All hail Gumpo, the bravest Engi of all!

[recumbentrider]

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On another thread, I was discussing with 5th Horseman the possibility of trying to complete the game with the Vortex without hiring any crew. On my first try, I was able to do it! I think it was as much to do with luck as it was skill on my part. I pretty much stuck to 'green' sectors, and was lucky enough to get some semi-decent weapons early on. Except for the medbay, the cockpit, and the room in between them, I kept the air out of the ship for most of the run. With the door upgraded and with my anti-personnel drone on, I was able to deal with boarders without much trouble. On the two instances where I did get a crewman (once after rescuing a Zoltan from an ion storm, and another time when rescuing a Federation base that was under Rebel attack), I dismissed them immediately. This was a challenging run, but I have to admit that I have had more challenging runs than this one with this ship, even with a full crew. (This is why I think I was somewhat lucky during this run.) Nevertheless, I was glad I was able to do it, because in a twisted FTL way, it was fun!

[5thHorseman]

Well done!

Now do it again, but with a boarding strategy...

[recumbentrider]

Well done!

Now do it again, but with a boarding strategy...

Now that would be a REAL challenge..

I did have a healing burst in my cargo hold that I never used. Who knows? Maybe Gumpo could have done some boarding after all.

This run (and other recent runs with the ship) has given me more respect for the capabilities of the Vortex than I had. There was a time when I was sure it was the weakest ship in the FTL fleet; now I am not so sure. It definitely presents a challenge to use, but my recent runs with it have caused me to regard it differently. It might still be the weakest ship in the fleet, but if it is, it is not by much. If you are careful with your shots, the Vortex does have some teeth that can give Rebels and pirates a lot of trouble.

[KeronCyst]

How did you beat the final wave of the flagship, with the boarders? Did you just asphyxiate them to death?

[recumbentrider]

How did you beat the final wave of the flagship, with the boarders? Did you just asphyxiate them to death?

Actually, dealing with the flaghship crew was pretty easy, even with the Vortex with my one lone Engi. Without even using boarders, it is possible to kill over half of the flagship crew in the first two phases of the battle. This is how I did it for this run:

• The flagship has a crewman in each of the four weapon rooms, and has seven crew in the rest of the ship. These seven are the only crewmen that you have to worry about boarding your ship in the final phase of the battle.
• For the first phase of the battle, the flagship stations one crewman each in the cloak room and the door control room. I directed all of my weapons fire at the missle launcher, the ion gun, and the large beam weapon of the flaghship. (I managed to kill the crewman in the missile launcher.) When the left 'wing' of the flagship ship broke off, the flagship lost the two crewman that were in the cloak room and the door control room.
• For the second phase of the battle, after I took out the missile launcher with my weapons, I directed my weapons fire to the flagship's beam weapon, drone control room, and sensor room. When the drone control and sensor room were damaged, the flagship AI sent a crewman into each room to repair them. When the right 'wing' of the flagship broke off at the end of the second phase, these two crewman were lost with it.
• After losing four crewman during the first two phases of the battle, the flagship only had three left. I was running the ship with air only in the cockpit, the medbay, and the room connecting the two. I also had level 3 doors. When the flagship sent these three crewman to board my ship, they died through a combination of asphyxiation and my anti-personnel drone. I also think that even if they teleported into the medbay or cockpit, my lone Engi could have gone to the medbay for refuge, and with my anti-personnel drone, could have defeated the remaining three boarders.

Running the Vortex with most of the ship devoid of air, and with level 3 doors proved to be a very effective way of dealing with boarders throughout the run. At one beacon, I was beset with four Mantis. When this happened, I shut the oxygen system off, and by shutting individual doors, was able to separate them from each other. Since the Mantis had to deal with breaking down level 3 doors and fighting an anti-personnel drone in a vacuum, they did not last long.