Mantis Cruiser A makes me want to hurt myself.

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Mataza
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2012 7:07 am

Mantis Cruiser A makes me want to hurt myself.

Postby Mataza » Wed Dec 12, 2012 3:02 am

I feel like I do something wrong. I´m less than successful with it.
Played multiple boarder games before, I usually start boarding as soon as I can afford a teleporter without dying and yet I fail disastrously with the Mantis A.

Feels like very bad luck though, as i not once have gotten a decent weapon with this ship ever. Not as a drop and not in shops.
What I got: Fire bomb, Breach Bomb MkII, Ion Bomb, Fire Beam, Hull Beam, Pegasus Missile in Sector 1(way before I can power them.) or of course no weapon at all.
What I could have bought in the few shops that actually had weapons opposed to systems and drones:
Ion Bomb, Breach Missilie, Hull Missile, Hermes Missile, Heavy Ion, Ion Blast(Max 1 Ion weapon per game), Hull Laser 2, Heavy Laser 2(again way before I had the resources to actually use it).

I got one game 3 AI ships in a row, luckily I could avoid one. I always take damage against rockets, as boarding doesn´t allow to shut down the weapons system except with the bomb. I more than once chose to flee from an AI ship as it wasn´t worth the effort.
Zoltan ships weren´t really a problem as the crew is usually small and weak after the shields are down.
I usually opt for lvl 2 shields kinda fast and upgrade weapons as soon as I get *any* weapon. Afterwards I upgrade teleporter to attack AI ships.
I don´t man anything besides cockpit and possibly engine, since I board with everything that´s not an Engi or Zoltan. One game I also got up to 3 Engis and my Mantises to AI ships that rocketed my teleporter/cloaked when I wanted to teleport them back.
So far, this ship has been a lesson in frustration for me. I never noticed how many AI ships I encounter.

Tell me what I could have done better? Can you somehow avoid AI ships?


Or alternately, tell the story of your most frustrating ships.
headhunter99
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2012 11:21 pm

Re: Mantis Cruiser A makes me want to hurt myself.

Postby headhunter99 » Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:04 am

Try to upgrade you engines to increase you FTL drive's speed up and get the FTL Drive augment so you can retreat quickly
Mataza
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2012 7:07 am

Re: Mantis Cruiser A makes me want to hurt myself.

Postby Mataza » Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:22 am

Ironically just after writing this I managed to get a Burst Laser Mark 2 early. Needless to say it went swimmingly.

Incredible, how bad 1 basic laser as starting weapon is. I shiver in fear just thinking about Mantis B, which I could unlock with the power of the BL 2.
UltraMantis
Posts: 2141
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2012 3:17 pm

Re: Mantis Cruiser A makes me want to hurt myself.

Postby UltraMantis » Wed Dec 12, 2012 6:09 am

Mataza wrote:Incredible, how bad 1 basic laser as starting weapon is. I shiver in fear just thinking about Mantis B, which I could unlock with the power of the BL 2.

It will be the emenies who shiver in fear. The Mantis B doesn't even need weapons. In fact...
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Mataza
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2012 7:07 am

Re: Mantis Cruiser A makes me want to hurt myself.

Postby Mataza » Wed Dec 12, 2012 8:11 am

UltraMantis wrote:
Mataza wrote:Incredible, how bad 1 basic laser as starting weapon is. I shiver in fear just thinking about Mantis B, which I could unlock with the power of the BL 2.

It will be the emenies who shiver in fear. The Mantis B doesn't even need weapons. In fact...

I know how strong boarding is.
It just doesn´t help that much against several autoscouts in a row. Drones and rockets really put a lot of pressure on ending the fight quickly.
Though it was just not good enough luck that I had prior to my success.
I can´t stress enough how weapon starved I usually was. I once made it to Sector 5 with a single weapon drop and just able buy an ion bomb(or a fire bomb, which I didn´t buy).

Anyway I´m fine now and I will come back for Mantis B. 4 space teleporter. That thing must be amazing.
afedyuki
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:22 pm

Re: Mantis Cruiser A makes me want to hurt myself.

Postby afedyuki » Wed Dec 12, 2012 8:00 pm

Mataza wrote:I know how strong boarding is.
It just doesn´t help that much against several autoscouts in a row. Drones and rockets really put a lot of pressure on ending the fight quickly.
Though it was just not good enough luck that I had prior to my success.
I can´t stress enough how weapon starved I usually was. I once made it to Sector 5 with a single weapon drop and just able buy an ion bomb(or a fire bomb, which I didn´t buy).

Anyway I´m fine now and I will come back for Mantis B. 4 space teleporter. That thing must be amazing.


It's simply risk to reward. If you are facing an opponent that you are ill equipped to fight (and would thus result in large repair bill), you should just flee. This means that it's a good idea to have upgraded engines and piloting if you have a highly specialized ship like this one (or Stealth Cruiser).
Mataza
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2012 7:07 am

Re: Mantis Cruiser A makes me want to hurt myself.

Postby Mataza » Sat Dec 15, 2012 12:44 am

afedyuki wrote:
Mataza wrote:I know how strong boarding is.
It just doesn´t help that much against several autoscouts in a row. Drones and rockets really put a lot of pressure on ending the fight quickly.
Though it was just not good enough luck that I had prior to my success.
I can´t stress enough how weapon starved I usually was. I once made it to Sector 5 with a single weapon drop and just able buy an ion bomb(or a fire bomb, which I didn´t buy).

Anyway I´m fine now and I will come back for Mantis B. 4 space teleporter. That thing must be amazing.


It's simply risk to reward. If you are facing an opponent that you are ill equipped to fight (and would thus result in large repair bill), you should just flee. This means that it's a good idea to have upgraded engines and piloting if you have a highly specialized ship like this one (or Stealth Cruiser).

Fleeing often reduces your scrap per jump. It´s not really enough to just survive until Sector 7. You have to increase in power to take on ships of the next sector and ultimately the boss.
Bad luck is getting 3 ships you can´t fight in a row, equipped with rockets you can´t evade before you´re able to flee.
afedyuki
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:22 pm

Re: Mantis Cruiser A makes me want to hurt myself.

Postby afedyuki » Mon Dec 17, 2012 2:17 am

Mataza wrote:Fleeing often reduces your scrap per jump. It´s not really enough to just survive until Sector 7. You have to increase in power to take on ships of the next sector and ultimately the boss.
Bad luck is getting 3 ships you can´t fight in a row, equipped with rockets you can´t evade before you´re able to flee.


Yes, but making extra scrap from encounters where you can take advantage of your special abilities (efficient boarding set up in this case) should more than compensate for it.