Piloting Levels in Guns of Icarus Online

This guide will describe the skills needed to first be a capable, efficient, then hopefully master captain. There will not be very many specific examples, the skills which I describe will be up to you to define and learn as your own style. The guide will also be divided into levels of captain gameplay. When in a match, if one teams captains play at a higher level than the others, they will almost certainly win. This is why very experienced players can run party/troll ships against newer players and win. These levels will also build off each other, meaning you cannot play at a higher level of captaining if you run into trouble with a lower level skill. A very generic example of this is not being able to manage your crew's positions well if you don't understand their roles and how they are played. Finally, because of this guide's nature, it can be used to determine why you or your enemy lost matches, or what you need to work on in order to improve. I hope it helps, and please leave suggestions.

From Dust

Level 1: Basic Captain Skills

Crew Management

The first true level of piloting in Guns of Icarus is understanding exactly what you're in control of. At this level, you aren't even ready to pilot yet, because as pilot you need to know how to tell the gunner and engineers on a ship exactly how and when and where to do their jobs. If you don't know enough about these yourself, you will fail miserably at piloting, because you have failed to understand your tools. I would strongly recommend playing as both roles for awhile before ever touching a captains wheel. While it is my personal belief that level in GoIO does not necesarrily reflect skill, it does reflect the time you've put into that class. It is for this reason I would say that after reaching a minimum of 15-20 engineer rank and 14-20 gunner rank you can begin mastering this level. The five most important skills you will gain from this are as follows:

• Play as an engineer and gunner until their tools and roles are at least understood, if not mastered
  
• Learn how special ammunition types affect different guns
  
• Learn how to buff components effectively and how to maintain chemical spray or chem cycles
  
• Familiarize yourself with the deck layout of every ship, including gun and component locations
  
• Observe how experienced captains organize, command, and divide the deck positions of their crew (NOT how they fly the ship)

Once you have mastered these very basic captain (and frankly, gameplay) skills, you will be able to start actually flying a ship effectively at the next level.

Level 2: Capable Captain Skills

Ship creation

The second level of captaining is all about your ship. What guns you put on it, what pilot tools you take, and where you assign your crew. Many of these things are decided before the match actually begins, and failing to master them can lead to many of your matches being "over in lobby". Only one of the five points in this level is truly optional, but it is highly recommended if you are serious about learning to competitive. That point is in regards to the useful wilson's notes, which can be accessed by clicking the book in the top right corner almost anytime in-game. These notes will give you the statistics of every gun in the game, and their twin Evadne's reports will give you the statistics for all of the ships. In order to obtain these handy little pages, you will need to shoot enemies with the corresponding gun or fly the corresponding ship a number of times. This task can be easily completed in the level one stage, and it is only included here to make sure you tie up any loose ends (shooting enemies with a flare gun for example). The five skills you will need to either begin or master for this captain level are as follows:

• Obtain all of Wilson's notes
  
• Learn how different guns and their damage types work effectively together
  
• Create deck positions for your crew for every ship type
  
• Practice piloting every type of ship. Learn their strengths and weaknesses and what playstyles suit them best
  
• Begin experimenting with captain powers. Some powers are better suited for some ships than for others, for example taking impact bumpers or drogue chute in a squid is not recommended because it reduces the squids mobility, the only true advantage the squid has. An example of something that is good to take is phoenix claw when piloting slow-turning ships. Make sure to tell your crew when you are using powers that damage components of the ship!

Half of this level is mastering what goes on onboard your ship, the other half begins to deal with whats going on around it: enemy ships, friendly ships, and obstacles. Mastering this level (and making sure of it each match) will allow you to advance to the third level of piloting, which is where it truly becomes its own role, instead of simply coordinating the other two.

Level 3: Efficient Captain Skills

Independent Flight

At this level, you have mastered everything on board your ship. Your crew is organized (and hopefully skilled), your guns all work together to bring down enemy ships, and you should know the strengths and weaknesses of any ship you go against or have decided you enjoy flying. Unfortunately, mastering this level no longer depends on you alone. When Muse set out to create a team-based game unlike any other, they succeeded. As you've most likely noticed or ripped your hair out because of, an issue with a crew member, be it not listening, un-skilled or new to the game, or failure to communicate important information can be an entire teams downfall. This level focuses on how you operate your ship in regards to other ships, friend and foe. When I picture the difference between this level and the lower two, I see the ships become clockwork chess peices on the map. When your crew is operating at 100%, your ship is as well. The game is then played on the ship level, because at 100% it is assumed that a ship will use its guns properly or that its engineers will prioritize repairs correctly. It is then up to you to decide how to move your chess peice. Are you a long-range killer? A support ship? A close-range brawler? Or somewhere in between? These are all decisions the captains of each team decides, and this is why you still may fail. If your co-captains aren't playing at this level, it becomes supremely difficult for you to. It is at this point that, if you have continued problems with incompetent co-captains, I would recommend joining one of the many GoIO clans. While I will not advertise my own here, I will say that you need to join a clan that matches your view of the game, whether that be competitive or casual. The five skills needed to master the transition to becoming a 100% efficient ship are as follows:

• Learn the 3 different roles ships play {Balloon Popper, Killer/Brawler, Disabler/Harasser)
  
• Combine your ships and ship builds with appropriate captain powers
  
• Learn how to counter enemy ships based on which of the three roles they are playing
  
• Communicate with your co-captains. It is impossible to "lone wolf" in any sense of the word in GoIO, constant, clear communication is essential to winning
  
• If you are able, begin experimenting with combinations of different roles and ships with your co-captains. For example, a disabler ship and a kill ship attacking in that order, or more specifically a long-range kill ship and a close-range defender to guard the long-range ship.

Should you have difficulty mastering these skills, first examine your mastery in the previous two levels. If the skills described in those aren't met, you cannot hope to master this level. Otherwise, if the issue is random or uncooperative co-captains, I highly recommend finding a friendly clan who will coordinate with you and help you improve. Once you have mastered this level however, you can move on to becoming what is truly a master captain

Level 4 Master Captain Skills

Fleet Flight

At this level, your crew runs like clockwork. Your guns fulfill not only their roles for your ship, but your role as a ship on your team. Your ship emphasizes its strengths and minimizes its weaknesses under your hand and smart selection and use of captain powers. You may have even found a clan willing to work with you, and who is both able and willing to supply you with excellent crew and co-captains. You're not done yet. To master captaining, you must realize just how team-based the game is. Everything is decided on how well people work together. First is the crew on ships, then the ships themselves. The most experienced captains in this game, as well as being part of their own (most likely competitive) clan, communicate constantly and fly together as a fleet of ships, rather than constructing a ship with the most stopping power and going it alone. They perform manuevers that leave people new to the game wondering how they died so quickly, and use tactics that involve excellent timing, positioning, and knowing exactly what role they are to play. These tactics are far too numerous, but words commonly heard when describing them are "baiting, covering, tanking, disabling, ramming, stomping, etc. ". In order to reach this level your co-captains must have reached it as well, because you are now only one peice of a larger, more complicated, and more chaotic game of chess. The five skills to master (and some are open-ended) are as follows:

• Balance and coordinate your ship's role with those of your teammates prior to each match. In plain english, decide who will do what with their ship
  
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your co-captains ship's, as well as your team's strengths and weaknesses as a whole
  
• Relay every bit of relavent information back to the other captains. Losing sight of a ship, dying, respawning, attacking or defending, these must all be coordinated quickly and clearly to make your team function like clockwork
  
• Examine enemy ships before the match begins, and attempt to predict their strategy and tactics. While in game, learn from their successful executions of these tactics, and adapt your team's strategy to counter them
  
• Create or learn formations, maneuvers, and tactics as part of a fleet. This is perhaps the most open-ended of all these points, as there are many common and unique tactics to try and master. You will need to learn what is effective for you, for your co-captains, against enemy ships, and agaisnt enemy tactics.

This is as much as I can define about a master captain. I am forced to be generic and vague on most of my points, but this is because everyone plays the game differently, both on their own and as part of a team. It is up to you to define each point as having learned it or not, if you are being effective or not. You will not always be able to play at your highest level, even if you do master it. But when you do, know that the only way for you to get any better at captaining is by trying new things. New ships, new tactics, new teammates, new builds, new powers. I hope this guide helps whoever reads it, and once again I am more than open to suggestions, both in the comment section or on GoIO itself. You'll find me there quite a bit. If you want to talk to me in-game, my name is a DuSt NiNjA. Good luck flying, have fun, and try not to die. See you in the air

From Dust

[Susurrus]

Your estimate for minimum Engineer/Gunner required for adequate Pilot skills is far too high.
I'd say 10 in each is sufficient if it's on the ships you actually want to pilot.

[Robin Hood]

Excellent guide. This was perfectly clear and understandable. Perhaps you could have given a quick description of each tactic that was mentioned, but other than that, there is nothing wrong with this guide.

[Recurracy]

Really good guide, provides some excellent insight on why our fleet tends to fail.

[Stainless Steel Rat]

Copy Paste Sir? Must rememebr to run my essay scanning program for university paper pikey cons.

[KYBDPilot]

Haha thanks, but I didn't write any book. I have plenty to work on in this, and on the specifics I mention above

[Stainless Steel Rat]

The above guide offers more sage wisdom to all pilots than "Soap-Box Corner". Having had the pleasure of flying with yourself, one has respect for whatever you say when to comes to piloting. In many regards you wrote the book. Well by the looks of the above- you just did. Great work. 0/

[Tfaltys]

Great summary of the gameplay framework.