Subset Games Forum

Hello all,

Started my fifth run. Playing with Engi Cruiser. Cleared first sector and moved onto another. Upgraded shields to 2/4 bars, with enough energy to power them - 12 power bars and that's about it. Got 140 scrap total and at a store. I want this to be a successful run, so I am looking for suggestions. I tried only couple of weapons so far, so can't say I know what I'm buying.

So, the questions.

1. Should I use missiles? Last run I finished with almost 30 missiles, which I couldn't use, nor sell, from what I was able to figure out. If I can not sell them, then I believe it's a waste to just have them. Should I invest into a missile weapon in some future?

2. Right now, at the store, they offer Fire B. for 55 and Pike Beam for 60. Pike Beam sounds nice, IF it hurts hull, as I believe it does. But I am not really that good at micromanaging at shooting right after shields are down, or maybe I just need to practice. Should I but any of these two or just ignore them and wait for something else? What that "something else" might be?

3. What drones should I aim for? Which ones can take down missiles? I believe I am leaning towards Defense I and Attack I drones that use 4 power.

Any other suggestions, weapon combinations and whatever are much appreciated!

Best regards and thanks.

grab the fire bombs, first time i beat the endgame boss i couldn't break his shields so i just kept popping fire bombs into those artillery pods, if he cant shoot you he cant hurt you...as much.

The thing is, I am really afraid to make a purchase when not knowing much about it.

Any other suggestions regarding my questions, guise?

If you have problems timing your shots, try to rely more on the Pause function. To pull it all off in real-time is a very difficult endeavour. If you pause the game regularly, you should have far less problems.

I'd also vote for the Fire Bomb. I find them useful, and you can put you're missiles to good use there. Beams are powerful when they really hit home, but from my experience that doesn't happen to often. I'm probably not too good at using them (I believe that you can actually be successful with any tactic, but not every tactic is equally "handy" for different player types), so your mileage may vary, but I don't like them too much. Except when they're used against me

Of course, you never know what'll come up next, but that's the beauty of FTL. Try everything out and develop your own strategies, there really is no "set" way of doing it. I'd say a Firebomb in your hand is better than whatever great weapon in the bush, but that's just my opinion.

Sinriel wrote:The thing is, I am really afraid to make a purchase when not knowing much about it.

Any other suggestions regarding my questions, guise?

Pick one. People are suggesting the fire bomb, so go with that.
You are right that you don't know how either of them work, but that not really going to change unless you buy one of them and try them out, advice from a forum doesn't go nearly as far as practical experience.

The fire bomb is pretty awesome by the way.

Fire Bomb is handy as long as you don't encounter super shields (zoltan ships have super shields)
But seriously, don't stress too much, I think I've had 10 successful runs on easy out of 50 or so attempts.
Things will happen, you will die. *shrug*
Some runs you think you're going to make it and you don't either due to random events or accidents (carelessness)
Some runs you think you have no hope and you beat the final boss

I am playing on normal since run 1.

Yeah, less chat, more play. Shouldn't be that scared. This run looks way better than any of the previous ones; I wait until the very last move to exit the sector, which leaves me with double the quantity of scrap than I used to make before. 3/4 shields so early makes me quite powerful. Except when the boarding starts... makes me crap my pants.

you know about opening the airlocks and fighting in the medbay when you get boarded?
Also doors upgrade for only 20 scrap. boarders then have to break them down. hopefully you keep them sitting in vacuum the entire time. when they get in to a room, leave it's door open and have your crew run to the medbay.
usually by the time they get to my medbay they're at 25% health.

beam weapons require a laser to help break through the shields. You should not use autofire. Let both beams fully charge then fire lasers to weaken the shields. Do not fire the beam at the same time as the lasers, because the beam is instant hit and will be blocked by shields before those lasers arrive.
What I do is fire the lasers and as soon as they hit, I pause the game. Check to make sure the shield was hit, and wasn't missed, then fire the beam. A single beam can hit multiple rooms and some do tremendous damage. Draw the line to hit as many rooms as possible. Everyroom that red line goes through will take damage.

Also, if you have a beam that does more than 1 damage per hit it can partially penetrate shields.

The halberd beam does 2 damage per room hit. If they have one shield up, you can still fire it and it will do just 1 damage per room. But if they have 2 or more shields, it will be negated entirely.

The Glaive beam is even more powerful, it does 3 damage per room hit. That can one shot most random encounters if you knock out their shielding first. 3x4 rooms hit is 12 damage.

Did not want to open a new topic, so I'm gonna post here.

This is a completely new run.

Here is the situation were I need help:



I got Glaive Beam and Halberd beam in stock, got them via events. The thing is, I don't use them, because my current set-up works flawlessly: Ion Blast and Attack Drone to take down shields, Heavy Laser I to wipe their weapons out, so they are completely toothless, and that's about it. They are going down. My plan is probably to upgrade drones, to be able to use both at the same time and it's an overkill then. I am cutting through enemy lines like it's butter.

Now, I know these two weapons I'm considering selling are two best beam weapons in the game, but it's just that I am not that fond of beam weapons, plus got a set-up I already like. And I can make more than 100 scrap by selling them.

The question is... will I need Glaive Beam later in the game - is it a must? Is my set-up going to be good enough late game, with little upgrades with drones?

As you can see, I got cloak, shields are going to upgraded soon as well, so defensively, I am cool.

Just wondering whether selling that Glaive Beam is a mistake in the long run.