NWade wrote:The Scientist - I did some more experimentation today and unfortunately it turns out that enemy ships do *not* always lose weapons in a consistent order, when their weapon room is damaged (drat).
--Noel
I think they do, but since the AI is working at several billion operations a second it can switch one of the left-most weps off to reroute power to one that would have otherwise been depowered. I've noticed sometimes with a hit the enemy ships weapons twitch a bit and one of the left weps go down but the right-most stays online.
Damn AI doesnt need the pause function
I guess it's a good thing most AI ships don't have many bombs. However, it's probably worse to fight a ship with 2xS.Bombs and Lasers than a ship with 4xS.bombs, simply because you need to have shields to block the lasers.
NWade wrote:The Scientist - I did some more experimentation today and unfortunately it turns out that enemy ships do *not* always lose weapons in a consistent order, when their weapon room is damaged (drat).
--Noel
I think they do, but since the AI is working at several billion operations a second it can switch one of the left-most weps off to reroute power to one that would have otherwise been depowered. I've noticed sometimes with a hit the enemy ships weapons twitch a bit and one of the left weps go down but the right-most stays online.
Damn AI doesnt need the pause function
im pretty sure the AI ships work the same as the player controlled in the way that each weapon slot is connected to a fixed point on the visible hull. and when they loose power, the weapon on the right side of their virtual weapons rack will be shut down first. but maybe the weapon order as seen on the ship sometimes is [3 1 2 4], with the inner two being powered first, then the outer two.
that being said, the AI definitively does swap weapons around if it needs to. But in that case, atleast youve won one charge cycle.
Binky and The Scientist - You're both correct, from everything I've seen. But my point is: if the AI is re-routing power then it doesn't matter where the weapon is attached on the enemy ship or where it is on their weapons-layout ("tray"). If the AI is rerouting power then you cannot _know_ ahead of time which weapon they'll deactivate/reactivate first. And thus you can't know for sure when you begin the engagement if you can take their missiles offline with your first point or two of damage to their weapons system room.
I'm in yhe middle of a normal run with the type-B engie rig, and I've already got enough power to mantain level 3 shields and two defense drones, one each level, at the same time. I'm not sure whether to get another lv1 defense drone or keep my lv1 anti-ship and invest on cloacking, because I honestly think tjat, by the time I reach the boss, he'll not be able to hit me even once without it.
Mostly luck though. I mean, who's had to dump a shield recharge booster gotten for free, for goodness sake?
Let me tell you something: the drone retrieval arm is on pair with the preigniter in terms of usefulness, maybe even more.
Mr. Mister wrote:Let me tell you something: the drone retrieval arm is on pair with the preigniter in terms of usefulness, maybe even more.
Once again, its all economics and adapting to the situation you're given. Drones are a consumable; and with the retrieval arm you can almost completely ignore having to buy any drone parts -and this frees you up to spend scrap on other things. The weapon pre-igniter means you probably take less damage in a fight; so you end up spending less scrap on repairs and can buy other things. There are many forms of this in the game: Getting lots of laser/Ion weapons means not having to spend money buying missiles. Getting Mantis/Rock crew and a Transporter means more scrap from vessels that you've taken over (as opposed to destroying them). When FTL gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Or, fire the lemons at that incoming Rebel Cruiser and give 'em hell!
Alright, I've been thinking, when FTL gives you lemons, don't make lemonade, make FTL take the lemons back! GET MAD! I don't want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these?! Demand to see FTL's manager! Make FTL rue the day it thought it could give Waffles Too lemons! Do you know who I am?! I'm the man who's gonna BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN, with the lemons! I'm gonna get my Zoltan to invent a combustable lemon that BURNS YOUR HOUSE DOWN!
*cough cough*
Um, anyway
Oh, yes, what I was going to say is given the choice between a drone-retrieval arm and a scrap-retrieval arm (or a SECOND scrap-retrieval arm) I'd say you're scrap-ahead with the scrap retrieval arm. BUT, as with so many things, you don't always get a choice so often I find myself 'making do' with the things the game decides to give you. I think it's what I love (and occasionally hate) about the game; you can't count on ANYTHING so you'd better be flexible enough to go with what works RIGHT NOW instead of what works the best.
...and every once in a while the game just kills you and laughs the whole time XD.
WafflesToo wrote:Alright, I've been thinking, when FTL gives you lemons, don't make lemonade, make FTL take the lemons back! GET MAD! I don't want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these?! Demand to see FTL's manager! Make FTL rue the day it thought it could give Waffles Too lemons! Do you know who I am?! I'm the man who's gonna BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN, with the lemons! I'm gonna get my Zoltan to invent a combustable lemon that BURNS YOUR HOUSE DOWN!
I just had a run with a Torus. and I'm so ultra lucky, not only do I have almost 100 scrap and remain unscratched through out most of the first sector, but I also got a Burst Laser III, Pegasus Missile, and a Heavy Laser II, all in the first sector.
So I just sold them all in the second sector, and a few more jump later I found a burst laser II in a shop! Bought it in a heart beat... but that is not all, by that time I am up to 6 crews!
I get a teleporter, started boarding, did a silly mistake and killed one mantis and a slug crew when I accidentally broke the ship when they are still in it. But no matter! Luck just keep flooding my way. Not only did I get a second Ion Blast II, I also just got an Antiship drone II floating around like it is X'mas. Bought a scrap recovery and a reloading augmentations. I'm basically pouring ion blast II.
Got the achievement of disabling more then four system at the same time without even trying. runs into pretty much no challenge whatsoever. 4 shields auto ship with two rockets launcher and a MK 3 plus clock and beam and drone? No problem, it only managed to shoot one volley which I just cloak to dodge and kills with ease. The final boss wasn't even a challenge.
Sound like a total bragging story, and it probably is, but I feel that the game is really more of a rock paper scissor game. realistically, you only have three different defence against missile.
1. Defense drone. 2. Disable their weapon 3. Dodge.
Important thing with this game is simply max out your odd. Look at what your ship is at the moment. Sure, if defence drone is available, do it, but if not? Max your dodging? No! If you have the weapon and tons of shield, then focus on disabling their weapon. Sure, it might make you eat a few missile, but at least it will make everything else easy as well.
The point of this game is basically "play the ood". When you uses all your best odd to your advantage, the chance the game will treat you nicely will simply increase. It really is just a statistic thing.
Best quote on the face of the planet.