So here's a guide on how to play International Brigade!
First of all, why hooker?
- 100 damage/s with its onboard cannon (Though it needs levels to research)
- Hook is great to single out enemy, get friends out of trouble, stop enemies from escaping and much more…with 1000 damage dealt at maximum level and only 30s cool-down!!
- Barrier special stopping damage for 4 seconds on target
- If handled skillfully, the International Brigade A.K.A. Hooker is often one of the most deciding factors in the game.
What you need:
1. Good internet connection (If 200ms or less you're good to go!)
2. Someone with stunner on your team
What to do
(in chronological order):-Start with sailor (Weak rep. basic canon or sail and something else instead of basic!)
-Save money until hooker 7k
Once you get hooker (whatever level you are by then): Get weapon systems on maximum level. Get hook on maximum level. If you still have points left invest 1 or 2 skill points in speed and then invest in hull points.
-Get normal wood
-Get goblin sail
-Get gold hull
-Get boulder canons (They are great for value and work well with the onboard weapon crew of the hooker due to their range)
-Mechanics crew
-Goblin wood when you see fit depending on opposite team strength. (If strong team better get goblin wood after 3 boulder canons for 1.6k each totaling 150dps or the equivalent in money spent on other weapons of choice (Boulder is great…just saying ^^).
Note that you may want to spend some money on weapons (Around 3k) before you get your gold hull. If so, be sure to have a stone hull in your inventory.
-In case you are confused about this set-up please watch my replay file. (shuffle-league, but strangely without any strong players...in case anyone wonders whether it was actually a qualify game - it wasn't)
That game I did not stick to "my usual script" and had a more aggressive approach by putting more weight on weapons. It is up to you to decide how aggressive you wish to play with the International Brigade, but from personal experience too much aggression is never good.
TIPS:-It often helps to use sight settings such as typing: “-far” “-a9” etc…If the lighting gets bad as you zoom out too far just change your brightness setting under options. Type “-reset” to cancel zoom.
-Easiest to hook non-moving targets. Trickier to predict enemies movements!
-Use your hook as often as possible! 30second cool-down is great and it does 1k damage if successful.
-Be sure to use hooker to feed off sailors if there are any left by the time you get it and always try to hook the weakest link!
-Hook teammates out of trouble and make sure you use your barricade effectively i.e. when teammates are dying or right before the enemy attempts to use a spell on them! You can even hook players out of maelstrom and while they are boarded
-There are a lot of spots on the map where players tend to go. Watch some replays to see where the enemy likes to hide and use it to your advantage while using hooker. Hooking behind the rocks at the Swedish repair wood WEST SIDE is a great way to hook players hiding in their base.
The same applies to all situations. Often hooking from positions where the enemy least expects it can be more effective than hooking from the front.
-Certain obstacles (Dodos, Shops, towers block hooks!!)
-Troll destroyer 7k, Stormwind 10k, Interceptor 1.2k will cause your hook to do 0 damage if their auto-counter ability is not on cool-down
-If the enemy is slow and you are chasing e.g. a dying small sailor and you are faster here is what to do to kill them with hook:
Do not aim the hook at them directly. Aim into empty space in front of them and slightly to the side then run past and slightly in front of them so the hook slaps them in the back as it coils back. Takes a bit of practice to get the knack of this trick but it works wonders believe me!
-Make sure you do plenty of damage with your onboard cannon so always be in range for it to hit the enemy since its range is not the best. Not sure about the specifics, but I believe around mid 700ish ^^.
Ships&Hooker tactics
The notorious "Double Hook"
What you need is 2 Hookers (The International Brigade 7k and the 14k strike-ship.). The brigade hooks an enemy ship then the strike-ship hooks it even further away into your base to stop him from running away. As soon as the strike-ship gets the hook it starts boarding to stop any chance of survival.
Works great if done right!The vicious "X Marks My Hook"
The 10k barque works wonders with the hooker! Use X marks with the barque to mark on the water where the ship will appear after the 3s delay. Torrent needs to be there as soon as the ship appears without a split-second delay so good timing is needed! At the same time the hooker hurls his hook towards the red X to snatch away the enemy. Greatly increases the chances of a successful hook and is great fun (Looks as if the enemy is flying through the air!
) Also, X and double hooks go well together!Troll destroyer, herbal medication and slowing specials
The earthquake of the troll destroyer works wonders to slow down enemies. Use this to your advantage whilst you are playing hooker as it creates some easy slow-moving targets. The same applies for the ganja ship weed smoking technique and other specials such as whirlwind, poison, triple orb explosion...
A quick stun to stop the run
Once you hook the enemy he will usually try to go back as quickly as possible to his friends. To stop this from happening you could get a net (never tried it, as I usually count on team to do that)
or have one of your teammates play with Own Construction Schtoepsel, Asian ship, Barque, Overlord, Trireme...The list is endless. It always helps to have winter winds from an oc, cloudship or storm-wind to decrease the enemy's movement as they move back.
Flares & Helicopters
Whether from a humble bombardier's flare or the mighty rainbow warrior's spawn ships the options are endless, but everything comes down to pretty much the same thing. Having sight of the enemy is the best thing that can happen to a hooker! "Blind" hooks are stabs in the dark and hardly as effective. Luck and intuition is needed for those, but if neither of those are your strong points then seeing the enemy instead of leaving everything to chance is always better.
To conclude things, I want to give a big shout out to all the players that inspired me to write this especially ssr12, Seoman, scotty, el-trickser, TheGayDutchMen and I-Iuzzl3. My thoughts are with you as I write this!
So without further ado, please enjoy the replay (just to give you a taste of hooking) or check out some of the screenshots I took from it to save yourself some time
. Later that game I got myself the 14k strike-ship for more fun hooking…Some fun facts about the game: -South Empire got the most kills and we didn’t even upgrade anything.
GO SOUTH!!!-Our AFK was kicked after 20 minutes.
HOPE YOU ENJOY!
CurssseOfTheSea
bring on the hate if you must.
