Is it worth buying a Teleporter?

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Lost in space
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Is it worth buying a Teleporter?

Postby Lost in space » Wed Sep 18, 2013 3:59 pm

I have been playing FTL for a couple of days, and unlocked Engi and Rockmen ships. I have been trying to board a lot, but I fail it every time. How can 2 boarders defeat 3-4 men crews? And even if you get someone low he just runs to medbay. Besides, it takes far longer to kill the crew then to destroy the ship.
Madhax
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Re: Is it worth buying a Teleporter?

Postby Madhax » Wed Sep 18, 2013 4:36 pm

Teleporters are extremely powerful, and ships built around teleporter strategies tend to be considered the best ships.

It takes some getting used to, as well as a good boarding crew to make it work, though. Engi are only capable of dealing half combat damage, so they're a terrible choice for a boarding party.

Basic, subjective, general hierarchy of boarding strength:


1. Mantis -- Double damage
2. Rockmen -- Lots of extra health, immunity to fire
3. Slug -- No combat bonuses, but psychic vision if lacking sensors or in a nebula
4. Human -- Nothing special
5. Zoltan -- Only 70 health
6. Engi -- Half damage

It helps to have level 2 Sensors if you want to utilize a teleporter effectively, since it will help you avoid ships with powerful crew. Extensive knowledge of what kinds of crew ships tend to have by their type also helps. The small Slug cruisers with the O2 and Engines in locked-out rooms only ever have two crew members, for example, so if you have two high-powered combatants, you can all but guarantee a victory.

Softening the enemy ship up a bit helps, too. If you can hit their medbay with a bomb or a missile, things become a lot easier. Note that two mantis can out-damage a level 1 medbay against a single enemy, which allows you to kill off enemy crew even with their medbay active.

Boarding strategies risk your crew, but with proper planning and skill, they're a consistent way to win encounters. Also, you gain extra rewards for leaving enemy ships intact, such as large amounts of fuel, consistently higher levels of scrap, occasional weapons/augments, or freed slaves to join your crew.

EDIT: Removed a spoiler, since you've only been playing a couple days. You might see it yourself on these forums, but I won't be the one to give it away.
UltraMantis
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Re: Is it worth buying a Teleporter?

Postby UltraMantis » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:58 pm

Tele is almost OP once you get better at boarding tactics. :)

Airless AI ships, and enemies with MedBays are the only ships that can pose a challenge. In case of a MedBay, treat it like a second Weapons Bay and take it out. If you can't, then maybe you cant win that fight with boarders. As for AI ships, you need a lvl2 Teleporter at least to be able to succesfully board the enemy and beam back before your crew suffocates.

Try investing fully into a boarding run once you have a Teleporter. Upgrade it to lvl3, upgrade your MedBay to lvl3 and spend the rest of your scrap upgrading your own ship defenses. You will only need one weapon capable of knocking out the enemy MedBay and Weapons and the best choice is either a Breach Bomb MkII or Ion Bomb. Of course, you may not have luck getting exactly what you want. :)

Oh, and welcome to the forum. :D
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5thHorseman
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Re: Is it worth buying a Teleporter?

Postby 5thHorseman » Wed Sep 18, 2013 11:38 pm

My favorite tactic is to wait to shoot thier medbay until their guys run to it. Usually you can not only take out the medbay but kill the guys in it to boot.

Your fighters don't get the kill for it but hey, that's the price of being awesome :D
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CFIT
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Re: Is it worth buying a Teleporter?

Postby CFIT » Thu Sep 19, 2013 6:48 am

Honestly, the biggest drawback of the teleporter is that it slows down the game.

I'd echo what was said above, but I'd put the Rockmen in first place as boarders, and the Mantis as second. The reason is that Mantis only do 1.2X damage above normal, while Rockman have 1.5X the health. Boarding battles are pretty straightforward affairs. Plus, Rockman are immune to fire, so if you set fire to a Room, you send the rocks in.
Technically, of course, the best boarders are neither of these.
in my ideal situation, I use Rockmen as boarders and Mantis as the second team, whether to follow on (if necessary) or as a security detail. For defending against boarders, Mantis are the best, because of their high speed. That said, you generally want to use doors and depressurization as a defense.

For teleporting with large crews, beam your team into a two-crew compartment. Don't beam on board any ship with a working medbay. Also, enemy shields are critical. If you damage their shields, the AI will commit someone to fixing them, ignoring your boarders. So that's one guy you don't have to deal with.
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5thHorseman
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Re: Is it worth buying a Teleporter?

Postby 5thHorseman » Thu Sep 19, 2013 7:51 am

CFIT wrote:Honestly, the biggest drawback of the teleporter is that it slows down the game.

I'd echo what was said above, but I'd put the Rockmen in first place as boarders, and the Mantis as second. The reason is that Mantis only do 1.2X damage above normal, while Rockman have 1.5X the health.


Mantises do 1.5x damage. If the Rockman comes into the room, your Mantis will generally get 1 or 2 hits on it before it even starts swinging, and therefore your Mantis will almost always be able to kill a Rockman 1 on 1.
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Iranon
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Re: Is it worth buying a Teleporter?

Postby Iranon » Thu Sep 19, 2013 8:28 am

Yes, Mantis vs. Rock is even in a fair fight.
I prefer Rocks as boarders: Fire immunity and ability to tip the scales against Mantises by firing into the melee are less fiddly than harrassment tactics using Mantises' superior speed, and imo more powerful.

I also take out Medbays only once they're occupied, and frequently board AI ships (don't need lvl 2 teleporters for Rockmen).

*

In general, the desirable thing is to take ships intact by killing the crew - you get better loot. There are other methods, some less obvious at first... but few are as reliable as a teleporter.

Fire is great at killing crew, even more so when you prevent putting it out via Rock boarders.

If a ship is no threat, you can aim for their oxygen system, ion and bomb weapons don't cause hull damage.

Fire and breaches can let the air out of crucial systems, if they don't have a functioning medbay enemy crew won't attempt repairs. Heavy Lasers and standard Hull Laser sometimes allow crew kills by keeping the oxygen system off-limits before you destroy the ship. Hull Laser Mk2 usually does.
Lost in space
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Re: Is it worth buying a Teleporter?

Postby Lost in space » Thu Sep 19, 2013 2:57 pm

Thank you for your responses. As luck would have it, after I wrote my origianl post I started a new game on easy with a Rockmen Ship and in the first sector stumbled upon and bought two Mantis guys and a Teleporter. I tried to board with humans and rockmen before with no success, but it is ridiculously easy to board with Mantis. And after they upgraded even Mantis ships with 3-4 crews were easy. The amount of goodies and crew aquired through boarding was astonishing. Even got a Crystal man somewhere. The only hitch was the loss of one of my Mantis near the end where they got low, enemy had upgraded doors so I couldn't run and the Teleporter was disabled by Ion Thingy.
BKT
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Re: Is it worth buying a Teleporter?

Postby BKT » Thu Sep 19, 2013 3:06 pm

Honestly, the biggest drawback of the teleporter is that it slows down the game.


A skillful use of Telepad, i.e. using it in concert with everything else, made thing a whole lot easier + faster. ;)


I just love shooting the crap out of the enemy crews with any gun available to me— including the Glaive! :twisted:

random vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h24hzSciDtY (an old vid, so I'm still a bit slow at aiming the beam. :oops: )
CFIT
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Re: Is it worth buying a Teleporter?

Postby CFIT » Thu Sep 19, 2013 3:38 pm

Heh. well, your mileage may vary.
Anyway, I stand corrected on the Mantis thing. They're 1.2X movement speed and "double damage", which comes out to about 1.5x. Their high speed makes them better at defense than the .5X Rockmen. Most boarding operations, on the other hand, shouldn't involve much moving around.