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On January 04 2013 21:11 Emnjay808 wrote:
Anyone know how to check pathing while jumping? I was watching Frag today and he was checking what spots he could jump to in his next move.
I did not know about this. Assuming i'm not completely misinterpreting, then just go into options and change the 'show beacon paths on hover' to enabled.
omg this is gonna make things a lot easer >_>
Unlocked Rock and Stealth today. Not a fan! I'll persist with them but they're very, very strange ships. I can imagine Rock being alright if i get a laser early. That has yet to happen, however. Running out of missiles ftw!
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On January 04 2013 21:17 Goibon wrote:Show nested quote +On January 04 2013 21:11 Emnjay808 wrote:
Anyone know how to check pathing while jumping? I was watching Frag today and he was checking what spots he could jump to in his next move. I did not know about this. Assuming i'm not completely misinterpreting, then just go into options and change the 'show beacon paths on hover' to enabled. omg this is gonna make things a lot easer >_> Unlocked Rock and Stealth today. Not a fan! I'll persist with them but they're very, very strange ships. I can imagine Rock being alright if i get a laser early. That has yet to happen, however. Running out of missiles ftw!
You can almost always get a Crew Teleporter pretty early, and with Rock crew it works fairly well.
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The Rock ship seems terrible if you play on easy, because you get used to succeeding more often than not. However, you will need luck at normal with any ship, so simply getting a laser is more in line with other ships.
That said, I think the strongest ship is the Osprey, as in, highest win percentage on normal. For the very highest score, Mantis is probably the best, since you board every ship and get maximum scraps right away.
Burst Laser II and Dual Lasers are really strong. Heavy Laser I and Ion Blast I are good options, and everything else is pretty far off/situational. Missiles, bombs and beams seem better balanced, although Breach Bombs II are definitely on top.
As for Teleport, it has its uses even if you don't deal damage with it. Teleport anyone into the Pilot room and you reduce their dodge % by at least half, sometimes entirely, allowing your precious missiles/bombs to hit their target. Then run around until you can beam your boy back.
Ion weapons also allow you to solve a quest, and to suffocate weak opponents, earning you more credits. Ion blast II is pretty bad, but heavy is good with beams, and Blast I is good with lasers. Ion on a room prevents repairs, so Blast I allows you to stunlock one room, for easy suffocation/to kill the bastards in the medic room without damaging your crew/their hull.
Defense Drone I is much better than II, imo. It doesn't waste its shots on lasers, and can still block missiles/boarding drones. Attack Drone II, however, is a marvel to behold.
Everything with Fire/Hull in its name is generally pretty bad and very situational. And this pretty much covers the entire game =)
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On January 04 2013 11:09 Simberto wrote:
3 is pretty much superior, though, because it is frontloaded enough that it usually lets you take out some of their weaponry without taking any damage, especially if you also have cloak.
Teleport takes ages to take out anything on the enemy ship, ion weapons have to slowly chew through their shields unless you got many, and missiles can get shot down or even miss. All of that makes you take lots of damage, which costs money, which is bad.
Attempting to take out systems with a boarding crew should not be your main aim - it's to kill their crew as fast as possible.
The mid/late game can be defeated with nothing but a teleporter and stacked defense. With the aid of something like a breach bomb or even a fire bomb you can massacre everything.
The game is defeated most easily when you adapt your strategy to what you are given. Running around looking for lasers all the time will result in losing a lot of games you could have easily won if you had adapted to one of the other very viable strategies.
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Just got my second win ever with a ship (Bulwark) that I never expected to manage it. My weapon kit was breach bomb II, heavy laser I, ion blast (don't remember the exact name, the low end one that does 1 damage every 8 seconds) and and attack drone. Not exactly end game stuff but apparently it was enough.
I was careless and lost my boarding party on phase 1, so I was down to a crew of 3 for later phases. At the moment I won on the last phase, my ship was on fire with 3 enemies on board, about two-thirds open to vacuum with several breaches, and was down to 2 points of health. (Somehow I doubt they made it back for the victory party - thanks for your sacrifice, guys!) Score was just over 3800 which was only the fourth highest for that ship type, and below two others that didn't win.
Of the ships I have so far, Osprey seems like the easiest, since you can concentrate everything on defense in late game and win by attrition. I'm playing mostly Bulwark since I am having trouble unlocking the second layout for some reason (so many near misses now that I've lost count). Still missing Mantis, Slug and the secret one for the full set, although I do have all alternate layouts other than Bulwark.
I do like how you need to play differently each game based on what you find. There are very few truly useless options and nearly everything can be made to work if you adapt your style accordingly.
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So far I've unlocked everything but the rock ship.
IMO strongest ship would be the Carnelian (crystal cruiser type b). Starting with stealth systems and a 4 man crew teleporter is insanely good, but what really sets it apart from the other ships is the 3 crystal crewmembers you start with. Being able to send 3 crystal men and a mantis into the weapons room of an enemy ship and lock it down until the weapons are disabled is so so good. its also quite good against the boss because you can quickly destroy their shields and drone systems in the same manner.
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Braavos36388 Posts
I'm trying to beat it with every ship, and right now I'm just stuck on maybe 20+ deaths using Stealth B.
I try to get fast cloak 3 (to ensure I can fire the glaive beam) and then go for shields and a secondary weapon, but I die usually just to some unlucky shots or a ship with a beam drone, it's really difficult.
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On January 07 2013 00:32 Hot_Bid wrote:
I'm trying to beat it with every ship, and right now I'm just stuck on maybe 20+ deaths using Stealth B.
I try to get fast cloak 3 (to ensure I can fire the glaive beam) and then go for shields and a secondary weapon, but I die usually just to some unlucky shots or a ship with a beam drone, it's really difficult.
What I found to be the best strategy with that ship is to get cloak 2 and save up all my scrap to get a 3rd weapon, that way I either activate cloak as soon as the fight starts to delay their weapons or after shooting because I load faster.
That ship is a pain though it's a glass cannon without the huge damage output and dodging in cloak does not help to lvl up your pilot or engine which is so unfair 
Last run I made it to the boss and I found out that with 4 laser shots and a big beam is almost impossible to beat phase 2.
To win with that ship all the lucky stars have to come together it seems since a 3 weapon limit just cripples you so much on such a cheesy ship.
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On January 06 2013 10:26 Chutoro wrote:
Just got my second win ever with a ship (Bulwark) that I never expected to manage it. My weapon kit was breach bomb II, heavy laser I, ion blast (don't remember the exact name, the low end one that does 1 damage every 8 seconds) and and attack drone. Not exactly end game stuff but apparently it was enough. Breach Bomb II is the best missile/bomb in the game, heavy laser I and ion blast I are also among the best. Really good setup, mostly if that's an attack drone II, since you have some leftover power to spare. I'd consider that setup way above average, and be confident you can beat the endgame boss 100%, as long as you have either a teleporter or cloak.
Has anyone here played with the few mods out there? I tried a few that add events or "balance" the game, but all they seem to do is make the game easier.
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On January 07 2013 00:32 Hot_Bid wrote:
I'm trying to beat it with every ship, and right now I'm just stuck on maybe 20+ deaths using Stealth B.
I try to get fast cloak 3 (to ensure I can fire the glaive beam) and then go for shields and a secondary weapon, but I die usually just to some unlucky shots or a ship with a beam drone, it's really difficult.
Hotbid, could you stream yourself playing Faster Than Light? I would love that :D
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On January 07 2013 01:58 Murdco wrote:Show nested quote +On January 07 2013 00:32 Hot_Bid wrote:
I'm trying to beat it with every ship, and right now I'm just stuck on maybe 20+ deaths using Stealth B.
I try to get fast cloak 3 (to ensure I can fire the glaive beam) and then go for shields and a secondary weapon, but I die usually just to some unlucky shots or a ship with a beam drone, it's really difficult.
What I found to be the best strategy with that ship is to get cloak 2 and save up all my scrap to get a 3rd weapon, that way I either activate cloak as soon as the fight starts to delay their weapons or after shooting because I load faster. That ship is a pain though it's a glass cannon without the huge damage output and dodging in cloak does not help to lvl up your pilot or engine which is so unfair Last run I made it to the boss and I found out that with 4 laser shots and a big beam is almost impossible to beat phase 2. To win with that ship all the lucky stars have to come together it seems since a 3 weapon limit just cripples you so much on such a cheesy ship.
This ship more than any other pushes you into a narrow field of options - which in this game means a low overall win-rate.
The only strategy that maximises your forced early investment in cloak is a one-shot build.
Delay your shields til late and look for some really slow charging weapons, cloak at the start of the battle while they charge and do significant damage with your first volley. Avoid Zoltan sectors.
Transitioning into teleporters/mantis or drone/ion/laser is difficult because the early game will not yield masses of salvage and you require shields for these strategies - all of which will be later than they would be with any other ship.
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On January 07 2013 07:53 Klive5ive wrote:Show nested quote +On January 07 2013 01:58 Murdco wrote:On January 07 2013 00:32 Hot_Bid wrote:
I'm trying to beat it with every ship, and right now I'm just stuck on maybe 20+ deaths using Stealth B.
I try to get fast cloak 3 (to ensure I can fire the glaive beam) and then go for shields and a secondary weapon, but I die usually just to some unlucky shots or a ship with a beam drone, it's really difficult.
What I found to be the best strategy with that ship is to get cloak 2 and save up all my scrap to get a 3rd weapon, that way I either activate cloak as soon as the fight starts to delay their weapons or after shooting because I load faster. That ship is a pain though it's a glass cannon without the huge damage output and dodging in cloak does not help to lvl up your pilot or engine which is so unfair Last run I made it to the boss and I found out that with 4 laser shots and a big beam is almost impossible to beat phase 2. To win with that ship all the lucky stars have to come together it seems since a 3 weapon limit just cripples you so much on such a cheesy ship. This ship more than any other pushes you into a narrow field of options - which in this game means a low overall win-rate. The only strategy that maximises your forced early investment in cloak is a one-shot build. Delay your shields til late and look for some really slow charging weapons, cloak at the start of the battle while they charge and do significant damage with your first volley. Avoid Zoltan sectors. Transitioning into teleporters/mantis or drone/ion/laser is difficult because the early game will not yield masses of salvage and you require shields for these strategies - all of which will be later than they would be with any other ship.
I have made it to the end with late game systems that way, everything upgraded to kestrel endgame levels but always lacking decent weapons, for some reason I have shit luck in stores and drops with that ship.
Today I tried again absolutely stomped phase 1 with hermes and a reasonable boarding crew, of course though Hermes is useless in phase 2 so I died again, what I found most frustrating about the ship is the overall quality of weapons you start with. Moving on from the small beam and dual laser when you have to invest so heavily in shields in the midgame is incredibly crippling.
One thing I found to be quite useful is selling titanium plating as soon as something useful pops up in a store, it is after all a quite useless augment.
On Zoltan sectors - I found them fine unless encountered in the mid game.
What I detested the most was ships with attack drones, if I got one of those in my first few jumps I restarted because I knew the damage that ship would do to me would cripple me for almost the rest of the game.
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On January 07 2013 02:10 Pwere wrote:Show nested quote +On January 06 2013 10:26 Chutoro wrote:
Just got my second win ever with a ship (Bulwark) that I never expected to manage it. My weapon kit was breach bomb II, heavy laser I, ion blast (don't remember the exact name, the low end one that does 1 damage every 8 seconds) and and attack drone. Not exactly end game stuff but apparently it was enough. Breach Bomb II is the best missile/bomb in the game, heavy laser I and ion blast I are also among the best. Really good setup, mostly if that's an attack drone II, since you have some leftover power to spare. I'd consider that setup way above average, and be confident you can beat the endgame boss 100%, as long as you have either a teleporter or cloak.
Thanks, that's good to know - I guess my definition of "good" needs a little refinement (it sounds like power efficiency is a big consideration). I think the attack drone was a drone I, not II. In general I felt like I was playing behind for a lot of the game and had near-constant supply issues for the last few sectors. I was almost out of pretty much everything by sector 8, but fortunately the layout allowed me to reach three repair sites before engaging, which solved my problem. It did all seem to work surprisingly well together once I no longer had to hoard missiles like a miser.
I did have both a teleporter (which I try to always get early for Rock ship if I can, and for any ship by the endgame boss) and cloak (which I picked up quite late). I was not close to maxed on power though. In hindsight shields and/or engine might have been a better investment than cloak. I only had 3 shields for the final battle and was taking a lot of punishment.
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I barely ever upgrade cloak. Cloak lvl 1 is all you need for the endgame boss, and it's expensive to upgrade. As you said, power efficiency is really important, and two power also means two points in weapons, which is huge for the midgame. That's also why zoltan crew members are the best. You only need one engi, and two rocks or mantis to board, but ideally the 5 others would be Zoltans (although that'd mean the Engi would be the pilot, which might not be ideal. 1st world problem)
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It's actually bad to upgrade cloak for the final boss. Five seconds is all you need to dodge his stage 3 special attack. Also, if the duration is longer than five seconds, you can't use it to dodge the second attack, as the 15 seconds + recharge is longer than the cooldown of the final boss's stage 3 special attack.
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Its still useful vs everything not the boss, you can just drop the power down when you fight the boss. Though I wouldn't upgrade it if you aren't in the stealth ship.
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On January 08 2013 11:12 Coriolis wrote:
Its still useful vs everything not the boss, you can just drop the power down when you fight the boss. Though I wouldn't upgrade it if you aren't in the stealth ship.
It is quite good vs everything specially those pesky zoltan ships with 4 shields + super shield with maxed weapons, I don't even know.
I beat the game with the stealth ship yesterday. 2 heavy lasers II and a burst laser II was my weapon loadout, maxed shields, 6 power on engine, drone bay with a system repair and anti personnel, 2 cloak and my maxed boarding and piloting crew.
It was relatively easy thanks to the antipersonnel and system repair they make those painful boarding drones so manageable, in both phase 2 and 3 cloak 2 came in handy, being able to stay in cloak for the phase 2 overload and dodging the laser barrage + power surge beams to get the achievement. I completed both of my goals in that run, beat the game with the ship and unlock it's type B.
Best feeling in the game.
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This game is so good.
I've got 7 of 9 ships.
Stealth ship is my worst ;;
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I don't know, the time the cloak lasts is usually rather unimportant. You use it to dodge their most scary rockets, and afterwards you should take out their weapons before they can fire it again.
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Got to love finding a second Burst laser II for the Kestrel.
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EPT
