What is your favourite ship - and why?

[5thHorseman]

Just tried it now and made it to the last sector I absolutely agree on the fourth mantis, Maybe even getting a rock crew member? Thats what was working for me anyways. Thanks for the help!!

You're welcome, glad I could help

And yeah, my 5th crew member, whatever he or she happens to be, generally ends up on the away team. I've even sent my Engi over just for fun. It's just that Mantises are preferred

[Captain_obvious]

The Osprey and the Torus would be close contenders, but my favourite is definitely the Red-Tail. It starts with a weapon loadout that is viable for the entire first half of the game, and the basic lasers will complement almost any other weapon you find, which eases the RNG pain a lot. You start with two humans, who you can park on pilot and engines and let them level, a Zoltan for extra power and a Mantis to help repel boarders. It definitely has one of the best layouts, and it's by far the easiest ship to vent, with five rooms with external doors distributed evenly around the ship.

[Nexter]

The Torus is easily my favorite. I'm a huge fan of Ion weaponry, and i love it's change of gameplay, even though it comes with only indirect offensive capabilities. It was probably the first cruiser i got all achievements for, and the first one i won in. I even love the layout of the ship. All-around favorite, gonna be like that for a while.

Mantis B coming up close second. The only thing i like more than Ion weaponry is boarding, and this thing uses it as it's main weapon. I like Mantis, i like the look of Mantis hulls, and i like boarding, so it's no coincidence that i like this. Although i don't think i've actually won with it yet, i still enjoy every bit of the journey to the flagship.

[Dirka]

The Kestrel - it is FTL.

I like most of the other ships (except slugs), but I always come back to this one. It's just got so much character, an old beater with a brave crew of three against the universe. It's the ship I learned to play FTL on.

Game-wise it just works well with everything. Whatever you find, however your build ends up, you'll probably have a nice ship by the end.

It has a special place in my heart, that brave little ship <3

[Levgre]

My favorite is now the Nisos, Federation B. After some success with the Osprey, I started to find it prone to failure/wasteful damage in early zones, vulnerable to system shots and missiles. Now after the first try loss, I'm 3 of 4 with Nisos.

Nisos is better early in a number of ways. Shorter cd laser (and superior to the 1 energy, 2 shot laser you find in stores) and the efficient Leto Missile (in battle, not on your missile count). Having the artillery at level 2 is a significantly better fallback than artillery 1.

Idk if the Leto Missile is underrated, but I find it very useful/versatile and keep it up to the boss some games. I hate basically all other missile weapons and avoid using them if possible (some bombs are okay. The Leto's low power req makes it easy to toggle on and off whenever needed, as a supplementary weapon system. In many battles you are fine without it and can rely on artillery, so it fits well as a little extra oomph vs certain enemies (primarily high offense ones, where you need to damage their weapons quickly)

You even start with one SURPLUS energy, with the Zoltan. Very few (any?) other ships have that edge. So you can do a quick + 2 engine upgrade and handle it fine (with oxygen management). I think with the Zoltan, artillery, and decent weapon systems Nisos just has a lot of starting value.

Sure, 3 crew is sorta a weakness, but that's really all you need to overcome.

Idk if it's just chance, but I seem to get the random event where you go down to the planet and see the aliens a lot, and the Slug lets you automatically get an Engi. Also the madman event seems common. So I get pretty good value out of Slug blues.

[beefinator]

I think the most fun for me is the Noether. those first few sectors, till you get shields... stressful... always on the edge of your seat...

[BlueTrin]

I really like the Zoltans, it is a nice touch that you can max engines first rather than shields.

[Captain Colon]

I can't get enough of Engi A. That Ion Blast II just goes with everything. Right now I have a build where all I do is mind control their pilot and ionize their weapons while a fire drone slowly burns the entire ship down (of course I have regular combat drones for unmanned ships). It takes a ridiculously long time to take out Rock ships since the crew are immune to fire, but they still just can't do anything while it happens and it's silly. I think it's the most evil build I've done so far.

[dyno101]

I have to say, It's gotta be Engi A.

Don't kill me yet! The thing gets past 1-sheilders like a knife through butter and exploration is easy. However, when it gets to a dual shield enemy, *Boom* Death. I'm probably partial to it because I found the Zoltan cruiser with it.
I would choose Zoltan B, but having to pay 120 scrap for shields - for newbies, that's the regular price of a glaive beam, the most powerful beam weapon by far - is just annoying. However, the glaive beam is forever amazing.

[Turbo_Scrooge]

I am weird, cuz i like the stealth crusiers. Specifically, the DA-SR12, because of mega beam. My highest score ever, though, 5213, is SIMO-H