Messages

1

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Maps: Morning, Afternoon, Dusk, Night

« on: March 28, 2016, 01:37:14 pm »

Actually, Duel at Dawn is likely somewhere around dawn

You would think that, but surprisingly enough, the light isn't from East, but North. So it's neither dawn or dusk as we know it. So I'm pretty sure Dawn is the name of the place.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Mobula and Pyramidion armor component relocation

« on: March 27, 2016, 08:48:08 pm »

The pyra as a ramming dependent ship will last only until people remember that the minelauncher is a thing

This is an excellent point, I understand. I can see 'drive-bys' working on open maps like Dunes. Like, Mercury and Artemis on the front with gatling and hades on the side would work rather well.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Mobula and Pyramidion armor component relocation

« on: March 27, 2016, 05:56:25 pm »

I'm not convinced that moving the Pyramidion's hull armor to top deck would really increase the use of side guns. More so since the new buff to its stats encourages ramming.

Let's think about this:

Ramming under fire with an engineer, gunner on top deck:

What I see happening is the top engineer would work with both components and in dire circumstances, ignore the balloon to concentrate on repairing/rebuilding the hull armor. The gunner would only assist if hull needs to be rebuilt since the engineer is better equipped to repair. So the gunner and pilot deals damage to the enemy ship and breaks their armor... the engineer can't follow through with mortars. So great, meta isn't as op, but the engine engineer doesn't get any action unless the pilot turns right or the enemy dodges. Both of these cases are unlikely to happen. the first, turning to right so side guns can fire is silly. There are two perfectly operational guns on the front with two (as opposed to the one on the main deck) people potentially being able to fire. Even if they can't, the pilot can ram again as often as he'd like. The second case depends on the enemy ship actually dodging into your side arcs. Now ignoring the facts that the enemy ship can move in four directions and experienced pilots would avoid going into side arcs, the engine engineer would still not be able to put out constant fire. After missing, the pilot is going to turn the ship to retry ramming because we know from the first case that having up to two guns firing and being able to ram is better than always having one gun firing. That could mean phoenix claw gets used, then shortly afterwards, more moonshine. The engine engineer still has to fix the engines even if he is able to fire.

Ramming under fire with two engineers on top deck:

With two engineers on top, that means both engineers can focus on only one component and their guns. Also since there are two engineers so close to each other, that means only one fire extinguisher is needed, so both can bring buff hammers (For example, Balloon engie brings Wrench, Buff, Ext while Hull engie brings Mallet, Spanner, Buff). Because both engineers to keep an eye on their component as well as firing, they can't be relied on to consistently firing or ready to fire when hull is down, so I can see captains getting rid of the meta entirely with this crew formation. Instead, going for guns that work well together regardless of whether one or both are being fired at the same time. gatling-banshee, hades-artemis, carronade-flamethrower, as well as doubling up on the same weapon (Keep in mind it doesn't matter how well these combos can kill ships, only if it doesn't matter which gun is firing first.). Now, when ramming the enemy while under fire, both engineers can consistently fire their buffed weapons unless their respective component or gun is broken. After the attempted ram, we see that we have the same two cases shown above, except this time the top guns are buffed, and no component is neglected. So there's even less reason for the side guns to be used. Even if you give the engine engineer a buff hammer, chances are the engie is going to use it to buff the engines so the ship turns or rams faster so the bottom engineer still won't get to constantly fire his gun and is still the 'moonshine slave'.

So I can't see how moving the hull component to the top deck allows the side guns to be used more without pilots deliberately trying not to do as much damage as possible. And if the pilot doesn't want to ram but fire from the sides, why not go with a junker that can do both sides and have a higher hull armor, or a galleon that has nearly the same top speed and acceleration as a pyramidion, but with bigger guns? I understand that you want the engine engineer to fire with the top deck crew members, but I don't see all guns firing at the same ship. Could you give some examples of what you're thinking of with full shooting?

4

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Role Play Friendly Port To Replace Parts Of The Menu

« on: March 24, 2016, 09:33:02 pm »

Many people I know (myself included) have just rediscovered the game in their library after a year of stagnation and decided to try it out again.

I know that feeling. I started playing again a few months ago and stayed because I was specifically looking for a clan to join. I'd be happy if there was more incentive to talk to other people besides those in lobbies. Maybe a 'tavern' lobby purely for chatting.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Player-suggested tips 2.0: Spreadsheet and Ships

« on: March 11, 2016, 08:37:21 pm »

Paste them at the bottom, I'll replace them.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Player-suggested tips 2.0: Spreadsheet and Ships

« on: March 10, 2016, 08:46:01 pm »

Earlier today I was working on the spreadsheet, moving things around so groupings sync up better, so I was going to copy over the discussion page so the tips are on the same rows. Add in yours to the first page and don't worry about the second. I'll be pasting afterwards.

The discussion page will work better when we're not adding in tips by the dozen.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Player-suggested tips 2.0: Spreadsheet and Ships

« on: March 10, 2016, 01:51:23 pm »

I created this second topic so you don't need to dig through the comments of the previous to find the fantastic spreadsheet that The Mann and Atruejedi worked hard on to get all your tips in and to make it easily readable. But wait, there's more!

I altered the spreadsheet so that people can only put their tips and rank them Pilot, Engineer, Gunner or All.

If you wish to discuss the tip, you can do so in the Discussions Spreadsheet which can be found at the bottom of the page.

Enjoy.

Meaning instead of typing in this forum your excellent tips, you can put them right in the spreadsheet so you know for certain it won't be missed.

All of these tips are extremely helpful but it doesn't cover a very important topic that new captains need to know. What each ship does, and when to use them. I'd like to request adding in a second page to that spreadsheet so we can cover the general positives and negatives of each ship, until then let's work on them here!

The Spire

With three light guns and a heavy gun facing forward, a well coordinated crew can put out a stream of concentrated fire at the enemy.

Because it is spread vertically instead of horizontally, the spire can turn quickly to face flanking enemies.

Its vertical frame makes it difficult for enemy ships to go over or underneath it, making the Spire a popular choice to use for ramming.

Being a huge ship with a modest armor and an exposed balloon, the spire is very vulnerable to long range weapons such as Mercury field gun and Lumberjack heavy mortar

Its frame makes it difficult for even veteran captains to maneuver in close spaces.

The exposed balloon and large frame allows anti-balloon guns such as the Hades Light Cannon, Dragon Light Flamethrower and Carronade (Heavy and Light) to easily keep the Spire grounded.

That's what I can think of for the Spire right now, hopefully you understand what I'm looking for when you're making your posts.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Player-suggested tips

« on: March 10, 2016, 01:49:36 pm »

Thank you for your fantastic tips! I've made another topic so that Mann's spreadsheet can be found more easily and to get information specifically for ships. If you have more tips about players or ships, post them over there so we don't have two similar topics trending.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Player-suggested tips

« on: March 08, 2016, 05:30:16 pm »

Someone should see if they are willing to make this a sticky thread so it can accumulate ideas over the longer term.

I am absolutely okay with this idea.

This would certainly be helpful. Unfortunately, with there being no editing after a day or so, would defeat the purpose of making such a list. I'd like to be able to ask the mods to set the post to being editable/pinned to the front, but of the three moderators for this section, only one was active after 2016 and he hadn't been on since the beginning of February. Which is a shame.

Thanks for your tips, guys! I'll set up the updated list in a day or two.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Player-suggested tips

« on: March 06, 2016, 10:06:11 am »

It seems that you can't edit your post after a period of time. While inconvenient, it's not a problem. I made an offline copy and will be editing that. I'll set up the updated list as another post in a few days, that being said..

My contribution, although I lumped pilot and captain together because they should NEVER be differentiated roles.

I completely agree. There have been a few matches I've seen a high level captain play as an engineer or even as a gunner! They almost always fail miserably but those matches helped me understand the difference between being a captain and being a pilot. I can understand their reasoning for this sort of thing though. In a 4v4 matches where everyone goes long range and settles in their spawns, I can see captains playing as a buffineer or gunner could be more useful on a spire or mobula than their counterparts occasionally turning for their shooters. Reality tends to prove otherwise. Nevertheless, people are still going to try it insisting that it's such a great idea. Which is why I basically said the same thing for pilot and captain as the first tips. It's doable to not be a pilot, but extremely ill-advised.

3. Both Mallet/Pipewrench and Spanner/Pipewrench are poor combinations

This sort of thing can't be overstated, I started this topic literally after a match where my fellow engineer brought all three tools!

Many great tips here, thank you very much! 

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Feedback and Suggestions / Player-suggested tips

« on: March 04, 2016, 01:04:01 pm »

After reading Newbluud's topic about the lack of helpful tips, I did some searching around on the forums and on /r/GunsOfIcarus and just couldn't find a list of tips suggested by players. Rather surprising since this is an always relevant topic.  So, let's make one.

To make this somewhat organized, I'll be dividing up the list into sections. General, Captain, Crew, Pilot, Gunner, Engineer. I will not be adding fluff tips onto the list, we already have too many of those ingame.

When you submit your tip(s) please:
1. Check the list to see if it's not in here already
2. Put the section name first
3. Keep the tip as simple as possible


General:
Tips that apply to any player, anywhere.

1. In lobby, you can click the names of ships for their loadouts and the buttons to the right of every player to see their tools. This allows you to learn what to bring, and what to expect.
2. Pressing V brings up a selection of voice commands depending on if you're on the helm, guns, or walking around. Learning to use this quickly will often be more effective than attempting to type or speak clearly.

Captain:
Tips for creating ships, working with other captains, and managing crew.

1. When captaining, be a pilot as well. This will be only help you collaborate with your fellow captains.
2. Having more than one gunner on your ship gives you lots of ammunition choices, but there won't be enough guns to make use of all that ammo!
3. A gunner is not always needed on a ship. Some guns only need one ammunition type.
4. Check the damage types on weapons before you equip them. Having a ship only able to do one thing may be a handicap to your team.
5. Readying up first is not always a good thing. Most of the time, your enemy is planning and deciding loadouts carefully, while you are not doing your homework.
6. To the left of your crew's names are buttons that let you see what tools they're bringing and to suggest loadouts.

Crew:
Tips that apply regardless of being Engineer or Gunner

1. No matter how good a crew member you are, things will break and you will need the equipment to deal with that.
2. Engineers are capable of gunning and gunners are capable of helping with repairs outside of the guns.
3. It is better to take an undesirable loadout and suggest changes than it is to refuse and argue. A poorly equipped cooperative ship will always outperform a well equipped dysfunctional ship.

Pilot:
Tips for using the helm, such as pilot tools, steering and ramming.

1. When piloting, be the captain as well. This can only help you be more effective, in terms of working with fellow captains and working with your crew.
2. Know what pilot tools damage which components. If you bring three tools that damages the engines, you should see to it that you don't use all three frequently.
3. Aiming at an enemy ship and pressing B will lay crosshairs on it, visible to your crew.

Gunner:
Tips for players who're using the Gunner class and Gunner ammo types.

1. Burst ammunition only affects the AoE of weapons with an AoE stat to begin with.
2. More damage per shot does not necessarily mean more damage overall.
3. There is no ammunition that works well on every single gun. Check the ship your pilot is flying to see if you are bringing the right ammunition. Captains may suggest a loadout for you to use.

Engineer:
Tips for players who're using the Engineer class and Engineer tools.

1. Choosing buff hammer limits your ability to repair/rebuild/extinguish components.
2. Mallet is very strong at repairing undestroyed components, spanner is very strong at rebuilding destroyed components and the pipe wrench is average at both. When choosing three tools, think carefully about what you can contribute to the crew.
3. Not bringing a fire tool is often fatal. Many guns cause fires and some can stack a very large amount of fires very quickly.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: WANTED minigame remake suggestion

« on: March 04, 2016, 11:29:49 am »

Rather than a flat number of wins system, could maybe make different players worth a different amount of points based on their mmr or their level. That way, a wanted player trying to win by stomping noobs would have to stomp way way more noobs, while someone playing against threatening opponents could catch up and pass them in no time. Basically inspired by chess mmr. You CAN play against people lower rank than you, but even if you win you'll hardly get anything for it. Whereas if you take on someone bigger than you, you get a ton of points.

I like this idea a lot. However, I am completely against having the points gained/lost based on player level. The reason being that this would make 45-45-45 players having to grind away just to go up a rank whereas a 1-1-1 can shoot straight to the top when carried by a good team.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Free-look when aiming guns

« on: March 03, 2016, 05:40:11 pm »

Ah! I see. Thanks for the clariation. I was not aware that you could use the arrow keys. Thanks for that tidbit.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Tip Box

« on: March 03, 2016, 05:36:31 pm »

It's true that the tip box doesn't really give out good tips. However, I enjoy the mood that it encourages and wouldn't want to see that go away. Some tips are amusing, some tips give background world information that's interesting, basically it's inviting me to take an interest in the game.

What I would suggest having two separate tip boxes, one for new players and one for people who don't want actual tips. Start out the new players with the actual tip box. I'd go even further and have this tip box give out only tips related to the player's selected class. When the new player reaches some sort of level that officially makes him not a newbie anymore (let's go with 10 so we have something to work with) Then the tip box shows another suggestion regardless of the class the player's in. If you're tired of being taught how to play, you can go into settings to change this tip box into an unhelpful tip box.

This wouldn't change the tip box I'm used to and it'd help new players.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: A new Game mode

« on: March 03, 2016, 05:20:34 pm »

I'd say three points maximum, all with double the standard cap rate. There should be a set time limit and no point cap. A ballpark figure could be twenty minutes (possibly more) to not break attention spans too hard and it is tried, tested and functional as the competitive time limit. Points are gained passively by holding a point, the more you own, the faster you gain points. So locking down one point completely won't serve you much benefit. Points can also be gained actively through kills, the standard 13 we see in current KotH and CK matches.

Okay, so to prevent the last ten minutes of the game being ragequit city when it becomes impossible to overtake the amount of points gained by one team, there should be a system. Owning two of the three points grants a ninety second (subject to change) countdown to a win condition for the team in possession. Owning all three at a given time should give a thirty second win condition.

Additionally, an overtime mechanic would be beneficial. I'd say that, if a team holds two of the three points and enters the ninety/thirty second win timers, the match can extend beyond the time limit unless said team is currently ahead in points. Also, the ninety second/thirty second timers should be frozen when a point is contested. Unsure of whether this should be while a point is being decapped or whether an enemy is in the cap zone at all. Given how harsh ninety seconds is in a game where getting from A to B can take just as long, I propose the timer should be paused if an enemy ship is being registered in the cap zone at any point.

An interesting derivative! I would say fiddling with the respawn timers as well so the losing team can get into the game quicker than the dominating team. I am a fan of this overtime method, always made an exciting game for me in Team Fortress 2.

Honestly I'm not a fan of gaining points through kills as that's already present in the three modes we have. I'd like a gamemode where killing ships themselves isn't an objective and only helps your team in the tactical sense.

One thing I am curious about is the map layouts for this game mode. Do we want a line of CPs from 'red base' to 'blue base' so that both teams have an advantage over one cp and equal grounds for the middle cp? Or maybe do we want a line perpendicular to the previous line, so that all three CPs are equal distance from both spawn groups? I ask because the former would favor more armored ships and would act more as a tug of war. (Reverse tug of war? Hopefully you guys understand where I'm going with this) Whereas the latter would favor ships with increased speeds.

Maybe you can think of a layout where the type of the ship doesn't matter as much.