FTL guide to boarding: V1.0

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Agg Shell
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Re: FTL guide to boarding: V1.0

Postby Agg Shell » Wed Apr 03, 2013 3:53 am

Everyone has staded their points about bordig ships. I think it's time to tell you why the Mantis B is still the best.
in sectors 1-2, you are invinvible. Or mostly, anyway. Barely anyone can get past your lvl 2 shields, and having a defence drone is really nice, too.
This ship is also much easier than the crystal b, giving you a 4 man teleporter faster. Also, teleporter near the medbay, pretty nice.
Another great thing, you don't need your mantis pherimones so thats extra scrap, and the bording drone can be scrapped also (usually after sector 1 or 2, when you can efficently deal with AI ships or get a lvl 2 teleporter) so you get so much extra scrap from that, the extra bording goodies, and not needing to buy fuel, giving this ship more scrap then you would ever need. Mantis are fairly common and cheep to buy, being a plus as well. If you find a mantis homeworlds that gets you some nice xp, and a good chance of finishing the event to get this wonderful ship, givig you an extra mantis, and a new shiny weapon which is much needed. This ship makes a safe and effective bording ship, and is all around pretty nice. It also has a very nice air venting pattern, which brings me to a big weakness: If mid-fight your oxegin suply gets damaged and burned, you have to teleport back, put out the fire at a slow rate, repair just as slow, all while the enemy pounds you because it takes so long to vent out air from the airlock to the oxegin that you porbably won't have any air left and you will die.
I will also briefly toutch on the mantis A, which isn't as mad as mentioned in the guide because unlike the mantis B, it can deal with the three areas the mantis B struggles with.
-Medbays, small bomb makes short work of 'em
-Auto scouts, small bomb taking away shields and basic laser taking this ship down is a viable option
-Zoltan shields, takes a while bug you can get through them.
Also, with extra crew to man stations and an engi to actualy repair things, it makes a good first bording ship.
Are you a mantis? Do you lack ships to fight and Zoltans to chew? Look no further! Come to your nearest mantis warcamp in the Zoltan Homeworlds or Zoltan controled sector and ask for a free brochure about how to farm the Zoltan! Results may very.
bargetown
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Re: FTL guide to boarding: V1.0

Postby bargetown » Sat Apr 06, 2013 5:07 pm

It is possible to kill a crew member in a powered medbay but the conditions are pretty specific (this works on regular difficulty). I used a 2 mantis crew in the basilisk so I had the mantis pheromone augmentation.

If you teleport into a room with a single crew member and weaken him quickly, when he start running to the medbay you immediately race there ahead of him. If both of your mantis get there before he does and no one else goes in you will kill the crew member.

You could do variations on this (maybe weakening crew with lasers and suprising the injured crew in the medbay by teleporting in. You would probably need upgraded scanners or a slug crew member to make sure there was only one guy in there though)

This works every time for me so long as I follow all those steps. There's probably other ways to do it though. There's a lot of flexibility in boarding strategies I've found.
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Metzelmax
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Re: FTL guide to boarding: V1.0

Postby Metzelmax » Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:30 am

"+ cheap: a boarding drone only costs 2 power, and uses 1 drone / use."

The boarding drone actually uses 3 power.
Here is the Stuff I made:
ImageImageImageImage
And stuff is always better than no stuff, right?
thezblah
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Re: FTL guide to boarding: V1.0

Postby thezblah » Tue Apr 16, 2013 1:50 am

This is a great guide, however i disagree on a few points:

Rockmen are excellent boarders, however in a one on one fight against a mantis they will always lose, also in a 2 on 1 fight vs most other classes they will lose

Crystal are nice for defense, however their ability can prevent reinforcements from arriving into a room you teleport to as well as prevent the targets from escaping to a med bay (a boon on the final boss). In addition their racial trait allows them to take out oxygen systems on an enemy ship and still be able to beam out in time, as well as be somewhat useful against drones (if your weapons don't cut it)

While crystal are superb, they are rare, if you have the crystal cruiser, you start with 4 crew so by all means man all 4 systems, but when you get another non crystal/rock/mantis crew member assign them to a station that a crystal is manning and use them for boarding

The best combinations i find are:
Crystal + Mantis: the crystal's ability to control the fight and his health make him a great tank, and the mantis' 2x attack goes without saying. I find this combo to use both race's traits the most effectively, and they seem to complement each other fairly well, the crystal can trap enemies in and tank damage while the mantis slaughters the enemy, can win almost any confrontation by forcing it to be 2v1, however if you end up locking them in a room with 2 mantis, be ready to beat a retreat

Crystal + Rock: Great when used with tactics that set ships on fire or empty their air, both can be used to tank, however Do not send this combo against a room that has 2 mantis in it, you will lose

Rock + Mantis: If you have trouble getting a crystal or simply don't like them, this combination is the next best, if you can, try to get the rockman to tank damage from an enemy while the mantis deals it. When facing off against 2 mantis you may have to beat a retreat, but not always. When the enemy you are boarding has a working medbay, if you cannot kill an enemy before they run to it, beam out immediatly, under no circumstances fight an enemy in their medbay!

Mantis + Mantis: This team is the glass-cannon of boarders, they can take down any enemies 2v2, however where they fall short is in extended encounters. If you have no plans to use boarders until the final boss, this team is excellent, as the weapon rooms are disconnected from the rest of the ship, and you can take out the dangerous weapons double-quick, but for most other encounters, if a single mantis is forced to fight 2 opponents consecutively they may die before beating the second one, that is why i recommend pairing a mantis with a tank-type class such as a crystal or rock
kilnborn
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Re: FTL guide to boarding: V1.0

Postby kilnborn » Tue Apr 16, 2013 4:39 am

thezblah wrote:This is a great guide, however i disagree on a few points:

Rockmen are excellent boarders, however in a one on one fight against a mantis they will always lose, also in a 2 on 1 fight vs most other classes they will lose



While this is precisely true, Rockmen with firebombs are about as much better over mantis than mantis are over, say, humans.

Using rockmen as boarders is just so-so, but using rockmen as boarders with the ability to send firebombs into the room they're fighting in make them.... amazing.
966socho
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Re: FTL guide to boarding: V1.0

Postby 966socho » Wed Apr 24, 2013 1:55 am

Well, with Rock-Fire boarding, you're essentially dealing damage on three fronts. Personnel damage from Rockmen punches, Personnel damage from fires, and System Damage from fires.
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Marinealver
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Re: FTL guide to boarding: V1.0

Postby Marinealver » Mon Apr 29, 2013 3:41 pm

in Mantis Vs Rockman, Mantis will win every time. 200% damage trumps 150% health.

Unless the Rockman is fighting in fire which would give it as much damage as a Mantis it is better as a tank. Still a good choice of boarders. Also try and destroy all ship systems before you kill the last crewmember so you can lvl up your fight. Golden Glove Borders is what you want most. Don't be shy in lvling up your teleporter, you may want it sooner then you realize.

I separate my boarding party into 3 tiers, Tier 1 use every time Tier 2 use if no Tier 1. Tier 3 don't use.

Tier 1 Mantis, Rockman.
Of course it is no surprise that these would be your best choice for Boarding parties. The Mantis with faster speed and 200% damage means it was made for boarding. The Rockman with 150% health means it can take a beating. However be careful when dealing with other Tier 1s. Remember a Rockman still does the same damage as all other crew and the Mantis has the same health as most of the other races you would see. Also in Mantis vs Rockman the Manti will win every time. (200% damage trumps 150% health). Common tactic is to run the Mantis out of the room making the rockman take most of the damage then the mantis enters to do the heavy and fast hitting. Give the Rockman some time to leave if he needs to. A trick to Rocks is to combine with fire weapons. Since Rocks are immune to fire they take no damage and since crewmen canot put out fires when fighting boarders it give the rockman double the damage output. So in a burning room a Rockman will beat Mantis. Watch out for lack of O2 though. Rockmen may fair better but will still take damage. Mantis need to avoid all other hazards.

Tier 2 Human, Slug, Crystal.
Now with the Human you might look at it as having no value of interest in boarding and might as well be 3, however humans have one thing that is valuable and that is they are the most expendable of the crew. They are the cheapest to hire and the most common. With no weakness in boarding they may as well accompany your boarding parties. Slugs have the unique ability to see where enemies are showing them as Red Dots, which can come in handy for Close in Support from Ships weapons. Also with the ability to see in the next room without needing sensors adds in another bonus. This is all fine and dandy however it is useless in the straight up fistfights. A slug will fight just as well as a human in a straight up fight and in being the 2nd rarest race in the game makes loosing them a heavy defeat.

Note: on Crystals, While their 125% health half suffocation damage and special ability you might think these guys would be a top tier border. However the Crystal is the Hardest Crewman to get. Only 3 ways to gain a Crystal, The Stasis Pod Event, Start out with the Crystal Cruiser, or hire a Crystal from a Store in the Crystal sector (in which you will need to already have a crystal in the first place). So loosing one of these guys will make you shed crystals tears from your eyes. Although they are slightly faster than the rockman resistance to suffication damage is different
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Marinealver
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Re: FTL guide to boarding: V1.0

Postby Marinealver » Mon Apr 29, 2013 4:08 pm

continued from the Rockman immunity. Where the Rockman will take no damage in a fire, the Crystal will still take damage if there is no air. Stack that with a fight damage and you will see that health bar go down faster than you would be comfortable. With only 25% more health, it will tie with a Mantis and beat a rock with only around 50 health left. The crystal is best when paired with a Mantis. It can use the lockdown ability keeping crewmen out as they sabotage systems or trapping a crewmen keeping him escaping or receiving help from his comrades. However the crystal won't make a good tank even with lockdown as most of the time crewmen will focus on the Mantis ignoring the crystal and the mantis can't leave the room transferring the damage to the crystal when lockdown is engaged.

Tier 3: Zoltan, Engie.

We all know why this is bad. Zoltan has 70% health and Engie only does half fight damage. Face off together the Zoltan will defeat the Engie however everyone knows Zoltans die easily. If you attempt to beam them aboard an automated ship you will need lvl 3 teleporters in order to evacuate the zoltan from the airless ship alive. If that is all you got you can use the Rock Tank Mantis Fight trick with the Engie as the Tank and the Zoltan as the damage dealer. However it is best if you avoid that situation. If you find your self on the defensive, run the the med bay and fight only when you have 3 on 1.

Drones: We all know boarding drones are awesome however they don't mix too well with boarding parties. First they create a hull breach. Starving the room of O2 which will damage your boarders too. 2nd they are not controlled but will take up a square. So if you have a drone in a 2 man room you will have to leave one of your borders behind. 2nd they are 100% automated. You have only 2 options, on and off. IF the boarded ship is on the last hull point, you would need to turn off the drone or evacuate your boarding party. Anti Personnel drones are the best in defense but are often taking up a drone slot that would be better used with offensive drones. Sure Anti personnel is the best counter against boarding drones however if you destroy the boarding drone there will be another hull breach.
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Marinealver
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Re: FTL guide to boarding: V1.0

Postby Marinealver » Mon Apr 29, 2013 4:22 pm

Close in Support,

Usually in a boarding action it is best to powerdown all weapons or atleast un target them and turn off auto fire. However sometimes firing weapons to weaken enemy crew does help out. Also with slugs or lvl 2 sensors it is a great way of tracking enemy crew. As long as you don't take away the last hull point keeping the health bay down or badly wounding a mantis or rock means your little human would have a much easier time taking them on.

Healing Bomb is well of course a boarding weapon. It gives that home team advantage usually the defenders have with a medbay. only much more faster. Take out their med bay and heal yourself and the advantage is all yours.

Other bombs are great as most of the time they only do crew and system damage and don't damage the hull unless they break a system. They can also be used defensively. Trap the enemy boarders in a systemless room and then let a bomb off in that room.

Beam weapons are also great as you can have them follow a crewmen. However be carful with the beams that do damage to rooms. The bio beam would be ideal just remember the have the shields down.

Fire Weapons work great if you have an all rock boarding party. Just watch for low O2 lvls as fire weapons do drain the O2. When that happens you boarding party will start to take extra damage.

And last but not out Missiles. Now most of the time you don't want to use missiles due to the high hull damage they do. However they go through all shields which would make it great for finishing off the last crewman. One time I had a mantis that was badly wounded and the defending crewman was running away from my rockman. Knowing I cant chase him down I just saw which doors opened then send a missle to great him. Crew killed and the ship was ours.
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Marinealver
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Re: FTL guide to boarding: V1.0

Postby Marinealver » Mon Apr 29, 2013 4:26 pm

Skill, should mention this but if boarding is going very well you should save the last crewman and destroy as much systems as you can leveling up you fight skill. Golden Gloves don't loo like much of a stat boost however they will reduce the amount of damage you take when you start pairing up 1 on 1 with boarders.
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