Let's talk about ship roles

[Alblaka]

To start the thread properly, two things are to be mentioned:
-We are not discussiong ship TYPES directly
-Neither are we talking about PLAYER roles.

I'm still quite new to this and didn't found any information collection in this direction and accordingly would like to ask the more experienced players for help.
I'm looking for some sort of 'classification' or 'type', aka 'role' ships can take.
Examples: Scout, LRS (Long Range Support/Artillery), Disabler, Capper, Tank, DamageDealer, Shredder etc

For example I've messed around with a Flachette-heavy Goldfish and found it incredibly efficient in CQC, dropping balloons within 2 salvos and forcing the enemy into the ground. The role of dropping enemy balloons without going for hullpoints at all could be called a 'Shredder' (or 'popper'? ) Role.
As well I've had the chance to serve on a well commanded Galleon which was loaded with 4 Manticore and pretty much brought the rain to enemies from afar. Aka, one could consider such a setup a 'LRS'.

What sort of roles can be considered viable for GoI?
Which ships can (with which setups) fit into said roles?
What's your favourite role?
Are there particulary effective teamcompositions?

C&D

[HamsterIV]

These are just terms I use/stole from other people. I don't think there are any official ship rolls.

I look at a carronade equipped squid or goldfish as a "Tackler"  their job is to get in close and above the gun reach of slow medium weapon ships like the galleon or spire. It is very hard to match the raw damage output of ships like the Galleon or Spire so the Tackler provides an alternate strategy to deal with them. It also has connotations of driving your opponent into the ground, which is appropriate.

The Pyramiddion and Junker when armed with a combo of Chain and flack are what I consider "Brawlers" They have enough health and firepower to out fight many ships at close range. Also the chain flack combo does not require that much finesse to use effectively

If a squid uses a nose mounted gatteling gun, or a pyramidion goes for duel chain I tend to call those ships "Strippers" because their roll is to strip armor for another ship with explosive weapons to finish the job.

A goldfish or spire with a manticore I call "Disablers" because of their tendency to break engines and weapons but not really kill the enemy in a timely manner.

Any ship that is not a Galleon decked out with Mercury field guns, a heavy flack, or a lumberjack, I refer to as "Snipers" because their guns function best at range. Brawlers work well against Snipers if they can get close enough.

The Galleon I refer to as "Mobile Fortress" regardless of what weapons it brings, because it is best just parked some where in the sky and dominating that area around it.

[-Muse- Cullen]

On a spire, I like to use a Whirlwind and a Hwacha on the front- the gattling gun takes care of the armor, and the Hwacha does hull damage while also disabling enemy weapons. I like to call any sort of piercing armor/explosive hull damaging combo a 'Drill', because, if a ship is put under this constant pressure, it will eventually die. Both weapons are also usually seen together, anyway.

Dual piercing Whirlwinds with heavy clip to remove the armor, and then incendiary clip to start causing problems, is what I call 'annoying'. The gattling guns will keep the hull's armor from being repaired, and the incendiary clip will cause damage over time to all other systems, which require time from an engineer to take care of. The hull will either get damage over time, or the ship will be disabled from all of the fire. Either way, after a volley or two of two incendiary gattling guns, the enemy ship will go on the defensive.

A carronade and a mortar launcher together is what I like to use when I need a 'balloon popper' loadout. The caronade will keep the ship below yours due to the destroyed balloon, and the launcher's projectile arc will keep its range within effective distance. The mortar will also help damage the hull once the enemy ship begins bouncing across the ground. I usually take or ask for my gunner to take an ammo that slows projectile speed in order to pull that projectile drop closer to our ship- usually incendiary, because heatsink is silly, and who doesn't like to add a little bit of fire to everything?

[Pickle]

On an open map like Dunes (sometimes Fjords or Canyon) I like a dual purpose brawler-sniper.  I'll take out a Pyra with the usual flak-whirlwind front-facing combination (sometimes replacing the flak with banshee), but use both side mounts for Mercs.  At the start of the match, quickly spin 90-degrees on the spot and get in a few broadsides whilst the enemy is still at long range, then revert to brawling mode before the closing phase.  It's not unusual for me (as Captain) to have one of the Mercs whilst sniping.

Two Pyras on the same team, doing the same tactic and focus firing can easily get 8+ charged Merc rounds onto the same target before having to move.  Or one can make a covering move forward of a dozen or so ship lengths whilst the half-sniper half of the pair attacks the enemy at long-range.

[HamsterIV]

I took a sniper/brawler out on Flayed hills. It worked very well. We would either run into the cap point with the Gat/Flack, or take up a position on the way to the next the point and harass the point defenders with the field guns.

[Ataris]

I call Spire with Heavy Flak and Merc a 'Dealer', shortly from 'damage dealer'. That's because of rather thin health and huge damage to bring.
And Goldfish with Heavy Carronade is usually called a 'Blenderfish' (respectfully) or 'Carbonade'(mockingly).

And the thing I love most of all - I call full harpoon Squid match the 'SQUIDDITCH'

[Lord Dick Tim]

So in short we have

Popper
Disabler
Brawler
Sniper
Fortress
Stripper

And these kinds of ship roles can be applied to a ship with specific weaponry, with captain tools likely adding another tier to the role a ship can play.

[Captain Smollett]

Ok, let's keep this on a more basic level.

This is how I normally utilize these ships though individual experience can vary

Pyramidion - Brawler, Sniper
Goldfish - A brawling disabler
Galleon - Long Range Fortress, Tank
Spire - Sniper, Glass Cannon
Squid - A scouty disabler
Junker - Does everything averagely but excels at nothing

As for team compositions, that's probably a bit too complex to lay out in a forum post but generally in a two ship team you don't want to have more than one disabling ship. 

I prefer to have both ships capable of individually killing a target if necessary and in combination capable of threatening all an enemies ships components ie balloons, weapons, engines, armor & hull able to be destroyed by focused fire from both ships.

[Helmic]

'SQUIDDITCH'

I love you.

[Slotter]

We have an eve online fan I see. As a fellow capsuleer, I agree with what your saying. Squid equals Slasher, etc. the only difference I see, is that, while certain ships may lend themselves to sniping, tackling, brawling, ECM(spamming rockets and disabling everything, or specific modules), the individual platforms are far more flexible in GOIO than eve.

I wonder if the eve breakdown of frigates (assault frigates, attack frigates, etc) would be a good major division, with subdivisions below that?

[The Churrosaur]

Is it... THE Alblaka of IndustrialCraft infamy? 

Anyways, I feel that a ship roles are more defined by its loadout as opposed to its class. I could easily mount gatflak on a squid and pop hulls with my petite "brawler" or conversely deck my pyra with carronades and shred the daylights out of the other team. Not saying that every gun works well on every emplacement on every ship (although ideally I suppose they would) but the versatility of most ships make classification difficult, Hamster's example of a half-brawler/sniper the perfect example.

my two cents.