I originally posted this on steam and have pretty much just copied+pasted it over.
Here it is >
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=186818519
No, this guide is not about sex. If you're some kind of sex fiend then look elsewhere!
This guide is about "Ramming" opposing airships effectively and, of course, with finesse. Who needs guns when you can use your own airship as a weapon?
What is this "Ramming" you speak of?Hello and welcome to my guide! Here I'll do my best in summing up and giving you tactics on ramming! If you have anything to add or have suggestions feel free to tell me in the comments!
According to Google ramming is
"Roughly force (something) into place."
The term ramming originates from the "battering ram" This was a siege weapon used to destroy and knock down fortifications using the force of the ram as it swings.
*Did you know* Back in the boring days when ships sailed the seas they used(And still do sometimes) rammed each other as a tactic? An example are the ancient Greeks and Romans who used ramming as an important part of their ships.
Here in GOIO we use ramming to simply crash one airship into another airship. In fact we can turn this into a simple equation
Airship+Ram+Another Airship=Awesomeness
Airship Types and RammingDifferent airships have a different "Mass"
Bigger ships like the galleon have a larger mass and are harder to knock around where smaller ships like the squid have a smaller mass and can be bounced around the map a lot easier.
PyramidionThis ship is MADE for ramming, it even says it in the description on the official site!
The Pyramidion has a good amount of armour and speed to effectively ram a target, Though it's fairly slow turning speed means you have to do a bit of prediction in your trajectory and speed or you might miss your target. If you think you are about to miss a ram then try to keep the enemy on your armed left side.
GoldfishThe Goldfish is an okay choice for ramming if needs be, you can knock the enemy out of alignment so their guns can't fire at you while you sit there and laugh as your heavy gun fires away. The Goldfish has below average armour but a lot of hull health so that allows it to take a few more hits if it's armour goes down.
It's speed and maneuverability are both average so if you miss you can readjust faster than with the Pyramidion.
GalleonThe Galleon is good for withstanding against rams but very good at ramming itself. It's slow movement speed and large surface area makes it an easier target to ram but it's larger mass and high hull armour will let you bounce the enemy rammers away while still having a decent amount of hull armour and being able to fire your side guns at them.
The Galleon isn't much of a ramming ship because it is very slow but because of it's mass it can deal some damage and bounce enemies away.
If the Galleon gets rammed and spun around by the impact chances are the heavy guns on the opposite side are going to be pointed at you
JunkerYou generally don't want to ram while using a Junker, you only have one forward facing gun and chances are the enemy you're charging towards will deal a lot more damage to your ship before you can actually hit them. The Junker has a good amount of armour but not as much hull health so unless the armour is up you can deal a lot of damage with a ram, but chances are if it gets spun around, like the Galleon, the guns on the opposite side will be ready to fire at you.
SquidThe Squid isn't much of a ramming ship and you should avoid being rammed or ramming with it, An exception is flying backwards and releasing tar into the enemy after you backwards ram them.
A squid can easily dodge a ram because of it's agility. It can quickly slow down or speed up and rise/drop to avoid rams from other ships. The hull armour of a squid is low so getting rammed or ramming with a squid will damage your armour quite a bit.
SpireAs a general rule you do NOT want to ram or get rammed while piloting this ship. It's very low hull armour means that if you get rammed once you most likely wont have much or any armour left to protect your exposed hull and that just leaves a big opening for them to shred the ship apart, and it's slow movement speed means you can simply drive backwards and leave the enemy behind. The defense a Spire has against a ram is the fact that it can drop and lift quite fast, but this isn't always enough to dodge a ram.
Let's use a Pyramidion and a Spire as an example. Picture the Pyramidion as a brick wall with spikes sticking out and the Spire as a lump of wet tissue paper getting thrown at that wall. That should give you a pretty clear picture of what happens if a Spire gets rammed
MobulaThe Mobula and ramming is similar to the Spire. It can be okay for charging head on but the Mobula has a lot of surface area for an enemy ship to aim at and if it get's spun around by the impact you won't have any guns facing the enemy.
Tools and RammingHere I'll be talking about a few different piloting tools which can aid a ram or defend against one.
Personally I usually use Phoenix Claw, Moonshine, Drogue Chute
RammingSpy GlassGet your crew to spot those ships! It'll make life a lot easier!
Lucky Phoenix ClawThe Phoenix Claw is useful for making last minute corrections if you are about to miss a ram and think you need a quick turning boost.
KeroseneGives you a nice boost to ram the enemy faster and push the enemy ship more. It also lets your engineers keep your engines repaired rather than if you were using Moonshine
MoonshinePersonally I prefer this to kerosene. It gives you a faster boost to hit an enemy at the cost of more engine damage, But that's not why I prefer it. When using moonshine it stops your ship from turning left/right as much so when delivering a ram you can keep your ship/guns pointed at the enemy while they are spinning away.
Hydrogen Canisterhis let's you adjust upwards if an enemy is trying to dodge a ram or let's you deal an "uppercut" to an enemy ship
Chute VentSame as Hydrogen, lets you adjust lower if the enemy is dodging a ram (Just make sure you don't lose too much altitude), Or lets you ram opponents into the ground faster.
Tar BarrelIf you are using a squid you can fly backwards and release tar into an enemy then fly away.
If you miss a ram you can deal some damage to the enemy ship by releasing tar just in front of them/on their ship as you fly by.
Drogue ChuteIf you have adjusted a ram by dropping/rising your ship but find you are dropping/rising too much and might miss a drogue chute can help you stabilise your ship.
Impact BumpersLet's you take less damage from a ram
Avoiding/Defending against a ramSpy GlassExactly the same as offensive! It'll let you see where that pesky ship is.
Lucky Phoenix ClawCan help turn your ship to show less of a target, help maneuver out of the way or turn your ship to get your guns facing the enemy if you get spun.
KeroseneThe extra speed can help you dodge an enemy ram
MoonshineSame as Kerosene, can help you dodge an enemy ram.
Similar to when you are ramming yourself activating moonshine as you get rammed will keep your ship in place so you can keep your guns pointed at the enemy
Hydrogen CanisterThis will help with dodging enemy rams
Chute VentSame as hydrogen, helps you dodge rams
Tar BarrelA enemy attempting a ram might have to maneuver around your tar if they don't want to take extra damage, or it can discourage them entirely. It can also help in breaking your spot letting you hide and re-position
Drogue ChuteSimilar to attacking, it will let you rise/fall slower so that while the enemy ship is still rising/falling you can start going the other direction.
Impact BumpersThis will let you take less damage from a ram.
Prepare the Crew! (And the other captains)You should always give your crew some kind of notice before you ram mainly because if your main engineer is off repairing some engines or guns thinking that the hull is at tip top shape when you do ram you're going to lose quite a bit of armour. And tip top shape is going to end up with your airship on fire crashing into the ground and exploding.
Suddenly moving your ship can mess up your gunners aim so letting them know will have them prepared to adjust their fire once you start moving.
Letting the other captain know you're about to ram can also be helpful. You never know if they might be about to ram and instead of ramming the enemy you'll end up ramming each other.
Or you can get your teammate to draw their fire and turn their ship presenting you with a bigger target and giving them a nice surprise ram!
Ramming EffectivelyAnd now let's get down to the main part of the guide, the ramming itself!
Ramming might seem very simple, point your ship at the enemy, and go full throttle! But that's only a small part of ramming. Here are a few tactics you can use when ramming an enemy airship.
When ramming you generally want to try and hit the side with the most guns. Hitting centre mass/ hitting them head on will simply push them back a bit. Hitting the back of their ship where the engines are will most likely spin their guns towards you.
If you hit the ship and manage to spin it so that it's guns aren't pointed towards you it can give you a few extra seconds of first trike to dish out more damage.
For example if you're fighting a goldfish you want the big gun at the front pointed away from you so if you ram the front of the ship and spin it away you can keep firing while the enemy pilot is still turning back. (This works amazingly with moonshine because when you ram an enemy airship yourself you might be spun around, with moonshine you can hold position)
Fighting ships with side on guns is a little trickier but you can simply... Ram them a little less hard. Yes it might be extremely tempting to just ram that ship as hard as you possibly can but you might just end up having guns on the opposite side pointed at you. If you know the enemy ships load out and know that long range guns are on the opposite side then just forget what I wrote above!
Unless you're trying to knock the enemy ship out of alignment it's best to hold off on ramming until the enemy hull armour is very low or destroyed. While you have your armour shredding guns firing at their armour you want to have your ship moving forwards just before the enemy loses all of their armour. This is so that when their armour does get destroyed you'll already be about to ram them and they won't have time to rebuild.
The best time to ram is when your hull is up and your targets armour is down, this let's you deal an effective finishing move to your target or largely cripple them.
Impact BumpersLet's you take less damage from a ram, but also reduces engine output so as a result you do less damage. However it doesn't effect your vertical speed so you can uppercut or pummel enemies down without a dealing less damage.
E.g. Chute vent on a spire or hydrogen on a Mobula will let you ram better and protect yourself with impact bumpers.
Pop them balloons!Ramming does more damage to balloons than hull armour. If you ram using the bottom of your ship (Unless you're on a Mobula) it will let you deal a lot of damage to the enemies balloon while taking a lot less damage to your hull. This can let you quickly disable an enemy ship if you don't have balloon popping weapons and let you focus fire with allies on another ship while the other is recovering.
Rams can also be food for a last ditch effort at survival. If you're about to go down and your ally is occupied elsewhere then it never hurts to do a final desperate ram to try and survive. And if you do end up surviving I recommend reversing out of there before they point their guns back at you.
Use the environmentKeep an eye out for ram opportunities, if you can ram an enemy, bounce them into a wall or cliff back at you then ram them again then go for it! Just make sure your hull armour is up to scratch or you might end up blowing yourself up instead.
Don't be stupidKnow when it's too risky to attempt a ram. If you end up taking heavy fire halfway towards your target then you'll probably end up blowing yourself up before you can deal any real damage.
If you think you're about to miss and won't be able to readjust in time then slow down (Moving slower = turning faster) and turn rather than over shooting the target.
If you have the wrong kind of ship, then don't try to ram. If you're trying to ram an enemy with a Spire then you're doing something wrong.
And here it ends...I hope you've learned something from my guide and feel free to rage at me, cheer for me or give me suggestions!
If you suck at ramming or piloting in general then don't worry and just keep on playing! Practice doesn't make perfect (Because nothing is ever perfect) But it does make progress!
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