I haven't played the advanced version yet, but my recollection was that when I played (on easy), getting 2-3 mantis or obtaining a cloak wasn't always an option, certainly not to the point where I could rely on them as cornerstones for winning every game on easy.
"Don't bother buying or upgrading <x> until you've set aside enough money to buy a cloak" would be helpful advice, though. I think I tended to overspend on upgrades and often didn't have enough cash to spend at the stores. Like, I wouldn't usually upgrade the sensors, O2 or medbay past one additional dot, but everything else always looks nice.
I'm not sure "hold 150 scrap in reserve in case of cloak" is good advise. I think it's better to get those incremental upgrades early (especially then next bubble of Shield) to keep from bleeding scrap. Once you're sitting on 100+ while you're waiting for enough to upgrade whatever + energy on the same time, that is the point where you can afford to grab cloak and not gimp yourself.
I haven't played the advanced version yet, but my recollection was that when I played (on easy), getting 2-3 mantis or obtaining a cloak wasn't always an option, certainly not to the point where I could rely on them as cornerstones for winning every game on easy.
You usually see two stores in every sector. And they often have two tabs.
Planning on buying specific weapons or drones isn't reasonable. But it's definitely reasonable to bank on buying a cloaking device and 2-3 mantis. They're commonly sold at stores.
Like i said, I've played since the original game came out, and pretty much always on easy mode. I've had some pretty good games where i thought i was kicking some ass then suddenly encounter a ship that just cleans my clock. I realize thats what makes it a roguelike but the game obviously expects you to be able to succeed eventually to unlock the other ships.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you should be able to win every game on easy.
You're right, it's a roguelike: You're supposed to play along, then encounter something that you didn't think of, get killed, and then remember that thing in the future. After playing for as long as you have, you should probably have a nice map of all possible bad things and your appropriate preparation for each of them.
For example, in my games I've discovered that hostile teleportation can be absolutely devastating -- but only around sector 3 or 4. I therefore make it a priority to gather least 2-3 mantis, plus at least door level 1 plus a crew member who can man the doors if necessary. This also means that I never make mantis my dedicated pilot, gunner, etc., because the mantis need to be free to handle invasions.
As another example, I've discovered that the final boss' combination of surge + missile attack is absolutely devastating. There are a number of ways to deal with it, but the most effective is a cloak. Now, the cloak isn't at all necessary prior to the final boss, so it's safe to delay getting cloak until sector 5 or later.
Another example -- Don't ever jump with someone in the med bay. There's a non-zero chance that the enemy ship has a hacking device, which will hack your medbay, lock the doors, and kill anyone caught inside.
There are a hundred little tips like these, there is always something to learn... even if you can consistently win on normal. For example, I knew you could deal with boarders by having upgraded doors and venting o2. If I didn't have upgraded doors, then it was always sketchy and involved rotating people in and out of the fight. Then I put these two thoughts together and started venting, even without upgraded doors. You won't be suffocating anyone, but you can force them to fight in a room you choose (powered up medbay). Now that I know this, I can hold off on upgrading my doors if I want. It doesn't seem like much, but that scrap could be the extra boost you need to afford *that* weapon from the shop that could make your run.
The whole game is like this. You figure out different ways to handle different situations. Then as you progress through a run, you decide which of these strategies you can use/afford depending on what sector you are in, what type of sector it is, how much scrap you have, your crew, your weapons, etc.
There is certainly some RNG involved, especially early on with certain ships... but almost every run in winnable, even on normal.
+1
WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
Mantis makes bad system manning because you always need their claws on standby for clawing intruders. I give them subsystems duty now.
I feel Rocks or engi are best at engines because they can either put out engine fires unscathed or repair very quickly. I usually put Engis evenly spaced around the ship for easy access to whatever needs repairing.
Zoltans are best stationed in Shields. Makes optimal use of their battery power, but this also makes them micromanaging heavy if you move them around a lot, since power distro takes them into account.
I would wager the same race as Engines, doubly so since the Helm needs to be manned to get full Evasion bonuses (or any bonuses at all before upgrading).
Twitch | Blizzard: Ianator#1479 | 3DS: Ianator - 1779 2336 5317 | FFXIV: Iana Ateliere (NA Sarg) Backlog Challenge List
I like to have engi on weapons and shields for the fast repair time. For the rest anything not a mantis is fine, though Voltons are great for freeing up power. I would just put engi everywhere but you're horribly susceptible to boarding parties then.
Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
She looked like Swiss cheese at the end, but the Noether saw me through to my first AE victory. Lucked into a Vulcan, a Pre-Igniter, and an Automated Reloader. And even with all that, I feel like loss was still the more likely outcome.
I would wager the same race as Engines, doubly so since the Helm needs to be manned to get full Evasion bonuses (or any bonuses at all before upgrading).
Between Rock and Engi pilots, I favor Rocks slightly for their staying power. The other races have to rotate into the medbay sooner when you start taking damage at the helm.
I would wager the same race as Engines, doubly so since the Helm needs to be manned to get full Evasion bonuses (or any bonuses at all before upgrading).
Rock because he can stay there keeping your evade up when other races would be running to medbay/dead.
0
FandaHang a shining starupon the highest boughRegistered Userregular
I had an amazing Mantis C run going, full team of rock/mantis boarders, Zoltan Bypass, two breach missiles, shield & defense I drones, clone bay, hacking, the works. Phase I of the flagship goes by so fast I didn't even realize it. I get to Phase II and all of my missiles & hacking drones miss their drone control while their boarding drone flies right past my defense drone to land in my bridge and grind my engi pilot to a fine synthetic paste. Suddenly I'm dead in the water figuratively. And then I'm dead in space, literally, as soon as the drone surge happened.
Like, the number of unlikely percentage events necessary for me to die like that was extremely FTL, baby.
It is preferable to leave one human alive though, probably manning the beam weapon since it's the most useless.
I'm pretty sure the best human to leave alive is the laser turret guy, because that way you don't trip the flagship over to AI mode in phase 3.
It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing... And take away its pain.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
Wow. Turned it down to normal, and despite huge mistakes, like getting a Drone control and never using it, I made it to Sector 6. I'm still doing good but my lack of shield penetrating weapons makes this a complete bore.
Note sure if this has been stated, but here are some tips for Zoltans crew members:
1) Putting them in sub-systems wastes the power bonus they give
2) When facing enemies with an ion weapon, if you've got 2 Zoltans, put them both in the shield room. Both will power the shields to 1 shield strength and ion damage cannot disrupt that bonus.
3) If you have many weapons (or need to power balance due to low reactor power), Zoltans are not good manning the Weapon systems. This is because their power bonus goes to the weapon in slot 1. So if you have a high power req weapon in slot 1, then you might not have enough power if you want to power that one down and use another weapon, this is because the game will try to allocate power to that first slot before it lets you activate anything else. So if you do have a Zoltan on weapons, make sure weapon 1 is a guaranteed I-will-use-this weapon.
Finally got my very first victory ever, in a Kestrel (obviously), on easy. Was going for United Federation, which I got early on, and then got lucky and found a Vulcan (no, not the kind with pointy ears) in a store. Then picked up the Zoltan shields just before jumping into sector 8. Full shields, high but not full evasion. And I still had to reload my final save a few times, just because I do not feel like having more of my time wasted by this game's ****ing bull**** by starting over.
Just finished a run with the Federation Cruiser, and I'd actually forgotten how good it was against the Flagship. With the Artillery Beam, it has straight up the best lolFlagship killocity. You don't have to focus on firing your weapons, you can just divert power to shields, engines, and cloak while the beam cuts them up like bread.
I bought a Hacking System and launched it at the enemy's shield, but it didn't seem to do anything besides locking the doors...
Edit:
Yeah no, this hacking drone fucking sucks. It doesn't do ANYTING. Don't buy it...
What? No. Hacking is great. You have to shoot it at a room, and then activate it. The effect depends on the target.
Doors = lock all doors
Oxygen = deplete oxygen
Shield = deplete shields
Weapons = deplete weapon charge
Pilot = 0% evade and can't jump
Engine = lower evade (I think) and can't jump
After you activate it works for a while and then it's on cooldown like mind control.
You have to manually activate it after it's attached to a room.
That's it, I'm done with this game. Good thing that's not fucking explained when you buy the system.
o_O
+19
NEO|PhyteThey follow the stars, bound together.Strands in a braid till the end.Registered Userregular
Yeah, it's not like there's a 'click here to activate' button on your hacking system or anything. Gosh, what a poorly explained feature. I want my money back from AE, total waste.
It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing... And take away its pain.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
Yeah, it's not like there's a 'click here to activate' button on your hacking system or anything. Gosh, what a poorly explained feature. I want my money back from AE, total waste.
I don't have to activate my mind control after targeting a room. Neither do I have to activate weapons after targetting a room.
Not to mention that the "click here to activate" button, as you call it, is the same button you use to send out the drone. How are you supposed to know that you have to activate the drone in the first place? Whenever enemies use it the drone activates periodically. How was I supposed to know that's not how it works?
I don't mind a challenge. Having an entire run shot down by non-existent explanations is bullshit.
Yeah, it's not like there's a 'click here to activate' button on your hacking system or anything. Gosh, what a poorly explained feature. I want my money back from AE, total waste.
I don't have to activate my mind control after targeting a room. Neither do I have to activate weapons after targetting a room.
Not to mention that the "click here to activate" button, as you call it, is the same button you use to send out the drone. How are you supposed to know that you have to activate the drone in the first place? Whenever enemies use it the drone activates periodically. How was I supposed to know that's not how it works?
I don't mind a challenge. Having an entire run shot down by non-existent explanations is bullshit.
How do you lose an entire run due to not properly using hacking?
+2
AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Yeah, took me seeing an enemy using hacking on me to figure out what it does. After that it was amazing.
So. Mantis B run. Killed the crew of every ship I came across.
Made one fatal mistake. Can anyone identify it?
Lost a Zoltan and a Mantis in phase 1, otherwise I was just sick in how efficient I was.
After running out of bombs and being unable to get a boarding drone inside the ship, it was pretty much all downhill. Still, it was a good run!
Yeah, it's not like there's a 'click here to activate' button on your hacking system or anything. Gosh, what a poorly explained feature. I want my money back from AE, total waste.
I don't have to activate my mind control after targeting a room. Neither do I have to activate weapons after targetting a room.
Not to mention that the "click here to activate" button, as you call it, is the same button you use to send out the drone. How are you supposed to know that you have to activate the drone in the first place? Whenever enemies use it the drone activates periodically. How was I supposed to know that's not how it works?
I don't mind a challenge. Having an entire run shot down by non-existent explanations is bullshit.
How do you lose an entire run due to not properly using hacking?
I had a Pike Beam, Pegasus Missiles and the Mk 2 Burst Laser, plus 3 bars of shield and 40 or so evasion chance.
I banked on the Hacking Drone disabling at least 2 shield bars - all opponents in the sector had 3 shield bars. Then I could've just Burst lasered them and followed up with the Pike Beam.
As the Hacking Drone didn't do anything I had to switch power to my Pegasus Missile. Alas, I didn't even get one shot off before they went through my shields with chain-ions and damaged my weapon systems. They keep suppressing my weapons and also take out my engines with their barrage of ions and regular lasers. I manage to get away with almost no hull. The next encounter kills me.
So I've gone from being terrible at this game and being unable to unlock any ships on easy
To my first three wins in the last two days. And I unlocked zoltan, federation, mantis, and lanius.
The last victory (still on easy) was actually a breeze. The rebel mothership hardly even hurt me. I was in Zoltan A ship and had:
- Cloaking
- Stealth Weapons
- Pre-Ignitor
- Breach Bomb II
- Halbard
- Chain Laser II
- Mind Control
- Defense Drone II
Seriously it was a breeze. That was incredibly lucky, but I think it might be time to bump it up to normal mode.
Yeah, it's not like there's a 'click here to activate' button on your hacking system or anything. Gosh, what a poorly explained feature. I want my money back from AE, total waste.
I don't have to activate my mind control after targeting a room. Neither do I have to activate weapons after targetting a room.
Not to mention that the "click here to activate" button, as you call it, is the same button you use to send out the drone. How are you supposed to know that you have to activate the drone in the first place? Whenever enemies use it the drone activates periodically. How was I supposed to know that's not how it works?
I don't mind a challenge. Having an entire run shot down by non-existent explanations is bullshit.
I'm pretty sure they're not the same button. You cluck the hack icon to choose a room and launch a hack tool. After it hopefully successfully lands, you use the power button to activate it. That power button is also used by the backup battery. As was said though, a lot of the fun here lies in finding new stuff, trying it out and figuring out how it works. Flaking doesn't say (as far as I can remember) that firing weapons will disrupt it. I lost my first rebel fight using it because I didn't realize that. I learned quickly and did better on the next run. I also didn't know that slugs can't be mind controlled. Do now though after an unpleasant run through their nebula.
Yeah, it's not like there's a 'click here to activate' button on your hacking system or anything. Gosh, what a poorly explained feature. I want my money back from AE, total waste.
I don't have to activate my mind control after targeting a room. Neither do I have to activate weapons after targetting a room.
Not to mention that the "click here to activate" button, as you call it, is the same button you use to send out the drone. How are you supposed to know that you have to activate the drone in the first place? Whenever enemies use it the drone activates periodically. How was I supposed to know that's not how it works?
I don't mind a challenge. Having an entire run shot down by non-existent explanations is bullshit.
Actually, the game tells you in a few ways. When you look at hacking on the ship power screen, it tells you that it locks doors and gives you the ability to temporarily disable or disrupt systems. It also tells you again, with more information when you are targeting where you want to send the drone. After launching the hacking drone, the launch icon changes, which you can then mouse over to see how you use it. Even if you didn't notice this, you should have noticed that the attachment to the hacking system is the exact same as the attachment to the door system. Which is something you have to activate. Failing all of this, you should have opened your keybinds and noticed that they keybind for hacking says "start hacking"... at which point you would have hit the button again to test it. You could have done any of these while under no stress because you are paused.
Anyway, if you are trying out a system you haven't tried out before, you probably shouldn't make assumptions about it. Had you not bought hacking and your first missile missed, you would have been in the exact same situation where you got chain ioned.
The good ship Serenity goes down in flames because of a lack of defensive capability, which is my usual weakness by the time I hit the flagship. I just get so entranced by shiny weaponry and then forget that I can't use it if I get shot.
However, she unlocked the Kestrel B and the Fed Cruiser in one run, so I still call it a major success.
And so begins the adventures of cruiser Spaceball One, with loyal crew Lone Star, Yogurt, Screwb, and Barf.
I wanted to use the sillier names.
+4
ShimshaiFlush with Success!Isle of EmeraldRegistered Userregular
This Zoltan ship has 2 beam weapons but I don't recognize the one on the left, does anybody know which one it is? I've seen it a few times but never as a player weapon.
Posts
"Don't bother buying or upgrading <x> until you've set aside enough money to buy a cloak" would be helpful advice, though. I think I tended to overspend on upgrades and often didn't have enough cash to spend at the stores. Like, I wouldn't usually upgrade the sensors, O2 or medbay past one additional dot, but everything else always looks nice.
I'm not sure "hold 150 scrap in reserve in case of cloak" is good advise. I think it's better to get those incremental upgrades early (especially then next bubble of Shield) to keep from bleeding scrap. Once you're sitting on 100+ while you're waiting for enough to upgrade whatever + energy on the same time, that is the point where you can afford to grab cloak and not gimp yourself.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
You usually see two stores in every sector. And they often have two tabs.
Planning on buying specific weapons or drones isn't reasonable. But it's definitely reasonable to bank on buying a cloaking device and 2-3 mantis. They're commonly sold at stores.
There are a hundred little tips like these, there is always something to learn... even if you can consistently win on normal. For example, I knew you could deal with boarders by having upgraded doors and venting o2. If I didn't have upgraded doors, then it was always sketchy and involved rotating people in and out of the fight. Then I put these two thoughts together and started venting, even without upgraded doors. You won't be suffocating anyone, but you can force them to fight in a room you choose (powered up medbay). Now that I know this, I can hold off on upgrading my doors if I want. It doesn't seem like much, but that scrap could be the extra boost you need to afford *that* weapon from the shop that could make your run.
The whole game is like this. You figure out different ways to handle different situations. Then as you progress through a run, you decide which of these strategies you can use/afford depending on what sector you are in, what type of sector it is, how much scrap you have, your crew, your weapons, etc.
There is certainly some RNG involved, especially early on with certain ships... but almost every run in winnable, even on normal.
I feel Rocks or engi are best at engines because they can either put out engine fires unscathed or repair very quickly. I usually put Engis evenly spaced around the ship for easy access to whatever needs repairing.
Zoltans are best stationed in Shields. Makes optimal use of their battery power, but this also makes them micromanaging heavy if you move them around a lot, since power distro takes them into account.
Which race is best for pilot?
I would wager the same race as Engines, doubly so since the Helm needs to be manned to get full Evasion bonuses (or any bonuses at all before upgrading).
Twitch | Blizzard: Ianator#1479 | 3DS: Ianator - 1779 2336 5317 | FFXIV: Iana Ateliere (NA Sarg)
Backlog Challenge List
Swap one bomb out for a second flak for the next stages, just as easy.
It is preferable to leave one human alive though, probably manning the beam weapon since it's the most useless.
ps bombs rule missiles drool
Between Rock and Engi pilots, I favor Rocks slightly for their staying power. The other races have to rotate into the medbay sooner when you start taking damage at the helm.
Rock because he can stay there keeping your evade up when other races would be running to medbay/dead.
I had an amazing Mantis C run going, full team of rock/mantis boarders, Zoltan Bypass, two breach missiles, shield & defense I drones, clone bay, hacking, the works. Phase I of the flagship goes by so fast I didn't even realize it. I get to Phase II and all of my missiles & hacking drones miss their drone control while their boarding drone flies right past my defense drone to land in my bridge and grind my engi pilot to a fine synthetic paste. Suddenly I'm dead in the water figuratively. And then I'm dead in space, literally, as soon as the drone surge happened.
Like, the number of unlikely percentage events necessary for me to die like that was extremely FTL, baby.
That last bar though...
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
1) Putting them in sub-systems wastes the power bonus they give
2) When facing enemies with an ion weapon, if you've got 2 Zoltans, put them both in the shield room. Both will power the shields to 1 shield strength and ion damage cannot disrupt that bonus.
3) If you have many weapons (or need to power balance due to low reactor power), Zoltans are not good manning the Weapon systems. This is because their power bonus goes to the weapon in slot 1. So if you have a high power req weapon in slot 1, then you might not have enough power if you want to power that one down and use another weapon, this is because the game will try to allocate power to that first slot before it lets you activate anything else. So if you do have a Zoltan on weapons, make sure weapon 1 is a guaranteed I-will-use-this weapon.
Steam, Warframe: Megajoule
I bought a Hacking System and launched it at the enemy's shield, but it didn't seem to do anything besides locking the doors...
Edit:
Yeah no, this hacking drone fucking sucks. It doesn't do ANYTING. Don't buy it...
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
What? No. Hacking is great. You have to shoot it at a room, and then activate it. The effect depends on the target.
Doors = lock all doors
Oxygen = deplete oxygen
Shield = deplete shields
Weapons = deplete weapon charge
Pilot = 0% evade and can't jump
Engine = lower evade (I think) and can't jump
After you activate it works for a while and then it's on cooldown like mind control.
That's it, I'm done with this game. Good thing that's not fucking explained when you buy the system.
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
o_O
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
I don't have to activate my mind control after targeting a room. Neither do I have to activate weapons after targetting a room.
Not to mention that the "click here to activate" button, as you call it, is the same button you use to send out the drone. How are you supposed to know that you have to activate the drone in the first place? Whenever enemies use it the drone activates periodically. How was I supposed to know that's not how it works?
I don't mind a challenge. Having an entire run shot down by non-existent explanations is bullshit.
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
So. Mantis B run. Killed the crew of every ship I came across.
Made one fatal mistake. Can anyone identify it?
Lost a Zoltan and a Mantis in phase 1, otherwise I was just sick in how efficient I was.
After running out of bombs and being unable to get a boarding drone inside the ship, it was pretty much all downhill. Still, it was a good run!
I had a Pike Beam, Pegasus Missiles and the Mk 2 Burst Laser, plus 3 bars of shield and 40 or so evasion chance.
I banked on the Hacking Drone disabling at least 2 shield bars - all opponents in the sector had 3 shield bars. Then I could've just Burst lasered them and followed up with the Pike Beam.
As the Hacking Drone didn't do anything I had to switch power to my Pegasus Missile. Alas, I didn't even get one shot off before they went through my shields with chain-ions and damaged my weapon systems. They keep suppressing my weapons and also take out my engines with their barrage of ions and regular lasers. I manage to get away with almost no hull. The next encounter kills me.
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
To my first three wins in the last two days. And I unlocked zoltan, federation, mantis, and lanius.
The last victory (still on easy) was actually a breeze. The rebel mothership hardly even hurt me. I was in Zoltan A ship and had:
- Cloaking
- Stealth Weapons
- Pre-Ignitor
- Breach Bomb II
- Halbard
- Chain Laser II
- Mind Control
- Defense Drone II
Seriously it was a breeze. That was incredibly lucky, but I think it might be time to bump it up to normal mode.
I'm pretty sure they're not the same button. You cluck the hack icon to choose a room and launch a hack tool. After it hopefully successfully lands, you use the power button to activate it. That power button is also used by the backup battery. As was said though, a lot of the fun here lies in finding new stuff, trying it out and figuring out how it works. Flaking doesn't say (as far as I can remember) that firing weapons will disrupt it. I lost my first rebel fight using it because I didn't realize that. I learned quickly and did better on the next run. I also didn't know that slugs can't be mind controlled. Do now though after an unpleasant run through their nebula.
Actually, the game tells you in a few ways. When you look at hacking on the ship power screen, it tells you that it locks doors and gives you the ability to temporarily disable or disrupt systems. It also tells you again, with more information when you are targeting where you want to send the drone. After launching the hacking drone, the launch icon changes, which you can then mouse over to see how you use it. Even if you didn't notice this, you should have noticed that the attachment to the hacking system is the exact same as the attachment to the door system. Which is something you have to activate. Failing all of this, you should have opened your keybinds and noticed that they keybind for hacking says "start hacking"... at which point you would have hit the button again to test it. You could have done any of these while under no stress because you are paused.
Anyway, if you are trying out a system you haven't tried out before, you probably shouldn't make assumptions about it. Had you not bought hacking and your first missile missed, you would have been in the exact same situation where you got chain ioned.
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
...welp, that would explain why I couldn't get the mastery achievement with the Lanius ship.
Games: Ad Astra Per Phalla | Choose Your Own Phalla
However, she unlocked the Kestrel B and the Fed Cruiser in one run, so I still call it a major success.
And so begins the adventures of cruiser Spaceball One, with loyal crew Lone Star, Yogurt, Screwb, and Barf.
I wanted to use the sillier names.