Messages

1

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Developing the class gameplay.

« on: April 29, 2013, 06:47:45 pm »

So please don't try to diminish engineering. It's already incredibly deep as it is.

There was no intention to diminish engineering and I hate to see that this particular remark on my part became the focus of your reply. I threw together the original post in a short period late last night and was focusing more on the bullet points than the short quips at the beginning of each section. Certainly I mentioned, perhaps not strongly enough,  the current complexities of each class and of course absolutely love the gameplay that we have and how far things have come over time.

If I could edit the original post I would remove the 'left clicking' comment as that may seem to strike a wrong chord with many people and was not at all my desire. Again the question I was posing along with some of the minor suggestions was not about radical changes but what sort of things we can look forward to as far as development of the classes that we have now.

2

The Pit / Re: If the ships were people

« on: April 29, 2013, 03:38:16 am »

Flak+Gatling Pyramid = That guy who has everything going for him and is probably sleeping with your girl. You want to punch him in his beautiful jawline but you would probably lose the fight or at most inflate his ego even more.

Flamer Squid = 100% effort but never any results in life. The Flak+Gat Pyra is probably scoring with this guy's mother just for kicks. At least the guy is fast, he probably has a golden plastic trophy for some odd field sport that no one knows about.

All Flare Gun Junker = Life of the party but can never score. Need one in every group but there is never any love left for the big man.

3

General Discussion / Re: beta dayz

« on: April 29, 2013, 03:25:13 am »

Remember when carronade's shredded a ship's hull like it was paper.
Remember when there were no ranks so you feared the ship's name and not a number.
Remember when you were getting trashed in the dunes because you were still stuck loading the game.

And may the Repair Kit forever rest in peace...

4

General Discussion / Re: Played for the first time tonight...

« on: April 29, 2013, 03:14:40 am »

No such thing as losses, only temporary groundings and shipwrecks! Stay close to positive to crews and captains and you will have a blast. The key is communication, don't be afraid to ask questions and to listen to what the crew is asking of you! Try to stick with a game even if your entire crew including the captain has abandoned, there is always an opportunity to learn even in the worst of matches.

And if you run across a sour attitude or unfriendly fellow jump to a new ship and brush it off your shoulder. Welcome to Icarus, see you in the skies!

5

Feedback and Suggestions / Developing the class gameplay.

« on: April 29, 2013, 03:02:09 am »

As development becomes focused on achieving the goals for Adventure mode what sort of new features will be brought to gameplay? As a whole I believe GoI has created a solid system of mechanics when it comes to gameplay and classes (with balancing discussions aside here). I am, however, worried that the gameplay we have now may remain far too static to keep interest over the next year as we wait for the new gamemodes to be introduced.

Are there any considerations for adding more layers of complexity and customization in the months ahead or is the state of the game now what will be with us until 2014? I don't want to this to become a discussion of a realism as that is not what I want at all or what this game was meant to be to my knowledge, but additional depths to classes I think are very much needed.

-------Engineer
Let's begin with the Engineer. After a player has the basics of tools down and is familiar with the ship, gameplay can become very routine. Certainly it takes time and experience to have certain routes laid out on ships and to be confident in knowing where and when to be depending on the engagement and the style of your captain. At a highly competitive level these nuances are undeniable and separate the average from the talented. But for the majority of the games I think we ought to accept that being an engineer is a whole lot of clicking the left mouse key while standing by the hull.

• Perhaps we need to give every item on the ship the dual-health format that the hull has so that the engineer and captain have to choose in long and violent engagements what can be spared and what must be kept running. This will give a layer of choices to the engineering team besides focusing entirely on the hull. If you know your main engine can be permanently destroyed you will have a new stress to split time between that item and whatever else is priority. 
• Perhaps the types of repairs and the selection of items needs to be reworked. Engineers as of now have the choice between what provides the most health and what what has the quickest cooldown. Maybe there should be certain options for repairing equipment? A kit that can bring a gun back to life in an instant but hinders the ammo size or reloading time? Balloon patches that can repair the balloon in an instant but slows the speed of ascension.
• More options for buffing besides presets for all equipment? The possibility for an engineer to select between several types of upgrades for different parts of the ship each with their own benefits and consequences. In essence increasing the communication between the captain and engineer from solely repairing to a whole ranges on how to boost performance.

-------Gunner
I know there are a number of threads on the role of the gunner in current gameplay as is but felt their representation just as necessary in this post. Understanding ammo types, reload times, trajectory of your rounds, and the right timing with the right targets is a lovely spectrum of this class. Perhaps the best way to add to this class and the game in general is the introduction of new weapons and ammo types but those things are inevitably in development already. I will bring up a possibility on increasing the importance of the gunner and leave the rest for discussion.

• Weapons perform at a maximum efficiency when a gunner is operating them versus an engineer. The weapons receive a slight buff making it critical to have a gunner operating your main weaponry. This suggestion cuts but ways: should a ship's gunner be able to manage a damaged balloon that is on fire or a busted engine as fast as an engineer? Maybe their repair times should be reduced or when repaired only do so to half the health, just as a gun's stats should be reduced when operated by an engineer.

-------Captain
Between the freedom of choosing weapons, your ship, the style of play and flight, and the challenge of creating effective communication between your crew the Captain remains the class with the most options in terms of gameplay. What the captain lacks and I feel ship play in general is minor customization that would make a crew feel even more like their ship is their own. I admit my gaming roots are still in love with the old mech warrior franchise so I can't help but want to feel like every piece of my airship has been handpicked for the battle. So although this warrants another thread I still feel a slight mention can be made. More options pre-game in ship building is needed besides weapons. Nothing too complex but I think every component should have a selection, not just weapons!

• The ability to choose your hull type and armor. Some that allow for lighter and faster ships, others easier to repair, others slow to repair but tanks in the beginning fight, maybe certain combinations that are more resistant to certain weapon types but weaker to others or easier to catch fire?
• A maximum weight chassis/weight feature so that a captain is limited in his options and must balance the best and heaviest armor and arms with realistic weight limits.
• The freedom to choose the type of balloon! Some that allow for a faster climb, others more durable.
• Engines need options as well! Maybe engine types that allow for more extreme gameplay such as rapid acceleration but horrible turning and deceleration, or perhaps an engine that allows a better turning radius but is less resilient?
• Ship variants that allow for different styles and weapon placements. Instead of thinking about a Squid ship we begin to think of it as a Squid class!
• And of course it is impossible for me to suggest pre-game features without requesting the ability for ship aesthetics such as paints, minor decor changes, or even the much needed pin-up girl.

 
Again most of these items were only suggestions that I believe (or hope to be at least) possible in the realm of development even with much of the focus being on Adventure mode now. Giving more choices to each crew member, more customization for each class, and for each  ship will not only expand but also benefit gameplay. The mechanics are solid but I really do hope there is more to come for each class in terms of gameplay development. Additional ideas are welcome!

6

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: The sense of getting upper level.

« on: April 04, 2013, 04:53:12 pm »

Allowing levels to alienate a large portion of the already small player base is a step in the direction of intolerable elitism that already plagues a lot of competitive games, and in my opinion would be a mistake. I am very fond of Icarus for resisting that pull. This is something that is not needed. Just yesterday I saw someone request that another player be reported for being 'a noob'. This behaviour and mentality does not need to be encouraged by actual game mechanics.

This is exactly the type of response I was hoping for when I opened this thread, thank you Mor. Segregation of the community due to something as arbitrary as achievements simply because elitist do not want to mix with more casual gamers or those new to the game is a perfect way to ruin the community. If you want restrictions on the type of people in your game take it to a private lobby. 

Besides it is bad enough you will find a stacked 2v2 where 1's and 2's are being farmed by 8's and 9's who are more worried about the number next to their name then enjoying the game, the community, and lending a hand to the newer players.

When players become conscious about their K/D ratio more than creating a environment that is worth logging into then the game starts to lose the qualities that made it worthwhile in the first place.

7

Gameplay / Re: Mine Launcher

« on: April 04, 2013, 04:34:38 pm »

More things besides tar to shoot our of the arse of my moonshine Squid?

Beautiful.

8

Gameplay / Re: Junker Fight Club

« on: April 04, 2013, 04:31:35 pm »

I am starting to fall in love with the Junker again but need some tips on handling pyra's (may their captains burn in a special hell). They always seem to have the upper hand in a close range punch out and though I have been able to drop them with wonderful engi's and gunners working the ship that is less likely to happen with a skilled Pyra pilot.

They have the speed, the maneuverability, and an equal match or typically one gun more in firepower. I seem to fair average with most other ships but pyra's are absolutely frustrating since they all seem to fight the same ( the gatling/flak combo with the attempt to circle your ship in close combat while ripping apart the hull). Is there any advantage to the Junker besides being able to take more hits and hoping to drop the other bastard with superior gun play in this sort of fight?

9

The Pit / Re: WTF is this?!

« on: March 30, 2013, 09:46:19 pm »

Looks like some sort of cannon to fire dysfunctional crew members from.

10

Feedback and Suggestions / Making the most of matchmaking / Another gamemode possibility?

« on: March 29, 2013, 06:47:27 pm »

So I have been out of GoI for several months because my desktop imploded for various reasons leaving me with a laptop that strained to run the game. Luckily it seems optimization has improved and I have been able to get back online this past week and should have another desktop by the end of the month. I am thrilled to see the number of improvements over the years and congratulate the devs and community for keeping at it.

To try and catch up I have been browsing the forum to see what is in store for 2013, and between exploring the new features today and seeing what sort of suggestions everyone is making I would like to toss in my own two cents at a possibility of making the current gameplay more dynamic/competitive.

I am stripping this idea a bit from Tom Clancy's End War because I honestly thought the ranked matchmaking system they had was a fresh experience even if the gameplay was not up to expectations.


- Now before I begin I realize there is a lot of planning going into development of an entire adventure mode. I am not up to date on that quite yet but am simply thinking of a way to maximize what has already been developed to add another option of online pay while we are waiting for more developments down the road! -


The basic idea is that you would belong to one of two or three factions in a ranked matchmaking system. Every week depending on the layout of maps players would choose to play in whatever maps were open to them and after a certain amount of time the overall number of wins/losses from all of the matches would be counted and whatever faction had the most victories would 'capture' the map. The next week a new map would be opened to fight over.

Basically instead of fighting for the red team or blue team you would be locked into fighting for an actual team, the gameplay and map objectives would not have to be changed at all. The campaign would be over after one team has captured or won a total victory on all of the maps. It would then start over from the beginning with a fresh start.

If you want to get real technical then you could discuss a separate ranking system for the game mode where players start with a Spire and no equipment maybe one or two gun options and a one basic item. Winning matches would give you points to unlock the ships, guns, and items available to us already in general matchmaking.

At the least something like this could create a fresh dynamic and a sense of factional pride as we wait for the Adventure mode to come about. I am short on time and will revisit this post this evening but feel free to discuss!

11

General Discussion / Re: My experience today

« on: March 29, 2013, 06:18:41 pm »

@Phoebe has covered everything critical with an excellent response.

Don't let a few bastards ruin your experience, there are plenty of wonderful players and crews out there. Disregard them and try to build connections with the players that make this a great community.

12

General Discussion / Re: Fitting Music?

« on: March 29, 2013, 05:57:35 pm »

If it's not funky, it ain't flying.

Quantic - The 5th Exotic especially
Gorillaz
Brian Eno
Shaolin Afronauts
The Lafayette Afro Rock Band
Daft Punk
Monophonics
The Doors if the mood is right

It depends on the ship really. My squid requires afro-funk or new wave grooves, my junker needs some rough sounding bluegrass to carry me through the skies, if I am flying a galley I am shouting at the AI with my mic because they won't man the right guns or repair the right shit so no time for music.

(I just assume all Goldfish captains are listening to Ace of Bass or something like that, makes them feel real pretty.)

13

General Discussion / Re: Just Awesome

« on: March 29, 2013, 05:41:35 pm »

Welcome to the revolution. I hope to see you in the skies soon, just remember if you find yourself on my Moondog have a flask of whiskey handy for the good times.