Subset Games Forum

By this same logic, it is a sudden, shocking failure of design that the Rebel Flagship has more then one phase. I remember the first time I beat phase one, only to find out that there was a second phase. Since I was at 25% hull, I tried to head for a repair point. I never caught up to the flagship again and lost because he destroyed the federation base. Which is also something that is never encountered at any other stage of the game.

It was super disappointing but I tried over and over again until I finally beat him. The Drone power surge is easily the most dangerous weapon in the game, but it is hard countered by a level one cloaking device, or soft countered by level 4 shields and a decent dodge chance. If you don't have either of these, you probably won't beat the boss even without the power surge.

The game isn't perfect. I personally am pulling my hair out trying to get the Crystal Cruiser, the requirements for which are ten times more frustrating and gimmicky then the Rebel Flagship. Over 50 attempts so far and counting with only twice actually getting to Rock Homeworlds with the stasis pod opened, only to get blown up.

I can certainly sympathize and I don't want you to be frustrated, so here is what you will need to beat the Flagship.

Pick one:

Shields Level 4 and 40%+ Evasion (including crew skills)
Cloaking Level 1, Shields 3 and 35%+ evasion

These are the only two ways to reliably survive the Drone power surge in my experience. Cloak up just before it starts and force uncloak right as it finishes to start the cooldown going. Or, get your shields to 4 and your evasion to bearable and ride it out, repairing stuff that gets broken. Either way, kill the boss as fast as possible.

Pick one:

Defense Drone Mark 1
Teleporter Level 1

The Defense Drone will stop 1-2 missiles, with your evasion hopefully taking another. Missile roulette can be disastrous but it IS doable in most cases. Or, you can teleport two people into the missile room and blow it up, which is much safer. Once the missile room is gone the boss at any stage becomes much more manageable. The Defense Drone however serves the useful secondary purpose of instantly killing the Boarding Drones of Phase 2, which is a huge help and why I recommend it so highly.

In addition you will need to be able to get through four layers of shields. This usually means five or six laser shots, plus two missiles (theres a defense drone on part II), one bomb, or one of the heavier beam weapons.

Anything you have over this is just gravy. And stuff will get through, especially if your shields and evasion are right at the borderline, so Engis and system repair drones help a lot.

All in all I think your post is overreacting a bit. The Phase 2 is beatable with the right tools, and it is instant death without these tools. Some games in the Rock Cruiser A I run out of missiles before I find a new weapon. In fact I think one game I died on the second beacon which was at an asteroid field. The enemy ship hit my shields five times in a row, and the rocks took care of the rest. This game is unfair, and that is only a failure of design if that was not the intention in the first place.

It's the goddamn uber-flagship. Why shouldnt it have superpowers?

They could just have give it one-hit weapons and 10 shields, but that aint no fun

Even if you don't have a Cloak, you don't necessarily need max Shields. I have won with 3 layers of Shields and level 6 Engines (and master pilot & engineer and Defense Drone Mk I). If you can afford it, get that 7th level of Shields for padding, or a 7th level of Engines (I only did the latter once in a regular game, and I had a Cloak, too, so I don't know how it is without one).

Jakkar wrote:Game design 101: Never put the player into a situation where he has absolutely no means of winning. Never kill the player without an evident means by which he could have avoided the fail-state.

Do not punish the player unless he makes a mistake within the rule-set of the game.

You're wrong. Absolutely, 100%, completely wrong.

I want games in which I can lose. I want games in which insurmountable odds exist. I enjoy losing, and trying again.

If you think that that the second phase of the rebel flagship is harsh... get some defence.

I'm a relatively new player and have never died at the 2nd phase (I did die a the 3rd once after the 2nd took a big chunk out of me).

Devs : Punish the player however you want, that's my advice. FTL didn't get successful because everyone could go and spank the flagship in their first go.