Captineering

[TukketTaco]

Hello all! I will be starting a rather unorthodox way of playing, and will probably get shunned for doing so, BUT! My style of playing is by captaining with the engi class. I do this in case there are emergencies and everyone is gunning. Jus thought I'd share my strategy, adios.

[Lord Dick Tim]

I applaud your choice and your bravery, along with your acknowledgement that you will receive a great deal of flak for it.
I hope to see you on the field of battle so I can out run, turn, then tar you >
Well wishes, and good luck!

[Captain Smollett]

Well, this is sort of viable on a Junker.  If the Captain carefully positions the ship into Trifecta, holds her steady, and the opponent isn't moving too much, they can take over main engineering while keeping 3 guns working.  It's so situational I'm not sure it's worth losing the mobility but it's worth trying I suppose.

Otherwise, you're usually better off using captains tools to dodge kill shots than assisting in rebuilding the hull.  A dodge is more useful than a rebuild.

[FightBoyVash]

Hello all! I will be starting a rather unorthodox way of playing, and will probably get shunned for doing so, BUT! My style of playing is by captaining with the engi class. I do this in case there are emergencies and everyone is gunning. Jus thought I'd share my strategy, adios.

Well you will get Pilots joining expecting to fly. You'll just have to tell them what your doing and to switch

[Captain Smollett]

You know, I should mention; if you're helping out in an emergency situation, the only tool you'll likely need to bring to assist your engineers is a spanner.  A pilot can still field a spanner as his repair tool and say, fix the balloon or assist in hull or engine rebuild.

[Helmic]

Picking something unconventional and just running with it isn't really a style.  If there's a real benefit to that unconventional method over what's commonly used then it's worth trying, but you can't fly your ship backwards all the time and expect victory.  You have to keep in mind your crew probably wants to win as well, it's a bit disrespectful to deny them that for the sake of novelty.

Whether or not you deserve that flak you speak of is simply a matter of results.  Win with it, and you're justified.  Lose with it, and you deserve your crew's ire.  If you're not confident about your unorthodox playstyle, at least check to see if your team is fine with experimenting with it.

That said, I can see some situations where an engineer would be more useful than a pilot, such as on a sniping galleon.  There's little need to move and it's best if all three guns are blaring.  The same can be said for a Spire, that takes pressure off of your top engineer.  What I find myself doing, however, is just gun in my engineer's place.  I'll take charged rounds and just take over the gun while my engineer continues repairs.  You're almost always going to have at least one engineer on board, and if you can simply take his place at a gun you don't have to sacrifice the much more generally useful pilot tools.

[Machiavelliest]

As a traditional pilot-captain, I would find it incredibly obnoxious to be your teammate and have to coordinate through an engineer to a pilot, and have dealt with those difficulties before.  That said, if you are an engineer class and still flying the ship, I can see that working just fine.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

If you are taking enough damage where you must hop off the wheel to help repair all the time then you probably aren't using your captains tools properly to begin with. You don't want to get in the habit of this as captains which make full use of all their tricks and tools will quickly overwhelm any amount of repairs that you can do.

Captains need to be able to help with light repairs and rebuilds on some ships (mostly ones with close balloons) but ultimately they need to be watching the battle and doing what they can to help the ship and crew survive. I'd spend some time in practice gaining good mastery of the pilots tools and you'll quickly find yourself a better competitor.

[Pickle]

As above - being a flygineer as Captain might work, but being Captain as Engineer with another member of the crew as Pilot would be awkward for team coordination on the C channel.  I agree with Smollett, there's a time for coming off the wheel and helping fix (usually when you've no engines and no ability to get way on and manoeuvre) and at that point a spanner is sufficient.  You're sacrificing a lot of options by not having three Pilot tools if you're on the helm.  Most matches I will use every Pilot tool I've brought at some point, usually wishing I had at least one more available, and I might need to use a spanner to help my Engineers one match in three.

Try it and see what happens.  And try different ship-loadout combinations with it as well.

[Queso]

I go pilot class and just run around things and hit them with a mallet because I've already set up my trajectory to move me where I want to go. Works best on the the Pyra and Goldfish where I can whack the hull easily. Works alright on the Galleon too.

[Machiavelliest]

Good hint--no spyglass as pilot.

[RearAdmiralZill]

Good hint--no spyglass as pilot.

I protest that statement.

[Machiavelliest]

I expect my gunners to spyglass their targets after they fire, in time to make the proper ammo type reload.  This is why Charon is my gunner.

[HamsterIV]

I have tried piloting as an engineer class from the deck of a Galleon. It didn't go well, but that may have has some thing to do with the caliber of opponent I was facing. Most new pilots don't use their piloting tools, so I can see why you might want to take different tools to be more useful on your ship.

Think about your strategy like this if you can reliably leave the helm and keep your guns on target, you have gained an extra engineer for free. However if your guns go off target while you are off the helm fixing stuff, you have lost one possibly two gunners to gain one engineer. Now think about the situations where these conditions might arise. If you can keep your guns on target while off the helm the enemy must be pretty far away. Maybe it is a sniping battle, so while the extra engineer is useful your current engineers aren't being overwhelmed. The other situation is that you are at close quarters. Here your engineers are getting overwhelmed by the damage and could use the extra help. Unfortunately if you leave the helm to go help there is a good chance your opponent will dance to your blind side. It is impossible to win a slugging match if you can't punch the other guy.

Flying while in the engineer class isn't wrong, but in many situations the costs outweigh the gains.

[RearAdmiralZill]

I expect my gunners to spyglass their targets after they fire, in time to make the proper ammo type reload.  This is why Charon is my gunner.

I expect my gunner to be on the gun, ready to fire as soon as they or I see a ship, spotted or otherwise. This is why Yiski is my gunner.