Stealth ship is garbage

[Maze1125]

I agree with you. But with your starting weapons you have a beam weapon and a dual laser. The dual laser is your only hope of getting through shields (and most enemies start with 1-2 shields) leaving you a small window to beam their shields first so you can dish out more damage.

This is your problem. Stop going for the shields first. Doing damage faster isn't as important and stopping them from doing damage to you. Target their weapons (or drones if those are killing you) and keep up the assault, only hit the shields if you can hit them at the same time as the weapons.

The stealth ship does have a harder start than most ships, but it is still quite viable.

[Pilgrim of Domina]

Ya i guess that's another problem. I haven't seen the emp bomb once yet with this ship which would help significantly. The RNG is too great to give a ship a specific role for this game as it is. i.e. Missile boats, stealth ships, drone ships. You can pick the drone ship setup and get missiles all day with no new drones.

Already done that.
Lots of power for drones... never find a single MKII drone. Find 4 Pegasus missile launchers instead... all before I could find a merchant to even sell one of them. Can't power the Missles, never find upgraded drones. Gameover.

[XIIGage]

I agree with you. But with your starting weapons you have a beam weapon and a dual laser. The dual laser is your only hope of getting through shields (and most enemies start with 1-2 shields) leaving you a small window to beam their shields first so you can dish out more damage.

This is your problem. Stop going for the shields first. Doing damage faster isn't as important and stopping them from doing damage to you. Target their weapons (or drones if those are killing you) and keep up the assault, only hit the shields if you can hit them at the same time as the weapons.

The stealth ship does have a harder start than most ships, but it is still quite viable.

But i have nothing to hit weapon systems directly with. You have to hit the shields first or you won't damage anything is the issue. Unless they only have 1 shield strength, then you can hit the shield and (hope) to hit the weapon system with the 2nd laser and then beam it. Either way, like i said in my previous post, their is TOO much rng to have ships pigeon-holed into a specific role it seems. You are better off picking a generalized ship and adapting to what the game gives you. That's how i was beating it with the kestrel, engi, fed cruiser anyway.

I really want to give the stealth ship a chance but it's too frustrating with the choices (or lack thereof) i can make.

[vince0018]

Here's an LP video of someone playing using the stealth ship. Though he's no expert, he seems to do relatively well.
Maybe seeing how someone else does it might help you formulate your own strategy better for that ship.

When I first heard of the stealth ship my initial reaction was that I was going to avoid using it, but after
watching the video I think I might give it a try; after unlocking it that is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhUqb0sJQBM&feature=plcp

[Gorlom]

I agree with you. But with your starting weapons you have a beam weapon and a dual laser. The dual laser is your only hope of getting through shields (and most enemies start with 1-2 shields) leaving you a small window to beam their shields first so you can dish out more damage. Then after that you have to choose between attacking the weapons control or drone control, all while keeping the shield systems down.

While this is the norm for most fights, the fact that you don't have shields mean the drones tear you up (1 damage every 2-3 seconds?) and you wind up leaving a single fight with half hull. For my last few playthroughs I get to about sector 5-6 before the enemies get too strong. And if you focus on getting evasion/stealth to avoid damage then by sector 5 you don't have any money in new weapons and won't deal any damage at all.

why do you start with beaming their shields? Use the beam on their drone and/or weapons system. The only reason for going for shields first would be if you got the time to do that or if you can't bring the weapons system all the way down in X volleys, so that going shields first and then weapons results in less damage.

I agree with you. But with your starting weapons you have a beam weapon and a dual laser. The dual laser is your only hope of getting through shields (and most enemies start with 1-2 shields) leaving you a small window to beam their shields first so you can dish out more damage.

This is your problem. Stop going for the shields first. Doing damage faster isn't as important and stopping them from doing damage to you. Target their weapons (or drones if those are killing you) and keep up the assault, only hit the shields if you can hit them at the same time as the weapons.

The stealth ship does have a harder start than most ships, but it is still quite viable.

But i have nothing to hit weapon systems directly with. You have to hit the shields first or you won't damage anything is the issue. Unless they only have 1 shield strength, then you can hit the shield and (hope) to hit the weapon system with the 2nd laser and then beam it. Either way, like i said in my previous post, their is TOO much rng to have ships pigeon-holed into a specific role it seems. You are better off picking a generalized ship and adapting to what the game gives you. That's how i was beating it with the kestrel, engi, fed cruiser anyway.

I really want to give the stealth ship a chance but it's too frustrating with the choices (or lack thereof) i can make.

Hit the weapons system with the beam... directly. Th laser i for lowering the shield and the beam for damaging the systems. Start with damaging their offensive systems instead of the defensive ones. you can always get through the shield again as long as they don't damage your system.

[Durus]

Stealth ship is cheapest to repair. So while it takes damage it's also the cheapest to fix.
Early fights against drone ships tend to be pretty painful if they have attack drones, otherwise it does ok.
it's got the worst beam weapon in the game at the start, so you need to knock out shields first, i usually let the two starter weapons charge to full, fire lasers to get those shields down and then beam thru what ever i have determined the priority system is.
sometimes i stealth at the start of the fight so i get the first shot, sometimes i let them shoot then stealth to get the higher evade while returning fire.
I've gotten to final sector using the starter weapons and some random missile i got. boss smashed me of course.
oh and upgrade to tier 3 stealth asap if you're stealth ship. the extra time will help a lot.

[Sledge Hammer]

The only time I saw the boss yet when using the stealth ship.
I was only going for the pacifist achievement, and to go to sector 8 without going into solar flares or asteroid fields.

Even though I was not fighting at all I got quite some srcap just for flying through the sectors fast and could update my ship a bit.
The Boss of course smashed me because I had installed much weapons or stuff.

Still it was a lot of fun.

[Simbert]

The stealth ship is very viable, if you use it right. For example, investing in engines or stealth first is not a smart idea. You want guns, large guns. Try getting them at stations, or wherever. It does not even really matter what kind of guns they are, practically everything works. Your goal in any fight is to knock out their weapons system with your first salva. Dodge their first salva with cloak. You then have plenty of time to focus their shields after they cant shoot at you anymore.

Fire dual lasers, blast lasers etc first on that system to take out their shields, then use beam weapons on as many vital rooms as possible while hitting the weapons/drones. You want shields at some point, but those are pretty expensive, so you can probably get them at about sector 4-5. Guns are more important in the beginning.

[H@buster]

I find the stealth ship to be quite viable, even though it has a damn hard start compared to the engi cruiser, for example.

Just wait for both weapons to be charged, then fire the dual lasers and cut through a few rooms - preferrably their weapons, since you don't start with shields. Speaking of which, getting shields is pretty high priority IMO.
50% dodge chance is nice and all, even achievable at the end of the game, but without a shield you'll still die in a matter of seconds.

With shields up, you won't even need to upgrade any other systems for some time, except the weapons system maybe.
Also, shields stop those pesky drones tearing up all your systems. Those are a huge problem for the stealth ship, so I generally tend to shoot down their drone systems first.

And while, with enough offensive power, it's nice to begin a fight with stealth, I found it to be most useful to dodge rockets or bombs. But that's with me getting shields ASAP.

Upgrading stealth only becomes necessary when you encounter the flagship OR if you try to go for a shieldless glass cannon, at least that's my experience.

EDIT: Almost forgot: Don't try to dodge fights in the early sectors, since not going into fights will yield you less scrap, making you weaker on the long run.