1
Gameplay / Re: The Current Meta.
« on: September 10, 2015, 06:19:14 am »
The invincible Paddling lost to the Brood...
boohoohoo
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2
The Lounge / Re: Official Request for Frogger and Battle Toads to start a team
« on: December 28, 2014, 01:01:09 am »
oh, amphibian theme, i get it now............hmmmmmmmmmmmm!
3
The Lounge / Re: Official Request for Frogger and Battle Toads to start a team
« on: December 28, 2014, 01:00:10 am »
did it for a year (Ducks' RAFT and Mandarins), now i am an old geezer who the youngins have to fly around while i bark at them
flattered though
flattered though
4
General Discussion / Re: Top Pilot and Crew on one ship
« on: December 20, 2014, 04:52:53 pm »definitely outdated and obsolete nowadays
inb4 Ducky McDuckerson is best AI
agree
5
Dev App Testing / Re: New Testing, Balance! (Saturday 22nd)
« on: November 28, 2014, 04:01:06 pm »But you can still counter Junkers with good hwachafish or hwacha-spire with good crew. Or you can kill it's secondary engines. And, of course, good hwacha-blender galleon is a nightmare for Junkers.
Honestly, at the highest levels of play, all other things being equal, hwachas are pretty ineffective against well-crewed focus-firing metajunkers. Particularly once your crew is trained in "peaching" (duckspeak for rebuilding to within one click and waiting), you can easy rebuild a downed gatling immediately after a hwacha barrage and gatsnipe the hwacha right out until the rest of your systems are back online. Blending is the only totally reliable (perhaps excessively so!) counter to a junker
Spires are even worse off - so much as look at a spire with an artemis or a hades and it falls to pieces. Focus fire six of those guns on a spire? Good night, Irene.
The same with close range galleons. With its exposed guns, sluggish movement, and huge hull profile, 6x artemis-hades fire will simultaneously pierce, explode, flame, and shatter everything on the ship reliably at ranges up to 1300m. Is Mr. Galleon getting too close? Put 'er in reverse.
This is my experience, at least.
Of course, positioning miracles will mitigate all these limitations. But why not take the stronger build, create the same positioning magic, and have an even better outcome? I've never been one for handicapping myself intentionally.
As an aside, what I would say generally is that if the junker is to have its primary stats nerfed, then it should somehow be made less vulnerable to blending. The current lack of junkers in competitive is very telling - basically, a team's reliance on junkers frequently leads to the opposing team's switch to a blender-based hard counter in the lobby. It would be much better to find a happier middle ground, I think.
6
Dev App Testing / Re: New Testing, Balance! (Saturday 22nd)
« on: November 27, 2014, 02:01:17 pm »[...]
Don't even bother taking on Junkers, they'll just sit there laughing at your gatling while their armor never goes down.
[...]
Curious to see if Muse will touch up the Junkers in another test build. I'd like to see a shift in something there.
Solution: Carroflamer Pyra. Not sure about the big leagues, but it works really well even in normal matches!
Junker changes would be nice...
I think that's one of the issues people have with junkers, though - they're practically unbeatable vs. non-blender builds (if you have good captains and crew), but against blenders they basically don't stand a chance (again, assuming the blender team knows what they're doing). There's not much middle ground. I can tell you from a year of competitive play as a metajunker pilot that I'll win 95% of the time vs. conventional builds, and lose 95% of the time versus blenders. It's just that clear-cut.
That's another reason why the meta "settles" towards the all-pyramidion matchups that are so common as of late. Pyras don't do anything particularly well, but they don't have any glaring weaknesses either. And in the current atmosphere of Hardcounter Lobbies of Icarus, that's what matters most.
7
General Discussion / Re: "Top" crew members
« on: November 12, 2014, 03:38:29 pm »
I'll list three of my long-term Mandarin/Duck crewmembers who are particularly near and dear to me.
In no particular order:
Gorath: A Pastafarian, Gorath was a member of the team that posed the biggest non-Duck competitive threat to the Paddling during the days of Cogs Season 1. He was renowned for his mortar gunnery, a skill which was put to great use when he came to top deck for me on the Dancing Feather during the Mandarin days. Though the Pastafarians bowed out of Icarus competitive after Cogs Season 2, I had the good fortune to randomly pub with Gorath sometime in late January/early February of this year, and was immediately blown away by his skill on any number of weapons. At the time, I was in need of substitutes for front and top deck on the Feather, and so after a few Box Socials together he became my regular top decker, providing me with many a clinch, nearly impossible long-range mortar kill which neatly tied up what would have otherwise been very difficult situations due to overaggression/poor positioning on my part. A true beast of a crewmember in all respects.
Favorite Gorath moments:
The camera angle really doesn't do it justice here, but this kill was made going full throttle, adjusting altitude at almost 300m from target, a slim Junker hull. A great kill, especially with the respawned galleon looming ominously in the distance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8E3IJM1Oi0#t=706
Another great kill that helped make up for a really messy game on my part. The CsRy pyramidion was going full backpedal, in the clouds, adjusting altitude, close to mortar max eff. A real relief of a kill, given the sloppiness on my end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8_NVkcqP4Q#t=1019
Lueosi had me by the balls here, but Sammy softened him up a bit and I managed to turn the tables. A great almost-finisher by Gorath - not quite a kill, but pretty damn good considering the relative speed and distance of the two ships:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8_NVkcqP4Q#t=1900
Illmatar: For me, the original Hades master. Illmatar is a man of few words but of numerous long-range, highly accurate magma blasts. I first encountered Illmatar as a new duck just a couple weeks before the RAFT's Paddling game in late August of 2013, and was immediately impressed by his ability on the gatling. He ended up becoming my regular bottom deck, and was unfailingly available for practices and games. Both his skill and commitment were instrumental to the running of the Feather, and his amazing Hades gunnery allowed for truly nutso kills at ranges where it just shouldn't have been possible. The silent destroyer.
Some of my favorite Illmatar moments:
In a Gents game, managed to land almost two full clips of hades on the Gent Mobula at around 1300m, giving us a key long-range kill to take the Bo3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl7Wy2ZPboo&list=PLXy5l_wXGi3hH_MPUaGRWJTfF_HpZvkBO#t=1361
Vs. SAC, Illmatar managed to drop the hull of a respawned junker, giving us a shockingly fast one-clip kill and probably saving the Quackbar from a death due to a mistimed engagement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8E3IJM1Oi0#t=585
Another vs SAC. It's not readily obvious, but Illmatar was actually trick-shooting through a tiny crack in the vertical debris of Paritan here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XkahTSGoVw&list=PLXy5l_wXGi3hH_MPUaGRWJTfF_HpZvkBO#t=1385
N-Sunderland: My Icarus brother from another mother. Sundie and I spent countless hours strategizing together on how to tackle the Paddling and a myriad of other competitive challenges. Renowned as one of Icarus' top engineers, he was also a brutal gunner, excelling on a variety of weapons, both heavy and light. I first saw N-Sunderland in some Let's Plays of Dr. Spaceman's flakfish, and had the good fortune to encounter him in some random games shortly after I started Icarus back in November of 2012. We became good buddies and regular shipmates, and it was to my great surprise and satisfaction that Sunderland was one of the RAFT crewmembers I had on my ship after I was selected as captain for the RAFT following a long, 6-month absence from the game. It was Sunderland's ability with the mercury that allowed us to snipe out the Lucky Duck's lumberjack during our "snipe rush" approaches vs. the Paddling, and along with Illmatar he formed half of the Hades gunnery team which gave the Mandarins the ability to get the fast mid-range kills upon which our strategy so depended. While I think his true passion for the game died out sometime in November of 2013, after the RAFT disbanded and the Mandarins coalesced, he stuck around long enough to give the Mandarins the edge they needed to pull through and win the Sky League.
Some of my favorite Sunderland moments:
Popping out the Lucky Duck's LJ with some highly accurate merc fire under full kerosene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH2-sqWa6JI#t=902
In tandem with Illmatar, a grab-bag of nasty double art-hades quasi-insta-kills:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hh0UgHYPa8#t=236
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hh0UgHYPa8#t=723
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcnWn_8_RL4#t=563
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8_NVkcqP4Q#t=1964
Honorable mention: Echo! Echo was only around for a few of the Mandarins' matches at the end of the Sky League, but he proved absolutely invaluable as my front decker. A great communicator and a crack shot with the Artemis, his previous experience as a competitive captain allowed him to give me just the right amount of spotting/positioning information at the right times. Two of my favorite Echo moments: first, during the Mandarins-GwTh Sky League game, he promptly alerted me to an extremely well-executed Fiasco Total hydrogen ambush, allowing me to duck under Fiasco's balloon-damaged pyra and come up on its stern at medium range with hades-art; and second, his uncanny ability to keep mental track of which components were active on enemy ships, allowing him to properly isolate and disable a key turning engine on an enemy CsRy pyramidion during the last game of the Sky League finals, permitting us to make a tidy flank completely unmolested and secure the Bo5 victory.
In no particular order:
Gorath: A Pastafarian, Gorath was a member of the team that posed the biggest non-Duck competitive threat to the Paddling during the days of Cogs Season 1. He was renowned for his mortar gunnery, a skill which was put to great use when he came to top deck for me on the Dancing Feather during the Mandarin days. Though the Pastafarians bowed out of Icarus competitive after Cogs Season 2, I had the good fortune to randomly pub with Gorath sometime in late January/early February of this year, and was immediately blown away by his skill on any number of weapons. At the time, I was in need of substitutes for front and top deck on the Feather, and so after a few Box Socials together he became my regular top decker, providing me with many a clinch, nearly impossible long-range mortar kill which neatly tied up what would have otherwise been very difficult situations due to overaggression/poor positioning on my part. A true beast of a crewmember in all respects.
Favorite Gorath moments:
The camera angle really doesn't do it justice here, but this kill was made going full throttle, adjusting altitude at almost 300m from target, a slim Junker hull. A great kill, especially with the respawned galleon looming ominously in the distance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8E3IJM1Oi0#t=706
Another great kill that helped make up for a really messy game on my part. The CsRy pyramidion was going full backpedal, in the clouds, adjusting altitude, close to mortar max eff. A real relief of a kill, given the sloppiness on my end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8_NVkcqP4Q#t=1019
Lueosi had me by the balls here, but Sammy softened him up a bit and I managed to turn the tables. A great almost-finisher by Gorath - not quite a kill, but pretty damn good considering the relative speed and distance of the two ships:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8_NVkcqP4Q#t=1900
Illmatar: For me, the original Hades master. Illmatar is a man of few words but of numerous long-range, highly accurate magma blasts. I first encountered Illmatar as a new duck just a couple weeks before the RAFT's Paddling game in late August of 2013, and was immediately impressed by his ability on the gatling. He ended up becoming my regular bottom deck, and was unfailingly available for practices and games. Both his skill and commitment were instrumental to the running of the Feather, and his amazing Hades gunnery allowed for truly nutso kills at ranges where it just shouldn't have been possible. The silent destroyer.
Some of my favorite Illmatar moments:
In a Gents game, managed to land almost two full clips of hades on the Gent Mobula at around 1300m, giving us a key long-range kill to take the Bo3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl7Wy2ZPboo&list=PLXy5l_wXGi3hH_MPUaGRWJTfF_HpZvkBO#t=1361
Vs. SAC, Illmatar managed to drop the hull of a respawned junker, giving us a shockingly fast one-clip kill and probably saving the Quackbar from a death due to a mistimed engagement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8E3IJM1Oi0#t=585
Another vs SAC. It's not readily obvious, but Illmatar was actually trick-shooting through a tiny crack in the vertical debris of Paritan here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XkahTSGoVw&list=PLXy5l_wXGi3hH_MPUaGRWJTfF_HpZvkBO#t=1385
N-Sunderland: My Icarus brother from another mother. Sundie and I spent countless hours strategizing together on how to tackle the Paddling and a myriad of other competitive challenges. Renowned as one of Icarus' top engineers, he was also a brutal gunner, excelling on a variety of weapons, both heavy and light. I first saw N-Sunderland in some Let's Plays of Dr. Spaceman's flakfish, and had the good fortune to encounter him in some random games shortly after I started Icarus back in November of 2012. We became good buddies and regular shipmates, and it was to my great surprise and satisfaction that Sunderland was one of the RAFT crewmembers I had on my ship after I was selected as captain for the RAFT following a long, 6-month absence from the game. It was Sunderland's ability with the mercury that allowed us to snipe out the Lucky Duck's lumberjack during our "snipe rush" approaches vs. the Paddling, and along with Illmatar he formed half of the Hades gunnery team which gave the Mandarins the ability to get the fast mid-range kills upon which our strategy so depended. While I think his true passion for the game died out sometime in November of 2013, after the RAFT disbanded and the Mandarins coalesced, he stuck around long enough to give the Mandarins the edge they needed to pull through and win the Sky League.
Some of my favorite Sunderland moments:
Popping out the Lucky Duck's LJ with some highly accurate merc fire under full kerosene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH2-sqWa6JI#t=902
In tandem with Illmatar, a grab-bag of nasty double art-hades quasi-insta-kills:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hh0UgHYPa8#t=236
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hh0UgHYPa8#t=723
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcnWn_8_RL4#t=563
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8_NVkcqP4Q#t=1964
Honorable mention: Echo! Echo was only around for a few of the Mandarins' matches at the end of the Sky League, but he proved absolutely invaluable as my front decker. A great communicator and a crack shot with the Artemis, his previous experience as a competitive captain allowed him to give me just the right amount of spotting/positioning information at the right times. Two of my favorite Echo moments: first, during the Mandarins-GwTh Sky League game, he promptly alerted me to an extremely well-executed Fiasco Total hydrogen ambush, allowing me to duck under Fiasco's balloon-damaged pyra and come up on its stern at medium range with hades-art; and second, his uncanny ability to keep mental track of which components were active on enemy ships, allowing him to properly isolate and disable a key turning engine on an enemy CsRy pyramidion during the last game of the Sky League finals, permitting us to make a tidy flank completely unmolested and secure the Bo5 victory.
9
General Discussion / Re: Top pilots
« on: November 12, 2014, 12:17:52 pm »
I'll have to jump in here and put in a plug for Squash and Captain Smollett. Though they've both been out of the game for a while now, my memories of playing against them in RAFT vs Paddling games still represent the most intense, challenging, and fun experiences I ever had in competitive Icarus, and managing to beat the Paddling in Cogs S2 is the accomplishment of which I am most proud, perhaps even beyond my time with the Mandarins. The sheer coordination and accuracy of the Lucky Duck's long range fire was truly a thing of terror, the equal of which I never again experienced after the Paddling's retirement. Squash and Smollett were, in my opinion, the greatest strategic minds Icarus has seen, and the Paddling was its first and likely best uber-team. They deserve to be mentioned here.
10
Community Events / Re: Changing to Bo3
« on: August 05, 2014, 05:21:55 am »
bo3 takes forever, please god no
11
Release Notes / Re: Version 1.3.7 Release Notes
« on: August 04, 2014, 01:37:38 am »
What the heck is "Cargo Hook" under Keybindings - Helm?
12
Community Events / Re: Hephaestus Challenge Tipping Thread
« on: August 02, 2014, 03:42:37 pm »
Match A
1 SIR 5-3
2 SIR 5-1
3 NA
Match B
1 Thralls 5-1
2 Thralls 5-0
3 NA
Match C
1 SIR 5-3
2 HRA 5-2
3 HRA 5-4
Match D
1 Thralls 5-4
2 Ryder 5-2
3 Ryder 5-3
Match E
1 Ryder 5-4
2 HRA 5-3
3 HRA 5-2
1 SIR 5-3
2 SIR 5-1
3 NA
Match B
1 Thralls 5-1
2 Thralls 5-0
3 NA
Match C
1 SIR 5-3
2 HRA 5-2
3 HRA 5-4
Match D
1 Thralls 5-4
2 Ryder 5-2
3 Ryder 5-3
Match E
1 Ryder 5-4
2 HRA 5-3
3 HRA 5-2
13
Feedback and Suggestions / Re: We don't need new art, we need a working game.
« on: August 01, 2014, 04:24:12 am »
man cmon it aint that bad sheesh. theyll fix it in a week, 2 tops
14
Release Notes / Re: Version 1.3.7 Release Notes
« on: July 30, 2014, 02:45:52 pm »
I started my smartphone stopwatch at the first rebuild hit and stopped it on the last. When rebuilding a light gun, I had average times of 7.0 seconds (holding mouse button) and 6.5 seconds (spam-clicking).
15
Release Notes / Re: Version 1.3.7 Release Notes
« on: July 30, 2014, 01:56:35 pm »- Fixed: Holding down the mouse button buffs/rebuilds slower than clicking rapidly
After several tests, I was sad to conclude that holding down the mouse button buffs/rebuilds on average about 10% slower than spam-clicking. Could you guys take another look at this one?