[crizza]

I've never seen the Zoltan Elder kill someone; occasionally cause a fight, but not kill.

I did, one of my rockmen aged backwards and disappeared...
And I never do away missions without a blue option, 'cause I allways loose at least one red shirt

Edit: Why the hell do destroyed ships in the last sector give only fuel upon their destruction?
With a Scrap recovery arm and a repair arm on my rock cruiser I got slowly shot to pieces and only the unlikely event of a rebelship surrendering offered scrap...

[Veers]

Finally finished the game for the first time. (sigh of relief) and it is only 2:06am in the morning.

Engi A
1 Human - Pilot - Full Skill.  2 Engi - Weapons/Engines - Full skill.  1 Zolton - Shields - Full skill.  1 Mantis - Boarder - full skill.  1 Rock - Boarder - full skill

Lvl 3 shields/engines/teleport/cloak/ lvl2 medi, lvl 1 O2. 7 Weapon bars (1 Hermes, 2 Ion Blasts Mark 2) 4 drone bars, boarder, repairer (forgot to sell that) and mark 1 laser

Oddly enough.., this was my 3rd highest scoring Engi A at 3444 points. It is the only one to complete the game. The highest scoring vessel (did not complete the game) was actually named Dekkers Ranger (3793). So serves me right for using the generic name on my vessel.

[Alex Heartnet]

I should probably show you the technique I have been using so far.



Before I got the ion cannon, my plan was ‘shoot out the weapons with the burst laser, fire the Artemis if more firepower is required’.

Having the ion cannon opens up new possibilities…



Here we have the missile launcher on the scout getting knocked out by my burst laser.  At this point I decide I don’t need the Artemis missile anymore and power up the Heavy Ion instead.



With the Heavy Ion I can keep the enemy shields offline while I hit it with burst lasers.









This guy’s dead and he doesn’t even know it yet.  Look at that loadout.  Zero chance of getting through two shield layers.





I managed to asphyxiate the crew of a rebel fighter using weapons that aren’t really up to task.







Killing off the crew of an enemy ship tends to yield more scrap then just destroying it outright.





The Bastion tries to uncover a mystery without putting her crew in significant risk.  The results were disappointing.









“Helm, open a communications channel with the automated rebel headed our way.  Maybe we can upload a virus into its system or something…”



The layout of the Type A Kestrel makes putting out engine room fires problematic.









Despite this little handicap, the Bastion has apparently acquired quite the reputation.  Even the Mantis run in terror from the Bastion!

[Patriot]

Those creatures on a random planet yield some nice amounts of fuel and scrap usually for me.

Managed to get to the boss this time in Kestrel A, had a Scrap Retrieval Arm upgrade about halfway through for free, had 2 Burst Laser II's and the Artemis, but only 1 missile left(silly me should've kept the Ion Bomb launcher to take out the complete shield system for quite a while) i SHOULD have taken out that god awful missile launcher, having 4 shields is useless against triple missiles torching the place, good thing i prepared the airlocks to vent atmosphere should there be a fire in any place.

so, 4 shields, 4 engines, maxxed system operators, previously mentioned weaponry, lvl 2 O2 generator/medbay, and a few Engi's on standby for repairs, another human to help out with boarding parties(because Engi's don't fight so well up close..)

managed to get the hull down to 3 points, no sweat for dual Burst II's, but his last missile salvo had all 3 hit, emptying MY hull
Oh, without drones AND no crew death prior to reaching sector 8, yaaaay

[TrashMan]

Anyone actually try to get some (of those creatures) on board to sell?

One playtrough I had TWO Scrap Retreval Arms. Can you say fully upgraded Kestrel?

Alas, it took forever to beat the boss with it, since I had 2 (3 actually, placed one in storage) bomb launchers, but ran out of missiles in the first fight.

[crizza]

Mate, I once entered the boss fight with 40 missiles...and during the second engagement...I ran out of them...tough luck^^

[NGTM-1R]

Mate, I once entered the boss fight with 40 missiles...and during the second engagement...I ran out of them...tough luck^^

I was literally two hull points away from beating the boss right after work, when I accidentally killed his last crew member.

Instantly the AI comes online, repairs the missile launcher, and hits me three times, and it's another ride on the derpout train.

[Alex Heartnet]

At this point we can just barely make it to this beacon before the rebels get here, and collect the scrap that is hopefully here.







However, we will have to fight our way through the enemy fleet.  This isn’t sector 6 and we aren’t playing on normal, so that isn’t as big of a deal as it sounds.





To buy time for the FTL to charge up, I order all available firepower focused on the weapon systems.  I’m not looking to destroy the ship, just buy time.





FTL drive is charged, but at this point the fighter’s weapon grid is on fire and its shields have been ioned out.  As I can jump out at any time, there is no point in wasting missiles on it or taking hull damage – if it manages to fire off a missile, I’m out of here.





This is what the game’s explosion effects look like if you take a screenshot at the wrong moment.





Sector 4 and no major problems yet!





I don’t anticipate any problems until we reach Sector 6, but it won’t hurt to spend a bit of scrap on upgrades.



Alien…spiders?!?  I’ve only run into this once before, but I do not like the sound of that at all.  As I don’t have a boarding drone with me this time, I’d rather not send my crew to what will probably be a horrible death.





Déjà vu, anyone?



I have pried open enough Mantis Escape Pods to know all possible outcomes.  It could turn out to be an angry mantis that kills one of your crewmembers, but most of the time it is either a friendly mantis or a human captive.



Great, another new guy who hasn’t introduced himself yet.  Here, you get shield duty, Scourge gets security detail.





This store sure contains a lot of nice things!  Let’s start by buying a drone control system and cloaking device – both of which are very useful.



And that leaves us with not enough scrap for a drone recovery arm!  We could definitely sell this system repair drone – the Kestrel’s layout lends itself reasonably well to repairs unlike some ships (looking at you, Zolton Cruiser).  If I sell the Defense I Drone and Anti-Ship I Drone, that leaves me with a Defense II Drone, a Hull Repair Drone, and just enough scrap left over to manage repairs.

[Scourge of Ages]

Scourge's log, update 4:

I'm really starting to get the hang of battles here. We're kind of cleaning up against the few pirates and rebels and whatnot out here. Yesterday, though, we had our first tangle with the Rebel Fleet proper. I was sure the crew would panic, at least a little, but they hardly did at all. The enemy was wiped out pretty easily but we had to bug out right away to stay ahead.

This morning, we jumped into my home sector! It's nice to be so close to home, but I doubt we'll have time to stop at the homeworld.
Actually, I doubt that even if we did, it would out well... my kin don't tend to be too kind to, well, anybody who shows up around here. Case in point: We found a stasis pod floating out in space. When I told the captain that it looked Mantis, he very nearly jettisoned it on the spot. He decided against it, on the off chance the occupant was friendly. I got pod-opening duty, just in case though. It was a Human inside! He was properly freaked out when he saw me, heh, I guess my countrymen were having some "fun" with him, until he escaped.

Turned out to be a pretty decent guy after I promised not to eat him. Firespawn put him on shields duty, and I showed him the ropes. My new job is purely to repel boarders, and I'll probable be the one to put out fires and patch holes in the Bastion as necessary.

Until we get a teleporter installed. 

[TrashMan]

You could have bought a second Scrap Recovery Arm...you should have bought a second scrap recover arm.

The profitssssss

[headdie]

You could have bought a second Scrap Recovery Arm...you should have bought a second scrap recover arm.

The profitssssss

he did get one

[LordVerex]

by the High Lords of Terra.... this is amazing good sir, have at those pirate wankers!

[TrashMan]

Scrap recovery arms are stackable. You can have two of them at once (or three)

[Alex Heartnet]

But the shop had a lot of good stuff with not enough scrap to buy it all - I really had to ponder my purchasing decisions in that particular shop.

A drone recovery arm allows you to be far more aggressive about how you use your drones, as you are unlikely to ever run out.  Additionally, the drone parts saved by the recovery arm can instead be used for hull repair drones, as opposed to having a repair arm eat up your scrap.

I have since figured out that stacking similar enhancements is a very good way to get nice stats. 

[crizza]

Can you recover enemy drones?

[TrashMan]

But the shop had a lot of good stuff with not enough scrap to buy it all - I really had to ponder my purchasing decisions in that particular shop.

A drone recovery arm allows you to be far more aggressive about how you use your drones, as you are unlikely to ever run out.  Additionally, the drone parts saved by the recovery arm can instead be used for hull repair drones, as opposed to having a repair arm eat up your scrap.

I have since figured out that stacking similar enhancements is a very good way to get nice stats. 

You make a good point - however, unless drones are your primary mode of attack you won't run out of them easily. Especially since you can easily get a few from fighting.
And an extra scrap recovery arm increase you income in general, giving you more money for more upgrades- meanin you are stronger and you have to spend less money on repairs, and you have more than enough money to buy drones.

With two recovery arms you can upgrade your ship to full and still have leftover scrap.

[NGTM-1R]

Log, NGTM1R "Weps", GTD Bastion.

Not much to report on the gunnery front. Things continue to go relatively easy, and weapon hits are rare. We freed the Mantis up for counter-boarding and D/C duty by recovering another human.

Still. I'm not fond of Ion Weapons; alone they're really only good for shield work, you need several to really get options out of them.

[Alex Heartnet]

Not a whole lot happens on the way to the exit beacon.  The Bastion found a new missile launcher or two, though.







I most definitely won’t be using three missile launchers, so at least one of these will get sold.



Scourge attempts to fight off a boarding party, and gets swatted around for his trouble.



The boarders manage to breach the blast door using explosive charges.  NGMT-1R dives behind an empty cargo crate and opens fire with his standard-issue Federation Phaser.  One of the Mantis boarders draws a blaster magnum and takes aim at the cargo crate. The blaster shot explodes on impact, knocking both the crate and NGMT-1R against the wall.



The battle outside the ship, meanwhile, is going quite smoothly despite the constant plasma explosions in the weapons bay.  Apparently in the future, a military-grade handgun can match the destructive potential of an old earth grenade launcher.



With the Bastion’s crew all either in the medbay or busy watching the enemy fighter burn, the decision is made to vent the weapon control room into space.  The hostile boarders respond by trying to force their way into a different compartment.



NGMT-1R, meanwhile, rigs up an improvised explosive that involves an electric current, a box of carbonated beverages, a video camera, and an empty supply crate.  The intruders get quite the surprise when they manage to get through the door.



A few uneventful jumps later and our intrepid redshirts find themselves in an alien homeworld.





The Bastion has barely entered the sector and already she is under attack by hostiles.







Asteroid fields commonly turn out to be the bane of so many players.  Me, on the other hand…



Given the last transmission received from the enemy fighter, the request to surrender makes little sense.  Must be a trick.





Solar flares.  The other bane of so many players.  Personally, I don’t see what’s so fearsome about solar activity – the fires are more of an annoyance then a genuine threat unless you have already taken a pounding.



A missile is fired at the Bastion, but the Bastion cloaks immediately after detecting the missile launch and the missile loses lock.



It just occurred to me that using fire weapons in this environment would be downright evil.





So that last solar flare created a bit of a problem, and we kinda had to vent half the ship…

[TrashMan]

As long as your shields are up, solar flares are no bigge.

Also, as long as you don't have comparementnts open to space.

Speaking of which, if no one claimed the Baars guy...I'm it...him..

[FireSpawn]

Captains log:

Despite the fact that we seem to have a giant bulls-eye painted on our hull and everyone we meet are either gung-ho idiots or pirates determined to fillet us and sell our ship for scrap, things have been in our favour for some time now. While I assure you that it's been no picnic, and our lives have been in an inordinate amount of danger, our gains outweigh our losses.

And speaking of "gains", during a salvage of one of the vessels we sunk, the salvage arm picked up a case of Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters. These will be shared out amongst the crew before our next jump, as I have a feeling that we will be facing the greatest smackdown threat to the Federation in history (second only to the great mutant parsnip invasion over three centuries ago).