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Topics - BlackenedPies

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1
Gameplay / Magnate Theory
« on: July 25, 2017, 10:47:01 am »
With the introduction of new content, it's helpful to share your experiences and tips for other players. Here's my impression of the Magnate and ideas on how best to exploit its advantages and mitigate its weaknesses

Front Engi
Front engi choice is pretty straight forward: spanner mallet chem. Due to hull proximity and lack of other nearby components, chem is the right choice. When not facing direct armor damage the main engi can use their stamina and run to the main engine. This can be repaired from below like Galleon but the two other crew may be preoccupied with the four guns, two engines, and balloon. It's probably best to put the main engi in charge of main engine repairs full time when not in combat to allow constant engine burning and avoid engine damage.

This is the best position for a less experienced crew member, but doesn't mean it's any less critical than the rear positions


Rear Positions
The rear two positions are tricky. Normally the mid-deck would be a position for a wrench buff engi, but the position is further from the turning engines and balloon than the heavy gun position. Playing with a wrench buff in the middle and spanner mallet buff on the heavy gun felt lacking in repairs, and for this reason I switched to a second main engi kit with chem

A more natural setup is having the gunner in the middle and a main engi in the rear. This gives the main engi access to repairs and chems during reloads but loses the buff or gunner stamina on the heavy gun

With a double-buff setup it's possible to switch the roles and have the wrench buff on the rear and spanner mallet buff in the middle. The benefit is chem on the balloon and two buff hammers, but you lost the mallet on the heavy gun and balloon. I don't find this tradeoff worth it and would recommend only one buff hammer on this ship against dangerous opponents - similar to Mobula

If using a single buff hammer, there's arguments for both setups but I recommend starting with the buff in the middle and main kit in the rear. This gives better fire protection and is simpler for the crew

Loadouts can be built around these repair limitations. For example, if both guns use the same ammo then either engi/gunner can man them and positions can be swapped. A gunner could also move from the Hwatcha to the upper gun during reload if repairs are required by the main engi


Long range setups
Lumberjack Hades Banshee is a powerful combo. Arcs can get tricky so the 60 degree arcs of the Banshee are helpful. Either heavy clip or greased can be used for the Banshee. Heavy clip is great for long range precision, and greased can be used for closer range or the right side gun. Fewer heavy clip gun choices are available on the right side, but a great choice is Light Carro with its helpful 55 degree arcs

HCarro MK2 and Hflak are also viable for long range but more tricky due to the Magnate's vulnerability to disable. A Merc can even work in place of the Hades for extreme ranges. Coupled with a front Artemis or Banshee, the Merc and heavy gun can be deadly to large targets like Spire and Galleon at long range. Minotaur is harder to justify due to low kill power and lengthy reload


Mid range
Hwatcha is a natural choice due to its effectiveness at close and medium range. Minotaur, Hflak, and Hcarro2 can fit this role but may lack disable and kill power against dangerous opponents


Right side
Assuming your left side is for longer range, the right is usually built for closer ranges. Hwatcha, Hcarro, and HCarro2 can fit this role. HCarro is powerful but has limited arcs. HCarro2 can be used in combo with disable and kill guns, but is quite weak by itself. It holds the advantage of good arcs and being simple to use

Good front arcs still apply for the right side - I recommend Banshee, Flame, or Lcarro due to their arcs and close range power. The mid gun position is flexible with Gat being a popular choice


Favorite Loadouts?
My favorite loadout so far is double mine Hwatcha, flame mortar Hcarro. Mines are fun to use and the heavy clip Hwatcha can buy time before they start impacting. A gunner could fit well on this setup either shooting the mine or jumping to the Hwatcha for better arcs

The right side, flame (front) mortar Hcarro is potent at killing under-chemmed ships, but against Pyra Hwatcha is a clear better choice


Piloting Tips
I'm using the standard Kero, Claw, Hydro loadout. The Magnate is fairly maneuverable and easy to fly. Avoid heavy disable fire by protecting the rear. Be aware of your movement when using long range to avoid throwing off the gunner's shots. Plays pretty standard to me and nothing in particular to report, except to use Practice mode first to learn arcs


In summary, the Magnate is vulnerable to disable and heavily repair limited at the rear. Spread out repair cycles make transitioning from the mid gun to rear repairs time consuming. With organized crew roles or non-standard position setups these limitations can be partially mitigated. Powerful gun combos and good flying characteristics make it effective in pubs


What are your thoughts?

2
Feedback and Suggestions / #CommunityPatch – Buff Hammer
« on: January 27, 2017, 12:11:12 pm »
The +20% gun damage from the Buff Hammer is being looked at for the Community Patch. A few options have been proposed: reducing damage to +10%, increasing buff duration (from 20 to 30 - 40 or 60 - 80), and decreasing time it takes to buff guns (from 6 to 5 secs).

Increasing duration and reducing buff time benefits gunners and non-buff engineers more because it's easy for a buff engi to keep their own gun perpetually buffed, but buffing another crew's gun only lasts for a clip or two. Reduced damage bonus allows gunners to deal higher DPS while using stamina

What are your opinions on the buff hammer? Are there any other options you'd like to see tested?

3
Feedback and Suggestions / #CommunityPatch – Greased Ammo Balance
« on: January 27, 2017, 10:12:20 am »
This is a follow up and successor to the #AmmotudeAdjustment - Greased ammunition proposals thread. Proposals come from participants in the Skype group, and users on the forum

To a vote of 5 - 4, most preferred only changing jitter instead of both jitter and velocity. The argument against the first option is that jitter doesn't affect guns such as Hades and lumberjack. The argument against the second option is that reducing velocity would decrease arm range and therefor could be a buff

An alternative to decreased velocity is available for testing: decreased velocity without affecting arm range. An additional -10% could be added to the current -20% (-30% total) without changing the -20% arm range. This could, but doesn't need to, decrease range as well as projectile speeds

A similar option is adding shell drop, the opposite of the shell lift (lesmok is +30% lift). This affects projectiles such as hades, mortar, and flak, but not gat, banshee, or carro. In contrast, jitter mainly affects the latter guns

Another option has been proposed by ZnC: reduced damage values, specifically +10% clip (from +20%), -25% damage (from -20%), and +80% ROF (from +60%), which he explains in the previous Greased thread

If you'd like to test these new ideas, here's some options:

Option 1: -30% velocity, +10% arm time (optional +10% shell life to keep current range)
Option 2: -20% shell lift
Option 3: +10% clip, -25% damage, +80% RoF

Notes: Assume Option 1 & 2 include +30% jitter, values subject to change, options can be combined etc.

4
This is a follow up and successor to the #AmmotudeAdjustment - BURST ammunition proposals thread. The proposals come from participants in the Skype group, and users on the forum

Players indicated they don’t agree with removing the +20% clip effect of burst ammo, which would stop its use in every gun except Artemis and Hwatcha – the two guns which were the main subject of the proposed burst nerf. The increased clip gives it use on guns which only marginally benefit from increased AoE, including Hflak, Lflak, and Lumberjack

There’s a couple options: reduce AoE (which only significantly affects Artemis and Hwatcha), or directly nerf Artemis and/or Hwatcha. The Burst AoE value would need to be +30% or lower to have a noticeable effect

Hwatcha AoE is 14m and Artemis 2.5m. Along with the upcoming heavy clip change (removing the -25% clip reduction), it may make sense to look at balancing the Hwatcha. Options for this include increasing jitter or reducing the burst radius. Increasing jitter reduces effect burst range, and reduced burst radius affects both burst and heavy clip. Balancing Artemis is more tricky as there's only one main ammo for it, but one option is simply reducing damage

What do you think? Should burst ammo be changed, or is the underlying issue the Artemis and Hwatcha? What stats would you change?

5
Feedback and Suggestions / #CommunityPatch – Squid Balance
« on: January 26, 2017, 12:16:18 pm »
The Squid was recently changed in patch 1.4.9 to make it less tanky, reducing hull to 450 from 950 and increasing armor from 230 to 335. Some players feel this was too much and a significant nerf to squid. A common request is to increase turning acceleration, making it nimbler with its 4 light engines, and less reliant on Phoenix Claw

What values should be changed on squid? These will be tested this week Friday 5pm and Saturday at 12

Original: 230 armor, 950 hull, 20 turning accel
Current: 335 armor, 450 hull, 20 turning accel

My opinion is adding +100 hull (550) and increasing turning accel to 25 m/s2

6
Feedback and Suggestions / #CommunityPatch – Heavy Clip Balance
« on: January 25, 2017, 01:54:37 pm »
This is a follow up and successor to the #AmmotudeAdjustment - HEAVY ammunition proposals thread. The proposals come from participants in the open Skype group, and users on the forum

We’re split between -20% and -15% ROF. The rotation speed reduction is not significant, and lacking an additional penalty, IMO -20% ROF is more reasonable due to the high potential dps of heavy clip:

-20%: 1 / 5 shots miss in order to be better than regular ammo
-15%: 1 / 6.7 shots of regular must miss

Two other options were proposed: -10% clip (with -15 ROF), and -15% damage. The reduced clip proposal will only effect gat, banshee, and hwatcha (not Hcarro, Lcarro, or minotaur). The second proposal for reduced damage affects all guns similarly and would prevent Hcarro one-clip balloon disables (forcing reliance on loch or closing range)

Finally, the topic of jitter. The current value is -70%, but some argue for higher. IMO, 70% is relatively balanced for disabling components as higher may be too easy with guns like gat and Lcarro. It also limits the effective max range of Hcarro

Now it's up to you: should other dps values, like clip size and damage, be considered? Is a jitter change necessary? And is a reduced rotation of -15% agreed upon?

Option 1: -20% ROF
Option 2: -15% ROF, -10% clip (regulates power on gat, banshee, and hwatcha)
Option 3: -15% damage (balanced effect across guns)

7
Thousands of messages have been exchanged between participates in The Council (Skype link). This thread exists to poll players about our tentatively approved proposals for LOCHNAGAR ammunition. The most popular proposals are as follows:

Lochnagar Proposals

Lochnagar _______________
   
Self damage _____
   
Clip Size _____
   
Rate of Fire _____
   
Rotation Speed _____
   
Jitter _____
   
Current Stats
   
100%
   
-60%
   
0%
   
-80%
   
-60%
   
Option 1 (Revert)
   
250 DMG
   
One Shot
   
0%
   
-90%
   
-100%
   
Option 2 (ZanC)
   
100%
   
-50%
   
-50%
   
-80%
   
-60%
   
Option 3 (Daft Loon)
   
100%
   
-40%
   
-20%
   
-90%
   
-100%
   

Notes:
Option 1 reverts Loch to its pre-1.4.5 state
Options 2 & 3 were proposed by ZanC and Daft Loon, who explain here

This table is designed for you to reply with quote to this thread and select the option with which you most agree by deleting the other proposals. Each proposal is grouped between the [ TR]  and [ /TR ] tags, so remove those lines of code as necessary. Good luck!

8
General Discussion / Framerate Unlocking Guide
« on: January 18, 2017, 09:11:30 pm »
Unlocking framerate is possible in GOI, however it's a "use at your own risk" option and was preceded by a warning. Unlocking framerate uses more power, which may reduce the lifespan of components. Unlocked framerate in GOI was removed after complaints of overheating, and my tests revealed high GPU power spikes on a gtx 1070

Note: if you're using a 60 hz monitor, there's little or no benefit from unlocking framerate. While above 60 fps can appear smoother on 60 hz, you will only see 60fps. Wildly fluctuating frames, which are common in GOI, don't appear smooth. If you're able to push 80 fps in some places but frequently jump from 80 to 60, it may be smoother to simply stay at 60

If you're interested in unlocking framerate and are confident in your PC, download a tool like HWMonitor. Use this to monitor your CPU and GPU temps, as well as GPU power. Power use is a percentage of the base TDP. 70°C is safe for most components, but check online for your specific hardware tolerances. GPU-Z is another useful tool

I used the Ashes of the Singularity DX12 benchmark as comparison because it's good at fully utilizing CPU and GPU to 100%. In your tests, pick a couple graphics intensive games and play for at least 10 mins. GOI may require longer testing. Max values will be recorded in HWM

AoS GPU focused, Ultra:
CPU 62°C GPU 63, power 86%

GOI @ 120 fps, 1440p Max graphics:
CPU 52 GPU 62, power 107%

AoS max GPU power use was 86% - which is normal for my 1070 FTW at stock boost, and similar to three other games: Battlefield 1, Far Cry Primal, Watch Dogs 2 as well as Fire Strike Ultra (88%)

GOI power use was typically around 72% but spiked at 107% in one test and frequently spiked above 97% - a bit high but not dangerous. Testing GOI at 90 fps, max power use was 90% - which occurred in spikes and was usually closer to 65%. These are the highest values I've seen at my stock GPU settings. I'll continue to play GOI at 90fps

Important: your power use will vary, and above 100% is usually safe depending on the card and GPU settings. My previous Asus gtx 970 exceeded 100% due to a moderate overclock. Every GPU is different, even those of the same model. Most modern GPUs limit voltage and prevent damage from spikes, but prolonged use will reduce lifespan. As always, check online for your specific hardware

My specs:
i5 6600k @ 4.6 GHz (1.34v adaptive)
EVGA 1070 FTW @ stock boost 2012 MHz core + mem
Cooler Master Scout 2 case with 7 PWM case fans, 4 of which are controlled based on GPU temp
1440p 120Hz monitor

If you'd like to unlock framerate, add "--maxFps N" (without quotes) to the Steam launch options, and change N to desired framerate. Vsync must be disabled in game

9
The Lounge / LOL featured on the radio
« on: March 10, 2016, 01:55:06 am »
A video and cameo of the Shrike (from Alliance) got played on 96.5 The Buzz in Kansas City. I was having problems with the online blog and podcast so I emailed the producer Spencer aka Snowcone. To speed it up I made a quick video showing the problem, which on-air they called a tutorial. To producer's credit it wasn't his fault but the hosts gave him a hard time

http://www.965thebuzz.com/media/audio-channel/church-lazlo-030916-problems-podcast

10
The Lounge / Steam Trading Cards
« on: February 09, 2016, 10:44:55 am »
I looked today at the Steam trading cards and noticed a couple things. You can sell them on the steam market with most having a value of around 7 cents. I sold 50 out of my 300 at 1 cent below the market price. By the end I had made $1.73 ($2.45 now)

Who's speculating on the value of trading cards? Why are the basics you unlock after an hour of play worth 7 cents? Does anyone have experience in this market

I also noticed that I only have two Guns of Icarus cards: Galleon and Pilot. I find it a bit hard to believe that after 2660 hours there wouldn't be more unlocked. Check if you guys have any others. I kept the GOIO cards because they're only worth 4 cents and time is money so you're losing 30% by selling them (takes 10 seconds to sell a card)

11
Guides / Gat Mortar Guide
« on: February 03, 2016, 10:02:45 pm »
Gat

Try to make all the shots hit armor by avoiding shooting near components. Against a pyra this means aiming at the lower section. There are situations to aim for components, but if you're trying to kill then avoid hitting anything except armor. Reload as soon as you break armor. Most ships will rebuild their armor by the time you reload and it's a waste to shoot gat at broken hull. By reloading and holding fire you maximize DPS to armor

Mortar

You should often shoot before their armor breaks. Against low-armor high-hull ships like goldfish, spire, and squid you should prefire early to break armor faster and maximize hull damage (they rebuild quickly). Against squid you can start shooting when the gat starts. Another tactic is to count the number of mortars you need to kill and save that many for the armor break. Default mortar deals 126 dmg so against a pyra you can immediately shoot 7 and keep 5 in reserve for armor break. Each mortar does 27 armor dmg, so 7 shots will break 29% of a pyra's armor.

If the gat won't break armor on the current clip, shoot the mortar until gat reloads, and then reload. If armor doesn't break, reload as soon as the gat reloads because mortar has a one second longer reload (6 seconds). If the gat is nearing the end of the clip, shoot until gat reloads (unless armor breaks). If armor breaks and is rebuilt before finishing the mortar clip, reload if you don't have enough shots to kill or if it'll be 5+ seconds until the next armor break. In most cases you can hold fire instead of reloading if you have half a clip and expect a quick next break.

12
Guides / Triple engi guides
« on: February 01, 2016, 08:59:46 pm »
Quick crew guides for three engi setups

Squid: https://youtu.be/fSiztZ4GVcM
Pyra: https://youtu.be/HpX3TrWEcLY
Mobula: https://youtu.be/ckeElsuCQrQ
Spire: https://youtu.be/65ID9iCD-Oc
Galleon: https://youtu.be/JdhILIBpSWA
Junker: https://youtu.be/-aFAzKzf2zU

Made them all (except Junker) in the last hour and I'll probably update them later

13
General Discussion / New ships
« on: December 09, 2015, 04:27:27 pm »
The idea of new DLC ships to help with lack of content was brought up by Logicalia. There are two new ships in Alliance mode named the Crusader and Magnate. Muse may want to keep these Alliance exclusive but Skirmish is why people play. The allure of new ships could draw new and old players into the game but I'm not optimistic about Alliance. Two questions: can the Crusader and Magnate be balanced into Skirmish, and should Muse make them available to Alliance buyers?

From my testing the Crusader and Magnate are too weak to have competitive use in skirmish. Crusader doesn't work with the hull not repairable from below. Both ships suffer heavily from poor repairs and only serve as a glass cannon with high firepower and good maneuvering. Can these ships be balanced with tweaks and stat changes to become a "hard" ship in skirmish mode?

Everyone wants new content and we have two ships built. Should these be added to skirmish whether it be free or DLC

14
Guides / Metamidion: the case for the left gat
« on: November 05, 2015, 07:41:26 pm »
Everyone knows the metamidion has the gat on the right side but I'm gonna make the case that you're doing it wrong. Pioneered by the Glowater Thralls, the purpose of the swap is for efficient repairs and buffs while the gat is always shooting.

The build uses the standard 3 engi setup with the main engi spanner mallet chem, balloon engi wrench buff chem, and spanner mallet buff "gunner". On spawn the balloon engi buffs and loads top deck while the gunner buffs bottom deck. Buffs are recycled until combat when the gunner runs to the top. Balloon needs at least 60 seconds of buff with prebuff before engaging. Balloon engi should run and chem the mortar before getting into greased gat range. The disadvantage of this is that it's easier for the mortar to chem the gat than the gat to chem the mortar. Rangefinder has a limited use for the gunner to call out when you'll reach exactly 360m.

If the balloon takes significant damage in combat the gunner should run and mallet it. This is an advantage because it's better for the mortar to mallet balloon than the gat. Balloon engi should chem/repair balloon every reload and finish the prebuff when necessary. The balloon engi stays up top no matter what. If you're in trouble and need an engi downstairs then the gunner can jump down and help. Importantly you don't lose the gat and can still support and kill while the gunner is downstairs. Calling down the gunner is a last resort and only for if you can't kill without bottom deck repairs.

15
Feedback and Suggestions / Flare damage buff
« on: September 15, 2015, 04:26:18 pm »
Increase AOE fire damage of flare from 5 to 10. This would increase hull damage per shot from 19.5 to 26, and hull dps from 1.79 to 2.36. Very fair

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