Hey guys!
I've been trying several runs with the stealth ship, but I'm having a ton of problems surviving past the beginning sectors.
The problem is that it seems the stealth ship it's even more of a luck-based mission than the rest of the game, I have followed some tips to use it better (time your cloak to make the enemy miss rather than stop him from locking, timing the double blaster so the mini-beam can cut through some rooms) but even with that, I usually sustain considerable damage because of how long it takes to build up the ships power, specially having to pay for so many repairs.
I've also read that while it's possible to do it without shields, getting some it's almost imperative, and at 150 price tag I've never had enough scrap to be able to buy them (since I need more cloak just to survive and accumulate scrap).
Any suggestions? I don't get what I'm doing wrong...
Survival with the Stealth ship?
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DasRav
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 6:15 am
Re: Survival with the Stealth ship?
I recently played once with the stealth and instantly beat the game, so I do not know how repeatable this is, but:
Forgo shields for the first 2-3 sectors at least. do not buy them until 2 shield enemies become common. Spending those 150 too early will kill you imo. Instead, level stealth asap and learn to evaluate your opponent and use stealth right. As long as you do not have a shield, a enemy with bombs and/or a missile launcher is good news for you, because those things are generally slower firing then lasers. Do not hit stealth for the 1-2 damage missile, dodge the 3 shot laser or heavy laser instead.
With stealth 3 you can always get first strike by stealthing before they fire their guns at all. This is good because then if you offline half their guns ,their first volley naturally will be less of a problem. This is also a good tactic once you have stealth 3 because if you stealth only as they fire, your guns will go green when your stealth is still going on for a while. If you then unstealth to fire, you lost half your advantage because their guns are charging again.
Of course all this is very stituational and it depends a lot on your experience with the game. If you see that the enemy has a 5 shot laser or bighuge missile, you should definitely stealth dodge that thing. If he has a big beam you should always stealth asap to keep it from charging. Try to always identify the charge time of guns by their look and see what will hurt the most, how much weapon system you have to kill, which guns will most likely be offlined if you do max damage and so on. If you e.g. dodge the one shot laser because it fired first, you cannot then dodge the 3 damage missile that is half charged after stealth wears off AND that 1 shot laser will fire again anyway before you can stealth again.
Next, weapon use. Even if its tempting, never go for the shield room with your laser, always go for the weapons. Same goes for your beam. If you can hit both rooms its a bonus, but weapons are priority over shields. You have to make the enemy shoot as few times as possible.
Next, crew: pilot is priority 1 of course, but then priority 2 is not guns, it is engine. Remember that. never take your guy out of the engine room to repair something when you could have taken the weapons guy instead. Weapon charge time is so much less important thanks to stealth, but you neeeed that dodge percentage from the engine.
Otherwise, buy a teleporter if you manage to find a rockman and/or mantis, those guys can soften the enemy up while you are invisible. I guess this really goes without saying.
Thats all I got.
Forgo shields for the first 2-3 sectors at least. do not buy them until 2 shield enemies become common. Spending those 150 too early will kill you imo. Instead, level stealth asap and learn to evaluate your opponent and use stealth right. As long as you do not have a shield, a enemy with bombs and/or a missile launcher is good news for you, because those things are generally slower firing then lasers. Do not hit stealth for the 1-2 damage missile, dodge the 3 shot laser or heavy laser instead.
With stealth 3 you can always get first strike by stealthing before they fire their guns at all. This is good because then if you offline half their guns ,their first volley naturally will be less of a problem. This is also a good tactic once you have stealth 3 because if you stealth only as they fire, your guns will go green when your stealth is still going on for a while. If you then unstealth to fire, you lost half your advantage because their guns are charging again.
Of course all this is very stituational and it depends a lot on your experience with the game. If you see that the enemy has a 5 shot laser or bighuge missile, you should definitely stealth dodge that thing. If he has a big beam you should always stealth asap to keep it from charging. Try to always identify the charge time of guns by their look and see what will hurt the most, how much weapon system you have to kill, which guns will most likely be offlined if you do max damage and so on. If you e.g. dodge the one shot laser because it fired first, you cannot then dodge the 3 damage missile that is half charged after stealth wears off AND that 1 shot laser will fire again anyway before you can stealth again.
Next, weapon use. Even if its tempting, never go for the shield room with your laser, always go for the weapons. Same goes for your beam. If you can hit both rooms its a bonus, but weapons are priority over shields. You have to make the enemy shoot as few times as possible.
Next, crew: pilot is priority 1 of course, but then priority 2 is not guns, it is engine. Remember that. never take your guy out of the engine room to repair something when you could have taken the weapons guy instead. Weapon charge time is so much less important thanks to stealth, but you neeeed that dodge percentage from the engine.
Otherwise, buy a teleporter if you manage to find a rockman and/or mantis, those guys can soften the enemy up while you are invisible. I guess this really goes without saying.
Thats all I got.
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obsidian_razor
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2012 9:48 am
Re: Survival with the Stealth ship?
Hmm...
I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the tips!
The worst is the first & second system... it seems so luck based. If you have the bad luck of facing a ship with drones or a ship with Zoltan shields you're fucked...
If more people have extra tips that'd be awesome!
I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the tips!
The worst is the first & second system... it seems so luck based. If you have the bad luck of facing a ship with drones or a ship with Zoltan shields you're fucked...
If more people have extra tips that'd be awesome!
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wanderthe5th
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 3:42 am
Re: Survival with the Stealth ship?
I think that if your choice is between spending a lot of scrap on repairs before you buy shields, or buying shields early, the latter is the correct option.
That said, it sounds like either you're having rotten luck and getting a disproportionate amount of drone ships or your combat strategy could be improved a bit. I hope it's alright posting this, but it helped me out a ton with the stealth ship and you might find it useful too: forum member zzandrio made a video of a full playthrough with the stealth ship A here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrLJUiUQmU8 .
That said, it sounds like either you're having rotten luck and getting a disproportionate amount of drone ships or your combat strategy could be improved a bit. I hope it's alright posting this, but it helped me out a ton with the stealth ship and you might find it useful too: forum member zzandrio made a video of a full playthrough with the stealth ship A here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrLJUiUQmU8 .
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Hissatsu
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2012 9:35 pm
Re: Survival with the Stealth ship?
Strange thing, but i have almost no problems on normal with Stealth A (we're talking A, right?) and i completely disagree with DasRav. I only lose as Stealth A if i get screwed by start (or if you get like only path to exit through asteroid field or something),
There is a huge benefit of buying Shields, Drones and Teleporter early - the faster you buy it, the faster it stops taking 1/2 of the shop space (thus you will encounter items you want more often). Yes maybe if you have problems you should not rush buying everything, just keep in mind that ideally you'd like to buy those asap.
Also, buying teleporter early gives you more loot. So again, the sooner you get it, the better.
Basic tips with stealth ship are:
- with your beam weapon, you can hit 3 or 4 rooms at once (even if its 1 pixel inside, it counts as a hit, so do it)
- dodge chance is calculated when projectile reaches the outer circle around your ship (where shield is drawn)
- for bombs it is calculated when bomb "disappears" from the weapon (the moment before it appears near your ship)
- beam weapon is very good at taking down zoltan shields
- the thing you should worry about most is not getting hit in the weapons system, as long as your weapons function you can and will take enemy down, but unlucky weapon hit can kill you, and will
- starting to fire while cloaked reduces cloak time, usually you'd want to avoid this at start, but if you started a chian-firing weapon, cloaking a moment after will not make following chain shots reduce cloak time
Based on that, first of all, you can dodge more projectiles if, for example, when missile is already underway towards your ship, you wait for a slower beam weapon to fire, and then cloak, you apply 60 evasion to both missile and that beam.
On the other hand, when, for example, you have to take two shots, and you cannot dodge both, you can look where the first one is going (by pausing/unpausing until it appears on screen), and if its going anywhere except your weapon system or stealth system, you can afford taking that shot, and dodge the other one.
At start, you will basically have one of the following types of enemies:
- beam + something
- rocket + something
- drone + something
Basically, with beam + something, you try to dodge the shot of that something, fire at its weapon systems with dual laser and then fire at its weapon systems (and as many systems as possible) with beam as soon as his shields go down.
With rocket + laser, you try to dodge both shots by pressing the cloak just before rocket hits, but when other gun just starts firing.
Getting a drone enemy is basically a gamble. It can outright kill you if it keeps hitting your weapons system, so dont get frustrated it if does - nothing you can do, just restart. When fighting against a drone, pause the game as soon as it comes into firing position and check wether your weapon system is in danger. If its not, check wether your cloak system is in danger, and wether you need cloak to survive. If not, let it fire. If yes - start cloak.
Usually starting enemies will have drone systems of level 2, so any hit to them will disable the drone. On most starting enemies you can also beam both drone and weapons system at the same time.
Generally, you can still survive even a weapon hit - take your engine guy and fix it together.
Get used to getting hit with stealth ship. Its not about flawless victory (look @ Torus for that), its about surviving without too many hull damage and crew intact, until you get a better weapon or shields.
Your best investment of scrap at start is either an extra weapon (lack of ability to quickly disable enemy weapons/drone systems before they get your weapons system is what really kills you) or a shield system (or drone system if you found anti-ship drone or defense drone, but this isnt as good choice).
You can best any enemy in sector 1 without dying, so i'd advise not to spend scrap (except to delay the rebels @ mercenary ship - most of the time it is worth it) until you viisit one or two shops. Buying an early good weapon will help you a lot, because your main problem is not taking hits, but dealing enough damage.
If you dont have any good weapons at shops and cannot afford shield system - your best upgrade at start is actually an extra weapon system upgrade. Thats because it lets you take one hit to the weapon system and still continue firing. This will help A LOT against all sorts of nasty enemies that can hit you. This is essentially your "zoltan shield" since it allows you to take a lot more hits and still survive rather than w/o it.
Teleporter system is a luxury item. If you cannot survive first 2 sectors, you should skip buying it. It gives you more loot but it doesnt help you fight at all (well unless you get 2 mantis / rockmen people very fast, then it could be viable assault option). Usually you cannot just barge in and win - enemies have 2 or more crew members who are at least capable of beating your humans, or maybe even more than that (mantis/rockmen). You can finish off a disabled enemy (one that is no longer a threat) with your crew so you get more loot by killing enemy crew, but its a long term investment, it wont help you actually killing people.
Longer stealth doesnt actually help Stealth A at all, IMHO, because you have fast firing weapons. There are basically two cases - either you have to stealth before making your first shot, or after. If you are forced to do it before, long stealth won't help you. If you can afford firing first and then going stealth, then again you don't need longer stealth because you will have your weapons up before enemy does anyway (if you alredy had them up before enemy in the first place). Longer stealth is really useful only in one case - when you have slow weapons (Stealth B), and this is not the case.
Buying shields early does actually help a lot. But you dont always have 150 scrap by the time you visit your shop for the first time. Shields, even level 1, allow you to survive beam weapons that otherwise devastate you (beam drone is a nightmare w/o shields but is harmless with shields). So, i would actually advise buying shields asap, provided you dont have an option of buying a weapon.
Also, consider selling titanium plating:
- it is worth a LOT (50 scrap!)
- you can get lucky and get 2 augments and then you will have to lose one of them, but if you sell it you have two slots so you can keep both and later sell useless ones at base)
Consider buying two augments - one that gives you +10 scrap or +15 weapon recharge rate. Do not spend your scrap on any other augment, well unless you get pre-igniter (costs 120 scrap) and can afford it, then go for it because its the ultimate item you can get in the whole game, but you will be very lucky to both see it early and be able to afford it.
Generally, i sell titanium plating as soon as i can get something from doing it, like it lets me buy extra ship system or augment, i buy all ship systems asap (shields drones teleport), i try to get teleporter system before anything else and start finishing enemies off with my teleporter system asap (this means, first disable their damage dealing systems and medbay if they have it, then send your engine and pilot guys in and finish them off) (that is if you dont have any spare crewmen of course, if you only have starting 3). I try not to upgrade my ship until i have either an extra useful weapon or shield system and need extra shield layer (i basically only spend scrap at shops and to delay rebels if offer is good).
I only die if i make a very stupid mistake (like letting my crew die on board of enemy ship by blowing it up) or if i get really unlucky (several beam drone enemies in a row, or enemy keeps hitting my weapons system over and over and dodging my shots, or i didnt get any weapons at all at any shops or drops and enemies started showing with good engines and 2 layer shields, which is basically impossible to penetrate).
There is a huge benefit of buying Shields, Drones and Teleporter early - the faster you buy it, the faster it stops taking 1/2 of the shop space (thus you will encounter items you want more often). Yes maybe if you have problems you should not rush buying everything, just keep in mind that ideally you'd like to buy those asap.
Also, buying teleporter early gives you more loot. So again, the sooner you get it, the better.
Basic tips with stealth ship are:
- with your beam weapon, you can hit 3 or 4 rooms at once (even if its 1 pixel inside, it counts as a hit, so do it)
- dodge chance is calculated when projectile reaches the outer circle around your ship (where shield is drawn)
- for bombs it is calculated when bomb "disappears" from the weapon (the moment before it appears near your ship)
- beam weapon is very good at taking down zoltan shields
- the thing you should worry about most is not getting hit in the weapons system, as long as your weapons function you can and will take enemy down, but unlucky weapon hit can kill you, and will
- starting to fire while cloaked reduces cloak time, usually you'd want to avoid this at start, but if you started a chian-firing weapon, cloaking a moment after will not make following chain shots reduce cloak time
Based on that, first of all, you can dodge more projectiles if, for example, when missile is already underway towards your ship, you wait for a slower beam weapon to fire, and then cloak, you apply 60 evasion to both missile and that beam.
On the other hand, when, for example, you have to take two shots, and you cannot dodge both, you can look where the first one is going (by pausing/unpausing until it appears on screen), and if its going anywhere except your weapon system or stealth system, you can afford taking that shot, and dodge the other one.
At start, you will basically have one of the following types of enemies:
- beam + something
- rocket + something
- drone + something
Basically, with beam + something, you try to dodge the shot of that something, fire at its weapon systems with dual laser and then fire at its weapon systems (and as many systems as possible) with beam as soon as his shields go down.
With rocket + laser, you try to dodge both shots by pressing the cloak just before rocket hits, but when other gun just starts firing.
Getting a drone enemy is basically a gamble. It can outright kill you if it keeps hitting your weapons system, so dont get frustrated it if does - nothing you can do, just restart. When fighting against a drone, pause the game as soon as it comes into firing position and check wether your weapon system is in danger. If its not, check wether your cloak system is in danger, and wether you need cloak to survive. If not, let it fire. If yes - start cloak.
Usually starting enemies will have drone systems of level 2, so any hit to them will disable the drone. On most starting enemies you can also beam both drone and weapons system at the same time.
Generally, you can still survive even a weapon hit - take your engine guy and fix it together.
Get used to getting hit with stealth ship. Its not about flawless victory (look @ Torus for that), its about surviving without too many hull damage and crew intact, until you get a better weapon or shields.
Your best investment of scrap at start is either an extra weapon (lack of ability to quickly disable enemy weapons/drone systems before they get your weapons system is what really kills you) or a shield system (or drone system if you found anti-ship drone or defense drone, but this isnt as good choice).
You can best any enemy in sector 1 without dying, so i'd advise not to spend scrap (except to delay the rebels @ mercenary ship - most of the time it is worth it) until you viisit one or two shops. Buying an early good weapon will help you a lot, because your main problem is not taking hits, but dealing enough damage.
If you dont have any good weapons at shops and cannot afford shield system - your best upgrade at start is actually an extra weapon system upgrade. Thats because it lets you take one hit to the weapon system and still continue firing. This will help A LOT against all sorts of nasty enemies that can hit you. This is essentially your "zoltan shield" since it allows you to take a lot more hits and still survive rather than w/o it.
Teleporter system is a luxury item. If you cannot survive first 2 sectors, you should skip buying it. It gives you more loot but it doesnt help you fight at all (well unless you get 2 mantis / rockmen people very fast, then it could be viable assault option). Usually you cannot just barge in and win - enemies have 2 or more crew members who are at least capable of beating your humans, or maybe even more than that (mantis/rockmen). You can finish off a disabled enemy (one that is no longer a threat) with your crew so you get more loot by killing enemy crew, but its a long term investment, it wont help you actually killing people.
Longer stealth doesnt actually help Stealth A at all, IMHO, because you have fast firing weapons. There are basically two cases - either you have to stealth before making your first shot, or after. If you are forced to do it before, long stealth won't help you. If you can afford firing first and then going stealth, then again you don't need longer stealth because you will have your weapons up before enemy does anyway (if you alredy had them up before enemy in the first place). Longer stealth is really useful only in one case - when you have slow weapons (Stealth B), and this is not the case.
Buying shields early does actually help a lot. But you dont always have 150 scrap by the time you visit your shop for the first time. Shields, even level 1, allow you to survive beam weapons that otherwise devastate you (beam drone is a nightmare w/o shields but is harmless with shields). So, i would actually advise buying shields asap, provided you dont have an option of buying a weapon.
Also, consider selling titanium plating:
- it is worth a LOT (50 scrap!)
- you can get lucky and get 2 augments and then you will have to lose one of them, but if you sell it you have two slots so you can keep both and later sell useless ones at base)
Consider buying two augments - one that gives you +10 scrap or +15 weapon recharge rate. Do not spend your scrap on any other augment, well unless you get pre-igniter (costs 120 scrap) and can afford it, then go for it because its the ultimate item you can get in the whole game, but you will be very lucky to both see it early and be able to afford it.
Generally, i sell titanium plating as soon as i can get something from doing it, like it lets me buy extra ship system or augment, i buy all ship systems asap (shields drones teleport), i try to get teleporter system before anything else and start finishing enemies off with my teleporter system asap (this means, first disable their damage dealing systems and medbay if they have it, then send your engine and pilot guys in and finish them off) (that is if you dont have any spare crewmen of course, if you only have starting 3). I try not to upgrade my ship until i have either an extra useful weapon or shield system and need extra shield layer (i basically only spend scrap at shops and to delay rebels if offer is good).
I only die if i make a very stupid mistake (like letting my crew die on board of enemy ship by blowing it up) or if i get really unlucky (several beam drone enemies in a row, or enemy keeps hitting my weapons system over and over and dodging my shots, or i didnt get any weapons at all at any shops or drops and enemies started showing with good engines and 2 layer shields, which is basically impossible to penetrate).
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zzandrio
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2012 8:33 pm
Re: Survival with the Stealth ship?
If you're having trouble with the stealth ship, I've got a full playthrough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrLJUiUQmU8
Alternatively, if you need help surviving before you get shields a have a playthrough up to the second phase of the boss without ever getting shields.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiPNwiQUchs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrLJUiUQmU8
Alternatively, if you need help surviving before you get shields a have a playthrough up to the second phase of the boss without ever getting shields.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiPNwiQUchs