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I also think the Engi Ship is pretty good. Better then the Fed cruiser and perhaps the Stealth cruiser.

I used the Engicruiser with 3 drones (1 against boarders, 1 attack and 1 defense) than 2 Ion weapons or 1 Ion and an anti-bio beam. Nearly reached the end.

 Dark Scipio wrote:
I also think the Engi Ship is pretty good. Better then the Fed cruiser and perhaps the Stealth cruiser.

I used the Engicruiser with 3 drones (1 against boarders, 1 attack and 1 defense) than 2 Ion weapons or 1 Ion and an anti-bio beam. Nearly reached the end.

Had a quick go at it, and i think a best case load out for it is antiship MK2, defence drone MK2, and maybe if you can spare the energy the beam turret. the boarder one was always...eh for me, much rather just use a rock or mantis for ship defence.

as for weapons, id say either the bio or fire beam (bio seams to be the rarest weapon in game) and the burst laser 3 (the lockdown from ions nice, but that puts out 5 shots, more than any shield). and swap them around with a breach bomb or missile.

Sure crewmembers are better, I just didnt found enough and had so many Engis, I took a Antiboardersystem.

Best loadout are 2 Antiship and 1 Defense.

 Dark Scipio wrote:
Sure crewmembers are better, I just didnt found enough and had so many Engis, I took a Antiboardersystem.

Best loadout are 2 Antiship and 1 Defense.

Fair enough, last time i used it i ended up with 3 mantis (got the "save the mantis from the engi" twi9ce

 Dark Scipio wrote:

You get slaves form slavers only if you accept their bribe once they are badly injured, sadly not when you capture them or destroy them. I think they just forget to include a special outcome for capturing a slaver.

I got a crew member from 2 out of 3 slavers by wiping out their crew on my last play through. Its the first time I have attempted to capture rather than destroy ships though so its possible that I was just lucky.

I have also discovered that ship fires can cause hull damage which put a stop to my cunning plan involving a fire beam.

Palindrome wrote:

 Dark Scipio wrote:

You get slaves form slavers only if you accept their bribe once they are badly injured, sadly not when you capture them or destroy them. I think they just forget to include a special outcome for capturing a slaver.

I got a crew member from 2 out of 3 slavers by wiping out their crew on my last play through. Its the first time I have attempted to capture rather than destroy ships though so its possible that I was just lucky.

I have also discovered that ship fires can cause hull damage which put a stop to my cunning plan involving a fire beam.

Fire only causes damage when the systems in the red, kinda like how if you keep shooting the red systems it just does extra damage. overflow lol.

I was using the beam to kill off the crew, basically the whole enemy ship was on fire so naturally all their systems were red

 Dark Scipio wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
Also, I managed to decrew a slaver ship. Didn't offer slug though :/

You get slaves form slavers only if you accept their bribe once they are badly injured, sadly not when you capture them or destroy them. I think they just forget to include a special outcome for capturing a slaver.

Err, what? I very frequently get a freed slave crew member from capturing a slaver ship.

There's a chance they're all dead, but that's a small chance in my experience. More likely than not, you'll either have a random species single survivor (so far I've gotten a mantis, a human, and an engi this way) or you'll get your pick from a mantis, a rockman, or an engi.

Strangly I NEVER got that, just the default extra scrap, strange. A lot of bad luck then.

Damn it guys, now I want to buy this game.

The way I made the engi ship work was I maxed shields relatively early. Then I got 2 basic anti ship drones and a beam one, then I almost maxed weapons. Had a hull smasher, the starting ion cannon (that thing is great, set it to autofire shields and its gg) and I believe a halbard beam. Enemy ships died so fast it wasn't even funny.

My other loadout relied more on weapons, and a hull repair drone and a breaching drone to disrupt the enemy. One thing I learned though, is that the flyin toilet seat CANNOT dodge, so you need shields as soon as possible. At least level 3, and I was on easy. It lets you sit there and wear a guy down with drones much easier.

also. its variant is terrible. It feels like it was made to be a harder game mode more than anything.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
The way I made the engi ship work was I maxed shields relatively early. Then I got 2 basic anti ship drones and a beam one, then I almost maxed weapons. Had a hull smasher, the starting ion cannon (that thing is great, set it to autofire shields and its gg) and I believe a halbard beam. Enemy ships died so fast it wasn't even funny.

My other loadout relied more on weapons, and a hull repair drone and a breaching drone to disrupt the enemy. One thing I learned though, is that the flyin toilet seat CANNOT dodge, so you need shields as soon as possible. At least level 3, and I was on easy. It lets you sit there and wear a guy down with drones much easier.

also. its variant is terrible. It feels like it was made to be a harder game mode more than anything.

That sounds just plain mean xD yeah that starting ion weapon is amazing, 4Sec recharge, i think 2-3 with a master or whatever manning it. Tho it makes me wonder, if i can get 3 on it, you could wear down normal ships by spamming the oxygen, engine and weapons. (or even just 2 if your shields outclass the guns) and set it to autofire



So i got my hands on the stealth ship finally, im kinda loving it. Takes a little more microing to play, but if you get lucky weapon options it seems like it could be insane, especially with a pre-igniter with something like the glaive/biobeam and ion-bomb. Drop in, fire. If it doesnt kill right off, wait a few seconds then cloak till you get a second wave

Dark Scipio wrote:Best loadout are 2 Antiship and 1 Defense.

At least until you get to the endboss. Having a repair drone handy is strongly recommended.

Personally, I've otherwise preferred 1 Defense, 1 Antiship and 1 Beam drone. The latter just to cause havoc by setting half the enemy ship on fire and damaging multiple systems simultaneously. They can't repair everything at once, after all!

Also, I prefer prioritising the enemy's weapons grid when it comes to EMP, with actual damage being directed towards the shield generator first, weapons second, engines third. Unless they've got friggin missiles, then I throw everything I have at their weapons array until it's red.

Melissia wrote:Err, what? I very frequently get a freed slave crew member from capturing a slaver ship. There's a chance they're all dead, but that's a small chance in my experience.

Yup, I remember the event - something about your crew searching the ship and already turning to leave, when just that very moment they hear someone coughing, then a single surviving slave falls out of a locker where he/she/it hid during the battle.

I despise beam drones. One point of shields for a second and its all blocked. Always glad to fight them.

I think its better to damage the endboss than reair the hull, although Hull Repair Drones are perhaps one of the best, however I am under the impression that they are quite rare.

I go the ame way:
- Weapons
- Shields
- Drone (if dangerous drones are in place)
- Engines
- Rooms with a lot of enemy crew


I just recently found the Hull missle. 2 Damage with double damge in rooms without systems. 4 Hull damage per shot for a 1 Missle/2 Energy weapon is quite fine. The downside is you need something to put the weapons put of action.

I had excellent luck with two anti-ship 1s and an anti-ship 2, but then again, I was having incredible luck already anyway.

I guess opening the airlocks to put out the fire wasn't such a smart idea after all. :>

Well, that's a fine kettle of fish if I do say so myself .

Of course, you can through that and not die. They'll take damage yeah, but they would survive. And if you're worried you could have a guy come from the left to repair it too.

That said, everytime I open my doors to put out fires some idiot blows up the door control unit. I started upgrading it to 3 just so it could take more damage. That's one thing I learned quickly, you ALWAYS need to upgrade oxygen and medibay to level w as soon as possible, maybe even level 3 for oxygen. If you dont, you'll be repairing your oxygen every minute or so.

how are you guys using the stealth ship by the way? Without shields, I'm having a hard time making it out of the first sector.

So close them again and then open all interior doors as you...

Oh.

Yeesh.

The slug ship is so annoying to get...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, does anyone else here use early ships to max their team's shield technician, pilot, and engine technician skills out?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, can someone tell me the right answer for the slug mission -.-

MrMoustaffa wrote:Of course, you can through that and not die. They'll take damage yeah, but they would survive.

Oh yeah, it wasn't critical - especially with 2 Engi onboard. I just thought it was a funny connection of circumstances. This is exactly why I love this game so much.

Oxygen and medbay are not priority upgrades for me, though they are certainly nice to have. Oxygen on level 2 is a nice backup just in case the section takes a hit or is targeted by a boarding party, and you have the option to put it on full power for 300% air recycling when parts of your ship have been decompressed. Medbay is something I tend to upgrade when I have a teleporter and start boarding other ships myself - which I do more and more often in my recent playthroughs, just because it yields so much more rewards and is a rather fun way to play.
What I do consider a priority upgrade is door controls, though, at least to level 2 blast doors.

MrMoustaffa wrote:how are you guys using the stealth ship by the way? Without shields, I'm having a hard time making it out of the first sector.

Not unlocked yet.

Melissia wrote:Also, does anyone else here use early ships to max their team's shield technician, pilot, and engine technician skills out?

Not yet. It does sound nice, but also somewhat expensive...?
Would suck to find a nice item in the shop and not being able to buy it because all the Scrap went into hull repairs.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
Well, that's a fine kettle of fish if I do say so myself .

Of course, you can through that and not die. They'll take damage yeah, but they would survive. And if you're worried you could have a guy come from the left to repair it too.

That said, everytime I open my doors to put out fires some idiot blows up the door control unit. I started upgrading it to 3 just so it could take more damage. That's one thing I learned quickly, you ALWAYS need to upgrade oxygen and medibay to level w as soon as possible, maybe even level 3 for oxygen. If you dont, you'll be repairing your oxygen every minute or so.

how are you guys using the stealth ship by the way? Without shields, I'm having a hard time making it out of the first sector.

Ignore the shields till later on, be careful to avoid space hazards (sun etc). Use your shield after they fire, keep an eye out as it comes on to your side of the screen. Get stealth to level 2 ASAP and another energy bar to put engine to 4. The starting weapons you will want to replace quickl as well, or rather upgrade. try and get the ion bomb. If your set on using it, try and get the B-type. same ship, better weapons

MrMoustaffa wrote:how are you guys using the stealth ship by the way? Without shields, I'm having a hard time making it out of the first sector.

Gotta get stealth weapons asap. Other than that, use the shield whenever your weapons are recharging, or possibly to dodge enemy shots. Not just using it every time it comes up.

Oh and yes, the B-type stealth is tons better than the A-type. Not JUST because of the weapon-- it also has more varied crew (IIRC) and better starting upgrades. And you still have long-range scanners (the main reason why I use stealth is because I start with long-range scanners).

 Melissia wrote:

MrMoustaffa wrote:how are you guys using the stealth ship by the way? Without shields, I'm having a hard time making it out of the first sector.

Gotta get stealth weapons asap. Other than that, use the shield whenever your weapons are recharging, or possibly to dodge enemy shots. Not just using it every time it comes up.

Yeah, the timing dodge is awesome. It works if enemy has already fired and the shots didn't get to you. Use them immediately when something nasty is fired - like those tri-missiles of endboss - and then cloak. If you stealth randomly you're only delaying, with this trick you're also resetting his weapon.

I beat the game with B-type stealth




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Anyoen gotten the unknown cruiser yet?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just got the mantis b-type. The design of the ship is better definitely, but the starting equipment kinda sucks-- two mantis, a boarding drone, and a defense drone. Color scheme's nice though, and you start with four in shields and three in drone control, allowing you to play a decent passive game, and starting out with level one sensors is nice compared to the regular mantis ship.

Also, it has a four person teleporter.

 Lynata wrote:
I guess opening the airlocks to put out the fire wasn't such a smart idea after all. :>

The same happend to me, just that I emptied 4 rooms of oxygen to fight boarders and fire, when the door control went out.

Ignore the shields till later on, be careful to avoid space hazards (sun etc). Use your shield after they fire, keep an eye out as it comes on to your side of the screen. Get stealth to level 2 ASAP and another energy bar to put engine to 4. The starting weapons you will want to replace quickl as well, or rather upgrade. try and get the ion bomb. If your set on using it, try and get the B-type. same ship, better weapons

Thats how I did too, I keept the weapons (added a blaster II) and had quite sucess, but after a while you cant survive without shields. I like the weapon recharger on the Stealth ship.




I quite like that weapon config:

Ion Bomb takes out the shields, then the Anti Bio Beam brings the health of 2 enemy crewmen to 10%, beam in -> over.

In case of emergency the Hull missle can do 4 points hull damage per missle.

Tried some rockmen boarding teams, and holy crap are they good. I think they make better boarders than the mantis to be honest, since they can take the hits to actually stick around and not die in a few seconds. Plus, all you have to do is light a room on fire, and they're matching the damage the mantis did anyway

Absolutely wrecked a run through with the Federation Cruiser layout A. Got the weapon preigniter on the first sector, and the teleporter with 2 level 2 burst lasers and a small bomb. Literally nothing could stop it. Small bomb killed shields, and six laser shots later they had no weapons/shields. Then, you just start focusing whatever bothers you the most. Small bomb hits engines, lasers hit the medbay so the rockmen can beat face, and you're golden! I think I lost maybe 5 hull in all 3 stages of the boss, but then again, I had max engines, shields, and maxed crews for each (and a shield recharger). And I was on easy... don't judge me. Normal still kicks my butt :(

That said, I hate the artillery beam for that stupid ship. Nine times out of ten it never did anything, and the few times it did, it almost killed my boarding parties, because I kept forgetting to turn the thing back off. It just requires way too much power and upgrades to become truly useful. I just bought a halberd beam, and it did far more damage for only 2 power than the artillery beam ever did.

However, the artillery beam pierces any shields, unlike the halberd.

I think it even pierces the supershields of the zoltan/rebel flagship...

It does, but it still only does 1 damage no matter what, you can't control it, and it usually has at least half a minute of charge time. You also cant use the preigniter with it. i only upgraded it to max so that if my main weapon system got knocked offline I'd have a backup plan. Otherwise, I only used it by accident, to get achievements, or as the final shot to kill the boss ship.

Speaking of which, I found out that killing the entire crew on the boss doesnt beat it. The ship has an AI to keep it going without crew. however, killing the crew drastically slows repairs and weapon chargeups, so its very handy. Just make sure the med bay and drone area are knocked out or you're gonna have a bad time. teleporting a couple of guys to kill the triple rocket launcher at the beginning of the fight for example was amazing. the ship couldnt repair it and my guys were safe from reinforcements.

Finally got my first win tonight, after only seven hours overall.

Man, that flagship is a real doozy. I realized I kinda cocked up near the end when I had maxed out my energy, but didn't have enough to buy out the last two levels of shields (that is, to get the 4th bar). Wound up slugging it out with 50% dodge and full crew, 4 of them manning stations and the other 3 just keeping the thing together. Even then, the victory was entirely technical, because the flagship launched one of those salvos at me just as my guns launched a salvo at it. Both of our ships went down at the same time, but my kill counted first and I wound up with a win.

By the way, I know it's been mentioned before, but the Engi ship is really, really good if you play it right. It gets trickier near the end when everything has a bunch of dodge, but still, stunlocking enemy shields is just mean.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
It does, but it still only does 1 damage no matter what, you can't control it, and it usually has at least half a minute of charge time. You also cant use the preigniter with it. i only upgraded it to max so that if my main weapon system got knocked offline I'd have a backup plan. Otherwise, I only used it by accident, to get achievements, or as the final shot to kill the boss ship.

Speaking of which, I found out that killing the entire crew on the boss doesnt beat it. The ship has an AI to keep it going without crew. however, killing the crew drastically slows repairs and weapon chargeups, so its very handy. Just make sure the med bay and drone area are knocked out or you're gonna have a bad time. teleporting a couple of guys to kill the triple rocket launcher at the beginning of the fight for example was amazing. the ship couldnt repair it and my guys were safe from reinforcements.

Apparently if you leave one crew member alive the ship doesn't auto repair but if you kill them all it does.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
It does, but it still only does 1 damage no matter what, you can't control it, and it usually has at least half a minute of charge time. You also cant use the preigniter with it. i only upgraded it to max so that if my main weapon system got knocked offline I'd have a backup plan. Otherwise, I only used it by accident, to get achievements, or as the final shot to kill the boss ship.

Speaking of which, I found out that killing the entire crew on the boss doesnt beat it. The ship has an AI to keep it going without crew. however, killing the crew drastically slows repairs and weapon chargeups, so its very handy. Just make sure the med bay and drone area are knocked out or you're gonna have a bad time. teleporting a couple of guys to kill the triple rocket launcher at the beginning of the fight for example was amazing. the ship couldnt repair it and my guys were safe from reinforcements.

As was just said, the crew on the flagship carries over, so kill all the crew except the one manning the lasers. next battles you can dissable sections and that one guy cant do anything, and the lasers will just bounce off your shields