Advise a noob.

[V00doo]

Hi, I'm very new at this game. less than 15 hours. I only managed to get to sector 6 with Kestral A so far.
But with the Engi A (Torus) I got to the final stage and managed to beat stage 1 of the boss.

My question is: Shoul I keep at it with the Engi A or was I just unlucky with the Kestral ?
Or: Should I concentrate on unlocking something else ?
My goal is to beat the boss at least once, then I can concentrate on the finer points of the game.

TLDR: What ship do people advice for a noob player ? Or, what unlocks should a noob aim for to beat the boss ?

[itg]

A lot of people find Engi A to be one of the easiest ships for beating the game, but the Kestrel A is solid, too. Just go with what you're comfortable with. No matter what ship you pick, you'll find you do better and better as you learn the "script" for each phase of the boss fight.

If you want to try another ship, I might suggest unlocking the Red-Tail, the B layout of the Kestrel. The Red-Tail is really, really good in the first three sectors, which gives you some breathing room for figuring out to upgrade your ship.

[Iranon]

Engi A is one of the stronger ships in the game. An Ion Mk2 can theoretically eat through any number of shield bubbles on its own, the starting configuration is of higher scrap value than any other ship, it's somewhat ok at attempting crew kills (ionise O2), layout is the best in the game...

Just don't get complacent. Engi A can be played on autopilot and still be somewhat successful, and its special tricks aren't very applicable to other ships.

*

Use whatever ship you enjoy playing.
Only one ship stands out as markedly more powerful than the rest, and it's usually the last thing people unlock. Troublesome ships: Stealth A and B (fragile), Engi B (starting weaponry can't deal with 2 shield bubbles, not boarding-friendly). A few others may be awkward before you get used to them.

[tremor3258]

The Kestral's starting setup is not bad at all - burst laser mk II is a very solid weapon, and Artemis is not a bad missile. Use it for strategic shots with its ability to bypass shields, and conserve ammunition.

The Engi A's ion blast on auto-fire is very good at taking down shields however, and training weaponry, so it's somewhat easier to keep going once it gets started.

One suggestion, and I don't know if it applies - this isn't true in all situations, but I found better returns when I switched from shooting out the shields for better follow-up volleys to shooting the weapons bay out so I would take less damage.

It's a long way back to the Federation, after all, and repairs are scrap not spent on upgrades.

[V00doo]

Obviously I'm still in early stages of learning tactics and layouts. So far Iv'e been targeting the weapons first every time with the ion weapon. It's slow going, but the drone eats through eventually. Now and then I have to taget the engine during the late stage of the fight to stop it leaving but so far it's worked ok for single and even double shields.

I have been trying early on each run to get a small laser which allows me to conserve drone parts for later use. Or even a launcher, as the missiles can achieve the same result.

The main benefit for me anyway so far with the engi is the ship wide med bay augmentation. That thing can really turn the tables when defending against borders when meds is at level 2.

Iv'e also just unlocked the Kestrel B layout (red tail) This is quite powerfull early game. Iv'e just yet to be lucky so far at finding decent upgrades, but the ship seems to have potential.

Thx for the input.

[The Captain]

Engi medbot dispersal is not affected by increased levels of medbay.

[V00doo]

Engi medbot dispersal is not affected by increased levels of medbay.

Thx for pointing that out. I had assumed it did, but obviously I was failing to notice otherwise.

[Dontmindme]

It sounds to me as if you are well on your way to winning a game soon. Which ships are easier to win with is a highly debatable topic. The answer lies in each individual's playstyle. I'd say your best bet is to stick with a ship you've been playing. Familiarity breeds progress.

[V00doo]

It sounds to me as if you are well on your way to winning a game soon. Familiarity breeds progress.

That's quite fitting you say that. I finally beat the boss last night. wooot!
All be it on easy mode but still...
This game is awesome. You start out by thinking you will never beat the boss. But yeah, it was a steap learning curve but all a sudden it just works out your way.

I admit I had a lucky run. But then that's part of the game right ?
I used the engi A and got real lucky in the first sector picking up two extra crew almost straight away.
It was a real rush and unlike most games a sense of achievement to finally beat it.
Also worth mentioning that I used a combo of damage dron and bording drone on the boss. Once the bording drone did it's stuff I used the power to use two damage drones.
The bording drone though worked wonders with the boss's sealed wepon rooms. Maybe I was lucky with where they landed. (or do bording drones prioritise weapons ?)
Each time I used a bording drone it took out a main weapon in no time. Only downside was was I could only use it once each stage as after it did it's thing it just sat there in the sealed room with no way to terminate it in order to use a second one untill the boss changed phase. I need to test, but not sure if the bording drone only needs power to launch. I was too busy to notice if I could of launched a second attack drone one the boarding drone was on board.

One other thing, I had an option if I wanted it to buy x2 shield recharge augments. (allready had one and came across another in a shop) Does anyone know if these stack ? Or even if your able to install a second one at all.
If they stack then 30% recharge with four shields on top of skills sounds pretty mega.
Next on my list is obviously to unlock and try more ships. And of course eventually move on to normal mode and beat the game. I also want to start using the teleporter as I didn't bother with it this time.

Thx for all the input. (great community) I guess in the end through playing I answered my own question and the Engi A was the noob ship for me. Others may have a different play style of course.

PS: I also unlocked the Zoltan ship, so gonn have fun with that later.

[Russian Rockman]

You got lucky with where the Boarding drone landed. It's completely random where it lands. I would consider that "unlucky" though since I don't usually like them being stuck in the artillery rooms. However it is possible to destroy your own boarding drone if you fire at the room it is stuck in. Then you can launch a new one.

A lot of people like the teleporting strategy of teleporting in crew to take out the weapons. Also when you board enemy ships and kill the crew you get slightly more rewards then if you blew it up. The teleporter is a great investment, boarding just takes a lot of micromanaging. (Pro Tip: if you board a ship with 2 people and 1 of them takes a lot of damage and is still fighting someone but is about to die, but the other is fine and not fighting anyone, you can rearrange their position in the room by pausing, sending them both to another room, then sending them back to the room they are in individually in the order you want, the first one will go to the top left corner, then unpause the game)

Yes, Shield Recharge Boosters stack. So do Auto Reloaders. It can be pretty nice when you get 2 of them like that, but it's not super OP or anything.

Congratulations on your first win!!! And welcome to the game that will destroy your free time for many months to come. Eventually you will learn the ins and outs of this game and, believe me, a time will come where it seems "too easy." And then you'll move on to normal and that will seem to easy. And then you'll try mods like the Captains Edition, which most people think is harder than vanilla, and then that will get easy too. But it'll never get that easy... The RNG can be horrible at times and I still finds ships in vanilla and CE that can kill me. And besides that will take AGES of gameplay before you get to that point, and it'll be really fun.

The Boss is actually one of the simplest parts of the game after you've played it a while because unlike most things you know exactly what to expect. It may get more complicated when the Advanced Edition update is released though. In the meantime I suggest you play more of this awesome game and try to unlock all the ships. Try to best the game on Normal and try to beat it with one of each of the 9 types of ships. Once that is done you will have pretty much mastered vanilla FTL and then you can try out some ship mods and the Captain's Edition. It adds a TON of new stuff to the game but feels very similar to Vanilla FTL! You should play more of vanilla FTL before then though, then you can appreciate the added stuff from mods even more.

Anyway, have fun with FTL!!!!!
Man I wish I was you. I've been having to wait for the Advanced Edition forever, but by the time you become familiar with this game it will probably already be out!