Sectors 1 - 3: My first three sectors were fairly lucky. I ran into a large number of auto scouts and Zoltans, but the vast majority of them couldn't penetrate my superior defenses. I had enough encounters with rebels to net some decent scrap, but I was starting to get worried by the beginning of sector 3. The RNG gods decided to bless me with a S. Bomb, but I had no ammo to feed it. I suppose I should be thankful to have at least something I could use to deal with pesky Zoltans and medbays at some point. My first upgrades went to engines, and then to subsystems in order to maximize the possible number of blue events and to - hopefully - get some extra crew...
Sectors 3 - 6: Still no crew in sight! I'm stuck with my starting two Mantises, and my ship is starting to take a beating due to having practically no evasion. I nearly die on several occasions; escaping only by the skin of my teeth. I spent some extra scrap upgrading my helm, but it was barely worth it (5% dodge vs. 0%). My strategy was to immediately board the enemy's helm, and when their crew were wounded and would head to the medibay, I'd use an S. Bomb to finish them off. It worked, to an extent, but I was spending far too much on repairs for comfort. I eventually managed to purchase a Burst Laser I and a Scrap Recovery Arm from a shop, and I found a Shield Recharge Booster, but I still couldn't take on Zoltans reliably without taking unacceptable damage. Fortunately, boarding + the Scrap Recovery Arm were allowing me to afford my repairs with plenty left over, so at the end of sector 6, I managed to upgrade my engines to the point of diminishing returns, and I scraped up enough extra scrap to obtain max shields and level 2 in all subsystems.
Sector 7: I immediately found a shop with an extra Mantis and two humans, but my upgrade splurge in sector 6 left me almost broke... What to do? I'm forced to sell off my augments to purchase the crew. Frustrating, but it proves to be a worthy trade. With a pilot, I start taking much less damage, so I'm soon rolling in scrap. I find another shop toward the middle of the sector, and this one is selling an Ion Blast II, a second Burst Laser I, and TWO Auto-Reloaders.
I even have enough scrap to pick up level 2 cloaking. Sector 8: Just before engaging the Rebel Flagship, I find another shop selling three humans and a THIRD Auto-Reloader!
I can't afford everything, but I have just enough to purchase the reloader and one extra crewman. Rebel Flagship:
Stage one was ridiculously easy. Three Auto-Reloaders is stupidly powerful. I sent two mantises to kill his missiles, cloaked through his first volley, and auto-targeted his shields / medbay. My Mantises barely had time to finish off his missile launcher before my burst lasers destroyed his shields and set fire to the room. I had to take my lasers off auto-fire to prevent myself from destroying the ship along with my boarding party. I recalled my mantises, let them heal, and then sent in a full boarding party (3 mantis, 1 human) to kill off all but one enemy crew (to prevent the AI from taking over), and then I finished the job with a volley of lasers. Aaah... Satisfying.
I took some damage in stage two because I accidentally cloaked and got hit by his power surge (d'oh), but I simply repeated the same strategy as before, only this time, I also targeted his drone control to keep his boarding drone from doing too much damage. Rinse and repeat, easy as pie.
Stage three was even easier. I took a little damage this time due to stupid cloaking again, but once the Zoltan Shield was down, it was only a matter of auto-targeting his shields and letting my lasers do the work. (I didn't even bother boarding with my mantises this time).
Overall, I'd say I won due to having an EXTREMELY lucky late game. But, there were many times, early on, that I wanted to quit due to bad luck. No crew until sector 6? That's ridiculous! I'm still proud of finally getting a win, and I hope this serves as motivation for some of you who are still having trouble. It's all about luck with a dash of strategy and motivation.
