FTL: Faster Than Light

[Flickerdart]

You have a junky old ship, three crew members, and sensitive information that could turn the tide of the war. Between you and your destination are eight sectors of hostile space, and you barely have enough fuel to make it through one. The rebel fleet is on your tail - dawdle, and they will crush you utterly. Ready? Begin!

Yep, it's Faster Than Light, space combat meets Oregon Trail. The only thing that stops you from pretending you're Mal Reynolds/Bill Adama/Han Solo/Kathryn Janeway/Everett Young is that you will die many ignoble deaths at the hands of random raiders, hostile aliens, anomalies, and who knows what else. The only time you will feel really heroic is repelling boarders in the medbay, because it heals your men while they fight, making them essentially immortal.

I just got it today and I'm pretty rubbish at it. My high score is just over 2000, and I think I've gotten past Sector 5. Enemies just seem to scale faster than I can upgrade my ship's power plant, and facing down three layers of shields when all you can power is two lasers is a death sentence. There seems to be an on-load bug that instantly kills crewmen in sections with compromised air, which is how I lose most of my crewmen (well, that and fires). I had a pretty good run with the Torus, but I ran out of drones and died horribly. Seems like the drone salvager upgrade really should come standard on a ship that depends on drones to fight...

[pffh]

Hated it at first but I liked it a lot more after I disabled the guys that are chasing you. I just wish there was an infinite free play mode with a lot more possible upgrades and gradually harder enemies/events instead of the boss.

Oh and a way to customize my ship before I set off. At least the starting equipment (just give us a budget and let us shop) but what would be really awesome is if I could choose room placement as well. That is if we just started with the outlines of the ship and possibly the engine room and the cockpit but had to place the rest of the room and the connecting corridors ourselves.

[RPGuru1331]

Er, room placement is part of the point; one of the strengths of say, the Mantis cruiser is that it gets a 4 person teleporter room for instance. That doesn't mean custom would be bad, but the setup for the game as-is, is intended to force tradeoffs. Granted, so is the rebel fleet, but it can also sometimes be fun to just farm yourself to be strongest.

The RNG has a hand in it, though. Sometimes you just don't get enough scrap, and sometimes you get an ion bomb in the first sector. And no, the drone recovery arm doesn't start on the Engi cruiser precisely because that would be crazy strong. It is, again, part of the point. Strategic use of drones matters! Engi B, though, is entirely too funny and seriously recommended for laughs and amusement.

[pffh]

Er, room placement is part of the point; one of the strengths of say, the Mantis cruiser is that it gets a 4 person teleporter room for instance.

Oh I'm not talking about being able to choose what rooms you have on each ship. Each ship would still have the same rooms but you would have the freedom of deciding where each of those room was in the hullscheme. So you could for example go for a maze build with lots of doors to fight invaders or you could go for a more open design so you could easily vent the air and move the crew around in case of fire.

[RPGuru1331]

That's also interesting, but I specified '4 person' precisely because that's part of the benefit: that the ship can offload the maximum number of boarders possible in a single room, and it's an uncommon benefit. Still, it would be neat if we got to lay out the room design.

Oh, also, for heroism, you can design your ship around boarder combat, and that can feel pretty darn heroic. Requires you to get a lot of mantis or, in a pinch, rockmen though.

[Eurus]

I think a customizable-ship mode would be very interesting. Obviously it'd probably be a little easier than using the defaults, because the existing ships all have their own flaws and you could probably come up with some pretty solid improvements, but who cares, it'd be fun.

[Cespenar]

It's a pretty fun and annoying game at the same time. I managed to beat the Flagship's first form on Normal, twice even (on different playthroughs, of course) but then its second mode kicked my ass.

I agree that a customizable ship would be fun as well. Perhaps start it with less bonuses than the other ships, and it might come off as balanced.

[pffh]

Yay I just found mods that will let me do what I want with the game.

[Astrella]

I just got it today and I'm pretty rubbish at it. My high score is just over 2000, and I think I've gotten past Sector 5. Enemies just seem to scale faster than I can upgrade my ship's power plant, and facing down three layers of shields when all you can power is two lasers is a death sentence. There seems to be an on-load bug that instantly kills crewmen in sections with compromised air, which is how I lose most of my crewmen (well, that and fires). I had a pretty good run with the Torus, but I ran out of drones and died horribly. Seems like the drone salvager upgrade really should come standard on a ship that depends on drones to fight...

Are you staying as long in a sector as you can afford until the fleet catches up with you?

[iyaerP]

Just a few tips for those anyone new to it:

Boarding action is awesome if you can pull it off. You get far more scrap, and more frequently find bonus goodies like extra crew or a new weapon or a new augment.

Drones come in a variety of flavors and usefulness. The standard defensive drone for example is widey considered better than the Mk 2 because it doesn't shoot down lasers, and missiles are far more of a threat to your hull than lasers are. The boarding drone, like its description says, is pure AWESOME. The repair drone is really only useful if you are short on crew, but by the time you are near the endgame, you will usually find your generator's power to be the bigger bottleneck, so this one is kind of a wash. The repair drone that actually heals your hull damage on the other hand, is AMAZING. etc, etc

Cloaking is almost required for the flagship fight. Each phase has a different "superweapon" that if it doesn't kill you outright, will at least severely cripple you. Cloak through it each time if you can.

And lastly, do anything you can to avoid running out of fuel. Nothing good will come of just sitting around with your distress beacon up, HOPING that someone will come help.

[Cespenar]

Also a suggestion: feel free to play it on Easy to rack up on achievements to unlock new ships. Different ships really spice up the game, but you'll be too busy surviving on Normal difficulty to consider getting those achievements.

[BobVosh]

A lot of people who are newish to the game complain about the boss, but the more experienced you get the less likely he is a concern. If I make it to the final sector I am pretty much guaranteed a win.

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg404/scaled.php?server=404&filename=screenshot20120923at102.png&res=landing
This is the kind of thing that can kill you fairly consistently if you find it unless you have missiles...

[RPGuru1331]

Ion cannon and a glaive beam? Not that likely to kill, even with 5 shields. Still, probably easier to flee.

[BobVosh]

With 5 shields, and no good way to board it is pretty doomish.

[Rustic Dude]

-Stack Burst Lasers. I-II.

-Use Ion weapons. Burst II better.

-Use bombs. Low energy cost, and they wreck everything from the inside

-The Artillery Beam is incredible.

[RPGuru1331]

With 5 shields, and no good way to board it is pretty doomish.

Not really. A Glaive Beam is not getting through 4 shields, even with an ion cannon. At 3 shields, it'll do minimal damage. It'll force you to retreat, but it can't really kill you unless you're incredibly badly damaged... or unless you think your only option is to fight it to the death. All power to the engines!

[BobVosh]

Saw it either late sector 4 or early 5. Only had shields 2.

[t209]

My brother said that Sensor is the most useless ability in the game! But we need to make a Codex Astartes for this game as guidelines.

[Forbiddenwar]

So, since the guide I have found seem completely useless "You can beat the boss no matter what weapons you have" Can I get some advice? What weapons are good? What should i focus fire.
I survive wave 1 just fine, but I always get crushed, on easy, on the second wave. With full shields and full engines. Missiles ? Drones? Or straight up lasers?

[Eledragon]

So, since the guide I have found seem completely useless "You can beat the boss no matter what weapons you have" Can I get some advice? What weapons are good? What should i focus fire.
I survive wave 1 just fine, but I always get crushed, on easy, on the second wave. With full shields and full engines. Missiles ? Drones? Or straight up lasers?

My general thought process is to always carry something to pierce the shields. This requires missiles, bombs, or a skilled boarding crew. Second stage is much easier with stealth, but it can be survived without it. Get level three doors if you aren't too strapped for scrap.

Generally speaking, ignore the drone control when targeting. The power surge's drones don't actually rely on having it operational. Focus shields with your missiles/bombs/crew, then blow them up with your weapons. If you are taking too much damage, kill the missiles immediately. They won't repair until the computer activates.

Generally, I prefer to carry a cheap-on-energy missile + a halberd beam + a burst laser. missile damages shields enough for the burst laser to strip them, and then drag the beam across the shields to make it easier next cycle.

Alternatively, I carry 2 Ion blasters (the short cooldown ones) and a beam of some sort. Since ion blasters(especially mark 2) fire so fast, set them to autofire on shields and fire your beam in the most opportune position. Generally, this works well with the Engi ship, since drones make it work much more quickly.

Another build that works is multiple burst lasers. A massive amount of burst lasers will overwhelm shields, period. The kestrel type-b is ideal, but does require unlocking.
Feel free to ask more questions.

[BobVosh]

When boarding keep one guy alive, otherwise you get the problem with the "advance AI" activating.

Actually: I would only recommend reading this guide when you give up. Very good, very exact, and therefore very spoiling. (http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2024) I found discovering how the boss works a lot more fun than basically beating him every time. That said I do remember being extremely upset the first few times dying against him, then learning there were phases and dying to those dang drones.

[tyckspoon]

So, since the guide I have found seem completely useless "You can beat the boss no matter what weapons you have" Can I get some advice? What weapons are good? What should i focus fire.
I survive wave 1 just fine, but I always get crushed, on easy, on the second wave. With full shields and full engines. Missiles ? Drones? Or straight up lasers?

I just did it with a Burst Laser Mk II, Hull Laser Mk II, and 2 Small Bomb launchers. Use the Small Bombs or similar weapons (ie missiles, but it felt like the bombs were more accurate so I'd probably use those if you've got 'em) to snipe out the Shields room, do MASSIVE DAMAGE with the Hull laser once the ship is exposed. Teleport a couple dudes into the missile-launcher weapons blister (it's the first weapon on the right hand side) to knock out that- once you've gotten rid of it good shields and engines can handle the rest of the flagship's attacks pretty easily, assuming you can cloak-duck enough of the special attacks from phases 2 and 3.

[Grif]

A lot of people who are newish to the game complain about the boss, but the more experienced you get the less likely he is a concern. If I make it to the final sector I am pretty much guaranteed a win.

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg404/scaled.php?server=404&filename=screenshot20120923at102.png&res=landing
This is the kind of thing that can kill you fairly consistently if you find it unless you have missiles...

Holy crap. Five shields is possible?! :smalleek:

[factotum]

Another build that works is multiple burst lasers. A massive amount of burst lasers will overwhelm shields, period. The kestrel type-b is ideal, but does require unlocking.


Kestrel-B has Basic Lasers, not Burst Lasers--sure, it has four of them, but that only gives you one more shot than a single Burst Laser does.

[RPGuru1331]

Re: Rebel Mothership

A strong boarding crew is probably ideal, but leave the little dude in helms alone if you try it that way. And be extremely careful to recall the boarding crew before phase shifts. Boarding aside, you'll likely need missiles or bombs of some variety. If you're not boarding, fire or breach bombs work out pretty well (The fires/breaches will prevent crew from doing repairs).

If at all possible, slaughter everyone in the compartments except one of the wimpier weapons, or everyone except the helmsperson; crew stay dead between waves. If you left a weapons guy alone, concentrate your initial bombing on the helm (Shields don't live all that long without an evasion score backing it up, really) or the shields if you left the helmsperson alive.


Saw it either late sector 4 or early 5. Only had shields 2.

What did we learn? :D
But nonetheless, Ion + Glaive Beam is not an immediate kill at shields 2, even; running is good.

That is a hilariously out of depth mob though. I mean, I'm nto sure it'd ever be 'in depth', but it certainly wasn't there.

[The Succubus]

With the mother ship, I always make a point of taking out the the missile launcher first. Shields take care of the glaive stuff and energy weapons but given that missiles can bypass shields, they can eat you alive PDQ if you're not careful. Crew teleporting is a fine way to deal with those isolated forward weapon modules as they cannot be repaired once the crew is dead.

[Eledragon]

Kestrel-B has Basic Lasers, not Burst Lasers--sure, it has four of them, but that only gives you one more shot than a single Burst Laser does.

Yes, but it gives you the early burst to take out most shields in one volley, and you can upgrade them quite easily along the way. Burst lasers aren't the rarest weapon.

[Starsign]

I've actually played quite a bit of FTL before. Funny enough my favorite ship is Engi Cruiser A as I am quite partial to using Drones. That and I feel that Engi A doesn't need much more firepower to finish the game; my victory in Easy just picked up a Glaive Beam to win and my victory on Normal used a Pegasus Missile and an extra Beam drone. Strangely though I have yet to complete the game with anything else yet (as well as needing to unlock the Mantis, Slug, and that last bloody cruiser :smallsigh:)

For the Flagship I recommend going in with at minimum 40% Dodge Chance, Level 3 Shields with Level 2 Stealth or Level 4 Shields without Stealth. Preferably however you want 45% Dodge Chance with Level 4 Shields and Level 2 Stealth.

I never really found Boarding appealing however. It's great for normal ships without a lot of crew but it can be a drag with a large number of crew members to kill. Also I couldn't find two mantis crew members to take out the Missile Launcher on the flagship fast enough, which was probably why I got slaughtered by it when I made an attempt with the Federation Cruiser. I'm probably just doing it wrong however. :smalltongue:

[BobVosh]

What did we learn? :D
But nonetheless, Ion + Glaive Beam is not an immediate kill at shields 2, even; running is good.

That I rely on zolton super special awesome shields too late in the game?

[t209]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNG_Kn-m73M
Anyone played this song during FTL gameplay.

[RPGuru1331]

That I rely on zolton super special awesome shields too late in the game?

Aye! They're fun, and useful, but not so useufl that you can neglect your shields entirely. I prefer ot think of them as a way to save considerable amounts of scrap, rather than a game winner.


I never really found Boarding appealing however. It's great for normal ships without a lot of crew but it can be a drag with a large number of crew members to kill.
It can try one's patience, that's for sure. Since it requires so little dedicated to it, if you're going to try it, it's great to diversify. I mean, you get bonus scrap and bonus weapons and crew from all your kills anyway, might as well put it to use.

[Grif]

I found out the hard way that the Federation Cruiser couldn't put on a Cloaking system.

Drones ate me alive at Phase 2 of the Rebel Flagship. All my sads. :smallfrown:

[BobVosh]

Aye! They're fun, and useful, but not so useufl that you can neglect your shields entirely. I prefer ot think of them as a way to save considerable amounts of scrap, rather than a game winner.
I had the choice between a scrap recovery arm or shields at the last store...I went for a long term investment even if it was a little late in the game I felt it was still good enough. Plus that way I didn't have to pay for power too, not that my crew really needs to breath in combat...


It can try one's patience, that's for sure. Since it requires so little dedicated to it, if you're going to try it, it's great to diversify. I mean, you get bonus scrap and bonus weapons and crew from all your kills anyway, might as well put it to use.

Strange, I always love boarding. It is fun to run them around, especially if I have rocks with fire bombs.

[lord_khaine]

Must say that i personaly think boarding actions are most fun with a
Spoiler alert

Crystal crew, instant thunderdome in the enemy fire control room, preventing anyone from escaping to their medbay :smallbiggrin:

[Forbiddenwar]

, not that my crew really needs to breath in combat....

Have you got the random encounter "Choose what system you don't want anymore"?
I accidentally picked oxygen.
:smalleek:

That was a close fight.

[Silfir]

So, since the guide I have found seem completely useless "You can beat the boss no matter what weapons you have" Can I get some advice? What weapons are good? What should i focus fire.
I survive wave 1 just fine, but I always get crushed, on easy, on the second wave. With full shields and full engines. Missiles ? Drones? Or straight up lasers?

With full shields and full engines you have enough defense to at least stand a fighting chance (though cloaking and defense drones can easily replace several levels of those systems), but of course your weapons are very important.

a) The first phase has four shields and a cloaking device and hull points. It's very vulnerable to missiles; even a simple Artemis launcher will be highly effective. It counters ion weapons to a fair degree since the cloaking device will likely allow the ion cooldown to run out, resetting the ion counter on the shields. It will still work, but you need a lot of it. Bombs can bring down systems very effectively, too.
b) The second phase has four shields and a defense drone and hull points. Ion is now quite effective, but your missiles are severely diminished in usefulness. If you have a Pegasus or double Artemis launchers, you can overwhelm the drone. Bombs can be used against both the shields and the drone control, either to allow the lasers and beams to get past shields or to allow missiles to get past the drone.
c) The final phase has a pretty sturdy zoltan shield and four shields after that. And of course hull points. Both ions and missiles are effective, but ions especially so since it brings down the shield very fast. Bombs are less effective now since they cannot do their main thing, though they can still hurt the shield.

Whatever weapon loadout you bring, it has to be able to beat all three of these defensive setups. (It's very unlikely that you can reach a shop inbetween phases.) There is a respectable multitude of correct solutions and you only need one of them. Some of these correct solutions require a sturdier defense than others because they are slower, and some of them might rely on considerable supplies of finite resources such as missiles and drone parts. It's very likely that a playthrough will allow you to assemble a correct solution if you know what you're looking for. Some starting ships aren't very far away from it at all. The Engi-A, for instance, could consistently defeat both phase 2 and 3 provided its defenses are heavily built up and it doesn't run out of drone parts. It just needs help to get down the shields of the first phase quicky enough that the cloaking doesn't ruin its chances, and of course additional firepower will make life that much easier (i.e. require just a bit less investment in the defensive department).

Some correct solutions do require a downright surgical approach. You can defeat the boss with a heavy laser, a Burst Laser Mk I, an Anti-Ship Drone Mk I and a pike beam, but it requires a great deal of precision; you have to watch your drone carefully and time the ship-boarded lasers such that all four laser shots hit within a minimal time frame, and fire the pike beam the very moment all four shields are popped. If the timing is off just a bit, the window becomes smaller and the pike beam will cross fewer rooms or even only one.

[lord_khaine]

Have you got the random encounter "Choose what system you don't want anymore"?
I accidentally picked oxygen.



I got that one with my boarding specalised Rock ship, and laughed like crazy as i picked weapons :smallbiggrin:

[Flickerdart]

Well, I finally got to the final sector, and was then torn apart by an Elite Fighter before even making it to the boss. Buying that teleporter was definitely a mistake - I lost four crewmen all in all, two on a ship that decided to drop shields and explode as soon as I sent them, and two that were inexplicably overpowered by two human crew despite being Mantises and thus better at everything.

I also couldn't get a shield generator boost because I had the stupid stasis pod thing. What does it do, anyway?

[RPGuru1331]

You can sell augments (including the pod), and I'll tell you what it does in spoiler; spoiler alert, it's a big spoiler. Teleporters require finesse, and if I couldn't tell you how humans beat mantis in equal numbers unless crew swapped out while you were looking at other things - I very rarely board while doing damage to the ship proper, to avoid bombing accidents like that, because the rewards for a kill via boarding are generally higher; more scrap, more loot, etc. Mothership aside, it's rare for me to use the boarders to soften the ship up.


The pod is used to find Crystalmen, who are basically better rockmen. To get a crystalman crew member at all, you'll need to get the damaged pod, and then find one of those Zoltan scientists who is studying stasis technology, and they can awaken the pod. This ties into the Crystalman ship, and unlocking Crystalmen for hire at stations

[nhbdy]

Well, I finally got to the final sector, and was then torn apart by an Elite Fighter before even making it to the boss. Buying that teleporter was definitely a mistake - I lost four crewmen all in all, two on a ship that decided to drop shields and explode as soon as I sent them, and two that were inexplicably overpowered by two human crew despite being Mantises and thus better at everything.

I also couldn't get a shield generator boost because I had the stupid stasis pod thing. What does it do, anyway?

buying the teleporter is rarely a mistake, buying it late game without training a boarding crew, and expecting them to compete with (possibly) scaled enemies is...

As was mentioned above, it's a completely different playstyle, and requires a different strategy entirely, but I wouldn't just call buying a teleporter a mistake.

[NEO|Phyte]

Boarding a ship and shooting a ship are best kept mutually exclusive, because if you try doing both, you WILL manage to accidentally blow up a ship with your boarders on it. Obvious exception for ion weapons, which are only a risk to your boarders if you're keeping their o2 disabled.

[tyckspoon]

Boarding a ship and shooting a ship are best kept mutually exclusive, because if you try doing both, you WILL manage to accidentally blow up a ship with your boarders on it. Obvious exception for ion weapons, which are only a risk to your boarders if you're keeping their o2 disabled.

I wouldn't say completely exclusive; cutting up the enemy with shooting first means your boarders only have to deal with half-health targets, suppresses the enemy fire so they don't tear up your ship in return while you're doing the hand-to-hand, and (very importantly for boarding) lets you disable the enemy Med Bay if the ship has one. You'll rarely get anywhere trying to make a boarding action against a live Med Bay.

(Although Bomb and/or Ion-type weapons would be preferred, since they have little to no risk of accidentally destroying the enemy hull while you're cleaning up inside.)

[RPGuru1331]

(Although Bomb and/or Ion-type weapons would be preferred, since they have little to no risk of accidentally destroying the enemy hull while you're cleaning up inside.)

This. Blow the medbay out with an actual bomb when people go to heal, and they'll die. Then you just camp the medbay.

It's true you'll want to take some shots though, if you're confident you won't kill; if the enemy has 5 HP, there's no harm in firing a Burst Laser 2 at their weapons (unless your dudes are there). But yeah, being exceedingly cautious is the watchword.

It's not technically impossible to get the benefits of boarding without actually boarding, but the only ship kitted out for it initially is the Slug Cruiser, since it has an A.Bio Beam that can kill crew for the entire game.

[Xiander]

I also couldn't get a shield generator boost because I had the stupid stasis pod thing. What does it do, anyway?

It is part of the quest to unlock a ship. A very long and hard quest, but it does give you a Crystal crew-member about halfway through.

[mangosta71]

I was watching a friend play this over my vacation, and it seemed to me that he did best when he focused on keeping enemy ships' weapons disabled. Fights were longer, but he took way less damage (until he lost two of his crew in a random event and could no longer keep his ship against boarders). I was also wondering - can you suffocate enemy boarders by venting the compartment they're in to space?

[NEO|Phyte]

I was watching a friend play this over my vacation, and it seemed to me that he did best when he focused on keeping enemy ships' weapons disabled. Fights were longer, but he took way less damage (until he lost two of his crew in a random event and could no longer keep his ship against boarders). I was also wondering - can you suffocate enemy boarders by venting the compartment they're in to space?

Yes, but you need to have blast doors otherwise they can just walk out of the vented room. A fairly common practice is to have all noncrewed rooms open to space at all times, as boarders aren't picky about what room they arrive in.

[factotum]

Doing that is a risk, though--I'm sure I'm not the only one who has opened most of the ship interior to space in order to deal with boarders or a fire, only for my O2 chamber to get knocked out and leave me having to send crew members through hard vacuum to get it repaired. Losing door control in the same situation is almost as dangerous!

[LordShotGun]

After getting the rock cruiser I managed to play a boarding style game all the way through the campaign and even beat the final boss by teleporting into the shielding compartment and setting it on fire with a fire bomb. Between the fire damage and my 4 max level combat rock crewmen I wiped out most of the flag ship's crew in all 3 phases.

[RPGuru1331]

I really prefer venting selectively in the event of boarders, unless I'm playing Engi B, and even then, only until I have a real crew. Blast doors, especially improved blast doors, will last a fair amount of time to non-mantis, so you can usually do some pretty respectable damage even without stuff pre-vented. I suppose Engi A with a maxed medbay could do more too, but still.

[nhbdy]

I really prefer venting selectively in the event of boarders, unless I'm playing Engi B, and even then, only until I have a real crew. Blast doors, especially improved blast doors, will last a fair amount of time to non-mantis, so you can usually do some pretty respectable damage even without stuff pre-vented. I suppose Engi A with a maxed medbay could do more too, but still.

I do similar as well... Just vent when a boarding is in progress or imminent, been caught too many times with no O2/door controls with hard vacuum too many times...

[pffh]

I usually keep the airlocks airfree since none of my crew has any business in there and the enemy sometimes teleports into them.

[Grif]

Finished another (Easy) run with Kestrel B. Reached the flagship with 2 Heavy Lasers Mk I, Basic Lasers and Small Bomb, along with full cloaking, Repair drones and Mantis boarding crew.

Turns out cloaking is an almost guarantee I Win! button in Phase 2 and 3, provided you have sufficient weaponry/boarding crew to murder the ship.

[Flickerdart]

Are there any races that don't need air?

[BobVosh]

Are there any races that don't need air?

No, but I believe there is a modded race that doesn't. It would be fairly OP, as you would be immune to both fire and boarding for the most part.

[Grif]

No, but I believe there is a modded race that doesn't. It would be fairly OP, as you would be immune to both fire and boarding for the most part.

Could be easily balanced with a very low health pool... like 50. :smalltongue: (Two lucky shots on the same room would result in an untimely death.)

[Impnemo]

I'll double down on selective venting only. If you have a breach you can open other rooms around it to keep air in the compartment longer while you seal it etc. Venting can be useful, even without blast doors, to herd the ai boarders to your med bay since they search for the nearest target with air.



Id go a step further. Without the need to breathe theres no need for bulkheads. No door controls and low health.

[BobVosh]

Yeah, but imagine that race with engi nano healing.

[Impnemo]

Can't you selectively disallow certain upgrades to ships? Like fed cruiser can't have cloak.

[RPGuru1331]

50 HP is ohko range for particularly strong weapons, unless I'm misremembering. And yes, a burst laser could very feasibly wreck your day unless you run two bars of engi healing all day every day - and if you do, what was the point of getting rid of oxygen?

Edit:
As far as I know, you can't disallow that upgrade slot - Cloaking is a subsystem that shares a systems slot with the Artillery Beam, but it'll still take cloaking augments, they're just useless. And there's no reason to; the Engi Nanos require a very particular encounter, so even if a race would be overpowered with it, it's a very edge scenario to worry about.

It'd also be a benefit mutually exclusive to any other race's, given the nature of it. No boarding, no quick repairdroid, no 'cheap' energy in late game...

[Grif]

50 HP is ohko range for particularly strong weapons, unless I'm misremembering. And yes, a burst laser could very feasibly wreck your day unless you run two bars of engi healing all day every day - and if you do, what was the point of getting rid of oxygen?

Edit:
As far as I know, you can't disallow that upgrade slot - Cloaking is a subsystem that shares a systems slot with the Artillery Beam, but it'll still take cloaking augments, they're just useless. And there's no reason to; the Engi Nanos require a very particular encounter, so even if a race would be overpowered with it, it's a very edge scenario to worry about.

It'd also be a benefit mutually exclusive to any other race's, given the nature of it. No boarding, no quick repairdroid, no 'cheap' energy in late game...
It'll be interesting to play, certainly.

(Those pesky AI drones you can now board with impunity.)

[BobVosh]

It'll be interesting to play, certainly.

(Those pesky AI drones you can now board with impunity.)

Heh, two mantis with a level 2 teleporter can board a drone, and kill one system with enough time to return. Not that I send my men in to hostile, exceedingly dangerous environments with little chance to return...
Hey, want to join? I'll pay 40 scrap.

[Sprinter]

Are there any races that don't need air?

Nope but crystal take less damage from lack of air also rockman can survive boarding action on drone ship without upgrading teleporter. You can actualy board a drone ship and damage shield/weapons if you have rockman/crystal crew members just make sure it doesnt have cloaking system also. Thats one of reasons why my favorite boarding crew are rockman/crystal unless im playing with mantis B type 4 angry mantis > all.

[Starsign]

Does anyone else here have a great dislike for Federation Cruiser B? I gave it two attempts and both ended amazingly bad. (first time was through dying of oxygen because I tried to suffocate two mantis boarders and ended up having my door system disabled, second time was because a Mantis Cruiser decided to unleash Breach Bombs on my systems while they had a teleporter) I really dislike the ship's layout design and starting members. :smallsigh:

[mucco]

Been playing this for the last few days. It is an awesome game.

I want to board stuff but I never find crew! I might find three guys from S1 to S8... and they also die sometimes. Like the time when I thought it was a good idea to board an unmanned air-less ship with my fully upgraded fighting mantis. Poor mantis.

[BobVosh]

Does anyone else here have a great dislike for Federation Cruiser B?
My hate for ships go to Rock A, and Slug A. I don't know about the Bs as I haven't bothered unlock them due to my hatred of the As.


I want to board stuff but I never find crew! I might find three guys from S1 to S8... and they also die sometimes. Like the time when I thought it was a good idea to board an unmanned air-less ship with my fully upgraded fighting mantis. Poor mantis.

Save up money and keep 40ish. Hit stores when you can, and pick up a guy. A level 2 medibay gives a lot of blue options for which you can get a guy. My personal favorite is to find one of the slavers, and fighting them if you get lucky to find one.

[Grif]

Save up money and keep 40ish. Hit stores when you can, and pick up a guy. A level 2 medibay gives a lot of blue options for which you can get a guy. My personal favorite is to find one of the slavers, and fighting them if you get lucky to find one.

Or you can just buy one. :smallwink:

[Sprinter]

Does anyone else here have a great dislike for Federation Cruiser B? I gave it two attempts and both ended amazingly bad. (first time was through dying of oxygen because I tried to suffocate two mantis boarders and ended up having my door system disabled, second time was because a Mantis Cruiser decided to unleash Breach Bombs on my systems while they had a teleporter) I really dislike the ship's layout design and starting members. :smallsigh:

Type B are harder versions of ships with exception of type B starting Cruiser. I like type B of Mantis/Crystal more then type A because im used to boarding everything (including drone ships if necesary) also didnt had no problem with Zoltar type B.

Personaly i dislike Type B Stealth cruiser most. Starts without shields and without titan casing augument Type A has (sells for 50 scrap so you need only 100 scraps to buy shield on Type A) and glaive beam takes 18s to charge while cloack lasts only 10s which means most ships fire before you get chance and if they hit weapons you have to wait another 18s after repairing them leaving you exposed to more damage. Beam drones are your worst nightmare thanks to theyr rate of fire and 100% hit chance.

[LordShotGun]

Just started a mantis type b ship (the one with the 4 man teleporter) and it is damn hard. Starting with 0 weapons and only a boarding and defense drone makes fighting automated ships impossible so you have to run asap. Zoltrons are even worse as you can't teleport past the intial shield.

You only start with two mantis crewmates and you will need both to board the enemy ship since you WILL run out of drone parts. Since no one is at the helm or the engines, or the shields, you WILL take hull damage and take it frequently.

The rockman boarding ship (I think it was type B, whichever one starts with firebombs) was much much easier since you also start with a heavy pierce laser making early drone ships super easy. As for manned ships, just fire bomb one compartment (I usually go for the medbay or the weapons if they don't have a medbay), most of the crew will come running, teleport in your rock man boarders and the fire will do most of the work for you.

[Sprinter]

Just started a mantis type b ship (the one with the 4 man teleporter) and it is damn hard. Starting with 0 weapons and only a boarding and defense drone makes fighting automated ships impossible so you have to run asap. Zoltrons are even worse as you can't teleport past the intial shield.

You only start with two mantis crewmates and you will need both to board the enemy ship since you WILL run out of drone parts. Since no one is at the helm or the engines, or the shields, you WILL take hull damage and take it frequently.


Tip avoid nebulas, zoltar and even rebel held sectors. upgrade your shield to 2 points asap then buy/get more crew. Ion weapons again zoltar super shields are super effective.



The rockman boarding ship (I think it was type B, whichever one starts with firebombs) was much much easier since you also start with a heavy pierce laser making early drone ships super easy. As for manned ships, just fire bomb one compartment (I usually go for the medbay or the weapons if they don't have a medbay), most of the crew will come running, teleport in your rock man boarders and the fire will do most of the work for you.

I play only on normal and on normal after sector 2 heavy pierce laser is useless on top of that you need to upgrade shield and engines asap as avoiding taking damage with slow rockman only crew has much higher priority then with other ship crews.

[LordShotGun]

I play only on normal and on normal after sector 2 heavy pierce laser is useless on top of that you need to upgrade shield and engines asap as avoiding taking damage with slow rockman only crew has much higher priority then with other ship crews.

I play on normal also. The heavy pierce 1 never becomes useless to a boarding style game since you still need someway to break zoltron shields and that is a nice quick and simple way to do so. Perhaps I just got lucky in one particular game where I managed to get a random drop ion bomb that makes most battles trivial.

If the enemy ship is a zoltron use the heavy pierce to break the shield then turn the weapon off.

For everyone else, Board the ship (aim for weapons) and kill everyone, using a fire bomb if necessary. If they have a medbay then one ion bomb there will prevent the enemy from healing. This does rely on lots of missile use but unless you get really unlucky then most fights need one or two bomb and some need zero.

If need be teleport your boarders back and heal them. Then beam them back. Naturally cloaking, shields and engines get the majority of the power.

[Sprinter]

I play on normal also. The heavy pierce 1 never becomes useless to a boarding style game since you still need someway to break zoltron shields and that is a nice quick and simple way to do so.

Thats true however type B rock cruiser starts without crew teleporter and if i choose to go boarding style i prefer mantis/rockman sectors and only rarely go to zoltar sectors. Zoltar homeworld is pretty much only reason to go to zoltar sector boarding style because by the time super shield is down fight any with mantis ship without med bay is already over.

[Grif]

Thats true however type B rock cruiser starts without crew teleporter and if i choose to go boarding style i prefer mantis/rockman sectors and only rarely go to zoltar sectors. Zoltar homeworld is pretty much only reason to go to zoltar sector boarding style because by the time super shield is down fight any with mantis ship without med bay is already over.

I found Slug ships to be hilariously undermanned and easy pickings for boarders. Just aim some missiles/bombs at the pilot room, and then drop your mantis crack squad right into them. They don't usually have medbays to boot.

[Bayar]

I just had an amazing run with the Zoltan ship. Getting Weapon Preigniters early made most of the game way too easy (so easy that I managed to get 2 achievements and would have gotten the 29 power one as well if my fourth zoltan didn't die due to a freak mantis accident).

I'll have to remember that the endgame boss cannot be taken out solely with the Halbert beam. Only 2 shileds are enough to nullify it, and burst laser I with a missile launcher is not enough.

[Grif]

Completed my first Normal run with Kestrel B. Somewhat similar to my Easy run, where I used a mix of Mantis crack boarders and accurate gunnery. This time though, I went in significantly underarmed, with only Basic Lasers and one Pegasus missile launcher. I couldn't even crack normal 4-shield mook enemies I was encountering at Sector 8. Managed to win with only 1/4 of my hp remaining.

[tyckspoon]

Unpleasant encounters: 3-shield AI ship. With an Ion weapon, a missile launcher, and a burst laser. Plus Drone Control with 2 Anti-Ship Drones. In an asteroid field :smallfrown: Ow. Ow ow ow.

[Lunix Vandal]

My favorite FTL moment so far:I get hailed by a Slug merchant who is "willing to trade, but with terms and conditions." Naivety ensues, then ...

Slug: Your weaponsss are now disssabled, courtesssy of my sssaboteur! Now die!
Me: Well played, sir! A shame all three of my shields are still up, or that Ion Blaster and Halberd Beam of yours would actually be a threat.
Slug: What.
Me: And I see you have a very nice Breacher missile locked on my helm. ... Did you remember to shut down the drone bay?
Slug: Drone bay?
Me: Funny how even the nicest missiles can be shut down by a simple Mark I defense drone.
Slug: But ssstill! You have no weaponsss!
Me: Didn't I mention? This is a Federation Cruiser. The Artillery Beam should be cutting your ship in half momentarily. :smallbiggrin:
Slug: Um ... we sssurrender?
Second place goes to the first time I beat the Flagship -- it was the first time I'd tried out the Torus, and I hadn't used Ion weapons or offensive drones much before. Aside from a few tense moments at the start of the second two phases as I dealt with the boarder drones and the last few non-weapons-pod crewmen (and the triple missile launcher), it was far more of a cakewalk than I was expecting after my failed attempts with the Kestrel.

In short, twin Ion MkIIs and a Fire Beam = OP.

[LordShotGun]

I just had an amazing run with the Zoltan ship. Getting Weapon Preigniters early made most of the game way too easy (so easy that I managed to get 2 achievements and would have gotten the 29 power one as well if my fourth zoltan didn't die due to a freak mantis accident).


Yeah weapon pre-igniter is possibly the best item in the entire game on any ship that uses weapons. Being able to launch enough ordinance to knock out weapons or shields can often make it so you take zero damage.

If you are a drone user or a boarding ship then it is less useful but still amazing.

In other news my mantis ship type B with the 4 man teleporter managed to wipe out then entire crew of the end boss...only to have a screen pop up saying that an advanced AI is now in control :smallfurious:

But without anything stopping me I just sabotaged the weapons, helm, and shields making even my terrible burst one laser able to kill it eventually by using cloaking to dodge the super weapons.

[BobVosh]

Just had best run yet.
Mantis type B. Had a scrap recovery arm in sector 2. Had a second in sector 3. Got to boss with 1 mantis, 4 rocks fully leveled in boarding. Had a fully level engineer, pilot, and shield guy. A level 1 gunner. Burst laser 1, burst laser 2, and heavy laser. Full upgrades in autopilot, doors, shields, engines, cloak, teleporters, and even weapons. 2 defense 1 drones, and a hull repair drone for after combat.

First phase boss drove off with 4 rocks. :'(

Still won like a boss.

[BobVosh]

Mod was made for a race with no oxygen survival. (http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3453)

[Flickerdart]

Damn it! I had a level 3 cloak, a level 3 teleporter, a fully trained Mantis and Rockman boarding party, 3 shields, full contingent of crew members with maxed specialties...and was blown out of the sky by a random Sector 8 pirate because I didn't have an opportunity to repair, literally a fraction of a second away from clicking Jump.

[Blackdrop]

Here's a question: If you start the game with one of the ships that lacks a system (Stealth Cruiser/Shields for example) can you purchase that system in a shop like you can the Cloak, Transporter, or Drone Control? Or are you out that system for the entire run?

[Astrella]

Here's a question: If you start the game with one of the ships that lacks a system (Stealth Cruiser/Shields for example) can you purchase that system in a shop like you can the Cloak, Transporter, or Drone Control? Or are you out that system for the entire run?

You can buy them like any other system.

[RPGuru1331]

WIth one minor exception - the Federation Cruiser is entirely mutually exclusive with Cloaking. The two simply can't be done simultaneously.

[BobVosh]

The slot for cloaking and federation beam thingie take the same slot, and is hard coded in. If you were curious why.

[Flickerdart]

Haha, yes! Finally made it to the final sector with a well-equipped ship. Torus, crew is mostly Engi with a Rock + Mantis boarding team. Ion blast, hull laser and repeating blaster are my weapons. I have max-level cloak and teleport, and two Mk I attack drones.

Now...what do I do?

[NEO|Phyte]

Haha, yes! Finally made it to the final sector with a well-equipped ship. Torus, crew is mostly Engi with a Rock + Mantis boarding team. Ion blast, hull laser and repeating blaster are my weapons. I have max-level cloak and teleport, and two Mk I attack drones.

Now...what do I do?

It's simple, you kill the rebel flagship.

[Flickerdart]

Well, yes, but isn't it stupidly complicated? I don't want to have it turn out that the ship is only vulnerable to pink lasers, and that shooting it with anything else deals nega-damage that heals it.

[tyckspoon]

Well, yes, but isn't it stupidly complicated? I don't want to have it turn out that the ship is only vulnerable to pink lasers, and that shooting it with anything else deals nega-damage that heals it.

Not really- disable the shields, rip to shreds with other weapons (and that's pretty easy to do for a Torus between the Ion Blast II and the high attack speed of Attack Drones.) It's basically like other ships; the main thing is it doesn't have a unified weapons-control room to shut down, so you have to break the weapons individually and decide for yourself if it's worth the time to get them all. (Also it's got like a dozen crew to do repairs, so you have to keep up the pressure to keep a system down or kill them all with appropriate weapons.) The only other really special thing is ducking the Drone rush with well-timed cloaks in the Phase II fight; those things will rip you up quite badly if you try to just tank them.

[Flickerdart]

I have a bio-laser, is it worth equipping? Or will my away team be able to kill crew?

[Grif]

Not really- disable the shields, rip to shreds with other weapons (and that's pretty easy to do for a Torus between the Ion Blast II and the high attack speed of Attack Drones.) It's basically like other ships; the main thing is it doesn't have a unified weapons-control room to shut down, so you have to break the weapons individually and decide for yourself if it's worth the time to get them all. (Also it's got like a dozen crew to do repairs, so you have to keep up the pressure to keep a system down or kill them all with appropriate weapons.) The only other really special thing is ducking the Drone rush with well-timed cloaks in the Phase II fight; those things will rip you up quite badly if you try to just tank them.

With 50% engine speed and max shields, entirely possible. (with Shield Recharge Augment and max level crew shield.) But of course the cheaper solution would be just to get max cloaking.

Seriously, with boarding, it's as easy as taking out the individual control rooms (the missile guy dies first), and then using your weapons/boarders to take out the shield room. Your drones can rip apart the rest once the shield is down.


I have a bio-laser, is it worth equipping? Or will my away team be able to kill crew?

Not really. You still need something to whittle the shield down before you can use it. (Two attack drones helps though.) With only 2 boarders, it's unlikely you can kill the crew as well. It is worth noting that the four weapon pods in the flagship are isolated and you can use your boarders to nuke them easily.

[Flickerdart]

Huzzah! I am victorious (even after accidentally stranding my away team on the flagship's first version). Is the Cruiser any good?

[Sprinter]

Now...what do I do?

Phase one disable all the weapon pods and you are fine
Hope you have defender drone MK I for Phase two (its prefered before MK II since it only targets boarding drones and missiles)
Atack drones and ion weapons are ideal for phase three also use maxed cloack when it launches missiles at you

Do not kill all the crew

Some say Flagship is hard but from 30+ attempts i lost only twice and one of those losses was my fault.

[Silfir]

Huzzah! I am victorious (even after accidentally stranding my away team on the flagship's first version). Is the Cruiser any good?

The Artillery Beam wrecks faces, but replaces the Cloaking device. So the final battle will be much more balls-to-the-wall than usual.

After I unlocked it and took it out for a spin, it immediately scored my second win, so it can't be all that terrible.

[Grif]

The Artillery Beam wrecks faces, but replaces the Cloaking device. So the final battle will be much more balls-to-the-wall than usual.

After I unlocked it and took it out for a spin, it immediately scored my second win, so it can't be all that terrible.

Anything less than Shields 3 and the Phase 2 flagship will eat your ship up. True story. :smallbiggrin:

[Sprinter]

Anything less than Shields 3 and the Phase 2 flagship will eat your ship up. True story. :smallbiggrin:

How do you even survive to final stand without shield 4 is a mystery to me the only alternative is maxed engine but that cost much scrap max out and after 5 bars its not really worth it.

[Silfir]

Shields 4 are not an absolute necessity, neither are maxed engines, or defense drones (mk1), or a cloaking device. You should have at least one of these and ideally all of them. The cruiser only lacks the cloaking device and can still take a lot of punishment if it has shields 4 and a defense drone and engines a fair way upgraded, even if not all the way.

It also depends on your offensive capabilities. If you have enough lasers and missiles to completely overwhelm the flagship and bite big chunks out of the hull and systems every fifteen seconds, you can kill the damn thing before it kills you even with terrible defenses. On the other hand, with a near-perfect defense, you can win even if all you have is an anti-ship drone, three lasers and a mini beam. I've had at least one game, though, in which I'd built up a perfect defense but literally could not beat the second phase because I couldn't beat the defense drone. (I'd relied on rockets to disable shield systems for the rest of my crappy lasers to work.) This is a problem the cruiser cannot have because the artillery beam will eventually defeat any foe.

[Grif]

Shields 4 are not an absolute necessity, neither are maxed engines, or defense drones (mk1), or a cloaking device. You should have at least one of these and ideally all of them. The cruiser only lacks the cloaking device and can still take a lot of punishment if it has shields 4 and a defense drone and engines a fair way upgraded, even if not all the way.

Amen to that, though I would say that either Cloaking OR Shields 4 are a necessity. DD and maxed engines play a lesser role, IMO.

[Silfir]

I'd put it this way: If you go in without cloaking or shields 4, you better bring a lot of dakka. A ship with only three shield layers and engines at five and no cloaking will have to expect taking hull and potentially crucial system damage in every power surge, so you need to put out damage fast. "Necessity" is a strong word in a game that has so many options as FTL does, but yeah - that fourth shield layer is pretty much always worth the scrap.

I think a defense drone saves a huge amount of potential trouble caused by boarding drones in the second phase; trouble you can't handle if you're also boarding and having to repair system damage from other sources at the same time, but indeed it won't help much otherwise since it only deflects one of each three missile salvo. I'd also always level shields to four before I take the last couple levels of engines, because of the diminishing returns on those.

The fifth element of defense is a crew teleporter and a two-guy boarding team, which can disable the weapon stations of the flagship with very little effort. Always start with the missiles; missiles demolishing crucial systems - like the helm - are one of the highest risks of failure even on a well-equipped ship.

[Sprinter]

Shields 4 are not an absolute necessity, neither are maxed engines, or defense drones (mk1), or a cloaking device. You should have at least one of these and ideally all of them.

Well i usualy have maxed shields, 5 or more points in engines and maxed crew (45% evade) cloacking device, teleporter (both not always but usualy maxed too) and defender drone (once i won without any drones at all but usualy i have atleast atack drone or hull drone if i cant find def drones )

I know these arent necessary to win but i usualy get on average 1800-2200 scrap per win and thats more then enough scrap to upgrade most of secondary systems like autopilot/sensors/blast door/oxygen/med bay

I only played Fed Cruiser type A once won and unlocked type B. Winning with type B proved more challenging but final boss was not problem. Maxed artilery shoots quite fast. So no problem even if he takes out your primary weapons.

[Ailurus]

Well, yes, but isn't it stupidly complicated? I don't want to have it turn out that the ship is only vulnerable to pink lasers, and that shooting it with anything else deals nega-damage that heals it.

Its sort of complicated, but its more 'can you do what you've been doing, while fighting a ship that's stronger than anything you've faced so far, plus has some unique tricks.' Without spoilers (and being excessively general to avoid them), can you take down high-level shields? Handle boarders? (Very quickly) knockout and/or avoid lots of dakka before it blows you up? And can you do the above across several fights? If so, you stand a chance of winning.

It does have some unique gear, but the boss still (mostly) plays by the same rules as your ship and all the other ships. And there's no secret formula to winning - you can win by boarding, win by having huge amounts of dakka, win by having massive defenses and hanging back with the artillery beam, win by setting the whole interior of the flagship ablaze (what? I know they're not that efficient, but I like fire bombs), and more. Having a strong ship and knowing how to use your ship is more important than having any particular type of weapon.

[RPGuru1331]

Anything less than Shields 3 and the Phase 2 flagship will eat your ship up. True story. :smallbiggrin:
Cloaking will save you from the Superweapons, so I'm surprised you list Phase 2 and not Phase 1.

And yeah, it's entirely possible to win without these things, if you're willing to pursue other options. A level 3 teleporter and a 4 person boarding crew will let you disable the ordinary weapons systems pretty quickly, and that's the bulk of the damage of phase 1. I mean, we're talking 'Shields', not something you can fail to find, so don't get me wrong, I question the utility of avoiding Shields 4 in favor of nearly any other toy, but one can hardly say Shields 4 is needed.

[NEO|Phyte]

Anything less than Shields 3 and the Phase 2 flagship will eat your ship up. True story. :smallbiggrin:

Don't have picture evidence, but my first win I only had Shields 2 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13908051&postcount=55).

[Silfir]

You had a defense drone Mk II, which is definitely worth at least one shield layer - and ridiculous amounts of ion. A perfect example of extraordinary firepower making up for lackluster defenses.

[Grif]

You had a defense drone Mk II, which is definitely worth at least one shield layer - and ridiculous amounts of ion. A perfect example of extraordinary firepower making up for lackluster defenses.

Aye. 3x Ion is ridiculously OP. :smalltongue:

(Ion Blast II I consider to be one of the best starter weapon. My other favourite layout happened to be the Kestrel B with 4x Basic Lasers.)

[Corlindale]

Just got back into this game.

Even though I have unlocked a couple of ships by now, I still find I do best when just playing the basic Kestrel. It's such a nice all-round ship, with a decent weapon layout and without any glaring weaknesses.

My general strategy of "MORE LASERS!" seems to work quite well, as long as I can find some. I hate relying heavily on consumables, so beams and lasers are my go-to offense. If enemy shields are a problem, you probably aren't using enough lasers:smallsmile:

Just had a very nice run where I unlocked the Zoltan Ship, though I didn't quite have enough firepower for the Last Stand. Looking forward to testing the new ship out, looks interesting - and I'll finally have that annoying Zoltan Shield on MY side!

[Sprinter]

Just got back into this game.

Even though I have unlocked a couple of ships by now, I still find I do best when just playing the basic Kestrel. It's such a nice all-round ship, with a decent weapon layout and without any glaring weaknesses.



I will tell you a secret. Kestrel and type B Red tail are the best ships all the unlock ships are harder unless you prefer systems they are specialized to use. engi cruiser drones, mantis cruiser crew teleporter, Stealth ship cloack, Rock ship missiles, zoltar extra shields, Fed cruiser artilery. Only exception is crystal ship as it was not created by game developers.

[Flickerdart]

I dunno, I'm way better with the Stealth Ship and Engi Cruiser than the Kestrel. Drones just seem so much better than missiles, and the Stealth Ship's high starting engines and rapid-fire weapon arsenal make it ridiculously good. Blast the enemy's weapons and it doesn't matter that you have no shields, because they're a sitting duck! Stealth weapons and drones (once you get them) just make it even more unfair, as you rip through the enemy while they can't even see you.

[AmberVael]

I'm inclined to say that the Zoltan ship is really the most powerful. An extra five shields that block any attack is very good if you build right (Stealth and Engines- the more dodge chance you have, the longer that super shield holds out for you, and thus the longer you are invulnerable). Add to this three zoltan crew to boost your power beyond the normal maximum in the end game, and you have a very good all around ship.

Also, I've found that 'more lasers' is my favorite offensive strategy as well- and it tends to be pretty reliable. You can almost always find some lasers, even if they aren't the most optimal ones.

[Flickerdart]

Is quantity or quality of lasers better? Being able to power up some ion and missiles depending on the situation, and having firepower when your weapons room has taken a few hits, compared to a single super-sweet laser that fires lots and lots of shots?

[AmberVael]

Is quantity or quality of lasers better? Being able to power up some ion and missiles depending on the situation, and having firepower when your weapons room has taken a few hits, compared to a single super-sweet laser that fires lots and lots of shots?

The advantage of lasers is being able to fire enough shots to pierce through shields reliably. You need as many lasers as possible- if you can manage it, fill all your slots. Quantity is what you want, because every extra laser you bring is more hits past their shield.

Generally, I've found that I can, if necessary, spare one weapon slot for something else. I find I like bringing along a beam weapon, which generally does high damage when shields are pierced. But really, if you can manage four Burst Laser Mk II (as I have, just once), then you should go for it. Because it is terrifying and awesome.

[Silfir]

It depends. Unless you're packing a Burst Laser Mk III, you're going to have to mix and match the smaller lasers you find to get past a four shield setup. The best ones for the job are, in order, Dual Lasers, Burst Laser Mk II, Burst Laser Mk I, Heavy Laser Mk I, Heavy Pierce Laser, Basic Laser.

(Dual Lasers and Basic Lasers are only available as starting weapons and cannot be bought. They give crap money when sold, so they probably shouldn't. The Heavy Pierce Laser might penetrate the last shield layer instead of popping one, which might make it frustrating to use in conjuction with beams.)

These are the "good" mix'n match lasers because their power-per-shot ratio is 1 or better and their charging times are very close; from 9 seconds on the Heavy Laser Mk I to 12 on the Burst Laser Mk II. The Hull Smasher lasers have a high cooldown in exchange for only unleashing their full hull damage on systemless sections, and the Heavy Laser Mk II requires three power for only two shots, which is poor when it comes to bringing down shields.

The reason Burst Laser Mk I rates higher than the one-shot, one-power lasers despite having a higher cooldown is that it takes up only one weapon slot. The Kestrel B illustrates the problems that can bring very well; its four laser salvo is extremely powerful very early, but it's hard to expand on and doesn't leave space for missiles. Four basic lasers can beat the final boss - but only with very good defense and an anti-ship or beam drone.

The Burst Laser Mk III, conversely, definitely packs the punch to get past a full four shield layers (though engine dodge will often make you stop sadly short), but the chargeup time severely diminishes its glory. In 19 seconds an Ion weapon fires often enough to bring down the shields, too, and has them stay down afterwards. If you have access to ion or bombs to bring down shields, you'll always do better with a beam or quicker-charging lasers when it comes to smashing up the hull.

Overall the best Laser in the game is definitely the Burst Laser Mk II; it strikes an excellent balance between power-per-shot efficiency, punch-per-weapon slot efficiency, and chargeup time. If you have just two, you're basically set for life; add a third and you dish out bloody murder on everything and still have space for a missile. I also like Dual Lasers if I have them and the Heavy Laser Mk I because it smashes up the hull and specific systems at the same time so fast for just one point of power - it's the perfect early find for an Engi A, and it fits nicely on just about any ship at any time.

If you have a critical mass of ion weapons, you don't need lasers to bring down shields, only to damage the hull and systems. In that case, beams might be the better pick. Basically, your choice of non-missile, non-drone means of beating shields is between lasers or ion.

[mucco]

Sigh. I can't help failing at this game.

I only have the Kestrel and the Torus. I tried getting some achievements for the Kestrel to unlock the next ship: after about ten failed attempts, I managed to exit a battle with 1 hp. I healed myself to full over the next few stars, but no achievement. Argh!

The other two achievements seem equally tough... bleh.

[Sprinter]

Just two weapons are all you need to beat everything burst laser MK III and Halbeard beam. With pause and ideal placing you can do 8-10 damage per volley with beam. First time i used this combo i lost my boarding crew because i didnt realise how fast im killing Flagship.

[tyckspoon]

Sigh. I can't help failing at this game.

I only have the Kestrel and the Torus. I tried getting some achievements for the Kestrel to unlock the next ship: after about ten failed attempts, I managed to exit a battle with 1 hp. I healed myself to full over the next few stars, but no achievement. Argh!


I'm pretty sure the 'Tough Little Ship' achievement requires doing it all in one go, so you need to save 70-some scrap to get fully repaired. If you do it over steps, then you aren't repairing yourself from 1 HP- you're repairing from 6, and then 15, and then 22, and so on. Full Arsenal is pretty easy; just buy a Drone Control, Teleporter, and Cloak system. That's all. United Federation is kind of tricky, just because you have to get Slug/Zoltan/Crystal crewmembers to get it, and they're quite rare compared to Rocks, Mantis, Humans, and Engis.

[Blackdrop]

I just double-checked, the game only says you need six unique aliens on your ship at one time, so you probably just need Human, Engi, Rock, Mantis, Slug, and Zoltan.

[Grif]

I just double-checked, the game only says you need six unique aliens on your ship at one time, so you probably just need Human, Engi, Rock, Mantis, Slug, and Zoltan.

Confirmed. Crystal crewmembers not needed for this.

[Sprinter]

Confirmed. Crystal crewmembers not needed for this.

Sure but geting zoltar and slug member is equaly challenging.

[Silfir]

Not really! They're available in shops. And random events.

[Sprinter]

Not really! They're available in shops. And random events.

Most events and shops give you humans engi mantis or rockman.
you have to enter zoltar or slug sector to even odds of finding them but even there they are not guaranteed to find. Usualy i have zoltar crewmember once per 8-10 full playthroughs on average and slugs are similarly rare.

[Silfir]

That's still light years away from the hoops you have to jump through to get a crystal dude, though!

[Sprinter]

That's still light years away from the hoops you have to jump through to get a crystal dude, though!

all i was saying its harder to get slug and zoltar then human/engi/mantis/rockman as for crystal crewman rockman sector followed by zoltar/engi and luck is all you need.

[Grif]

Just unlocked the Rock Cruiser.

First impressions were... less than stellar.

All missiles? :smallannoyed:

I do like the events that preceded it though. You even get a free Rock Plating. Red-Tail/Kestrel B + Rock Plating = lolFlagship

(okay, so I also managed to acquire Burst Laser I and II, Breach Bomb Mk II and even an Ion Bomb for lulz, together with Boarding Drone and Defense Drone Mk I. Complete with crack Mantis boarding crew and max cloak. On hindsight I shouldn't have been surprised.)

[Sprinter]

Just unlocked the Rock Cruiser.

First impressions were... less than stellar.

All missiles? :smallannoyed:

I do like the events that preceded it though. You even get a free Rock Plating. Red-Tail/Kestrel B + Rock Plating = lolFlagship

(okay, so I also managed to acquire Burst Laser I and II, Breach Bomb Mk II and even an Ion Bomb for lulz, together with Boarding Drone and Defense Drone Mk I. Complete with crack Mantis boarding crew and max cloak. On hindsight I shouldn't have been surprised.)

Rock cruiser is one of my most played ship just because with rock plating your chance to retrieve damaged pod is 100% if you find that event.

Trick with missiles is to conserve your ammo by targeting hull missiles on non-system parts of ships unless you need to urgently dissable system. I prefer nebula or mantis sectors as drone and mantis ships have less hull points then other ships only wasting 3-4 missiles per ship . Also if they offer surender with 4+ missiles take it even if you get less scrap. With this tactics you have enough time to buy/find non missile weapons or crew teleporter (rockman boarders are best imho)

[Silfir]

all i was saying its harder to get slug and zoltar then human/engi/mantis/rockman as for crystal crewman rockman sector followed by zoltar/engi and luck is all you need
(No, what you said is that they're "equally challenging", and I just realized I'm unbearable today. Apologies.)

As for the rock ship: Yup, all missiles. Either you find something else or you run out of missiles. Abuse the Hull Missile to spend as few missiles as possible to kill each ship. In exchange for the trouble in the beginning you get a crew full of rockmen and the Rock Plating augment. Rockmen are great at boarding, manning stations, and not dying; I'd say they're the most universally useful crewmember species. And Rock Plating will save you a fair amount of scrap in repairs over the course of a game (and can be sold if you need scrap fast).

It's definitely got things going for it. You're going to find and install weapon systems anyway, after all.

[Grif]

I wouldn't go out to say Rockmen are the most useful, but they certainly are most versatile. I do prefer Mantis boarders rather than Rockmen, simply because I can micro them to get the hell out of dodge if I run into trouble. (x2 run speed is simply amazing.)

Will be replaying the Rock Cruiser again later. Given that I almost always prefer lasers and beams over missiles, I'd probably stick to my trusty Kestrel-B as soon as I can unlock the Crystal ship. (Which I still haven't done, much to my shame. :smalltongue: Only managed to thaw out the stasis pod once, but that was at Sector 7 and I was all ugh.)

[Sprinter]

I wouldn't go out to say Rockmen are the most useful, but they certainly are most versatile. I do prefer Mantis boarders rather than Rockmen, simply because I can micro them to get the hell out of dodge if I run into trouble. (x2 run speed is simply amazing.)

Well i suck at micro so thats it. I know mantis are superior and when i have 4 point crew teleporter i always use mantis because even without micro they kill everything fast


Will be replaying the Rock Cruiser again later. Given that I almost always prefer lasers and beams over missiles, I'd probably stick to my trusty Kestrel-B as soon as I can unlock the Crystal ship. (Which I still haven't done, much to my shame. :smalltongue: Only managed to thaw out the stasis pod once, but that was at Sector 7 and I was all ugh.)

Thats not a shame unlocking crystal ship is question of luck unlike all other ships you need tons of luck. i managed to unlock it after 150h and in the end i only focused on unlocking crystal ship.


(No, what you said is that they're "equally challenging", and I just realized I'm unbearable today. Apologies.)

My bad for not remembering what i posted. I said that because i honestly dont remember when was the last time i had both zoltar and slug in crew and its not like i dont want them in crew. Slug is great when you dont have upgraded sensors and even better in nebulas. Zoltar is even better especialy at start when every scrap counts and invaluable if you stumble into ion storm.

[AmberVael]

So, I've been doing my best to unlock all the ships I hadn't bothered getting- I've played for a while now, but I just really like the Zoltan ship, so I've been playing it and pretty much it alone for a long time.

However, a couple days of regular play have been enough for me to unlock pretty much everything I was missing. All I have left to get is the type B Rock Ship, and that horribly obnoxious Crystal Ship.

The Rock Ship, incidentally, can stay unlocked for all I care. :smallyuk:

On the other hand, I've been trying pretty much every single run to get the Crystal Ship, and I'm really just not having any luck. I barely even get a chance to start it.


I've gained a new appreciation for the Stealth Ship though- it's actually a pretty fun one to play.

[Silfir]

The Rock ship, thanks to Rock Plating, is guaranteed to succeed at the first event of the line leading to the crystal ship where the other ships only get a 33% shot - so ...

I don't think it deserves quite that degree of scorn, though. If you find just one simple weapon, you can start using missiles to disable shields only, and eventually you should be able to find something that makes them obsolete entirely.

[Flickerdart]

I've been rocking the Slug cruiser with Dual Lasers and Breach Missile to strip shields and then Bio-Beam and Pike Beam to wreak havoc. This worked great until I got to the second stage of the flagship, whose defense drone made it impossible for me to do anything to its shields, and died after a long struggle to shut down their drone control with my boarding party.

[AmberVael]

The Rock ship, thanks to Rock Plating, is guaranteed to succeed at the first event of the line leading to the crystal ship where the other ships only get a 33% shot - so ...

I don't think it deserves quite that degree of scorn, though. If you find just one simple weapon, you can start using missiles to disable shields only, and eventually you should be able to find something that makes them obsolete entirely.

I really dislike missile weapons, mostly just because I have a strong aversion to using limited resource mechanics in any game. Add to that my dislike of Rockmen (it's cool that they're immune to fire and have lots of HP, but moving slowly is a big drawback in this game as I manage my crew a lot) and the fact that you have no other kind of crew... and then add that the ship's best defense is really that Rock Plating augment...

It basically combines all of my least favorite mechanics in the game. And while it is not all bad, I definitely think it's subpar. At least for me, other ships work far better. Other people may have better success and experience with it, but for me? Yeah, it deserves that level of scorn. It can go hide in a sun and I'll happily forget about it.


I've been rocking the Slug cruiser with Dual Lasers and Breach Missile to strip shields and then Bio-Beam and Pike Beam to wreak havoc. This worked great until I got to the second stage of the flagship, whose defense drone made it impossible for me to do anything to its shields, and died after a long struggle to shut down their drone control with my boarding party.

The Slug Cruiser is pretty amusing, but I do sympathize with your problems later in the game. I feel beams and missiles tend to lose their efficacy later on, when shields and drones become more common. Beams become something of a resources hog, which prevents you from getting the shield piercing you need to use them, while missiles do much the same, except you need to disable drones, which is even a little harder.
In the beginning though, a beam weapon is terrifyingly dangerous, especially ones with the power to bypass shields.

Lately I've been using teleporters and boarding crews a lot more though, and I must say I quite enjoy them, and I find they're very effective all through the game. There's basically no way to stop them if you do it right- and even against the boss, you can use them to take out the missile weapon and much of the crew, which really gives you an advantage.

[Silfir]

I can certainly understand the sentiment. Of course, the way I see it, the entire game is about handling limited resources. Including hull points, which are finite and cost scrap to replace - just like missiles. The Bulwark may have to spend missiles to do it - but early game it will also kill everything really fast, which means in conjunction with Rock Plating it spends basically nothing in repair. In a way, you're just spending a different resource.

As for rock men, I think they rock. They're the guys who can take a missile to the face, put out the fire, repair their system and go back to manning it three times per battle without running to the medbay like a puss Zoltan. They make very passable boarders, too. I wouldn't want an all-rockmen crew of eight - but I don't mind starting with three.

For what it's worth, I've found the Rock ship to be a relatively easy-going starting ship. The pressure of having to find something to replace the missiles before they run out feels more severe than it is.

[AmberVael]

I can certainly understand the sentiment. Of course, the way I see it, the entire game is about handling limited resources. Including hull points, which are finite and cost scrap to replace - just like missiles. The Bulwark may have to spend missiles to do it - but early game it will also kill everything really fast, which means in conjunction with Rock Plating it spends basically nothing in repair. In a way, you're just spending a different resource.
In theory, yes, but there is a difference between a limited resource you actively spend, and a limited resource you defend. With one, it is under my control whether or not I lose it- the other, not quite so directly.
A better comparison would be comparing missiles directly to scrap, I think.

In any case, I feel my experience has been precisely the opposite. I find that the missiles aren't nearly fast enough to make up for the ship's vulnerability. I find I take it in for repair far more than most other ships, which can generally defend themselves more reliably, or shoot even faster. With a faster shooting ship, you can usually take out weapons before the enemy can hit you- with the Zoltan Ship or the Stealth Ship, they never even get the chance to hit you.

With the Zoltan ship, I'm generally disappointed with my fighting if I get damaged at all. And I normally don't have to heavily rely on missiles to get it working. The Stealth Ship is admittedly more tricky, but early stealth can be amazing if you use it right.

[Flickerdart]

Unlocked Slug Cruiser B as my first variant ship. Whose bright idea was this design? Not having a medbay, a single Artemis as your offensive toolkit, and a teleporter when your crew has no racial combat bonuses is just a recipe for disaster.

[factotum]

One assumes the person who came up with the design wanted it to be a challenge. Not all the ships are supposed to be equally easy to get started with!

[mucco]

I beat it! Finally :D

With Kestrel B, got three extra crew in the first sector and then built up a 9 laser attack wave. Got me easily through all encounters.

[Sprinter]

In theory, yes, but there is a difference between a limited resource you actively spend, and a limited resource you defend. With one, it is under my control whether or not I lose it- the other, not quite so directly.
A better comparison would be comparing missiles directly to scrap, I think.

In any case, I feel my experience has been precisely the opposite. I find that the missiles aren't nearly fast enough to make up for the ship's vulnerability. I find I take it in for repair far more than most other ships, which can generally defend themselves more reliably, or shoot even faster. With a faster shooting ship, you can usually take out weapons before the enemy can hit you- with the Zoltan Ship or the Stealth Ship, they never even get the chance to hit you.

With the Zoltan ship, I'm generally disappointed with my fighting if I get damaged at all. And I normally don't have to heavily rely on missiles to get it working. The Stealth Ship is admittedly more tricky, but early stealth can be amazing if you use it right.

If you want to hunt for Crystal ship i would recommend to unlock Rock type B as it doesnt relly only on missiles the only downside is it needs replacment weapons even sooner then type A. I would also recommend to read my earlier post how to conserve ammo with missiles on type A. third best ship to unlock crystal cruiser is stealth cruiser A as scaner augument can reveal posible location of zoltar event you need to get crystal crew member of course rock ship with scaner augument (cost only 30 scrap) has still much better chance.

[Binks]

Played at least a dozen runs now (all on easy, I have no shame in saying I am not skilled enough to even try normal at this point). Absolutely loving the game. I'm only beat the flagship once, with the Type A Engi, but I've gotten to 3rd phase (Type A Fed Cruiser) once and 2nd phase (Starter) twice. Unlocked the stealth ship (not a huge fan of it, though starting with long range is fantastic), zoltan (good ship but the shield is kind of a trap given how it makes you feel invincible...right up until you hit sector 5 or so and everything starts ripping it apart in seconds) and Fed cruiser (love the arty beam, hate just about everything else about it).

Best moment thusfar was tooling around second 6 or 7 or so in a Kestral A that I had gotten extremely lucky with, had weapon pre-ignites, a glaive beam, the starting burst 3, another burst 2, and a decent 1 energy missile (might have been starter missile, but I think I had sold that for scrap and gotten another one). Come across the slug guy who asks you what system you want disabled, I answer Oxygen as I know I can kill him before I run too low. Battle starts. I fire my lasers in sync at his shield room, blow through his shields and destroy the room. Glaive cuts across 3 rooms, he's at 1 health. Pop a missile in for good measure, he explodes...all before getting a shot off. Oxygen level at end of battle? 98% :smalltongue:. Did not end up winning that game (my heavy focus on firepower came at the cost of my defenses and I got unluckily hit by all 3 missiles in the first shot from the flagship) but still a great time.

[AmberVael]

I unlocked the crystal ship! Hooray! Learning the precise details of each needed event really helped me out there.
Haven't tried the ship out yet thought, I've had a bit of an FTL overdose.

Also, I unlocked the type B rock ship. It's... weird. So I get... extra oxygen power? Huh. Two weapons... but just barely not enough system power for both of them? Hey wait, where is my door system? I don't have a door system?!

I prefer it to the type A rock ship though. The piercing heavy laser is nifty, and it's nice to have four crew members.



zoltan (good ship but the shield is kind of a trap given how it makes you feel invincible...right up until you hit sector 5 or so and everything starts ripping it apart in seconds)

I make it a priority to boost the Zoltan's ship engines and to pick up cloaking. With strategic cloaking use and strong evasion, you can prolong the life of your Zoltan shield and be pretty much invincible for the whole game. Seriously, on easy mode I've even beaten the main boss without getting hit on any stage using that strategy. The Zoltan ship is a defensive beast.

[factotum]

Beat the game for the first time the other day! OK, I was playing on Easy, and was also lucky enough to get some good weapons gifted to me--I ended up taking on the mothership with a Burst Laser III, a Burst II, a Heavy Laser and a Basic Laser (the last gun I had left from the start--was using Kestrel B). Didn't have a cloak or crew teleporter, didn't need them with that sort of firepower!

[tyckspoon]

So I just discovered a new blue event option and made myself feel bad.. one of the assorted pirate events is a pirate ship harassing a planet. It has a 'Stay out of this if or you're next!' message, with the typical 'fight the pirate' and 'ignore it and move on' options. Well, if you happen to have a Fire Beam, you get another option : "Show the pirate's how it's done, extort the colony by burning their crops." Yeah. You can get some goods (a reasonable amount of scrap and a weapon were what I got) by deploying orbital weaponry against a planet's food supply. And I used to feel a bit guilty about taking advantage of the "An Engi ship tries to bribe you for safe passage" encounters..

[Sprinter]

So I just discovered a new blue event option and made myself feel bad.. one of the assorted pirate events is a pirate ship harassing a planet. It has a 'Stay out of this if or you're next!' message, with the typical 'fight the pirate' and 'ignore it and move on' options. Well, if you happen to have a Fire Beam, you get another option : "Show the pirate's how it's done, extort the colony by burning their crops." Yeah. You can get some goods (a reasonable amount of scrap and a weapon were what I got) by deploying orbital weaponry against a planet's food supply. And I used to feel a bit guilty about taking advantage of the "An Engi ship tries to bribe you for safe passage" encounters..

You dont need to take advantage of Engi ship if it makes you feel bad event has 50% chance of rewarding you for "explain you are friendly" answer so just take that one every time.

[tyckspoon]

You dont need to take advantage of Engi ship if it makes you feel bad event has 50% chance of rewarding you for "explain you are friendly" answer so just take that one every time.

Strictly in the 'doing better in the game' perspective, I'd rather have the guaranteed supplies/scrap from letting them pay me off than take the chance they'll do the 'oh, that's nice, have a nice desperate run through enemy controlled territory' response. Personally/roleplaywise, I can rationalize that I'm not taking anything they can't afford to give- you're not beating up their ship for it or even threatening them, so it doesn't seem that much worse than the 'A friendly planet/ship/starbase gives you some stuff' encounters. The Fire Beam option, tho, that was evil (and I only chose it because I was running Mantis Type B, the potential enemy ship was a Zoltan craft, and I had not yet acquired any reasonable way of taking out the special shield.)

[BRC]

So i've been trying out the Stealth Ship.

...it kind of sucks. A lot. The high Evade and starting with a beam weapon is really nice, but the lack of shields mean you take a LOT of damage. Also, you only get three weapon slots for some reason.

Any advice? I find that picking up an Ion weapon early on means that your Beam becomes a killer, and I've gotten good at finding places where my tiny beam weapon can hit three rooms.

[Flickerdart]

So i've been trying out the Stealth Ship.

...it kind of sucks. A lot. The high Evade and starting with a beam weapon is really nice, but the lack of shields mean you take a LOT of damage. Also, you only get three weapon slots for some reason.

Any advice? I find that picking up an Ion weapon early on means that your Beam becomes a killer, and I've gotten good at finding places where my tiny beam weapon can hit three rooms.
Max out your Cloak early; it's fairly cheap, and lasts a while. Then get weapons that match your cloak duration (or better yet, the stealth weapons mod) and blow out the enemy's weapons ASAP. After that, there's nothing they can do to you.

[tyckspoon]

Use your free Long Range Scanners to avoid combat encounters in the start while you gather scrap to buy a shield system/find better weapons/whatever. Get lucky and find/purchase Weapon Pre-Igniters- a setup of volley-cloak while you recharge-volley does enough damage to most targets to make it safe to fight in the open. Otherwise.. *shrug* I think the Stealth ship's setup is intended to be a challenge, so buckle down and deal with it in traditional Rogue-like fashion? (ie, get really lucky and RNG up an item/weapon that solves your problems >.>)

[BRC]

Max out your Cloak early; it's fairly cheap, and lasts a while. Then get weapons that match your cloak duration (or better yet, the stealth weapons mod) and blow out the enemy's weapons ASAP. After that, there's nothing they can do to you.

Are you sure? Most weapons have a 10-18 second Charge time. If I cloak in time to dodge their first volley, my cloak will be down by the time their second volley hits. I won't be able to dodge that second volley until I get enough scrap to fully upgrade it.

[AmberVael]

Are you sure? Most weapons have a 10-18 second Charge time. If I cloak in time to dodge their first volley, my cloak will be down by the time their second volley hits. I won't be able to dodge that second volley until I get enough scrap to fully upgrade it.

Your goal should be to fire, cloak when they fire (often they'll fire nearly simultaneously to you, so time carefully), and then fire again after you come out of cloak (or after you've charged up all weapons). This allows you to dodge their first volley and delay the second notably past your own.

If you also focus fire on their weapon system, this generally allows you to take it out before they get a second volley, at which point you can disable them at your leisure- and not ever take a hit.

[Lunix Vandal]

Your goal should be to fire, cloak when they fire (often they'll fire nearly simultaneously to you, so time carefully), and then fire again after you come out of cloak (or after you've charged up all weapons). This allows you to dodge their first volley and delay the second notably past your own.

If you also focus fire on their weapon system, this generally allows you to take it out before they get a second volley, at which point you can disable them at your leisure- and not ever take a hit.Or, early on, at least to cloak through the first volley, then use the Dual Laser to hitstun their shield so you can Mini Beam their weapons. If both lasers hit a 1-shield enemy, you can do 2 damage to the weapons (plus 1-2 more to adjacent rooms), allowing you to take them apart at leisure. As proof that it works, with this strategy (and a few lucky weapon finds, including a Glaive Beam for sale in Sector 5 and a Burst Laser I and Anti-Ship II Drone in Sector 6), I was able to win yesterday without ever dropping below 75% hull until the third phase of the Flagship, including no-damage victories over the first two phases.

Despite never upgrading my cloak, at that. :smalltongue:

[Studoku]

Just unlocked the mantis ship and learned 2 things.

1. Boarding is awesome.
2. You still can't beat the rebel flagship without weapons.

I unlocked the B layout with the big teleporter so I'll try this again later tonight.

[Weimann]

I was one of the backers to the FTL Kickstarter, but I've unfortunately not played it very much until recently. None the less, I'm happy to report that I now finally beat the Rebel flagship with a Kestrel type ship on easy. The Empress made a valiant charge, going in with only 50% hull integrity but managing to nuke the flagship's last form with surprising ease.

I must say, the combo of two ion weapons and two laser guns were really effective. From what I could tell, it didn't take long until I had reliably stacked shield disruption 5 times over and by targeting weapon systems with the lasers, most victories were assured. I sometimes took damage, but it was very manageable.

Now I have two new ship types to try and a next difficulty level to beat! INTO SPAAAACE!

[nhbdy]

Just unlocked the red tail and was surprised at how easy having 4 guns makes the beginning, it pretty much reduces the time you take damage to one volley if you target their weapons first... really stellar ship, now to continue with my unlocking spree!

[Grif]

Just unlocked the red tail and was surprised at how easy having 4 guns makes the beginning, it pretty much reduces the time you take damage to one volley if you target their weapons first... really stellar ship, now to continue with my unlocking spree!

The shorter charge-up time also helps a lot. Whereas in the Kestrel A, you're pretty much reliant on the Artermis to disable weapons, (Burst Laser Mk II, though excellent, is still slower than most early sector weapons like Leto, Basic Lasers and Dual Lasers.) you can use all four of your lasers in Kestrel B to snap off a deadly volley.

[nhbdy]

The shorter charge-up time also helps a lot. Whereas in the Kestrel A, you're pretty much reliant on the Artermis to disable weapons, (Burst Laser Mk II, though excellent, is still slower than most early sector weapons like Leto, Basic Lasers and Dual Lasers.) you can use all four of your lasers in Kestrel B to snap off a deadly volley.

That run got even deadlier when I got the weapon pre-igniter off the mantis thief when I got the mantis cruiser (was a good run). First volley was a burst laser mk1 and three basics, for most of the early sectors that meant really easy cruising, now I just unlocked the rock ship, meaning I have type A of all the ships (save crystals... gonna have to get real chummy with the bulwark for that I think)

[nooblade]

I've been ambiguous about getting this for a long time and thought I'd try it. What fun! Also, I don't see how the slug ship could possibly be your first unlock, it's getting to be near my last, even considering the layouts. Maybe it's time to not play on easy.

One thing I really don't know is when to accept surrender. I don't think I'd let slugs do it unless I were in a bad way.

I really like how you can do several things in a different way, like using rocks when boarding instead of mantis and combining with fire bombs. And achievements are actually useful for indicating how you can do things. My only complaint is I wish it were bigger--more races, more weapons, more different enemies, more customized ships and generally more options.

My favorite ship so far is Osprey with the artillery beam. Also I'm surprised to hear about boarding crews with more than two members (I assume you can have more even on the 2-size teleporter ships). I've usually wanted to keep close tabs on two mantis, bringing them back for a heal perhaps.

[nhbdy]

Also I'm surprised to hear about boarding crews with more than two members (I assume you can have more even on the 2-size teleporter ships). I've usually wanted to keep close tabs on two mantis, bringing them back for a heal perhaps.
yes, the mantis cruiser (type B) features a four man teleporter, but starts with two crew, very strong choice for boarding, but you have to build up a good crew.

[The_Final_Stand]

I just had a very interesting game as the Rock ship. In retrospect, I should probably have realised it was going to be tough when Sector 2 was a choice between "Mantis sector" and "Rebel sector", with Sector 3 being 3 reds and a Zoltan sector.

Early on in the game, I gave away some fuel to a ship, in exchange for some scrap. I hadn't realised, however, how little fuel this left me with. I then proceeded to, over the course of 2 sectors, kill hordes of enemies with a single Rock and my teleporter, collecting a second Halberd beam along with other high level weapons (lvl 3 burst cannon, breach missiles, fire bombs...), but not a single unit of fuel. No shops either. I lost count of the number of times I had to wait for the Rebel Fleet to catch up for me to steal fuel off of them.

In the end, I think it was Sector 5, and I randomly get the Kazaaakwhatever event. He goes down like a punk to my Rock, and I fix him up in my medbay, unlocking myself the Mantis Cruiser. There is still no fuel. I wait, and enemies show up. An asteroid field and a lot of missiles proceed to bring my HP down to 1. There is still no fuel. I wait. A guy shows up, and offers an automated deal for fuel. I try to bargain for the Emergency Rations, and get exactly 1 fuel.

That 1 fuel is enough for me to get to an adjacent shop, fix all my damage, restore my fuel to not dire levels (5 or so), and get rid of the ton of useless crud in my inventory. I then proceed to Kazaaak's stores, and long story short, crush the rest of the game with my advanced weapons, master boarders (including Kazaaak himself), maximized nearly everything (the only system not maxed at the end was the engines), and obliterated the flagship.

It was awesome, and I'm not even that annoyed about failing to get the Crystal Cruiser again.

[nooblade]

It was awesome, and I'm not even that annoyed about failing to get the Crystal Cruiser again.

I know, right? Yeah the rest is fun but I can't do that unlock either. My last run found the stasis pod and a crystal crew but the last red sector I was hoping would be rock homeworld turned out mantis controlled. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that it would help to plan for green sectors for the first two events and as many red ones as you can for the last.

Oh, and I figured out those slugs. Those cheating vermin, you have to let them surrender to get their ship. And most of the time it isn't worthwhile.

[BobVosh]

Mod to make getting the crystal ship easier, two versions of it as well. ( http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3483)

[Totally Guy]

Beat it on normal mode this weekend. Used the Kestral A ship. I picked up no new systems or augments all the way through...

Unlocks I need...

Kestral B
Stealth B
Federation B
Slug A + B
Crystal A + B

[Binks]

I know, right? Yeah the rest is fun but I can't do that unlock either. My last run found the stasis pod and a crystal crew but the last red sector I was hoping would be rock homeworld turned out mantis controlled. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that it would help to plan for green sectors for the first two events and as many red ones as you can for the last.
Pretty much, specifically Engi/Civi sectors for the first event and Zoltan for the second as that's where the events are most likely to show up (though they can show up in any green sector it seems).

I have finally, though many runs (on easy), unlocked the A and B for every ship except the Crystal. My last run took me to a Zoltan sector 3rd where I found the sleep test event (which was trapped), then the stasis capsule event, at which point I was getting fairly angry about the order, but then I found another sleep test event in the same sector and got my crystal dude. 4 sectors to go, and by the way the map is setup I was able to look at (but not visit) every red one, of which there were 4...Rebel controlled, Pirate Controlled, Mantis homeworld, and another Rebel controlled. I hate it when Rock homeworld isn't even on the map (I had visited the only red before those 4, and it was more mantis).

Definitely liking the Rock B. Piercing laser is a good early game weapon, the 4 crew help to get everything manned right off the bat, and the ship can be fairly easily crafted into a defensive powerhouse. Not sure which ship will end up being my favorite, though Rock B and Mantis B are currently my top 2 (and I'm only running Rock until I get the crystal ship).

[Dumbledore lives]

So would there be any interest in me running a cooperative let's play on the boards? The audience would choose stuff like which branches to go on and what upgrades to do/things to buy, as well as the starting ship. I'd do all the inconsequential stuff like battles and negotiations.

[Studoku]

So would there be any interest in me running a cooperative let's play on the boards? The audience would choose stuff like which branches to go on and what upgrades to do/things to buy, as well as the starting ship. I'd do all the inconsequential stuff like battles and negotiations.
Sounds like fun.

The only problem would be the relatively short amount of game time between each decision. You'd only be able to play for about 10 mins a day before reaching a decision point- possible more depending on what we get a decision on.

[Dumbledore lives]

Sounds like fun.

The only problem would be the relatively short amount of game time between each decision. You'd only be able to play for about 10 mins a day before reaching a decision point- possible more depending on what we get a decision on.

Considering my current workload this would probably be for the best.

[Sprinter]

Good idea

What types of ships did you unlock yet? Also what difficulty do you intend to play on?

[nhbdy]

So would there be any interest in me running a cooperative let's play on the boards? The audience would choose stuff like which branches to go on and what upgrades to do/things to buy, as well as the starting ship. I'd do all the inconsequential stuff like battles and negotiations.

If you have it, I for one vote for a slug A run, it's such an odd ship, how can one not have an interesting time?

[Flickerdart]

Slug A is boring. Do Slug B - healing bombs instead of sickbay and teleporters as your primary offense.

[Xiander]

I would read that.

I vote basic Kestrel run. It is iconic :smallbiggrin:

[Ailurus]

I'd be interested in the playthrough as well. As for the ship types, yeah, Kestral is iconic, but literally everyone has played with it if they've played the game.

My top 3 choices would be:
Engi B - I always die horribly with it, so watching someone else play it would either be helpful or entertaining (hey, the game says dying is part of the fun)

Crystal ships - since they're the hardest to get.

Slug B - come on, its space slugs invading other people's ships, what's not to love about it?

[nhbdy]

My top 3 choices would be:
Engi B - I always die horribly with it, so watching someone else play it would either be helpful or entertaining (hey, the game says dying is part of the fun)


... perhaps a space hobo run?

[Sam cw]

I just had an awesome fight with the boss in my last game and thought I'd share.

I'm using Fed cruiser A and having my best run so far (got both artillery beam achievements, nearly everything is maxed out), which let's me pwn the first two stages with only light damage. I divert to a repair station before starting the third stage, so I'm going in at full health.

One burst laser 2, a pair of burst laser 1s and a laser gun drone make short work of the super Zolton shield and I've already sniped the crew in the missile launcher. I've got this one in the bag right? Wrong.

A lucky missile hits my bridge, taking it offline and setting the whole room on fire. I rush another crew member in to help the fight the fire, but it's no good, they're losing health fast an-*Power Surge detected!* :smalleek:

With no evade, level four shields can only do so much and I take multiple hits all across my ship, losing a big chunk of hp and starting even more fires. The missile launcher is still making a nuisance of itself, taking out my medbay and any hope of getting flight control back online with it. And then the flagship sends a boarding party over because why not.

At this point, I come to the conclusion that there's no way I'm saving my ship, but I still have full shields and almost all of my weapons. The flagship's looking pretty banged up too (the artillery beam must have ripped a chunk out of it when I wasn't looking), so I put everything on its defenses, hoping I'll be able to kill it before my ship bleeds out.

The first volley does a ton of damage, but it counters with another laser spam attack which takes out half of my remaining hull, cripples the artillery beam and sets the weapon and drone control rooms on fire. Somewhere in this mess I lose sensers, leaving me with just the sounds of burning and the discharge of laser rifles to inform me of the situation on the rest of my ship.

Finally, my last two burst lasers finish reloading and I fire what will likely be my last effective volley. The five shots prove just enough to break through the flagship's only working shield to destroy the last three hp it had left, giving me the win in the closest fight I've every had against the flagship. :smallcool:

[Sprinter]

Crystal ships - since they're the hardest to get.


Crystal ship is hardest to get but easiest to play. Type A is Kestrel on steroids and type B is like Basilisk (Mantis type B) on steroids with crystal crewmans as extra bonus. Only downside of crystal ship is extremely weird ship layout making repairs harder. But its nothing couple of hired engis cant fix.

[RPGuru1331]

Slug A is probably funny enough to do a LP of - you murder all who oppose you with lasers, and if you can't work with that, well, that's on you. But I probably won't follow along too closely, I generally don't on these forums.

[Dumbledore lives]

Alright so I've got the Kestral type A, Torus Engie Ship A and B, The Osprey A and B, Slug A, and Zoltan A and B, which of these sound the best for a Let's Play? It seems Slug A and Engie B are the best contenders.

[RPGuru1331]

For the record, Slug A does require some measure of patience - murdering all who oppose you with lasers is funny, but the actual execution is somewhat slow and time consuming.

[Falling]

Alright, I just started a run with the type A stealth ship. "The Dead Men" started off pretty normal for first sector. Forget you don't have shields. Go after pirates. Almost die. Fix up. Repeat.

But on the bright side, I got level 2 cloaking by the end.
By the way everyone, hi.

[Toastkart]

just picked up the game myself. My first run through ended in failure at the second phase of the boss.

For my second run using the engi ship I managed to beat the game, and I unlocked the stealth ship to boot.

Fun little game.

[nhbdy]

Alright, I just started a run with the type A stealth ship. "The Dead Men" started off pretty normal for first sector. Forget you don't have shields. Go after pirates. Almost die. Fix up. Repeat.

But on the bright side, I got level 2 cloaking by the end.
By the way everyone, hi.

... yeah with the stealth ship, you have to get chummy with the cloak and engines (on a stealth ship? who knew?). At least early on, if you can get 100 scrap stockpiled before the first store, and have it stock a shield system, you'll be in for an easier time (sell the casing augmentation it comes with for 50 and you'll have enough)

[Falling]

Alright, I've composed a few basic rules about WHENEVER you're the stealth ship.

1. Everyone has breach laser. EVERYONE. And they ALWAYS hit.

2. Whenever someone hits your oxygen, always right after your shields run out, it's always set on fire. Unless there's a Rock in there.

3. As soon as you get a weapon besides the default, it never hits anything.

4. You will always, at one point, have to decide between going into an environmental hazard or into the rebels. When you have one fuel.

More rules pending.

[Sprinter]

Alright, I've composed a few basic rules about WHENEVER you're the stealth ship.

1. Everyone has breach laser. EVERYONE. And they ALWAYS hit.

2. Whenever someone hits your oxygen, always right after your shields run out, it's always set on fire. Unless there's a Rock in there.

3. As soon as you get a weapon besides the default, it never hits anything.

4. You will always, at one point, have to decide between going into an environmental hazard or into the rebels. When you have one fuel.

More rules pending.

Hah you think Stealth ship type A is hard? Wait till you unlock type B *evil laughter*

[Flickerdart]

What, does type B not come with oxygen systems?

[Starsign]

What, does type B not come with oxygen systems?

It... Well... It isn't pretty.

The only weapon it starts with is a Glaive Beam. It'll kill anything when it fires, problem is surviving without shields for 25 seconds for it to charge.

[Lunix Vandal]

Also, two fewer starting points in engines, a small and inconveniently-placed Medbay, and no System Casing to trade in for a third of the cost of Shields. That it starts with Cloak 2 and a Zoltan to power the whole mess is as much blessing as curse.

[IsaacTheHungry]

Played it a lot, had a lot of fun, went back a few times, decided to play ONE last time, got the crystal ship. I see lots more playing for me in the future :smallbiggrin:

I love crystal B, it is crazy. I made it to like sector 4 without finding a single weapon and yet it did surprisingly well. Then I found some missiles :smallcool:

[Flickerdart]

http://cuusoo.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/b8c3e/f7fdc/8ef24/50458/cfa5a/6ecaa/e0085/49002/thumb640x360.jpg

Yeeeesss. (http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/35223#)

[Triaxx]

So far, I've only seen one LP actually reach the end credits, which is this one:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU0V6ITiWqjieMb7igZCkdJPeqMt54V09

Unfortunately, the winning video has a muted microphone.

[Fjolnir]

I am having trouble with this game, I never seem to have enough salvage to upgrade or buy new weaponry/equipment when it becomes available, I definitely do better with the engi ships than the kestrel but this seems to be a consistent problem, what should I be focusing on in each?

[Studoku]

I am having trouble with this game, I never seem to have enough salvage to upgrade or buy new weaponry/equipment when it becomes available, I definitely do better with the engi ships than the kestrel but this seems to be a consistent problem, what should I be focusing on in each?
Are you spending long enough exploring? I used to make a beeline for the exit and often had this problem. Now I try to visit as many sectors as possible without the rebels catching me and it made things a lot easier (though I still fail 9/10 times on easy).

[Starsign]

Are you spending long enough exploring? I used to make a beeline for the exit and often had this problem. Now I try to visit as many sectors as possible without the rebels catching me and it made things a lot easier (though I still fail 9/10 times on easy).

I had the same issue. I never had enough upgrades when I rushed for the exit. Once you figure out how to maximize each sector, you find scrap is more plentiful.

[BRC]

I had the same issue. I never had enough upgrades when I rushed for the exit. Once you figure out how to maximize each sector, you find scrap is more plentiful.

Personally, I wish one could see which systems link to which others. Many times I've run into Sectors with two distinct Paths. I've picked one, and reached the end with the Rebel Fleet on my tail, only to realize that the Exit beacon is just barely too far away for me to jump there unless I want to fight my way back through the path I just came through (Now full of rebels), then go through the Other path (Also full of Rebels).

[Keris]

I am having trouble with this game, I never seem to have enough salvage to upgrade or buy new weaponry/equipment when it becomes available, I definitely do better with the engi ships than the kestrel but this seems to be a consistent problem, what should I be focusing on in each?
Things that I've found help scrap collection:

Plan your route. Ideally, you want to visit as many nodes as possible while:

Staying ahead of the rebel fleet.
But only just. You want to hit the exit just before they overtake it.
'Seeing' as many nodes as possible, to check for stores/distress/etc.

Per above, nebulas in non-nebula sectors are useful, since the rebel fleet is slowed while you're in one.
Scrap recovery arms. One is really useful, and a second can be a godsend if you don't need that slot for anything else.
Boarding gives you more salvage than destroying.


Personally, I wish one could see which systems link to which others.
There's an option which does that. "Show beacon paths on hover", under Gameplay.

[Fjolnir]

Personally, I wish one could see which systems link to which others. Many times I've run into Sectors with two distinct Paths. I've picked one, and reached the end with the Rebel Fleet on my tail, only to realize that the Exit beacon is just barely too far away for me to jump there unless I want to fight my way back through the path I just came through (Now full of rebels), then go through the Other path (Also full of Rebels).

This, I tend to rush the exits because too often I find red hot death waiting for me as the exit is about 5 pixels too far to jump to if I explore...

[Flickerdart]

After a while, facing an Elite Rebel Fighter just means free fuel.

[Studoku]

Personally, I wish one could see which systems link to which others. Many times I've run into Sectors with two distinct Paths. I've picked one, and reached the end with the Rebel Fleet on my tail, only to realize that the Exit beacon is just barely too far away for me to jump there unless I want to fight my way back through the path I just came through (Now full of rebels), then go through the Other path (Also full of Rebels).
Go to the options menu and enable Show Beacon Paths on Hover and you can do this. I don't get why this isn't the default option.

[AmberVael]

Boarding gives you more salvage than destroying.

There's an important clarification to be made here. It's not boarding, but killing the enemy crew to win that gives you more salvage. You never actually have to board the ship at all.

For example, if you did it right, you could use tons of ion weapons to just disable oxygen until the enemy crew suffocates, and you'd get the same amount as if you'd wiped them all out with mantis. Or you could use the bio beam, or fire bombs.

Boarding is generally the easiest option, but it is not the only one.

[factotum]

Go to the options menu and enable Show Beacon Paths on Hover and you can do this. I don't get why this isn't the default option.

Because it makes the game easier, and so it's not the default for the same reason that Easy isn't the default difficulty.

[Fjolnir]

Honestly that really made all the difference, Just made it to my first boss run on easy, unlocked the zolt and mantis cruiser A's (looked at the wiki, missed the stupid zolt cruiser one multiple times) Just beat stage one before important matters called me off the game, do the other two stages have the cloak as well? because that was the worst aspect of the fight, I would Ion the shields to one and they would cloak it and the ion would wear off...

[Grif]

Honestly that really made all the difference, Just made it to my first boss run on easy, unlocked the zolt and mantis cruiser A's (looked at the wiki, missed the stupid zolt cruiser one multiple times) Just beat stage one before important matters called me off the game, do the other two stages have the cloak as well? because that was the worst aspect of the fight, I would Ion the shields to one and they would cloak it and the ion would wear off...

Without spoiling too much (you really want to experience the horror of Phase 2 personally first. :smallbiggrin:), no, the other two phase do not have cloak.

[Xiander]

In my experience, a ship that can handle phase one, can handle all the phases, if it is in good condition at the start of each phase. It's the wear-down that gets you.

[Flickerdart]

In my experience, a ship that can handle phase one, can handle all the phases, if it is in good condition at the start of each phase. It's the wear-down that gets you.
Unless your primary means of taking down shields is missiles.

[tyckspoon]

In my experience, a ship that can handle phase one, can handle all the phases, if it is in good condition at the start of each phase. It's the wear-down that gets you.

Phase 2 is the real fight, IMO; Phase 1 is less dangerous than some random enemy ships (thanks to the Flagship always having the same layout and especially the separated weapon blisters, so once you manage to knock out a gun you can be certain it won't be coming back) and Phase 3's special thing is pretty easy to handle.

But yes, if you're struggling to beat through Phase 1 than Phase 2 will probably rip you up quite badly; it's got a lot more damage potential, so having a hole in your defenses (like having some missiles land in your Shields or Helm) can suddenly turn into you having half your systems broken and on fire before you have any real chance to do anything about it.

[Sharoth]

I blame you all for the fact that I only had 3 hours of sleep. OTOH, FTL is an enjoyable game. It is also harder than it looks.

[GloatingSwine]

I am having trouble with this game, I never seem to have enough salvage to upgrade or buy new weaponry/equipment when it becomes available, I definitely do better with the engi ships than the kestrel but this seems to be a consistent problem, what should I be focusing on in each?

Try and get a teleporter in the first sector. Board and capture gives you way more salvage than blowing things up.

You also usually seem to get more by being merciful when things try to surrender.

[Sprinter]

Because it makes the game easier, and so it's not the default for the same reason that Easy isn't the default difficulty.

Real reason why it isnt enabled its because this feature wasnt ingame by release and was only patched in early october.

Your ships jumpe range doesnt change so if you measure out how many milimeters is your ships jump range on your monitor you only need to apply ruler to know if you can jump from beacon A to beacon B. I played this way before there was this feature so i dont see any adedd difficulty by disabling it.

[Totally Guy]

You also usually seem to get more by being merciful when things try to surrender.

Not quite. The surrender options tend to be richer in fuel, missiles and drone parts. Blowing stuff up tends to be better for scrap.

In the early game, scrap is king. Sometimes you'll need to prioritise some other resource and if it is offered you can take it. If not, the resource you need may well come from the explosion.

If my ship is made to blow ships up I will usually blow ships up.

[Xiander]

Try and get a teleporter in the first sector. Board and capture gives you way more salvage than blowing things up.


While boarding can be an effective strategy, and does give more scrap if you pull it off, it is by no means easy to pull of unless you get the perfect crew for it.

In general the trick to this game is figuring out how to get the most possible out of your resources. With the kestrel that means using your missiles to make sure your burst laser gets through shields, while making sure not to use too many or you will run out. With the Engi ship it means alternating your ion between shields and weapons to minimize damage taken. With other ships it means other things.

In general though it means figuring out how to beat ships while taking the least possible amount of damage. It means figuring out when to spend scrap and when to hoard it. It means visiting as many locations as possible while not being caught by the rebels. It means learning the advantage of different weapons and systems and learning to recognize them on the enemy and counter them.

There is a lot of good advice to give about this game, but I always find "use this setup/strategy" to be a dubious piece of advice. All the weapons and systems have their use, and even though boarding can really work, it might not be the style of a given player to use it. Instead my advice is: find a strategy you like and perfect it. If you have trouble getting it to work, I will be happy to give advice.

[BRC]

While boarding can be an effective strategy, and does give more scrap if you pull it off, it is by no means easy to pull of unless you get the perfect crew for it.

In general the trick to this game is figuring out how to get the most possible out of your resources. With the kestrel that means using your missiles to make sure your burst laser gets through shields, while making sure not to use too many or you will run out. With the Engi ship it means alternating your ion between shields and weapons to minimize damage taken. With other ships it means other things.

In general though it means figuring out how to beat ships while taking the least possible amount of damage. It means figuring out when to spend scrap and when to hoard it. It means visiting as many locations as possible while not being caught by the rebels. It means learning the advantage of different weapons and systems and learning to recognize them on the enemy and counter them.

There is a lot of good advice to give about this game, but I always find "use this setup/strategy" to be a dubious piece of advice. All the weapons and systems have their use, and even though boarding can really work, it might not be the style of a given player to use it. Instead my advice is: find a strategy you like and perfect it. If you have trouble getting it to work, I will be happy to give advice.

Plus, the random nature of the game can make certain strategies valid or invalid.

Getting a bunch of scrap, a few Mantis crewmembers, and a shop selling a Teleporter can make Boarding a good strategy. Getting Ion cannons so you can keep the enemy weapons locked down while your bugs do their thing can make it an even better strategy.

Accidently losing one of your Boarders to a giant space spider can mean your good strategy is now a bad strategy.

[Grif]

Accidently losing one of your Boarders to a giant space spider can mean your good strategy is now a bad strategy.

I permanently swore off taking any other option in that event other than flying away and leaving the fools to their doom. (Unless I have a boarding drone handy, of course.)

[Fjolnir]

Failed to get to second boss, was moving to repair and ate it against a smaller ship, where can I purchase more ion?

[Xiander]

Failed to get to second boss, was moving to repair and ate it against a smaller ship, where can I purchase more ion?

Any shop has a chance to have ion weapons. The key is to plan your movements so you both get to go to as many beacons as possible and get to be adjacent to as many as possible. that way you have the biggest possible chance of locating shops.

Another important thing to remember is that a shop is useless without scrap. So generally my advice is to save up. If you constantly make small upgrades the moment you have scrap you will not be able to afford anything when you find a shop. Personally I save scrap until i either find a shop or can afford to upgrade something good on my ship. Also, don't be afraid to sell stuff if you don't feel you need it.

[Sharoth]

~WHISTLES~ I just beat it on easy using the Kestrel ship. I had 3 shields, 3 Burst Lasers II, a Pike Beam (nice but useless against a shield), one Weapon Pre-Igniter (VERY useful. I want TWO next time.), two drone - a beam and a defense MK I, a teleporter with a pair of crack Mantis (one who died near the end due to the user forgetting about him near a hull breach), and a cloak. I was down to ONE hull point at the end before my pike beam FINALLY proved it's worth. Now to try it again with the Federation Cruiser. In hindesight, I would have gone for the fourth shield point. I would have also skipped the beam drone and tried for an anti-ship drone instead.

[tyckspoon]

one Weapon Pre-Igniter (VERY useful. I want TWO next time...) two drone - a beam and a defense MK I I would have also skipped the beam drone and tried for an anti-ship drone instead.

Weapon Pre-Igniters don't stack; one gets you all the benefit you'll have. And yeah, beam drones are pretty useless, IME- they only do damage if you can reliably keep shields down completely, and if you can do that you probably don't need the extra damage output they give. Might work if your ship weapons wind up being all Ion or bombs that don't do hull damage, I guess.

(Also if you have power for all of them 3 Mark II Bursts should be enough to hammer through pretty much anything. The most unfair fight I've had with the flagship yet was with something like 2 Mark IIs, a Mark 1, and an Anti-ship Drone.. it didn't stand a chance.)

[Sharoth]

Drat. I was hoping that they would stack. Oh well.

[Sharoth]

Things were going pretty good with my Federation Cruiser until I killed my crack boarding crew. Grrrrrrrrr..... Note to self. Do NOT board when the ship is under half HP and you are using 3 weapons and then your main gun hits.

[darksolitaire]

That happened in my fight against the rebel flagship. I forgot the artillery beam, and the ship jumped and took two of my mantis crew member with it. I managed to win the second fight, but as I couldn't repair the third one killed me :smallfrown:

The feeling when you have Crystal in your crew and there are two hostile sectors left...both of which end up being mantis controlled. :smallmad:

[Xiander]

The feeling when you have Crystal in your crew and there are two hostile sectors left...both of which end up being mantis controlled. :smallmad:

I hear you. By now I have given up on the crystal ship, so I basically just fool around and try to challenge myself by completing the game with difficult setups.

[Sholos]

~WHISTLES~ I just beat it on easy using the Kestrel ship. I had 3 shields, 3 Burst Lasers II, a Pike Beam (nice but useless against a shield), one Weapon Pre-Igniter (VERY useful. I want TWO next time.), two drone - a beam and a defense MK I, a teleporter with a pair of crack Mantis (one who died near the end due to the user forgetting about him near a hull breach), and a cloak. I was down to ONE hull point at the end before my pike beam FINALLY proved it's worth. Now to try it again with the Federation Cruiser. In hindesight, I would have gone for the fourth shield point. I would have also skipped the beam drone and tried for an anti-ship drone instead.

As mentioned, another Pre-Igniter doesn't stack, but the weapon charge boosters do. Having two of those plus a level 3 gunner does amazing things. As for the final boss, the absolute best tactic I've found is to board it and take out the weapons (leaving the triple laser) and kill off most of the crew. That way things can't get repaired when you break them (so destroying the drone control in the second form means you only have to worry about the power surge. The last form is really the easiest if they don't have anyone left to board you.

[Xiander]

As mentioned, another Pre-Igniter doesn't stack, but the weapon charge boosters do. Having two of those plus a level 3 gunner does amazing things. As for the final boss, the absolute best tactic I've found is to board it and take out the weapons (leaving the triple laser) and kill off most of the crew. That way things can't get repaired when you break them (so destroying the drone control in the second form means you only have to worry about the power surge. The last form is really the easiest if they don't have anyone left to board you.

Boarding is very effective against the flagship. There is nothing to say against that, one mantis boarder to take out the missile battery is enough to completely change the fight.

[Sharoth]

~curses and throws things~ GRRRRRR!!! ~tries to decide if I should go to sleep or play another game~

[darksolitaire]

This is one of the games where everything bad that happens is my fault, I can't pin it to the game. I just had 6 Zoltan crew members, slug and human in type B federation cruiser. One boarding drone later I lose one because I couldn't be bothered to remember that there's a hull breach. I actually get replacement from the fight, another Zoltan. Then I promptly suffocate another battle weary Zoltan while en route to med bay because I was venting a fire. :smallfurious:

I managed to unlock both Rock and Zoltan ships on that run, so it's all good.

I got enormously lucky while playing first time with Zoltan cruiser, and picked stasis pod in second sector and awakened crystal in third. After seeing that there was one red sector left which I can reach I quit the session. When I return I discover that it is indeed rock homeworld and proceed to unlock crystal cruiser. :smallbiggrin:

[Sprinter]

This is one of the games where everything bad that happens is my fault, I can't pin it to the game. I just had 6 Zoltan crew members, slug and human in type B federation cruiser. One boarding drone later I lose one because I couldn't be bothered to remember that there's a hull breach. I actually get replacement from the fight, another Zoltan. Then I promptly suffocate another battle weary Zoltan while en route to med bay because I was venting a fire. :smallfurious:

I managed to unlock both Rock and Zoltan ships on that run, so it's all good.

I got enormously lucky while playing first time with Zoltan cruiser, and picked stasis pod in second sector and awakened crystal in third. After seeing that there was one red sector left which I can reach I quit the session. When I return I discover that it is indeed rock homeworld and proceed to unlock crystal cruiser. :smallbiggrin:

I usualy dont have more then 2 zoltars in crew because they are so hard to keep alive and i try to keep them in systems close to med bay. You dont need 6 off them unless you try to get one of the hardest achievments ingame. Its much better just to turn off whole systems you dont curently use.

Congrats on unlocking the crystal ship all others are much easier to get. :smallwink:

[Ailurus]

Just got a unique win with Engi A and unintentionally unlocked the Ballistophobia achievement too. I didn't find any new weapons until the end of Sector 6 (a breach missile), and didn't fire any weapons besides my starting ion cannon until the boss fights. However, I did manage to find a ton of anti-ship drones.

An ion blast mk 2 targeted on their shields and backed up by 3 anti-ship drones can apparently cause a huge amount of havok, even on 4-shield ships. Takes a little bit to get going, but once the first few shots slip through things seem to fall apart fast. On phase 3, the rebel flagship died right after it shot off its second superweapon blast.

Edit: Also, that drone spam was made viable by getting the drone recovery arm in sector 4 or early 5.

[tyckspoon]

An ion blast mk 2 targeted on their shields and backed up by 3 anti-ship drones can apparently cause a huge amount of havok, even on 4-shield ships. Takes a little bit to get going, but once the first few shots slip through things seem to fall apart fast. On phase 3, the rebel flagship died right after it shot off its second superweapon blast.


One of my easiest wins was a similar situation with Engi A. Think I only had 2 Anti-ship drones and a Defense drone, but same deal - the Ion Mk 2 fires like every 3 seconds and the drones fire just ever so faster than shields restore. Between the two you shut out shields very rapidly and then carve the ship into bits. The really nice part is that the Flagship's huge crew does absolutely nothing to help it deal with Ion damage, whereas most attacks have to deal with a four-man repair crew working against any damage you can get past the shields. (The second easiest Flagship fight was with double Small Bomb launchers burning through a stockpile of 30-some missiles. Wanna fix your shields? Bombs on your crew! Retreating to medbay? Bombs on your crew!)

[GloatingSwine]

The king of killing stuff is really just to overwhelm it with fire.

Burst Laser 2s are the best for that, because they're 3 shots for 2 energy.

My best run, and the one I completed first, was 2x Burst 2 and 1x Hull Laser 2 plus my starting artemis missile. 10 shots with a preigniter and recharge booster, the enemy flagship died as it started its drone swarm, and then died again as it started its superweapon for the first time. And that was without even a max level gunner (because he'd died a sector from the end).


If you ever got 4x BL2 you'd be unstoppable by absolutely anything.

[darksolitaire]

I usualy dont have more then 2 zoltars in crew because they are so hard to keep alive and i try to keep them in systems close to med bay. You dont need 6 off them unless you try to get one of the hardest achievments ingame. Its much better just to turn off whole systems you dont curently use.

Congrats on unlocking the crystal ship all others are much easier to get. :smallwink:

Thanks. Boarding drones taught that there is such a thing as too many Zoltan, same probably applies to Engi.

My player preferred pattern seems to be using barrage of energy weapons too. I dislike having to rely on slowly renewable resources such as missiles or droids. I should try Engi ship next and hope to get drone recoverty arm.

[Sprinter]

If you ever got 4x BL2 you'd be unstoppable by absolutely anything.

Actualy 2X BL2 + precisely targeted/timed Halbeard beam is much faster killer.

Halbeard if timed correctly can do 10 points of damage to flagship each turn its my dream combo only problem is you have to watch your boarding crew because it actualy kills flagship faster then they kill the crew. Add in preigniter and stealth weapons upgrade and you dont even need boarding crew.

[Sharoth]

I just beat it again last night. Cloaking is a wonderful thing. I was using the Kestrel Cruiser type A. My weapons were a Burst Laser Mark II, a Hull Laser Mark II, A Burst Laser Mark I, and an Ion Blast Mark I. I had picked up Cloaked Weapons and TWO Weapon Reloaders (Dropping a Drone Recovery Arm to pick up the second one). My Cloak was at max and I had both drones and a teleporter. In the end, I think the Hull Repair Drone was the most useful drone against the end boss, but the Anti-Ship Mark I played a part too. I just wish that they had given us 30 energy instead of 25. My crew were 4 humans manning the systems, two rocks as my elite boarding party, and a pair of Engi as my repair crew. All in all, it was an effective setup. The only thing I might have changed with the crew would have been replacing at least two of the humans with Zoltans for the extra energy.

[Thiyr]

Just pulled my second win last night. Surpisingly solid, too. I think i only got damaged by the flagship...two, three times? Disapointing run in that i got the starting events for unlocking the two ships i'm missing (Rock and Crystal) in the last non-flagship sector, so i could do nothing with them. Satisfying because immediately after passing that useless stasis pod, I got a free preigniter. Walked into the final fight with three ion mk1, a burst laser III, a mantis/rock boarding crew, and enough defenses that once I took out their missiles, I wasn't worried in the slightest. Then some clever boarding and ioning killed most of their crew.

Still, says something that this is my second win after 93 hours logged. Apparently I both love and am hated by this game.

[Studoku]

Just got my 3rd win, this time with Red-Tail.

By the end, I had a breach bomb, two heavy lasers, a halberd beam and a pre-ignitor. Two rock boarders as well- unfortunately my mantises died.

I think it's to move up to normal difficulty.:smalleek:

[Gnomish Wanderer]

Ugh, I need to get this game for myself. i have been playing it on a friends' steam compulsively.

I can't seem to beat the final boss, myself. When I'm on a 'good' run I end up dying in sector 7 or 8 and when I'm on an 'okay' run I can't seem to beat the rebel leader.

I only have the Kestrel A & B as well and the Engi A & B ships unlocked. Out of the four the Red-Tail is my favorite, just being able to control my fire like that makes me feel awesome. I just wish I could beat the silly game already x.x

[Lord Avalon]

Ugh, I need to get this game for myself. i have been playing it on a friends' steam compulsively.

I can't seem to beat the final boss, myself. When I'm on a 'good' run I end up dying in sector 7 or 8 and when I'm on an 'okay' run I can't seem to beat the rebel leader.

Keep on space truckin' - you'll get there. I had many a game before I made it to the boss, and when I finally did, got shredded in the first round. And when I finally made it to the second round, I was so damaged, I didn't last long.

I was so frustrated, I actually concentrated on unlocking ships for a while, so I had almost all of them before finally going back and beating the boss with the Torus.

I used to be horrible with the Stealth A, but I learned to cloak at the beginning of battles (except when the enemy has a cloak), and of my nine victories (six easy, three normal), it's my best ship with two easy victories, one normal. And of course that experience helped with other cloaked ships. Plus learning not to autofire, but instead make liberal use of the pause button.


I only have the Kestrel A & B as well and the Engi A & B ships unlocked. Out of the four the Red-Tail is my favorite, just being able to control my fire like that makes me feel awesome. I just wish I could beat the silly game already x.x

Having four lasers is pretty awesome for early sectors (and I do use autofire for them). I'm on a Red-Tail normal run where I have three different guys with 2 stars in weapons. I'm about to go into the last sector with a Burst Laser Mk II, Ion Blast, Hull Smasher Laser Mk I, and I recently got a Burst Laser Mk I. Unfortuntely, I've been so beat up along the way, that I only recently got a cloak (but in time to upgrade to level 2), and I haven't been able to purchase a teleporter. If there isn't an accessible store with one in sector 8, I don't think I'm going to beat the boss.

[Studoku]

Just won on normal with Engi A. I love the ion blast II

[Lord Avalon]

OK, color me shocked. :eek: Shrike V, Red-Tail class, won on normal without a teleporter. There was no store that I saw in sector 8 (even with Long Range Sensors), so I used the scrap I had saved (plus from a couple battles) for extra shields (L7) and weapons bars (L8), and O2 L2, none of which I used (except as a damage buffer). Oh, and Piloting L2, which was briefly useful.

First round took me down to half hull, but I finished with 12 hits left. (Yay, cloak!)

I did indeed have enough shots with an Burst Laser Mk II, Ion Blast Mk I, Hull Smasher Laser Mk I, and Burst Laser Mk I. (Also reunlocked Ballistophobia.) Just had to knock down the shields to two, then used the Hull Laser to take out the missiles, then finally target the hull.

Crew was 3 Humans, 3 Mantis (one of which died in the boss battle from a beam while waiting outside the Medbay, which was full), 1 Zoltan, 1 Rock.

[Draconi Redfir]

Got this game a couple of days ago, there's a pretty interesting story behind how i got it.


Been trying to unlock the Mantis ship ever since, but luck just has not been on my side. I've had a crew teleporter and a level two medbay multiple times, but I’ve only ever gotten to the mantis homeworlds in one of those, and i died before i could find the guy i need.

Then in my last session, i have a level two medbay and a mantis crewmember, but i didn't have the transporter. But you know who did? the TWO shops that were RIGHT at the beginning of the level. i was down by just ten or eleven scrap, so i scurry to any nearby nodes i can find. I manage to get to three near the first shop.

Literally nothing
Trading scrap for fuel
Trading missiles for fuel.

Ten scrap. I needed TEN scrap, and i didn't even get one. By the time i warped to the fourth point the first shop was already a lost cause and the second would be joining it in one jump. Those things can be such a alternate-name-for-rooster-tease when it comes to crew teleporters:smallannoyed:

Why can't we SELL drone parts or fuel or something at a shop? lord knows i don't use drones, why can't i profit off the twelve plus i inevitably have by the time i find the mantis homeworlds!?:smallsigh:

[Sholos]

Well, at that point you could always say, "Screw the main mission, I'm unlocking me a Mantis cruiser," and sell off one of your weapons.

[Xiander]

Well, at that point you could always say, "Screw the main mission, I'm unlocking me a Mantis cruiser," and sell off one of your weapons.

That's how I got the mantis ship... And unlocked the B type of it.

[Draconi Redfir]

most of the time i only ever HAVE the starting weapons, and i only barely get by with those.

Urgh this recent mission was a dissapointment. i had the teleporter, upgraded to level two, a level two medbay, a rock and a human that were kicking behind in other people's ships, two sheilds, a scrap recovery arm, not one but two extra beam-guns ( Three total, one of wich i could not use just yet) so i sold off my missile launcher, the one i got at the start of the game.

During a fight with some pirates in a Zoltan ship both of my fighters almost died, so i teleported them home, only for the rock to crumble upon touching the teleport pad.

Next thing i know i'm in an ion storm nebula, fighting an automated ship with either two or three sheilds, two attack-drones, a missile launcher, and my own rear-end is promptly handed to me on a golden platter.

i'm not even trying to finish the game, never have been, this whole time i've just been aiming for the mantis cruiser, the problem is that i just keep dieing before i can get it.

[Draconi Redfir]

ARRRRRRRRGHH!! *flips table*

For about the fourth game in a row now i -Yet again!- die to a stupidly advanced automated ship that somehow grows more powerful over time, with two attack drones, two missile launchers, two pule beams, and first one, then two, and probably eventually three sheilds, In an ion storm.

This is about the second or third time now that this has happened have spawning in a nebula storm after jumping to a new sector and taking one jump into another part of the nebula in order to get out because there was no direct route out of the nebula! This wasn't even a nebula sector! it was Zoltan controlled!

FFS i had three Shields and two hull smasher lasers( Mark two each!), AND five crewmembers, including a rock and an Engi! i wasn't even trying for the mantis ship this time and was focusing on offence and defence and the thing STILL chews through me like butter! How the heck are you supposed to beat that thing!?


p.s. sorry for double posting/bumping, i just had to rage that out. that is all.

[Studoku]

If you go up against something like that in an ion storm, you're often better off putting all your power into engines and shields and fleeing.

[Draconi Redfir]

i try that, but when they have an ion gun/bomb and continue to attack the engines and helm, it makes it somewhat difficult:smallsigh:

[Ailurus]

Honestly, its things like that that make me consistently liking long range sensors more and more. Asteroids fields I like jumping into, if I've got decent shielding. But suns and ion storms make me furious.

[stevenjobs]

That's also interesting, but I specified '4 person' precisely because that's part of the benefit: that the ship can offload the maximum number of boarders possible in a single room, and it's an uncommon benefit. Still, it would be neat if we got to lay out the room design.

Oh, also, for heroism, you can design your ship around boarder combat, and that can feel pretty darn heroic. Requires you to get a lot of mantis or, in a pinch, rockmen though.

[GloatingSwine]

T
Oh, also, for heroism, you can design your ship around boarder combat, and that can feel pretty darn heroic. Requires you to get a lot of mantis or, in a pinch, rockmen though.

You can do effective boarding combat with humans, you just have to micro them harder (benny hilling around the enemy ship with the low health guy stops him dying and makes enemies chase him until you can port back), you'll want to upgrade your teleporter faster as well to pull them out to recover and handle the attack in stages.

It also helps to get the teleporter early as possible, to get enough time to skill up your boarders.

[Draconi Redfir]

From experiance i can tell you that getting a teleporter early on can be a risky endevor however as it takes cash away from upgrading your sheilds, wich if you can't get up before sector 2-3, your pretty outclassed by everyone else.

[Lord Avalon]

You can do effective boarding combat with humans, you just have to micro them harder (benny hilling around the enemy ship with the low health guy stops him dying and makes enemies chase him until you can port back), you'll want to upgrade your teleporter faster as well to pull them out to recover and handle the attack in stages.

It also helps to get the teleporter early as possible, to get enough time to skill up your boarders.

/cue Yakety Sax :biggrin: (And hope they don't have blast doors. :smalleek:)

Indeed with a level 2 teleporter, you can even board airless autoships, though you must pay close attention to retrieve them in time. Health will be <10 (assuming 100 starting), so avoid airless rooms on the way to the medbay. And make sure it doesn't have a(n operational) cloak, as you can't get them back when it's up. The extra health of Rock and Crystal men comes in handy, as well as the Crystal ability to last longer without air.


From experiance i can tell you that getting a teleporter early on can be a risky endevor however as it takes cash away from upgrading your sheilds, wich if you can't get up before sector 2-3, your pretty outclassed by everyone else.

OTOH taking ships intact gets you more scrap.

[Draconi Redfir]

True, though it's risky if you don't get lucky with finding free crewmen, if you only have three crewmembers and they are all human or the like, sending them out to fight can be dangerous.

[Lord Avalon]

Try the Mantis B with 2 Mantises, 1 boarding drone, and no weapons, or the Crystal B with 3 Crystal men and no weapons. (Both start with 4-person teleporters.)

[GloatingSwine]

Actually, there are also advantages to using a high level 2 man teleport. If you teleport your first team in (into the bridge, usually, it's almost always a 2 man room so they can't gang up on you), then teleport the second team in when recharged, the AI always overcommits to dealing with the second attack, leaving your first boarding team to finish off the one guy the AI leaves them and then start wrecking things.

[Draconi Redfir]

Weh i just lost a Rock and an Engi after teleporting them into an enemy ship that had some fires burning in it to take out the crew. The fires did some damage to the system and blew up the ship, less then a seccond after i teleported in my guys :(


Urgh, now i'm in the mantis homeworlds, four scrap away from being able to afford a crew teleporter, i have a rock crewemember and a level two medbay, and i take one jump to a node near the store to try and get said four scrap, and guess who i happen to run into?

Captain longname who i need the teleporter for.:smallsigh:

[nhbdy]

so, for those who like ZP's yahtzee... here's a poem by him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi-VNkT57oE

[Lord Avalon]

Last night I rode Obsidian III (Rock B) to victory. Somewhat surprising, as I was never able to afford a cloak or drone control, nor did I purchase any augments, having only the starting Rock Plating (the few times there was a good augment, I couldn't afford it, and when I had the scrap, there was nothing I wanted - Stealth Weapons? Grrr, no Cloak! :smallmad:). I guess I spent a lot on repairs, as weapons were only adequate for a lot of the game.

The starting Heavy Piercing Laser is good early, but when enemy shields reach two, it needs help. Once I got a Small Bomb, I didn't use the starting Fire Bomb so much. I really hate it when the Small Bomb misses, so I have to wait till it's back to try to take down shields. Eventually I had two Small Bombs (that I used - I sold another one).

Primary boarding crew was a Rock and a Mantis. I found a Crystal man, but I didn't use him, as I prefer to have two lockdowns, and I was hoping to keep him alive so I could tour the Crystal sector (even though I have the Crystal ship) - Rock Homeworlds weren't on my path, though. I actually had two other chances to get the damaged stasis pod, but wasn't sure if I'd be able to get them open, and I needed better weapons (not that I got them).

Late in the game I was fortunately able to buy a Heavy Laser Mk II and a Burst Laser Mk I, so along with the two Small Bombs, I could (eventually) handle ships with lots of shields. Misses really hurt - there were a number of times the Heavy was ready to go, and I had to wait. Once you get shields down to one, it does hit hard though.

Shields were the only system I was able to max, Weapons level 7, Engines level 5, Power two short of max, everything else level 2. Crew: 4 Rock, 1 Crystal, 2 Mantis, 1 Human.