Best Weapon Combos

[Char;y]

Its just dawning that this game requires a lot more thought into which weapons you are going to deploy. Afte rgetting a glaive and burst laser three in my last game, I thought i was set, but the long charge time meant that my ship was taking a kicking before I got a shot off. I already had a breach launcher, which I casually tosser aside for my new toys, when in retrospect, I had a more effetive strategy using that and a couple of crappy mk 1 lasers

By far my best combo thus far has been a double burst two laser. For two power, you get six shots in only a twelve second charge up. But thinking about it, Icould have filled up all four slots with the same weapon, and get a twelve shot salvo off, synchronised. That to me seems overpowered, and based upon the chances of finding decent weapons, probably impossible. Its still something I am going to look out for. Great when you have an Artillery beam backing it up.

Anyone else found an effective weapons combo?

[Kaerius]

Ion blasters + glaive is one of the most damaging combos out there. (A varient of this I want to try sometime: ion blaster 2 + ion blaster 1 + 2x hull beam).

Fire weapons (ion+fire beam / fire bomb on its own) + rock boarders is pretty awesome.

I'd think 3 burst laser 2s and a breach bomb 2, fire bomb or fire beam would be pretty great too. Knock things down, keep them down.

Likewise attack drones are great if you can drop enemy shields reliably (ion or otherwise). Even against the endboss. My first win was with the torus, ion blaster 2, glaive beam, and 3 ship-attack drones. Boss died so fast, it barely knew what hit it. (Note: if you're using attack drones vs boss, cloak is mandatory, so don't try that with the fed cruiser).

[Aegis]

Ion Blast II and Fire beam. Support with Ion bomb if you wish or any other missile system.

Ion Blast II and anything really is basically unstoppable.

[Empiro]

In my last game, I used two burst laser III's to beat the game. I'd rather have 4 burst II's though -- 12 shots vs 10, and faster firing. You take what you can get, however.

I think in general, for lasers, it's important to sync them up. So having lots of the same kind, whatever they might be, is good.

Ion Bomb + Glaive is devastating. Even against shield 4 opponents, if you can get a bomb into the shields, you can deal some damage. Throw in an attack drone, and you can easily deal at least 2 damage per square.

[Mauzel]

I prefer 2x Burst Laser II over the Ion Blast, since it have higher alpha, and a damaging potential. 1x Ion Blast II require 3 shots to chew thru a 2 shield ship, and cannot do anything about 3 shield ships; while 2x Ion Blast II cost too much power, with each running at 3 power, for a total of 6 power. However, Burst II only cost 2 power each, (For a total of 4 power) so both will have essentially the same effect but with 2 power to spare and the potential to damage if most of the shots hit.
Burst I only gives 2 shot for the same power, while Burst III cost 4 power (= to 2x Burst II) and only 5 shot (vs 2x Burst II giving 6 shots).

My Ideal setup for most ship is 2x Burst II and 1x Glaive Beam. Burst II will overload the shield of any ship you cross, while the Glaive will give you 9-12 dmg per use.

2x Ion Blast II and Fire Beam is fun to use, if you don't bother with landing party but still want the "intact-ship" bonus. It is however, terrible against the final boss, since you will activate the AI and once the module is damaged, there wont be oxygen for it to burn.

[Drasha]

On the finally boss you just need to leave one of the guys in the weapon rooms alive. (the middle left one on the laser)

Two of the 3burst lasers and some thing else is probably the best set up but I never see it unless I have a ship that starts off with it. I tend to go for a laser with a missile weapon to take out shields and a boarding team combo but I get screwed over a lot once ships have 3-4 shields.

[Mauzel]

On the finally boss you just need to leave one of the guys in the weapon rooms alive. (the middle left one on the laser)

Two of the 3burst lasers and some thing else is probably the best set up but I never see it unless I have a ship that starts off with it. I tend to go for a laser with a missile weapon to take out shields and a boarding team combo but I get screwed over a lot once ships have 3-4 shields.

But if its a fire that is strong enough to burn out the crew, most likely the fire will be out of control for the crew to be able to put it out, and you will have the flagship's O2 system burned to a crisp. And without O2... the guy in the weapon room will suffocate, and voila, AI triggered. ;p

However, given the 2x Ion Blast II wont be doing any dmg, and the Firebeam won't be igniting anything without available oxygen, you end up with a weapon system that cannot damage the flagship, and thus be in a deadlock. For which the only way to break is to have an anti-ship drone of some sort, scrap that could've been better used elsewhere ;p

in other words, the sequence is as follows:
Ion Blast Breaks Shield => Fire Beam ignites fire => Crew try to put out fire but fail => Crew die from burning/fire spread into all oxygenated/connected rooms => O2 System burned => Remaining crew in non-connected weapons room suffocate => Triggered AI.


Burst Laser II is rare (With a rarity of 4), but usually I encounter at least 3 in each playthrough by sector 8. If you prioritize getting one, usually you can outfit a 2x Burst II system. My favorite boss setup, which i got once on my Stealth Type A, was 2x Pegasus Missile + 1x Hull Missile. And since I didnt use any missiles since the beginning of the game, I ended up with 30~ missiles from the events, and just chucked missiles at the flagship for its full 4+4+4=12 dmg a volley. (And with Pegasus's 2x missile per shot, I largely ignored the 2nd form's defense drone)

[imaginary_num6er]

I have a few combos that I like that are centered around disabling the shields first:

2xHeavy Laser II (2x3 Power) [Heavy Lasers fly MUCH faster than normal lasers]
2xS.Bomb (2x1 Power)

You use the S.Bombs on the Shields and I was able to sink Round 1 of the Flag Ship without a single shot being fired. I got lucky and had full cloak+weapon primer augment+stealth weapon augment. Even if the Heavy Laser is not pointed against a system-less room, you are still dishing out 6 damage.

3x Beam drones
2x Pegasus Missile (2x3Power)
1x Breach Bomb Mark II (1x2Power)
Weapon Primer Augment

Using the above with the Engi Cruiser melts your ships before they know what actually hit them. Use the Breach bomb and Missiles to disable the Shields and then the Beam drones will do the rest. The Breach Bomb is a backup against ships with defense drones. You could pretty much cloak after you fire, so your drones will still hit them, but they can't hit you.

Overall, anything with a long cool-down time with Weapon Primer + Cloaking is good. The enemy can't recharge while you're cloaked so at worst, the enemy will have an equal advantage if your first salvo missed.

[Warhawx]

Ion Bomb + Ion II + Halberd Beam

[Kaerius]

1x Ion Blast II require 3 shots to chew thru a 2 shield ship, and cannot do anything about 3 shield ships

See, this is where you're wrong. An Ion Blast II can chew through any amount of shields, as long as it doesn't miss(and at max crew skill, as long as it doesn't miss twice in a row). Each hit resets the timer, as well as adding another point of ion damage.