Subset Games Forum

Yes, it is possible. And it's made much more sweeter thanks to the fact that it's my 1st ever Normal win, and all those topics around here saying how impossible that ship is.

Winning strategy in nutshell:
1. Get Cloak 3 ASAP = nothing could touch you except drones/Zoltan shield users. For those you'll take some damage, but a player ship got TONS of health anyway (and each hull repair costs 0/2/3 scraps only). Just bear with it.

2a. Get Engines up to the 30-scrap one = you should be able to evade most 2nd volley missiles (after cloak had been used)

2b. Get some Energy = just so that you don't have to asphyxiate everyone everytime you battle.

3a. Get Shields = duh.

3b. Get 1 non-beam weapon (lasers/missiles/bombs, preferably bombs) and fire in volleys with Glaive Beam = and you're good all the way to the final boss. Seriously.

4. Do the normal Normal ship strategy by this point.

And that's it. It's a challenge, of course, but not an impossible one.

Anyway, next one: Engi B. Now THAT one is almost impossible.

Nothing is impossible, some ships just need a little bit more luck than others.
And what you listed there are common strategies, except that you start with cloak instead of shields.

Maya wrote:Nothing is impossible, some ships just need a little bit more luck than others.
And what you listed there are common strategies, except that you start with cloak instead of shields.

personally I believe that steams from a misunderstanding on how the cloak works and how big the benefit of 15 seconds (+2 seconds for manning the station) advantage on a 25 seconds weapon charge time really is.

I always suggest that people get the 3rd rank stealth asap when playing the Stealth type B ship.

srulz wrote:Yes, it is possible. And it's made much more sweeter thanks to the fact that it's my 1st ever Normal win, and all those topics around here saying how impossible that ship is.

Winning strategy in nutshell:
1. Get Cloak 3 ASAP = nothing could touch you except drones/Zoltan shield users. For those you'll take some damage, but a player ship got TONS of health anyway (and each hull repair costs 0/2/3 scraps only). Just bear with it.

2a. Get Engines up to the 30-scrap one = you should be able to evade most 2nd volley missiles (after cloak had been used)

2b. Get some Energy = just so that you don't have to asphyxiate everyone everytime you battle.

3a. Get Shields = duh.

3b. Get 1 non-beam weapon (lasers/missiles/bombs, preferably bombs) and fire in volleys with Glaive Beam = and you're good all the way to the final boss. Seriously.

4. Do the normal Normal ship strategy by this point.

And that's it. It's a challenge, of course, but not an impossible one.

Anyway, next one: Engi B. Now THAT one is almost impossible.

I've been working on Engi B for awhile now. It's not totally impossible, but I feel the best strat 9/10 starts is to sell all 3 drones, the ion, and the controller at the first shop you come to and get a real gun. Just up doors and vent carefully to deal with invaders, and hope you find crew. It's a shame too because the playstyle it can offer is neat, but it's way too luck based.

Edit-
Even if you understand how to cloak perfectly and max it asap, you're still at the whim of fate that you don't hit too many zoltan or anti ship/beam drones. It's not a big issue on easy because you've got tons and tons of scrap to help with repair bills, but if a drone snipes your weapons you're stuck having to take the damage and run. This puts you in a very large hole thats hard to climb out of. It may not seems like an issue at first, but if you don't find some stashes or rescue some ships(which pay off waaay too well while many others things don't pay off nearly enough) you're going to wind up underpowered late game. The glaive is awesome and all, but you REALLY need something to support it and finding the right toy is tricky. Finding the right toy and having the money is even harder.

Eji1700 wrote:I've been working on Engi B for awhile now. It's not totally impossible, but I feel the best strat 9/10 starts is to sell all 3 drones, the ion, and the controller at the first shop you come to and get a real gun. Just up doors and vent carefully to deal with invaders, and hope you find crew. It's a shame too because the playstyle it can offer is neat, but it's way too luck based.

Unfortunately, based on my plays with Engi B, you are correct. It's better to sell everything that made the ship "unique" and get some other stuff/upgrades. And using that strategy, it's actually MUCH easier than most other ships on Normal, simply because you have higher "starting scraps".

Eji1700 wrote:Edit-
Even if you understand how to cloak perfectly and max it asap, you're still at the whim of fate that you don't hit too many zoltan or anti ship/beam drones. It's not a big issue on easy because you've got tons and tons of scrap to help with repair bills, but if a drone snipes your weapons you're stuck having to take the damage and run. This puts you in a very large hole thats hard to climb out of. It may not seems like an issue at first, but if you don't find some stashes or rescue some ships(which pay off waaay too well while many others things don't pay off nearly enough) you're going to wind up underpowered late game. The glaive is awesome and all, but you REALLY need something to support it and finding the right toy is tricky. Finding the right toy and having the money is even harder.

Then you'll have to understand how the drone moves. There is almost a specific pattern on which system the drone is going to target next based on its angle of fire. You'll just have to cloak if it wants to target your weapon. Don't have to depend on luck all the time.

If your weapons got hit, just take the damage and FIGHT. Don't run, ever. Unless it's literally impossible (3+ shields when you only have Glaive Beam). Remember, 1 hull = 2/3 scraps ONLY. If you run, you'll take full losses. If you fight to the bitter end, you'll profit at least a bit. And never ever repair to full! You'll waste the "free repairs".

By late-game, you only need:
1. As high Shields as possible.
2. As high Engine as possible.
3. Cloak.
4. Glaive Beam + 1 more weapon.
That's all. It's not much scrap, really.

srulz wrote:

Eji1700 wrote:I've been working on Engi B for awhile now. It's not totally impossible, but I feel the best strat 9/10 starts is to sell all 3 drones, the ion, and the controller at the first shop you come to and get a real gun. Just up doors and vent carefully to deal with invaders, and hope you find crew. It's a shame too because the playstyle it can offer is neat, but it's way too luck based.

Unfortunately, based on my plays with Engi B, you are correct. It's better to sell everything that made the ship "unique" and get some other stuff/upgrades. And using that strategy, it's actually MUCH easier than most other ships on Normal, simply because you have higher "starting scraps".

Eji1700 wrote:Edit-
Even if you understand how to cloak perfectly and max it asap, you're still at the whim of fate that you don't hit too many zoltan or anti ship/beam drones. It's not a big issue on easy because you've got tons and tons of scrap to help with repair bills, but if a drone snipes your weapons you're stuck having to take the damage and run. This puts you in a very large hole thats hard to climb out of. It may not seems like an issue at first, but if you don't find some stashes or rescue some ships(which pay off waaay too well while many others things don't pay off nearly enough) you're going to wind up underpowered late game. The glaive is awesome and all, but you REALLY need something to support it and finding the right toy is tricky. Finding the right toy and having the money is even harder.

Then you'll have to understand how the drone moves. There is almost a specific pattern on which system the drone is going to target next based on its angle of fire. You'll just have to cloak if it wants to target your weapon. Don't have to depend on luck all the time.

If your weapons got hit, just take the damage and FIGHT. Don't run, ever. Unless it's literally impossible (3+ shields when you only have Glaive Beam). Remember, 1 hull = 2/3 scraps ONLY. If you run, you'll take full losses. If you fight to the bitter end, you'll profit at least a bit. And never ever repair to full! You'll waste the "free repairs".

By late-game, you only need:
1. As high Shields as possible.
2. As high Engine as possible.
3. Cloak.
4. Glaive Beam + 1 more weapon.
That's all. It's not much scrap, really.

Yeah i've gotten better runs with it now. I swear my first 4 all had beam drone fights in the first 2 or 3 jumps.

As for never running...eh i'm not so sure. Early fights are what? 10-20 scrap? I probably don't need fuel that bad, and certainly won't need missiles or drone parts that badly yet. In the meantime if i'm looking at a beam drone that's hit my weapons system I can easily wind up taking 30+ points of damage in scrap. Now granted you can get lucky and nab a free repair through various methods, but I've seen at least a few scenarios where I've felt staying is just asking to die.

Hmm its good to read that it is possible, but I have not succeeded yet. You say nothing can tough it except drones or zoltan. But I have been touched by plenty of stuff. Enemies have more than one weapon, and they dont always fire at the same time to dodge them with the cloak. Especiallly beam weapons. And whem they hit the glaive, its game over.

jamotide wrote:Hmm its good to read that it is possible, but I have not succeeded yet. You say nothing can tough it except drones or zoltan. But I have been touched by plenty of stuff. Enemies have more than one weapon, and they dont always fire at the same time to dodge them with the cloak. Especiallly beam weapons. And whem they hit the glaive, its game over.

Then you are most likely using the stealth in the wrong way. when you cloak the enemy stop charging their weapons for the duration of the cloak. at rank 2 that is 10 seconds, at rank 3 that is 15 seconds.
Manning the station reduces the charging of your own weapons by 10 %. The glavie beam takes 25 seconds base time to charge, so manning it reduces it by 2.5 seconds.

with rank 2 stealth the enemy ship has 13 seconds to charge his weapon before your weapon fires. with rank 3 the enemy has 8 seconds which really shouldn't be enough to charge any non ion weapon.

If you put the starting end of the beam on their shields and let it sweep over their weapons you will be able to do maximum amount of damage to individual systems and probably totally disable all their weapons.