Anti Ship Battery in sector 2 on easy?!

[Elhazzared]

Fear is a way to put thing. it's not like you have to be trembling in your seat whenever you see an enemy. The idea is that something that can't cause you damage is nothing worth to fear. Something that cause you a couple point of damage is not something you fear but it's already something that you dislike quite a bit because damage adds up over time after all. Something that can do even more than just a couple of points of damage is something. Something generally to avoid at all possible costs because it's just not worth the fight most of the times... It doesn't means you actually fear it, just a way to put it.

[5thHorseman]

Fear is a way to put thing. it's not like you have to be trembling in your seat whenever you see an enemy. The idea is that something that can't cause you damage is nothing worth to fear. Something that cause you a couple point of damage is not something you fear but it's already something that you dislike quite a bit because damage adds up over time after all. Something that can do even more than just a couple of points of damage is something. Something generally to avoid at all possible costs because it's just not worth the fight most of the times... It doesn't means you actually fear it, just a way to put it.

I meant it the same way you did.

If there was an event that read "You come across a guy buying hull points. He's paying 25 scrap per point." would you run from that beacon? I personally would sell 10 or more hull points for all that scrap. If I was at 30 points I might sell 20, especially if I was at 30 because I was walking over every enemy I found.

This game is all about risking damage for scrap. Fighting a single elite in the old game was the exact same risk and usually the reward was worth the risk. Now the reward is not worth the risk, unless you're:

In a Nebula.
Have a Cloak
Have Level 6 Engines

Those are fairly common things for a good player to have. I frequently have level 5 engines by the end of sector 3. If I see 3 beacons I can grab and then only face one elite, it's worth it in my book to toss some scrap into increasing my engines more - making my ship inherently better in the process and guaranteeing* that I can escape before the ASB fires - to risk a little damage for potentially dozens of scrap.

*I've not done an exhaustive analysis but it seems to be that if you have 6, 7, or 8 engines you always get away, and if you have 5 or less they always get at least one shot in. I may be wrong but for all I know I may be right.

[project_mercy]

I generally at least try to hit 4 engines, but I took a screenshot last night to prove a point. Here's me running the fleet at the exit in sector 1 on Hard.

I've basically bought nothing but 1 pip of shields (and I started with a Zoltan Shield). I could have killed the ship, but I jumped out because I was about to get nailed with the 3rd ASB. What you can't see is the 2ND ASB hit my Piloting which is a pretty big deal, and I repaired through it. Yes, I lost 6-8 hull for the privilege, but I had it to spare.

[Elhazzared]

Wanted just to give example how to beat elite easily. Basicly last run with Federation B I didn't expect much, but I managed to get 3 Burst II's and Flac I by sector 7 and hacking system as well, let's just say it was 2-3 volleys and ASB couldn't even try to hit me in that time. I know that setup is OP but still.

Yes, when I had my mantis B with 2 BL2 and a flak2 along with a pre-igniter. I really didn't took damage in any combat whatsoever except for elite rebels with the ASB. Even the flagship was wrecked in less than nothing, barely even getting to damage me at all... Count a normal run however and it's naother story.

5thhorseman - Yes if there was an event like that I would probably seel all but 1 point left on the hull if I had a way to get to a store without a fight. However if you can run 3 beacons and only be caught in one by elites. Sure it's worth... For 2 beacons I don't count it as worth. The reason is simple. First there is a guarantee that at very least 3 points of damage, probably more like 6 to 10 if we count possible damage from the elite ship itself and we're saying nothing hits your piloting or engines.so we're saying already 12 to 20 scrap worth of repairs in the first sector pricing.

Now out of those 2 beacons you get for sure... Well, nothing for sure really. You may get nothing in both, you may get some scrap in one or you may get some scrap in both. What you also may take is damage which will add to the one you receive from the elite ship making your repairs substancially more expensive. Adding this to having to upgrade the engines earlier on to be able to pull this high risk manuver... I don't find the potential reward to be worth the potential damage that I may get. For all I know I may be getting more damage than I will get worth of scrap to repair. I may be destroyed in the elite ship by shots going into piloting and engines and stoping me from fleeing as the damage keeps acumulating. I may escape on low health, again due to being stuck on the elite ship for too long which of course is already bad from the scrap point of view but it's may just be death if no shop shows up quickly.

On nebulas... Completly agree. The lack of the ASB totally makes the risk worth it. Later on in the game when scrap rewards are kinda high and you can have a high powered engine because you've had a good run on scrap. Yes, agree with you there again. Early on it's not worth the risk.

The part where you say we are trading hull for scrap is not exactly right, when you fight the elite ships you are trading hull for nothing. You may get some more beacons, but unless you're lucky to just get free scrap there you have to fight for your scrap where you effectively trade the hull for scrap and then fight the elite ship for nothing. Or if you prefer it put in another way. You basicly are getting in two fights, one of them much harder than the normal fights in order for a one fight normal reward.

[Elhazzared]

I only kill them if my ship is awesomely equiped. Almost everytime it is ok, but it's actually not that great. To the point that fighting the flagship is actually easier than all elite ships and even some normal ships. On most of my runs I almost alwys have a huge deficit weaponry wise. They almost never drop and shops usually are selling total junk so I tend to get there with 3 to 4 weapons (depending on the ship) but they are rarely good weapons, just barely servicable.

I also never go for cloak, I don't hate it, but all things considered the follow 3 just seem to be the best for me. On a normal ship I prefer teleporter because more scrap and makes taking out the flagship weapons easier in case my weapon systems are (as they usualy are) an almost lost case. I go for mind control to counter the mind control on it's last stage because it seriously bums me if it turns one of my borders against the other or just make one guy attack a system, worse if it's the pilot. then I always take the drone system because quite frankly. Who doesn't want anti missiles and drones repairing the hull?

[project_mercy]

Cloak is one of the best upgrades. There's rarely a huge reason to put more than 1 energy into it, and it's enough to basically ignore an incoming volley or the ASB. Your shields slow getting widdled away by chains of ION Damage? BAM, cloak on the next ION shot and it gives you enough time to (maybe) reset the ion damage. Having issues with the AI Sending boarding/ion drones? BAM, cloak will pause it long enough to let your defense drone get out and running, even if you have one of the overly large ships.

I would say, next to the teleporter, cloak is probably the 2nd most useful upgrade. You can use it every fight, and it always saves you (at least assuming your base evasion hits 40%). For basically 180'ish scrap, you'll save a huge amount of hull. Point-for-point, it's probably a better by than the top tier of shields or engines. Combine it with hacking and you can take turns hacking and ignoring whatever's on the other end.

Yes. I <3 the cloak.

[Elhazzared]

I still don't feel it being so great. I know what you say and it can help a lot in many situations but to me it just feels too unreliable especially when getting down to the flagship... Granted you don't even need a teleporter there so long as you have the right weapons but if you don't you'll sure wish you had the teleporter. The mind control I just can't say no because really, not only it's a great combo with the teleporter, especially if you have a 2 man teleporter only. It stops enemy's mind controls. Drone control is just too good to say no. Not only stop missiles the whole run, but also the hull repair drone which makes sure that every stage of the flagship, you go in fully repaired. It also saves you a lot of scrap in repairs as drone parts cost 8 scrap and from the moment repairs start to cost 3 per hull it's already worth to actually buy drone parts rather than repairing.

[project_mercy]

Well, boarding on Hard isn't nearly as awesome as it is on easy and normal, so I don't really do it much on the flagship. In fact, I only really do it to try to limit the incoming horde in phase 3. I view boarding much like a scrap recovery arm, in that it's handy until sector 8, and then it's of questionable worth.

Mind Control is OK, but you can hack the enemy mind control (assuming you can get the module to stick) which counters their MC and then causes it to MC one of their own crew. I find it hard to beat hacking over MC. If you go with both, then temporarily you can get 2 free enemies on their ship, which can be amusing, but you're then stuck with 2 systems used.

I was pretty keen on MC and hacking when AE first came out, but honestly I find just sticking to good ole cloak/drones/teleporter does me better in the long run. If hacking modules weren't shot down by every single type of defense drone on the way in and stopped by Zoltan Shields, then maybe it would be more compelling. It's not that they're bad, it's just that they're not as consistently useful as the other options. I can use a cloak in every fight. I can use drones in every fight, and I can use a teleporter in most fights (every fight if I have Lanius boarders). Now I sorta view them as "quirky things on Type-C ships that you work around"

[Nevill]

I was playing on Hard recently and found myself stranded in Sector 3. I thought there was a link between two nodes, but apparently there wasn't. The layout of the sector was exceptionally bad, too. I had a lot of scrap, a cloaking device, and 3 hull left, and I was looking at 6 fights with Rebel Elites with ASB support. A single ASB hit, or a pair of missile hits would end me.

So I poured all the scrap I had into engines, and, well:

Not a single hit.

I guess they aren't that scary.