stylesrj wrote:Arthur Dent wrote:But only until your opponent takes out the drone system, which is usually the first thing to happen.
And this doesn't happen on the Cerenkov? They target Weapons first so your drone becomes as useless as the Beam Master?
Repairing is much easier if your crew consists of 4 Zoltan than with a single Engi. At least you can do it without leaving the pilot unmanned.
For the most part, the Cerenkov is played like Engi A, ie it can go very smooth if you aren't too unlucky. Even in hard mode. Only having one single crewmember AND a ridiculous weapon combo (anything with more than 1 shield = impossible to beat, despite 3 energy bars; Heavy Ion = worthless unless/until you have another ion weapon) is much worse. (But still manageable much of the time, again even in hard mode.)
A Shield Depleter + Big Gun works quite well for the first two sectors... first sector if Captain's Edition. But like most ships, you need another damage-dealer.
The important thing about the big gun or at least your ship's weapons system is that it can target the system that needs to die.
A Beam Drone is a crapshoot.
But you have a fast shooting ion weapon. Aim for the weapons system, so the first shot will take down shields and the second at least one enemy weapons. Works quite well as long as your opponent only has 1 shield.
A Combat Drone can get lucky and deliver two shots in rapid succession on the enemy ship, hence why it's better than a Beam Drone which would require even more luck for it to zap more than one room.
On the other hand, a beam drone cannot miss.
A Vortex losing Drone Control isn't as game-ending as a Cerenkov losing the Weapons or the Drones in the first volley.
At least in the first sector, this isn't usually game-ending either. It may cause lots of damage, but unless you get very unlucky (like enemy with shield hacking while you only have one shield + large beam drone), it should work out.
The trick is to keep surviving until you get hold of a proper weapon. Flak 1, BL2, or a Heavy I to add to your ion weapon, something like this. A second Ion weapon will do wonders, too, it can even help you take out enemy systems.
The Cerenkov is a bit difficult to play, that's true. But my winning percentage with the Cerenkov is definitely greater than with the Vortex.
Still, don't fly the Vortex or the Cerenkov. They and the Bulwark have a special circle in Space Hell.
Well, when I start a new profile, I always play to win at least once with every playable ship, in as few playthroughs overall as possible. So I'm not going to avoid any of these three.
BTW, at least in the last 3-4 campaigns (all exclusively in hard mode), I don't think it ever took me more than 3 attempts to win with any ship. Bulwark was still one of the biggest challgenges. On one occasion, I had to play it 5 times. I did beat the boss on the 1st attempt, but and also twice in the next 4 runs, but it somehow took me forever to unlock the shivan. (It's easy in Easy and Normal mode, if you have a firebomb and a teleporter, but in hard mode, the layout of the boss is different and you cannot always get a teleporter or may sometimes be forced to sell your firebomb to surivive)