Goldfish 1.3.3

[The Djinn]

Most pilots I have flown with just need to work on learning gun arcs and reload times, then remember that the Goldfish has two side guns. I hate sitting on a Goldfish side gun with another ship almost in arc while their armor is down, their guns or engines are disabled... and the Hwatcha is starting a reload.

It does seem to be an epidemic, yes. One way to really help is to ask the front gunner to call Hwacha reloads as "reloading," "50%," "75%," "arming," and "ready." This gives even unskilled or unaware captains a constant idea of when the Hwacha is ready to fire, and, perhaps more importantly, when they should swing off the side guns to bring the main gun back in arc.

Also, don't feel above reminding your captain that the side guns exist: if there's an easy target that I've ignored due to tunnel vision, or I've missed a key piece of information (like having a side Mortar and not noticing the armor breach on the primary target) I want my engineer to call for the side guns. If I've got a side Gat or Flamer that's got a nice line of burn I want an update on range and/or ammo remaining, so I can keep him in the damage until his hull drops or the flamer is out of ammo.

Long story short...communicate about the side guns. Call your proximity to them, or ask which side is about to be brought up. Remind inexperienced captains that the Goldfish actually does swim like a fish: forward, side, forward, side, forward, side, trying for the bifecta as much as possible (if your guns allow it). Any good captain should appreciate the communication: worst case scenario you're telling him something he's already aware of, and I know when my crew tells me that stuff I already know it usually just reassures me that we're on the same page.

[YoloSwagJesus]

I don't think most captains realize that you can keep gun arcs for both the front and side gun if you maintain a proper angle and have the right guns. The easiest combo I found that does this is the hwatcha artemis...it makes disabling much more effective, and it also makes the goldfish a good finishing ship.


I'm assuming I'm not the first captain to figure this out, but I don't think I've seen anyone else doing it that much.

[Machiavelliest]

Gilder, do you mean heavy carronade? I thought I was the only one who couldn't get out of the habit of calling carronades flaks. I blame Unreal Tournament.

I believe he's talking about the olden times when the Heavy Flak was an unbeatable machine of destruction.  I would like to point out that all the drawbacks of the Goldfish mentioned are still there with the Heavy Flak being on the front. 

I've been gone about six months, and coming back the Goldfish felt like it used to, just without the massively overpowered Heavy Flak, and mass physics reasonably added in.

[The Djinn]

I don't think most captains realize that you can keep gun arcs for both the front and side gun if you maintain a proper angle and have the right guns. The easiest combo I found that does this is the hwatcha artemis...it makes disabling much more effective, and it also makes the goldfish a good finishing ship.

I think most experienced Goldfish pilots know this, but it is something that newer pilots tend to forget, yes.

[HamsterIV]

With the more recent patches I feel the gold fish is underpowered compared to other ships in rolls it traditionally excelled in. The following points are based my gut feeling on the matter and I have little to no hard evidence to back it up.

In the kitable heavy weapons platform roll, the Spire's new gun angles make it a much more powerful ship. At long range the goldfish had a slight advantage over the Spire due to the smaller hit box. One extra light weapon did not count for much when you heavy weapon was missing one out every 4 shots. Three extra light weapons, especially the easy to use Artemis, make the decreased accuracy of the medium gun less of an issue in a spire goldfish duel.

In the disabler roll the Artemis Junker and Mobula builds are proving to be far more effective than a Manticore gold fish. They can engage from longer range and keep an enemy ship pinned far more effectively with a steady stream of fire, as opposed to a wall of rockets every 15 seconds. A hwacha fish is better for delivering a finishing blow to a hull stripped ship than a 3x Artemis ship, but not by much.

In the close range balloon popper roll the Blender fish is still superior than its competition. The heavy coarronade does more damage than the light variant on the squid, and the goldfish is far more capable of surviving the ram which is usually used to finish off a grounded ship. The Goldfish is more maneuverable than the Pyra or spire who might try for this roll. The junker is in a different category since it can not pursue and pop balloons at the same time. Unfortunately close range balloon popping doesn't work against a coordinated team, so the goldfish's best roll is for trolling uncoordinated PUG's.

I have to admit a little bias against the Goldfish. I like to say "on my ship every one shoots," which is untrue on a Goldfish. Also one of my first bad GOIO experiences was with a captain who tried to use the Goldfish as a sniper platform. We spent the entire match ineffectively lobbing heavy flack at targets that were way out of range while out teammate ran in and died over and over again. I never felt more useless.

[Mizhir Starsurge]

Given that it took me a while to get my "Kill Goldfish" achievement done, it can be concluded that the Goldfish is underrepresented, atleast outside novice matches. Since it is one of the 3 ships that are available in novice matches, but still not so common in other matches, it must mean that many people disregards it.

[Dresdom]

Most pilots I have flown with just need to work on learning gun arcs and reload times, then remember that the Goldfish has two side guns. I hate sitting on a Goldfish side gun with another ship almost in arc while their armor is down, their guns or engines are disabled... and the Hwatcha is starting a reload.

There's a reason why they called it goldfish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5-YktNq6wc

To swim they tilt their heads to one side and the other... One side and the other... One gun side and the other...

[Queso]

Since it seems the game has moved heavily towards comboing guns well since early in it's life when the goldfish was designed, I wouldn't be against giving the side guns a tiny bit of a forward tilt. Enough so that you can get a light heavy combo with some weapons, but not enough that you don't have to still swim the ship, and certainly not enough to trifecta.

[Nidh]

I find that despite the Goldfish's decent turning speed, using all three weapons is impractical. I try to only use the right-most sidegun along with the main to maintain a bi-fecta. Switching between all three guns takes too much time and throws off any position-related advantages in my experience. Best to find two guns that overlap in arc and just use those (Heavy Carronade + Artemis, and Hwacha + Light Carronade work well) As to the reason why I use the right-most gun, it's the easiest to access for the hull-engineer. For the left-most gun I usually take a support or an "in case of ambush" weapon.

[Crafeksterty]

I wouldn't be against giving the side guns a tiny bit of a forward tilt.

I would not go there at all. It would become an unhealthy trend that would also go by Squid.

To swim they tilt their heads to one side and the other... One side and the other

Come on guys, think about this.  With the use of all 3 guns, you are basically a heavy disabler. Much more so than the Squid
I even hold a mine on my goldfish just to give an extra pressure. Not only that, the goldfish is a good rammer. Not as good as pyra but it can still ramm a ship situationaly.

[Spud Nick]

Needs more cannons. As in new heavy guns to use on the front. Heavy piercing weapon so you can brawl with the Fish! or a heavy fire weapon because fire weapons are hot.

[Coldcurse]

I think the goldfish is actually fine the way it is now...

[Wundsalz]

I find that despite the Goldfish's decent turning speed, using all three weapons is impractical.

I disagree with this. On a blenderfish I prefer mounting a wide-arc support weapon (unsually banshee or arte) on the right side as well. However I really don't want to miss the mortar I usually put on the left side. It can come in very handy to deliver the killing blow in case there is not structure around to allow a proper crash. Strip'n strave or ramming in an angle which bounces in the mortar are quite efficient for mid air encounters, imo.
As for the hwacha fish (which I rarely ever fly, because I dislike it) all 3 slots can be utilized decently as well. hwacha shot on approach, gat volley to strip the hull, hwacha again to disable and either inflict first hull damage or to finish the striping work. Followed by a mortarvolley to finish the job.

[Nidh]

I find that despite the Goldfish's decent turning speed, using all three weapons is impractical.

I disagree with this. On a blenderfish I prefer mounting a wide-arc support weapon (unsually banshee or arte) on the right side as well. However I really don't want to miss the mortar I usually put on the left side. It can come in very handy to deliver the killing blow in case there is not structure around to allow a proper crash. Strip'n strave or ramming in an angle which bounces in the mortar are quite efficient for mid air encounters, imo.
As for the hwacha fish (which I rarely ever fly, because I dislike it) all 3 slots can be utilized decently as well. hwacha shot on approach, gat volley to strip the hull, hwacha again to disable and either inflict first hull damage or to finish the striping work. Followed by a mortarvolley to finish the job.

We'll have to agree to disagree there. I find it's too slow even with claw to be effective, since decent engineers will have the hull back up before the mortar sees any use. Granted, they'll be completely disabled and that's the primary goal of a Goldfish, but by turning from side to side you give up any positional advantage gained from sustained orbiting, whereas if you continued orbiting you could end up in a better position to take out their engines. Also, with the slowed momentum and extra time taken concentrating on one enemy I feel more susceptible to fire from the enemy's ally. I feel it's best to switch targets and disable the second enemy anyway while your own ally cleans up the disabled one. The Goldie is a support ship after all

[Alistair MacBain]

Decent engineers on which ship?
The best engineer cant rebuild a hull of certain ships fast enough.
A Squid has pretty much no armor. Thats the reason for its absurd low rebuild time (4 spanner hits). I agree for the squid its probably impossible to get the switch fast enough.
But for most other ships (specially pyra, junker and galleon) you will have alot of time to switch.
Other ships are more tricky due to their lower armor causing lower rebuild times.