My Amazing Victory

[Dr_Zegobob]

I just scored an amazing victory after one very successful play-through, and I am posting here to tell you all about it.

The Destroyer's Voyage:

I started by selecting the Engi A as my cruiser for the game, as I noticed I have developed some skill in drone ships. Very early on in the game, I acquire an Ion Blast Mk. I which works really well with the starting Ion Blast Mk. II. I then soon acquired an Anti-Personnel drone and a Defense Mk. I drone. Somewhere in the first three sectors, I managed to pick up a Drone Recovery arm from a random event without even having to spend scrap material on it at a store! Once I entered the fourth sector, I knew I was well prepared because I had a ship with two Ion Blasts (one Mk. II), a Defense and Combat drone, four points in shields (level two shields), four engine points, a crew manning each station - even one extra engi for making repairs, and enough reactor points to power all stations.

As I moved into Sector Four, an Uncharted Nebula, I managed to get really low on fuel. With one fuel left in the tank, I was saved when I saw that I could jump to a store for the next beacon. The store had a decent amount of fuel, so I bought it all and continued my journey. I made it out of the nebula sector after having explored many beacons. I now proceeded onward, and I made an upgrade to my shields getting them to 6 points, or three shields.

Within Sector Five and Six, I managed to pick up another Ion Blast Mk. I. Now, those four shield ships stood no chance against my drones as I targeted their shields and other systems with all my Ion weapons. I also received a Hull Smasher Laser Mk. I which I sold for some more scrap since I had no need for it. I sold my Anti-Personnel drone as my crew could handle boarders and it was also impractical to use. With these three Ion weapons, I managed to completely stop four of the enemy systems unlocking the "The Guns... They've Stopped" achievement. With that and the "I Hardly Lifted a Finger" achievement, I unlocked the Engi Cruiser B (The Vortex). That was the first out of three new ships that I had unlocked during that game.

I moved through Sector Six (Mantis Homeworlds) and upgraded my engines to level five and medbay to level two, as well as providing reactor power for them to run on full power. With another reactor upgrade, I was now able to power two drones (Anti-Ship and Defense) at once if I temporary took the power out of the medbay. I also acquired a mantis to help deal with boarders, and I got some more scrap material and fuel. The Drone Recovery Arm that I found at the start of the game was really paying off - I was never in the need for drone parts, and I had over twenty.

As I moved on to Sector Seven, which was Rock Homeworlds, one of the first things I came across was the starting event for unlocking the Rock Cruiser. I chose the correct options and quickly went to the quest beacon with the rebel fleet close behind me. The quest beacon was on a sun, however, but I only had to wait for the enemy ship to jump away before I could jump too. The enemy jumped away, then I followed it to the second quest beacon and then earned the Rock Cruiser! I was now just one beacon away from a store, so I maxed out shields and reactor, and then upgraded oxygen to two bars. I then proceeded to The Last Stand.

When I entered the Federation Base, I got the mission and went straight for the Rebel Flagship. The way I play The Last Stand, unlike other sectors, is I take the quickest route straight toward the boss while avoiding fights and stopping at repair outposts. I got stopped by two rebel fighters, but because of my upgraded shields and engines, and my Defense drone, I took no hull damage on either fight, and I got straight to the Flagship without any hull damage. I did not have a cloak or a teleporter installed, but I easily took down the shields and missile launcher with my three Ion Blasts and I had a handy engi for repairs for any shot that did get past my shields. I easily beat the first stage with little hull damage, then I repaired and moved on to the second stage. With my shields expert slug, the drone power surges did very little damage even though I had no cloak at all. I attacked the shields, missiles, and drone room with my three Ion blasts, and won the second stage by hitting them hard with my Anti-Ship drone. My repair engi leveled up fully as well, and my mantis took care of the one boarding drone that got past my Defense drone.

The third (and final) stage of the fight had an easy beginning. I targeted their shields, cockpit, and missile launcher with my Ion Blasts, and easily took down the super-shield surrounding the ship. The normal shields were not a problem either, but the boarders were. Soon, my mantis died and both me and the Flagship were at only four hull points. I knew I could score a victory with my drone, and it was just a race against time as the enemy missile salvo fired. I was down to one hull when suddenly, the Flagship fell apart and victory music started playing. I could hardly believe that I defeated the Rebel Flagship with only a single hull point left. I took some screenshots as my ship, The Destroyer, achieved a Federation victory.

So, I made my first victory on normal, and I though this voyage went very well.

Screenshots:

Everything in a yellow box is what I unlocked in this game.
These pictures were taken in windowed mode to make them smaller so I could get them with Snipping Tool.
These are posted as links and not as images on this page because this page is too small for these large images.

Stats/Scores menu:
http://i.imgur.com/jOTES.jpg

Ships unlocked in this game:
http://i.imgur.com/eaEs3.png
http://i.imgur.com/lNx0J.png
http://i.imgur.com/jADAa.png
http://i.imgur.com/ozMQ4.png

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What ship should I use next?
Thank you for reading this thread.

[UltraMantis]

That's a great victory! 1 HP left and in a desperate race against a missile... you gotta love moments like this. Finally the bastard fell apart.

Here's to future wins! Try the Adjudicator next, it's not easy but once you get the hang of it, you realise it's one of the strongest ships in the game.

[Dr_Zegobob]

Here's to future wins! Try the Adjudicator next, it's not easy but once you get the hang of it, you realise it's one of the strongest ships in the game.

Thank you for the feedback! I tried the Adjudicator before this win and I have had a hard time getting some weapons that can go through three or four shields. Even on my latest run with it I still could not penetrate three to four shields easily, even though I found and powered a Glaive Beam in Sector One.

Should I try the Federation Cruiser next?

[UltraMantis]

Sure. I can't get used to it's ace weapon and it has to be used in order to get the ship going. It's kinda dissapointing for me at least, that the Osprey is a decent ship, but much weaker and not nearly as dependable as the Kestrel.

The B type is pretty awfull as it's probably the weakest ship in the game, and imo isn't fun to play at all. Stealth B is horribly disadvantaged, but fun to try. Mantis B can be stomped out at the first beacon, but eventually growls and pretty much pirates everything in sight. The Vortex is brilliantly mad and impossible to hate. But the Nisos... it has several disadvantages and no real ace up it's sleeve. Plus it's boring. Try to find a bright side to it if you can, i couldn't. It looks good, maybe that's it.