Today, I have done my best playthrough out of 20 hours in the game. I had the Kestrel with almost all the upgrades of the default gear (no drone, cloaking, etc. though). I managed to beat the first form of the final boss, quite easily. And then I lost at the second form. There were so many drones landing on my ship. It was a nightmare. I don't know if I am going to launch this game again any time soon. How come is this the easy mode?
Even on normal mode, I always make it a priority to get cloaking and teleport before the boss. With the two, you can take out the missile launcher before taking damage. On the second teleport, take out drone control. Power surges will be easily avoided with a level 1 cloak.
Just to point out how important level 2 teleport and level 1 cloaking are:
-I would rather have either than upgrade my engines past level 2
-I would rather have either than upgrade my shields past level 3
-I would rather take on the boss with starting weapons and forego any weapon purchases.
-I would rather have a crew of 5 than a crew of 8 and no cloaking.
For me, FTL is about getting lucky with weapons, crew, consumables and then saving up to get teleport, cloaking, drone control. Try to do a run with doing no ship upgrades in the first sector. Stick with it!
For me, FTL is about getting lucky with weapons, crew, consumables and then saving up to get teleport, cloaking, drone control. Try to do a run with doing no ship upgrades in the first sector. Stick with it!
For people still working on their first easy win, go with the Engi ship!
The passive healing is awesome for people who aren't yet used to pausing every five seconds. Also, repairs are lightning fast with the Engi crew. I like to set the Ion to autofire and set it on the shields the whole time, readjusting to weapons if they show a missile launcher or cockpit if they are charging their FTL. I crew up the engines, cockpit and weapons.
It sucks that you need to use drones but I always find a second weapon before I run out of them.
Today, I have done my best playthrough out of 20 hours in the game. I had the Kestrel with almost all the upgrades of the default gear (no drone, cloaking, etc. though). I managed to beat the first form of the final boss, quite easily. And then I lost at the second form. There were so many drones landing on my ship. It was a nightmare. I don't know if I am going to launch this game again any time soon. How come is this the easy mode?
Defense drones shoot down Boarding drones before they can even get to your ship. If you had enough scrap to fully upgrade nearly everything then you really should have bought some extra systems. I tend to find the 7th and 8th bars for stuff like engines and shields not generally worth the massive amount of scrap that is needed to buy them. That being said, I always shoot for 6 bars of shields and engines before fighting the boss.
Also, yes on Parallacs's challenge to get through sector 1 without upgrading. Your initial equipment is generally good enough for a sector or two if you play smart. Try to keep 80 scrap in reserve. You never know when you'll stumble upon a shop with new systems, a Burst Laser II or Pegasus Missiles for sale.
I disagree with the level 1 cloaking over level 3 engines. Level 4 engines are nearly a priority for every ship. It's nice being able to dodge shots for 5 seconds. It's not nearly as good if you're taking the amount of firepower that most of the late-game ships are offering.
I will gladly take on the final boss with no cloaking if I have level 6 engines, and find it still very doable with merely level 4 engines. Cloaking is a get-out-of-jail free button, but unless you're packing enough heat to not need it in the first place, it is not better than having a 40% evasion.
Also, secret race is hilarious for boarding parties.
Even on normal mode, I always make it a priority to get cloaking and teleport before the boss. With the two, you can take out the missile launcher before taking damage. On the second teleport, take out drone control. Power surges will be easily avoided with a level 1 cloak.
Just to point out how important level 2 teleport and level 1 cloaking are:
-I would rather have either than upgrade my engines past level 2
-I would rather have either than upgrade my shields past level 3
-I would rather take on the boss with starting weapons and forego any weapon purchases.
-I would rather have a crew of 5 than a crew of 8 and no cloaking.
For me, FTL is about getting lucky with weapons, crew, consumables and then saving up to get teleport, cloaking, drone control. Try to do a run with doing no ship upgrades in the first sector. Stick with it!
- Rank 2 teleport
- Start the fight 2v1 in a 2x1 room
- Don't fight if they have medbays
- Recall after a fight and medbay up yourself before going back in.
- Use mantis/rockmen
- If you're in dire straights and your teleporter is on cooldown, run your crew around their ship from end to end to keep them alive until you can retrieve them.
Also it's rare, and not an absolute impedement, but watch out for upgraded doors on enemy ships before teleporting over. If things go sideways on you, you don't want your crew trapped in a bad situation.
Similarly if you get a warning about the enemy powering their engines pull your crew back ASAP, it's not worth risking a seasoned boarding party for one ship.
That's just the aftermath, but it turns out a fight in the midst of the solar flares with an underpowered ship isn't the smartest way to begin your space voyage. Who knew?
A couple of uneventful sectors later and we had a crew of 5, with one Zoltan and one Rock. Sadly, I answered a plea for help and sent my crew down to help. Master weapons guy Intended never came back ;_;
I disagree with the level 1 cloaking over level 3 engines. Level 4 engines are nearly a priority for every ship. It's nice being able to dodge shots for 5 seconds. It's not nearly as good if you're taking the amount of firepower that most of the late-game ships are offering.
I will gladly take on the final boss with no cloaking if I have level 6 engines, and find it still very doable with merely level 4 engines. Cloaking is a get-out-of-jail free button, but unless you're packing enough heat to not need it in the first place, it is not better than having a 40% evasion.
Also, secret race is hilarious for boarding parties.
I was going to post just this: I even had Parallac's post selected for quoting. I agree with most of the other stuff but there's no way in hell I'm setting a foot (wing?) on Sector 8 without Engines level 5-6 minimum. Anything less than 5 is suicide IMHO. At 2, you're taking what, 80% of everything the flagship throws at you? That's
3 missiles, 3 ion shots and 3 lasers, which are almost certain to take your shields down for the beam
. And let's not get started with the
drones or the stage 3 surge
.
Conversely, I never upgrade shields to level 4 now. I had enough scrap for them in Sector 8 once, and skipped them in favor of maxing out the other stuff. There's pretty much no fight, including the flagship, where 4 shields is going to make any significant difference.
I personally think that most systems' sweet spot is about 75% of the max. I think the game is designed to give you an extra bit above what is reasonable or optimal to account for personal taste, but unless I'm swimming in cash (i.e. an Easy or a very lucky Normal run), I rarely upgrade above that point.
Back to the three extra systems, the flagship can be beaten without any of them, but they will make your life significantly easier. Beating it without drones is not that much different, but lacking a teleporter means you better have some serious firepower (or bombs) to bring down those Stage 2 defenses. Beating it without the cloak is, again, a matter of great firepower to be able to take it down, or at least its most dangerous systems, ASAP (alternatively, highly upgraded engines help a lot as well, if you skip the cloak).
Interestingly, I just checked and my first ever victory, which was on Normal (Kestrel), was without ANY of the three systems. It must have been a hell of a lucky run, because I didn't have particularly spectacular weapons either. Of course, I finished the game with less than 10 hull points left, but still.
A couple of uneventful sectors later and we had a crew of 5, with one Zoltan and one Rock. Sadly, I answered a plea for help and sent my crew down to help. Master weapons guy Intended never came back ;_;
I've only just started playing the game fairly recently, but I tend to always ignore the "giant spider" type events. Sure, you might get something good out of it, but the risk of losing a crew member is just too great for me, and it seems like the odds are against you in these encounters.
If you could choose who to send down, that'd be a different story, though. There have been times I've had several crew I would consider expendable, but of course, the one who doesn't make it back was the guy who I'd had learning weapon system proficiency for the last six sectors.
I've only just started playing the game fairly recently, but I tend to always ignore the "giant spider" type events. Sure, you might get something good out of it, but the risk of losing a crew member is just too great for me, and it seems like the odds are against you in these encounters.
If you could choose who to send down, that'd be a different story, though. There have been times I've had several crew I would consider expendable, but of course, the one who doesn't make it back was the guy who I'd had learning weapon system proficiency for the last six sectors.
Or it can sink you for good . But yeah, if you're going to lose anyway, might as well.
I've realized this game allows for some pretty spectacular comebacks, even without gambles. Since, unless you lose most of your crew, all that's needed to get you back into tip-top condition is a few scrap and a store, it's always possible to recover from a crippling near-defeat. Being way below the curve of power relative to sector, however (most often because of the slippery slope), is the one thing you can probably not recover easily.
If you mean deselecting a particular crew member when you have several selected, unfortunately it doesn't seem like there is (I've missed this too). The obvious choice would be shift ctrl+click, but it doesn't do anything.
Edit: ctrl+click, not shift+click (shift correctly selects multiple crew members).
Mmm, not sure I understand. I think you might be referring to something different that I understood, then.
For me, crew members get deselected when I left-click pretty much anywhere. You can progressively select more (aside from drawing a rectangle initially) via shift-clicking either themselves or their "party interface" squares on the top left.
I really have to stop rage restarting whenever things don't go my way. I just won a game with the Rock Cruiser where I was considering quitting about every other jump, and man was that victory sweet.
Mmm, not sure I understand. I think you might be referring to something different that I understood, then.
For me, crew members get deselected when I left-click pretty much anywhere. You can progressively select more (aside from drawing a rectangle initially) via shift-clicking either themselves or their "party interface" squares on the top left.
The bug is when I have a crewman selected, but I can't deselect him. If I don't notice, suddenly I have multiple crewmen selected and I'm sending them all to the same room and I can't deselect them to send them back to their proper stations. Saving and quitting fixes it but it sucks when I'm trying to juggle everything during a heated fight.
I just died because I ran out of oxygen after a fight. From what I could tell there were no damaged systems and no open doors. I couldn't tell what was causing the O2 to drop. This was only my 2nd game.
I just died because I ran out of oxygen after a fight. From what I could tell there were no damaged systems and no open doors. I couldn't tell what was causing the O2 to drop. This was only my 2nd game.
I was going to post just this: I even had Parallac's post selected for quoting. I agree with most of the other stuff but there's no way in hell I'm setting a foot (wing?) on Sector 8 without Engines level 5-6 minimum. Anything less than 5 is suicide IMHO. At 2, you're taking what, 80% of everything the flagship throws at you?
I am late responding to this but yeah, it is crazy to not spend the insignificant scrap to upgrade the engines. At least to level four.
But my point about cloaking/teleport being so powerful is still valid. With level two engines, you could teleport two manti over to the missile bay, take out the guy and then take out the missiles before more than one volley goes off. Use the cloak during that volley. If all the lasers and ions hit, they will take out a few hull points damage at most.
A second teleport effectively ends the damage taken in the first phase.
During the second phase, the missile bay can be taken out before a volley even goes off. Your cloaking negates the power surges. I don't even bother taking out the beam, but instead go for the drone control.
Phase 3 is absolutely nothing to write about.
It all comes down to what mix of upgrades you have. I could easily win with level 2 engines if the rest of my ship has the upgrades I like. And obviously, I like teleport.
I just died because I ran out of oxygen after a fight. From what I could tell there were no damaged systems and no open doors. I couldn't tell what was causing the O2 to drop. This was only my 2nd game.
The bug is when I have a crewman selected, but I can't deselect him. If I don't notice, suddenly I have multiple crewmen selected and I'm sending them all to the same room and I can't deselect them to send them back to their proper stations. Saving and quitting fixes it but it sucks when I'm trying to juggle everything during a heated fight.
Whoa, that sucks. I've never had that happen to me once in, let me check...
... holy crap 82 hours of play time. That's insane. :S
Eh, anyway, it does sound like a bug, but I don't think many other people are having it. Try using the F1-F6 keys to select other crew members and see if the original one gets deselected, then try deselecting the new crew member, perhaps? I'd also try simply reinstalling the game. If all fails, definitely post it in the support forum.
I just died because I ran out of oxygen after a fight. From what I could tell there were no damaged systems and no open doors. I couldn't tell what was causing the O2 to drop. This was only my 2nd game.
If you had your O2 system on, perhaps you had a hull breach somewhere? Those are pretty hard to notice without sensors, and if you had all doors open (which admittedly you shouldn't), all oxygen would drain from there.
For the first time ever, I decided to utilize a boarding drone, and man it was awesome. I have yet to really try boarding/crew elimination is a go-to tactic but now I can see it's effectiveness. A boarding drone + ion attacks + bombs is a great way to devastate a crew and a ship's systems without even touching the hull or shields, especially since the drone creates a breach, which lures multiple enemy crew members into one room, making them an easy target. I had more scrap than I needed by the end. Of course, that didn't prevent my demise during the last stand, but it's definitely something to focus on in future builds.
That's one of the many things I love about the random/unpredictable nature of this game, 25-30 hours in and I'm still experiencing new types of builds.
For the first time ever, I decided to utilize a boarding drone, and man it was awesome. I have yet to really try boarding/crew elimination is a go-to tactic but now I can see it's effectiveness. A boarding drone + ion attacks + bombs is a great way to devastate a crew and a ship's systems without even touching the hull or shields. I had more scrap than I needed by the end. Of course, that didn't prevent my demise during the last stand, but it's definitely something to focus on in future builds.
That's one of the many things I love about the random/unpredictable nature of this game, 25-30 hours in and I'm still experiencing new types of builds.
I still have to try the boarding drone seriously. I actually got one last time I played with the Engi ship, but by the time I had only 4-5 drone parts left (which I reserved for my external drones, since I had just got the drone recovery arm), so I didn't use it. It might have been a mistake in retrospect, since killing by boarding drone would have got me more drone parts, probably.
The one thing preventing the boarding drone from being overpowered is that it's the only drone you can't reuse no matter what.
Maybe I'm confused by what you meant, but boarding drones can be reused (or relaunched, rather) immediately after they're destroyed. It's pretty funny seeing what's left of an enemy crew finally defeat my boarding drone only for another one to be launched immediately afterwards and finish them off.
On the topic of boarding, I still haven't messed around with teleporters much. I'd only feel comfortable sending Mantis crew members over but even then it seems risky since I'd probably be outnumbered. I hate taking risks with my crew members.
I've only just started playing the game fairly recently, but I tend to always ignore the "giant spider" type events. Sure, you might get something good out of it, but the risk of losing a crew member is just too great for me, and it seems like the odds are against you in these encounters.
If you could choose who to send down, that'd be a different story, though. There have been times I've had several crew I would consider expendable, but of course, the one who doesn't make it back was the guy who I'd had learning weapon system proficiency for the last six sectors.
Yeah, it was a real bummer when I lost him. Honestly I just haven't had that many events like that, and I figured that the chances were he'd come back. Consider it a lesson learnt.
I've also realised how much of the game I haven't seen or experimented with. For example, I have yet to even have my party board another ship, in fact I'm not even sure if I've had the opportunity to buy the drone that allows that. And if I have, I was obviously lacking in resources to get it. Another thing is I almost never diverge from the standard weapons on the default ship, which is crazy. I find some success that way, but not enough to actually beat the game.
Next time through I'm gonna try and make some radical changes to my playstyle, hopefully acquire new weapons and really prod and poke at the different things on offer. Love it.
Maybe I'm confused by what you meant, but boarding drones can be reused (or relaunched, rather) immediately after they're destroyed. It's pretty funny seeing what's left of an enemy crew finally defeat my boarding drone only for another one to be launched immediately afterwards and finish them off.
Yes, what I mean is that Boarding Drones is the only drone where you will lose a drone part whenever you use them, no matter what. All other drones can be reused with no further part loss under certain circunstances; Anti-personnel and Repair drones stay inside your ship across multiple jumps unless physically destroyed, and external drones (Defense, Anti-Ship, Beam drones) will give back the part used to make them if you have the Drone Recovery Arm augment (assuming they are not destroyed by stray shots, which CAN happen! ).
On the topic of boarding, I still haven't messed around with teleporters much. I'd only feel comfortable sending Mantis crew members over but even then it seems risky since I'd probably be outnumbered. I hate taking risks with my crew members.
Boarding is probably THE one ability that is hard to learn unless you're willing to assume some "sacrifices" (due to unavoidable mistakes) in order to be really good at it. There are many ways to minimize risks (you might want to check my mega-post, here), but above all, a level 2-3 teleporter makes for easier retrieval of crew members if things go south. Sending two mantii to a 2 square room should be entirely safe with a level 2 or 3 teleporter unless the enemy has mantii as well. You can even send Rockmen at first, since they're even easier to recover safely.
Yeah, it was a real bummer when I lost him. Honestly I just haven't had that many events like that, and I figured that the chances were he'd come back. Consider it a lesson learnt.
I've also realised how much of the game I haven't seen or experimented with. For example, I have yet to even have my party board another ship, in fact I'm not even sure if I've had the opportunity to buy the drone that allows that.
It's not a drone (the boarding drone is a self-reliant drone that goes through the enemy ship's hull and goes to town there, a sort of killer robot ) but the Teleport System. It's almost always sold in a shop that also has the Cloaking System and the Drone System. The Mantis Cruiser comes equipped with it out of the box.
And if I have, I was obviously lacking in resources to get it. Another thing is I almost never diverge from the standard weapons on the default ship, which is crazy. I find some success that way, but not enough to actually beat the game.
Next time through I'm gonna try and make some radical changes to my playstyle, hopefully acquire new weapons and really prod and poke at the different things on offer. Love it.
The Kestrel's starting weapons are really good, and in particular the Burst Laser II is often hailed as the best weapon in the game in terms of energy/firepower ratio. You will need a bit extra firepower to finish the game, but really, with that weapon you're set for sector 3-4 at least (once enemy ships start having level 3 shields).
It's not a drone (the boarding drone is a self-reliant drone that goes through the enemy ship's hull and goes to town there, a sort of killer robot ) but the Teleport System. It's almost always sold in a shop that also has the Cloaking System and the Drone System. The Mantis Cruiser comes equipped with it out of the box.
Ah, gotcha. Misunderstood the terminolgy, like I say I just haven't tried out a lot of the pieces of the puzzle, augmentations is another thing I haven't got a clue about. (not asking because I will find out sooner or later )
The Kestrel's starting weapons are really good, and in particular the Burst Laser II is often hailed as the best weapon in the game in terms of energy/firepower ratio. You will need a bit extra firepower to finish the game, but really, with that weapon you're set for sector 3-4 at least (once enemy ships start having level 3 shields).
That's kinda reassuring at least. Usually what I try and do in the earlier sectors is use the Artemis to ruin the shields of another ship and then come in with the lasers. Problem is, I get too attached to that way of thinking and lose out further down the road when I come to regret not having more firepower.
I've updated my big post, removed some innacuracies and added a bit of stuff. In fact, it got over the 25000 character limit, so I had to trim it back. If I keep updating it, I'll probably make a blog post and link to it instead or something.
Ah, gotcha. Misunderstood the terminolgy, like I say I just haven't tried out a lot of the pieces of the puzzle, augmentations is another thing I haven't got a clue about. (not asking because I will find out sooner or later )
Ask, ask! We're here to help!
Augments are like perks your ship can have; they don't have any graphic associated. You can check the ones your ship has by looking at the third tab of the ship screen. The Kestrel starts with no augments, but many of the other ships start with one (usually race-specific). You can buy more in some stores, or sell the ones you have in any store. Your ship has space for exactly three augments.
That's kinda reassuring at least. Usually what I try and do in the earlier sectors is use the Artemis to ruin the shields of another ship and then come in with the lasers. Problem is, I get too attached to that way of thinking and lose out further down the road when I come to regret not having more firepower.
Yeah, I would try not to use the Artemis unless it's absolutely necessary; try to save those missiles. The Burst Shot should be enough to annihilate any ship with level 1 shields, and enough to destroy one with level 2.
Beams are a great completement for the Kestrel, as you can use the burst laser to bring down the shields and then go to town with the beam.
Ugh. I'm nearing 6000 scores with the secret ship, and I for the life of me CANNOT get Clash of the Titans. 12 or 13 ships per run, sure. But this is getting annoying.
Ugh. I'm nearing 6000 scores with the secret ship, and I for the life of me CANNOT get Clash of the Titans. 12 or 13 ships per run, sure. But this is getting annoying.
Yeah, I couldn't get that one either even though I visited a couple of Rock sectors during a run and killed what seemed a lot of Rock ships. I ended up getting the other two. I don't think I'll make a goal to earn all achievements, fortunately.
Ugh, a 9 run this time. Sheesh, I could've beaten the final boss with EASE. If every failed attempt for Clash of the Titans was played to completion, I'd have something like 20 or so more victories.
Ask, ask! We're here to help!
Augments are like perks your ship can have; they don't have any graphic associated. You can check the ones your ship has by looking at the third tab of the ship screen. The Kestrel starts with no augments, but many of the other ships start with one (usually race-specific). You can buy more in some stores, or sell the ones you have in any store. Your ship has space for exactly three augments.
It's also worth noting that some, but not all of the augments' bonuses stack. One of my best runs was from a Federation Cruiser with two Burst Laser IIs, a Heavy Laser I, a Pike Beam, a fully upgraded Artillery Beam, and two Automated Re-Loader augmentations. Once my fully-leveled weapons crewman took the controls, I was shredding everything in my path.
It's also worth noting that some, but not all of the augments' bonuses stack. One of my best runs was from a Federation Cruiser with two Burst Laser IIs, a Heavy Laser I, a Pike Beam, a fully upgraded Artillery Beam, and two Automated Re-Loader augmentations. Once my fully-leveled weapons crewman took the controls, I was shredding everything in my path.
It's also worth noting that some, but not all of the augments' bonuses stack. One of my best runs was from a Federation Cruiser with two Burst Laser IIs, a Heavy Laser I, a Pike Beam, a fully upgraded Artillery Beam, and two Automated Re-Loader augmentations. Once my fully-leveled weapons crewman took the controls, I was shredding everything in my path.
Does the pre-igniter buff work with the Artillery Beam on a Federation Cruiser? I've always wondered. I've been focusing on beating the game with the Federation Cruiser Type A and just seem to consistently get bad luck with them, though that may be in part due to me focusing on super early game teleporters when I can and more or less ignoring Artillery Beam upgrades. I'm playing it more or less like a Kestrel with a pre-determined boarding crew (Mantis + Rock). My wall I seem to keep hitting with them are rebel class ships equipped with a combination 3 bar shield, med-bay, and 2+ missiles.
Does the pre-igniter buff work with the Artillery Beam on a Federation Cruiser? I've always wondered. I've been focusing on beating the game with the Federation Cruiser Type A and just seem to consistently get bad luck with them, though that may be in part due to me focusing on super early game teleporters when I can and more or less ignoring Artillery Beam upgrades. I'm playing it more or less like a Kestrel with a pre-determined boarding crew (Mantis + Rock). My wall I seem to keep hitting with them are rebel class ships equipped with a combination 3 bar shield, med-bay, and 2+ missiles.
I'm sure it comes down to playstyle, but I don't think I could ever play the cruiser and NOT upgrade the artillery beam. Having a weapon that completely ignores any shield but the Zoltan one is super useful, especially since it only starts with a burst laser II. Sure, you can always find better weapons later on, but I've had several runs where I just never come across anything good (or at all) when it comes to new weapons, so having a great second weapon is absolutely necessary when you come across ships with level 3 shields.
Don't think I managed to obtain a beam, but I probably got the most loot I've had with my 8 hours, very quickly picked up the Ion Bomb, but I was reticent to actually use it because I didn't invest in additional system power. But presumably in future, the Ion Bomb is used to ruin another ship's systems, right? Since that's what they seem to do to mine.
Found that your advice about using the burst lasers for the first few sectors was really solid, and built up a good reserve of missiles. And then as I say I managed to grab a lot of different bits and pieces that I'd never experimented with before, had a Defense II drone come my way before I could even use it! Which was followed up on pretty much the very next screen by a Stealth Weapons augment - completely useless to me at the time
Most useful things I ended up with (almost none of these bought), a repair drone and the Automated Reloader augment.
Everything was going nicely until I reached S6 and I came up against a ship with an annoyingly useful defense drone. I tried valiantly for about 5 minutes with my human and mantis to wreck the thing, using about 15 missiles and with half of my hull gone, before I finally facepalm'ed and realised that I could've FTL'ed the hell out of there.
Does the pre-igniter buff work with the Artillery Beam on a Federation Cruiser? I've always wondered. I've been focusing on beating the game with the Federation Cruiser Type A and just seem to consistently get bad luck with them, though that may be in part due to me focusing on super early game teleporters when I can and more or less ignoring Artillery Beam upgrades. I'm playing it more or less like a Kestrel with a pre-determined boarding crew (Mantis + Rock). My wall I seem to keep hitting with them are rebel class ships equipped with a combination 3 bar shield, med-bay, and 2+ missiles.
Ignoring the artillery beam is the opposite of what you should be doing with the Fed Cruiser; it's like not boarding with the mantis cruiser. The artillery beam is very meh at level 1 (I mean, 50 seconds? most battles are done before that). At level level 4, you can pretty much shut down your entire weapon system and go to town. It's a freaking murderous thing. 4-5 unblockable hull and system damage every 20 seconds (that's less than many "normal" weapons recharge time) is more than most ships, probably including the flagship, can deal with. Seriously, it's probably the most overpowered system in the game.
Upgrading to level 4 is quite expensive, especially on Normal, and you probably WON'T be able to afford ignoring upgrading other stuff (especially defensive) before you can. But once you get it there, man...
I'd also say that this ship is the least benefitted by a teleporter of the entire ship roster, since a boarding strategy goes straight against the strength of the artillery beam. That said, I did get a teleporter in one of my games, but juggling the artillery beam's recharge (lowering its power so it recharges more slowly, or shutting it down) to ensure it doesn't slice the enemy ship with your guys in there isn't an easy task. In theory you could simply shut it down, but then if things go badly and you end up having to destroy the ship, you have to wait for its recharge again...
As an anecdote, I got the "slice and dice" achievement via artillery beam against an unmanned probe.
Don't think I managed to obtain a beam, but I probably got the most loot I've had with my 8 hours, very quickly picked up the Ion Bomb, but I was reticent to actually use it because I didn't invest in additional system power. But presumably in future, the Ion Bomb is used to ruin another ship's systems, right? Since that's what they seem to do to mine.
They deal temporary damage, shutting them down for a while. The Ion Bomb is amazing for taking down shields, since it cannot be blocked by any means outside a Zoltan super shield (the green one with a non-regenerating health bar). In fact, getting an Ion Bomb with most ships means being able to finish the game, as it allows you to go through the hardest roadblock,
flagship stage 2's combination of level 4 shields and defensive drone
Found that your advice about using the burst lasers for the first few sectors was really solid, and built up a good reserve of missiles. And then as I say I managed to grab a lot of different bits and pieces that I'd never experimented with before, had a Defense II drone come my way before I could even use it! Which was followed up on pretty much the very next screen by a Stealth Weapons augment - completely useless to me at the time
The game is really interesting in the way that in makes you adapt to the stuff it throws at you. For example, if I got that augment, I would probably make more of an effort to save to get a cloaking system. Admittedly, that's the single most expensive item in the game, but with that augment you can really wreak havoc.
Most useful things I ended up with (almost none of these bought), a repair drone and the Automated Reloader augment.
Everything was going nicely until I reached S6 and I came up against a ship with an annoyingly useful defense drone. I tried valiantly for about 5 minutes with my human and mantis to wreck the thing, using about 15 missiles and with half of my hull gone, before I finally facepalm'ed and realised that I could've FTL'ed the hell out of there.
It's really easy to forget about that in the heat of battle, yeah. As you become more experienced, you'll notice that you approach battles differently; I usually make an assessment of whether I should try to destroy the ship or flee (according to the ship's equipment), and power my systems accordingly. Then if I get unexpectedly beaten up, I reassess again. Early on, I approached all battles as "win or die" situations... but that tends to lead to the second.
They deal temporary damage, shutting them down for a while. The Ion Bomb is amazing for taking down shields, since it cannot be blocked by any means outside a Zoltan super shield (the green one with a non-regenerating health bar). In fact, getting an Ion Bomb with most ships means being able to finish the game, as it allows you to go through the hardest roadblock,
flagship stage 2's combination of level 4 shields and defensive drone
You forgot to mention that you get all that for 1 energy. Ion bomb is really too good. It was able to carry me to victory despite the rest of my weapon loadout being utter crap: 2x Burst Laser I and a Heavy Laser I.
The Ion Bomb is amazing for taking down Zoltan shields. Remember, all ion damage against Zoltan shields is doubled. Given that the standard Zoltan shield is 5 strength, that's an immediate drop with just an ion bomb.
And given that phase 3's Zoltan shield is 10, that's most of it in one shot.
I managed to get two additional Mark II beams (you know, the one you start with) in the first two sectors, after which admittedly the game became pretty easy. Well, I better not mention that I also found two Mark III beams. Still, my first time beating the game*, let me have my short moment of glory. Took me long enough to get there.
Laser spam is my favourite strategy. Honestly the best all round weapon in the game. Good against shields, good against the hull, good against systems, good to get shots past high evasion, reasonable energy cost and recharge time. There's never a bad time to fire a burst of lasers. Only a good boarding party is better offensively IMO.
Laser spam is my favourite strategy. Honestly the best all round weapon in the game. Good against shields, good against the hull, good against systems, good to get shots past high evasion, reasonable energy cost and recharge time. There's never a bad time to fire a burst of lasers. Only a good boarding party is better offensively IMO.
Yeah, Burst Lasers really do seem to be the best approach, especially since some builds can have game-ending weaknesses.
For example, I've spent the last few runs trying to wrap my brain around the stealth ship, and I ended up having a great run. Stuck with the basic dual laser/mini beam that the ship came with, along with a breach missile and pre-igniter. I could destroy most shields with a breach missile, then use the laser/beams to disable other systems, THEN cloak while the weapons recharged. I ended up destroying most of the ships in my way before my first cloak even wore off, or I could board them with my two mantises that I picked up along the way.
So in short, I was feeling pretty unstoppable, until I hit the boss...
First stage went fine. Second stage, things went off the rails. The boss' defense drone did its job and shot down every breach missile that I threw its way. My lasers weren't nearly enough to penetrate the shields, and my boarding party didn't stand a chance, since I couldn't get through the shields to take out the medbay.
I was in that situation once and I managed to whittle down the defenders by sending my two mantii in to the main ship and then sending two other boarders in as well. Parked them in the cockpit and right below so when the defenders ran from the cockpit to the medbay my two other boarders managed to pick them off one by one.
Just finished on Normal, Engi Ship. Went really well, actually. As I suspected, Oxygen System level 2 makes the boarding drones much, much less scary; just pump that oxygen and open all doors, you won't even notice the breach. I didn't even kill all crew during phase 1 (killed a few but could not further disable the medbay without destroying the ship).
Another interesting move I did was buying the Stealth Weapons augment without having the Cloaking System yet (I bought it later on, obviously). That one was really a good move as it allowed me to pelt with the ship's starting Ion Cannon II at all times, which meant the enemy shields were usually down or almost down by the time I decloaked.
I can't believe I'm almost 100 hours into the game and STILL learning things...
If I'm not, do tell your strategies! As I stated several pages earlier in this thread, I believe I'm using it correctly, but I'm just getting frustrated at being subject to the whims of its opening swinginess. More so than most of the other ships, really.
I mean, it's not an unplayable ship, but my last three runs have been some amazing luck. Zoltan shield, Asteroid Field and another Asteroid field.
. But yeah, if you're going to lose anyway, might as well. 