Question about ion weapon + a trick I found.

[Ourosboros]

Just something I found out. Probably common knowledge but...

With ion weapons you can weave them. Put on autoattack but manually retarget between each shot.

Fire each shot on alternate system like:

weapon system
Shield system
weapon system
shield system

This way you will take like zero damage. They might get in one missile/shot per battle if lucky. Its important to have autoattack on, or else the one second you might miss will cause them to fire. This is crucial because with engi attack drone for example you only get to do your "massive" 1 damage per round in the start IF the shield is down. Also note that wait until AFTER the first shot is fired before retargeting, or the game will (for some reason) cancel autoattack.


I like engine opposed to kestrel because the kestrel is much more open to attacks early. Sure the kestrel can dish out more damage. But slower combat in the start (and more micromanagment through weaving for fun factor!) means more scrap = more upgrades in trade.

ANYWAY, to my question about Ion weapons. Im not sure if they stack. If a ship has 3 shields and I fire 2 ion cannons on the same target - will they lower it by 2 instead of 1?

Im thinking that if they stack, a cheap and effective way to kill enemies would be duo Ion + drones. If you weave like this:

Shield (1)
Weapon (2)

Shield (1)
Shield (2)

Shield(1)
Weapon(2)

Shield(1)
Shield(2)

etc.

This to negate 2 shields and weapons for 100% uptime. Also if you have the first blow augment Im guessing you can do:

Teleport+Shield rotation? Or does the AI teleport instantly always?

Anti FTL drive:

Shield
FTL

Shield
weapon

Shield
FTL

Shield
Weapon

Or if too much shields:

Shield
FTL

Shield
Shield

Shield
FTL

Shield
Shield

etc.

Curious to know more about ion wepons would love some counters. And sorry if I just thought I invented the wheel, I just started playing FTL.

[cicobuff]

The ion damage will take away 1 shield bubble for every 2 ion damage caused.

The shields will recover from ion "stun" (at about the same rate as your own would) in around 10 seconds I think. If you manage to damage the shield before it recovers, the shield will take another damage and start the recovery cycle (while in recovery from ion stun, the shields bubbles that have been removed will not get replaced).

So if you have 2 ion blast (8 seconds) that causes 1 damage and alternate them to hit the enemy (fire 1st one, then fire another when 1st is 1/2 reloaded at 4 seconds) you can keep hitting the shield before they recover from the ion "stun" duration, any number of shields can be removed, even a 4 bubble shield as long as you dont miss 2 in a row.

Which is why the ion blast 2 is so powerful (costing 3 bars to power) because a firing rate of 1 shot every 4 seconds will remove a fully charged 4 bubble shield in 16 hits (much much earlier if you have other weapons in conjunction), and keep the shield from being raised again.

[Ourosboros]

wow! Really?

Ive been rerolling SO, SO MUCH when entering sector 4+ because I thought if my weapon damage + ion didnt exeed their shields I could never kill the enemy.

Example:

Drone: 1 damage
barrage: 2 damage
ion: 1 damage (I always counted this for 1 shield damage)

Meaning if the enemy has 3 shields I would spend too long destroying their shields.

So if I understand you correct, in a prolonged battle if (for the sake of example) my ship was invulnerable. And the enemy had 500 shield. My ONE SINGLE ion cannon would eventually take the shield down to 0 if I never missed?

[UltraMantis]

One single Ion would not neccesarily recharge in time to strip a shield all by itself. Ion Blast 2 and Heavy Ion are more effective.

To see just how the ions stack, be sure to buy level 3 scanners. You get all the info on enemy systems, including repair progress and ion-status.

[Ourosboros]

Ok ty

One question though.

If i use 2x Ion II guns (6 wpn power needed), about how many shield bars can I take down if you were to take a guess?

[Teoes]

If you had two Ion Blast 2s, you'd be able to strip away exactly the same number of shields as a with a single Ion Blast 2 - that is any number, but you'd be able to do it twice as fast; assuming an acceptable hit-rate.

Things to note with that thought though are: Ion Blast 2 is not a particularly common weapon I've found, so you really can't rely on getting two of them; and that only leaves you 2 weapon power at fully-upgraded weapons, which isn't a whole lot of options for finishing your enemy off once their shields are ripped away. Probably better to stick to one Ion Blast 2 and support it with other weapons that actually cause damage.

[BKT]

@ Ourosboros

I usually just auto'd at weapon in the early sector— it will die eventually... But sometime I need to switch to shield to fix the timing. I got the 'go to sector 5 without fixing the hull' achievement this way.

Your tactic does work well early on. At later sector, though, it become increasingly difficult and tiresome tactic to pull off with only 1 Ion blast MK2 due to higher evades and shields (this depend on how much reloader you have); it can still be done, but IMO it's not really worth the effort by that point— I preferred to just auto'd the Ion on shield and use laser or beam to cripple other system (cockpit and/or weapon, usually) instead.

And here's what # Ion damage actually does to any system it hit :

- Remove # powers from that system (not including the one from zoltan)— This is different from a normal dmg, which damaging the 'slots' and not on the 'powers' directly

- Add # "Ion effect" to that system ... This basically locked down the affect system, i.e. cannot add/remove power to that system using normal means and will not get any crew bonus— system icon now become a blue countdown ring, each last for 5 seconds, and a number on it which represent the current Ion effect this system has (maxed out at 5); that is, how many ring it has to countdown before the system is unlock.

Because Ion effect can be stacked, this allow you to completely disable any system as long you can add more Ion dmg to that system before the timer ran out— with 2 reloader and maxed weapon skill and provided that you don't miss any shot, you can even use the Ion blast MK1 to disable 4 shields!


meh.. ninja'd by lots of people

[Ourosboros]

If you had two Ion Blast 2s, you'd be able to strip away exactly the same number of shields as a with a single Ion Blast 2 - that is any number, but you'd be able to do it twice as fast; assuming an acceptable hit-rate.

Things to note with that thought though are: Ion Blast 2 is not a particularly common weapon I've found, so you really can't rely on getting two of them; and that only leaves you 2 weapon power at fully-upgraded weapons, which isn't a whole lot of options for finishing your enemy off once their shields are ripped away. Probably better to stick to one Ion Blast 2 and support it with other weapons that actually cause damage.

I see your point. But my plan is to use drones. I love using drones so I want 3xship drone to do my damage and 2x ion to remove shield.

So Ion doesent stack afterall? Not sure if I misunderstood something, but if the enemy has 3 shields, 2 ions can only ever remove 2 total shield?

Im playing engi A trying to unlock more ships. Survival isnt a problem but shield penetration is. Once I encounter ships with 3+ shields the game is almost always over for me :/ Lets say I have 1 ion, 1 attack drone and 1x2shotting laser. That means I will only be able to do max one damage per round. Hitting 3 shield ships is hell because the fight lasts like... 5 minutes or more.

[Ourosboros]

@ Ourosboros

Because Ion effect can be stacked, this allow you to completely disable any system as long you can add more Ion dmg to that system before the timer ran out— with 2 reloader and maxed weapon skill and provided that you don't miss any shot, you can even use the Ion blast MK1 to disable 4 shields!


meh.. ninja'd by lots of people

You are positive? :O im so confused right now lol. Anyway thanks for the advice guys. I tried FTL for the heck of it and thought "What the hell is this shit?" suddenly 3 days has passed and my friends will soon have to cut down the branches that has grown on my door with a machette to get me out of my chair Dying has never been so fun but after 25 hours played ingame Im getting a little frustrated. As my number 1 and 2 causes of defeat is boarding parties and enemy ships having to many shields. Even blast door 3 cant help when 5 mantis teleport to my ship and chops my 3 engi crew into juice.

[UltraMantis]

1 Ion Blast II could beat down 4 shields if it wasn't so innacurate. 2 will pwn any shield. And fast too.