Subset Games Forum

UltraMantis wrote:

5thHorseman wrote:...
And UltraMantis, I also love full engines. 55% dodge and 4 shields is awesome. However, I think a much stronger defense is 40% dodge, full cloak, and a defense drone which (unless I'm figuring wrong but I don't think I am) actually uses one less power and is a lot cheaper in scrap cost to implement. That said, most of my extra scrap goes into engines so I can pump extra power into them whenever I can.

DD1 takes 2 power, DD2 takes 4. DD2 is also less common.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant instead of
(full shields and engines)
I'd rather have
(3 shields, 5 engine, full cloak and a defense drone)
which takes one less power. Though now that I'm thinking about it, I think they take the same power.

I wouldn't really go for the 4th shield, it's very expensive and by the time you have that scrap lying around you should have two excellent people manning helm and engines for a swank evasion bonus. That's not set in stone however, as even having the penultimate shield upgrade can help take more damage and esp. ion damage. The cost is kinda high so i normally stop at the 3rd shield bubble unless playing a Zoltan cruiser in which case 2 is enough. Not that there wont be damage, but it's rare enough. I mean the person manning the station never gets any damn XP since the shield is rarely in action.

Haha, true that. However I frequently buy the 4th shield and power it only if necessary. But yeah it's one of the last things I go for.

Maybe it comes from playing the Potential enough times to occasionally get shields AND engines to full while not sacrificing anything else, but wow that's a lot of shots that don't damage you.

Okay, these Stealth A runs are getting VERY silly now. Number Three I think I'll go ahead and highlight, but it involved me picking up triple Scrap Arms and then buying nothing at all past sector 6, keeping myself to 3 shield bubbles, level 5 engines, etc. I ended the game with 2025 scrap and a new high score.

Honestly these 3 runs in a row have already convinced me The Nesasio is very reliable and consistent, and it just does not have early game problems if you know how to play it correctly. If anyone actually cares about it I might continue, but otherwise I'll probably go back to something more challenging.


Oh, and some scrap data:

Sector 1: 11 Hops (1 store visit). 156 Scrap, Hull Missile, Defense Drone 2. Took 5 damage from a Flare, 8 damage from asteroids, and another 7 damage from back to back Zoltan ships after the asteroid field.

Twinge wrote: Honestly these 3 runs in a row have already convinced me The Nesasio is very reliable and consistent, and it just does not have early game problems if you know how to play it correctly.

The Nesasio is really great. I couldn´t belive it, but with your tips how to play, i have 5 victories in a row now. I had one crazy run, with no damage until the first beacon in sector 5 - and that without shields (but that encounter almost killed me )
It is now one of my favorite ships - so fun to play Thank you for the tips, and 5thHorseman - really enjoy your videos

Nice to see the Nesasio getting some <3 I too love that bird. And the Vortex, which gets no love.

Vortex isn´t that bad either. Can be painful to play, especially when you don´t get a weapon to get throw two shilds, but i had some good runs with that ship - without selling the drones at the first store. It is always a nice challenge to play with the Vortex. Flying around with the whole ship vented is fun. But the lonely Engi makes my sad Not my favorite ship, but not my most hated - that is Bulwark and DA-SR 12 (i am, to impatient to wait 25 seconds for the Glaive Beam. No fun at all )

LegatDamar wrote:5thHorseman - really enjoy your videos

Thanks! I assume you mean the 2nd set of Nesasio videos. The first ones are terrible

UltraMantis wrote:Nice to see the Nesasio getting some <3 I too love that bird. And the Vortex, which gets no love.

I don't have much love for the Vortex, that's for sure

I would give my love to the Vortex ...

... with four Burst Lasers Mk II and two Antiship Drones Mk II.

Twinge wrote:Number Three I think I'll go ahead and highlight, but it involved me picking up triple Scrap Arms and then buying nothing at all past sector 6, keeping myself to 3 shield bubbles, level 5 engines, etc. I ended the game with 2025 scrap and a new high score.

How much was the scrap total? Maximum I ever had was 2600 something scrap collected, not counting weapons/drones I found. To have 2025 in reserve you must have collected over 3000 scrap total. Impressive.
What was the score, BTW? Nesasio tends to dominate highscores because of sheer number of ships you encounter, but I am curious how much one can make without farming rebels.

Twinge wrote:Honestly these 3 runs in a row have already convinced me The Nesasio is very reliable and consistent, and it just does not have early game problems if you know how to play it correctly. If anyone actually cares about it I might continue, but otherwise I'll probably go back to something more challenging.

At this point I am just wondering what CAN, actually, kill you. Early game is pretty easy, but I tend to have accidents deep in space (sectors 5-6) once in a while. I believe it is a matter of whether or not you can find sufficiently effective loadout to deal with enemies in later sectors. It would be interesing to read about/watch a run where you actually had to struggle against odds, no matter the result.

I would suggest a challenge run to simulate certain effects bad luck can cause. I think something along these lines might prove interesting:
Try to reach sector 5 with just starting weapons. This might actually happen in the game, though the odds are pretty low. You can still collect/buy weapons, but you can not use them until after you leave sector 4. Defensive drones are fair game, though I am not completely sure about the offensive ones. Let's allow them. If you make it to sector 5, you can equip extra weapons, if you have any, and beat the game normally.
I feel this is not at all out of the realm of possibility, yet might still be tricky enough to provide entertainment. If that is not challenging enough, do it without buying shields (no shields up to sector 5, not the whole game).

That said, repeating runs on the same ship can quickly get stale, so if you feel bored already, no one can blame you if you quit.

Nevill wrote:BTW? Nesasio tends to dominate highscores because of sheer number of ships you encounter, but I am curious how much one can make without farming rebels.

If you didn't talk strictly about the Stealth, then in one of my Rock_B playthrough ...

BKT wrote:7445 with Shivan ... 3,356 scraps collected.

I wish I got a PC that is good enough to actually record the whole playthrough...


For chalenge. A simple way to make the game a bit more tricky is to don't buy telepad and just pretend that it doesn't exist—

- You get less stuff from battle and blue option; by 'stuff', I mean everything— crew, guns, scraps, consumable...
- Capturing ship required a well-coordinated attack plan
- 'System' will always have a chance to show up in shops, lower the chance of other stuff
- And so, you really have to make the most out of whatever stuffs you find and what's selling in the shop— there's no 'safe' option to go back to if you can't penetrate enemy's shield

Nevill wrote:How much was the scrap total? Maximum I ever had was 2600 something scrap collected, not counting weapons/drones I found. To have 2025 in reserve you must have collected over 3000 scrap total. Impressive.
What was the score, BTW?

The Number Three stole my high score from The Tutorial with 5563. Endgame scrap collected was 2521, but that figure does not count gains from Scrap Arms. 103 Beacons, 45 ships defeated.

BKT wrote:For chalenge. A simple way to make the game a bit more tricky is to don't buy telepad and just pretend that it doesn't exist—

- 'System' will always have a chance to show up in shops, lower the chance of other stuff

That's what I hate about ships that don't start with Sensors - I don't want to burn the 40 scrap, but I also don't like leaving the dead weight so common in shops.

But yeah, not a bad idea but that probably wouldn't be much of an added challenge; I'd still expect to win roughly every game like that.

I guess I could always try another Shieldless run! (Those are a bit luck-heavy for my tastes, though; basically requires either a Defense Drone 2 or Pre-Ignitor + strong weapons.)