Subset Games Forum

I have now played something along the lines of 100 games on hard with slug b and I think I need some advice on how to approach it. I have only had one decent run where I got all the way to the flagship (but failed)

Here´s the thing. It starts with missile weapon, healing burst weapon, 3 slugs, teleporter, no sensors, 1 layer shield, 2 engines and level 2 doors. Notably it has Neither a med bay nor a cloning bay. only the healing burst weapon can be used to heal my bombers. This along with only having a missile weapon leads to almost inevitably running out of missiles at some point.

Basically the things I´ve tried are:

Try to not use the missile weapon as much as possible and just kill everything with boarding with the slugs. use missiles only to heal if possible. Rare cases where I can use a missile weapon is to kill enemy med bay. However, this approach becomes tricky vs zoltan shields and auto drones.

Buying a weapon early to replace the missile weapon. This however will delay my chances to get enough shields and engine upgrades early on. Especially as I will probably need to upgrade the level 2 weapons system as well.

I am not sure if I should go to nebula sectors or avoid them... I have slugs which seems to suggest going to nebulas but then again I have no sensors... and nebulas seem to be quite a bit better with level 2 sensors than without. Also abandoned sectors are a no go.

What I have not tried is mind control, hacking and drones since I never seem to be able to afford to buy and power them before it is too late. I do think however getting a defence drone vs missiles would help a lot. but if its either that or getting level 3 shields earlier... not sure which is better.

I guess the best chance is to avoid shops and the temptation to spend on something like a flak cannon and just hope for lucky weapons drops to give myself a fighting chance to deal with anything I can´t board. but even then I feel like I have to compromise between upgrading the shields and engines vs upgrading the weapons system.

I guess what Im asking for is just general experiences and thoughts about fighting with slug b on hard. (ae)

I'm totally qualified giving advice as I think I got a 100% win rate with the Stormwalker (2x FTL Classic Normal and 1x FTL AE Hard)

I propose getting a medbay or clone bay as soon as possible - it's only 50 scrap and I think the Healing Burst is worth 15 scrap when sold, and the Slug Slime is 40? I don't remember exactly, but it should be easy to afford. With the Artemis, you got the best weapon early on, you need 0-2 missiles per fight (if you're not constantly missing), one for the weapons and one for the medbay or clone bay - if the weapons are not dangerous (get a second shield) and they got no medbay or clone bay, you save on missiles. Consider jumping out of Zoltan and autoship fights (unless you got level 2 teleporter already) without firing a shot. Fire the Artemis while already on board of the enemy vessel, so that you engage the pilot - for best results try to lure the pilot away from the cockpit.

If you don't find a store early on, or it doesn't carry a medbay or clone bay, then the second-best option is to try to get a non-depletive weapon, and even accept surrender if they offer 3+ missiles. Only use missiles if you really need them. Delay the Healing Burst shot as long as possible; swap the boarding crew so that the most healed ones are in the teleporter, and the least healed one is at the cockpit. Board with all crew members if necessary. Only use the Healing Burst while on the enemy ship if you misjudged a fight and probably will lose a crew member if not for the Healing Burst. Remember to completely deactivate your engine before firing the Healing Burst on your ship, otherwise there's a chance to miss.

Once you got a medbay or clone bay, you can relax and lean back. You got one of the best boarding setups possible and even if you won't get another weapon for a couple of sectors, you should be fine (unless every encounter is a Zoltan ship ). If you got a laser, but no medbay or clone bay, only use the laser for deactivating enemy healing or weapons, use the Artemis only in emergencies (that's up to you to judge). If you got a weak laser and nothing else, get Hacking next.

Good luck!

That´s certainly good food for thought.

Just one thing, I am pretty sure there is NO chance to miss when firing a healing burst at my own ship.

it would be easy to confirm by firing any bomb at own ship with some updated engines... but I seem to remember that at least the repair burst weapon description says it is a quaranteed hit on own ship... and I thought it applies to all bombs.

Furthermore, I dont remember ever actually missing a healing burst on my own ship. I often use it to heal the whole crew (by moving guys between doors and pausing)

You can definitely miss the Healing Burst on your own ship, you've been lucky! Maybe you've always put your captain out of the cockpit for healing, so that you've had zero evasion...

shadowcrust wrote:You can definitely miss the Healing Burst on your own ship,

Nope, not anymore. You can't miss your own ship anymore since AE came out... or maybe there was a patch afterwards, but I think it was in the AE release.

Good to know, I stand corrected. I guess it doesn't really hurt to deactivate the engine, unless you're in a fight with three missiles heading your way