My tips list (quite long!)

[Weltall Zero]

I've compiled a list of tips and hints that might help both new and old players of this game, and posted them on NeoGAF, a forum I frequent. If it's OK with everyone, I'll put a link to my post there, so that I only have to update them in one place (I've already updated them twice today).

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.ph ... count=1191

[Skarthe]

A minor nitpick: solar flares do not always give ship combat events. Several times I've had them just give me boarders, with no actual enemy ship.

Aside from that, your list is pretty solid. I've also found that a fast upgrade to a second layer of shields can keep you from taking a lot of damage in the early parts of the game.

[Zalminen]

Heh, I seem to have a very different play style when it comes to cloaking...

I rarely even upgrade cloaking past level 1 as I usually find other uses for the scrap first.
I just activate the cloak right when the enemy fires his most dangerous weapon (usually missile or burst laser) which causes the shot to miss. This usually gives me more than enough time to get in one or two volleys of my own and gain a decisive advantage.

[BKT]

BTW, beam weapon can be fire while cloak without reducing your cloak duration, even without the stealth weapon augment.

[marted]

go into options and you can turn on show beacon paths on hover. Makes it so that you never have to guess what paths you can take.

[Weltall Zero]

A minor nitpick: solar flares do not always give ship combat events. Several times I've had them just give me boarders, with no actual enemy ship.

Yep, I noticed that yesterday . I'll update it with that information.

Aside from that, your list is pretty solid. I've also found that a fast upgrade to a second layer of shields can keep you from taking a lot of damage in the early parts of the game.

Thanks! Yeah, upgrading to level two shields as soon as Sector 1 or 2 does give you a nice advantage, but I kind of guessed that would be more or less obvious to everyone. Should I include it?

Heh, I seem to have a very different play style when it comes to cloaking...

I rarely even upgrade cloaking past level 1 as I usually find other uses for the scrap first.
I just activate the cloak right when the enemy fires his most dangerous weapon (usually missile or burst laser) which causes the shot to miss. This usually gives me more than enough time to get in one or two volleys of my own and gain a decisive advantage.

You do not have to choose between them both; you can wait until the volley (I mostly do that with the flagship's energy surges), then activate a level 3 shield. You evade its attack and get 15 seconds of free weapon charge.

But if I had to pick between both, the 15 second advantage is simply huge. You can safely charge most weapons (even 20 seconds ones, since they have only 5 seconds to charge theirs) and fire a barrage with all of them at once; sometimes this is enough to destroy them outright.

BTW, beam weapon can be fire while cloak without reducing your cloak duration, even without the stealth weapon augment.

I had no idea! I have to include that right away. Thanks a lot!

go into options and you can turn on show beacon paths on hover. Makes it so that you never have to guess what paths you can take.

That's absolutely essential and all my tips assume you have it on. Did I forget to put it there? Damn!

Edit: Well, I didn't:

you absolutely need to turn on the "show jumps on map" option for this.

I guess I could stress this, as it's a crucial piece of advice. I'll put it as a separate tip.

[Klive5ive]

There's one thing about the game mechanics I don't understand (it might be a bug).
Why is it sometimes your FTL bar does not charge?
I was trying to do a passive run (no firing weapons) and ran into a rebel cruiser. For some reason my FTL did not charge. It then happened again on a solar flare system. I had no damage to engines or cockpit and a crew member in both but it just stayed greyed out. Anyone know why?

[boa13]

You had no damage... but did you have power? Maybe for some reason power was set to zero, and you had to turn it on again?