So far I have played 35 hours on Easy.
So far I have battled the rebel flagship five times.
First time I got killed quickly. Four times after that I have died when flagship sends a swarm of drones on me.
I have unlocked many different ships doing this, but I won't try them out untill I manage to get the game through with the first standard Kestrel.
Going to the school of hard knocks.
I find for the boss I always do best when I have the Teleporter, the Cloaking Device or both. The teleporter has numerous benefits, just be wary of enemies jumping away with your boarders still on board! And stealth is an excellent way to avoid the bosses power surges and missiles, if you can get the timing right.
Mainly, keep playing and trying different things, the more you get used to things the better you will do
I won the game on normal with the Engi A. It was a very close game, and I managed to win with only one hull point left.
I'll make a new thread about it.
EDIT: New thread created, since I no longer need the advice. Thank you to everyone that gave me tips on how to beat the game!
My ships:
Kestrel A, Engi A, Engi B, Stealth A, Stealth B, Zoltan A, Zoltan B, Rock A, Federation A, Federation B, Mantis A, Mantis B. Ships listed in green are ones that I have scored a victory with.
I have to say I read a few guides about how to unlock ships on a wiki and unlocked every ship + every type so far (yes, on easy mode).
I've started doing normal runs and win 2 out of 3, where the 3rd is usually based on really rotten luck. That is, a Zoltan cruiser, no one wants to join and suddenly, solar flare area with 4 boarding Mantis goons!
I seriously believe that the Crystal Cruiser (A as well as B) is one of the easyest to get a normal victory with.
The drawback from B, is that you have no weapons, so Zoltan an Auto ships will be a real jerk at the start, but when you get at least 1 weapon, you can pretty much faceroll everything you come across.
It has a standard teleporter and cloaking device to start with, so after teleporting your Crystal goons in their weapons' bay, you lock it down (twice or thrice, depending on the size), cut down their weapons and beat up their goons afterwards.
This also works on the final boss, teleport your guys in the shield room, lock it down until it's broken, teleport out. I prefer to do that after disabling their weapons.
I also find it extremely handy to have a fire bomb launcher, namely because, with my strategy, the final boss' ship runs out of dudes really quickly and the auto pilot takes over and starts repairing the ship. If you put the destroyed weapons bays on fire, they can't repair it (just make sure not to destroy their oxygen supply).
Ofc, it's totally what and how you prefer to play and what weapons you come across and if you have the Crystal cruiser at your disposal.
I have yet to win with several other ships on normal though, but this one was, imho, by far the easiest... Even compared to the Kestrel, or the Artillery ship.
