556
Q&A / Re: Will there be more classes?
« on: December 27, 2013, 11:58:30 pm »
I like the idea of a gungineer with two repair tools and two ammo types.
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
557
Guides / Re: Some Guides i kept away. [How to mine] [Heavy flak] [Lumberjack]
« on: December 25, 2013, 06:07:45 pm »
The trick with incendiary mines is to aim almost straight up, that way the mine goes in a proper parabola and deploys right in front of you. Incendiary is also useful when the target is lower than you.
Burst mines are nice because it's easier to create chain reactions, and charged/loch not only increases the damage numbers, but also the knockback.
Burst mines are nice because it's easier to create chain reactions, and charged/loch not only increases the damage numbers, but also the knockback.
558
The Gallery / Re: Lobbies of Icarus online
« on: December 25, 2013, 04:38:34 pm »
I'm one of those guys that likes to take his time, and the vast majority of pre-match prep is spent on trying to cajole some sort of response from my crew members (using voice chat and personal messages), and then to explain how to change their tools,
"No, you have to press 'customisation complete'. No, that parachute will not save you if you fall off the ship, please bring a spyglass instead. For the fifth time, heavy clip looks like a bullet with a crosshair, NOT a bullet with a flame. What, you have an achievement that requires you to buff balloon? Well, I am captain and I have an achievement that requires me to win games, so bring chemspray or we will die a horrible flaming death" and so on and so forth. The worst part is getting people to switch from gunner to engineer, while convincing them that they'll still be able to shoot guns, except those guns will be buffed and better repaired.
Of course you can still have fun when everyone is relaxed and has no idea what they are doing, but for me the fun is in the feeling of working together as a cohesive unit, adapting to the situation, and then winning, or at least not getting stomped on by the enemy team while screaming at my gunner that he should be shooting the pyra's chaingun instead of whacking the hull.
I've gotten to the point where I ask my crew 'do you guys feel like winning today', and if I get no repsonse I just load up my hwachafish and watch the pretty explosions.
"No, you have to press 'customisation complete'. No, that parachute will not save you if you fall off the ship, please bring a spyglass instead. For the fifth time, heavy clip looks like a bullet with a crosshair, NOT a bullet with a flame. What, you have an achievement that requires you to buff balloon? Well, I am captain and I have an achievement that requires me to win games, so bring chemspray or we will die a horrible flaming death" and so on and so forth. The worst part is getting people to switch from gunner to engineer, while convincing them that they'll still be able to shoot guns, except those guns will be buffed and better repaired.
Of course you can still have fun when everyone is relaxed and has no idea what they are doing, but for me the fun is in the feeling of working together as a cohesive unit, adapting to the situation, and then winning, or at least not getting stomped on by the enemy team while screaming at my gunner that he should be shooting the pyra's chaingun instead of whacking the hull.
I've gotten to the point where I ask my crew 'do you guys feel like winning today', and if I get no repsonse I just load up my hwachafish and watch the pretty explosions.
559
Gameplay / Re: Artemis
« on: December 25, 2013, 08:58:50 am »
So, let's review the artemis. It does a small amount of explosive damage, enough threaten junkers and spires, but other ships can take a few hits. Nobody seems to be worrying about that part overmuch.
The problem is the shatter damage, which simply killls components in 2 or 3 hits. The shots are easy to land because of the wide burst radius, and even easier since muse added in the projectile expansion mechanic and made light gun hitboxes bigger. Naturally, the artemis is most effective on ships that have components clustered together, most notably junker lower decks, pyramidion engines, galleon broadsides, spires in general, and possibly squid engines.
Now, how to counter it- You could always fight fire with fire, and take more artemises. The mobula is very good at this, because unlike a junker the 3 guns are very spread out, so you can't hit two guns with one rocket. A three-artemis junker WILL get outsniped by a merc/art/art mobula. This approach is good because none of those guns require much skill. I would probably take this ship if I wanted to make sure I would win in a long-range slugfest against a junker with a pub crew, but it would be boring as hell for me as a captain.
The other approach is to disable their artemises indirectly by popping their balloon. A lumberjack+merc spire (or maybe galleon) would probably do the trick, but it requires skilled gunning and coordinated crew- if the enemy goes for your lumberjack, you take out their guns with your merc.
The third and probably my favorite approach is by using the good old blenderfish- you get to rob them of the satisfaction of breaking your front gun by doing it youself with lochnagar, then the second you come in range you rebuild then gun and pop their balloon with one shot.
The problem is the shatter damage, which simply killls components in 2 or 3 hits. The shots are easy to land because of the wide burst radius, and even easier since muse added in the projectile expansion mechanic and made light gun hitboxes bigger. Naturally, the artemis is most effective on ships that have components clustered together, most notably junker lower decks, pyramidion engines, galleon broadsides, spires in general, and possibly squid engines.
Now, how to counter it- You could always fight fire with fire, and take more artemises. The mobula is very good at this, because unlike a junker the 3 guns are very spread out, so you can't hit two guns with one rocket. A three-artemis junker WILL get outsniped by a merc/art/art mobula. This approach is good because none of those guns require much skill. I would probably take this ship if I wanted to make sure I would win in a long-range slugfest against a junker with a pub crew, but it would be boring as hell for me as a captain.
The other approach is to disable their artemises indirectly by popping their balloon. A lumberjack+merc spire (or maybe galleon) would probably do the trick, but it requires skilled gunning and coordinated crew- if the enemy goes for your lumberjack, you take out their guns with your merc.
The third and probably my favorite approach is by using the good old blenderfish- you get to rob them of the satisfaction of breaking your front gun by doing it youself with lochnagar, then the second you come in range you rebuild then gun and pop their balloon with one shot.
560
The Gallery / Re: Lobbies of Icarus online
« on: December 25, 2013, 02:44:52 am »
So, experienced captains beat inexperienced captains. Ship loadouts are also very important- at close range a junker has a very clear advantage over a pyramidion. News at 11.
That being said, you don't need thousands of matches and dozens of achievements under your belt to understand how to play the game- I've played a fair bit, and around 60% of what I know about playing the game I learned in the first three days of playing, by reading guides on the forums (steam guides are entertaining, but outdated). The other 30% I learned a few weeks in by pestering more experienced players (special thanks to my senior ducks, especially sunderland for parkour tips). A lot of newer players I've seen have been deaf and mute, which is kind of depressing
There's so much awesome information out there, and most veterans are perfectly willing to answer questions.
That being said, you don't need thousands of matches and dozens of achievements under your belt to understand how to play the game- I've played a fair bit, and around 60% of what I know about playing the game I learned in the first three days of playing, by reading guides on the forums (steam guides are entertaining, but outdated). The other 30% I learned a few weeks in by pestering more experienced players (special thanks to my senior ducks, especially sunderland for parkour tips). A lot of newer players I've seen have been deaf and mute, which is kind of depressing
There's so much awesome information out there, and most veterans are perfectly willing to answer questions.
561
The Gallery / Re: Lobbies of Icarus online
« on: December 24, 2013, 08:49:37 pm »
I'm sorry if I'm being a bit dense.. What are you trying to say with OP image?
562
Gameplay / Re: Range-Finder
« on: December 24, 2013, 08:34:53 pm »
I'd really like the option to disable the annoying 'aim-assist' circle when manning a gun. It's hard enough trying to pop someone's balloon from 2km out without people projecting glowing dots all over the place and possibly blocking my view of the target.
For people who know how to play the game, I would say the rangefinder is (somewhat counter-intuitively) most useful at ranges around 1km or less, with a special case for things like lochnagar lj/hf and carronades. Mostly, the guns that have projectile drop also have very long shell life, so it's less useful for those- it works best with guns that have no projectile drop (rockets, carronade pellets, gatling bullets). The most frequent case is finding exactly when the enemy gets within the 1200m mark, so you can instantly open fire with the artemis and be sure to hit. You can look at the other guns' ranges on the website, and if they're wrong bug muse to update them.
The true sniper's mainstays- lj, h. flak, merc, possibly hades- all have very long shell lives along with substantial projectile drop, giving them virtually unlimited range. Rangefinder is unnecessary, but they do require substantial skill/knowledge to predict how the projectile will act once drop becomes a significant factor.
p.s. muse, if you want the rangefinder to work with the true sniper weapons, change the aim-assist UI from a circle into a single dot (like the one used in space sims such as Descent:FreeSpace), that very clearly says, "If you shoot in this direction/angle and both you and the enemy maintain current vectors, your shot will hit", instead of the current "You are pointed in the enemy's general direction. Here, have a circle around them in case you didn't notice". However, such a system will probably be difficult to implement because it will have to account for muzzle velocity, wind, projectile drop, ammo type, and the speeds of the origin and destination ships. A tool like that will also probably render all my hard-earned LJ sniping skill moot, but that's a different issue.
For people who know how to play the game, I would say the rangefinder is (somewhat counter-intuitively) most useful at ranges around 1km or less, with a special case for things like lochnagar lj/hf and carronades. Mostly, the guns that have projectile drop also have very long shell life, so it's less useful for those- it works best with guns that have no projectile drop (rockets, carronade pellets, gatling bullets). The most frequent case is finding exactly when the enemy gets within the 1200m mark, so you can instantly open fire with the artemis and be sure to hit. You can look at the other guns' ranges on the website, and if they're wrong bug muse to update them.
The true sniper's mainstays- lj, h. flak, merc, possibly hades- all have very long shell lives along with substantial projectile drop, giving them virtually unlimited range. Rangefinder is unnecessary, but they do require substantial skill/knowledge to predict how the projectile will act once drop becomes a significant factor.
p.s. muse, if you want the rangefinder to work with the true sniper weapons, change the aim-assist UI from a circle into a single dot (like the one used in space sims such as Descent:FreeSpace), that very clearly says, "If you shoot in this direction/angle and both you and the enemy maintain current vectors, your shot will hit", instead of the current "You are pointed in the enemy's general direction. Here, have a circle around them in case you didn't notice". However, such a system will probably be difficult to implement because it will have to account for muzzle velocity, wind, projectile drop, ammo type, and the speeds of the origin and destination ships. A tool like that will also probably render all my hard-earned LJ sniping skill moot, but that's a different issue.
563
The Signal Tower / Re: Pie warning!
« on: December 22, 2013, 02:49:47 pm »
Well, at least muse will get lots of sales so they can improve the game more.
564
The Signal Tower / Re: Ducks vs Cake eSports Presentation w/ The Rob and Dan Show!
« on: December 21, 2013, 03:12:31 am »
What's your youtube upload policy?
565
Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Toggle-able aim asist
« on: December 04, 2013, 02:51:44 pm »
The current 'aim assist' can be compensated for if you're skilled enough, but you need to be able to see the ship's hull so it's impossible to do when zoomed in too much. I'd suggest turning it off globally because it can be really annoying when the ship is turning quickly.
566
Community Events / Re: Regarding the Regarding the structure of the next Competitive Season
« on: December 02, 2013, 04:56:37 pm »
I think sammy's idea for percentage penalty on point income of large clans is pretty nice/simple/easy to implement, and I don't really see any flaws. We'd have to work on the precise math, but a system of diminishing point returns for additional teams in a clan sounds appealing.
edit: that came out really awkward, but the idea is to subtract a fraction of points from bigger clans.
edit: that came out really awkward, but the idea is to subtract a fraction of points from bigger clans.
567
Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Match lobby mute + volume and usb stick
« on: November 30, 2013, 12:36:54 pm »
Modern operating systems (specifically their sound servers) typically let you adjust the volume of individual programs, though you have to remember to switch it back once the game starts 
568
Gameplay / Re: Artemis
« on: November 24, 2013, 08:32:34 pm »
I'd say it's exploiting the art's inability to aim up by bringing a ship with better vertical speed.
569
Website and Forum Issues / Re: Fireside Chats and Linux
« on: November 23, 2013, 01:51:08 pm »
From my experience only chrome's bundled pepper flash plugin crashes on twitch. If you use the solution in the link (install adobe flash and disable pepper flash) it works.
http://help.twitch.tv/customer/portal/questions/1522314-flash-constantly-crashing-on-google-chrome
The real issue is that adobe's flash on linux is borderline obsolete and probably insecure as they've dropped support for it. I would much prefer holding fireside chats on something like IRC.
http://help.twitch.tv/customer/portal/questions/1522314-flash-constantly-crashing-on-google-chrome
The real issue is that adobe's flash on linux is borderline obsolete and probably insecure as they've dropped support for it. I would much prefer holding fireside chats on something like IRC.
570
General Discussion / Re: Ship Scrambling and Other Upcoming Features
« on: November 20, 2013, 12:54:27 am »LoL is in fact solo and team based at the same time, for instance all players have to work together to win, however you really don't need much communication, if all team members know their role they can do pretty well versus a team that doesn't know what their doing, this however is another thing entirely.
This is pretty correct. League of Legends is designed around minimal communication and roles that don't vary much from game to game. There are lots of tools that allow for League to implement systems so players don't have to ever talk to each other (which is evident in the pinging system and how it's designed).
Don't we have a ping system too?
By 'other stuff' I meant the new spawn system, which will affect how games are played pretty drastically. It was mentioned in the blog post, so I thought we might want to talk about it. However, the topic is big enough that it'll probably need its own thread.