5thHorseman wrote:My ideal loadout is 4 Burst Laser 2's, but I've never gotten it. The best I've ever had is 3 BL2s and a BL1, which was essentially as good. I also had a Weapon Preigniter and every battle went the same. Take down the weapons before they can do anything. Take down the shields before they can fix the weapons, and take down the ship (assuming they weren't dead in the second volley) before 30 seconds has gone by.
Bonus: The same thing works for the Flagship. If you have a cloak you can defeat all 3 phases without taking any damage (though the third phase you can get hit with the second missile volley).
I got a bit closer :p And yes it worked as you described... took 0,0,7 damage because I didn't have cloak up for the super laser burst and the 2nd missile burst, as I cloaked for the first missile barrage. Better maybe? Since a damaged system early could suck.
Sorry for cropping, open in new tab I guess...
Along with an artillery level 4, that was a 'lot' of weapon firepower. 12 of 26 energy dedicated to it.
Obviously the best build is 4 Flak I's and literally ANYTHING ELSE. Or alternatively two Advanced Flaks and two Flak II's. The former would launch 12 Flak Projectiles every 10 seconds, the latter would launch 20 staggered between 8 seconds and 21 seconds. All things considered, you could probably knock out the Flagship with a Stealth Cruiser with Level I Cloak, no Shields, no Drones, Hacking or Mind Control, and no Teleport. Flak is just so wonderful.
If only they weren't so rare. I mean seriously, it's just slinging useless pieces of metal at enemy ships, it's not like this is experimental technology or anything.
Obviously the best build is 4 Flak I's and literally ANYTHING ELSE.
I have actually experimented with this with the following setups
3x BL2 + 1x Flak 1
2x BL2 + 2x Flak 1
4x Flak 1
2x Flak 2 + 1x Flak 1
2x Flak 2 + 1x BL2
Of all of those, I would say 2xBL2 and 2xFLK1 was probably the best, except for when I had a pre-ignitor, in which case the 2xFLK2 1xBL2 was the best. Flak's great for dropping shields and spraying things around, but it can be frustratingly terrible at disabling systems due to the spray. Some days you're just rolling in lasers or piles of flak
Best loadout I've ever had was 2 BL2 and a Flak2 along with weapon pre-igniter. The flak takes don the shields, maybe even get some damage in and the 6 lasers shot just wreck anything they are aimed at. I also had 2 hermes missiles and a hull missile in the cargo which I used on the flagship and it's just as fun as you'd imagine XD.
"The heavens burned
The stars cried out
And under the ashes of infinity
Hope, scarred and bleeding breathed it's last."
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Running 2 Anti-Bio Beams in the Man-o-War with various support weapons to take down shields/clonebays (culminating in a Flak II+Dual Lasers) was pretty fun. Didn't hurt that I was gifted a BL III for the boss and a Pre-Igniter along the way.
Honestly, 2 X Burst Mk II + Glaive Beam is the kind of wet dream you're not likely to achieve in 1 run out of 10, so lets talk about some more achievable, and amusing, loadouts.
My favorite fun loadout consists of 1-2 ion weapons and a fire beam, coupled with rock boarders. Even simpler, a fire bomb + rock boarders is the most hilarious way to OP every enemy ship into submission. Even AI ships are no problem, because rock boarders have such high health they can survive the airless environment long enough to wreak havoc.
I have to give a big shout-out to Adv. Flak 1 + Pike Beam. Flak is easily the most overpowered of the AE weapons, and coupling it with a pike beam lets you rip apart ships all the way through sector 5-6 with a mere 3 power investment(or 4 for regular Flak I). Of course, a stronger beam and/or more weapons makes it that much more devastating.
One of my all-time favorite loadouts is Ion Burst II + Anything(preferably a beam). It's especially fun if you get a couple Auto-Reloaders going for insane shield shredding.
