Subset Games Forum

Now, I am a really weird case.
I have almost all the ships, including the Crystal Cruisers (only Slug B and Stealth B left).
I can deal with the first and the second (DRONE HELL!) wave on the flagship.
I always freaking die on the third.
Any tips?

Maybe first describe your average ship, upgrades, crew and strategy, and in what shape you usually reach stage 3.

That is a weird situation. The Drone Phase is generally the hardest of the 3.

Average ship? I tend to go with either the Kestrel B, the Zoltan B or the Crystal B.
I tend to upgrade shields first and foremost (should be level 2 by sector 2), engines (level 3), buy cloaking and ocasionally buy a new weapon, upgrading the weapon system when necessary. If I have enough scrap to buy drones, I go after Defense Drone Mk I and Anti-Ship Drone Mk I.
Crew is composed of generally at the starting crew, one Engi (sometimes Human) and one Mantis (sometimes Rock).
I tend to get the Pike Beam fairly often, and go after a Burst Laser Mk II when I seem them. However, if I am boarding, I go after a Heal Burst.
That's my strategy. Can get through sectors with ease, but for the love of God I cannot defeat the flagship. Especially that goddamn Regenerating Super Shield.

I guess what we're (or at least I'm) hoping for is the ship you tend to go into the 3rd phase with. Is it beat to hell from phase 2? Pristine?

Do you pause the game with space? Are your engines at 3 when you're fighting the boss (they should be at least at 5 if not higher)? When taking down the super shield with your pike beam, are you still trying to hit as many rooms as possible (it counts even though you're not hitting them)?

Do you have defense drones, a cloak, and/or a teleporter? Those go a long way in the boss stages, and a teleporter is a good idea just in general. Cloaking at level 3 right as the missiles are about to hit you can frequently make it last all the way through the super laser shots. Cloaking at level 1 during the subsequent phases can keep you from getting hit by the lasers through the rest of the battle.

Teleporting into the missile room to kill the guy and take out the missiles can go a long way in *all 3* stages, and if you do it in stage 1 you only have to take out the room in stages 2 and 3.

If all else fails, a defense drone (or 2, if you space them at opposite sides of your ship) can provide spotty coverage against those pesky missiles.

If I may humbly suggest, I've beaten the game on camera with every ship in the game (and a few mods) on Normal and while I get into (and out of) some sticky situations, for the most part I walk over the final boss because I stick to what I've said above. Check out my thread here.

GPuzzle wrote:Average ship? I tend to go with either the Kestrel B, the Zoltan B or the Crystal B.

I think we need to know where your systems and equipment loadout are at when you face the boss.

I tend to upgrade shields first and foremost (should be level 2 by sector 2), engines (level 3), buy cloaking and ocasionally buy a new weapon, upgrading the weapon system when necessary. If I have enough scrap to buy drones, I go after Defense Drone Mk I and Anti-Ship Drone Mk I.
Crew is composed of generally at the starting crew, one Engi (sometimes Human) and one Mantis (sometimes Rock).
I tend to get the Pike Beam fairly often, and go after a Burst Laser Mk II when I seem them. However, if I am boarding, I go after a Heal Burst.
That's my strategy. Can get through sectors with ease, but for the love of God I cannot defeat the flagship. Especially that goddamn Regenerating Super Shield.

Healing Burst is a waste of a slot and ammo, IMO. Improve your teleporter and medbay instead, level two each. L3 teleporter, if you have another boarding team. If you're using bombs, I like Ion Bomb, Breach Bomb Mk II, and Small Bomb, though with the last one, you need better weapon companions.

As far as getting through, it sounds like you need more shots: burst lasers Mk I if you can't get Mk II; ion weapons are very good at getting through Zoltan Shields (a couple of Ion Blasts, or an Ion Blast Mk II, or Bomb). Offensive drones help with the Zoltan Shield, too, but after it's down, I like weapons I can aim (you don't want to hit your boarders, if any).

Cloak during the super powers. Only use level 1 or it won't come off cooldown in time for the second shot. Defense drones help a ton on the flagships. Then you need fire power to get through 4 shields, either multiple burst lasers or bombs/missiles. The combo doesn't really matter as long as you can do 2-3 or more pts of damage during a volley, like having double burst mark II's or a pegasus missile to down shields and heavy lasers for dmg or ion bomb to shield then halberd beam etc etc. Specific weapons aren't important as long as you have a way to get around 4 shields. Boarding works great if you kill those isolated weapon rooms. If you cloak during the super weapon and have 3 shields and 4 or 5 engines and a defense drone you take very little dmg on phase 3. Phase 2 is definitely harder.

Weird, just beat it recently with the Mantis B and, on the run after that, with the Federation A...
Seems like I needed to upgrade my engines...