Guns of Icarus Online Starter’s Guide

Guns of Icarus Online Starter’s Guide by Alistair_MacBain

This one is for guys starting with the game and dont know what they do. And its more for guys playing random/public games. U may switch around if u are premade team but to play premade u really need to get into the games which most guys do in public games. Some things may go bid wide into things so also bid advanced players may get to know sth. I name myself as a good player but for sure there are many way better players in this game. Feel free to add. I may edit into the guide.

So lets start with the guide.

This game is all about teamplay. When u play this game u dont want to stay silent and dont talk. The thing to master the game is communication. Always remember x is the key for voip. This game wouldnt be that good (imo) without the implemented voip.
I would recommend u to learn the nautival terms for the directions cause there are some captains using them. There is a thread bout it in the forum. U can also use the o’clock version to say directions.

Often new players shoot every ship they see. Thats obviously not the best cause u will often hit teammates and there is teamdamage (afaik). U can divide between ally and enemy by looking at their balloon. The red team got a red sign on it and the blue team a blue sign.

ship parts/components

Lets start with the ship parts. Every ship has some components. U can see icons for each component on the side of ur screen or on the component if they are damaged or destroyed.

Repairing and rebuilding is sth different. Repairing means a components is still up but is damaged. That means u use ur repair tool (rubber mallet or pipe wrench) and hit it once. Then u wait for the cooldown to run down. In this time u can do sth else. There will be no sense to spam it.

If a component is destroyed which means its icon is red u need to hit it several times with ur repair tool till its up again.

Every repair tool got 3 stats on it. Cooldown which shows how long u have to wait till repair cooldown runs out. HP repair which means how much HP u repair on the component and rebuild power which shows how fast u can rebuild things with it.

Then there is fire. If a component is on fire it takes damage over time. If it is a gun u cant use it till fire is out.

To extinguish fires u need fire extinguishe or chem. spray.

For information about the components read the ship parts section on this site. (http://gunsoficarus.com/gameplay/ship-parts/)

I just want to add one small priority thing which should be clear after reading in the above.
Hull>balloon>engines>guns

Classes

Just some basics to the classes. Visit the Art of … threads of Theodrixx for more about that. I just say the basics and things everyone should know. The loadouts may switch around due to ur style but here are some ok ones for random games and for newer players. There are three roles to fit. Every role can take three items for its own role and one for the others.

Pilot

The pilot which is always just one on ur ship. He stays most of the time at the helm and controls the ship.

Loadout:
pilot tools: (could use some advise here cause im not that good captain and dont know bout it) just to say for now dont take spyglass
engineer tool: pipe wrench cause its quite good at repair and rebuild
ammo type: doesnt really matter cause u wont stay at guns for 99% of time

Gunner

The gunner which will stay most of the time at the guns and just uses them.

Loadout:
pilot tool: spyglass (u cant use any other one outside helmet)
engineer tool: pipe wrench (my preference cause its an allrounder)
ammo types: greased rounds/incendiary rounds, charged rounds
The third one doesnt really matter cause u will mostly use just two. If ur new dont use lognager cause u dont want to miss it (damages ur gun hard and just one shot). Test around with the last one. (could take some recommendation on this)

Engineer

As engineer u repair and rebuild all important parts of the ship. U can jump in guns if nth is in danger and u dont have anything to do. U can do always sth. Even if u just scout around to spot enemys and tell that to ur pilot.

There are two different loadouts. One is for emergency engineers (as i call them) and one for buffer engineers. The emergency engineer is the repairing one. He is the one who runs around most times and repairs/rebuilds. The buffer one is most times the one also using guns. To buff a component/gun use the buff hammer and hit the part till the yellow indicator left is full. The right indicator shows how long the buff is running. U can prepare buffs by filling the indicator (left) till its nearly full and use it just before the battle. For random games the emergency engineer is better cause ur faster in repair/rebuild cause u got tools for both.

Loadout :
pilot tool: spyglass
engineer tool:
emergency engineer: rubber mallet, shifting spanner, fire extinguisher/chem. spray
buffer engineer: pipe wrench, buff hammer, fire extinguisher/chem. spray (not 100% sure with the pipe wrench)
ammo type: greased rounds/incendiary rounds
As a buffer engineer u may take ammo for medium guns (burst rounds or charged rounds).

And then there is a captain.

The captain is the one who decides before the match which ship with which loadout u get. U will most times let this one be the pilot cause he wants to fit his equip most likely with the ship. The captain also got the right in the game to hop in the helm everytime he wants also if another one is on the helm.

In most cases u want to get a setup of one pilot (nether ever more), one gunner and two engineers. The egnineers are in an optimal case one buffer and one emergency. But talk before the game starts.
There are cases u switch that around.

Guns (some correction here could be good too)

Before we get into guns some basics. U most likely want to hit the hull with most guns (special weapons may shoot balloon first).

The guns are divided into 2 categories. The medium guns which are heavy flak, manticore/hwacha and twin carronade.

The flak is quite good at medium and close range but hard to hit at long range. It does good damage.

The hwacha is for now not that good. It looks awesome but it good very low damage. Its more accurate at long range than a flak.

The carronade is for close range and it doesnt good damage. (dunno bout this i rarely see it)

The small guns are much more. I will concentrate on some.

Mercury field gun: Its really good (not to say op)at long and medium range. It does good damage to armor and health.

Flamer: sure thing, not so high damage but sets things on fire, good for distraction (try to spread ur fire with it, u want to set everything on fire so dont point it on just one thing)

light carronade: good damage to balloon but really close range

beacon flare gun: bid like the flamer but also reveals enemys in clouds

harpoon: fires a projectile at an enemy and if u hit the hull the rope will reveal which links u to the enemy ship

For more about the guns use the stats in game and the damage section on this page.
http://gunsoficarus.com/gameplay/weapons/

Ships

U should learn the placement of each ships components and guns while playing this game to see whats happening.

Every ship has a weak spot on top and beneath and some specific ones for each ship. As pilot u want to stay most times in their weak spots and a bid up or down of them to get a greater aim for ur gunners on their hull.

Galleon: Its the tank under the airships. 4 medium guns on the lower deck (two to each side) and 2 small guns (one to left and on to back) on the upper deck. It got most health and armor of all ships. It good a weak side at the front and its not very fast. U most likely want one engineer on upper deck with the pilot and one engineer (buffer) on the lower deck. The engi on the lower deck is the jumper who switches up if things go worst.

Goldfish: Its a light armored ship with one medium gun at the front and 2 small guns on the sides. It got a weak back. The gunner will most times stay in the medium front gun and shoot the enemy. The side ones are most times just for a quick pass of the enemy and get the hell outta him while passing. Its quite fast.

Spire: The Spire is like a tower. Its quite slow but really fast at turning. It got 2 small guns on upper deck (one facing front and one facing right) and one medium (facing front) and one small gun (facing left) on the middeck (third deck to be correct). It got a weak spot behind. Its medium to low armored.
And just cause its hard to see it got a ladder from topdeck to lowest deck.

Pyramidion: Its medium to good armored but slow (faster than galleon). It got 2 small guns (facing front) on the upper deck (reached by ladder) and 2 small guns (facing left) on lower deck. It got a big weak spot at right side and behind.

Junker: Its bid of a better gunned and armored (not sure) version of the goldfish but a bid slower. It got one small gun (facing front) and 4 small guns facing left and right (each side on lower and lower deck).
It got a weak spot behind.

Squid: Its way the fastest but also the weakest armored ship. It got 3 small guns (facing front, left and behind). It got no guns on its right but u just need to shoot it to get it run away. The squid is only made for quick attacks. U want to come from outta vision and their weak spots pass them and run away. I would only recommend it for experienced captains.

There is also a function to spot enemys. U use it with the spyglass (left click for spot, right click for zoom, mouse wheel for zoom in/out). U can just spot enemy ships. Spotting a ship means u get a marker around it which counts for ur whole time as long as any ship of ur team sees it. They are also on map with this.

Some hotkeys u may want to know:

X is for voip. In lobby its for the full lobby but ingame just for ur crew.
C is for captains talk. Only captains can talk while a match through it to coordinate their ships.
J is the regional chat. Outside game its for everyone (also outside gamelobby) and ingame its for both teams.
K is for ur team in the lobby and in the game.
L is just for ur crew in the lobby and in the game.
M is for the map ingame.

One thing for maps.

There are Deathmatchs where u just want to kill the enemy. This u see at the top. If there are colored flags with numbers its a deathmatch.
The other mode is capture points. The cature points are marked on the map and who they belong to.
If ur in a capture point map u see it by coloured circles at the top of the screen its a cp map.