[N2] Nano's Noobs 103 - Crewing a metajunker

[nanoduckling]

Nano's Noobs 103
Crewing a metajunker

Prerequisites
This material assumes you are familiar with the basic tutorials as of version 1.3.9 of Guns of Icarus.  If you do not know the difference between rebuilding and repairing or cannot mount a gun then this lesson will be completely useless. Perform the tutorials first. More so than the ships presented thus far (the blenderfish and metamidion) the metajunker is very dependent on communication.

You should also be familiar with the operation of a metamidion as there is substantial overlap when using the brawling (right) side of a metajunker.

There are many ways to run a ship. This is one approach and it is not definitive. Depending on how your ship is used an alternative approach may be better.

The metajunker has a rich history, with the Duck clan (with whom I (nanoduckling) have no affiliation other than admiring old competitive footage as inspiration for this guide) running double metajunkers very effectively in competitive events. The Duck junker was however ran differently to the one presented below, often with triple engineers and a buff hammer. The approach also heavily leveraged a pair of junkers and the resulting ability to bring two hades to bear. This is not covered here because crewing and co-ordinating such a junker is complicated and would deserve a guide of it's own.

Introduction
One of the most flexible ships, the metajunker is one of the most complex of the 'basic' ships. The left side is designed for peek-a-boo sniping, while the right is for close range killing.

• Mortar
• Artemis
• Artemis
• Hades
• Gatling

The crew loadouts and responsibilities (crew should be in this order on the ship so that if the pilot disconnects the gunner can assume the pilots responsibilities) are:

Pilot (Captain)

• Pheonix claw, kerosene and drogue chute
• Spanner
• Lesmok

The metajunker has two primary modes of operation. It can use the left side for peek-a-boo sniping, and the right for brawling.

For peek-a-boo sniping find a suitable piece of cover between yourself and the enemy and move behind it. Rise out of cover and have your crew attack the enemy. The aim is to break the enemy armour and score a couple of hits on their hull with the artemises, returning to cover before they can break your armour. Repeated sessions of this peek-a-boo sniping will make your hades more effective as it should disrupt chemcycles. Keep moving in and out of cover chipping away at the enemies hull until they die.

If peek-a-boo sniping fails, if the enemy has brawling builds, or if the opportunity presents itself then you will need to use your brawling side. This is effectively a metamidion but without the ability to control range as the guns are on your side rather than front. Point your right side guns at the enemy and keep them there. Try to keep the fron artemis in arc as it can disable important enemy weapons, engines and help land the killing blow.

The lesmok is for if you are forced to engage at extreme range, or for your mortar if the engineer is having a hard time hitting with both greased and burst ammo. Keep in mind that the mortar can miss because you are moving the ship about too much in close combat. If you mortar consistently misses first consider if you are moving too aggressively close up, then consider switching from greased to burst ammo, only then reload the gun with lesmok.

If the enemy tries to run you can use your left side weapons again, you probably will not need to move into cover. Direct your engineers to focus on disabling the enemy engines so they don't get too far and cannot turn on you.

Gunner

• Spyglass
• Pipe Wrench
• Lesmok, greased, heatsink

You have responsibility for the main engines and the bottom deck guns. Before each engagement load lesmok in the hades, greased in the gatling and mortar. Initially the ship is likely to engage with the left side guns using a peek-a-boo sniping strategy and you will be firing the hades. Aim at the enemy hull and try to break their armour. If the ship is pulled back into cover you should stand ready at the hull aiming to rebuild the hull as fast as possible should it break.

If the ship starts brawling (using right guns) then you have the job of breaking the armour with the gatling gun. The gatling should be loaded with greased initially. Unload this into the enemy armour at the first opportunity, reloading as soon as the enemy armour breaks (hit markers turn red, material breaks off the enemy ship and there is a message in the top left). Load greased ammo and fire as soon as the enemy repair their armour (message top left, mortar hit markers are not longer red). Again reload as soon as the armour breaks again. Repeat until the enemy dies. Announce hull breaks with 'break'.

Secondary Engineer (Back)

• Spyglass
• Spanner, mallet, chemspray
• Burst

The secondary engineer on a junker typically has responsibility for the turning engines, the balloon, the top side guns, and should also keep an eye on the hull. This can end up being a busy role.When using the left guns the pilot will take the ship the ship in and out of cover, you are expected to unload a salvo at the enemy ship disabling threatening guns (especially lumberjacks and the like) and damaging the hull if the hades breaks the armour. If it begins taking heavy damage the ship will be move back behind cover and you are expected to begin repairs and ensure the balloon stays up. If there is no risk of that happening then you should help ensure a hull break does not occur.

If the ship begins brawling (right side), you are on a mortar. The gunner will load this with greased before the engagement. Wait for the armour break (hit markers turn red, material breaks off the enemy ship and there is a message in the top left) and unload the gun into the enemy hull. If the enemy rebuilds their armour (message top left, hit markers are not longer red) immediately reload and use burst ammo. Again wait for the armour break and unload until the enemy repairs.

Primary Engineer (Back)

• Spyglass
• Spanner, mallet, chemspray
• Burst

The primary engineer has responsibility for the front gun and hull. The hull can be reached from the 'sweet-spot' from below and in front, but it can also be reached by jumping from in front (not below). This is often more effective if a swift mallet hit is required. The primary engineer should manage fire with chemspray on the the front gun, the hull, the main engine and the lower guns. The front gun is for peek-a-boo sniping engagements. In these the pilot will move the ship in and out of cover, you are expected to unload a salvo at the enemy ship disabling threatening guns (especially lumberjacks and the like) and damaging the hull if the hades breaks the armor. If it begins taking heavy damage the ship will be move back behind cover and you are expected to begin repairs and ensure a hull break does not occur.

If the ship starts brawling (using the right side guns) then you should disable dangerous enemy weapons (such as gatlings and mortars), disable engines if the enemy might try to run and aid in landing killing blows with your artemis, subject to your repair responsibilities which take priority. The other engineer will be busy with the mortar so you may need to take on their engineering responsibilities.

Alternative loadouts
The junker is one of the most flexible ships, and can be run successfully in many way. If the top deck engineer is having trouble hitting with the mortar they could load it with burst rather than having the gunner load it with greased, or replace burst for lesmok. While the gunner can preload the mortar with lesmok, it may be wise for the engineer in question to bring lesmok themselves as a single clip of lesmok mortar may not complete a kill. The gunner can be replaced with a buff engineer with lesmok. The gatling should then use standard ammo (although an argument could be made for preloading with burst under very specific circumstances where maximum damage from a single clip is desirable). The buff engineer is then expected to keep the ship buffed, especially the balloon and main engine. This can make peek-a-boo sniping considerably easier.

The engineers can swap burst for lesmok on longer range, more open maps.

A junker requires and benefits from good co-ordination, engineers capable of sharing responsibilities can be very useful.

Strong against
Non-control builds (for example metamidions), builds that require very accurate fire on the hull section with poor vertical arcs (for example multi-mercury mobulas, junkers and pyras)

Weak against
Control builds (lumberfish, blenderfish, lumbergalleon, carro-flamer pyra)

Other literature
https://gunsoficarus.com/community/forum/index.php/topic,4722.0.html - A long discussion of junkers
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=171955183&searchtext=junker - Kyren's junker guide
https://gunsoficarus.com/community/forum/index.php/topic,5589.msg91272.html#msg91272 - A history lesson on the metajunker from Sammy, also serves as a how to guide on refining ship builds

Tag
Crew Positions 00000010
Pilot 00000020

[nanoduckling]

Another guide, this time on the metajunker. This one is the last of the 10Xs I have written, and was a tough one for me to write, because the modern metajunker is basically the Duck's baby and I've done my best to take my limited understanding of how this beast works and try to simplify it a bit. As usually comments and thoughts welcome.

[DoubleMDownie]

This was a good read and enlightening ^_^ nicely done.

[MightyKeb]

Just wanted to say that you got the slot numbers wrong. 1 is the front, you'd be mad to place the mortar there and youd instead want hades below instead of top right. I believe this is the standard meta loadout:

1 Artemis
2 Gatling
3 Hades
4 Mortar
5 Artemis

[MagKel]

Junkers is almost exclusively what I fly as pilot and trifectas are my favorite. I would add a photo of the front hull "sweet spot" for reference and maybe suggest also how the pilot can contribute to ballon's rebuilds without having to move from the helm.

That being said, I prefer Banshee to Mortar for a couple of reasons:

Rockets are not influenced by the Junker's momentum, making them easier to aim and connect to the target. Also Banshees can be fired at medium range before pinning at the balloon, increasing the overall damage on the opposing ship and firestacks (a thing that metajunkers lack completely on starboard side).

I would also stress the fact that the pilot has to constantly inform the crew of altitude and course change, speed and the next 10 seconds tactic while sniping.

Also never, never jibe the enemy but, at the cost of a few moments, have the front artemis facing target.

[nanoduckling]

Keb: Ah pants, good spot. I thought I fixed that a couple of drafts back.

Mag: Pilot balloon rebuilds are certainly important, can free engineers to double team the hull or keep shooting. I like the banshee too, should really be under alternative builds. I think the banshee is affected by ship speed and turning, just it is so fast that the impact is much less than on say a mortar. It can even act as a replacement for the arts and with heavy clip I've used it to take out balloons (2 banshee + hades at a balloon is a lot of fire damage and the balloon typically goes down in a couple of salvos). The junker is absurdly flexible.

Agreed on pilot communication. Junkers should usually not jibe, but it can be a viable operation with judicious application of tar if the enemy is in certain locations. Tar is far more effective than one art and if your engines are in good shape a turn to the meta side using your backside on a ship not shooting you can all but make a kill certain. High risk, high reward though, and not really something you should try on your first go out.

[Kamoba]

Junker with tar in certain situations is an incredibly effective ship, without tar the Junker has guns facing 3 of 4 directions, have close range engagements? Take tar, its like having a gun on the Junkers one and only blind spot, although the turning speed and accel of the Junker rarely leaves it as a ship to be caught unaware..
It is one of the best ships in the game, I really should use it more...

[DrTentacles]

I feel like there's a strong trend of high-level captains looking at Junkers right now, and going "It's such a nice ship. I ought to use it more."

Then a Blenderfish or Lumberjack appears, and we flee.

[Kamoba]

I feel like there's a strong trend of high-level captains looking at Junkers right now, and going "It's such a nice ship. I ought to use it more."

Then a Blenderfish or Lumberjack appears, and we flee.

Yup, and we flee more so if we know the blender has a good pilot and gunner, or if the lumberjack has a reasonable pilot and lumberjack.

Though blenders and lumberjacks can be countered with disable (ie Artemis) you need a good gunner on the Artemis, even mediocre gunners would struggle to keep the disables as strong as they're needed

[Indreams]

Junker is such a nice ship.. well rounded, capable of anything, capable of deviating load outs.
But it's just not a very attractive ship, both visually and gameplay-wise.

And the Balloon. Oh God the Balloon.


But, Junkers aside, another great guide! I personally learned quite a bit about the Junker from this!

[ShadedExalt]

I like the Junker, but I'm not very good with it, and I've never managed to wreak the destruction that I've seen it to be capable of.  The problem is though, is that despite the high armour value, piercing weapons are SO GOOD at their job it's kinda negligible.  For example, Hades is legendary, and 1 clip of buff gat can take down ANY ship's armour.

Even buffed Galleon.

[SapphireSage]

Yes, but the trick to the Junker's armor is that while its slightly weaker compared to galleon armor its a much harder target to hit. The junker hull is extremely hard to hit and the cluttered components means shots hitting the back are more likely to hit the guns and engines rather than the hull. Its not uncommon for the gat to require a reload due to its natural spread causing a few missed shots, or by shooting toward the back of the junker causing a few shots to go into some of the components instead.

The hades is a very good gun for hull strip; however, Its also an extremely hard gun to shoot accurately at range with. Hitting a ships' hull consistently at >1000m with a hades is difficult against most ships regularly. Having to hit a junkers' hull at that range is almost impossible, and it probably is impossible against a captain with good component/balloon health if he is taking evasive maneuvers considering the junkers' excellent acceleration stats. The hades is mostly good against the junker so long as you are able to also consistently take out its balloon as well to use that as the target for the hull damage.

Aside from the gatling, the most reliable piercing weapon to hit a junker with would be the mercury due to its high piercing burst damage but more importantly its high accuracy and ease of use enables it to consistently strike the hull even at long ranges. Of course, the mercury has its own host of problems with its gun arcs.

Of course the reason you rarely see junkers lately is because they tend to be weaker against disable ships (i.e. blenderfish).

[MightyKeb]

Of course the reason you rarely see junkers lately is because they tend to be weaker against disable ships (i.e. blenderfish).

Which of course, stems from the fact that after the meta nerf everyone is scared off to the next powerful ship - Blenderfish. :c

[MagKel]

Of course the reason you rarely see junkers lately is because they tend to be weaker against disable ships (i.e. blenderfish).

Which of course, stems from the fact that after the meta nerf everyone is scared off to the next powerful ship - Blenderfish. :c

and yet I believe it is more psychological than else. Yes, it has a big balloon. Does is matter against heavy clip carronade or burst lumberjack? i don't think so.

Balloon size for a blender doesn't affect much the gunner, with heavy clip a pyra's and a junker's balloon are going to be hit the same. For the lumby a gunner learns instinctively the arch for the top side of the square, once they hit the shape the rest of the clip is going to drop the balloon.

The junker is yet in advantage compared to a pyra or goldfish thanks to the combination of higher turning rate, high acceleleration, longer "ground resistance" and the possibility to rapidly bring 3 rebuild tools on the balloon with ease while maintaining hull and all engines. Pair it with the inherent weaknesses of the blender and a proper junker is to be approached with caution, i would call their (junker) chances 40/60

[MightyKeb]

Of course the reason you rarely see junkers lately is because they tend to be weaker against disable ships (i.e. blenderfish).

Which of course, stems from the fact that after the meta nerf everyone is scared off to the next powerful ship - Blenderfish. :c

and yet I believe it is more psychological than else. Yes, it has a big balloon. Does is matter against heavy clip carronade or burst lumberjack? i don't think so.

Balloon size for a blender doesn't affect much the gunner, with heavy clip a pyra's and a junker's balloon are going to be hit the same. For the lumby a gunner learns instinctively the arch for the top side of the square, once they hit the shape the rest of the clip is going to drop the balloon.

The junker is yet in advantage compared to a pyra or goldfish thanks to the combination of higher turning rate, high acceleleration, longer "ground resistance" and the possibility to rapidly bring 3 rebuild tools on the balloon with ease while maintaining hull and all engines. Pair it with the inherent weaknesses of the blender and a proper junker is to be approached with caution, i would call their (junker) chances 40/60

You don't consider some of the important factors involved in blending.


Firstly, the big balloon doesn't just mean it's EASIER to hit, it also means that as a blenderfish, you can get in a good position somewhere above the junker where you can stay out of their arcs while keeping the carro perfectly trained on them.

 The fall speed of all ships are based on their vertical speed, not only can the pyra almost certainly take 2 clips to pop as long as it's a good pilot and is facing the ship straight at you (which it should be doing anyway), but it also has the 2nd worst vertical acceleration, which means the pyra will fall a lot slower.

Yes, the junker can survive a bit on ground, but even then it's small mass means it's VERY vulnerable to rams, especially on  ground, and if the goldfish pilot has any idea as to what they're doing they WILL ram.


Lumberjack on the other hand, is pretty okay against junkers alone because, while in a perfect scenario you'll pop both ships, not only does the junker fall and lose position faster (especially in long range fights this is pretty crucial), but it's also very possible to get consistent lumberjack shots on it even when your ship/their ship is doing sudden movements which can affect shot direction, unlike the pyra which gives you a precise target. This combined with a long range hard-to-aim piercing weapon like hades, and another ranged explosive weapon affected heavily by movement (Heavy Flak) can do some serious damage on the junker. One of the reasons the current metajunker packs double artemis instead of say, hades flak, is to be on par big-gun ships (Goldfish, Spire, Galleon) Because in theory all heavy weapons can be very effective against the junker. Junker has 5 guns, two engines behind a sturdy ladder and the main engine left to the gunner, which is where the Hwacha shines. Carronade and Lumberjack as reasons stated above, and a charged/buffed HF can oneshot it's hull integrity.