Messages

1

The Lounge / Re: The game you mostly play

« on: February 27, 2015, 05:03:22 pm »

I used to play tribes ascend (juggernaut for the win) up til that hilariously broken engineer gear patch that gave them crap like homing missile launchers.  It was sad to see they'd dropped it entirely as I've always liked the tribes gameplay, but ascend was rapidly becoming a clustercuss.

As far as things I play outside of GOIO, I play Borderlands 2 and Pre-Sequel, Kerbal Space Program, Fallout NV, Magicka Wizard Wars, Warhammer 40k Space Marine and, most recently, the Homeworld remaster.  It feels like every change made in that overhaul was for the better.

2

Feedback and Suggestions / Stat Tracker for the Chemspray

« on: February 25, 2015, 02:51:43 am »

I had an idea while engineering a few days ago.  There is a stat tracked for fires extinguished, which is neat.  If chemspray is done well, though, there are no fires to extinguish.  What about a potential stat tracker for fire stacks prevented or ignitions blocked by chemspray on your watch?  Or is that not something that could be tracked or allotted to the engineer who set the spray?  Just a silly thought of mine.

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The Docks / Re: [N2] Nano's Noobs - To buff the flare gun!

« on: February 25, 2015, 02:32:15 am »

A noble idea from a noble captain.  Best of luck to you, sir.  If I encounter crew in need of training, I'll send em your way.

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Gameplay / Re: Minotaur Heavy Cannon

« on: February 25, 2015, 02:26:02 am »

Having flown with and against it for most of the day, I figured I'd put in my two cents as a pilot as far as which ships it seems to work well against.

Works well:  Anything with both low mass and large surface areas.  The longer or wider the ship, the easier it is to apply torque with the gun by hitting further out from the center.  Mobula, Junker, Goldfish
Situational:  If you get the jump with a good angle, you'll shut em down.  If you don't, then the minotaur won't save you.  Pyramidion, Galleon
Doesn't work well:  Squid and Spire

I say it's situational against the pyra because if you hit it from the side out along its snout, you'll put it into a spin that it won't have recovered from with its rubbish angular acceleration by the time you've reloaded.  If it's already charging straight in at you, though, you're not slowing it down and it's harder to shake it off course.  If it crosses the arm time barrier, that's the end for the minotaur.  The galleon is so heavy that you need a really good hit right out where the balloon meets the bowsprit to really give it pause.  It's hard to shake a galleon up enough that it can't reorient arcs on you during your reload cycle.

As far as it being poor against the squid and spire, here's why I think that:  Both ships are pretty tightly hunkered up around their centers of mass.  The spire is especially hard to knock off facing because it doesn't really have anywhere to shoot that isn't right along its center of mass.  The squid, while lighter, isn't terribly long and even a broadside shot is easily compensated for by the pilot, especially with buffed turning engines.  If you catch the squid at low throttle, you'll rattle its cage.  If you catch a squid at low throttle, though, that squid is either distracted killing something or is doing it wrong.

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The Docks / Re: [SREP] Sandstorm Republic

« on: February 22, 2015, 04:46:05 pm »

It's always a pleasure flying with SREPs.  Excellent bunch.

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Gameplay / Re: Heatsink: Good or Bad?

« on: February 22, 2015, 04:09:45 pm »

If I'm gunning on a galleon and there are hwachas on the right side, I like to leave the rear starboard one loaded with heatsink in case the pilot misses something like a sneaky flamethrower squid or some other potentially disastrous fire-related scenario.  It's nice to know that you'll at least have one barrage to buy your ship some time to get back on its proverbial feet.

I did see mention of heatsink in squid guns, which I fully agree with.  When I pilot my squid (which admittedly is most of the time) I tend to issue my gunner heatsink for the nose gun, be it gatling or carronade.  There's no need for heatsink in the side gun because if an engineer is tanking the Highwind's hull without explicit orders to do so, I will throw them over the side.  And I won't land first.

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The Lounge / Re: Ship Names

« on: January 11, 2015, 08:07:21 pm »

My ships carry the signifier M.A.F. which stands for Mechanicsburg Airship Fleet.  It's referencing the location from Girl Genius, a webcomic of which I am rather a fan.

Names from most to least played:

Squid:  M.A.F. Highwind -- Homage to Cid's airship from FF7
Galleon:  M.A.F. Inglorious -- Has a decent ring to it, and naming my ship roughly 'bringer of disgrace' amuses me
Junker:  M.A.F. Blaidd Drwg -- Welsh for Bad Wolf, a Doctor Who ref I couldn't resist adding.
Goldfish:  M.A.F. Steel Dragon -- First ship I named, mainly because I use the metal dragon figurehead with it.  If I fly it more, it'll likely be renamed M.A.F. Cherenkov, because science!!  However, I'd have to dye it blue.
Pyramidion:  M.A.F. Totentanz -- Dance of Death, as any dance involving a pyra would be
Spire:  M.A.F. Thunderhead -- I don't really play it enough to identify it with anything, but it hangs out in clouds and wrecks stuff.  Stormcloud it is!
Mobula:  M.A.F. Troubadour -- Mobula strikes me as a trade and travel vessel, and this was about the only thing I could think of that also sounded appropriately cool.

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Q&A / Re: Working up to galleon as new pilot?

« on: December 23, 2014, 04:33:05 pm »

Keep in mind your galleon's silhouette as well.  In a medium-to-long ranged shootout, you can use your balloon or hull (based on what kind of shells are coming in) to bodyblock damage and give your ally a breather so they can repair up and get back into the fight.  In my experience the galleon plays best as the shield in a shield and sword combo despite your heavy weapons.  You dictate the terms of engagement by picking your position and fire lanes, but you are best served by an ally who can physically knock an enemy out of his or her threat arcs and into yours.  All this talk about a rear-mounted minelayer is nice, but it won't prevent an enemy from settling on your 12 o clock high and grinding you out.  Thus, I prefer to play the galleon if I have at least one goldfish or pyramidion in my fleet who can sit either off to the side under cover or behind my hull, ready to go aggressive at a moment's notice and ram close-ranged bogeys away.

Of course, this requires several things.  Primarily, it will require your allies to grant you command authority and respect your shot calls.  Secondly, it'll require you to make those shot calls; so brush up on your situational awareness, captain!  Last but not least, it will also require your allies to be able to respond to your calls.  I generally only fly galleon either in large games where the law of averages will usually provide at least one tractable ally (determined during pre-game lobby) or with captains I know already or clan mates.  Your best bet is to dive in, fly it, learn it, and build up your connections with other captains.  Few feelings in this game are better than winning an engagement from a de facto fleet command position and being the driving force behind that teamwork, and I hope you can enjoy that feeling soon.  Cheers, and see you in the skies!

9

Gameplay / Re: 2v1 Win

« on: December 16, 2014, 06:22:26 pm »

Gotta love that feeling of getting the win against the odds.  I've done that once a long time ago with my fiancee on a hwachafish vs a squid and a galleon, our troll of an ally started the match by mining us, flying into the middle of duel at dawn and abandoning, so we started out 0 - 1 and alone.  It was the tensest match I think I've ever flown, but we managed to eke out a 5 - 4.  Definitely well played by you and your crew to pull that off with only one point to the enemy.

"We're surrounded?  Excellent, fire everything.  There's no escape for them this time."

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The Lounge / Re: Flying Angry

« on: November 08, 2014, 08:32:37 pm »

I'll admit to falling victim to this at times, mostly due to allied ship incompetence.  Given that frothing rage isn't exactly the best copilot, I tend to content myself with a litany similar to 'Well, scoundrel, you'll be on the other team next match and I shall bestow upon thee such a wallop for this verminous performance; see if I don't!'  Disclaimer:  Contents of rant not verified by inspector.  Open at own risk.

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General Discussion / Re: Best/Worst parts of Guns of Icarus

« on: October 08, 2014, 11:52:51 am »

Worst:  Captains who spectator jump to cancel match load timers.

This wouldn't be a problem if ally captains would listen when you say "can you please unready, we need another minute".  Wouldn't you rather wait a few more seconds than have your teammate have 3 gunners or engineers with buff/chem/extinguisher or lochnagar for the hwacha or whatever?  I find that when a captain does this, usually the 30 seconds they gain is enough and the match starts right away afterwards, despite all the cries of "AW C'MON REALLY?" from the lobby.

Allow me to rephrase for accuracy, then.  Captains who spec dodge multiple times with no explanation or even a simple 'Hey, my second engie won't switch from pipe wrench to mackerel sandwich, will you unready for me' are the situations I intended to speak of.

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The Lounge / Re: Introductions!

« on: October 06, 2014, 09:46:48 am »

Happy diurnal anomaly everyone!  Me mum calls me Alistair, me mates call me Marlowe, and me enemies call me STOP HOLIN' MY BALLOON YA MAD BASTID.  I'm a proud Stray Dag pilot with an ambush predator's mentality and a dislike for flying most ships that aren't a Squid.  I'm engaged to the lovely Sarabelle Marlowe (my condolences for those whose ships she's perforated) and we enjoy spending our evenings pirating up the skies with comrades and meeting friendly crewmates.  See you in the skies (if you see me coming)!

I should have done this months ago, but just now found this section.  Heh.

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The Lounge / Re: Get to know people's GOI preferences (uncomfortable well)

« on: October 06, 2014, 09:35:44 am »

1. Favourite ship to fly. (Not including the build.) -- Squid
2. Favourite ship to engineer on. -- Pyra
3. Favourite light gun. -- Light Carronade
4. Favourite heavy gun. -- Hwacha
5. Favourite gun overall. -- Light Carronade.  It's just so versatile.
6. Favourite 2v2 map -- Fjords
7. Favourite larger than 2v2 only map.(Ones you see on 3v3 and 4v4.) -- Raid on the Refinery
8. Favourite map overall. -- A tossup between Raid and Fjords, but I'll lean towards Raid.  I prefer maps where flying trumps fighting.
9. Favourite ammo type. -- Burst
10. Favourite ship build -- Squid with carronade, flamer, mortar.  Punches above its weight, gets caught by nothing.
11. Favourite headwear. (Include gender) -- Haven't found a hat I like.  Adventurer haircut, male
12. Favourite outfit. (Include gender.) -- Khovansky storm coat, male
13. Favourite Goggles (does a that have gender??) -- Captain's Pipe, male
14. Favourite ship theme. -- Valentine's day.  Yer cargo or yer life!
15. Favourite figurehead. -- Sylph
16. Would you rather, Deathmatch, King of the Hill or Crazy king. -- Crazy King.  Throttle ahead full!
17. Rank in order of preference, Pilot, Gunner and Engineer. -- Pilot, Pilot, Engi.  I'm rather a rubbish shot, so I try not to gun.
18. Buffgi/Gunji or Main? -- Buff kit for me.
19. Lion gun OP? -- I wouldn't say OP, by my fiancee Sarabelle crushes ships like gingerbread with it.
20. Are there too many questions? (Tick here: no[] no[] )
21. Have you found a better community than GOIO?  As far as online gaming, no.  I've had great guilds in MMOs but the overall community was still toxic.

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General Discussion / Re: Best/Worst parts of Guns of Icarus

« on: October 06, 2014, 09:16:30 am »

Best:  Getting a flawless unspotted squid blindside.
The overall community and how positive a group everyone is.
Winning a 1v2 or 1v3 dogfight situation (or at least getting kills and escaping alive).  "We're surrounded?  Ha.  There's no escape for them this time."

Worst:  Captains who spectator jump to cancel match load timers.
Having a second gunner join the ship mid match, particularly if there is a lot of fire on the enemy team.
The way the mercury barrel sticks back in its housing after firing instead of recoiling to full extension.  That bugs me more than it should.

15

The Docks / Re: Hail and well met, GOIO folks!

« on: April 30, 2014, 04:29:26 pm »

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone!  My crew and I will be signing on with the DAGZ.  Thank you very much, and we'll be seeing you all in the skies soon.