Novice Misconceptions

This guide is for novices, vets don't need to throw in their 2 cents about more effective choices if it requires the user to be a better player, because the intended audience is novices.
My intent is to provide full explainations of common misconceptions that novices hold so they can be informed beyond what the game teaches them in the first place, sections are lengthy but full.

As I am annoyed by things in game I will add to this, no doubt many vets have many more grievences to list than I could ever record.

-The "Burst rounds make boom boom everything must be OP give to harpoon you must" thought process.

For starters the truth, burst rounds is only effective in guns that have an area of effect (AOE). What does this mean you ask? Math-wise it means the ammo INCREASES the EXISTING AOE by 50% while also increasing the clip size by 20% and the decreasing the rate of fire (ROF) by 15%, still you ask what this means; You thought booms alway were good. The reason burst rounds is useful is because it make booms (AOE) bigger, thus it only helps guns that already possess one (a 0m AOE increased by 50% is still a 0m radius, 0x1.5=0)

Ok, what guns should you use these beautiful boom bullets in then you ask? Not the Light Carronade (doesn't give you more pellets, and you need the ROF to stay high), not the Harpoon (no AEO and why do you have a harpoon?); and NOT THE GATLING, the most common misconception about the gatling with burst is that you become an autocannon which makes 98 booms in a clip which is not true, you get more bullets (greased does that too) and a slower ROF (greased does the opposite, which is what you want) so never, ever, burst Gatling.

How about the Light Flak and Light Mortar you ask, those guns do explosive AOE damage so they must be op with a holy ammo like burst rounds. You're wrong, those guns are kill guns which require you to get shots in fast, burst rounds lowers you ROF; thus like the Gatling greased rounds are better, in fact greased rounds lowers the arming distance of the Light Flak enabling you to hit enemies more effectively from close range!

Ok well we still have the Flare gun and Flamethrower, but guide writer those don't have AOE so they must be bad right? Sorta, not for that reason though; both have a particle effect of sorts which burst makes larger so they will hit more stuff when burst rounds are used but the flare gun benefits the most from lesmok for range, heavy clip so you can hit (the spread is awful) or heatsink for 3! shots (much better than 2 burst ones). The Flamethrower gains much more from a lesmok/greased combo for extended range and more/faster flames up close, stick to greased if you want to start more fires.

Well burst must be awful in all light guns you say, not true. While the Mercury Field Gun (Merc) benefits more from charged rounds when it comes to armor stripping it benefits more from burst rounds if your goal is to kill guns and engines, it comes down to intended use and personal preference (ask your captain first). The Banshee is most commonly used with greased rounds for faster firing and more shots while heavy clip is used at a range for more accuracy but with the somewhat recent nerf of heavy clip burst can easily be a better mid range ammo as greased rounds hurts the projectile speed of the rockets while burst does not and still gives you more shots and a large AOE. The Mine Launcher is most commonly flown with Lesmok/Incendiary/Loch to give it 4 effective ranges but burst can replace incendiary on larger maps or lesmok on smaller ones, like the Merc this is a matter of preference. Hades, Lesmok/Burst/Greased; lots of fires with burst and a good mid-range ammo.

Lastly we come to the Artemis, if burst rounds had a home it'd be here on half the year. The Art can kill engines and guns rapidly when utilizing the now holy ammo, many people won't use any other ammo but burst in the artemis (possibly lesmok for super-range)

What about my massive guns of doom? The Minotaur and Heavy Carronade or no for th exact same reasons as the Light Carronade, the Heavy Flak is no for the same reasons as the Light Flak and Light Mortar. Lumberjack is yes, Lesmok/Burst/(greased, heatsink) is one of the ways to do it (my prefered way), you hit the ship and the flechette damage will get the balloon (very noob friendly at mid range). Lastly the Hwacha, if the Art has custody over burst rounds half the time the Hwacha has it the other half, more shots+bigger boom = yes all over the enemy, just take burst and heavy clip for long distance and you're set.

-The "oh no buildings everywhere we need airbags!" thought process

Firstly the stats of tools that effect crashing somehow

Phoenix Claw
-65% Angular Drag, you turn easy, enemies will spin you around alot. Can be used to recover arcs after terrain collision or ram (enemy or your own) DO NOT USE IF YOU WANT TO STAY FACING THE SAME WAY, can use if you're about to crash and want to turn anyway, burn kero or shine to stop spinning in this case. Will make enemy Minotaurs spin you MORE.
+200% Longitudinal Drag, you don't go forward as fast, makes it harder to speed forward to avoid ram.
52 Fire damage/s to engines, doesn't light fires and is low damage but don't leave it on too long. If you burn your engines too much it'll slow down your turning speed so don't use if engines health low.
+50% Thrust, gives you a kick to get you going on your turn.
Generally the Claw is not what you'll want when facing a collision, but it could be.

Kerosene
+150% Thrust, you get going faster, can be used to dodge objects and ships.
+300% Angular Drag, opposite of the Claw; will make you hold steady after hitting terrain and enemy ships, will make enemy Minotaurs LESS effective.
40 Fire damage/s to engines, same as Claw but lower, can use constantly on most ships without engineers dying.

Moonshine (the bigger and better brother)
+200% Thrust, very high speeds, better for dodging than kerosene
+1000% Angular Drag, you don't really turn, upside is crashes/rams barely move you (unless they are moonshine rams) and the Minotaur is practically a non-issue.
-50% Longitudinal Drag, easier to move forward (unliek the Claw)
120 Fire damage/s to engines, fries your engines and they don't even taste good afterwards, prepare to engineer tears (use in bursts)

Hydrogen
-60 Vertical Drag, less resistance for vertical movement (duh) helps dodge up
+350 Climb Force, use to shoot over obstacles and enemies (good on mobula). Can be used to get some height before your balloon dies (so long as it was gonna die anyway), good for rams on ships that up better than they do forward.
-2000% Descent Force, hard to go down, better make it over what you were trying to avoid because now you're stuck up here.
+50 Fire ignition chance, widely ignored, still avoid smoking (or gettign flamed) while using this.
75 damage/s to Balloon, fries your balloon, engi tears etc

Chute Vent
-60 Verticle Drag, same as Hydro
-2000 Climb Force, no shooting up or over for you
+300 Descent Force, use to dodge under the interveneing object, or goomba stomp someone with a mobula.
65 damage/s to Balloon, like the Hydro but less

Drogue Chute
+250% Verticle Drag, use this to avoid falling and crashing in the first place, can help resist being sat on as well.
-60% Thrust, you don't go forward well, but hey you aren't sinking right?

Impact Bumpers
-25% Impact Damage, Impact damage is done by terrain, mines, and ship collisions, and this does lower it (read more though)
-60% Thrust, you don't move as fast THIS HITS YOUR SPEED HARD, for this reason alone impact bumpers is poor for ramming if you intend to do damage to the enemy

The reason Impact Bumpers are not the saving grace of new pilots is this, they don't do enough; they lack the drag increases so you twirl like a ballerina when hit by Minotaurs, terrain, mines, and enemy ships while making you slower to escape afterwards. Generally as a Novice (this guide is for you guys) you'll want to take and pop kerosene to avoid spinning around when ramming, being rammed, or crashing; moonshine once you're ready for the burn; and drogue chute to aid you against lumberjacks and carronades, in the situations that these tools shine they are much better than bumpers which slow you down and don't help you remain in place.

Firstly, Hit and Run is "denoting or relating to a swift attack followed by immediate withdrawal" in the words of the google, it is when you attack and flee in an attempt to do damage before escaping (and typically repeating the same thing again).

In GOIO Hit and run tactics rarely do enough damage on their own, so you must be more utilitarian in their use if you wants to be annoying and fast. Ambush setting and Diversions are common ways to make an otherwise useless strategy work.

Ambushing, requires a friendly to make work. Unlike Hit and Run combat you aren't trying to hurt your foe and you likely won't do it again and again (unless the enemy is stupid enough) your action has purpose and therefore is useful and benefits the team.

Do get within and stay within sight of the enemy while being a difficult target, luring them around corners into a trap, makes you helpful \o/
Don't overextend and cost your team a point, makes you dead :(

Diverting, can be used to trick enemies into turning there guns one way (at you) to allow allies to flank or sneak up on him; use this also to save allies by pulling aggro hard, force an enemy to abandon his kill and defend himself from you.

Do pull aggro in the direction you want while staying alive and moving fast, possibly saving allies along the way \o/
Don't die before your allies can truely benefit from your actions, makes them pointless :(


Avoid the classic novice mistake of flying into combat so fast your crew can't make a shot making you only slightly annoying so every enemy ignores you and kills your friends while you drift into cover. Most manuevors that would be considered Hit and Run are team sports, you have a plan with your allies and are the fast guy in it, don't try to do it yourself because you'll lack support and either die or cause an ally to die due to your ineffectiveness.

Ah the, "I'm new so I must absorb information" thought process. While it is true that new players should listen to others to learn more about the game they must also analyze what they are told (listen and think, don't just hear and file it)

Many new players give responses such as "someone told me that burst in the gatling makes it do more damage", but a simple scanning of the effects of burst and the stats of the gatling shows you this is untrue. Being new is not an excuse for not doing research, trust common sense over strange ideas any day for the sake of everyone.

This brings me to a very partisian issue (along vet and novice lines) chem spray and the extinguisher, before anyone tries to kill me I admit that chem spray is more effective stat wise, sorry new guys but it is true; HOWEVER, EXTINGUISHER WILL ALWAYS BE A BETTER CHOICE IN THE HANDS OF SOMEONE WHO SUCKS AT CHEMING STUFF OR REFUSES TO DO SO (new guys and trolls). Of course new players have to learn to spread their wings eventually and use the master spray, if you are unable to keep up rotations or unwilling extinguisher is better. There is nothing wrong with working withing your abilities, like telling your captain you are unable to hit with a lumberjack it is his job to respect your limits and work within them when it comes to fire control.

This should not be taken as a pass to disrespect the ideas of others though, as a new player you don't know everthing (vets admit they don't also, believe it or not) just because an idea is unorthodox doesn't mean it has no value, respect builds teams and teams win matches.

We've all thought it, when we are playing our ally doesn't meet our expectations (or meets low one's too well) it's easy to assume that they are useless and you should go it alone.

Level coincides with skill to a degree, regardless of what others will tell you the level 30 is probably better than the 20 (but not necessarily) so you can attempt to gauge the skill of others off of that however many new players place too little value in teamwork when it come to the actual game. A team of 5's-15's that works together and has basic knowledge of the game can beat one with a ship 30's with 5's-15's as allies if they work together better, they can even win if the whole other team is 30's if they work together to direct aggro and focus enemies (better than their foes).

What does this really mean though? It means that no matter how tough the enemy is or how inexperienced you team is saying "screw them" and trying to do it solo is not the answer, GOIO is a team based game and the lone wolf gets skinned. It also means that you shouldn't make assumptions about your allies in pre-game lobby, if the prospect of winning looks bleak you should be talking to them, trying to form a plan and build on eachother's knowledge to offset any skill gap you may have with the enemy. A strong showing (doesn't have to be winning) against vets can get them interested in you, giving you a leg up on joining a good clan that can help you learn the game; so always try your best and work with what you have, a team can win when a ship cannot.

To start, ramming is an art of sorts anyone can hit a ship with another ship btu to truly do damage, OBSCENE damage you actually have to try a bit. There are better ram guides out there, this is too make you look like you are at least trying when you do it.

Firstly some stats you should recognize from before..

Kerosene
+150% Thrust
+300% Angular Drag
40 Fire damage/s to engines

Moonshine (the bigger and better brother)
+200% Thrust
+1000% Angular Drag
-50% Longitudinal Drag
120 Fire damage/s to engines

These are your damage doers, Kerosene is less damage but your engines don't explode too often while being less good at preventing your ship from wiggling around after impact. Moonshine is high damage, dead engines, and very little wiggle.
The wiggle reduction (angular drag increase) is the second biggest thing hear (after damage increase) as it keeps you facing the guy, slapping yourself like a wet noodle on the enemy is just what the other team wanted because A. it's hilarious and B. now your exposed flank is facing them, note that this wiggle reduction only lasts as long as you burn it so YOU CAN NOT SWITCH TO BUMPERS TO REDUCE DAMAGE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO WIGGLE, don't bother with bumpers honestly. The only reason you would take bumpers is if you are worried that your armor will go down right before yoru ram and you won't be able to abort it, bumpers might save you but odds are the spinnign will get you killed anyway.

Ramming all day everyday, this will kill you more often than not. Even if all you can do is ram (double gatling pyramidions, harpoon based ships) you don't have to do all the time, you must learn to ram when it won't get you killed. Don't ram broadsides that are pumping you full of lead, don't ram when your armor is down, don't ram if you can't hit the guy (in the case he knows how to dodge effectively) only ram when YOU control the encounter, ram form ambushes, when his guns are down, when his back is to you (avoid tar). Some of the best rams are more like taps than an unholy hammer, pull your punches when your health is low.

Know what you can ram, if you aren't a squid or a mobula you likely won't be able to ram a mobula that is aware of you, instead go for the pyramidion or spire. Choose your targets wisely and be prepared to have a plan B because no ram is worth your life. Be mindful of what sort of team you have, 4 v 4 on Sepulcher? if you have 3 sniping allies you probably don't want to be ramming your way through a 4 v 1 enemy team v you fight do you? You can't always crush your foes beneath your mass, smash wisely as preparation is the best protection from a regretable end.