Subset Games Forum

So i have played about 20 rounds on easy and still have yet to beat the flagship. Played the zoltan type b a few hours ago and was amazed at my luck free weapons and crew here and there free scrap too. I even got screwed up in one moment and got greedy going for a store with excess scrap and got caught by the fleet but ended up whooping there butt at sector 4 (i thought that was pretty good anyway) On to sector 5 i ended up taking an escort quest when i got to the quest they made it known that only the crew were to be killed not the ship i knew it would be tough but i thought i could manage. But it seemed there crew would magically come back and forth with there health replenished magically seeing as they had no medbay.. not sure how that works. Maybe killing a few. Long story short i lost my mantis crew. The ship had 1 bar left but i stopped firing at that point and kept sending my mantis. Than sploosh the ship just blew up for no apparent reason i was baffled. Then at that point it went downhill quickly i tryed to get one more fight in before leaving the sector to make up for it. And i faced a ship harder than ive ever faced 4 mantis intruders barge in while getting whopped by double missiles and drones i thought i might be able survive long enough to transport than bam two more mantis dicks say hello moving like ants through my systems... just feel like ive got the worst luck this was easy mode and ive never gone agaisnt something like that even in sector 8. I really felt like i was going to beat it this time lvl 2 shields 4 good weapons drone,transporter, and a full crew with two sectors to go..really feeling like ill never have that kinda luck again drives me nuts but i keep playing. Damn you FTL!!! i hate and love you.

I have solid success with Zoltan B by never upgrading the shield before sector 4-5. Focus on your engines first, your weapons are good enough for quick kills and the Zoltan Shield will protect you from any shots you can't dodge. As long as you can avoid a ship with, say, two beam weapons, you should do fine. This will save a lot on scrap, too, since shields cost so much to improve.

Zoltan B also really makes use of the autofire option, considering how quickly the ion blasts recharge. Try starting the fight by setting both ion blasts to auto-fire at their weapon systems, and once their shields are down swap one over to their shield system. This will let you keep both their weapons and shields moderately suppressed, allowing you to slice them up with the pike beam.

Also, /hug.

Okay, advice for Zoltan B.

1. Get Automated Re-loader if you can. You will see why in a sec. (Remember, these stack, so two is GREAT!)

2. Try and get another beam weapon.

3. Have someone manning the weapons

3. If you can (not needed) get level 3 sensors.

Okay, here is why. So, each fight you are gonna want to have your beam weapon(s) in your 1st one or two slots, and your ion weapons in the back slots. Then, turn on auto fire. Next, fire your 1st ion weapon. Aim for the shields. As soon as it hits, fire your next one at the shields. If you were exact enough, it will slowly but surely take down their shields. Then, hit their (Priority 1) Engines, (Priority 2) Weapons, and (Priority 3) Drone System. If any specific system is threatening you, like Weapons, make it priority one. Okay, so their engines are down, and your aren't mission' the shields. Look at their power on your level 3 sensors, and if the number on the circle is TWICE the number of mini little powers to their shields, you can aim your ions at other things. The Re-loaders increase the room for error with your shots, same with guy on weapons. The other beam allows for double damage. Using this layout I got the "Slice and Dice" achievement with Pike and Halberd on one of the shieldless auto-ships.

Personal Story with Zoltan B: (viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5478)

@Above I'd put pilots deck as priority one, as it cant have more than 3 health, and usually only has one, and will have the same effect as destroying the engines.

Yes, but that also means it is repaired more quickly!

Sharpieman20 wrote:Yes, but that also means it is repaired more quickly!

trust me, when a ship has 3 sheilds and a high evade your gonna struggle to get any more than 1 or 2 lasers through. You need that time of no evade to deploy other weapons