Post your best ship setup

[samseng813]

Sorry if any feel offended.
I think obviously some ships among these screenshot are playing modded game for reduce difficulty.
I am saying "some" because there are 1 or 2 ships among these screenshot actually didn't mod the game.

Back to topic,

Weapon : Fire/Breach Bomb, any multishot laser, ion weapon
Subsystem : Drone/Cloak + Teleporter

Minimum stat to be GOOD in my standard.
Dodge 40%, Shield Max, Weapon 6, Door 3, Sensor 2, O2 2

[Fangz]

Sorry if any feel offended.
I think obviously some ships among these screenshot are playing modded game for reduce difficulty.
I am saying "some" because there are 1 or 2 ships among these screenshot actually didn't mod the game.

I don't know which screenshots you are referring to, but here is my stats screen.



The screenshot I posted is from my #4 top score, victory on normal difficulty with the Kestrel A.

I don't think anyone is going to be offended by what you have said, but personally if I had the same suspicion and wanted to express it I'd tell which screenshots and why I think those screenshots come from easy difficulty runs. :)

[Bottlerocket]

Great set-up on your kestrel Fangz- I used a similar one to beat the boss the first time.

Almost identical except I as using the Red Tail and had a cloak instead of a teleporter (great for avoiding power surges) and a small bomb instead of a pegasus.

The key to the build is the halberd beam, though - once you get the shields down it cuts through ships like a hot knife through butter.

It did so much damage that I was actually taken by surprise when the flagship blew apart for the final time

[samseng813]

The best screenshot to see is that ship playing modded game is the "Session Stats" page for that ship run.

Example. Some player can have 120+ beacons jump which lead to the game total score 6K+.
But a normal run with "Jump to Nebula as much as possible" can only bring you slightly more than 100 beacons jump.
Fully upgraded engine + Shield + Cloak + Teleporter at the same time easily the most obvious.

Common sense dictate that we will never have enough power to supply 8 bar engine if we max many system (such as shield and purchased cloak). Having Cloak + Teleporter + MaxShield usually mean not much scrap remain for you to upgrade engine. Plus engine upgrade starting from rank 6 will only give 2-3 % dodge instead of 5%.

Fangz, your game is not modded because you have reasonable resources remain in the end game. 3 bubbles shield and 4 bars engine to beat normal final boss. I call that good job and skilled .

[Fangz]

Great set-up on your kestrel Fangz- I used a similar one to beat the boss the first time.

Almost identical except I as using the Red Tail and had a cloak instead of a teleporter (great for avoiding power surges) and a small bomb instead of a pegasus.

The key to the build is the halberd beam, though - once you get the shields down it cuts through ships like a hot knife through butter.

It did so much damage that I was actually taken by surprise when the flagship blew apart for the final time :D

Thank you, Bottlerocket.

Indeed, a cloak would have helped me a lot to counter power surges. Unfortunately I have never gathered enough resources to buy it when available at the shop.

I had a Small Bomb in my cargo bay, and I actually used it against the second form of the flagship which has a Defense Drone.

The Halberd Beam is a true beast and the hot knife through butter analogy is the exact image for what it does to enemy ships.

I was also taken by surprise when the flagship blew apart (damn you, Halberd Beam). I didn't want to leave my Mantis boarding team behind D:

[UglyMug]

Here's mine.



Dual Burst Lasers, Ion Burst II, Hvy Laser Mk I, Double MkII Attack Drones AND a maxxed artillery beam. Oh god, the raw offensive power. I killed the boss on the last two phases before his first power surge. I'm glad I found all those Zoltans or there's no way I would've been able to power it all. Even then I had to fight with 2 shield bubbles and 5 bars in engines. Jesus that ship was nuts.

Had I used borders on that last boss, even if I maxxed the teleporter (screw diverting any energy to that nonsense). I probably would've had to power down the drones just so my boarders could've gotten back before the cooldown was up.

Common sense dictate that we will never have enough power to supply 8 bar engine if we max many system (such as shield and purchased cloak). Having Cloak + Teleporter + MaxShield usually mean not much scrap remain for you to upgrade engine. Plus engine upgrade starting from rank 6 will only give 2-3 % dodge instead of 5%.

Dodge becomes more efficient the more shots are being fired at you. That's what makes engines such a good buy for the final boss. Max engines, leave shields at 3 bubbles. Also the reason why it diminishes is because evade becomes better and better the more you have.

Hypothetical scenario.

A ship with 0% evade. There's an upgrade which gives 20% evade - the ship now takes 20% less damage.
Another ship with 60% evade gets the same upgrade - the ship now takes 50% less damage.

Engines diminish in percentage, but they're still very much worth the scrap to max them. 4 shields, 45% evade is an inferior defensive setup to 3 shields, 55% evade. It's part of the reason why everyone thinks they need to use boarders on the last boss. Focus on offense, battering helm and shields in that order, get some attack drones if you can find any, double attack drones if possible, get your evade up, and the boss drops very quickly and painlessly. People are too scared of that missile pod for some reason I can't really understand.

[Fangz]

Fully upgraded engine + Shield + Cloak + Teleporter at the same time easily the most obvious.

Common sense dictate that we will never have enough power to supply 8 bar engine if we max many system (such as shield and purchased cloak). Having Cloak + Teleporter + MaxShield usually mean not much scrap remain for you to upgrade engine. Plus engine upgrade starting from rank 6 will only give 2-3 % dodge instead of 5%.

I must confess, samseng, that some screenshots in this thread made me scratch my head and ask to myself "how is that possible?".

However, I'll wait till I have enough knowledge in this game to be able to tell what is possible and what is not in a normal difficulty run.

Maybe one day I'll be able to get 633 extra scrap to share among my crew after a victory o.O (I've never flown the Mantis Cruiser B, so I have no Idea if this is possible or not).

[Madhax]

No screenshot, but I got some great luck with the Noether (Zoltan B) ship on my last run. Normal mode.

By the end of the game, my weapon set up, if memory serves, was an Ion Blast, an Ion Blast mkII, an Ion Bomb, and a Halberd beam. I was also able to acquire both the weapon pre-igniter and the automated reloader, meaning my ion storm was both immediate and extremely fast. I could shred any ship with ease, knocking out their shields and weapons right away before sawing away with my Halberd.

Pretty sure I ended the game with 3-4 shield bubbles, 48-51% dodge, fully maxed weaponry, cloak, etc. Didn't need a teleporter, had one anyway with a couple mantis. Took out one of the boss's phases (I think the third, don't exactly remember) before my Zoltan bubble had even crumbled, it was hilarious.

[Svankensen]

Fully upgraded engine + Shield + Cloak + Teleporter at the same time easily the most obvious.

Common sense dictate that we will never have enough power to supply 8 bar engine if we max many system (such as shield and purchased cloak). Having Cloak + Teleporter + MaxShield usually mean not much scrap remain for you to upgrade engine. Plus engine upgrade starting from rank 6 will only give 2-3 % dodge instead of 5%.

Then you havent played a 3 srcap arm boarder run. And dude, having more systems than power is quite reasonable. Power Juggling is a fundamental skill for easily beating the last boss.

I maxed all systems in my "Living of the land" game. It obviously didnt have teleport, cloaking nor drones, but i maxed everything else, from sensors to the artillery beam, including O2 and healing bay, and wound up with 70 scrap, and that was in a run without any boarding whatsoever, in normal difficulty. So its perfectly possible to get lots of scrap for maxing a lot of systems. My personal best is 2218.

[samseng813]

True, I never played any 3 scrap arms ship. In fact, Scrap Arm is quite rare to me.
I never rich with scraps. Usually beating normal flagship and my total scrap is around 1600-1800(Jump around 90).
Not to mention my fuel usually between 0-3 when I make my final jump to Last Stand.

Back to Main Topic. I love to use Fire/Ion bomb on flagship.
Firebomb serve like an alternate boarding squad. While my 2 crews board on flagship Rocket system. The firebomb burning the Laser system at the same time.

There is once I have Heavy Ion and Ion Blast 1. Surprisingly effective to blast the flagship shield till Max 1 bubble.