The Basilisk: Putting the MAN in MANTIS

All your guides, strategy discussions, request for help on how to play go here. Please use [SPOILER] if relevant.
UltraMantis
Posts: 2141
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2012 3:17 pm

Re: The Basilisk: Putting the MAN in MANTIS

Postby UltraMantis » Fri Oct 19, 2012 9:45 am

This post puts a smile on my face.

It puts all those negative posts about the game's difficulty in perspective. Sometimes you get a very very lucky run. Very satisfying, but luck is wasted without some experience and you get plenty of that when you lose. As long as you dont ragequit that is.
Report spam using the handy Report Button Mod.
Createx
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 6:55 pm

Re: The Basilisk: Putting the MAN in MANTIS

Postby Createx » Fri Oct 19, 2012 3:37 pm

I ragequit often enough, but I keep playing. It's random, but oh so rewarding. Next trip will be Mantis B on Normal, we'll see if I can handle the heat :)
Chat with fellow FTLers!
Find us on quakenet in #fasterthanlight, the unofficial channel for FTL.
MANtisB
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:55 am

Re: The Basilisk: Putting the MAN in MANTIS

Postby MANtisB » Sun Oct 21, 2012 8:38 am

Huge props for this guide. Finally managed to get over the hurdle and beat the boss using this ship. It's my favorite, and you've done a wonderful job putting together a complete reference point for handling anything the game throws at you with this ship. Nice work.
Mister Sammy
Posts: 71
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2012 4:50 pm

Re: The Basilisk: Putting the MAN in MANTIS

Postby Mister Sammy » Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:28 pm

UPDATE: A trick to deal with early med-bays, and another note on auto-ships and other places where you don't have the right upgrades.
nimitz98
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:35 pm

Re: The Basilisk: Putting the MAN in MANTIS

Postby nimitz98 » Wed Dec 19, 2012 5:01 am

Bump. This really is a great guide. Funny too! :)
tswaters
Posts: 28
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 7:33 am

Re: The Basilisk: Putting the MAN in MANTIS

Postby tswaters » Fri Dec 21, 2012 2:28 am

Zauron wrote:Any tips on how to deal with a ship with a medbay when you don't have any weapons yet?


This will only work if you have all four boarders... any less and you might be in a world of pain. Wait until there are two enemy crew left then split up your troops -- send two guys one 2-slot room, two to an other. This usually crops up for me on mantis ships for me, so I'll send two to shield room two to engine room (on opposite sides of the ship)

Wait for the enemy crew to fully heal (usually they will be offset by a little bit) -- both will head to one location, in the example above, they always head to the shields. Once the second guy heads out, send your two guys from the engines to the medbay and try to take it down.

Usually you'll have enough time to take down one of the med bays energy -- assuming you're not dealing with a lvl3, you should be able to finish off the fleeing crew members next time they want to heal... or, you completely take down the medbay at which point they will be content to fight to the death in the shield room.

If you're dealing with a lvl3 medbay ... I dunno, I would try the tip below -- but really these don't typically show up in the first few sectors when you may not yet have weapons.

--

When you get into the late game fighting mantises in their massive ship, -- you'll need a single weapon by this point. They have a 4-room medbay -- so send your guys to the shield room (at the very top of the ship) -- you'll have enough time to either take down shields while they are running all the way down to medbay. Once the shields are down, take out the medbay with your weapon.
tswaters
Posts: 28
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 7:33 am

Re: The Basilisk: Putting the MAN in MANTIS

Postby tswaters » Fri Dec 21, 2012 3:26 am

Hey, anyone have any idea how to come back from a hazard is the oxygen room?

It seems to me if you encounter either a breach or fire in the oxygen room in the first sector you are basically SOL.

This happens with bombs a lot, especially in the first sector when you only have two guys -- if you encounter bombs on an enemy ship basically every single one will hit you if you send both over due to 0% evade.

If one hits the oxygen room, I have yet to come back from that ...
Klarth
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2012 11:14 am

Re: The Basilisk: Putting the MAN in MANTIS

Postby Klarth » Fri Dec 21, 2012 10:14 pm

The medbay is close enough to the oxygen room that you can alternate your starting two mantis between both rooms. They will eventually repair it, but make sure you always have at least one mantis in the oxygen room or you will lose all repair progress. Level 2 medbay is required, but that should be one of your first upgrades anyways.
ExtraCheesyPie
Posts: 145
Joined: Fri Nov 23, 2012 4:37 pm

Re: The Basilisk: Putting the MAN in MANTIS

Postby ExtraCheesyPie » Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:28 pm

UltraMantis wrote:Hands down funnest ship to play along with Rock cruiser.

One thing i didn't see you mention is that the Basilisk starts with pretty much no engines and without a pilot is a sitting duck anyway. Lvl2 shields are crap against anything that fires more than 2 shots. Defense Drone MkI can only cope with one target and some sneaky enemies have two launchers...

If you get hit in the teleporter, say goodbye to your guys, they aren't coming back. To secure the ship, get a pilot and upgrade those engines. To stay alive or possibly retreat.

You know what else is fun? Metting Zoltan in s1. Still withot weapons. But in an asteroid field... revenge! :twisted:


Rock Ship?

Fun?

How do you even use that thing? My rocks move like molasses caught in a spider web.
I hate FTL...

But I love it at the same time...
UltraMantis
Posts: 2141
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2012 3:17 pm

Re: The Basilisk: Putting the MAN in MANTIS

Postby UltraMantis » Sat Dec 22, 2012 8:21 pm

Well Rocks are crap defenders when they have to move, but if you use them as boarders usually the enemy will come to you. Fire immunity + 50% extra HP make them good for this. But i don't really like using them as boarders. They are fantastic at manning stations because they rarely have to leave their post under fire. The ship layout is also good since they don't need to move much. Best pilots you will ever have.

The Bulwark won me a game on normal at first attempt. And it pummeled the highscore table scoring over a thousand points more than 2nd place. It rains so much missle death it can even get boring after a while. Maybe the fun factor is a personal issue.

Like every ship there are some downsides. The first 2 sectors are tougher than the rest because you must manage your missiles carefully. Pay close attention to how much damage needs to be done. If you can defeat a ship using only two missiles, don't use three or four. Getting your hands on any other weapon is a must. Don't be affraid to spend a lot of scrap on missiles. Treat them like you would ship upgrades, not as a liability. I used three missile launchers (2 starting + Hull Missile) and allways had to conserve ammo, but allways had ammo to use when needs must. Well after sectors 1 and 2 anyway. It's not allways easy though. Run away if the fight will be too expensive. You cant win everything, just win the game in the end.

Maybe you just had extra bad luck? Zoltan A&B, Stealth A&B and Mantis B can all be stomped after only a handfull of jumps.
Report spam using the handy Report Button Mod.