Norse for "Spear" it is used by the fjord baronies (IIRC, could be off but I know one of them factions is sky vikings!) as a raiding ship. Designed for quick attacks and even faster retreats back into the roiling fog that permeates the north, the ship was built around a relatively simple concept:
Harpoon and board the enemy while menacing them with the largest gun possible.
Primary features
Pros
Medium weapon on a light ship:While having the lowest amount of guns of any ship in game, it does feature the largest gun on the lightest and smallest of ships. The downside however is that the gunner is largely enclosed inside the hull, and thus has very poor view and traverse. On the other hand, no balloons above you give it exceptional elevation to shoot targets above.Mostly inboard engines and side balloons, made for speed:The engines are low and only partially exposed. A small catwalk runs between them, under the ship allowing easy access to repair. The balloon likewise straddles the ship on either side, slightly higher than the engines.
This gives the ship a very streamlined profile, along with oversized engines for a ship of its class, giving it massive acceleration and top speed.
All the better to ram you with my dear!:This ship, opposite of the squid, focuses more on armor than hull (if only slightly in the opposite priority) and on head on attacks than flanking. The speed, jutting prow, commanding view and slightly higher armor all make for a devastating raider, capable of smashing into a foe and wreaking bloody havoc before speeding away, which it does quite excellently in reverse to boot.ConsVery vulnerable to flanking, engines are quite a target:With both balloons AND engine open on the sides, and slow turning ability, the ship can quickly be crippled with a full broadside taking out all your mobility. Losing a single engine when you only have two means you lose proper control until some semblance of order is returned to them.
With hull and armor comparable to the squid, losing your mobility will be the death of you.
It requires quite a bit of forethought:Or rather some, at any rate. With high speeds, forward facing guns only, and one of them being rather caged in, a captain needs to think like a gunner more now than ever. Properly predicting the enemy ship and orienting your own towards it in as exact a method as possible is imperative.Concept and usage
The concept comes from Viking long boats, made to move quickly in rivers and to launch and land in either direction! This allowed the vikings to raid, plunder, and make off with the booty faster than anyone could react. All they had to do was literally hop into the ship, push off and row the other way.
In Guns of Icarus online, the Geirr takes a page from the viking playbook in that it travels very quickly in forward or reverse, making it highly effective assaulting, or running away from the enemy. Unlike most however, you will need to "lance" your foes, rather than the usual broadsides or turning and burning.
The high elevation on the medium gun (Due to no above balloon) plays into their theoretical lore of hiding in the mists at low altitude, before ambushing ships from below. Then they would quickly rise to their elevation, harpoon the enemy ship for quicker boarding, and keep the medium gun trained on the hostile crew to prevent any foolish action. Just as quickly, they could detach the harpoon and slink back into the mists.
One burning question I imagine people might have: How is this not a pyrmidion 2.0?And an excellent question that is. What's to stop the Geirr from throwing on reverse and laughing as it forever outruns you in reverse while blasting away?
For one thing, there are no medium guns with the accuracy and ease of use as the field gun. All mediums require at least some degree of skill to aim due to dropoff or pilot skill to get in close enough to use it. Now, they could use something like medium flak and a field gun, but consider this thing does not turn well, and the flak will be "caged in" by the hull with a very low traverse range. Keeping the ship perfectly aligned, while running backwards, with no guns to cover your sides should you get flanked is a dangerous thing indeed. And thus it is not without risk or skill.
Obviously there is also the lack of tank, and side weaponry as mentioned above. The pyrmidion at least has a pair of guns for turning if absolutely necessary, while Geirr does not. Geirr must fight, run, or die. It cannot turn battle, so to speak.
At any rate, if you got this far, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed reading the concept as much as I did writing it!
