Your "Holy Crap" moments

[The Captain]

So I bought a Flak Gun Mk I at a store, and the next jump ...


Holy crap!

Then, later in the run ...


Holy crap!!

Now, I'm not that big a fan of the Mk II, as it's so slow - I much prefer the Mk I. But it was spoils of war, with potential for selling.

But I figured, what the hell, let's go all in ...


HOLY CRAP!!! 4 HP LEFT!!!!

I had a Zoltan Shield (and Virus), too. I never found a store late, so I had a Glaive Beam and Burst Laser Mk I in the hold, as well as Long Range Scanners, that I would have sold off.

[stylesrj]

Huh, I once was flying the Shrike and I decided that after my first Fire Beam I'd try a Lanius Fire Beam Boarding Strategy...
So I was in the Slug Homeworlds and I found a store selling Long Range Scanners (yay! Take that plasma storms!) and a Fire Beam. I had a bit of Scrap for it so I bought it thinking it'd be great. Now I had a Fire Beam, Advanced Flak and a Dual Chain Laser. Perfect.

Then I jumped to the next beacon. Some pirate was selling an unknown weapon for 45 Scrap. "Alright! I can just fight this Zoltan-shielded dude and try out my new dual Fire Beams" when I saw a blue option with my Mind Control. "Meh, chances are he'll fight me anywaaaahhhh!"

He was selling a Glaive Beam for 45 Scrap! Good thing I had just enough or I'd miss out on the deal (If you don't take the offer, isn't it that you don't get into a fight and you let the smuggler go. It's been a while since I last checked) and at the next store (which was 1-jump away from the other store) I sold my Fire Beams. I know I wasted Scrap getting one but heck, I'd rather have a Glaive Beam take out the enemy's shield system or weapons in one sweep rather than wait for a fire to do it.

Not as good as finding a Glaive Beam floating in space but considering how unfair a Slug nebula is...

[FederationScumX1999]

Beating the game with Stealth C on Hard in vanilla FTL AE.

[MASH_SPACEBAR]

My biggest "Holy Crap" moment came when I was flying the Tektite.
I found an explosives replicator as an reward for bailing some dude out of a fight
I then found another Swarm Missile launcher floating in space, and I sold the Heavy Crystal.
Found two more Swarms in shops on the way to the flagship.
Along with that, I unlocked the Stealth Cruiser, and got Titanium System Casing.

Didn't take a single point of damage fighting the flagship. Defense Drones Don't Do D'anything indeed.

How do you like them triple missiles now, flagship?

[Tezno]

I got 2 vulcans than died at low hull to the engi/mantis fugitive event .-.

another time i got 4 burst laser IIs

[stylesrj]

another time i got 4 burst laser IIs

I can understand 2 Vulcans (rare but doable) but being lucky enough for that? Pics or it didn't happen
It's easier to find 4 Flak I's in a game.

[Turbo_Scrooge]

Beating the game with Stealth C on Hard in vanilla FTL AE.

My highest score is on the SIMO-HORRIBLE (I have no idea how, my 2nd is carnelian and my third is bravias)
and once i beat flagship on hard w/every ship, I switched to the RAD-fleet (awesome mod btw). My highest score then was on Crystal class R (don't ask)

[Turbo_Scrooge]

I was playing my ship mod,the dominator (check it out), which starts with an advanced flak gun. Third jump in: holy crap: flak mark 1 in space. I then proceeded to demolish the flagship with my: adv flak, flak 1, halberd beam, and burst laser 2.

[Aphid]

I've been playing through the Advanced Edition on hard, and have had my fair share of 'holy crap' moments.

1) One run I somehow lost with over 6,400 points on crystal A. It had something to do with the flagship's hacking drone getting past my defense drones, plural, to go and perfectly dance between hacking and cloaking, never letting me get any shots off. I also like maximizing my scrap gains in the last sector as well, so running away is no option, as the flagship is engaged when it's one turn away from killing the Fed base.

2) Why my best run was on the Simo-H at 7,200... Probably something to do with 'multiple scrap collection bonuses and scanners'. Maybe the Simo-H gets you high scores because it starts with pretty bad systems -- you can spend more on upgrades so get more points.

3) Now while lots of lasers, or multiple fire beams, and whatnot can be nasty, my true holy crap moment came when I somehow managed to get my hands on a ship that could use above 8 power worth of weapons. (Flak II, Flak I, Halberd, Halberd, Igniter). Everything up to the flagship that did not have a cloak would melt to it within 10 seconds. Made me realize that the 'best weapon config' probably isn't four burst laser IIs. I'd say it's:

Glaive beam x2, Flak II x2, Preigniter.

14 flak shots + ~24-30 beam damage. Average damage of about 32, with a range of 24-40 against a 4-shield opponent in the first 5 seconds of the fight. Now where's that captain's edition anti-cloak field...

Note that charging up Glaive beams takes 25 seconds, so using the double charge trick will make you take more damage from suns, pulsars, and the like.