The DA-SR 12 is godawful and needs a buff.

[thomsky]

Hi, I came to this post a week ago to search for help on the DA-SR 12. I thought it was terrible. Now I won the game in normal with it I dont remember why I had problems with it.. noteworthy info:
-Upgrade to cloak 3 first.
-Save for shields and spend a little on engines.
-Around sector 3 you can sell the sensors to get shields. They can still be very useful for choosing the right destination.
-I kept the Glaive, it is actually not a problem to have it, it is the most powerful weapon in the game and will guarantee your success at all times as long as you time it well with the cloak.
-Keep weapons you pick up, anything that helps reduce shields after sector 3 must be integrated. 1pwr small bomb or ion bomb are the most useful support weapons. I also bought a cheap ion blast which I then replaced with Hull laser II.
-One thing mentioned on this thread was: Cloak as soon as combat begins, dont cloak after he shoots. When your cloak ends the enemy still has to charge weapons and will soon die. This is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING
-I could not really afford Drone Control at first and finished the game without it. Never needed it.

You can easily think that the DA-SR 12 can become the most powerful ship because of the Glaive. I now know this is true. Like an Osprey Fed Cruiser but with cloak!

[5thHorseman]

Using the advice in this thread, I decided to take the long-retired SR12 out for another spin. I was shocked at how well I did (after 3 quick losses due to the first ship I faced having a beam drone that shot my weapon first). I upped my cloak after the 3rd battle, got a shield in the 2nd sector, and was about to upgrade my weapons in the 3rd sector to get the ion bomb online (I was literally salivating at that thought) when it happened.

Mantis ship with a teleporter, and 3 bonus mantises at the start.

They RIPPED through my crew, killing the Zoltan before he could even get out of the room, and then storming my medbay (the only room with air) and ripping my two humans to shreds in spite of the helpful healing the medbay provided.

So next time, doors, better medbay, and/or actually take those offered slaves instead of killing the slavers for scrap.

[UltraMantis]

Holy hell! 5 Mantis ...

FTL just decided you had played enough for one run. It does that sometimes.

[thereaverofdarkness]

I've written up a project to edit FTL in such a way that, among other things, would make starting with the Stealth Cruiser dramatically less risky.

* I'd multiply HP of ships and damage of most weapons by 5 (for better divisibility)
* beams would have damage only multiplied by 2, but would hit once per room + once per square
* Titanium System Casing would reduce system damage from any source by 1 every time

If I were to actually make this project happen, the Stealth Cruisers would enjoy greatly-improved safety from having systems lose power. A basic laser hitting a system would do 4 system damage, failing to take it offline and giving you time to repair the damage. A mini-beam or beam drone would deal 4 or 6 damage to most rooms, but only 2 or 3 system damage. Also I'd give the DA-SR 12 Titanium System Casing because why it doesn't have that is beyond me.

Conversely, ships other than the Stealth Cruiser would fear those beams a bit more in the early game, as the beams would deal half damage through 1 shield bubble--even though they're unlikely to take any systems offline. Now a stealth cruiser with 1 shield bubble would take no system damage from those smaller beams.

[agigabyte]

I've written up a project to edit FTL in such a way that, among other things, would make starting with the Stealth Cruiser dramatically less risky.

* I'd multiply HP of ships and damage of most weapons by 5 (for better divisibility)
* beams would have damage only multiplied by 2, but would hit once per room + once per square Hardcoded
* Titanium System Casing would reduce system damage from any source by 1 every time Hardcoded

If I were to actually make this project happen, the Stealth Cruisers would enjoy greatly-improved safety from having systems lose power. A basic laser hitting a system would do 4 system damage, failing to take it offline and giving you time to repair the damage. A mini-beam or beam drone would deal 4 or 6 damage to most rooms, but only 2 or 3 system damage. Also I'd give the DA-SR 12 Titanium System Casing because why it doesn't have that is beyond me.

Conversely, ships other than the Stealth Cruiser would fear those beams a bit more in the early game, as the beams would deal half damage through 1 shield bubble--even though they're unlikely to take any systems offline. Now a stealth cruiser with 1 shield bubble would take no system damage from those smaller beams.

[stylesrj]

It's funny. This topic gets bumped up from over a year ago to talk about a project that we all mentioned the day before was not going to happen (we pretty much said everything was hard-coded), and yet insisted on going ahead with the dream.

[Ford_Prefect]

Actually DA-SR 12 is a pretty strong ship. If you survive the first 2-3 sectors, later you will be in a very good shape. Yesterday I was wondering with which ship to play and decided that will be the DA-SR 12. After 3-4 restarts (beam drones, how I hate them!), I managed to beat the flagship with ease (second win with this ship on hard). And also don't spend your scrap on level 3 cloak. First upgrade your weapon system and then cloak. From this point all you have to do is to save your scrap for shields. Always keep above 125 scrap in storage and if there's no store nearby upgrade your engines and reactor. Don't waste scrap on doors or oxygen unless you find event that upgrades them for less scrap.

[Leylite]

And also don't spend your scrap on level 3 cloak. First upgrade your weapon system and then cloak. From this point all you have to do is to save your scrap for shields.

Eh, it's probably a toss-up as to which of these two has to happen first, but I've tried both orders and had better luck with upgrading to level 3 cloak first, then weapons 5. There are only two ships with the dreaded Beam Drones: Auto Assaults (not any other auto-ship) and Rebel Riggers (which can have several other kinds of drones).

Cloak 3, meanwhile, means you get to ignore all kinds of nasty sector 1 ships: jerks with Burst Laser IIs or Flak Is, people with mini-beams, and ships with manned weapons systems and Heavy Lasers who might otherwise get a shot off.

An aside: Paradoxically, Flak I is actually more accurate for the AI than its other weapons are. A Burst Laser II will target three different rooms on the ship, usually only aiming one laser at Weapons, whereas a Flak I aimed at Weapons will have all three projectiles striking the Weapons room.

--

On-topic, I think the only buff this ship would like would be a free Engines level (so, engines 2 to engines 3). I know if you're on Easy or Normal mode you could pretty much just buy it straight away with the free scrap if you so desire, but it would make some nightmare situations on the first few jumps slightly better, if you could use extra power and pump it into the engines for slightly better dodging during cloak, or to run away from a fudged encounter / pulsar faster.

The various Sensors 2 blue options AE adds do help the ship out a bit, though.