Way too easy

[shadowcrust]

I don't know what's not to like with the Zoltan ships!

Tried my luck with the Basilisk - it was harder than it looks like.



Most ships, starting with sector 1, came with level 2 medbay or clone bay, and the very last ship in sector 4 was the first, I kid you not, with a missile launcher. Useless defense drone. Enemy ships made up the lack of missiles with lots of lasers and beams, many times sporting my favorite combination of Burst Laser Mk II with Heavy Laser. Enemy lasers very fondly targetted my doors and set them aflame, fire spreading to oxygen, close calls. My hull was constantly whittled down, I spent enormous amounts of scrap on repair. Got a weapon called Kirkner in sector 1, and a Charge Laser. Got two more Mantis till sector 4 (failed to find the Zoltan quest again in the Zoltan Home World) and even a Burst Laser Mk II! Together with a purchased Hull Laser II this was my weapon setup up to the last flagship. Still, my ship was often on the verge of destruction. Sector 5, Mantis Home World! First jump, Kazaaak! Oh no, medbay not upgraded, jumped away, jumped to the next beacon, sun, boarded, next beacon, boarded, third beacon, ship, destroyed, upgraded medbay, jumped back, got Kazaaak, hurray! Kind of ironic to quest-unlock the Mantis cruiser with the Mantis cruiser. Kazaaak was so happy to be with my fantastic crew, he also gave me a Vulcan, which I never used other than for the last flagship.

Got Hacking, finally upgraded shields and engines and cruised to the last stand, although I arrived there with only 2 hull left - my defense drone was very good at missing rockets, and 48% evasion meant 100% of the rockets that were missed by the defense drone (a lot) were hitting the ship. I'd like a way to replace installed systems with other systems, just as clone bay replaces medbay.

First flagship hit me with one missile, second with two. Third hit me a couple more times, but I wasn't very focussed anymore, the victory was almost unavoidable. No highscore, showing that boarding is not a red carpet to scrap anymore. Haven't lost a single crew member despite some risky boarding maneuvers. Seven ships win streak.

Basilisk: win (1/1)





(I don't know why some of the screenshots got visible window decorations on them, maybe I hit the hotkey for activating that check box sometimes)

[shadowcrust]

Stormwalker! I think the Slugs used Mind Control to lure crew on board, I was receiving lots of applications.

Was a pretty solid run, never in high danger to lose control. I counted rockets hurled at me for three ships, the highest number of rockets in stock was 10 and of 20 fired rockets, 18 hit me with 35% evasion active, outrageous.

I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of phantom hits in the last runs, although it's hard to prove without video. Last phantom hit was at the very picture below, flagship had 8 hull and four shields left. I fired Charge Laser (charged to two) and Hull Laser I and put down three shields with that and put the Halberd Beam over 4 rooms, expecting four damage and 4 hull left of the flagship. Instead, it exploded. I'm almost sure (at least 99.8%) that one shield bubble was left after all 4 laser shots arrived.

Oh well, I think it's a bug (possibly only affecting very slow machines?) and maybe it gets fixed in the upcoming update, although it worked mostly in my favor so far. In some high-risk maneuvers it sometimes turns out badly (when exploding a ship with phantom hits while your boarding team is still aboard the enemy vessel, for example).

Lost only one crew member to the third flagship. 8 ships win streak.







Stormwalker: win (1/1)

[shadowcrust]

Exactly one year ago, my friend showed me a game he liked very much and thought I might enjoy as well. Since then, I've played it once or twice.

So, next in the list was again the Bulwark, as I had not unlocked the Shivan in the first flight, lacking a teleporter and a stasis pod.

Off we went, and it went not well. No teleporter to be bought, and pretty bad weapon setup (3 laser shots, I think). When I forgot to buy fuel at a store and didn't get any from the next encounters, it fell to an elite fighter in sector 6. Sad.

Next I tried the Shrike, very nice ship. Lost it in sector 3. Saw the last stores (3 connected to one beacon) at the beginning of sector 2 and didn't find any in sector 3, was shot down one jump before the exit. Why would I look for stores anyway? Most (or even all?) encountered ships carried a missile launcher, I didn't get any weapon drops and the Advanced Flak alone is not very good at knocking out rocket launchers fast, especially against two shields. Death by rockets, but I hoarded scrap for the elusive store, which could have been spent to upgrade engines.

Back to the Bulwark. Found a teleporter, unlocked the Shivan, hurray!





The flight of the Shivan was blessed with crew encounters, here just one example:



Also a pretty good weapon setup, hardest part of the run was to choose the best setup:



Not sure if I chose the best, but it was good enough. Lost two of my Mantis, one to spiders I think (was replaced by a measly human) and one to the second flagship's boarding drone's breach (didn't pay attention).





Rock C looks very nice as well!

Now for the Stealth Cruiser again, as during the first two flights I failed to unlock any ship achievements.

In sector 3, I saw this:



Oh my. When I lucked out on meeting a shieldless Auto-Scout which had exactly as much hull as I could damage in one round with Mini-Beam, Dual Laser and Hull Laser I, I figured I might get the 9 shots cloaked achievement with the third boss. Almost floundered it, until I realised that I have to turn off shields during cloak for the shot to count as protected by cloak (and not by shield)! So I spared the last flagship for two more rounds until the super lasers and the normal laser aligned again and then the DA-SR 12 was finally unlocked, hurray!



Second best score in AE Hard so far:



Took damage from pretty much every enemy in the first sector with the DA-SR 12 and even had the dreaded Beam Drone plus Mini-Beam encounter, but got a Charge Laser I early and had lots of luck with weapon drops (Flak II and Flak I and Burst Laser I) and after getting cloak 3 and shields (also in first sector) I put most scrap in weapons in the next sectors and skipped repairs to afford a Halberd Beam, which combined with Hacking was just a breeze.

Almost another flawless victory, but got hit by one missile and the last laser surge hit me three times as well... number 3 of my overall best scores! Unlocked the Crystal Cruiser! Increased most ships defeated to 55!





Bulwark: win, loss, win (2/3)

Shrike: loss (0/1)

Shivan: win (1/1)

Nesasio: loss, win, win (2/3)

DA-SR 12: win (1/1)

Interestingly, not one of my top 5 ships so far had a teleporter installed. Win rate is currently slightly better than 60%. Won the first flight with 12/19 ships I've tried in AE so far (also roughly 60%). I'm sure some can do better, though. Experiment's not finished yet, but overall I'd say we have some evidence now that the game is too easy

[shadowcrust]

Short story: I put the Bravais out of the hangar, and the flagship exploded itself.

Slightly longer story: lost a crystal and a human crew member to investigations and spiders, respectively, in sector 1, and in the second sector got two humans in a row, where you detect faint life signs in the remnants of a destroyed ship.





Fortunately, I wasn't tempted by more disastrous distress beacons anymore, otherwise unlocking the ship achievements would have been difficult. Got both the "4 enemies locked in a room" and the crystal vengeance achievement from the same ship in sector 7, which was a Rock ship incidentally, so it might have been possible to unlock all three Crystal achievements from the same ship, but I barely got two. Micromanaged the enemy to cause one damage to my hull, and incredibly, the first shot sparked the shard, flying towards the enemy ship. Even more incredibly, the ship resisted the shard, and I had to endure 15 more hull damage for the next shard to come off, and this time it destroyed the ship for unlocking the Carnelian.
Incidentally, it was also the Rock Home World, but I didn't happen upon the Hidden World beacon, unfortunately... had to leave a bit prematurely, as hull was down to three and no store found.

At the last stand, I had to go through an overtaken beacon after first jump:



But the repair beacons were positioned very well, so kabooom again.





Another boarding ship without super score.

Bravais: win (1/1)

[shadowcrust]

Second attempt with the Shrike, got a Long-Range Scanner in sector 1 and everything went quite smoothly.



No hull damage after the first two stages, so I was hoping for another flawless victory, but stage 3 without cloaking is difficult to emerge from without scratches.



First boarding ship in my top 5!

Shrike: loss, win (1/2)

[shadowcrust]

Nyargh, managed to lose with the Carnelian, of all ships! Autoship, autoship, pirate, autoship, Zoltan, Zoltan, autoship, quest ship, pirate, shop, no weapons, buy Zoltan Shield Bypass, next fight get an Ion Stunner from a Zoltan ship, grrrr, autoship, autoship, autoship, pirate, quest ship, autoship, shop, no weapons, autoship, autoship, ran out of fuel, killed by level 2 clone bay elite fighter... sigh. Well, it's good to lose, remaining modest and all.

Once more with feeling, this time flawless victory (no hull repair drone!), albeit with a relatively low score.





Found another bug, as just when the hull beams struck, I teleported my away team back on board, and the teleporter activated properly (as seen by the recharge cycle), only the crew never appeared back on board, and the winning screen only showed four names.

Carnelian: loss by automation, win (1/2)

Now all A+B type ships are finished, let's see about the C!

[shadowcrust]

Did the Swallow two nights ago, and still shaking of excitement!

Replaced the Ion Stunner with a Flak I in the first sector, and then didn't get any other weapon drops or store offers in sectors 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Fought many very long battles with my Dual Lasers and Flak I, Hacking made it much, much easier as usual. Cloak didn't hurt either. Mind Control was just for the laughs.

Was a very rough ride with this setup, and I encountered some very bad sector layouts, e.g. that one:



Wasn't really sure if I'd come as far as sector 8, but eventually made it. Any store? First jump, nope. Second jump, nope. Third jump, nope. Fourth jump, yeah! Store! Let's see what it got! And yeah, it got weapons! To be exact, it had the following weapons for sale: Healing Burst, Heavy Ion and Ion Stunner... guess what I got?

With Hacking, the flagship battles weren't too hard, though. Hacked shields, shields and shields, and prevailed, with a surprisingly high score at that.





Swallow: win, win (2/2) (first one from old profile)

[shadowcrust]

Faster Than Light is just like Mortal Kombat. Fight! - Finish him! - Kano wins! - Flawless victory!



Eighth victory without hull damáge, third without hull repair drone I think. On top of that, a palindromic score!



No overwhelming weapons other than the Halberd Beam I bought in sector 1 or 2, but with Hacking, no problem. Hacked shields, shields and shields, I sense a pattern.

Tetragon: win (1/1)

[shadowcrust]

After a week-long hiatus we're back with the Fregatidae, which is one of the more oddly named ships - why not Frigate Bird or Fregata? The ship itself is also slightly odd, with two of the usually three customisable slots already filled with systems that are mediocre at best, the Flak II-like artillery and a teleporter. Early encounters with ships having a med or clone bay (pretty much all of them, save for auto ships) are a bit painful, as the artillery randomly hits everything but med or clone bay.

Got Hacking instead of a Cloak to give my suicide boarders a crystalline slaughter room - Hacking really provides all boarding parties with a lockdown-like ability, that also recharges much faster - and got dropped a Hull Beam as a first weapon, sadly no other beams were found. Encountered lots of homing missiles, a Cloak was sorely missed. Many crew members offered due to boarding, but didn't break my earlier record. New kill record, but missed a high score by far.





Of the current profile, exactly 2 of 3 runs were successful.

Fregatidae: win (1/1)

[shadowcrust]

It was a bad start with the Cherenkov, first two beacons were empty and when I finally collected 20 scrap, it was already the middle of sector 1. I immediately went to the ship screen to upgrade the reactor, only to see the price has gone up. By the end of the sector, I had bought two reactor bars. Found a store in sector two with 30 scrap on hand, so I couldn't buy the Charge Laser I or Hull Laser I on offer for 55 without selling either Charge Ion or Beam Drone, or the Zoltan Shield, so I didn't purchase. Next shop offered a Charge Laser II for 70 scrap, but again I was too short on scrap because of upgrading engines. The next shop I found in ca. sector 5 had Small Bomb, Ion Bomb and Stun Bomb on display. I got the Small Bomb. And that was it for weapons. Probably should have sold my Zoltan Shield for the Charge Laser II, I even found the Zoltan Home World, so I (possible) could have regained it.

Before getting the Small bomb, I sold 24 missiles for 48 scrap or some such. During most of the game, I was low on missiles and drones, so I didn't choose Hacking, but a Teleporter and a Cloak. I was fully charging the Charge Ion for the first salvo and then hoped on chaining it properly, so the Beam Drone could finish the opponent or at least disable the med or clone bay, which often didn't work. Then I hoped to hit said bays with the Small Bomb, which merrily missed many of them, and teleported a Mantis and Rock over. Wasn't exactly a fast way to deal with opponents, but worked surprisingly well.

Sector 8! Last chance to buy weapons, or get a lucky drop. Below imagine my disappointed face after jumping to the second beacon.



And so I had to prepare for battle against the flagship with Charge Ion, Small Bomb (19 missiles), a Beam and a Combat Drone. Also had a Defense II and a Beam Drone II in reserve. Gambled that the last beacon before the Base would be an opponent, but it was empty, so I couldn't last-minute upgrade oxygen. Fingers crossed. Flagship hacked my Backup Battery, not much of a problem. I smallbombed shields and teleported boarders into shields. Bombed boarders and enemy crew, and finally had the shields down after a couple of cloaks. Charge Ion was basically useless due to flagship's cloaking. Three times in a row, all three flagship ions hit consecutively, and that with maximised engines and golden pilot and engineer... most damage taken during the first incarnation fight was thanks to the flagship's beam weapon. 22 hull left after the fight. Same strategy for flagship #2. Five or six Combat Drones attacked each power surge, so my four shields with maximum evasion didn't hold well. Some more damage by missiles, but not much. 14 hull left for the last fight, and six missiles. Let's do it!

Flagship super shield and my own Zoltan Shield expired almost synchronously, and then the mayhem began. Six enemy crew left, and one of my boarders got immediately mind controlled in the shield room. Was back soon in the shields by level 3 cloning magic and level 3 teleporter. As I still had my four starting Zoltans and King, the human, as captain, I had a Mantis and two Rocks as boarders, and I always had them go back to the enemy shield room as soon as possible. Fortunately, instead of properly defending, the flagship sent 2+2 rebels on board, which slaughtered some of my crew and two of my systems, but that's a minor inconvenience with a level 3 clone bay. Two of my hull left, I contemplated. What would Chekov do? I decided to go with my last missiles for the rocket launcher now that only two rebels were left, and enemy evasion was low. They never repaired the rocket launcher because my boarders kept them busy in the shield room. With my last bomb, I managed to kill one of the two remaining rebels in the medbay. Finally, shields were down and my Beam and Combat Drones did the rest.

One of the closest and most improbable victories so far. I think I never had so utterly bad weapons before, and still winning, the 4 Basic Lasers of the Red-Tail with two Attack Drones came close, though, way back in FTL Classic.



Nice score of 6066, and my efforts were rewarded with a spot in the Top 5.



Cherenkov: win (1/1)