I think the slug sector is one of the best. Especially when you go in, lose medbay and they're using firebombs.
Rock has music but I'd prefer Lanius over them.
All civilian sectors are the boring. I go out of my way to hit red or blue sectors.
Favorite sector
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Re: Favorite sector
I agree, slug sectors are basically always my first choice. You get more beacons due the nebula effect, and most of them are pretty good encounters. Lots of slug ships which favor beams and fire weapons, relatively few missile weapons to worry about.
Uncharted nebulae are also good. The encounters tend to be mainly auto-ships, but the high number of visitable beacons more than makes up for it. Also (and this applies to slug sectors, too), there's no ASB if the rebels catch you at the exit, and no event there if you show up early, so you have a strong incentive to explore pass the exit.
I like green sectors, too mainly because they often have a significant number of nebula beacons.
Uncharted nebulae are also good. The encounters tend to be mainly auto-ships, but the high number of visitable beacons more than makes up for it. Also (and this applies to slug sectors, too), there's no ASB if the rebels catch you at the exit, and no event there if you show up early, so you have a strong incentive to explore pass the exit.
I like green sectors, too mainly because they often have a significant number of nebula beacons.
- Twinge
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Re: Favorite sector
I think Nebula Sectors are pretty weak because you're only getting 2 extra hops on average (Rebels are only slowed to 80% normal speed) - 1 of those hops will be empty and the other will be a low reward from an Auto-Drone. It's a different matter if you have Long-Range Scanners, but without them I wouldn't recommend Nebulae.
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Re: Favorite sector
2 extra hops sounds low to me, based on experience. If the beacon is far to the right, the number of extra beacons increases proportionally, but if it's far to the left, you actually tend to do even better relative to a non-nebula sector with similar placement, since you can safely go far past the exit without having to worry about the ASB on the way back. That's one reason I think you're a lot less likely to get screwed by a crappy sector if you go purple.
I know this kind of anecdotal evidence doesn't hold much weight, but my highest scrap, highest score runs have all been games where I hit multiple nebula sectors. That includes my 7.5k, 2,400 scrap Kestrel run I posted about a while ago, as well as a recent 7k Bravais run.
Edit: In fairness, The very next run after that Bravais run (which I just finished 5 minutes ago), I got 6.9k/2,400 scrap with the Tektite, going all red sectors, except one Engi sector for sector 5. The Rebel shipyard event helped, as did a good haul in sector 8. I'm thinking of doing some data collection, to see if we can really pin down what sectors are most lucrative. I'd probably stick to recording sector 2 scrap data, to make it easier to quickly drum up a usable sample size.
I know this kind of anecdotal evidence doesn't hold much weight, but my highest scrap, highest score runs have all been games where I hit multiple nebula sectors. That includes my 7.5k, 2,400 scrap Kestrel run I posted about a while ago, as well as a recent 7k Bravais run.
Edit: In fairness, The very next run after that Bravais run (which I just finished 5 minutes ago), I got 6.9k/2,400 scrap with the Tektite, going all red sectors, except one Engi sector for sector 5. The Rebel shipyard event helped, as did a good haul in sector 8. I'm thinking of doing some data collection, to see if we can really pin down what sectors are most lucrative. I'd probably stick to recording sector 2 scrap data, to make it easier to quickly drum up a usable sample size.
Last edited by itg on Tue May 27, 2014 7:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
- 5thHorseman
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Re: Favorite sector
Twinge wrote:I think Nebula Sectors are pretty weak because you're only getting 2 extra hops on average (Rebels are only slowed to 80% normal speed) - 1 of those hops will be empty and the other will be a low reward from an Auto-Drone. It's a different matter if you have Long-Range Scanners, but without them I wouldn't recommend Nebulae.
Even when you consider the fact that fighting the rebels in that Exit beacon is easier, and (at least it seems to me) most sectors (Nebula or not) have at least 1 if not 3 extra beacons behind the exit you can now go to? I haven't analyzed it but it seems you could average 3-5 extra hops if you're confident you can best or at least run from a Rebel Elite sans Planetary Defenses.
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Re: Favorite sector
Rebel Stronghold - the rewards for the halfbuilt flagship are out of all proportion to the 'difficulty' of beating it - extra scrap, fleet delayed two jumps and a weapon? What's not to love?
Otherwise, nebulas - extra beacons equals extra opportunities
Otherwise, nebulas - extra beacons equals extra opportunities
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Re: Favorite sector
My favorite is the Rebel Stronghold - as others have mentioned, tons of rewards for the half-complete Flagship. Not to mention, I prefer to fight rebel ships because they're crewed by humans and tend not to carry Ion weapons or bombs (Unless they're auto-ships). That eliminates ultra-fast Engi repair, Mantis awesomeness, Rock resilience, Lanius oxy-draining, the auto-fixing of breaches, missile weapons I can't shoot down, and the creeping blue death that can strike against even my strongest defenses. If I'm reasonably certain my ship can take a straight up fight, Rebels (and slugs) are the easiest opponents.
Aside from that, I really like the Engi Homeworlds and Mantis Homeworlds. Engi ships don't stand a chance against the boarding strategies I favor and the Mantis tactics are predictable enough to exploit.
However, I will probably gasm in joy were I to find the Rock Homeworlds in my Rock C.
Aside from that, I really like the Engi Homeworlds and Mantis Homeworlds. Engi ships don't stand a chance against the boarding strategies I favor and the Mantis tactics are predictable enough to exploit.
However, I will probably gasm in joy were I to find the Rock Homeworlds in my Rock C.
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Re: Favorite sector
I may be going on confirmation bias here, but I could swear Zoltan sectors always have nebula nodes in them, and those nebulae tend to be larger than in other friendly or hostile sectors. They are my favorite for that reason, even though Zoltan enemies are definitely not the easiest to fight and you get not-so-nice events like 'The Great Eye'.
Strongly agree with this.
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Strongly agree with this.
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Re: Favorite sector
The Rebel Stronghold is the only one I make an instant detour towards, because that event where you fight the half-finished Flagship is too good to pass up.
Otherwise, I usually prefer Mantis sectors for the high number of enemy encounters, Civilian sectors for the high chance of nebula (as opposed to actual nebula where the rebels don't go much slower), and Zoltan Homeworlds for the space hippies event.
Otherwise, I usually prefer Mantis sectors for the high number of enemy encounters, Civilian sectors for the high chance of nebula (as opposed to actual nebula where the rebels don't go much slower), and Zoltan Homeworlds for the space hippies event.