ftl guide old

FASTER THAN LIGHT: ADVANCED EDITION VICTORY IN HARD DIFFICULTY

© ittarter 2015

PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A. THE HANGAR.................................................................4 CHOOSING YOUR SHIP SUCCESSFUL AND UNSUCCESSFUL PLAYSTYLES GETTING YOUR FIRST WIN ON HARD B. STRATEGY...................................................................... 8 PLANNING A SECTOR ROUTE PLANNING A BEACON ROUTE UPGRADING YOUR SHIP AND SCRAP MANAGEMENT GETTING SCRAP SPENDING SCRAP A NOTE ABOUT THE SCRAP RECOVERY ARM EARLY-GAME PRIORITIES: PREPARING FOR SECTOR 3 MID-GAME PRIORITIES: PREPARING FOR SECTOR 5 END-GAME PRIORITIES: PREPARING FOR SECTOR 8 C. TACTICS......................................................................... 16 CREW POSITIONS BATTLE TACTICS MANAGING YOUR SHIP IDENTIFYING THREAT PRIORITIES USING YOUR WEAPONS EFFECTIVELY BOARDING THE ENEMY SHIP DEFENDING FROM BOARDERS BATTLE TACTICS: FLAGSHIP

PREFACE This guide discusses successful and unsuccessful playstyles, specific ship strengths and weaknesses, route planning, resource management, and battle tactics in FTL: Advanced Edition. It also assumes you are familiar with the basic terms and play of FTL, have beaten FTL on Easy or Normal difficulty, and are attempting to improve the quality of your play. If you haven't beaten FTL yet, I recommend AyCarrumba's guide: "From 'Oh No!' to Pro". This guide does not currently cover several advanced topics such as modding, achievements, and community challenges (e.g. No Pause, Shieldless). Nor does it provide exhaustive databases such as items or events, which may be found at ftl.wikia.com. Personally, I think that many players, the best way to learn this game is to watch an expert play. However, I hope that these observations can be of some assistance to people looking for an organized resource. I make no attempt to be exhaustive but simply to stick to the most important points for each issue. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to Twinge and LethalFrag for starting me on the path. Thanks to Eirh, Tetragoner, and everyone else inn the reddit/ftl/ community for their insightful comments, probing questions, and smart observations.

-3 = a serious problem that must be addressed to have a viable early game -2 = a serious problem that must be addressed in order to have a viable mid-game -1 = a drawback in certain situations but fairly easily overcome +1 = an advantage in certain situations OR in most situations but easily obtainable +2 = build-enabling, very useful beginning OR end, difficult / expensive to get in-game +3 = build-enabling, very useful beginning AND end, nearly impossible to get in-game +1 Kestrel A. ++great starting wpns -small human crew. +4 Kestrel B. ++4 lasers (start/upgrade) +crew +layout. +1 Kestrel C. +S2 wpns (1 end-game) +4 wpn slots -crew. +1 Engi A. +drone system +ion blast 2 (end-game) +scrapables -comb. drone deals random damage -weak to boarding. -4 Engi B. +drone sys +scrapables ---1 crew ---S1 weapons (3 slots: heavy laser I unlikely end-game). +2 Engi C. +-S2 wpns req drone (1 end-game) +hacking +solid crew of 2 engi, 1 lanius. +1 Federation A. +crew +art. beam for turtling +Burst Laser II -lost system spot -layout. -1 Federation B. +art beam for turtling -lost system spot -layout. +0 Federation C. ++teleporter +4 crew +art flak for turtling -lost system spot -weak boarding crew --no wpns; tough start but end-game 4-power 20-sec flak II equiv. +2 Zoltan A. +++zshield +halberd (endgame but slow early game) -missile dependent -crew weak to boarding, stray shots -layout. +2 Zoltan B. +++zshield ++starting wpns for ion stacking -shields of 1 -crew weak to boarding, stray shots -ship layout: doors, O2 vulnerable. +1 Zoltan C. +++zshield -battery reliant -S1 wpns and req drone -crew weak to boarding. +1 Lanius A. +4 wpn slots +hacking -wpns hard to pair. +7 Lanius B. +++most efficient wpn in game +4 wpn slots +mind control ++teleporter +boarding crew -no sensors can cause problems vs AP drones. +1 Stealth A. ++cloak +scrapables -crew weak to boarding +dodge of 4 --no shields. +0 Stealth B. ++L2 cloak ++glaive --problem of supporting glaive mid-game --no shields. -2 Stealth C. +drone sys +scrapables --3 wpn slots with two low-power weapons requires tradeoffs ~sector 6-7 --no shields. -1 Rock A. +crew boarding potential +scrapables ---2 missile weapons req either boarding or new wpn setup. +0 Rock B. +crew boarding potential +firebomb boarding potential -no doors -S1 wpn (heavy pierce). +0 Rock C. +crew boarding -missile-reliant vs 2 shield. +0 Slug A. +3 wpns to start (2 end-game) +scrapables -2 crew -terrible for O2 venting. -2 Slug B. +teleporter but must find strong boarders +scrapables --only wpn req missiles --no medbay/clonebay. +1 Slug C. +hacking +mind control +boarding potential --S1 wpn. +2 Mantis A. ++teleport ++crew 3 mantis 1 engi --bad wpns. +6 Mantis B. +++4-teleporter ++drone sys with def I drone +L2 shields +2 of 4 mantis already +scrapables --no wpns. +4 Mantis C. +++4-teleporter +crew engi lanius mantis +layout +scrapables --no wpns. +1 Crystal A. ++S3 slow wpns +crew boarding potential +scrapables -switch to noncrystal wpns difficult but ultimately necessary -layout. +8 Crystal B. +++4-teleporter +++crew ++cloak +scrapables +layout –-no weapons (cost, problems with zoltan).

SUCCESSFUL AND UNSUCCESSFUL PLAYSTYLES It's commonly said that "to fail to plan is to plan to fail." From the moment in the hangar when you choose your ship, you should have a basic design in mind. Gunships attempt to down shields quickly (~10 seconds, before any mid-range weapons are fired) and keep dangerous systems disabled until the ship is destroyed. Hacking is the fastest, most reliable way to bring down 3+ shields, but ion, missile and bomb weaponry also work well. Kestrel, Engi, and Lanius ships lean in this direction. For example, small bomb + flak I + heavy laser II, or ion blast I + burst laser II + pike beam. Turtlers attempt to mitigate a higher percentage of damage for 15-20 seconds while big weapons are charged/sped up. Cloak or a Defense I drone is typically the best defense against heavy missiles. Federation, Stealth and Zoltan ships lean in this direction. For example, vulcan + chain laser, or flak II + glaive. Boarding ships attempt to board, disable medbay/clonebay and then kill the crew. Boarding ships usually have more scrap, since they receive higher rewards for capturing ships, and usually wait longer to upgrade offensive capabilities; however, autoscouts, Mantis, Lanius and Slug ships can cause serious problems without careful play. Depending on weapons, systems, room sizes, and the number/race of boarders, they typically teleport to piloting, medbay/clonebay, shields, weapons, O2, doors, or mind control. Mantis, Rock, Lanius and Crystal ships are best suited for boarding. Good to buy Backup DNA bank, Reconstructive Teleport, Hacking and Mind Control. For example, Lanius to O2, Rock with fire weapons, Crystal to medbay, 4man teleporter to a large room, Mantis to medbay after it is diabled with a weapon. Drone-reliant ships are rare since you simply won't be able to find or buy enough drone parts to sustain this approach otherwise. This is mitigated with the Drone Recovery Arm, but since it is not always found in stores and in space, you can't go into a game thinking, “I want to destroy the enemy with drones.” Further, without the rare and expensive Defense Scrambler, drones are severely hampered by antidrone drones. Thus drones must be thought of, in almost all cases, as support only. Ships that start with four weapon slots and two drone slots are more flexible than ships with three and three. It's rare that you'll find yourself in a situation where you'll have to make a tough decision between two drones for the second spot. However, gunships will enjoy popular and common 8-power weapon setups 2/2/2/2, 3/2/2/1, and 4/2/1/1. Gunships with only three weapon slots are more often forced to exchange a small weapon for a bigger one despite the former's efficiency.

GETTING YOUR FIRST WIN ON HARD Take it slow. Decide that "this is going to be it." Even if this is the tenth time you've tried. Have a zero tolerance policy for mistakes. If you need to take a break, take one. Pause every Blue event, alt-tab to your web browser, look up the options. Pause if you don't know what a weapon is on the enemy ship, and look it up. Your sole goal is to prepare for the final battle. Be ruthless. If you're trying a Class D or F ship, stubbornness and desperation are your greatest virtues. Keep trying, and try slightly different setups.

B. STRATEGY PLANNING A SECTOR ROUTE When looking at your overall route, avoid long strings of purple sectors, as these typically yield less scrap and you run a higher risk of running out of fuel. If possible, stay away from any edges, as you won't be able to choose the better sector for your ship. There's nothing worse than having an Engi/Zoltan crew and getting stuck with a Mantis sector, or having a great boarding ship and being forced to fight a dozen Lanius ships. Many ships with good potential have been lost like this. From a distance, you can only see the sector's color. Green sectors have more stores (2-3) and fewer hostile events than red sectors (12). Favor Zoltan sectors if you have ion weaponry, Engi if you board and aren't reliant on attack drones or missiles, Civilian otherwise. Red sectors are more difficult and more profitable for standard ships but have fewer stores (1-2). Rock and Abandoned are the harder red sectors. Favor Rock if you have flak or beam weapons. Favor Abandoned if you aren't boarding and have flak/beam weapons. Rebel, Mantis and Pirate and the easier red sectors. Favor Mantis if you are strong against boarding. Favor Rebel if you are strong against autoscouts and drones of all kinds. Favor Pirate otherwise, or if you need more crew (a multiracial crew yields more Blue options). Purple/Blue sectors require more fuel. Slug ships often attempt to flee or disable key systems, so they are risky for boarders, and can be fruitless or even deadly for slower or weaker ships. However, there are lots of stores (2-3). Nebula aren't challenging and a heavily populated with autoscouts, but they are probably the least rewarding sectors in the game.

As a last way to choose, go to sectors controlled by races on your ship, as you'll have more blue options. Some Homeworlds and the Rebel Stronghold can yield special quest rewards. PLANNING A BEACON ROUTE As soon as you arrive in a new sector, plan a route that allows you to respond to as many distress events as possible, and takes you through as many nebula as possible, while arriving on the same turn as the rebels. Often, this means you take a more centralized route through the sector, not on the edges, unless a distress signal, store or nebula is there. If the exit is panned to the far right of the map, you have about ten turns (plus or minus event results), with any two nebula beacons buying you an additional turn. Be careful of dead ends and avoid retracing your steps. On my computer screen, the width of my finger is the distance the rebels advance each turn. Find something you can use to “count” how many turns you have to get to the exit. When planning to visit a store, if possible, visit a couple extra beacons first instead of beelining straight for it. You'll have more scrap when you go, and just maybe you'll find that item or crew you were going to buy! 80 scrap (including items you're willing to sell) is enough to buy the Burst Laser II, the most expensive "always a good idea" item. If you have Long Range Scanners, you can also detect ships and environmental hazards at adjacent beacons. If you route through ships, you'll have a better chance of missing the one or two empty beacons in each sector. In most cases, asteroid fields and ion storms greatly increase the likelyhood that your ship will be damaged, while red giant stars and plasma storms (nebula) are not usually as dangerous, as their effects are much easier to manage. If you do not have Long Range Scanners and meet a mercenary at the first two or three beacons, you can pay him to reveal the sector map. In emergency situations this can help you quickly locate a hard-to-find store or possible locations of a special quest. Distress events are especially rewarding if you have installed extra systems and crew, but even otherwise, they offer a lot of double rewards. Always take the blue option. If there is no blue option and you have a clonebay (except for the Great Eye event), take it. If you don't have a medbay and don't know the risks of the event, AltTab out of FTL and google it. You'll be glad you did. Remember, don't mess with giant alien spiders. However, if there's no blue option, having a Clonebay allows you to try events without fear of losing a crewmember (except the Great Eye).

UPGRADING YOUR SHIP AND SCRAP MANAGEMENT This is the single most important and complex aspect of FTL:AE. If you don't upgrade your ship correctly, you will not beat Hard difficulty. Correct upgrades means knowing when to spend, how much to spend, and what to spend it on. The trick is to upgrade wisely and anticipate future risks by upgrading preventively rather than reactively. GETTING SCRAP Getting better at FTL means more scrap out of every sector. Fight as many ships as possible. Avoid retracing your steps, retreating from battle, unnecessary store visits, arriving at the end beacon early, letting ships get away, and running out of fuel. Plan your routes, keep your ship battle-ready, disable piloting of ships charging their FTL, and keep a reasonable amount of fuel, right up until sector 7. Capturing a ship by killing its crew yields more scrap than destroying a ship. If you have two or more Mantis, Lanius Crystal or Rock aboard, consider buying a teleporter. Have a few Blue options of the following: upgraded Medbay, an ion weapon, an Engi, upgraded sensors/piloting (esp. in Nebula), and a multiracial crew. Blue options often yield scrap rewards higher than regular battles, not to mention more weapons and augments, which at worst you can sell, and at best you can not buy. You can also get more crew, which is nearly always better than scrap.

SPENDING SCRAP Spend your scrap on what counts. Avoid buying weapons before you need them, buying systems before you need them, buying augments before you need them, and buying crew unless absolutely necessary. Keep track of what attack and defense you'll need soon, and try and stay one step – just one step – ahead of the competition. If you need to be more than one step ahead to survive, you're relying more on luck than on skill. All ships must have sufficient weapons/crew/systems to either board and kill the crew, disable systems, or down shields and score hull damage, given their current sector. Similarly, all ships must have sufficient shields, engines, drones, and secondary support systems to mitigate damage sufficiently. Purchase options in FTL:AE can be divided, for convenience, into four categories. 1) almost always a good purchase 2) a good purchase for my current ship 3) a good purchase for my future ship, but not good right now 4) a bad purchase for my current ship 5) almost always a bad purchase Category 5 makes up about 20% of items you will see in-game. These items are simply not efficient at what they do. If you find them for free, use them, and sell them once you find something better, and hope that you do not have to rely on them all the way to Sector 8. -repair arm (you have even less scrap in Hard). -most augments, especially FTL-related augments -Hull Smasher lasers -Heavy Ion and Chain Ion (misnamed Charge Ion in-game) -Hull beam -Healing Burst, Crystal Bomb, Repair Burst -Drones: Boarding and ion intruder, shield overcharger Category 4 is probably 50% -- items that are irrelevant for your current ship, perhaps because you already have something that fills that role (e.g. any missile if you already have a bomb), or because you don't have that kind of ship (e.g. a glaive beam if you have a fire beam and two Rock boarders). Category 3 (~10%) is the one that is very important on Hard, because in Easy and Normal you had enough scrap that you could buy something you wouldn't need for a while, and you would still have enough scrap to get the things you DID need right away. Now, however, you simply can't afford this error. You have to consider the Total Cost: initial purchase + necessary systems upgrades (esp. weapons systems) + reactor upgrades. Category 2 (~10%) is why you're visiting all these stores. These are the puzzle

pieces you're looking for to complete a functional ship that will ultimately tear the Flagship to bits. Category 1 (~10%). You're always happy to see these items, and if you already have a ship that doesn't need them any more, sad to let them go. But those times are rare indeed. Flak I and Burst Laser II are the cream of the crop, followed by the two Heavy Laser variations. Automated Reloader is always worth it for a non-boarding ship, and they stack!

NOTE ABOUT THE SCRAP RECOVERY ARM Finding it is wonderful; buying it is complicated. If you have a strong ship it could indeed make it stronger in the long run, but I'm going to go against popularly accepted wisdom and advise you not to just buy it unquestionably in Hard mode. It's rarely wise to buy before upgrading shields to level 2, or after sector 6. Remember that it might take more than two sectors to fully pay off. What could you have upgraded in that time? What unknown future store items are you turning down in the next sector?

EARLY-GAME PRIORITIES: PREPARING FOR SECTOR 3 Unless your ship sports a Zoltan Shield or a Cloaking Device, your number one priority is to support two shield bubbles before leaving Sector 1. Once you can reliably damage ships with two shield bubbles, consider upgrading secondary Systems to increase survivability and improve your chances of Blue options. First, upgrade Doors and Medbay/Clonebay to 2. If going through lots of nebula, upgrade Piloting to 2 and, unless you have Long Range Scanners, Sensors to 2 as well. Attempt to keep enough scrap on hand for a good weapon purchase at a store, but don't force it until absolutely necessary. Most ships do not have urgent needs to upgrade weapons, and it's far better to wait for something that will last you until the end-game than to waste your money on a temporary solution. Avoid buying new Systems, except possibly a Drone System that comes with Defense I (85 scrap), or if you have a strong potential boarding team, a Teleporter (90 scrap). Especially in early sectors, keep an eye out for ships surrendering and offering 4 or more fuel, especially if you're not capturing the ship. Getting some extra fuel early on can save you scrap in the mid-game. MID-GAME PRIORITIES: PREPARING FOR SECTOR 5 With few exceptions, the first four sectors see a slow ramp up in difficulty, with a sharp incline at Sector 5 and the transition to fighting better-equipped enemies. A good idea is to aim for three shield bubbles no later than the beginning of Sector 5, and 45% evasion by the beginning of Sector 6. If you have a Defense I drone, Cloaking System or the Zoltan Shield, you can often wait an extra sector on those upgrades. Unless your ship feels squishy, try to gain more missiles and drones than you use. Continue to avoid buying new Systems, unless you can't find an appropriate third weapon to add to your arsenal and you won't be strong against three-shielded ships. If you've had bad luck with crew and don't have four, look for a good deal in an event -ideally, a race you don't have, and someone who is already partly trained in a useful skill. If you're boarding, keep an eye out for Reconstructive Teleporter. If you have a clonebay, look for Backup DNA Bank. If you have a Cloaking gunship, you might want Stealth Weapons. If you rely heavily on drones, a Drone Recovery Arm or possibly a Defense Scrambler can make a huge difference. If you didn't start with Sensors and don't have a Slug, Lifeform Scanner is better than buying the Sensors subsystem. Most of these augments appear rarely.

END-GAME PRIORITIES: PREPARING FOR SECTOR 8 Building from upgrades in the mid-game varies greatly depending on need and strategy, but there are still some nearly axiomatic truths. Before you leave Sector 5, aim for 45% evasion (L5 engines and a fully trained pilot and engine man). From Sectors 5 to 7, it is important to add secondary Systems to give your ship flexibility. Hacking, Mind Control, Drone System (with a Defense I drone), and possibly Boarding or Cloaking. You will run into enemies with four shield bubbles, enemies with six crew, enemies with multiple Systems of their own, and enemies with four weapons. Once you buy your System, get it to L2 within a couple beacons so you can start using it regularly (except Mind Control, which you can leave longer at L1, and Hacking, which is usually always worth it to upgrade to L3 as soon as you can, after you buy it). If you've haven't yet stockpiled a large number of drone parts, this is your last chance to start. It's very important to consider any gaps in your weaponry. Can you quickly take down four shield bubbles, even if one of your systems is offline? If you can't, avoid Lanius, Slug, Rock and Mantis sectors after Sector 5, until you can. If you don't have a bomb or missile yet, small bomb, ion bomb, or breach bomb I/II can really enhance your arsenal. Avoid missiles unless you have no other choice. By Sector 7, if you don't have any Zoltan, a backup battery is a possible last-second purchase – you shouldn't need it before the Flagship itself. If you went boarding and you have a Medbay/Clonebay preference, you may now be able to afford to switch (you preserve its level: Medbay L2 becomes Clonebay L2, and so on). By Sector 8, you should also be able to address, with relative speed, the Flagship's 30-point Zoltan Shield in phase 3, a large number of boarders in phase 3. A powerful boarding ship sometimes forget the former, and a powerful gunship sometimes forgets the latter. At minimum, you need to be able to kill the majority of the crew in phases 2 and 3, and do at least some damage to a shield. Unless you've had a very hard run, you should have all your System spots filled up. Any of Hacking, Cloaking, Defense I Drone, Boarding, and Mind Control, if used correctly, can be the difference between winning and losing the battle. All Systems and Subsystems should be upgraded to L2 as a damage buffer. A stray missile should not be the difference between victory and defeat. On the other hand, if you've had a lucrative run, upgrade shields to L8 OR, if you have problems with missiles and have tons of extra scrap, upgrade engines to L8. If you have a crew weak to boarding, upgrade Piloting and Doors to L3 before phase 3. This is often your very last upgrade, and you can even wait for the scrap you earn from defeating Phase 1 (you don't earn much of anything from Phase 2).

C. TACTICS CREW POSITIONS Standard order of systems manning: piloting, engines, weapons, shields, doors, sensors. Note that sometimes doors or shields or even sensors can get a higher priority, depending on your ship build and the specific threat at hand. If your sensors or doors are manned, unman them when repairing. Even a Mantis can make a difference in getting those shields back online. Slugs make great pilots. Consider replacing your pilot, engine or weapon crew with a rescued Slug. Zoltan are best placed in engines, or in pairs, in shields. Since Zoltan power cannot be ionized, this protects the last shield bubble(s). Lanius are great for doors, but be careful putting them in weapons or shields, particularly against the Flagship, as this can hinder fast repairs by multiple crew. They do, however, ignore breaches. Rock are great anywhere, but preferably in a system located in a more central room, since they're so slow. Due to health and fire immunity they also make decent pilots. Humans are great in shields, since this is typically the longest system to train at, and they train faster. Engi and Crystal are great anywhere, except perhaps piloting, where it is least likely their abilities will come in handy. Mantis are best in doors or sensors, where they can more readily leave their post to defend the ship.

BATTLE TACTICS The singular goal of each battle is to destroy OR disable the ship while mitigating incoming damage/disabling of different kinds. A strong ship is able to sustain damage AND defense even if any ONE system is fully disabled or any TWO systems are partly disabled (this happens a lot against the Flagship). So a boarding ship might have a couple weapons and a turtler might have a small boarding team. Have a Plan A (where you take no damage) and a Plan B. When fighting, look carefully at enemy weapons and systems and develop a clear plan of attack. Early or mid-game, if the ship poses no threat, avoid using consumable resources and consider training your crew. If you need to flee, put as much power into your engines as possible to increase your FTL charge, and keep a second crewmember in the cockpit beforehand to speed possible repairs. While fighting, pause regularly to reassess the situation and perfectly time shots. Flak is slowest to reach the enemy ship, then ion/missile/bomb, then lasers. Beams are almost instanteous – but not quite! MANAGING YOUR SHIP Learn to juggle power between systems – this way you can upgrade systems earlier and tailor your response to a given situation. Medbay and O2 are the most obvious. At 100%, you can turn off Oxygen for about 75 seconds before any consequences. That's two or three times longer than most battles. Weapons can sometimes be depowered if you're just trying to escape. Defense I drones can be depowered after they have shot down enemy drones and missiles (remember to repower them when you hear the next volley). Engines can be depowered during cloak, if you have over 100% evasion. Nearly everything has potential to be temporarily depowered. Improving the quality of your play involves slower play, pausing more, using your reactor effectively.

IDENTIFYING THREAT PRIORITIES Learn to recognize enemy weapons so you know how best to attack and defend. Some weapons look the same (basic laser and dual laser) but most have a distinct graphic. This information is critical when determining your battle plan. You can also identify a weapon based on its cooldown (relative to yours; you don't have to count the seconds). Prioritize piloting when evasion or escape is a problem. Prioritize the medbay/clonebay if you are trying to kill the entire crew. O2 is a great target for Lanius boarders. If the ship has cloaking and you expect a longer battle, prioritize it. If you're fighting a small crew or a Mantis ship, it probably won't make much difference, as they won't be able to finish their repairs before the cloak wears off. If the ship hacks your weapons or shields, you will need to respond immediately. If the ship mind controls your pilot or a Mantis, try to disrupt it. Prioritize weapons over shields if they're an immediate threat. Sometimes partially damaging the weapons system can desynchronize their weapons so they can longer deal damage, even after repaired. If the enemy has a Zoltan shield, conserve bombs, missiles and long-charge weapons so they're ready to go when you break it. Ion damage is doubled against the Zoltan shield.

USING YOUR WEAPONS EFFECTIVELY A standard gunship will typically focus fire on shields first, and then weapons or drones, then piloting. Autofire is wonderful for the ion blaster 2, most most other weapons are better to be carefully timed in volleys. For example, I have a small bomb, a dual laser, a flak cannon, and a pike beam. The enemy has four shields and high dodge. My dual laser and flak cannon charge at 10 seconds, but I don't shoot either immediately, because I want to wait for my bomb and beam. I shoot the bomb first, at shields. I see it hits, but before it even explodes, I fire the flak. I give it a 1-second head start, at which point the bomb explodes, reducing enemy shields to max three bubbles. Then I fire the dual laser, and right about now the pike beam is charged. Two of the three flak hit, and 1 of 2 lasers hit, dropping shields to zero. I fire the pike and try to hit shields, weapons and piloting. Missiles are generally useless if the enemy has an active defense drone. Don't waste them. If you have a short supply of parts, just fire enough to open up the enemy ship to your other weapons. Target shields and possibly cloak, or if boarding, the medbay. Bombs don't do hull damage, but they do system damage, damage crew, and some start fires and breach the hull. Bombs are a wonderful way to support your lasers and flak. Once you've got the enemy ship on the back foot, stop firing them! Beam weapons can often do an extra point of damage if you play with your beam line a bit. Two- and three-damage beams will pierce one and two shield bubbles, in a pinch, but the resulting damage is much reduced. If you start your line at the shield room you can sometimes disable or destroy that system in order to deal full damage to the rest of the rooms in the beam path. Flak weapons are best used to take down shields by targeting a large or centralized room. Defense drones typically shoot down one of the volley. Ion weapons are best left on autofire targeting the shields. If you have enough ion firepower to permanently disable shields, start thinking about other targets you'd like to disable. Defense II drones can shoot them down. Lasers and beams are your best damage dealers. Disable and destroy key systems. Defense 2 drones can shoot down lasers, but not beams. Attack drones (beam, combat and fire) deal random damage and can act as secondary damage dealers. They work well as primary damage dealers with two or three ion weapons.

USING YOUR SYSTEMS EFFECTIVELY Mind Control is used to a) neutralize an enemy boarding party, b) help your boarders, c) temporarily reduce enemy evasion to 0, d) regain control over your mindcontrolled crewmember, or e) do a bit of damage to an enemy system without boarding. The last is rare. Gunships should typically target the enemy Pilot right before their first volley. If you lack vision because of a nebula or event, Hacking can reestablish vision of a single room. In this case, hack enemy shields and mind-control crew in that room (if any). Hacking is the single most powerful ship System. If the enemy also has it and you don't have a Defense drone, it's wise to wait a couple seconds to see what they'll hack before you send yours. If they hack Weapons or Shields you might need to hack their Hacking room, but remember, hacking their shield room allows you to disable their Hacking with conventional weapons, and 90% of the time this is the best tactical decision. If the enemy has a Defense or anti-drone drone, you can exploit a game bug by pausing the game right after it fires a shot toward your Hacking drone, depowering your Hacking system, unpausing for about half a second, then repowering the system. Cloaking is a short-term and powerful defensive system. Use it to avoid big missiles, volleys, powerful weapons, or to give your ship a breather from stacked ion damage. If possible, shoot your weapons right before you enable cloaking, as every non-beam weapon shot while cloaked costs you two seconds of cloaking protection. Defense drones are extremely powerful against missiles and boarding/hacking drones, but anything that hits shields (even asteroids) is difficult for Defense drones to hit. They often shoot too late. If you have multiple defense drones, prioritize powering the Defense I drone before the others. You don't need them powered all the time, but it takes them a second to power up, so be sure to do so soon after an enemy missile is fired. Depower them as soon as they destroy it. If boarding, keep your Teleporter fully powered unless you happen to be fighting a powerful gunship with a skeleton crew. Losing your boarding team because your teleporter was still five seconds on cooldown is a huge setback. This is not a system to juggle power lightly.

BOARDING THE ENEMY SHIP Man sensors L1 so you can see inside the enemy ship and know how many crew there are, their location and race, and if there are any anti-personnel drones. If you don't have at least seven crew then upgrade sensors to L2. Before you board, look at the enemy's doors. If they're orange, you will be able to go anywhere unimpeded. If the enemy has a Door System, you will have to break down any door before you pass through it. Board in pairs. Use Mantis, Rock, Lanius or Crystal. If you think it might be close, make sure your teleporter is powered to L2 or L3, in case you need to teleport them out quickly. If the enemy has a Medbay or Clonebay, disable it (a bomb is often simplest), then teleport there and defend the room. Consider damaging other systems like Doors or Drones to support your boarders. Teleporting to piloting is often a strong position, because it is small and often isolated. Teleporting to a large room like weapons or shields can be very risky if there are three or more enemy crew. Learn to rotate your boarders by pausing, ordering them all to other rooms, ordering them one at a time back to their original room, then unpausing. The boarders will change position without leaving the room. Use your weapons to weaken crew in other rooms, but be careful not to destroy the ship. Be careful with flak and in asteroid fields not to accidentally kill your boarders. Hack the target room to control the doors and prevent enemies entering or leaving. Hacking the adjacent room also works well and can allow you to control a large portion of the enemy ship. Against Autoscouts, L2 teleporter can bring crew back before they suffocate. If they have cloaking and you don't have Clonebay, it's a highly risky mission. Against Mantis, you may need to teleport a second pair of boarders to help spread damage. Against Lanius, if you don't have Crystal or Lanius boarders, you made a mistake going to this sector in the first place. As a last option you can use Mind Control or Hack with L3 teleporters to give you a chance at boarding. Against Slugs, be wary of Mind Control. Combinations of cloak and fleeing can also easily cause you to lose your crew, even if your ship is equipped with a Clonebay.

DEFENDING FROM BOARDERS If you have a large crew with Mantis, Rock, Lanius or Crystal, you're fine! Pause a lot. If you have a small or weak crew (Zoltan and Engi), you will need to strategize a bit more. Upgrading and manning doors is often critical to anti-boarding strategies. Upgrade doors to level 2 by sector 2, or man it if you can spare the crew. An anti-personnel drone can also make a difference, but only if you start with one or find one. Depending on where the boarders teleport and the layout of your ship, venting specific rooms is often the best option. After they start taking damage from low oxygen, boarders will immediately stop attacking your crew or the system in the room and try to leave the room. They will suffocate in about 10 seconds if they can't get out. Even if they do break through, their reduced health will make for a much easier fight. This technique doesn't work with boarding drones or ion drones, and since they breach the room when they board, the situation can be complicated. If you have a Mantis and a second spare crewmember to fight, send them both in and open the doors to that room, to decrease the damage from low oxygen. Depending on your response time, you can destroy a boarding drone before you die. Note that drones have 150 health. Ion drones don't fight your crew, but ionize the room and stun any of your crew in the room. When you see the ion drone's wings extending, order your crew to leave the room, ideally to an adjacent room with a system. There they can wait for the ion drone. If you have an Engi, consider using him to repair the breach once the ion drone has left instead of attacking the drone directly. It will simplify the fight a great deal. When fighting with multiple crewmembers, you can pause, order your crew out of the room and, one at a time, back in, in a specific order, then unpause. This causes them to rotate positions and allows you to spread damage evenly across your crew. A light green square will show their new position before you unpause. Be especially careful when using Zoltan, as their low health can catch you offguard, and they can be killed before you expect them to.

BATTLE TACTICS: FLAGSHIP Once you're in Sector 8, remember to upgrade all systems to 2. Practice your technique with the Rebel ships on the way to the Base; you should take no hull damage from them. Avoid flashing red beacons if possible as they offer no rewards. For last-minute changes, there's always a store in Sector 8, but your chance of finding and getting to the beacon before it's captured is low (~30%). At the start of each phase, if you have a defense drone, power it immediately. They will shoot down hacking and boarding drones. Phase 1 (hardest to deal damage). This phase is about getting the cloaking system (and sometimes hacking) offline, along with shields, and usually the missile launcher. If it hacks shields or weapons, maybe drone control, hack the hacking system (chance to destroy the probe) or jump away and back. Pilot/engines hack manageable. No risk of boarding. Hack shields, bomb/damage cloak. Cloak during missile bursts or synced laser/ion bursts. Reduce crew volume if possible. Focus damage on missiles, shields, cloak and piloting. Boarding: damage weapons systems first, then hack/disable medbay. Phase 2 (easiest). This phase is the easiest, as long as you don't get caught offguard by the drone surge. Sync a one-bar cloak with drone overcharge: 6 attack drones (random amts of beam I and combat I; combat I shoot first). If you use all two or three bars, it won't be available for the second overcharge. Turn it on when you actually see your shields start to drop, not when you hear the warning sounds. Anti-drone drone makes this phase really easy; if you don't have that or cloak, take a couple weapons systems offline (don't forget their drone system) before the overcharge. Your crew should easily dispatch the ion boarding drone -- if it lands in Shields or Weapons, take down that enemy drone system as soon as possible. Between phases 2 and 3, consider upgrading piloting and doors to L3, if you haven't done so already. These final upgrades often make the most difference. Part 3 (hardest to mitigate damage). Unless you've already killed most of the crew, this phase usually requires strong anti-boarding tactics while, like Phase 2, protecting yourself from surges of damage. Man doors. As in phase 2, 1 bar cloak only, synced with the overcharge, is the best. Damage Mind Control over their Teleporter. The Zoltan shield regenerates if you take too long.

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