Our journey with the Lanius Cruiser finally reaches its conclusion after a little jump forces us into a highly unnecessary confrontation with the rebel fleet. We did get out of the way of the rebels themselves, but then we get stuck in some nebula... You can watch this episode
here.
Lanius Cruiser Type ADefault Name: Kruos
Reactor Output: 8/25
Shielding: 2/8 (1 level of shielding)
Engine: 1/8 (5% Evasion, FTL 1x multiplier)
Clone bay: 1/3 (12s clone, 8 hp restoration per jump)
Oxygen: 1/3 (Oxygen refill 1x multiplier)
Weapon Capacity: 3/8
Hacking bay: 1/3 (4 second disruption)
Piloting: 1/3 (Requires crew, no auto evasion)
Sensors: 1/3 (Can only see interior of own ship)
Doors: 1/3 (Basic control of doors, cannot stop intruders or fire on their own)
Starting Missiles: 3
Starting Drones: 9
This ship you will most likely have if you haven't wiped your save file and have played FTL for quite some time. It's unlocked if you happen to have unlocked four or more of the ships from the original game (not including the Kestrel), and is only available if you have the Advanced Content enabled. It starts with a human and two Lanius crew, and the starting weaponry of the Chain Laser and Ion Stunner makes it feel a bit of a mix between the Kestrel Type A and the Engi Cruiser Type A, at least when starting out.
The augmentation you start out with are 'Emergency Respirators', which reduce damage done to crews as result of air loss by 50%. It does do quite a deal considering that you can't constantly keep your crew's health up since you don't have a Medical Bay (You either get the Clone Bay or the Medical Bay, not both).
The LaniusBut who are the Lanius? What do they do? What role do they serve?
The Lanius are scavengers - metallic lifeforms that rely on the absorption of minerals to sustain themselves. Their society ebbs and flows in hibernation cycles; they may lie dormant for many years, even while hurtling through space. As soon as they become aware of significant metal deposits they reawaken. Usually this occurs in the dying stages of a galactic civilization or in the wake of intergalactic war.
So in short, they're like Engi, except they may reactivate at any time they become greedy. We have a couple of them on board, and hovering over them in the crew screen gives this tooltip:
These anaerobic beings seem friendly enough.
In addition to that, they have the following traits:
- Drain oxygen from rooms
- No damage from loss of oxygen
- Slower movement than other units
I can't imagine how one can get the impression that they are friendly. After all, you'd be walking into a room with all the oxygen sucked out of it. Not much for conversations or working together, unless you happen to be a Lanius also, of which our pilot certainly is not.
If you're going in search of Lanius as enemies, look for a hostile sector labeled 'Abandoned Sector'. Claims are as misleading as any, of course with the oncoming rebels.
Aresenal LaniusMost likely you'd have unlocked this before unlocking any of the Type-C ships. So what's with the new names and unfamilar weapons?
Chain Laser
The Chain Laser is a change from the Dual Lasers and the Burst Laser Mark I, in that the charge time decreases the more you use it.
...At least up to a point anyway. It starts with a massive 16 second charge time, gradually decreasing to a 7 second charge time. Depending on your situation, you might feel better with the Dual Lasers consistent cooldown of 10 seconds. Of course, both weapons have the disadvantage of not being useful in later sectors.
Ion Stunner
The Ion Stunner is a slight deviation from the Ion Blast in that it makes use of a new crew status (you can guess which). The Ion Stunner does 1 ion damage to any system it hits, as well as a guaranteed stun on any crews manning the station for 5 seconds. Great for stopping crew repairs on hostile ships, though only doing 1 ion damage does mean it won't be useful in later sectors.
That's it for the time being until the next run. In the mean time, here's some bonus content!
See you all next time!
