Is there ever really a reason not to board?

[BlueTrin]

Can you win against an automated ship by boarding? There is no crew to kill???

[Hoa_Binh]

Hi.

Yes, you can destroy automated ships with boarding. Each time you destroy (damage until it is red) a room with something in it (not empty) the ship takes one point of damage. Unless the hull is breached the automated ship will slowly repair and once the room is no longer red you can damage it again.

Please note:

The rooms are empty of oxygen making this rather damaging on your crew.
The last piece of damage will destroy the ship with your borders on board.

Conclusion:

Don't do it, the boarding drone can if the automated ship has doors.

[BlueTrin]

Thx for the reply. Can you finish then the game if you have alot of boarding drones against the last ship?

[Hoa_Binh]

Thx for the reply. Can you finish then the game if you have alot of boarding drones against the last ship?

I have never tried but I do not see any reason that it wouldn't work.

[UltraMantis]

I see that it would not be very easy or even reliable.

Boarding certainly is a very effective way of silencing the mothership's weapons, but in this case 'boarding' means teleporting your own crew on board and not using the drones.

Drones have several advantages over your crew though. They are replaceable, hard to kill, cause a hull breach and take the attention of the defenders away, so using drones is a good support tactic, but i would not try to beat the boss with drones alone. Even if it could theoretically work. It would take very long and it would take an army of drones. Although it isn't my kind of playstyle so maybe i'm biased.

[VanguardOfValor]

Since boarding drones don't do damage to Zoltan Shields (although they do explode when they hit them) a Boarding Drone Only run wouldn't be able to finish the final stage of the bossfight, even if you did manage to get there.

It would be cool to see someone take an Engi cruiser and have a three-boarding-drone battle strategy though.

[aaOzymandias]

Since boarding drones don't do damage to Zoltan Shields (although they do explode when they hit them) a Boarding Drone Only run wouldn't be able to finish the final stage of the bossfight, even if you did manage to get there.

It would be cool to see someone take an Engi cruiser and have a three-boarding-drone battle strategy though.

Indeed, although I fear that 9 energy use is too much

I try and board now and then, but it is really up to your strategy. I can do just fine without boarding, or use the slug cruiser to kill the crew without boarding

[spacecadet13]

I've tried to like the Bio Beam, really I have, but, meh, it just takes too long, even if the enemy crew are close together and in a straight line, have no med bay to run to and you're able to keep the shields down to allow the beam to hit them. It's 3 hits to take out anything but a Zoltan (2 hits) and a Rock (4 hits). And the Bio Beam doesn't exactly recharge fast. If you're going for the beam option to take the crew out instead of boarding, the firebeam is better, faster and more fun - when you can get it, of course.