My Kestrel Run, or "How Do I Maximize Scrap?"

General discussion about the game.
angelocire
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:09 am

My Kestrel Run, or "How Do I Maximize Scrap?"

Postby angelocire » Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:19 am

To preface, I've never beat the final boss.
I've come very close, i.e. half-way through stage 3.

My last game I was running a Kestrel with full Cloak, full shields, and a Burst Laser mk2 and Burst Laser mk3 with a preigniter. The combo works extremely well, as you can volley the boss' missile launcher at the start of each encounter and lower his damage VERY quickly.

I have, however, found no way to reliably maximize scrap throughout the early game, which means I'm running only 2 points of engine, and 1 of O2 and Medbay, respectively.

Now, I try to stay in-system as long as I can. I never take surrender bribes. I am extremely judicious about upgrading my ship systems early-on, apart from lvl 2 shields.

What I want to know is, I see these people talking about how they went into the last battle with 8 crew, 4 guns, full ship upgrades, drones, teleporter, cloak, etc...

WHERE IS ALL THE SCRAP COMING FROM!?
Duboyski
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2012 8:01 am

Re: My Kestrel Run, or "How Do I Maximize Scrap?"

Postby Duboyski » Mon Jul 02, 2012 9:35 am

Hmm I've seen many posts about how hard the final boss is, which confuses me as I've beat it with all but the Mantis ship on Normal.

You don't need a maxed ship, yes sure it helps but to be honest some systems are redundant at various points. You'll never have enough power for 4 weapons, drones, max engines, and max shields at once. Again sure power management e.g. power down your drones for a few seconds and pump that power into engines for the extra evasion is useful. I think O2 is the least important, I generally just power it down completely for each fight then turn it back on at the end.

I think the issue most people seem to have is tactics against the boss, which is different depending on what weapons you've got throughout the game. In general I personally don't use missiles unless I don't have a choice, I just use burst and beam lasers. Pound down the shields, keep the shields off, and them hit other systems at your leisure.

**Spoiler information on the final boss and sector**
I guess the problem people have is surviving rather than dealing damage. With 4 shields and using cloak at appropriate times (even if it's only lv1) I.e. cloak against missiles weapons first time, and cloak drones and special 2nd and 3rd time, I've never had issues.

From the setup you describe it sounds like you should be able to take the boss, I guess the question is why are you dying. If it's the 3rd time is your cloak being disabled so you can't cloak the special?

As a general answer you your question I've never gone into the final sector maxed out, I usually jump around the final sector getting as much scrap to max out whatever I can before I have to engage the final boss since it only jumps every other turn.
nix413
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2012 3:44 pm

Re: My Kestrel Run, or "How Do I Maximize Scrap?"

Postby nix413 » Mon Jul 02, 2012 3:51 pm

One of the tricks I noticed was that if you jump to a nebula beacon (not zone, just the beacons) then the Rebel fleet slows in hunting you. While they are generally higher risk/reward, they do keep the fleet at bay a little longer making it easier for you to get more scrap in that zone.

You also have to be economical with your scrap. Don't 'repair all' at EVERY store you come across unless you don't think you'll be able to make it to the next store. There are numerous events where people will just fix your ship for free. Don't buy weapons unless you REALLY want that one sitting right there. It might drop in your next fight. Things like this can help make your scrap go a little further. Be creative!

That brings me to the last highly important bit: pure unadulterated LUCK. This a rogue-like. Sometimes you get a Pegasus to drop in your first fight. Sometimes you don't see a single weapon drop in the game. Sometimes you lose a crew member to a collision in a nebula, sometimes you just gain one. That's part of the fun of the game; seeing what you'll get. Just keep at it. You might have an awesome run one of these times and never be able to do it again.
Snake Plissken
Posts: 104
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:58 pm

Re: My Kestrel Run, or "How Do I Maximize Scrap?"

Postby Snake Plissken » Tue Jul 03, 2012 12:07 am

***spoilers***
Teliporters are a must. Send over boarding parties and kill their crew. This gives a considerable amount of scrap and for me is my #1 tactic on the final boss. For the boss note that ALL of the weapon systems are separate from the rest of the ship. (not counting the drone bay) Just beam crew over and destroy them and they can never be repaired.
timaeus
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2012 1:38 pm

Re: My Kestrel Run, or "How Do I Maximize Scrap?"

Postby timaeus » Tue Jul 03, 2012 2:24 pm

***spoilers***
Another tip on the final boss - While the boss ship systems magically repair themselves from one phase to the next, the crew *do not reappear*. So if you use Snake's suggestion and use a boarding party to destroy the weapon systems on the boss ship (and kill the crew manning them), then those weapon systems will not be manned in the later phases, making it even easier to destroy them again, as well as slower reloading rate.

This is very important to keep in mind, since the first phase is the only one without a magical "power surge". Once you've taken out the weapons in the first stage (or at least the dangerous weapons), the ship is a sitting duck, so you can take your time picking off the crew.
Darthcaboose
Posts: 109
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2012 2:14 pm

Re: My Kestrel Run, or "How Do I Maximize Scrap?"

Postby Darthcaboose » Wed Jul 04, 2012 2:41 am

***more spoilers***

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you generally don't want to take out all the crew on the final boss ship. Doing so will trigger the ship to operate automatically, and I believe that means it'll start self-repairing its systems. Try and keep one of them alive so that you avoid this from happening (and having the dreaded missile systems come back online).
timaeus
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2012 1:38 pm

Re: My Kestrel Run, or "How Do I Maximize Scrap?"

Postby timaeus » Wed Jul 04, 2012 3:39 am

Darthcaboose wrote:***more spoilers***

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you generally don't want to take out all the crew on the final boss ship. Doing so will trigger the ship to operate automatically, and I believe that means it'll start self-repairing its systems. Try and keep one of them alive so that you avoid this from happening (and having the dreaded missile systems come back online).


Oh ouch, does it actually do self-repairs? I've seen that message before, but I assumed that just related to why you couldn't capture the ship after defeating the crew, and didn't look to see if it meant it was self-repairing.
Hoa_Binh
Posts: 51
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 6:32 am

Re: My Kestrel Run, or "How Do I Maximize Scrap?"

Postby Hoa_Binh » Wed Jul 04, 2012 4:11 am

Yeah, I can confirm it starts to self repair, at least in the current build. I had only one enemy crew left and was trying to avoid killing him but did so by accident. The weapons that I had spent so much time destroying started to come back on line after that.
Snake Plissken
Posts: 104
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:58 pm

Re: My Kestrel Run, or "How Do I Maximize Scrap?"

Postby Snake Plissken » Thu Jul 05, 2012 1:21 am

confirmed as well.