Crystal B or Lanius B?

General discussion about the game.
dyno101
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Crystal B or Lanius B?

Postby dyno101 » Wed Jun 08, 2016 3:10 pm

So, many have always said that the Crystal B and the Lanius B are the two most brokenly Overpowered ships in FTL. They both start with teleporters, really good boarders, and essential or helpful systems, but one thing has always been a dispute..
Which one's better?
4-man teleporter with cloaking and crystal boarders with a med-bay...
Or 2-man teleporter with mind control, Lanius boarders, a clone bay, and an awesome flak weapon?
The potential for a monstrous boarding team..
Or the potential for a good boarding team that can also defeat unmanned ships?
This is what this thread is made to discuss:
Which ship starts as and can become the better ship?
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stylesrj
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Re: Crystal B or Lanius B?

Postby stylesrj » Wed Jun 08, 2016 11:17 pm

There's a reason why I put my location as "The Shrike" and not "The Carnelian"

The Carnelian is a killer ship against anyone with a crew but it's plagued by two of the biggest threats in any FTL game - Zoltan-shielded ships and automated ships.
Zoltan ships, not so much but automated ships will be your biggest threat early-on and you don't have the capabilities to take them on.

The Shrike however can shoot away shields and automated ships while the Lanius go to town on both vessel types. Hence why it's better.
Also, if you can't take on enemy crews easily you have both a teleport and a mind control at the start. The Abductor Strategy might be useful when taking on the Flagship too, especially on Hard where all the rooms are connected and you can't just board the enemy.
Leylite
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Re: Crystal B or Lanius B?

Postby Leylite » Fri Jun 10, 2016 4:12 pm

I don't think automated ships are all that dangerous for the Crystal B, since you can just board their weapons/drones and punch them out, cloak if you really have to, then retrieve your boarders and escape. You don't get any scrap from them, but you're unlikely to take much damage either.

Zoltan shielded ships might give you a problem if they have something like Burst Laser II + Leto missile, or similar, but that's already a bad weapon roll on top of a Zoltan shield roll so it's not really worth worrying about. Cloaking is just so good.

In theory, without finding any new equipment, Crystal B is better in the early game, Lanius B is better in the mid-game because of its built-in weapon, and Crystal B is better in the late-game because it can kill the Flagship or any other ship with a medbay without any help, whereas Lanius B will eventually need something other than its Flak gun. That said, by late-game they'll both have support options so it's kind of a moot point.

They're both different flavors of super-awesome boarding, take your pick.
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stylesrj
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Re: Crystal B or Lanius B?

Postby stylesrj » Fri Jun 10, 2016 11:14 pm

Leylite wrote:I don't think automated ships are all that dangerous for the Crystal B, since you can just board their weapons/drones and punch them out, cloak if you really have to, then retrieve your boarders and escape. You don't get any scrap from them, but you're unlikely to take much damage either.


Whereas the Lanius B has already destroyed the weapons and taken the ship's lunch money and is moving on to the next target.

The game hates you. It knows when you have an unarmed boarding ship, it'll only send automated ships and Zoltan-shielded pirates to spite you. And your next sector choices are most likely Zoltan controlled or Rebel controlled, just to double-down on the inhospitable enemy ships.
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Portaller
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Re: Crystal B or Lanius B?

Postby Portaller » Mon Jun 20, 2016 7:00 am

The Carnelian is vulnerable to Zoltan shields and automated ships at the beginning of the game but comes around to be the single most powerful ship in the mid- to late-game. The Shrike has a starting advantage but doesn't quite have the potential of the Carnelian.
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meklozz
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Re: Crystal B or Lanius B?

Postby meklozz » Tue Jun 21, 2016 6:22 pm

The Carnelian. Even with a whole bunch of zoltan ships and auto ships, you can win the game with nearly the starting setup, it's just so ridiculously strong. You really only need some scrap to upgrade your most important systems and you're set, anything else just serves to make you even more powerful. Well, you do need only one of the many different ways to deal with the zoltan shield for phase 3.

The Shrike is very powerful, but it still depends on getting some equipment like any other ship in the game. You will, great majority of the time, but you will at least have to work for it a little.
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CygnusPrawn
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Re: Crystal B or Lanius B?

Postby CygnusPrawn » Mon Jun 27, 2016 4:35 pm

Personally, I prefer the Carnelian over the Shrike. The main reason is the Crystal's natural advantage: lockdown. Lanius are great (hell, I'd wager to say excellent) boarders, but I find the Crystal's ability to be the deal-sealer. With the Shrike, despite mind control, you're likely to be swamped by enemies before being able to focus all your crew on attacking the weapons system to prevent counter attack. With the Crystal lockdown and the cloaking system, you can usually shut down the weapons system without your crew or ship taking any damage. The only part I'm torn about is the fabulous advanced flak cannon. I love that weapon like a fat kid loves cake. It's supremely helpful when up against auto-ships and Zoltan shields. However, I find it has two disadvantages: It can't always help take out the weapon system in time, and the scatter aim has the potential to hit crew. Now, I'm not saying that those aren't very fixable issues, (Fixable as in easily fixed mid game, not as in 'devs should fix this') but they're ones I have come across. The main Carnelian disadvantage is it's obvious lack of starting weapons, although with a little luck, dead enemy crews, and a shop, that can be easily remedied early on. But if you manage to run into a Zoltan or auto-ship before then, and you somehow can't manage to get away... Well, everyone out of the pool, kiddos. Overall in my humblest opinion, though it is a very close match, I believe the Carnelian has better performance than the Shrike.
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Obz3hL33t
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Re: Crystal B or Lanius B?

Postby Obz3hL33t » Tue Aug 02, 2016 3:37 am

Day Zero Alien Abduction ... *drool*

Okay I have a new goal. I'm not done with FTL after all ...
When you've been l33t for as long as me, there's only one kind of l33t you could possibly be ...
Tetragon213
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Re: Crystal B or Lanius B?

Postby Tetragon213 » Tue Sep 27, 2016 3:56 pm

Crystal B. I've always preferred it to the Lanius B, mainly because of the fact that you get cloaking as standard as well as a 4 man teleporter and 3 crystals who can obliterate any crew. However, this decision is by only a few strands of hair, since the Lanius B has a nice gun on it, although in my mind it doesn't make up for the increased strength of Crystal Crew as standard with a 4 man teleporter.