Ahoy!
More than glad you've found your way here, sailor, for there's much to be learned about the glory of the Goldfish. 'Fore I'm done with you, you'll learn to love the ship as I do. A glorious sight, a amazing sight, simply breathtaking to behold her break free of a sandstorm, shaking sand and dust from her golden scales, gleaming in the light of the dying sun! Yes, I can see you are having tears in your eyes upon imagining this sight. Worry not, it is usual that we are overwhelmed by the grace of those ships. Let's go into detail, and find out what exactly makes them so wonderful.
Ship Stats and Resilience
Hull Health: 400
Hull Armor: 1100
Balloon Health: 1200
Acceleration: 2.0 m/s²
Radial Acceleration: 6 deg/s²
Vertical Acceleration: 3.3 deg/s²
Max Speed: 32.4 m/s
Max Turn Speed: 12.6 deg/s
Max Vertical Speed: 10.5 m/s
Mass: 150000
Hull Profile: 680 m²
Balloon Profile: 969m²
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SpeedGoldfish are the lightest among the heavy ships, but remain very well balanced. Only the Squid beats them in speed, and while a Spire clearly beats them in turning speed they are still fast enough to turn to keep the front gun pointed at the enemy most of the times. At all other ocassions, they're on par with a Spire if using Phoenix Claw.
Hull Two shots of a Mercury Field Gun reduce their Hull Armor to nothing, and so does one well aimed clip of a Gatling. A Heavy Flak takes about 3 shots to destroy the Goldfish's Hull, which helps the disadvantage of not having a very strong armor. Still, the armor is very reliable as it takes at worst 3 strokes of a mallet to have it in good shape again.
BalloonThe Balloon of the Goldfish is quite reliable, you can use Hydrogen to raise from the ground to the height limit and still have about a third of it left at best. As a note, if you're under carronade fire, you can make attempts at quick rising if your balloon has about a third of it's health back. Still, given the speed of a Goldfish it' can be possible to maneuver out of harms way for a long time with the Drogue Chute and your balloon constantly being repaired and popped again. If you're in open terrain that won't work good, but if you've got a chance to take some cover for your balloon, it'll be up and going in next to nothing. About 4 strokes of the mallet bring the balloon back to full life again, considering that you can attempt short maneuvers with Hydrogen and Chute Vent just around with half of it's life.
EnginesThey're a little exposed at the aft of the ship, especially the accelerating engine. The latter is also difficult to reach, as you've got to get up to the helm of the ship, running away from the hull and balloon. One beat of the mallet and they're good to go, though, all of them. The lower engines, the turning ones, are especially pleasant to repair, even though you've got a dead end with them. If there's anything with Area of Effect hitting your Goldfish, the Engines will often remain unharmed unless directly targeted, or unless the AOE strikes close to the aft of the ship. They'll be relatively safe if you're just taking damage from the front and the sides.
GunsYour front Gun is always very exposed and easy to hit. A missed shot from front is often bound to not hit your hull, but disable your front gun. Get a manticor from front, your hull's mostly alive, your front gun isn't. If you're expecting a tough fight, it's a good idea to ask the Gunner to repair his own gun, the midship engineer will have a much easier time running around between Hull, Engines and medium guns then. Your medium guns are on the sides of the Goldfish, and because it's a fast ship to turn around, you won't use them often. Mostly it just works better to have your heavy front gun do all the work. Close and long range weapons are equally effective on a Goldfish, although I find that you can forget about a light Flak on the sides of it. I'd recommend self sufficient weapons - Some medium weapons are effective already on their own, such as the gatling and the carronade, while others need to be complemented by something to lash out their full potential. If you're in trouble, your medium guns will soon be down. They're on the exposed sides of the Goldfish, and they'll take a beating along with the hull.
Examples on Loadouts
A Goldfish comes with one Medium Gun and two Light ones. Medium at the front, light at the sides. Also considering it's loadout, it's a very versatile ship - Go long range with a Lumberjack or Heavy Flak, Medium distance with a Heavy Carronade, and up close with a Hwacha. A Goldfish can accomodate just every heavy weapon perfectly, it is as effective as a long ranger sniper as it is as a close combat harassing ship. | 
However, it is very difficult to point 2 of it guns at a enemy ship at the same time, some weapon combinations make it easier (anything close range), but in general it remains a matter of equal portions of skill, luck, and the size of the enemy ship. Flamers make a good posibility for this, as they have a wide range of AOE. |
To have a example for a fairly well working loadout, here's one of mine:
Front: Hellhound Heavy Twin Carronade
Portside: Barking Dog Light Carronade
Starboard: Whirlwind Light Gatling Gun
It's rather close range oriented, and I try to make best of use of the Goldfish's easy maneuverability and speed, working in much the same manner as a squid that pops ballons. Get us at a dead angle, behind or above the enemy ship, and pop their balloon. The weapons on the side are mainly for defensive use, that's why I like to keep them self sufficient - A medium carronade can pop a balloon as well and rob the enemy of his advantage. A gatling will at least keep one of his engineers busy, or give us a opportunity for a quick ram. They hardly back up our front gun, though, except the side carronade. It's amazing how often you have a enemy ship with a popped balloon diving trough under you, and you're still able to catch it with the medium carronade on the side. Still, it happens rather seldom that I have to rely heavily on the side guns.
Let's cover the single positions of the Loadout screen aboard the ship in more detail:
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Front The Main Weapon of this Goldfish is a Heavy Twin Carronade, used to destroy Balloons with about 2-3 hits with Heavy Rounds, and 3-4 without them. The front weapon of the Goldfish is quickly accessable for Gunner and the Hull Engineer, and ideally your gunner will spend most of his time sitting in it or standing next to it spotting.
Starboard Gatling guns make quick work of any other ships armor, except those of Galleon and Junker. For a Galleon they take about 3 or 4 clips. Note that the Starboard Weapon slot is very close to the Hull, so a Engineer repairing the Hull will have a very easy time switching to the starboard weapon!
Port A simple light carronade, apt at popping balloons. It goes along good with the main weapon of this Goldfish, the Heavy Carronade, but also poses a threat to enemy Balloons on it's own. Most likely the Gunner will have to man this one, because the Hull engineer would have to run a circle everytime for getting to it and leave the hull unprotected. The Engineer close to the Balloon would have a quite long way still.
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Keep in mind that this loadout is by no means perfect or complete. The Heavy Carronade at the front can easily be contered by raising higher than the Goldfish and hiding the fragile Balloon with the much more resilient hull. The carronade on the port side is ill positioned, because any member aboard the ship would have to give up a more important position to reach it, and a weapon that is less viable for defense, and more for attack, would be better there. For this, the gatling could just be switched with the carronade, to have a defensive weapon close to the hull, and a more offensive weapon further away from it. Don't just blindly copy things you see on fancy screenshots, but use your best judgement to determine what loadout to use aboard your ship!
Engineering on a Goldfish
You've chosen one of the nicest ships to engineer on. Well, let's be honest, you've chosen THE ship to engineer on. You won't find a better one, trust me. Very well!
The single components of the Goldfish are all a little far away from each other, but given the size and the easy maneuvering aboard of the ship you'll get around quickly. The only thing you'll hardly ever examine more closely about the ship is the front gun, but you'll often find yourself using the side weaponry.
Usually you've got one Engineer at the lower deck, tending to the hull, and one Engineer at the upper deck, tending to the balloon. The latter won't see much of the action going on, because there's quite some distance between the balloon, the main engine at the aft of the ship, and the weaponry midships. Still, if things are dire, the Captain doesn't have a long way to get the Balloon up and going with a Shifting Spanner, and the balloon-engineer can quickly jump to the engines at the lower deck.
| Unlike on a Squid, you'll need to bring a Rubber Mallet to effectively repair the hull (and all the other components) of the Goldfish. Buffing it's hull will greatly increase it's already not so bad defenses, and buffing the engines will provide your Captain with even more speed to rush to the death of your enemies. Finally, just as aboard every other ship, buffing the guns increases their damage. Always a good idea with the front gun of the Goldfish, in good times it will constantly be in action. |  |  |
That's where you jump off the upper deck to get to the engines
on the lower deck. |  |
Gunning on a Goldfish
 | You'll be the hero of the day if you bring a headset along! Gunnery on a Goldfish is a not too difficult task, if your Captain knows where to point the ship, and if your enemies aren't busy picking off your guns with their Mercury Field Guns. Usually, you'll be in or just next to the big gun in the front of the ship. Make yourself at home there, learn to treat it well. If there's a Carronade or a Hwacha, expect that your Captain will bring you close to the enemy ship and don't give your position away by shooting before you're in effective range. If there's a Lumberjack or Heavy Flak, prepare for a long range engagement and make sure every shot counts.
The side guns are usually manned by the engineers, especially the one next to the hull. If all your engies are on duty though, you'll have to use your best judgement or the captains orders to know which gun to man. Keep in mind that the front gun will likely be the one your ship and captain rely the most on, and the side guns will either serve for defensive measures or complement the strategy necessary for the front gun to be effective. The side gun one next to the stairs leading to the helm is more difficult to reach for the engineers, so you might occasionally keep an eye out on that one too.
If you're on the front gun and your target is below you, chances are your captain can't see it. His view will be obstructed by the hull and nose of the ship, and you'll have to tell him directions and mark the ship as often as possible.
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Captaining on a Goldfish
In my humble opinion, the Solace Goldfish is a amazing ship.
You probably expected me to come up with some cool captaining secrets after enduring this long wall of text, but there is no best way to use a goldfish, nor a strategy to work under any circumstance. I can say with absolute certainty, that the Goldfish is the most gracious ship out there, blessed with a absolutely balanced and devastating mix of speed, resilience, weaponry, maneuveability. It has no weakness, other than probably it's broadsides and it's backside.
A Goldfish can be made to fit almost any strategy - You want to go for popping balloons, fine, equip a heavy carronade or lumberjack. One is close range, one is long range. You're more into making short process with hulls? Heavy Flak for long range, Hwacha for short range. The Hwacha does not truly render hulls useless, at least not until it has rendered the rest of the ship useless, but with a Goldfish you're able to get in close enough to your target to make every single missile count, and move quickly out of the fray again if you're in danger. Together with it's speed and good armor, it can take one single ships as well harass others for your allied ships to deliver the final blow. Going for flaming with the sidegun is possible similar to a squid, charging right in and ramming works just a little worse than with the Pyramidion. When you captain it, you've got a good view on what's ahead of you and to the sides, your view to the back is a little obstructed but you'll see anything approaching under your balloon still. For anything directly under you you'll have to rely on your crew to call you positions.
Other than that, it makes for a very easy and calm flying. It moves fast, but allows for sharp turns if you set the throttle to none or backwards shortly. If you crash into something, it can take the damage. If you're going low on the ground, it doesn't have much draft. It's a perfect ship to get used to captaining, and it'll still be worth returning to at any other moment. Just make sure you don't show your broadside to the enemy, that's when the Goldfish is the easiest to hit. From front and behind it's slim and gracious.
Your side weapons can be used for defensive means, then best make them able to hold their ground on their own. A single rocketlauncher won't render your enemy incapable of shooting at you, but a popped balloon by your light carronade my rob him off his advantage. Also, a armor that is rendered useless by a gatling might change the other captains plans. They're as good for attacking, though - You might have to turn the ship a little at times to get them in good range, but you can easily look left and right to see their firing arches. The enemy ship survived your Hwacha? Now a rocket launcher at starboard might just be enough to cripple the rest of them!
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Hydrogen Raise from the ground to the height limit in a matter of seconds, the Goldfish is already good at gaining height, with that it's just amazing.
Chute Vent Similar - You'll have to be careful to not outright crash into the ground when you use it!
Drogue Chute Your balloon is very easy to hit! Use the chute until your balloon is up to half it's health again, and you'll be fine to use Hydrogen to get higher than that carronade that's pointing at your balloon!
Kerosene I don't find the increase in speed so horribly strong, but it definitely helps matters. The downgrade in maneuverability with Kerosene is very noticable on the Goldfish though.
Moonshine Just as on any other ship. Goes well together with impact bumpers and ramming, helps you to accelerate to full speed early in the game.
Impact Bumpers You can usually avoid getting rammed by careful use of hydrogen and chute vent and your advantage on speed, but you'd best bring those if you're intent on ramming.
Phoenix Claw Now that damned Squid won't fly around in circles anymore! Makes you turn fast enough to match a Spire.
Spy Glass Personal preference. If your crew feels up to it, have them do the spotting for you.
Tar Barrel Got someone daring enough to come close to your Goldfish and you're on the move? Tar Barrel can be easy to avoid, but you might want to give it a try. You'll at least force the enemy to get lower or higher, to not straightly fly into the black cloud trailing behind you.
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That concludes our time together, lad. I am by no means a captain worthy of telling you how to fly your ship, but I hope you could gain some insights and information from the few thing's I've noticed during my time flying the Solace. If I get the chance to, I will actualize and refine this guide, so feel free to comment on it! Give me your opinions and ideas, and with the time we can hopefully make it somewhat proper! |
