Guns Of Icarus Online

Info => Feedback and Suggestions => Topic started by: Indreams on January 22, 2015, 11:20:30 pm

Title: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Indreams on January 22, 2015, 11:20:30 pm
This might be a little preemptive post. As far as I know, next ship balances will buff spire and squid and nerf pyramidions.
The spire and squid buff is definitely needed. The spire definitely needs a little buff to be good.

I can't disagree that pyres need a nerf. Pyra's two forward facing guns, small profile, decent health, ease of engineering, and high maximum velocity (not acceleration) makes it a force to be reckoned.

But I am little disappointed. When I joined Guns of Icarus, Pyramidion was the vanguard, ramming ship. But through a series of patches and developments in tactics, Ramming gradually became less effective. Now, Pyramidion is better off pointing at the enemy than ramming the enemy (unless that enemy happens to be a Spire).

I'm scared that Pyramidion nerf will take pyramidion out as an effective ramming ship.

I want an active ramming ship. I enjoy sniping, but I also enjoy ramming (so the pilot is also doing something). I'd rather not see a pyra nerf. I want to see a creative solution instead.

This is my opinion. What are your thoughts? Would you like a pyra nerf? Do you have a fresh idea to keep the game balanced?
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Dementio on January 23, 2015, 05:40:42 am
I don't think a Pyramidion nerf is needed or actually even possible without creating either the worst ship in the game or an entirely different one.

No matter what, you always hit the Pyramidions armor and the main engineer already as to fix all engines on his own at the same time on that already slow accelerating ship, which calls for pilot tools to be used which calls for engine damage that can't be fixed when armor damage.
The balloon is covered by hull making it more protected, so you will have at least one engineer that might be able to shoot back at the enemy while the other can't keep up with repairing.

The Pyramidion is and probably always was a good if not the best ramming ship in the game. High top speed, high mass -> much damage.
The thing is, ships can already semi-easily escape any Pyramidion ram or out-tank it if the Pyramidion isn't careful, that adds to Pyramidion skill btw. So if you nerf turning speed or any speed value of the Pyramidion then the Galleon might turn out to be more successful with ramming enemy ships.
Another thing is, if a Pyramidion has gat/mortar on the front it is questionable if rams are still necessary.
Rams themselves often do more bad than good for those that over-worship it "I am gonna ram this ship and it will suddenly for no reason explode into dust the second I touch it!", these people will usually fail in ramming and more often than not fly the Pyramidion at the same time.

Two forward facing guns are not a reason for that ship to get nerfed, nor is that amount of health. Spire has 3 semi forward facing guns plus one heavy gun and a Mobula can get easy quadfecta with pretty much everything, has the same amount of perma hull health as a Pyramdion and only 50 less armor health than a Pyramidion and of course exceeds in vertical mobility. Now that's some crazy shit right there.


I don't think a nerf for the Pyramidion is necessary in any way, I would almost suggest to buff it instead if only that gat/mortar wouldn't be as powerful of a combination as it is.
In order to "balance" that ship differently I think all other ships have to be "balanced" accordingly too. The Squid and Spire buff is essentially all about making them more effective against Pyramidions mostly, from what I could gather at least.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Arturo Sanchez on January 23, 2015, 07:10:32 am
The pyra has plenty of weaknesses. It can be easily out flown if you use the correct tools.

For example its vertical movement is comparably weak. so like a galleon fly above and below and use guns with superior vertical arc.

If it tries to chase you, it has weak turning so just kero out of arc. Even the claw can't keep up with that. The pilot can only use 1 tool. If its using claw, beat it on the vertical front.

If its hydroing after you. kero to its side.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: David Dire on January 23, 2015, 08:27:45 am
I believe the Pyramidion is really only useful due to it's Metamidion loadout, as (said before) you have one engineer working his wrenches off repairing all three engines and the Hull at the same time. And, there is no way his captain and enemies haven't instantly killed the Engines due to the constant need for Phoenix Claw and how easy it is to hit the Pyra's Engines. With engines that dont last longer then a full 40 seconds of combat, it's pretty hard to maintain them and the Hull at the same time. So you can't, A, take on more then two enemies alone (you probably cant with any other ship too, but with the Pyra it's even worse) or B, fight without weapons meant for killing quickly. Probably why Metamidion and Mine + Flamer is the only reliable loadout.

And you know, it's slow turning speed doesnt exactly help with Ramming.

Although I honestly thing the Spire needs more attention because it's a Glass Cannon made of glass salvaged from the Titanic and you have a better chance to lose with it than win. Unless you have an Ally babying you.

Just my two cents though.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Crafeksterty on January 23, 2015, 08:42:15 am
The pyra is not as flexible as other ships but in its strengths is a bit too strong.

Most other ships have these huge easy to spot weaknesses. While the pyra does have weaknesses doesnt reveal them as easily at all.
Meaning his strength overpowers other ships easier than other ships overpowering the pyra.

Quote
The Squid and Spire buff is essentially all about making them more effective against Pyramidions mostly, from what I could gather at least.

Not true. The squid always needed its buff, and the buff on the spire is to make itself forgiven more. Spire being the biggest ship in the game, yett it has the most difficult set up and unforgiving armor/health, with its speed and health bonus it should be able to get its guns at the range and spot it needs to and able to survive versus 2 guns with 4 guns. Because currently 4 guns on a spire is almost as equal as 2 guns on a pyra/junker. The squids big weakness is not being able to do damage, with the buff on speed and arguably health, it will be able to jump in and out and do what it is meant to do in a more effecient way. And thats getting behind enemy lines from any direction and annoy or disrupt the enemy, with the buff it will do that with the for sure chance of getting out or exploit weaknesses.



Im on the side of pyra not really needing a nerf, and rather most ships getting a buff. But the pyra does have so many easy set ups and playstyle in comparison to other ships it does need to be less forgiving. When people fly pyra, i always found the crew of it relax more. Its ramming ability is still good, people just prioritise weapons more. Moonshine/kyrosine + impact bumpers arent as utilised. I mean a pyra with moonshine + Impact bumpers should be able to take a big chunk of a galleons armor/health despite the galleon being heavier. Its just not safe because the galleon may still have his guns up :P
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Dementio on January 23, 2015, 01:04:32 pm
Quote
The Squid and Spire buff is essentially all about making them more effective against Pyramidions mostly, from what I could gather at least.
Not true.

With that I meant that half the posts I percieve about ships that are to be buffed are about how bad they currently perform against a Pyramidion and how easy it is for that ship to keep arcs on them and whatnot.

I don't see any strength that the Pyramidion has, but that's only me I suppose.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: HamsterIV on January 23, 2015, 01:24:45 pm
The Pyra's greatest strength is its repair configuration. The hull and balloon points are close to guns and there are no bits of ship geometry to get stuck on. An engie can tank hull without decreasing DPS at all. Also all the engines can be reached by one engineer in about 2 seconds. Muse could nerf armor, speed, and maneuverability but the pyra would remain the premier brawling ship just because it is so easy to keep alive.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Replaceable on January 23, 2015, 01:24:54 pm
Pyramidion: A ship that, in order to do anything needs a helm tool since it's default is so bad. Need to turn/keep arcs? Phoenix claw. Need to accelerate anywhere? Moonshine or kero. Need to go up? hydro. The pyra sucks at doing any of those things on it's own without helm tools not even dramatic movement just normally. Not to mention how much dependency captains have on buffs.

2 guns is not OP. Galleon, junker and mobula (and spire I suppose) have trifectas. 3>2.

Pyras are all hull. Take piercing and you win. 

Main guns + engines closely spaced making them weak to hwatcha.

Pyras are really weak! Nerf not needed.

Stongest features are the nose cone- and it's nice on board layout for engineering.

I think people perceive the pyra to need a nerf because it is used quite a lot. It is not OP and I'm fairly sure can be out done by other builds easily. See it's weakness vs. piercing damage. As Daniel said: shoot anywhere- hit the hull, force the hull engi to repair hull, reducing it's effectiveness as no engines because pyras cant do shit on their own.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Kamoba on January 23, 2015, 01:34:49 pm
Squid and spire buff needed? Yes. Pyra nerf needed? Maybe not in the ship itself? Maybe not.
Metamidion over-powered? Not at all, a good shot on one Artemis is enough to keep a metamidion from killing anything.. Gatling Artemis.is greatly under valued because it is so much easier to explain the gatling mortar combo to pubs meaning it's the first thing most people learn.

Pyras have their weaknesses its just how you learn to use them.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Indreams on January 23, 2015, 05:33:14 pm
So, in my altered conclusion,

Pyramidion is a powerful ship. Two front facing light guns, coupled with its configuration makes it a good brawler. Whether it needs nerf is somewhat debatable, but the upcoming balance change could be unpopular.

I am of the opinion and impression that pyramidion has gradually phased away from a ram ship into a close range ship. Since Pyramidion was the ram ship, the game is lacking in rammings.

I simplify (little unjustly) ships into Long-range, Short-range, and Rams. Most ships, with appropriate build, can be short or long range, but not many ships can appropriately ram. I like to ram, piloting becomes ten times exciting.


I want an alternate ram ship. Maybe I can master goldfish or galleon rammings, but I think I want a new ship. I'm not sure at this point.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: HamsterIV on January 23, 2015, 05:59:54 pm
A lot of newer players people did not know the Pyra pre Mass update (1.2 I think). That ship was a beast. It could use helium and cute vent to dodge hwacha fire from medium range. It also turned much faster than the current iteration. Also this was before the flack arming time when gat/flack was a thing. If you were good enough and could spare your main engineer you could get a gat/flack/gat trifecta. The mass update was one of the biggest pyra nerfs IMO and is probably the reason why you see some  of the older players favoring junkers.

As for ramming, it is more a situational thing than a ship thing. I have seen spires and squids ram successfully and seen pyras fail. A captains job is to chauffeur his crew to a position in the battle field where they can do the most damage to the enemy with the guns. Ramming should be done in very specific situations. Too many novice pilots ram to make themselves feel like they have accomplished something instead of trusting their crew to deal dammage.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Squidslinger Gilder on January 23, 2015, 06:05:00 pm
I'm actually against nerfing this. Because frankly, the current Pyra is a far cry from the classic Pyra. We've lost a lot of players who just loved the Pyra to death not because of it's meta but because it was their favorite ship. All because people complained it was OP.

It was never OP, people were just too stupid to figure out how to fly against it. But this problem was brought forward even greater with 1.2. When 1.2 hit and turned the game from fun into molasses, the Pyra became all powerful because none of the other ships could do anything or counter it. With all the counters gone, the Pyra could not be equaled and it became OP overnight.

Then it has been a year of Muse constantly nerfing the Pyra to this point when they are finally buffing the ships which used to counter the Pyra. I guarantee you this that if the nerfs go through on the Pyra, you'll all be screaming it needs a buff because every ship will be outclassing it.

If the ship is going to be a lawn dart, keep it that way! If its going to be weak and squishy, give it a turnrate buff. Muse has gotten themselves in this routine of nerfing everything because frankly, people are idiots and dammit Muse is too kind! They see a good pilot and yell, "NERF THAT SHIP!" They don't stop and think that maybe it would be better to buff or adjust other ships to counter. Or that it isn't the ship but the pilot behind it. This is again why 1.1 was the best version of this game. Everything had counters and weak vessels could become godlike in the hands of skilled pilots. Then the game turned into an endless nerffest for a year and now we've got boring metas and even more boring disable metas.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Indreams on January 23, 2015, 06:37:52 pm
I think the weak vessels are still powerful in hands of experienced players.

Squid is supposed to be pretty bad, but I've played several matches where I couldn't even scratch them.

And I think the counter to pyres changed from squids and spires to junkers and mobulas, who can often maneuver to the blind side and deal massive light-gun damage.


If the ship is going to be a lawn dart, keep it that way!

YES! I was trying really hard to figure out how to say that.

I used to turn pyra in neutral, aim for the enemy ship, pop moonshine for a massive speed build up, cruise on kero, and rocket towards an enemy.
If they were smart, they would dodge and we would have a fair challenge to take on. If they were unaware, we would shoot through them like a missile.
Tactic revolved around my piloting skills, my main engineers ability to give me all the engines, my artemis gunner's ability to disable enemy engines/guns, and my gatling engineer's ability to strip hull very very quickly.

One could make the argument that rams are supposed to be situational. They wouldn't be wrong. But I think they've taken out a big chunk of the game/fun when tactics involving a ram are no longer valid.

When I play on a Pyramidion (I rarely pilot it now), I find that the armor is good for half a ram and maneuverability is bad to commit to a battle.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Saull on January 23, 2015, 07:04:52 pm
I sorta feel the nerf is less for balance and more to just flat out discourage its overuse. Though, While it's really common to hear more experienced players speak less of a pyras attribute, the pyra is still the go to ship in the eyes of newer crew. (So I suppose it's more for balance from that perspective) With that in mind I don't think the pyra needs any straight nerfs but I wouldn't mind a rebalance. I think the change is going to be to hull right? That'd make it a bit more vulnerable to longer range explosives that do less dmg like the arty. A straight charge maybe more difficult but if the health nerf comes with a mobility or acceleration buff I wouldn't mind too much
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Indreams on January 23, 2015, 09:44:19 pm
I need to add to my previous post.

Thinking of it, that Ram, Artemis, Gatling build's effectiveness was probably exaggerated. It was one of my first original builds. It stomped many pub matches until a certain nerf (I think it was the armor) made me quit it.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: ShadedExalt on January 23, 2015, 11:28:29 pm
I love the Pyramidion, actually, and it makes me sad that my favourite ship might be nerfed into oblivion...
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Dementio on January 24, 2015, 02:52:16 am
I love the Pyramidion, actually, and it makes me sad that my favourite ship might be nerfed into oblivion...

Don't worry mate, if you ask me it is already there.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Kamoba on January 24, 2015, 03:04:48 am
Last night during a pretty intense fight against/with Over Watch men and an engineer came to the conclusion the pyramidion has already had it's big nerd, and the Devs disguised it as a "hit box fix"  8)
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Crafeksterty on January 24, 2015, 01:59:34 pm
How about this question, why not fly other ships? Not for the sake of not using pyra, but as a question to those who are pyra loyalists.

Like, why wouldnt you want to fly a junker
Or a spire, or a galleon. Or any other ship?

When i flew pyra once in canyons to replace a fellow clan member in a tourney, i flew extremely robotic and without care. Imo it felt too easy and thus boring.
Which is where im coming from when it comes to the FOR of this subject in nerfing the pyra. It is why i dont fly pyras.

My only favourable pyra was dual merc front, side gat mort in Dunes.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: ShadedExalt on January 24, 2015, 03:06:55 pm
Squid is very slippery, Galleon is painfully slow, Spire I haven't flown ever, Mobula is fun but doesn't quite bring the feel of a Pyra, Junker is fun but not a lawn-dart, and Goldfish, which is my 2nd/3rd favourite ship, is really easy to maneouver.  Too easy, it doesn't bring the challenge of a Pyra, predicting where you're going to have to turn...

Also, the Pyra has a nice weight to it, and there isn't much more satisfying than flying through things.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Indreams on January 24, 2015, 04:05:24 pm
I fly other ships. Lately, I've got a lot of fun out of the mobula.

But each ship is unique. You can't get the same experience out of a goldfish as you do from a spire.

Pyra has that unique, fighter-plane feel. Recently, that seems lacking.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: ShadedExalt on January 24, 2015, 06:42:41 pm
I fly other ships. Lately, I've got a lot of fun out of the mobula.

But each ship is unique. You can't get the same experience out of a goldfish as you do from a spire.

Pyra has that unique, fighter-plane feel. Recently, that seems lacking.

Uniqueness, that's exactly it.  It's why the non-Pyra players play Junkers, or Spires, or Goldfish... It's about the feel.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Hillerton [PC] on January 26, 2015, 06:22:59 am
So I haven't read all of this so this might have been said (also yes I'm very lazy when coming in to a thread like this), but in my personal experience the only thing that makes a pyra "OP" is that they have the easiest crewing. In the most basic flying of a pyramidion every single person on the ship have a designated task and only one, the pilot flies, the gunner mans only one gun, one engineer man the other and one engineer repair the hull and engines. This leads to it being "OP" in pub games and even some semi skilled games as everyone can focus on their task. This makes it a very easy ship to work with, leading to other ships (where the division is not as simple) being harder to use and therefor seen as weaker.

To back up this clam I want to point to the mobula. It lies just behind the pyra in almost all stat (not vertical movement and turning but nvm those). The mobula also have the capability to use 3 light guns at any given time. Yet I know only one person who admits to it being op, this is due to the engineers and pilot needing more awareness to use the ship as well as more teamwork over all.

Based on this a nerf would probably leave it with the squid, usable but for very specific and rare occasions... Not to mention remove one of the few ships a group of new players can use efficiently.

tl;dr pyra is not op just easy to crew making it a pub-stomper.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Dutch Vanya on January 26, 2015, 06:33:05 pm
Just reminding the forum goers that it might not be OP in the grand scheme of things, but if it's a 'pubstomper', then it is OP for most people who play this game. You say it is just "easy to crew" but that basically means it is OP for 3 of the 4 players using it, right? The practicality of crewing these ships is a very important part of the balance.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Replaceable on January 26, 2015, 06:38:29 pm
Dammit, the age old conundrum. The masses vs. the vets.

Hate it when it boils down to this. Look at matchmaker.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Dutch Vanya on January 26, 2015, 06:43:02 pm
Dutch Vanya, champion of casual scrubs everywhere, lookin' out for y'all.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Kamoba on January 26, 2015, 07:23:16 pm
Dutch take my salute for defending the "little guys" :)

easy way to balance it out.... don't fix the hit boxes on the engines.... that's an automatic nerf to the pyra in itself.... :(
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Dutch Vanya on January 26, 2015, 08:06:10 pm
I should also clarify that my first post was about the the ship being overpowered or not from the perspective of experienced players vs new ones, as well as pilot vs crew. It all depends which way you're looking at it.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: ShadedExalt on January 26, 2015, 10:09:39 pm
From pilot perspective, it's UP.

From moderate crew perspective, it's perfect.

Experienced crew, really easy to crew on, OP/UP/Perfecto debateable

Freshies (Going with Indream's term), OPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPPLSNERFOP
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Omniraptor on January 27, 2015, 03:28:58 am
I think the pyramidion is a well-designed ship, doesn't need a nerf. It's easy to engineer on because of how components are spaced, has a clear weakness (acceleration/vertical movement), but it's resistant to flechette/shatter disabling from the front because of shielded balloon. Noobs are more vulnerable to disabling than vets, and the pyra is relatively hard to disable if flown with a modicum of skill (i.e. pointed at enemy). Pyra is also pretty weak vs hades/merc/lumberjack but you don't see noobs use those too often.

The gat/mortar combo is good for exploiting brief windows of opportunity granted by smart ambushes and/or disables. Works especially well against other pyras, goldfish, mobulae etc.
Carronade/flamer is downright terrifying because it offsets the pyra's biggest weakness (maneuverability) and lets you relentlessly grind helpless junkers into the ground.
Sniper pyra isn't too shabby either.

If anything I would make the pyra slightly slower to turn and/or heavier to give squids/goldfish more of an edge against them while boosting ramming ability.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: BlackenedPies on January 27, 2015, 04:41:38 am
To repeat, the only "OP" thing about the pyra is the easy repair, buff, and chem cycles. The two forward facing guns isn't an advantage because other ships (beside squid and fish) can have 3 guns shooting a target.

Rams are primarily for knocking the target into a bad position. The last thing you want is to knock yourself off (hint: use tools and throttle). That said, to avoid rams (except with a galleon) just use tools. All other ships can easily dodge (or negate) a full speed pyra. The most common pilot mistake (besides bringing the wrong tools) is not using enough tools.

If you're scared of a pyra just put a mine in front of it or quickly kill it. Mediocre armor and hull is not a good combo. Competitive matches have demonstrated that pyras are easily countered with good tactics. Gat mortar pyra can't beat gat mortar junker.

The mobula is the most OP ship but few admit it or fully utilize it (don't bring claw!).

There is an unfortunate information gap in pub matches. This is coupled with the fact that many experienced players like to play easy mode and bring meta ships to stomp newer players. The best solution I can think of is to provide players with as much info about the game as possible. Unfortunately I haven't found any instructional videos on youtube.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: TeddyBearMafia on January 27, 2015, 05:37:53 pm
I actually stole a page from Skies' book the other day and flew a double burst mortar front pyra with two buff engis, and it was shockingly successful due to the massive aoe of the secondary shatter damage on the mortars. So, I think that goes to show that there are plenty of viable builds on the pyramidion, and that is serves quite well as a bruiser ship to protect weaker ships on it's backline.

It's weak enough at the sametime that it gets punished massively for missing a target or positioning poorly due to slow turn and acceleration speeds, that I don't feel it needs a substantial nerf either.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: GeoRmr on January 28, 2015, 09:03:23 am
massive aoe of the secondary shatter damage on the mortars

wut
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Indreams on January 28, 2015, 09:28:01 am
I don't know anything about secondary shatter damage of mortars (I'm pretty sure mortar is all explosive), but buffed, charged, dual mortar on a pyramidion is a valid tactic. You can kill just about anything but a Galleon in a barrage.

I ran this on a 2v2. We won 5-nill with all five kills on our mortar engineer.

In 3v3s or 4v4s, if your allies can dish out enough piercing damage, the game is over. Nothing, even the squid armor, can be up before buffed, charged, dual mortars kill.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: DJ Logicalia on January 28, 2015, 10:49:38 am
The only time I change the names in my ships is when I fly my double moartar pyra, the S.S. Killstealer. It pairs hilariously well with an ally with more than one piercing weapon who can focus fire
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: BlackenedPies on January 28, 2015, 10:51:29 am
It's double explosive but it does enough damage to break components surprisingly quickly. Most newer players tend to sit on guns while they take damage. This makes double mortar very effective at disabling (aim for guns and engines!)
Pro tip: never sit on a gun! Get off your gun every single reload no matter what. #1 mistake that crew make

I wouldn't recommend charged because it only increases dps by 5%. I've found one buffed burst and one buffed greased works well. One clip of buffed mortar can kill anything.
Charged is best for guns with 2 or less shots per clip. Otherwise the reduction in fire rate and clip size makes it too slow.

Double buffed mortar (especially burst) is incredibly effective against squids because it'll damage multiple components (weak engines) and rip through the thin armor.

Bring double mortar against pub metamydions. Use your nose to control them. 1v1 don't need piercing!! 
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Kamoba on January 28, 2015, 10:59:32 am
Making it a pub stomper ship, much better gatling Artemis for disable if you're going against anyone who has sense to do repairs. :)

Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: BlackenedPies on January 28, 2015, 11:18:41 am
From what I see, it's extremely rare that crew will repair guns when they have shots on a target. By the time they finish their clips, their guns will be broken from the double mortars.

Art gat banshee trifecta! Double buff with heavy gat on balloon. I still think double mortar is more challenging and fun.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Dutch Vanya on January 28, 2015, 05:58:53 pm
A build that fully relies on the enemy screwing something up doesn't seem like a good build to me.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: BlackenedPies on January 28, 2015, 09:05:32 pm
It's not a good build but it works. Same with merc carro on Dunes. It's difficult but can work against experienced crews. Once you have control or have shots on both their engines they are dead (1v1).

Even if they do repair their guns efficiently while they shoot, one clip of double buffed mortar may still break them (depending on direct hits vs burst). Double mortar is too much for engine repairs. They also wear down hulls and balloons and have decent fire stack chance. You'd be surprised how effective double buffed mortars are against balloons. Plugging them into the front (or back) of a pyra is deadly.

Double mortar pyras are best when used with careful rams and bumps. It's usually safe to assume they don't have a buffed balloon so it's really a one sided engagement. It's not fair but it's better than stomping with meta ships. It's a slow but satisfying 1v1 disable build.
A more effective build is carro mortar. Use buffed burst to aim for components. Good vs squids and fish.

I vote buff squid hull a bit. Keep spire OP (still the rarest ship in competitive)
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Kamoba on January 29, 2015, 05:26:54 am
The squid perma hull needs no buff... Its got a pretty big perma hull... Armour buff, maybe.. Engine buff, most likely.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: BlackenedPies on January 29, 2015, 07:13:55 am
Squids have good hulls but it never seems quite enough. The squid has a somewhat ideal armor because it's quick to rebuild. I'd be in favour of buffing it as long as it still takes 4 spanner hits to rebuild.

They don't need an engine buff, just buff your engines (top two is good enough). Don't bring claw just use your throttle (turn faster at neutral). The key to playing a squid is engine jumps. If you repair engines individually you're dead.

Jump up at the last high point on the path to the bottom engine and hit the top engine. As you finish the jump you will land at the bottom engine. Then go up and chem.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: michael.hauda on February 04, 2015, 08:56:35 am
How about this question, why not fly other ships? Not for the sake of not using pyra, but as a question to those who are pyra loyalists.

Like, why wouldnt you want to fly a junker
Or a spire, or a galleon. Or any other ship?

Coming into this discussion a bit late but; the reason is that in general ramming with your balloon is a terrible idea (this is a non-issue on a Pyramidion) you can ram upward downward and side to side
-The arcs are easy to keep for your main guns (unlike Junker, no your front one isn't your main one, galleon, and squids which arguably don't have a "main" gun)
-Keeping your engines up on a spire while ramming is straining on your crew, generally a bad idea.
-Easy to crew, when I type these sorts of responses I take into account my typical non-clan game, one novice (8) one guy who is ok (12) and one guy who knows what he's doing but only wants to be a gunner (20) this as you can see is not a full SAC ship, nor a full Bard ship, nor a Duck ship, put simply my crew is just ok and the pyramidion is easy to crew so I don't have to worry about someone not knowing where the main engine on my ship is located (and event hat is just usually)
-I like to ram, Pyramidions are solid ramming ships, sniping gets boring after a match or two, when I fly galleon I sing to myself "circling and circling and circling" while dying of boredom, squids are too soft for me, I do fly all the ships but mostly Pyramidions, Junkers, and Galleons ad the Pyramidion is just satisfying

That all said I do hate the meta, my main list of nerfs is currently topped by explosive damage on mortar and a smaller one on flaks (light and heavy), followed by balloon damage multipliers, and a proportionate one to balloon health.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: Kamoba on February 04, 2015, 09:44:18 am
I don't think a flak or heavy flak nerf is really needed, they're effective in trained hands but lower their effectiveness and untrained hands will ignore their existence. Mortar nerf? Yes. The mortar is such an effective killing gun in any hands as it does not take long to learn and most pilots who understand the mortar will stay close making easier targets.
Title: Re: Pyramidion needs more love?
Post by: BlackenedPies on February 04, 2015, 10:11:51 am
I don't agree with the explosive nerf because many ships rely on this. If your armor breaks you die. So don't let them break your armor. Gat mortar is very powerful, but it's also very weak. The heavy flak needs its one shot kill. Kill ships are easy to counter because they rely solely on their explosive weapon to kill, which is otherwise mostly useless.
Mortars should always be a one clip kill. Buffed mortar OP.

Remember, without an armor break these weapons are mostly useless. You have a huge advantage until your armor breaks. This is coming from a person who never brings kill builds.
For newer players it's a very different story.

As for ramming, rams are primarily for bumping the target out of position. You don't need to bump hard, with a spire you don't need to burn kero for more than a second. With a spire don't worry about repairs just keep shooting.

The main reason I don't like to bring Pyramidions is that the main engi doesn't get to do anything besides run around in a circle. If I bring a pyra I either have AI, or it's for a mine trifecta.
When it comes down to it, the other ships are only marginally easier for each crew member than a pyra.
You can easily train any novice for a spire or mobula. Mobula is my default ship and it's an excellent counter to any type of pyra. I usually play with a matchmaking mix.