Stealth A: How the HELL do I use this thing?!

[Terminus Paragon]

I suck with this ship.

When I first tried to use it, I was down to 9 Hull after 2 battles. TWO BATTLES.

Now I've tried again with it; got to Sector 2 and was screwed over in a battle with a Zoltan Pirate.

I even found a shop with shields, but it's way too expensive. The way I see it, the Stealth A has the worst start in the whole game.

Considering I want to be able to at least get the Stealth B (which I hear is somewhat better), I was wondering if any of you have any tips on how to survive the first few sectors with this maddening thing.

[jhmgrose]

My first piece of advice is to use the Long-Ranged Scanners to see if you can avoid any fights. Secondly, use that cloak when you especially see missiles coming at you. You're in for a world of hurt if you don't cloak at the right time.

[The Captain]

My first piece of advice is to use the Long-Ranged Scanners to see if you can avoid any fights. Secondly, use that cloak when you especially see missiles coming at you. You're in for a world of hurt if you don't cloak at the right time.

You don't want to avoid fights - you need to acquire scrap to get shields. But learning when to cloak is very important. Pause often - if an enemy has two weapons, even if they don't fire at the same time, but one right after the other, you might be able to cloak both shots. Also, does a shot look like it's going to hit weapons? If not, you could tank it. And before shields, heavy lasers are worse than Leto missiles. Put your Dual Laser in the first slot, so a hit to weapons doesn't take it out.

Considering I want to be able to at least get the Stealth B (which I hear is somewhat better)....

Who told you that? It does have a weapon you can use all game, but it only starts with that one, which has a huge cooldown - and, of course, no shields.

[GDK]

Just beat the game on normal with it.
It's the best of the 3 stealth ship (Well I have a soft spot for the C but objectively he is not better).

Cloak when the enemy shoot and aim at the weapon with dual laser and mini beam (use it a the same time because their cooldown is not synchronized enough to hit the enemy ship).

[5thHorseman]

1. Cloak when they fire. Wait for them to fire both weapons if you can. Learn the timings on the common weapons, at least.
2. Upgrade your cloak the first chance you get, and then you can cloak right away and not rely on your 80% dodge.
3. Volley your shots. Fire the lasers, and when the shields are down mini beam as many rooms as you can. You can always hit 3 rooms, but 4 is frequently possible. Try to hit both weapons and shields. Know how much power the enemy guns have and try to take those down to 0 if you can.

Those 3 things will easily get you through sectors 1 and 2. By sector 3 you should hopefully have a shield (sell that Titanium casing for it, so it only costs 85 scrap) and a better weapon. Then you've got a ship that's about like any other ship except it's got a cloak and awesome dodge.

[The Captain]

@OP: It hasn't been explicity said, but I hope you're not using the autofire button. You need to fire the laser first, pause when shields are down, then use the beam.

[Levgre]

In the first sector, when you are facing enemies with one shield, you can very often completely disable their weapons with one volley. Shoot duel lasers at weapons, then Mini-Beam it... more often 2, sometimes 1 damage. On hard difficulty I've taken only 2 hull damage in the first 2 sectors with Stealth A, which is tough to do with almost any other ship. Of course sometimes I take 50%+ so the average is pretty normal, there are a few battles that are tough to deal with, any glaive beam is gonna hurt big.

[LostAlone]

Yeah I'm going to have to agree with the other guys here - The Stealth A is not a bad ship.

However -

There are some situations that can be a big problem for the Stealth ships. Beam drones especially will cause you tears of rage and pain.

But the thing is that it's really not that hard to save up for shields, and through sector 2 you can absolutely make do with just one level of them. You use the cloak to dodge shots. As in, you wait for their gun to fire, pause, then hit cloak, and the shots miss the majority of the time.

This is RADICALLY better than just cloaking to get a few seconds off your weapon charge. On the stealth B you can reasonably get a full charge off the Glaive by dodging like this. It buys you a huge amount of time. Once you get lvl 2 cloak you can do better than a traditional shielded ship simply because they can't hit you.

But you do have weaknesses. Beams hurt. Beam drones hurt a lot. Regular drones will do damage. But you only need to survive to sector 2. If you get cut up, start over, you only lose a few minutes at a time. And once you get the hang of it you won't have that big a deal.

For me, Stealth A is my go to ship. Once you master using the cloak you'll have a good time with it. In fact I'm enough of a convert that I always push for an early cloak in almost every other run. Avoiding damage, boarding, hacking - All kinds of nasty crap - Makes for a nice smooth run with more excess scrap.

[MushrooMars]

Stealth A is a beautiful ship. When I first got it, I passed it off as completely useless because it has no shields. But ever since learning the secrets of Evasion Chance and split-second Cloaking, it is arguably one of the best ships. Then again, in FTL, there really is no "best ship" if you're being creative.

Anyways, my tips~
1. In the first sector, *always* target enemy Weapon Systems first. Do not target shields at all, nor piloting or engines. In the first few sectors, dodge chance is so low that unless you're really unlucky, all of your shots will hit, with the Dual Laser taking down shields and (hopefully) dealing damage to Weapons, while the Minibeam takes out their second weapon if they have one. Drones are a bit more dangerous, but one cloak should be sufficient to disable any offensive drones. Then, if they still have any hull left, you can take out Piloting or Engines to guarantee your safety.
2. Upgrade your Cloak and Weapons before you buy shields. Believe it or not, you can survive (and prosper) on Level 4+ Engines, a Level 3 Cloak and a nice set of weapons. That third weapon slot should not be filled with a Vulcan or a Burst III the first chance you get, but rather a cheap 1-2 power weapon that you can start using immediately once you get it. Even a Basic Laser is better than nothing, because it allows you to get past those nasty Double Shields consistently. Once you have 3 basic weapons, you can usually carry the ship to Sector 5-6 while you buy new systems, like Shields, Hacking and (if you're filthy rich), Drones. Missiles are nice, but I find that two shiny lasers and a Mini Beam are enough to deal with most enemies.
3. You shouldn't be taking damage. One of the reasons the Nisos seems to have such bad stats (Only 3 Weapon Slots, Two Drones and pretty meager starting Augs), is because its playstyle allows you to mostly avoid repair costs. Use that dodge chance and Cloaking to minimize damage, even if it means extending a fight. Avoid Asteroid Fields, Ion Storms and Pulsars at all costs; Red Giants aren't so bad though. Also, that Titanium System Casing - because of this playstyle - is completely useless. Keep it until you can sell it for a nice sexy Glaive Beam or a Shield Systems, and don't feel guilty about getting rid of it.