Subset Games Forum

i have the A variants on both these ships, but when i tried out the Fed A, i found it extremely frustrating to use, contrary to the great views on this ship. any guides for using this ship?

for the Kestrel A, i find it a well balanced ship, but i want to unlock the kestrel B because it looks cool and has good 'reviews' (for want of a better word), any tips on getting the 'united federation' ad 'tough little ship' achievements? (i already have 'full arsenal'

P.S i love the achievements in this game. they are hard, that's what achievements should be, you feel proud when you get them, rather than: oh well done you started the game, you must feel really special!

Simplest way to get TLS achievement is to play until you get enough scrap for a repair, then find a weak (non-bursty damage) enemy next to a shop node and let it maul you until you're almost dead -- then jump and repair. Then realize you've wasted valuable scrap and probably restart...

Interesting. While I haven't fiddled with the cruiser much, I found it easier to use than the Kestrel or Adjudicator. Might be that it better fits my preferences -- see account handle.

Notes on the cruiser:

- Starting crew is pretty good (mantis + rock is good for boarding until you get a second mantis -- great if you can get a teleporter early)
- Cloaking will never be possible to get, so keep that in mind when deciding how much scrap to keep on hand or how much attention you need to pay to defense, esp if you don't find a pre-igniter + lots of bursty damage.
- Weapon recharge aug *does* accelerate artillery beam charging.
- Weapon pre-igniter does /not/ affect it.
- It might be unique in among weapons in that you can power it at variable levels if you've upgraded it; just because you upgrade it (and you probably should, it's what's special about the ship!), doesn't mean that you have to fully power it if you need to divert power to medbay or whatever -- or e.g. you use an ion weapon to down a Zoltan shield, and then depower the ion to charge the arty beam at a higher rate.
- Zoltan Shields are really not your friend (as they do stop the beam), so your weapon loadout should be more oriented to breaking down the shield with burst damage rather than loading up on other things also greatly weakened by Zoltan Shields (especially considering that the boss gets a larger, -rechargeable- Zoltan Shield in one phase...).

Tough Little Ship is an easy achievement if it's the only thing you plan on doing on your run. As Dakka said, you just find a way to voluntarily damage yourself. I exploited an asteroid field when I did it, because you can use a defense drone to protect yourself in case of shield hits. But it's effectively the same thing.

Getting a map of the sector makes this accomplishment much easier, since you don't have to hunt for the store. You just find a place that's capable of damaging you, close to your repair point. Try to have enough scrap on hand to do it all, but don't forget that you can sell your weapons before repairing.

United Federation is tougher. That one doesn't have a blueprint, so much as general tips.
-Vary the sectors you visit, since that determines both what's at the store and who the lone madman event gives you. You need at least 2 reds, 2 greens, and 1 purple. Give a little more weight to reds because there's 2 human sectors (pirates, rebels) compared to 1 human green (civilian).
-Prioritize Slug, since you don't find Slugs outside Nebulas. Slugs also cause the space horses event an auto-pass. You can put a lower priority on Engi as a result.
-If a slug asks you, there are eleven moons
-Use a teleporter, if you can, in order to get the selection of slaves during slaver kills. Prioritize Rock, Mantis, then Engi. If you can afford to make humans your boarding party, do that, to minimize risk.
-Buy blast doors as soon as you get a Zoltan, if not sooner. Putting him on Shields keeps him closer to the medbay, despite the fact that it makes shields annoying.
-Remember that you might get Mantis from an Engi sector event, in a pinch.
-Remember which events instantly kill a crew member, in addition to the ones that sometimes give you one. Mantis stasis pod is the most notable one. Sometimes you have to gamble to win big. Other times you don't.

United Federation is a lot easier to get with the Kestrel B, since you start with a varied crew. Since it's very chance dependent, and Tough Little Ship is something you can shoot for very deliberately by finding an enemy or asteroid field that can damage you slowly near a shop, it's easiest to do that to unlock Kestrel B and then go for the final achievement.

The Osprey plays pretty much like the Kestrel in the early stages, since both ships should use their Burst Laser II almost exclusively for the first couple of sectors. You'll take down most early ships before the Artillery Beam charges. Since the Artillery Beam pierces normal shields, getting a weapon mix that can handle Shield-2 or Shield-3 isn't as critical as it is with other ships. Getting Shields 2 and a Defense Drone will let you outlast most ships. I wouldn't focus overmuch on dumping money into the Artillery Beam - I'd say do it when it's relatively inexpensive compared to upgrading your weaponry.

Do watch out for the Artillery Beam killing a ship while you're in the middle of boarding it. You have a lot less control of it than normal weapons, and you can't keep it charged and on standby. When it's charged, it fires, whether the timing is good or not.

For the tough little ship, I found a solar flare event next to a shop, and waited around for a long time while it slowly damaged me down to low health. As other said, you can substitute an enemy ship or an asteroid field, just make sure you have the ftl fully charged before you start taking a lot of damage, and there is some risk based on what systems are damaged right before its done, possibly preventing you from jumping or rebuilding your defenses.

As for the united federation, it is a good idea to upgrade your medbay to level 2, as that gives you many blue options in events that either give you extra crew or avoid the risk of losing crew. Also, as someone said, invest in a teleporter or other ways of killing crew without destroying the ship. Doing so tends to give you a lot more crew member rewards. Also bear in mind what crew you are missing, and try to go to sectors controlled by them. Visit every store you can in case they are selling crew. I think it may be possible to substitute a crystal crew for one of the other races based on the achievement description as well. Lastly, ironically, it is easier if you've already unlocked the b layout, as that doesn't start with an all human crew.

okay, enough on TLS achievement now, i got it after 3 tries and now have kestrel B! thanks!

i do still need fed cruiser A strategies and general tips for playing on normal ('cos im a woos and play exclusively on easy ) i might even, when ive unlocked all ships, just reinstall FTL and do all over again on normal!