Are solar flares a death sentence for anyone else?

[agentmith]

Got the game this morning, been playing all day. In every game I've played I've died to a solar flare system. Even when my ship has shields remaining rooms still catch on fire, and before I can put the fire out more fires start, ultimately knocking out systems and die. I've noticed that the FTL gauge doesn't seem to increment while this is going on so I can't escape to get control of the situation. I get the game is hard, but it's to the point where if I land on one I just quit to save myself time. Easy or normal doesn't seem to change anything either.

Is this a balance issue, or should I be gearing my ship up just to handle this specific situation? Maybe I'm just horribly unlucky.

[dgfv_]

Solar flares light fires...I've yet to lose a ship to a solar flare on my many many playthroughs. I deal with fire INSTANTLY. That's how you survive.

Maybe you have bad luck, maybe you're too slow at containing shit. Who knows. Keep trying.

[Simbert]

You need to remember that you can put fires out by venting the atmosphere of that section. Depending on ship, it is pretty easy to vent large parts of the ship without really hindering you, thus extinguishing the fires as soon as they spawn, and allowing your crew to deal with fires in the rest of the ship easily. Having a few extra crewmembers is never a bad idea, slavers are usually happy to provide those in exchange for not being blown up.

[agentmith]

I did the tutorial and noticed venting a compartment to space, but I didn't see any of the outside-facing ports on the ship while playing the game. I'll look again, I guess.

I have been dealing with the fires right as they pop up, but before I can finish putting them out, they spread to adjacent rooms or another flare pops up and lights more. It's like a never ending whack-a-mole game.

[Kitanode]

Yeah i've died to a solar flare fire as well.
As well as the fire spreading there are random fires starting simultaneously so it's easy to get caught out if you dont get on top of it straight away and make it your number 1 priority.
Try venting all of the airlocks but try and make sure the oxygen and first aid rooms stay operational.

[fall_ark]

The thing with solar flare is that it's not really fair if you only have 2~3 crew: you need one person at the pilot to even get away(power up the FTL), and if there's a fight going on it's probably not the best idea to leave the ship unmanned.

Try to vent your ship instead of always facing the fire head on. Like Kitanode said, protect O2 and Medic Bay and vent the others. Do not try to extinguish the fire with a single crewmember unless he's an Engi or Rockman.

[Mineral]

Just upgrade your Fire Doors and fire can't spread any further.

Venting the shit out of that room also extinguishes the fire without any injuries, alternatively you can send in Rock people if you have some they are fire immune.

[Wordsmith]

I lost my first ship to a knock-down, drag-out battle in a solar flare system. After that, I decided to invest in a little bit of fire-fighting capability.

First off, upgrade to Blast Doors. This pretty much keeps any fire from spreading, so you can at least limit the damage. If you're in a solar flare area, you're still in trouble, because you'll have more fires cropping up all the time. If at all possible, leave the area. Keep your engine upgraded and have a good pilot on hand so you can jump out of there as soon as possible.

It also helps to upgrade your Life Support. This may not seem like it's all that important at first, but venting rooms to fight fires can render large parts of your ship exceedingly dangerous to crew. This is extremely dangerous if you have a fire in a vital area - the Engine room, for example, or the Cockpit. Having a decent O2 replenishment system allows you to vent areas without rendering vital areas uninhabitable.

Thirdly, if at all possible, have a Rockman on board at all times. He may move slowly, but this guy will extinguish any fires that are troubling you. A Rockman is pretty much mandatory, in my experience thus far.

Hope this helps!

[GoldenShadowGS]

Don't try to defeat the ships at dangerous locations. Just man a guy in your cockpit, engine room, and shield room and try to get away as fast as possible. If you find a long range scanner augment, you will be warned if the beacons are dangerous(close to a star, or in an asteroid field)

[NTaylor]

If your FTL was not going up did you take your pilot out to fight fires as the bar does not fill if the pilot is not in the cockpit.