Messages

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: [Commander] Sanity keeper - Improved block function & /kick

« on: April 06, 2013, 04:29:02 pm »

There is also surrender in match that actually doesn't count against stats, and maybe we should tell people that more, although that's a bit risky for abuse.  For pre-forming crew, crew formation is almost done, but probably won't make it into this month's build, sorry about that, but that will go in as well. 

Glad to hear that some steps are being taken. Even pre-crew-formation will help a lot, IMO. And... I didn't know that about the surrender button. That's a plus I guess.

But just to point out... no matter what you do, if you allow user input then some players, somewhere will abuse it. Question is... how much can other players protect themselves from the abusive ones?

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Static component status indicators

« on: April 06, 2013, 04:22:02 pm »

I would like to see this. Maybe it can be done in some other form but I'd like to see it or something like it.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: [Commander] Sanity keeper - Improved block function & /kick

« on: April 04, 2013, 07:43:46 pm »

There's that too, but you can draw from a game's own community easily as well.  See - GMod.  There's a couple factors that have kept GoI safe so far, but as the population picks up it's going to become more and more likely.

Quoting Helmic for emphasis.

Communities with minimal to no moderation on the internet have been tried before, first in 1978 or so but the pattern - specific dynamics aside - it repeats a lot.
Basically... you start with a small core of people and it works well. Then a service gets popular and generally several times its size... trolls also emerge and with no way to filter the signal from the noise, over the next period (typically a few months to a few years) it degrades until it's just a wasteland.

Maybe the community representatives and the devs playing, maybe that's enough to keep it in check. But Helmic's right.

If you're interested in further reading, check out "A group is its own worst enemy" (just an article you can google, not a book).

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The Docks / Re: Ahoy aviators!

« on: April 03, 2013, 05:54:55 pm »

Still recruitin'!

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General Discussion / Re: Fellow Ex-Gunners Of Icarus Lend Me Your Ears!

« on: April 03, 2013, 04:42:02 pm »

This thread was an interesting read. As a pilot/captain, a few thoughts I'll share in case they're of interest.

* Getting two gunners makes me groan as much as having a second pilot. Three will make me quit the match if they won't change before it launches. But three engineers I'm content with, especially if they listen when I tell them what ammo to bring.
* A good gunner is awesome. But I've found most gunners can't really shoot, even with the Hwacha. As someone else mentioned, it comes down to that whole keeping ship momentums and stuff like that in their head.
* A good gunner on my quad-hwacha Galleon can be pretty devastating. They can disable most ships before they can really do damage, and if they slip over or under, switch to the other side's guns and take out those engines. Buuuut...
* I pug pretty much all the time, can't seem to get a consistent crew together. Most gunners suck. I'd rather have 3 engineers (but definitely a minimum of two), cause when a gunner can't do the above and disable a ship's gun, you really can't get by with 1 engineer holding the ship together. Stressful times, you really need two and ideally a third that can try to get a gun up quick.
* I have tried briefly and would like to try guns besides the hwacha (or hellhound on my Fish), but I can't count on having a gunner that can hit dependably or, honestly, even at all.

And lastly...
I'm not going to try another role any time soon, I think. If I did, I think I would want to try gunner. Mental math on trying to hit two moving objects, using the ideal ammo, that sort of thing's of more interest to me than just trying to figure out what to hit with a wrench first.
But there's just too many gunners already.

Fortunately, many will switch to engineer when I ask them to (though I feel kinda bad doing it). I myself, meanwhile, will be staying at the helm. Piloting in this game's interesting, at least : )

6

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Allow more special characters to be in ship names

« on: April 03, 2013, 11:38:29 am »

...I wonder if it would be at all possible to increase the overall character limit? So a second to that request above.

Longer names are (IMO) cool, and for a vessel I don't think it's really a hindrance? And I do love Culture-style names ：D

There used to be no limit, but people abused that and made these really long, pointless names that messed up the GUI in lobby. If they find a way to make them longer without going back to that, then more power to them. Otherwise it might just be maxed out for that purpose.

Yeah, I can see that happening. On the flipside right now I have to call my Galleon the Size Isnt Everything instead of Size Isn't Everything.
I'm for having a limit, but a more generous one would be cool! (Maybe put an ellipsis in the lobby display if it's too long, then just display the full name when they click the ship or in game?)

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Spawn System Rules

« on: April 03, 2013, 02:23:12 am »

I like this idea.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Ability to choose your title

« on: April 02, 2013, 10:00:13 am »

Eh. Choosing titles is common in other games and I don't think a big deal? Some people just like the ones you earn early in, and as a cosmetic item, there's a good case (IMO) for making it user-selectable. But how about these as a compromise:

* Lock out the really early titles, say the first 3 levels. So you can choose any title from 4-10, but people will always know you didn't just buy the game today. The exact selectable range could be flexible.

* Prepend the title with a number, like say [10] Aeronaut. This is actually a bit more intuitive... I don't know how many people memorize the titles tables but I sure don't!

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Allow more special characters to be in ship names

« on: April 02, 2013, 09:52:07 am »

...I wonder if it would be at all possible to increase the overall character limit? So a second to that request above.

Longer names are (IMO) cool, and for a vessel I don't think it's really a hindrance? And I do love Culture-style names ：D

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Balloon/flechette attacks

« on: March 31, 2013, 11:34:49 pm »

In 2v2, I think it's a bit OP.

That sounds like an OP argument to me.

And you can retaliate, with all of the information that has been provided so far in the thread. If you just ignore all of it, well then thats on you.

Prevention isn't really the same as retaliation.

Consider the double hwachas again. If they come in hard... you take out their weapons, but their engines are on the other side of the hull. Then can go full reverse and just run. If you *do* get their engines... hwachas have a long reload, time the rebuild to just after a volley and try to get away, or rebuild your own weapon-destroying weapon (hwacha or whatever) and take out mine before they cycle. There are ways to counter that counter and it might just fail, but, seems a lot easier to pull off to me.

Flechette... best defense that's worked for me is, as you say, stay high and don't let them get close. That's prevention though.

But I guess I shouldn't complain while I'm using it. It's a pretty sweet setup for all the DM achievements and watching people rage is funny as all hell.

edit: Well let me just put it this way: It's *one* component that's attackable from any angle and dies quickly and disables the whole target vessel more thoroughly and safely than anything else.

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Balloon/flechette attacks

« on: March 31, 2013, 12:59:04 pm »

By the way, I do have to say - it's hilarious watching people rage when you use this on them. Some of them get so worked up XD

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Balloon/flechette attacks

« on: March 31, 2013, 11:38:48 am »

Staying at max altitude and trying to defang the fish is pretty much my main strategy. And yeah, a coordinated team is a good defense. But ehh, if it took 10 minutes per kill or even 5, I wouldn't be able to finish a match in my carronade fish with 3+ kills.

I just don't think there's anything else that can so easily "lock" a ship so completely. Even with dual hwachas on an enemy they can get away much more easily. In my own experience, I've had all 3 of my crew on a balloon and it just won't stay up more than a second or two after the rebuild.

And, you know, with clouds and map geometry, keeping an enemy at range isn't so easy as that. Even if I decide to go for a direct approach with my fish, they can't touch my engines and it's pretty easy to just tank most things and repair/rebuild the gun as I go (once it gets rebuilt, they're screwed. But bring the luck charm thing that increases turn speed, it's vital for pointing the carronade at them before they can turn about).

In 3v3 or 4v4, I think it's a little too easy, but it's no huge deal.
In 2v2, I think it's a bit OP.
--Even with a completely newbie ally that hardly knows how to drive and leaves me to fend off 2v1 most of the time, I can often get a kill or 3 still. Especially on maps with a lot of geometry or if they aren't at max altitude, you can get a kill in like 30 seconds sometimes. Granted, if they both have effective builds and are very well coordinated they can keep you off... most nonclan teams seem to lack one or the other though.
If we see 1v1 in adventure mode, I think it'll come close to being a win button. Even if you destroy the gun, they only need to get it repaired for a few seconds to take your balloon down and then you're not getting another shot at them unless they can't stay on you.


TL;DR: Sneaking up isn't that hard with map geometry and clouds. Yeah it can be countered but it seems like it's just far easier to implement than other strategies...

(I'll keep working on my 3 more kills than deaths achievement in the meantime though ^.^)

13

Feedback and Suggestions / Balloon/flechette attacks

« on: March 30, 2013, 05:49:34 pm »

So... lately -- after getting them used on me -- I've been playing with flechette weapons. The carronades, that is.

I'd like others' thoughts on this, but slowly I'm leaning more and more towards thinking they're a bit overpowered?

I mean it's been great for my get 3 more kills than deaths and other goldfish achievements... but it just renders the victim ship completely helpless. They can't shoot back, trying to run just speeds their demise. As soon as it's rebuilt, it gets knocked down again, and that's without instructing my gunner to hold fire until they repair.

Yeah, teammates can help, especially in 3v3, but in 2v2... they're often busy with your other teammate.

It's also an attack that works from any angle, whereas other component attacks, you need to, say, approach from behind (engines) or face the weapons you're trying to take out, and so on...

But with a balloon attack, you just stay above, shoot down, and there's just nothing they can do, even with 2-3 engies constantly rebuilding the blimp.

My personal strategy is drogue chute and hope my ally responds/can respond when I call. It really seems about all I can do, and certainly my victims when I launch the attack seem just as helpless. Certainly even with a more conventional attack, an ally's help to take the heat off can go a long way, but not even a hwacha renders one as fully immune to retaliation as this.

So, I wanted to put it on the table for discussion. Unless I'm missing some key element or there's some other reason, do balloon attacks seem a little OP?

And another point for the upcoming adventure mode... if there are adversarial missions and only 1 ship per side... it seems like it will come down to whoever can knock down the other's blimp first, or to whoever brings a carronade or two if one player decides not to.

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General Discussion / Patch today?

« on: March 29, 2013, 06:00:09 pm »

Where can we find the changelog for today's patch?

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Ability to choose your title

« on: March 29, 2013, 01:40:36 pm »

Putting in my support for being able to choose your title.

(Not supporting the weird level stuff people want to change)