Well I picked up this game about a month ago, and have been trying to skill myself up, helped immensely by watching Sullla's streams. I'm not quite to the point of feeling ready to take on Hard Difficulty, but I have been playing and winning (sometimes) on Normal.
Reason I'm posting is I felt the need to share my latest game on normal, with Kestral C. Throughout the run I felt like I was always right on the edge of the curve. Got lucky in I think Sector 2 when I found a free Hull Repair drone. Bought Drone Control in Sector 4 I think (w/ Combat Drone). Swapped that for a defense drone later, then added an Anti Drone. Weapons were starting until about sector 3, where I got a Burst 1 in a store. Later added a 2nd. Around Sector 6 I shelled out the scrap for a Hull Laser 2, then got a Hull laser 1 as part of a double scrap reward late in sector 7. Crew was numerous, but rather weak: 3 Engi, Zoltan, 3 Humans and Lanius. Had Lanius in piloting, Humans in the other big 3, engi in doors and sensors, with the Zoltan standing in the engine room (he had engine skill, so could take over whenever I had to send the human there to fight). Didn't max weapons til Sector 7, and shields didn't get the 4th bubble til sector 8. I was never able to get any systems other than that Drone control though, just never had the scrap when I found them in stores.
In sector 8, there were 3 repair stations in the upper left corner, while the base was bottom middle. I managed to hit all three, because I expected that, without Cloaking or Hacking, I would need to use the Hull Repair Drone after Each phase of the battle.
So I go in to the flagship battle, and put up a defense drone. It shoots down several of the flagship's Hacking drones before it gets one through on Piloting. Not great, but I could work around it. Focused weapons on shields, and got through that phase with 11 damage. Used three repair drones to fix that.
2nd Phase, I put up antidrone and defense drone. I doing pretty well until the first drone surge. They got a lot of damage through in that, I'm thinking 7 or so. Didn't help that the 1st boarding drone landed in piloting. Still I managed to fight it off, and the 2nd (in engines) and get the kill just before the 2nd drone surge I think. Took 10 or so damage in that phase (healed with repair drones again).
Third phase, 1st person MC'ed is the pilot. Of course. And the 1st boarder teleports right in there with him. Then the next 2 land in the weapons room. Fortunately, I had killed several in prior phases so that was about it. Good thing too, I would have had real problems if there had been more. Took several salvo's to get through the zoltan shield, so I ate several power surges throughout the battle, while I had no evade. Turned into a frantic race to kill them before they killed me. I won, with 4 hull left. From full. Still, as I read in a story once: "Doesn't matter how you get your win, so long as you won."
Final Stats were 29 ships defeated, 99 beacons explored, 1609 scrap total. (on Normal mind you). The run even set a new record for me: one of my Engis made 28 repairs over the run.
Reason I'm posting is I felt the need to share my latest game on normal, with Kestral C. Throughout the run I felt like I was always right on the edge of the curve. Got lucky in I think Sector 2 when I found a free Hull Repair drone. Bought Drone Control in Sector 4 I think (w/ Combat Drone). Swapped that for a defense drone later, then added an Anti Drone. Weapons were starting until about sector 3, where I got a Burst 1 in a store. Later added a 2nd. Around Sector 6 I shelled out the scrap for a Hull Laser 2, then got a Hull laser 1 as part of a double scrap reward late in sector 7. Crew was numerous, but rather weak: 3 Engi, Zoltan, 3 Humans and Lanius. Had Lanius in piloting, Humans in the other big 3, engi in doors and sensors, with the Zoltan standing in the engine room (he had engine skill, so could take over whenever I had to send the human there to fight). Didn't max weapons til Sector 7, and shields didn't get the 4th bubble til sector 8. I was never able to get any systems other than that Drone control though, just never had the scrap when I found them in stores.
In sector 8, there were 3 repair stations in the upper left corner, while the base was bottom middle. I managed to hit all three, because I expected that, without Cloaking or Hacking, I would need to use the Hull Repair Drone after Each phase of the battle.
So I go in to the flagship battle, and put up a defense drone. It shoots down several of the flagship's Hacking drones before it gets one through on Piloting. Not great, but I could work around it. Focused weapons on shields, and got through that phase with 11 damage. Used three repair drones to fix that.
2nd Phase, I put up antidrone and defense drone. I doing pretty well until the first drone surge. They got a lot of damage through in that, I'm thinking 7 or so. Didn't help that the 1st boarding drone landed in piloting. Still I managed to fight it off, and the 2nd (in engines) and get the kill just before the 2nd drone surge I think. Took 10 or so damage in that phase (healed with repair drones again).
Third phase, 1st person MC'ed is the pilot. Of course. And the 1st boarder teleports right in there with him. Then the next 2 land in the weapons room. Fortunately, I had killed several in prior phases so that was about it. Good thing too, I would have had real problems if there had been more. Took several salvo's to get through the zoltan shield, so I ate several power surges throughout the battle, while I had no evade. Turned into a frantic race to kill them before they killed me. I won, with 4 hull left. From full. Still, as I read in a story once: "Doesn't matter how you get your win, so long as you won."
Final Stats were 29 ships defeated, 99 beacons explored, 1609 scrap total. (on Normal mind you). The run even set a new record for me: one of my Engis made 28 repairs over the run.