69 hours, still no wins

General discussion about the game.
Maury Markowitz
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:04 pm

69 hours, still no wins

Postby Maury Markowitz » Mon Nov 18, 2013 4:29 pm

I somehow managed to launch FTL by mistake, fat fingering CS:GO I guess. I played for another couple of games, with the same results. 69 hours in, not one win. I've read the guide and hints, and used a variety of them. No help.

Invariably the one thing I haven't afforded to buy is what kills me. Don't have a crew that can fight? Boarded by waves of ants. In a missile boat? Run out of missiles, none of the stores have any. Etc. Even on easy, I never have enough cash to upgrade the boat to anything remotely effective.

Is this just bad luck, or is there some trick I'm still missing?
Maury Markowitz
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:04 pm

Re: 69 hours, still no wins

Postby Maury Markowitz » Mon Nov 18, 2013 4:37 pm

Just to prove the point… next game (I am truly a glutton for punishment), third jump, four boarders, dead.
UltraMantis
Posts: 2141
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2012 3:17 pm

Re: 69 hours, still no wins

Postby UltraMantis » Mon Nov 18, 2013 9:16 pm

By design you're never really safe because there's not enough scrap to buy everything early. As you keep racking up horrible deaths you should try to better prioritise your upgrades to try and keep one step ahead of danger. Generally speaking dropping first 50 scrap for another shield can help enormously, then i'd invest in engines to beef up evasion, because evasion gives you a chance of completely negating incoming fire and helps shields stay up longer. It also helps against missiles before you get a defense drone, which is another thing you should pickup early. Finally engines give you a chance to run like hell and sometimes you should do just that.

Other very usefull upgrades are either a MedBay or Door, both help you against boarders. Vent the ship of air except for medbay and the intruders will have to go there, and you hold the upper hand then. Doors can be even better as they might allow you to deox a part of your ship and keep intruders there longer, suffocating them before mopping up.

Piloting and oxygen upgrades make the system more resistant to damage, so they're also usefull. Cloaking is just about the worst thing to buy defensivly because it's all about maximising attack and getting a first strike, instead grab a teleporter which allows you a fighting chance against almost any ship even if your weapons are crap.

So there's plenty that you can do with upgrades even if things like weapons and crew are in the hands of the RNG. Bottom line, worry about defense first, collect scrap and hope for a good weapon to fit your strategy. There are no ideal builds, the randomness of the game doesn't allow unbeatable build orders, and that also means that you're never safe, never guaranteed not to be brutalised by a monster random enemy.

Good hunting.
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Dontmindme
Posts: 85
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 9:22 pm

Re: 69 hours, still no wins

Postby Dontmindme » Tue Nov 19, 2013 12:00 am

The big trick is learning to deal with boarders. It doesn't take upgrades, but Doors 2 makes it much easier until you get the hang of it. The short story. Always fight the enemy in the MedBay (remembering to power it up for healing). The trick is to deoxygenate other rooms so the boarders have no where else to go. This is where Doors 2 can help. The enemy will start to suffocate while fighting through door layers making them weaker when finally engaged. Sometimes you might have to temporarily fight them elsewhere to avoid system destruction while waiting for the oxygen to seep out. Remember to run away before dying. Also remember, the enemy cannot heal on your ship, you can run away, heal in the MedBay, and go back to the fight at full health.
UltraMantis
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Re: 69 hours, still no wins

Postby UltraMantis » Tue Nov 19, 2013 2:21 am

or let them wreck a system, move on, then repair once they leave. Works better with boarding drones.
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spongebobsaget
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Re: 69 hours, still no wins

Postby spongebobsaget » Tue Nov 19, 2013 2:37 am

Gotta disagree on the stealth module. I find it immensely helpful! While you are cloaked, they cannot charge their weapons or teleport onto your ship. Sometimes that is all the time you need to shift the battle. If you also have a teleporter, for instance, you can beam your guys into their teleport pads and take the fight to them instead.

It is also invaluable for dodging missile attacks and, well those unnamed "power ups". :mrgreen:
spongebobsaget
Posts: 205
Joined: Sun Nov 10, 2013 8:09 am

Re: 69 hours, still no wins

Postby spongebobsaget » Tue Nov 19, 2013 2:39 am

Also, I know everyone is big on the 5 bars of engines but I dunno, is that extra, what 5-10% dodge chance better than having an extra drone or better weapon? I think I'd rather use those power bars on something else.
The Captain
Posts: 390
Joined: Thu Mar 28, 2013 1:44 am

Re: 69 hours, still no wins

Postby The Captain » Tue Nov 19, 2013 3:24 am

spongebobsaget wrote:Also, I know everyone is big on the 5 bars of engines but I dunno, is that extra, what 5-10% dodge chance better than having an extra drone or better weapon? ...

Probably yes.
... I think I'd rather use those power bars on something else.

Bars as in plural? Are you saying you only get L3 engines???

If you happen to acquire a loadout with sufficient firepower where defense doesn't matter as much, I suppose you can get by with that. But what if you don't? Extra evasion helps vs both lasers & missiles - and if you should be able to afford a cloak, you can get 100% dodge. Also your FTL charges faster, so you can run away faster if you need to. And fewer hits mean less scrap spent on repairs, which means more scrap for upgrades and other purchases.

My opinion is get L5 engines and a better weapon. And max your reactor. :D

If you have a defense drone and an antiship drone, you can juggle power for them. I rarely have two offensive drones, because you can't aim them.
spongebobsaget
Posts: 205
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Re: 69 hours, still no wins

Postby spongebobsaget » Tue Nov 19, 2013 3:44 am

I usually only roll with L3 engines, yeah. But I max out the cloak.. so that affords both a defensive bonus and an offensive bonus (my stuff charges while his doesn't).

If I'm running away from bad guys, the game is probably already beyond salvaging :oops:

I also usually only get 3 shield layers. It's just too damn expensive for that 7th and 8th layer in most games, and again, I need those bars for weapons and drones! 8-)

25 bars:

6 - shields
3 - engines
1 - oxygen
0 - med bay
3 - cloak
8 - weapons
4 - drone

And that's without powering the teleporter.
aaaaaa50
Posts: 260
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:08 pm

Re: 69 hours, still no wins

Postby aaaaaa50 » Tue Nov 19, 2013 4:38 am

Does anyone remember where the probability math for engines is posted? The difference between, say, 20% and 25% evasion really adds up when you consider the sheer volume of fire heading your direction in longer battles and throughout the game. Here's my crappy attempt at an explanation, which might be a little (or entirely) inaccurate since I've never studied probability: Say you have two shields and the enemy has three lasers. The enemy needs to hit you three times in a row to do damage. If your engines are at 15%, then the chance for one shot to hit you is 85%. The chance for the second shot to hit you is also 85%, but that's only if the first shot hits you. The math works out to be 0.85 * 0.85 for two shots to hit you, which is equal to 72.25%. We do this again for the third shot to get ~61.4% chance that every volley of three shots will get through your shields to damage your ship. Now if your engines are at 20% evasion, then the math in this situation works out to be 51.2%. At 25% evasion, we get ~ 42.2%. At 55% evasion, the maximum you can get in the game without using cloaking, there's only ~9.1% chance for three shots in a row to hit your ship. And this scales up: If you have three shields and the enemy has four laser shots, then engines have an even greater impact on your chances to avoid damage.
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