I did it.

[dyno101]

This very night, On easy, With the crystal B, or the Carnelian, with a boarding crew of 3 crystal and one mantis, 2 life sacrifices (I had no actual damaging weaponry, so...), and lots of cloaking, I defeated the rebel flagship and ensured the federation victory.
(Thanks, everyone, for the Life-Saving advice!)

[stylesrj]

Tell me more! Tell me more!
Did you board very far?

Tell me more! Tell me more!
Did you have a bypass?

Tell me more! Tell me more!
Did you put a up a fight?

[dyno101]

Tell me more! Tell me more!
Did you board very far?

Tell me more! Tell me more!
Did you have a bypass?

Tell me more! Tell me more!
Did you put a up a fight?

1. Yes. I boarded a lot, and destroyed a lot. When I had realized I had no actual weapons, I though I was screwed, but I realized I could sacrifice crew.
2. No, but when you kill the crew of ships, you can get a weapon, and RNGesus descended upon me so that a heavy ion is what I fought the flagship with. It tore through the Zoltan shields, 4 ion damage each hit!
3. Very much so. I a yellow amount of health left when the battle finished, pretty good for a first win.

[stylesrj]

1. Yes. I boarded a lot, and destroyed a lot. When I had realized I had no actual weapons, I though I was screwed, but I realized I could sacrifice crew.
2. No, but when you kill the crew of ships, you can get a weapon, and RNGesus descended upon me so that a heavy ion is what I fought the flagship with. It tore through the Zoltan shields, 4 ion damage each hit!
3. Very much so. I a yellow amount of health left when the battle finished, pretty good for a first win.

Nice.
Although you got lucky with the weapon drop. It'd be GG if RNGesus didn't bless you with a gun.
But seriously, how did you go through the entire run without getting a gun for your ship? Did you just rush through each sector or something?

[dyno101]

1. Yes. I boarded a lot, and destroyed a lot. When I had realized I had no actual weapons, I though I was screwed, but I realized I could sacrifice crew.
2. No, but when you kill the crew of ships, you can get a weapon, and RNGesus descended upon me so that a heavy ion is what I fought the flagship with. It tore through the Zoltan shields, 4 ion damage each hit!
3. Very much so. I a yellow amount of health left when the battle finished, pretty good for a first win.

Nice.
Although you got lucky with the weapon drop. It'd be GG if RNGesus didn't bless you with a gun.
But seriously, how did you go through the entire run without getting a gun for your ship? Did you just rush through each sector or something?

Nope! I still explored!
My crew were MURDER MONSTERS. They could kill 4/5 crews without them ever getting a single shot off, so I just used the best benefit of the Crystal B: all that saved scrap to MAX shields, engines, and cloaking!
The boarding crew were amazingly trained, and 3 crystals and a mantis are the unforeseen super-combo. I honestly don't know why they were so good, they just WERE.

[stylesrj]

But you never purchased a gun, any gun that might have helped against automated ships.
Tell me you had a Clone Bay at least, right?

[dyno101]

But you never purchased a gun, any gun that might have helped against automated ships.
Tell me you had a Clone Bay at least, right?

NIIIOOOPE!
I don't remember how I dealt with A.I.'s. I probably just ran. I think I killed a elite that run, so that did come back to bite me.
And yes, the crew I sacrificed to break the final systems to beat a stage of the flagship were gone. Forever. Only 2 of my crew made it to the credits. On the final stage, I sacrificed MY ENTIRE BOARDING TEAM.

[dyno101]

I just won FTL. Again.
With the Zoltan B, Level 2 Cloak (Not always fully powered), 2 Flak 1's and a BLII and a Pike beam (Doesn't get much better in the weapons side of things), and a near 50% evade chance (48% I think), and 3 crewmembers- 2 Human, 1 Zoltan- I beat the rebel flagship on easy AE. Again.
I also unlocked Mantis A. YOY.

[Fireclaw27]

Use Lanius B. You win (nearly) every time. Honestly. Unless its CE. Then less often.

[dyno101]

Use Lanius B. You win (nearly) every time. Honestly. Unless its CE. Then less often.

I understand why people like the Lanius B so much. It's an all rounder that's exceptionally powerful on all ends of the scale - it starts with a Flak weapon, which can tear apart drones eventually (Drones have small rooms, and because of the Flak's projectile spread, it will take some time for enough shots to connect) and Lanius, which don't need to breathe, which makes hacking oxygen a viable and powerful strategy. I'm probably gonna win with it next.
I also just won with the Kestrel B. 3 Flak 1's = Automatic win. I'm winning so commonly on easy now I'm probably gonna hike it up to normal after I win a couple more times.