spire by slamming into the ground with a harpoon) and a galleon that waits until I have a ship immobile and then kills it.

Sounds interesting. Have the potential to be as annoying as a ramming pyra
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Pickle on March 09, 2013, 11:24:43 am
The Galleon and Junker are natural battle-waggons to build a team around for a long-game, using the faster Goldfish and Squid to control the midddle-range.  Pyras work well with other Pyras.  Spires I'm not sure about, probably another battle-waggon option.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: N-Sunderland on March 09, 2013, 11:30:08 am
If you want to see how multi-team tactics are done, you just need to watch a video of one of Zill's team's matches from Fjords. The coordination is mind-blowing.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Jinrai on March 11, 2013, 11:32:11 am
If you want to see how multi-team tactics are done, you just need to watch a video of one of Zill's team's matches from Fjords. The coordination is mind-blowing.

Im interested, can you link me up? Didn't find them on YT.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Shinkurex on March 11, 2013, 11:37:55 am
If you search for "Occasionally Effective" you'll find them

*Edit* nvm... here is the channel https://www.youtube.com/user/occeffective?feature=watch
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: N-Sunderland on March 11, 2013, 11:48:01 am
If you want to see how multi-team tactics are done, you just need to watch a video of one of Zill's team's matches from Fjords. The coordination is mind-blowing.

Im interested, can you link me up? Didn't find them on YT.

Check out the link that Shink just put up. I'd recommend in particular the semi-final game in which they beat SMAC (my team) and the final which they lost to the Gentleman (but still showed off some awesome coordination).
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: HamsterIV on March 13, 2013, 03:01:40 pm
I have been taking out a double Gatling gun Pyramidion recently. It is not very effective by itself, but with a Hwacha goldfish backing it up, it is a very formidable ship. Actually the goldfish is the one who gets the kills and is focus fired most of the time, but It wouldn't get those kills nearly as fast without my Pyramidion stripping the hull armor.

There are certain ships I take when I can trust my teammates to back me up, and certain ships I take when I can't. The blender fish,  sniper variant pyramidion, and Galleon are ships I take when I don't think the other captain can be trusted to work with me. The double gat Pyramidion, sniper variant junker, spire, and squid are ships I take when I can count on my teammates to cover for my weaknesses.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Pickle on March 13, 2013, 03:10:29 pm
Interesting, I've been playing the double-gatling Pyra as well recently and wondering what would partner well with it.  And how to play the ammunition choices.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: N-Sunderland on March 13, 2013, 03:58:19 pm
Whenever I fly a double gat Pyra, I usually like to use rams to finish them after the hull's gone down.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: HamsterIV on March 13, 2013, 03:59:58 pm
Hwacha goldfish take forever to bring down the armor of  a target. Due to the long reload cycle a good engineer can rebuild the armor and almost bring it almost up to full with a post rebuild mallet whack. If the Hwacha holds fire until the moment the armor drops and gets a high hit percentage (from heavy clip or bring close) it is close to an instant kill for some ships. Also a long range volley from the Hwacha can break the  enemy guns, making it safer for the Pyramiddion to close. Also don't forget about the shatter power of the whirlwind. It is not as good as a Hwacha, but with heavy clip and a good gunner, you can take most weapons offline at close range.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Pickle on March 13, 2013, 04:27:29 pm
With the Whirlwind, Burst is always my go-to ammunition of choice as soon as the range closes.  I find it's very effective.  Some people also swear by Greased with the Gatling.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: HamsterIV on March 13, 2013, 05:59:47 pm
I swear by heavy clip actually, it tightens your firing cone so that the whirlwind becomes effective at medium range. At close range you can order your gunners to target individual components on the enemy ship. Some times the only to survive a blender fish is to disable the Carronade with continuous Gatling gun fire. It is also a lot of fun shooting out a ships engines when it is trying to get away.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Pickle on March 13, 2013, 06:24:14 pm
Probably six-of-one and half-a-dozen of the other, either Heavy for precision or Burst with aoe explosive damage so you don't need to be as precise - the double advantage of Burst is then that the aoe damage has better hull destrying abilities than the direct damage once the armour has been stripped.

That x1.4 vs. hull aoe explosive damage from Burst rounds is well worth considering with the Whirlwind.  If you had dual gatlings and both gunners using Burst you'd say a dramatic improvement in your ability to finish off the target without support from your team mate.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: N-Sunderland on March 13, 2013, 06:47:57 pm
Probably six-of-one and half-a-dozen of the other, either Heavy for precision or Burst with aoe explosive damage so you don't need to be as precise - the double advantage of Burst is then that the aoe damage has better hull destrying abilities than the direct damage once the armour has been stripped.

That x1.4 vs. hull aoe explosive damage from Burst rounds is well worth considering with the Whirlwind.  If you had dual gatlings and both gunners using Burst you'd say a dramatic improvement in your ability to finish off the target without support from your team mate.

Not to mention the increased clip size. Burst really is great once you get close up.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: HamsterIV on March 13, 2013, 07:01:41 pm
I am going to have to try out burst. I was not aware that it did anything beyond increasing the clip size with no cost to damage. I interpreted the weapon Manuel as bust multiplies the explosive area, but if the bullet has no explosive effect there wouldn't be any additional gain.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Pickle on March 13, 2013, 08:06:41 pm
I think we need a definitive ruling from Awkm, but based on my experience of using the Whirlwind as there's a definite increase in ship killing power when you load it with Burst.  I've just had to check the description, I thought Burst added specific Explosive damage - but you're right the description only says that the extent of aoe damage is increased.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Helmic on March 13, 2013, 09:03:14 pm
we must do science, compare the killing power of greased versus burst
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Kyren on March 14, 2013, 04:37:08 am
Probably six-of-one and half-a-dozen of the other, either Heavy for precision or Burst with aoe explosive damage so you don't need to be as precise - the double advantage of Burst is then that the aoe damage has better hull destrying abilities than the direct damage once the armour has been stripped.

That x1.4 vs. hull aoe explosive damage from Burst rounds is well worth considering with the Whirlwind.  If you had dual gatlings and both gunners using Burst you'd say a dramatic improvement in your ability to finish off the target without support from your team mate.

Now I understand your double Pyramidion build much better. I was wondered if it was solely intended for ramming after you chipped the Hull away with the Gatlings, but with the possibility of having some explosive damage on the Gatling bullets it looks different. They don't seem to change the damage type in the end now, though?



Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: Pickle on March 14, 2013, 05:17:57 am
I'm not sure I'll retain the double-Whirlwind Pyra build now that Clara has clarified the position on the ramming achievements.  If all I need to do is crush components, I'll stick with the standard gatling-flak - which in a head-to-head closing situation a dual-gatling Pyra will lose out to.
Title: Re: Team Tactics
Post by: HamsterIV on March 14, 2013, 11:53:19 am
The double-Whirlwind Pyra lacks the solo killing power of the whirlwind flack combo, but in a team fight it strips armor and leaves a target vulnerable to hull killing rounds from another ship. It also put the hull component in red which tends to distract the engineers, and sometimes even the gunner.

I would never take the double-Whirlwind Pyra into a game where I can't trust the other captain to fight as a team. That is what the blenderfish is for. But since this is a discussion on team tactics I wanted to point out that picking weapons that compliment your teammate's weapons does a lot to bring about victory. Double-Whirlwind is not OP, good teamwork and double-Whirlwind is OP.