Mantis B Early Game

[UglyBastard]

So you have nothing new to offer besides hitting the restart button but continue to brag about "practice". Great!

Not that I expected anything useful.

Guess I gonna roll the dice once more then. T_T

[actionhero112]

I tend to focus on upgrading the teleporter first, with the second level in the teleporter, you can send your guys over to automated ships and (just barely) teleport them back before dying of asphyxiation. While teleported over, you can farm system damage points until the last piece of their hull, then send a boarding drone over to finish them off.

If you encounter a automated ship before you can upgrade (that's some bad luck) you can just send the boarding drone over and hope it hits a room with a system in it, and just grind the system damage points.

Both of these methods take like some time to do so yeah. But I haven't found any other way. Then for the zoltans, I try to buy some kind of damage causing drone or weapon asap. No matter the cost.

For the ships with medbays, I send out a boarding drone, then send my boarding party, and try to divide and conquer.

But yeah, the Basilisk, while amazing, is not for the faint of heart or the quick gamer. You have to have patience.

[zzandrio]

I've got a full playthrough up of the Mantis B at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAWUPwyhAJU
If you're having trouble with it, you might get a few tricks from watching.

[UglyBastard]

It actually worked out the first time I tried today.

Had only 1 Autoscout in sector 1 (yesterday I had literally 4-5 Autoscout/Zoltan every time I tried) and was able to pick up an ion weapon from a shop.
I actually used the mentioned strategies before and in my other playthroughs, but it seems it was just very rough luck yesterday (or top notch luck today). Guess that happens. Still very good post actionhero!

http://www.imagebanana.com/view/8e2paxf ... ictory.jpg

Guess I'll stick with the Gila Monster though. I really dislike restart grinding. Had enough of that when I tried getting the Crystal Cruiser...

[zzandrio]

Here's a little trick for the auto drones before you get weapons. If you can weather their fire without getting hurt, launch a boarding drone at them. The drone will kill the system in whatever room he lands in, doing one damage do the hull. Eventually it will autorepair and he will kill it again, doing one more damage. It takes a while, but the drone will eventually kill the ship. It's a little faster in the auto drones that have doors between their rooms.

[Fredchuckdave]

It must suck to be born without a sense of humor :'(

[UglyBastard]

Not exactly sure if acting like a retard counts as humor.

[zarakon]

With a level 3 teleporter, a pair of mantis men can deal 2 damage to a system on an autodrone and make it back alive. Level 2 teleporter might even be able to do it, but I'm not positive.

[Real]

After playing the Kestrel B a couple of times, (and winning, finally!) I've started getting creative with oxygen use. Since the Basilisk is such a defensively-oriented ship, I started trying to figure out ways to enforce some extra damage control, consistently, and without sacrificing much in the way of battle capability. Take this next picture:




Where the two X's are is the path you open to repair vital systems. If you take hull damage on a system, you close the doors connecting it to the vacuum rooms, and create an oxygen path (open doors) to the other side of the ship. (Medbay or Teleporter respectively) - This lets you have the initiative on fires, and when you need to get in there, it's only a moment's notice before you're safe in the damaged room. No fire is getting around the front of your ship this way, but only the front. The reason I've left the door and oxygen rooms covered? Security, in the case that one of them is damaged. It's just convenience that they're on the side of the ship that also contains the teleporter. If you want extra extra fire resistance, take your med-bay offline and vacuum the sensor-side of your ship.

Also: This build gives you very strong defenses against boarders, as long as you leave your medbay online. If you're using the autopilot to defend yourself in the first sector for example, two rebel boarders with your mantis on the enemy ship can mean a restart. If you're expecting boarders or in a Mantis system, it can be beneficial to remove the oxygen in the X hallways, sacrificing quick repairs for total on-ship defense. Trap them in the room that they appear in with a clear path to an airlock (preferably a front-side one) and your Mantis can do their thing on the other ship while the guys on your ship waste their time/die.

Not that anything here is a secret or foolproof, just felt like sharing a few efficient ways to defend.