Subset Games Forum

So I just, ahem, won for the first time with a really good load-out and team. Noticed some stuff that I've not seen mentioned, so I thought I'd lend some new fellows a hand.

This one wasn't obvious to me, but it may be obvious to you:

- The first time you're looking to upgrade your engines, check if there's already a spare power slot. The osprey and kestral come like so and instead of upgrading power and engines, save your cash and upgrade power. Thereafter do them two at a time.

Gradually, I noticed my best runs had these features:

- Engines: are not to be forgotten. You don't appreciate how good a level 5 engine is until you realise this halves your chances of being hit by anything!. Well, except drones.

- Teleporters: Absolutely integral to basic end-fight strategy. *I've seen this elsewhere but worth reposting

- A decent size crew, one to man all the key systems and another as repairs is minimum for me. I try to have more for boarding funzies.

Misc:

- A Rockman and a Mantis make an awesome boarding team! The mantis allows for good damage while incase of fires you can move your mantis around, or take him back to the ship leaving your rockman to rustle some jimmies.

- You can't retrieve boarded crew while: (a) The enemy cloak is up. (b) Your crew are hacking at a door.

- Firing multiple weapons in a single well timed volley can be far more effective than firing them whenever they're ready.

- Killing all crew yields much more scrap if you do it consistently, I've found it's the best way to boost incomes.


These are just some tips I've picked up along the way that's helped me improve, but everyone has different playing styles and tactics so don't be afraid to try something new, that's part of the fun.

Good tips there Ezy, and welcome to the forum.

One thing about engines. It's worth having more engines then you intend to use. There will be fights you will want to run like #%$^& from. Dump power from weapons or anything available to boost your FTL recharge. You can also boost evasion by depowering systems when a nasty salvo/missile is headed your way. You can afford to have no oxygen or drones for a second or two and it can mean having extra 15-20% evasion.

Thank you sir, nice to be here. I must add this tip now that it's bend me over the fence twice:

For when you first unlock the federation ship:

"Ooh, artillery beam, that fucking rocks, lets blow some punk-ass rebels to dust and ashes. In fact, why not board my attack squad and finish the job eh? In fact, why not just cause some damage to weapons too? I'm going for it. Crew it boarded, artillery beam ensures their hull is busted up nice'n guuuud. Your attack squad fight valiently and you see victory on the horizon. You're ready to beam them back, their crew's all but go-. Artillery beam. Artillery beam...FFFFF-. Seriously though, it's easy to forget about when you have a boarding crew and are keeping an eye on them. Obliterated 4 of my solid mantis/rock teams...

Teleporter is heavily overrated for the final fight. I see it recommended everywhere as a must-have but it really isn't. Worst case scenario without TP is that you'll take a few extra rocket volleys (which you should be always prepared for anyway) and if you really don't like that guy manning the missiles you can just focus fire on him once the shields are down in phase I.

TP is useful but by no means mandatory. If you don't get it early enough to benefit from the extra scrap from boarding then there are better ways to spend your scrap on.

I can only speak from personal experience, but I can say I've only come out alive or stood a chance with teleporters. While I would agree you can manage without, that's only with sufficiently powerful attack and defense. If you have neither, it's definitely worth considering.

I'd say teleporter is not mandatory but it makes a considerable difference during the flagship battle. With it you can reduce enemy offense to one superweapon (Triple HLaser is ideal) + power surge attacks. If you have sufficent defense you can then take your time and fight a more relaxed fight.

A relaxed fight against the flagship sounds good when you havent beaten it yet, or when your weapons are only average. If you have the luxury of a superb weapon loadout, say BL2 + 2 Halberds, and maybe an attack drone on top of that... yeah in that case the teleporter just gets in the way.