Maximizing Odds for Unidentified Cruiser [SPOILERS]

[SushaBrancaleone]

well it is the last ship and it is also rather OP particularly the B version.
and yes you have to specifically farm for it. It took me a while., do consider that once u unlocked all ships the game has less appeal. it becomes about highscore and beating the boss, its still lots of fun, just a bit less.

here is what helps, even though there is a post somewhere with all such info, possibly even more accurate.

1 The stasis Pod can drop in ENGI sectors, ZOLTAN AND PIRATE sectors. I heard it can also "drop" in rock controlled sectors.

2 Both step 1 and 2 dont have to be in "homeworlds" a

3 for step 2 you can also find the lab in ENGI sectors

4 If you havent achieved steps 1-2 by sector five/six restart. Always check if you have red sectors at the end of the map, if not you wont find the rock homeworld so restart

5 The beacon in the Rock Homeworld usually is a star with NO events, no disturbances, no ships etc.. normal star.

[Gus Smedstad]

I've gotten the Crystal Stasis Pod many, many times with most ships, and about 30% of the time I've managed to get it repaired at the Zoltan Outpost, so I was prepared for it to be very difficult to get the "Ancestry" achievement with the Rock Cruiser.

The first time I took the Rock Cruiser out for a spin, I found the pod in an Engi sector, got the Crystal crewman in the same sector, and found the pod again and salvaged a weapon. Then when I made it to the Rock Homeworlds, and there was no quest marker - I didn't know about the bug where you lose the quest marker if you visit two crystal wrecks.

Despite that, I managed to find the entry beacon by chance, made it to the Crystal Sector, and unlocked the Crystal Cruiser. On my very first try with the Rock Cruiser.

[xdiesp]

Of all the times Ive found the stasis pod and got the crystal man, the rock homeworld never appeared. If Ive yet to unlock it after unlocking all other things before that, its gonna be savegame editor time.

[canman]

Just unlocked it

It took me about two hours using the following method:

1. Have all the possible scenarios/sectors written down and sitting beside you while you play (can all be found at the beginning of this thread). (BTW, you *can* get the stasis pod from the rock-controlled sector.)

2. Play with the rock ship, type A. The missiles let you grind through quickly without having to worry about upgrading too much.

3. Bee-line through the first sector to the exit. Stop at any store to try and pick up a long-range scanner if you get lucky enough. But your goal should be to get through the first sector as fast as possible (seriously, skip any battle you don't have to fight - you're probably going to restart) so you can see the sector map and decide whether or not to restart. No part of unlocking the cruiser requires you to fight an enemy, so you really don't need to worry about gathering scrap and upgrading your ship (except for shields so you don't get ripped apart by lasers).

4. At the end of the first sector, look at the sector map. If one of the next sectors wasn't one with the stasis pod (rock, pirate, zoltan, engi), I restarted. If that wasn't followed by a branching pattern that let me choose three different green sectors within the next two jumps (to get the Zoltan research event at Zoltan or Engi), I restarted. Finally, I wanted to be able to choose between at least three different reds near the end of the map to maximize my chances of actually hitting that damn rock homeworld. If there were just one or two reds at the end, I restarted. So, overall, I restarted probably 80% of the time at the end of sector 1.

Using this technique, I got the crystal dude well over 50% of the time I didn't restart at the end of sector 1. Most of my failures came from not finding the rock homeworld, which is why I wouldn't even bother with a run where you don't have 3-5 red options in the last 3 sectors.

[xdiesp]

I made it to the crystal ship unlock! I had completed the game 15 times already, and had found the crystal being about 4 times, but was never able to to find the rock homeworld. Now I followed the guide's suggestion, and reset my run until I saw the chance of getting to cross 3 green worlds and 3 red ones (took 2 tries).

As for the other guy, the ancient stargate in the rock homeworlds was a plain beacon to the right of the exit.

[Agent_L]

The first time I took the Rock Cruiser out for a spin, I found the pod in an Engi sector, got the Crystal crewman in the same sector, and found the pod again and salvaged a weapon. Then when I made it to the Rock Homeworlds, and there was no quest marker - I didn't know about the bug where you lose the quest marker if you visit two crystal wrecks.

Let me correct that info:
1) There never is a quest marker at the ancient gate, so there's no bug to lose it.
2) There is nothing to lose if you scrap another pod. In fact, there is almost nothing to gain if you choose to get second pod.

The quest doesn't even start until you're inside crystal sector, so there's nothing that can be broken until then.

[thereaverofdarkness]

The stasis pod always spawns at a distress signal, for it is that very distress signal that tells you where it is within the asteroids. Sometimes you get an option to either take the pod or the weapon.

The zoltan research group I'm pretty sure only appear in zoltan or engi space, and more often in zoltan space. They are at a non-ship (empty) beacon.

I'm at my wits end with this one because I know exactly how to do it and have known for many playthroughs but I never get all 3 in the right order. The overall chance of it being possible to see the secret sector in a playthrough seem to be under 10%, but you don't find out your game was stacked against you until you get most of the way through. Very frustrating. Would be nice if there were more features at work to ensure you have a chance to complete this in most games.

[Agent_L]

The stasis pod always spawns at a distress signal, for it is that very distress signal that tells you where it is within the asteroids.

I'm not sure if I understand you right, but long range sensors show NO asteroids hazard at the beacon. (when you fly in, there are also no asteroids in the background. Asteroids are only mentioned in the text.

Would be nice if there were more features at work to ensure you have a chance to complete this in most games.

Why? It's supposed to be super rare and super obscure. It's a bonus, not a requirement.

[thereaverofdarkness]

The stasis pod always spawns at a distress signal, for it is that very distress signal that tells you where it is within the asteroids.

I'm not sure if I understand you right, but long range sensors show NO asteroids hazard at the beacon. (when you fly in, there are also no asteroids in the background. Asteroids are only mentioned in the text.

The beacon is only listed as a distress signal. I never said it was located within an asteroid hazard.

[Agent_L]

The beacon is only listed as a distress signal. I never said it was located within an asteroid hazard.

Ok, I understood you wrong.