Zoltan crew members are annoying.

[zarakon]

The way that Zoltan crew members add power only to the room that they're in causes a lot of problems when they move around, particularly when they move from a powered room into an empty room. The way they only add power to the #1 weapon, even if it is not enabled, also causes problems.

My Zoltans aren't allowed anywhere near the weapons room, for fear that they might accidentally toggle off one of my weapons. I have to try to avoid moving them through the shield room. I usually keep them in the O2 or Cloaking room just so they won't cause trouble.

While the idea of having them power their current system is neat, it's troublesome when the game has to make decisions on where to reallocate and deallocate power as they move around. I think it would work much better if each Zoltan crewman on the ship simply added 1 to the ship's total power.


edit: oops, I meant to post this in General, but I guess it sort of makes sense here too.

[icepick]

Well when you move them, make sure you have a free power bar for each one. Problem solved.

Tedious? Yes. But zoltans are pretty freaking awesome, so it's a tradeoff worth making.

[mqstout]

I find Zoltans to be my most-desired crew once I get a rock or two. Keep them in the engine room to power it if you're concerned about other systems shutting down. But really, I tend to keep them as the ones who are on the stations and have other people move about the rooms.

[icepick]

Oh they are also cool b/c you can keep two (or more) in your shield (or whatever) room and keep things powered even through ion damage.

[UltraMantis]

Zoltan are second only to the Mantis. But then i would say that.

A healthy mix is:
Engi on Helm and Weapons - for quick repairs
Zoltan on Engines and Shields - for extra energy
Mantis onboard enemy vessel - for fun and profit

Humans are very versatile, they should not be underestimated. I find Slugs to be the same. Rocks are better at soaking up damage that being at a station. Slow, but dependable.

[TJJ]

Oh they are also cool b/c you can keep two (or more) in your shield (or whatever) room and keep things powered even through ion damage.

Is that true?

[zarakon]

Well here's something that I would actually consider a bug:

Power on your weapons such that you are using the full power of your weapons system with #1 disabled. Walk a Zoltan into the room, and one of those weapons will be switched off as the power is diverted to #1.

[boa13]

Yeah, Zoltans are annoying in weapon rooms. When I had one and took damage, I found I had to reorder my weapons to handle his "contraints". I prefer to put them in other rooms.

[Spazticus]

Oh they are also cool b/c you can keep two (or more) in your shield (or whatever) room and keep things powered even through ion damage.

Is that true?

It's true. Next time you have two Zoltans, put them both in the shield room, and keep them there. Normal hits can take your shield down, but if you have the two of them there before any ions hit, you'll keep at least one point of shielding intact.

Actually, the same applies to any system you want to keep from getting locked down by ions, for example the medbay, transporter, or your cloak during the boss fight. Or, if you have one or two low power weapons you always want available. As others have noted, if you have to shuffle them around a lot, it's just not as effective.

[zarakon]

Maybe they could be changed to always provide +1 total power while on board, AND one point of ion protection in their current room.