Any advice for an experienced newbie?

[Animaji]

I played Guns of Icarus consistently until I got to level 9, and then I stopped playing for almost a year. I've basically lost all knowledge of basic strategy (what little I knew) and even how to play. Today, a couple of friends who had never played before wanted to start. I figured I'd jump back in so we could play a game together. Except, being level 9, I can't play any novice games (even with my other characters who are both level 1).

I thought I'd just create a new account and start over, but I can't because the accounts are tied to Steam. To get a new GoI account, I'd have to get a new Steam account. So we played a non-novice game, and it was awful. I felt horrible for the other ship on our team who basically had to do everything alone. And there's no way for us to improve by playing together since everyone else is so much better than we are.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what we can do or focus on to improve and have fun without screwing it up for other players?

[Imagine]

Find a match with some higher level players, and ask them.

No seriously, if you're willing to learn, to ask and actually listen to what they say, most are extremely willing to teach. Some will not, sure, some might not have the time or want to teach at that given time, but for the most part? You'll learn more from then that you would just playing the game.

[Arturo Sanchez]

for one thing play all 3 classes.

[DJ Logicalia]

Yeah, what Imagine said. If you ask higher leveled players to play with you so you can learn from someone more experienced, you'll be miles ahead of everyone else in your level. Most of  the upper level pilots are friendly and love seeing new players wanting to learn. The 45 might seem intimidating, but for the most part, as long as you're polite enough, you can nab an experienced pilot to teach you all sorts of things

[Lovely LadyBell]

If you are every feeling lost in the game, ask a higher up player. Typically they are higher up for a reason, ie they have been playing a long time. Most players don't mind answering your questions anyway. You could always ask your captain too, they tend to provide good advice.

I'd also recommend, if you have forgotten how to play the game, revisiting the tutorials or even playing in the singe player mode so you can experiement with the games weapons, ammo and tools to figure out what works best for you strategy wise or what works best in general. Its also a great place to test out new combinations for piloting, engineering etc. Whenever i want to try a new strategy out you can bet i'm in there.

If you ever need help, just friend me on guns and pm me if you see me on. I'll help you out when i can for sure ^_^

[Indreams]

Microphone - that wins most games at newbie level.

Aim - Almost everybody knows that you can aim for and disable components of enemy ship, but its something else to actually do it. Don't aim at the ship, aim for specific components.

Metabuilds - Metamidion, Carrotmidion, Blenderfish, Hwachafish, and Hwacha-Galleon are few of the many builds that are pretty common in the game now. If you are returning, you might want to read up on these, or figure out how they work. eight out of ten, you will be crewing one of these ships.

[ShadedExalt]

Carrotmidion?  Is that dual carro Pyra?  I prefer Carro/Flame...

[Replaceable]

Carrot. Carronade/Artemis

[nanoduckling]

Depends on how many of you there are. If there are less than or equal to three of you then I'd be happy to give you a few lessons, if I'm online it is around 7-10pm Eastern most days at the mo, just add me and send me a PM. Honestly, there likely worse players than you who have graduated from novice matches because they actively continue to make mistakes when warned otherwise (the other day I had a level 11 captain bring a pyra with double flak front even though he had been told it was ineffective and why it was ineffective). If you are prepared to listen you will probably start outclassing other players pretty quickly.

Make sure you understand the material in the tutorials. If you are not confident then leaving piloting until you understand the other roles. Consider serving on ships with well defined roles (for example a blenderfish (heavy carronade on the front of a goldfish) typically is run in pub matches with a gunner using heavy clip, charged / loch / incendiary and heatsink who shoots the balloon, a left engineer on the left gun, balloon and main engine and a right engineer on hull, right gun and turning engines. Avoid ships that require distributed roles like the squid to begin with. I would also avoid the Spire because your instincts are likely to lead you astray (spires need to shoot and kill fast and knowing when to repair on a spire is difficult). I strongly suggest you accept the loadouts your captain sends should they send them, but feel free to ask why a particular loadout (the fact you are asking will tell your captain you don't fully understand your role for a start).

Other options including searching the forum for guides on different ships. There are pages and pages here on how to operate things like a metamidion or metajunker, how to crew each ship and what each ammo type and tool is for. Bottom line though, you will need practical experience to get good, reading and thinking can only supplement the instincts and skills you build actually playing.

Remember that teaching can be an imposition and some folks may be looking to just play rather than educate. Some folks can be asses about this, but they wont be great teachers anyway. You are probably best of respecting these players wishes. Some players are happy to teach and suggest but aren't very good at it / lack patience. Just like you are looking to get better at the game by playing it they are looking to get better at explaining things by doing so, I'd have a little empathy if you've found yourself an instructor who happens to suck.

[Zhunk Light-Cloud]

Find a match with some higher level players, and ask them.

No seriously, if you're willing to learn, to ask and actually listen to what they say, most are extremely willing to teach. Some will not, sure, some might not have the time or want to teach at that given time, but for the most part? You'll learn more from then that you would just playing the game.

I think that's the best tip out there.
I've started playing about a month ago and major part of understanding and learning the game was from asking questions experienced sky-sailors.
As Imagine said, most of them are willing... I would even say "eager" to help and teach.
Don't be shy and just ask questions!

[ShadedExalt]

I stalked the Wiki and the forums before even buying the game, and I did all the tutorials and picked things up pretty quick.  However, I'm still learning, and what I did is basically ASK QUESTIONS.  Seriously, go do it.













Now.

[Replaceable]

Yeah, if in doubt ask the question.
Sure beats fucking up and facing disappointment  from your captain by doing something hideously stupid.

Like chem spraying the engines when you first spawn meaning your captain can't moonshine.

Or wasting time buffing a squids hull.

Or bringing lochnagar for a Gatling gun. 

[BlackenedPies]

Here is an easy ship if you're piloting with your friends:

Pyramidion with gatling or carronade on balloon side and flamethrower on the right side (for gunner).
If you're fighting a pyramidion bring a gat, if you're fighting anything else bring a carronade.
Gats break armor and carros break balloons.

A side flamethrower isn't a bad idea but you wont use the back gun on the ship. I'd recommend it as a flare. It's generally best to only use your front guns and if they are on your side, use phoenix claw to turn around. 2 guns are better than one, and your main engineer always has stuff to chem spray/repair.

As a pilot bring kerosene to go faster, phoenix claw to turn quicker, and hydrogen to go up. Don't be afraid to use your tools! This is the most common pilot mistake (besides bringing the wrong tools).

Your engineer on the bottom should bring spanner mallet and extinguisher or chem spray. Chem spray is better, and if they constantly run around the bottom deck in a circle while chemming, nothing will catch on fire (for 25 seconds). All 3 engines can be repaired from below, a common mistake is believing that the main engine can only be repaired from the top. It's a good idea to hug the inside of the engine curve because you may get stuck on the outside part.

On the balloon side have an engineer with spanner mallet chem spray. Greased ammo if you have a gat and heavy clip if you have a carronade. Whenever your engineer has free time they should be chem spraying their gun and the balloon. They should do this at least every two times they reload while they are shooting too. It's very important that crew get off their guns every time they reload to repair their gun.

For the gunner bring lesmok for long range, burst for medium range, and heatsink for close. Lesmok extends range by 70%, burst spreads out more fire, and heatsink gives you more shots and makes your gun immune to fire. To test if you're in range of the flame shoot for 1 second and wait to see if the shots hit.

With the carro use heavy clip for longer range (has about the same range as lesmok flame), and regular ammo for close range. Aim for balloon.
With the gat aim for their armor. It's longer range than the flame.

Just make sure not to shoot guns if they are damaged. If your armor and balloon are chem sprayed you will be almost invincible to those pesky flames.
This is a pretty close range build so burn kerosene to get in fast. Get as close as possible as fast as possible. Ramming is good but not if your armor is broken, or if you ram your guns off.

This is regarded by many as the easiest build. This is due to the fact that many crews don't use chem spray effectively and are thus very vulnerable to flamethrowers.

If you want any help with ship builds or strategy just ask the forums. We are glad to help!