The starting ship (layout A) is way underestimated

[Darkfyre]

The kestrel, layout A, is really a great ship and yet I see people saying all the time they can't wait to ditch it.

Here is why:

1. You start with a 2 damage missile launcher and a 3 damage laser. In a game where weapons are the deciding factor, you START with weapons able to get through 5 layers of shield! That means, that while the max is 4, with missing you are still very likely to pierce shields from the start of the game! Most of the other ships MUST find a certain weapon by sector 3, or they flat out cannot hurt enemies anymore. Not only are these weapons awesome, but they are very low power for the punch they pack!

2. The kestrel has a good layout for mitigating fire and beam damage. Ever see a pike beam hit engy ship A?

3. You start with decent shields and engines. Most of the other ships are lacking in one or the other, but this one is solid on both fronts.

4. All of the combat system rooms are big, 4 person rooms. If you acquire more crew, you can have super fast repair teams instead of only being able to fit 2 repair men in.

5. Because your weapons are good, and you have a shield, all of your money can be spent purely on anything you come across, allowing for maximum adaptability. While the kestrel isn't the best at anything, it has zero inherent weaknesses other than the fact that an all-human crew loses out on some alien blue text options until you get more diverse crew.

I think people should give the ship a go after they get better at the game, because I too forsook the ship in favor of new ships, and after about 20 playthroughs of various other ships I gave the kestrel a go. With my new talent from so many play throughs, I dominated so easily on normal with it a few times in a row. It really is a great ship, because it can adapt to ANYTHING you come across and ANY fighting style the game forces you to adapt, and the biggest factor in this game is randomness.

[jamotide]

You are right, but I have not seen anyone say otherwise. The Kestrel and Fed Cruiser are the easiest ships, I assume thats why you start with them, to get to know the game without too much trouble. (like Engi B or Stealth B grrr)

[hborrgg]

Very true. The only real complaints i have about the kestrel A are 1. Layout is a bit iffy: I don't like having life support so far from the med bay, and the way the weapons room is set up taking a hit there has the nasty tendancy of basically bisecting your ship. 2. It's the default ship so it tends to get boring much sooner.

[froz]

The kestrel, layout A, is really a great ship and yet I see people saying all the time they can't wait to ditch it.

Really? I think you misread people being bored by the only ship they have with people saying it's poor. I have seen many players writing that this is very good, balanced ship.

1. You start with a 2 damage missile launcher and a 3 damage laser. In a game where weapons are the deciding factor, you START with weapons able to get through 5 layers of shield! That means, that while the max is 4, with missing you are still very likely to pierce shields from the start of the game! Most of the other ships MUST find a certain weapon by sector 3, or they flat out cannot hurt enemies anymore. Not only are these weapons awesome, but they are very low power for the punch they pack!

Emm, you are not exactly right. Missile weapons don't hit shields. If you land your missile on the shield system and all your laser hits actually hit (very unlikely, especially in the boss fight), you would be able to take down 4 shields, but you wouldn't damage enemy hull (except the missile dmg). You would never take down 5 layers of shield (if it existed). However, I agree that those 2 weapons are simply the best in game, especially burst laser Mk 2 (better then Mk3 and sooo much better then Mk1).

2. The kestrel has a good layout for mitigating fire and beam damage. Ever see a pike beam hit engy ship A?

I like Kestrel B room layout more. Have you seen how many airlocks does it have?


I agree, more or less, with the rest of your post, but you forgot about something. Kestrel doesn't have anything unique. It's average in every aspect. It has only human crew, it doesn't have any additional equipement, it's layout is very regular. It's so normal. That's why it's boring after some time. At least for me.

[Darkfyre]

-snip-

What I meant about the missile, is that it will *damage* the shield by 2 points (removing 1 shield level) and the laser will hit for 3 points (reducing the shield from 3 to zero temporarily). So, if you happen to pick up a single other weapon, you can hammer the boss hard from the get-go, you don't need to find 2-3 weapons on your journeys, maybe perhaps just one. So maybe the starting weapons aren't quite as uber as I worded them nor could they alone take out the boss, they are excellent when combined with, well, anything you find pretty much.

I agree it's an average ship, but what is interesting to me is that you can do anything with it. You can literally adopt almost any strategy on the fly, and I think that's kind of neat. The kestrel's main feature is that it is boring enough to be anything you want it to make it interesting

All of the other ships have a rather linear progression (I need to find cloak/a shield/a certain weapon to be good, and if I don't I just flop)

[TheAzryte]

Kestrel A is ok, but it's meh in that there's no real catch to it, which is why something like the B type is better (it gives you four basic lasers if you didn't know which equals four damage for one power each). Different ships have different starts which may be why people want to ditch Kestrel A for them. For instance maybe someone is keen on drones, so they'll take the engi ship, while someone who likes to board may take one of the Mantis ship layouts. Or maybe you want the fed cruiser for it's unique beam system. Maybe you want a different crew then three humans which is such a bland start. It's not people saying the Kestrel A is a bad ship but maybe saying that ship X or Y has a starting setup and/or crew that they find better.

[hborrgg]

The BL II and Artemis however will last you all the way through the end of the game. With the red tail you spend most of the game desperately trying to find ways to replace those four basic lasers before you reach the boss.

[Doom Lich]

The Kestrel A is a fine ship. The main issue is that it's very... Generic. It's not really fun to play for a lot of people. But being generic also makes it very good for starting people out.

Personally I love the red-tail, it's alternate layout. There are airlocks everywhere. There are only a few rooms that can't be vented by opening 2 or less doors. It's starting weapons allow a lot more flexibility than burst lasers. It's crew is more diverse, and the Zoltan essentially gives you a free reactor point. It's very nice. Bonus points for starting out fully staffed.

Vital systems are also all very close together making repairs easy.

[Vind]

5 layer shields exist
Just see
Ive hoarded scrap to buy something useful but alas nothing was available.
Ended up maxing all systems except weapons and drones, only 6/8 points in those.

[Darkfyre]

I suspect a bug. The max number of shields is supposed to be 4.