I hate the Crystal A!

[Dunston_Checks_In]

First post, but I have to get this off my chest. I've unlocked and beaten the game (on easy because I'm lame) with every A, B and C ship EXCEPT the Crystal A. I just can't get on with this ship. Part of the problem is I think that it bores me to death and I struggle to remain interested enough in playing it to grind as much as I would normally do. But I also hate the layout. And I hate those Crystal weapons. It doesn't usually seem to crop up on worst ship lists but I can't stand it. Give me the Engi B or Stealth C every time. Does anybody else feel the same or am I mad? Why can't I win with this thing?!

[stylesrj]

I disagree. The Crystal weapons go through a layer of shields and you can fire a lot more into the enemy ships than say the Rock B.

I've also done a No-Pause Run using it because it had the right combination of firepower and versatility required that couldn't be done with a boarding ship like the Crystal B.

You're just suffering from a case of Bad Luck.

[Leylite]

Basically the problem with Crystal A is that, since the weapons are slow, the enemy will always get the first shot in sector 1 no matter what.

To compensate, it has one of the strongest damage potentials at 4 damage to a 1-shielded ship. This means the weapons remain decently powerful punches at the end of a laser volley for the entire game, so you really only need a few shield-breakers or ion weapons or something. However, yeah, I agree that for "punch" weapons crystals are pretty underwhelming compared to heavy/hull lasers or beams, just because the breach and stun chances are so unreliable.

The nice thing about Crystal A is that if you buy a teleporter you basically don't need any other boarding support to deal with medbays/clonebays, since Lockdown keeps crewmen from retreating to medbays or running in to keep your boarders from punching down weapons or clonebays.

Starting with 40 scrap store credit from selling the Crystal Vengeance isn't too bad either.

So, overall I'd say it's about equal to the Kestrel A, if maybe a bit awkward to use the crew, but has some late-game potential even with the starter weapons. Definitely not my favorite ship either, but I'd say it has a much better rate of winning the game than Engi B or Stealth C.

[Dunston_Checks_In]

Fair play. I think I just got stuck in a rut with it. Finally managed to win with it after an amazing run through this evening. The damn thing was a monstrous invulnerable killing machine before the end of sector 5 and I minced the flagship with barely a hit point lost!

[stylesrj]

See, told you it was a case of Bad Luck.