Ship Tier List [SPOILERS]

[Nevill]

Starting weaponry sufficient to beat the boss.

I am hearing this about Engi A a lot, but how exactly do you bypass Tier 4 shields when a Cloacking system is active?

[Twinge]

I am hearing this about Engi A a lot, but how exactly do you bypass Tier 4 shields when a Cloacking system is active?

It's rough, but possible. The key is to wait for your Ion to charge first, and then only fire it off after the 2nd cloak - this lets you get in a total of 7 shots in 19.44 seconds (35s of ion damage). After the 10s cloak, you'll be able to then land another ion shot in time, keeping the shields locked down.

Mind you, this is very unlikely and might take some time - I believe the 7th shot will have to land while they're cloaked, making the overall odds of landing all 7 shots in a row only 1.18% (assuming fully leveled enemy crew; 3.08% with Level 1 crew). However, this is enough to still get there eventually, especially considering how easily you can neuter Phase 1's offensive capabilities. Your Anti-Ship could also theoretically land a double-shot through 1 shield bubble.

For more practical purposes, you want *something* else, but you don't need much - could be any laser, more ion, a Reloader, etc.

[itg]

Just got back into this game after a few months' hiatus. I'm on an 8-game win streak with some of the best and worst ships, so I got to thinking about the tier list again. Maybe I'll come back an update this once I finish replaying all 18, but here's my tier list for now:


S Tier:
Carnelian*

A Tier:
Basilisk*
Red-Tail*
Torus*
Shivan
Bravais

B Tier:
Man of War*
Noether
Kestrel
Gila Monster

C Tier:
Nesasio
Osprey*
Adjudicator*
Nisos
Bulwark

D Tier:
Vortex*
DA-SR 12*
Stormwalker*

*I've played these ships recently

S Tier:
Carnelian:
It's not like this needs much explanation. Board, lockdown, lockdown, repeat. Even if you have to run from auto scouts and Zoltans for a while, this ship is so good it's almost boring to play.

A Tier
Basilisk
The 4-man teleporter is very, very strong, as is starting with level 2 shields and defense drones. Unlike the Carnelian, though, this ship needs a few more crew members and a way to deal with medbays. I almost lost when I last played this one, thanks to The Little Defense Drone that Couldn't, which I suppose is really the fault of the large size of this ship. It's still excellent, but not quite on the level of the Carnelian.
Red-Tail
This ship dominates the first 3 sectors, and a strong start makes for a strong finish. It's quite possibly the most luck-resistant ship, in part because it can take a hit to the weapons bay without losing all the lasers.
Torus
Great layout, great starting value, an endgame-quality weapon and drone. The only problem is that the ion+drone combo can take a while to knock out weapons once you start seeing 2-shield enemies (or if you get too many misses on 1-shield enemies), so you can get pretty roughed up if you don't find a supplemental weapon.
Shivan
I got my personal high score with this ship. Rock+fire boarding is excellent, but you do have to find that teleporter or a good weapon before the 2-shield enemies start showing up.
Bravais
It's been a while since I've played this one, but it makes an excellent boarding ship thanks to crystal crew, and the weapons will get you through early shields, even if they're a little slow.

B Tier
Man of War
This ship is a personal favorite of mine. Starting crew sucks, but the anti-bio beam gets you all the rewards of a boarding ship without the typical early-game problems with auto-scouts and Zoltans. Dual lasers are fine early and great later on, and the breach bomb I is perfect for dealing with medbays. It takes a little while to get those crew kills with the anti-bio beam, so you usually end up eating some missiles, and you'll want another weapon for shield penetration, but the bonus scrap will help a lot.
Noether
It's been a while since I've played this one, so I might have to re-evaluate later. It's got great starting weapons, and the Zoltan shield is amazing, but as I recall, you can get screwed by some 1st sector encounters--asteroid fields and beam drones are not your friends. Fortunately, shields are just an upgrade for this ship, not a whole new system, as for the Stealth ships
Kestrel
Right in the middle, with good starting weapons, a mediocre crew, and no particular weaknesses. Not too much to say about it, since it's the standard by which the other ships are judged.
Gila Monster
Mantis boarding is always fun, but unlike some other boarding ships, this ship doesn't board much better than average--it merely boards sooner, and your weapons suck as compensation.

C Tier
Nesasio
I like this ship, but it's been so long since I've played it that I'm not sure if I'm ranking it well. The starting weapons are great at first, but you've got to upgrade before level 3 shields start showing up. There are some nasty matchups early on, but thanks to the long-range scanners, you can avoid a lot of mandatory fights, then pick and choose out of the optional ones.
Osprey
I know that tons of other people rank this ship highly, but I just don't see it. I feel like this ship is at odds with itself in too many ways. It's got a great starting crew, but if you use it for boarding, your artillery beam is near useless. The artillery beam incentivizes a defensive build, but this ship has the worst longterm defensive potential in the game, thanks to the lack of cloaking and enormous size (which makes defense drone missing way too often). The artillery beam is useless until you can afford to upgrade it, but by the time you can afford it, you've already gotten better weapons, so you don't really need it (although it's still nice to have, don't get me wrong). Generally, I'd consider the artillery beam a net loss vs. cloaking.
Adjudicator
On the plus side, you get the Zoltan shield and a halberd beam, a great late-game weapon. On the down side, you have to rely on Zoltan power early on, the halberd beam is slow, so you're screwed if the enemy gets a shot into the weapons bay, and you really need to find a supplemental weapon before the 2-shield enemies show up, because that crappy little Leto isn't going to cut it for long.
Nisos
It's a worse version of the Osprey, and there's not much else to say about it.
Bulwark
A pure missile ship just isn't sustainable, so you pretty much start the game in a race against your missile stockpile to find something better. Fortunately, you've got Rockmen to board with if you can find a teleporter, and missiles support the boarding strategy well.

D Tier:
Vortex
As cool as it sounds to play the lone Engi with the robot crew, it doesn't work. On top of that, your weapons are crap. Fortunately, those robots are worth a fair bit of scrap, so you can sometimes buy your way out of the hole you started in. Crew-gaining events are pretty common, so with a little luck you can turn it into an okay ship without too much trouble.
DA-SR 12
This ship has some very bad matchups, especially ships with beam drones, but you can survive these fights if you just eat all the hits that aren't aimed at weapons or cloaking before you do your cloak->glaive combo. This ship is likely to see some tough times early on, and again if you can't find an extra weapon for when you start seeing upgraded shields, but it's better than many people seem to think.
Stormwalker
A boarding ship with none of the things a boarding ship needs, except the teleporter. The heal-bomb boarding strategy might be fun if your primary weapon didn't also use missiles, but as it is, if you run out, you can neither board nor fight ship-to-ship. If you can't find a medbay in the shops soon (or a good weapon so you can drop this boarding nonsense and become a gunship), you could easily find yourself dead in the water. Now that I think of it, this ship pretty much a worse version of the Bulwark. I've had some negative experiences with the Stormwalker--even my wins with it were unpleasant struggles--so I'll admit they might be influencing my judgment here.

[William Sstrider]

I can agree with this. Though strangely the only ship I have been able to win in was the Vortex. It sucks in most things, but the sheer number of blue options it unlocks gave me hundreds of scrap and a decent crew before sector three. By sector five, after using the scrap I got to majorly upgrade my load out, I was nigh untouchable.

[Ora_unit_SR388]

OBJECTION! I find the content, um, objectionable. My first win was with the vortex, and I have learned how to easily trump the flagship with it. In fact it is completely destructive early game, and if played right, you can be leagues ahead of the enemy in a few sectors. It just looks like a daunting task, you just have to figure how to get past the idea that the vortex sucks.

[itg]

OBJECTION! I find the content, um, objectionable. My first win was with the vortex, and I have learned how to easily trump the flagship with it. In fact it is completely destructive early game, and if played right, you can be leagues ahead of the enemy in a few sectors. It just looks like a daunting task, you just have to figure how to get past the idea that the vortex sucks.

I've actually got a pretty good record with the vortex, though not an extensive one. I've only played it once since I got back into the game, and I won, scoring over 5,000. Other than that, I know I won with it once a few months ago, and I know I lost at least once. I see two losses along with the 2 wins on the stat sheet, but the lowest score is so low it looks like I probably restarted or abandoned that game. So call that 1.5 losses.

The Vortex isn't as bad as many people have made it out to be, but it does have a lot of problems which other ships don't. To name a few:

--You have two weapons, and BOTH need to hit to do any damage. The heavy ion is pretty slow, so it really hurts if it misses.
--There is NO way to pierce level 2 shields with your starting weapons. Literally no other ship has this problem.
--Thanks to having only one crewman, your dodging ability sucks, your weapons are slower, and crew-risking events become game-risking events. If you don't know all the game events, that could make for a really frustrating and/or amusing loss, depending on your temperament. I think I actually lost my first game with the Vortex this way--I remember getting a laugh out of it.

Your major advantage with the Vortex is that you have a ton of starting equipment to sell, so you can definitely afford to fill your holes if you can find the stuff you need.

All in all, I could actually see bumping the Vortex up to C tier, but I wouldn't change its relative ranking--that is, I still think it's the third worst ship.

I have to say, though, I'm surprised to hear of two different people who prefer the Vortex to the Torus. I would love to hear what you think of the Torus in a head-to-head comparison with its counterpart.

[spacecadet13]

I used to love the Vortex, but now, yeah, it's definately in the bottom tier. Law of averages/regression to the mean I guess, I now find it one of the hardest ships to win with. And as for comparison with the Torus? Not.Even.Close. Torus is better in every way that matters; one of the best weapons in the game, extra engine bar, extra crew and the Engi Medibot augment, which is much more useful than the Drone Reactor - even if you are selling it ASAP.

The Vortex's two big drawbacks - weak starting weapons and one crew - get found out real quick on Normal, unless you get some luck and grab a third weapon (or better weapon) and one or two crew from events early, it's struggle city as you start meeting ships you can't touch (two shields) and you ain't dodging much or jumping away fast with that weak and unmanned engine, so when you do get to stores you have to balance what you want with a (usually) fairly pressing need for repairs. That said, I enjoy the challenge of it, and victories are more satisfying than say with the Basilisk or Carnelian - or even the Torus!

[Twinge]

OBJECTION! I find the content, um, objectionable. My first win was with the vortex, and I have learned how to easily trump the flagship with it. In fact it is completely destructive early game, and if played right, you can be leagues ahead of the enemy in a few sectors. It just looks like a daunting task, you just have to figure how to get past the idea that the vortex sucks.

'My first win was with the Vortex' is not actually a relevant argument for it not sucking, despite how many times people say it =)

itg covered the major drawbacks already - a lone crewman and the inability to pierce tier 2 shields are massive drawbacks, neither of which are found on any other ship. It's also worth noting that it has a pathetic Level 1 Engine, no sensors, and a bad ship layout to boot.

The *only* thing it has to make up for all these deficits is the free 85 scrap it starts with. Sure, this is nice - and maybe even lets you buy something so you're almost as good as another ship when it begins the game!


Any ship is perfectly winnable the vast majority of the time with good enough play, and The Vortex is no exception - but it is an awful ship and definitely one of the worst 2 ships in the game. (Stealth B I rank lower because it is slightly more luck-heavy in terms of being able to win.)

[engi]

OBJECTION! I find the content, um, objectionable. My first win was with the vortex, and I have learned how to easily trump the flagship with it. In fact it is completely destructive early game, and if played right, you can be leagues ahead of the enemy in a few sectors. It just looks like a daunting task, you just have to figure how to get past the idea that the vortex sucks.

'My first win was with the Vortex' is not actually a relevant argument for it not sucking, despite how many times people say it =)

itg covered the major drawbacks already - a lone crewman and the inability to pierce tier 2 shields are massive drawbacks, neither of which are found on any other ship. It's also worth noting that it has a pathetic Level 1 Engine, no sensors, and a bad ship layout to boot.

The *only* thing it has to make up for all these deficits is the free 85 scrap it starts with. Sure, this is nice - and maybe even lets you buy something so you're almost as good as another ship when it begins the game!


Any ship is perfectly winnable the vast majority of the time with good enough play, and The Vortex is no exception - but it is an awful ship and definitely one of the worst 2 ships in the game. (Stealth B I rank lower because it is slightly more luck-heavy in terms of being able to win.)

So the if I won whith it first what's your resin? Hmm?

[itg]

OBJECTION! I find the content, um, objectionable. My first win was with the vortex, and I have learned how to easily trump the flagship with it. In fact it is completely destructive early game, and if played right, you can be leagues ahead of the enemy in a few sectors. It just looks like a daunting task, you just have to figure how to get past the idea that the vortex sucks.

'My first win was with the Vortex' is not actually a relevant argument for it not sucking, despite how many times people say it =)

itg covered the major drawbacks already - a lone crewman and the inability to pierce tier 2 shields are massive drawbacks, neither of which are found on any other ship. It's also worth noting that it has a pathetic Level 1 Engine, no sensors, and a bad ship layout to boot.

The *only* thing it has to make up for all these deficits is the free 85 scrap it starts with. Sure, this is nice - and maybe even lets you buy something so you're almost as good as another ship when it begins the game!


Any ship is perfectly winnable the vast majority of the time with good enough play, and The Vortex is no exception - but it is an awful ship and definitely one of the worst 2 ships in the game. (Stealth B I rank lower because it is slightly more luck-heavy in terms of being able to win.)

So the if I won whith it first what's your resin? Hmm?

I don't mean to be a grammar Nazi here, but I literally cannot understand what you are trying to say.