FTL

[Tom]

I'm still struggling all around, mostly because I need more training in using boarding correctly.

I had an insanely good ship going there, and then I lost two boarding crews shortly before facing the boss and that kind of killed me. In the end, I faced the boss with just 4 people and weak weapons because I relied on boarding all the way. I took out all his weapons with boarders, but then we just sat there and neither of us could harm the other. I couldn't get his shields down and I couldn't board his main section, either. Well, in the end I tried and lost all my people, just as I expected.

Dang, without that horrible loss I could've made it. I had 3 Mantis, 2 of them with very high melee skills. Fully upgraded teleporter and a human to fill out the 2nd boarding crew, so I could've sent in 2 crews and take him down.

Note to self: You absolutely need at least one bomb or missile against the boss so you can disable the medbay and/or shield room. Firebomb would probably work best.

[Velax]

Luck seems to play a huge part, depending on the weapons and crew made available to you. My first game I breezed through, obliterating everything until I got to the last boss. Didn't get to fight him, because I accidentally pressed the Close button on the game. Got slaughtered the next few times because I didn't have enough firepower. Once solar flares killed me because they caused fires in my engine room and I couldn't put them out before the next solar flare hit, and couldn't get away without engines.

[Alpha]

Luck seems to play a huge part, depending on the weapons and crew made available to you. My first game I breezed through, obliterating everything until I got to the last boss. Didn't get to fight him, because I accidentally pressed the Close button on the game. Got slaughtered the next few times because I didn't the firepower. Once solar flares killed me because they caused fires in my engine room and I couldn't put them out before the next solar flare hit, and couldn't get away without engines.

I had a game like this. Some aliens gave me a big laser gun, and I had the burst laser II, and the pike/or halbred beam. I also had firebombs. I thought that the boss ship would crumble before me. I engaged a ship at a star, it knocked my shields and my automatic doors. My ship burned and exploded before I could contain the fires.

[Tom]

Yeah, war stories. :-)

On my last ship, I had 2 ion cannons and 2 beams. Gosh did that cut ships into pieces, wonderful! Until I ran into ships with 3 shields that I couldn't know down fast enough anymore.

[Velax]

Argh! So much luck involved in this damn game. Fought the boss the first phase and won, but the sector he moved to afterward cut me off from all the repair stations, as there was only one path to them. Fought him the second phase and won with one hull bar left, and again he cut me off from the repair bays. After that, I didn't have much hope.

[Velax]

Woo! Beat the boss. Only on Easy, but it's a start. :)

[Tom]

I am hopeful. I have a very good game going with an Engi cruiser, the 2nd type (The Vortex). Got a full crew, pretty cool weaponry and lots of cash thanks to being able to do good boarding missions. If I can upgrade engines and shields far enough prior to the boss fight, I could actually do it.

[Velax]

I found using defensive drones against the boss to make a real difference. I used two - a level 2 and a level 1 - and they took out most of the missiles and some of the lasers the boss shot at me. Every phase the boss only took off 5-6 hull bars because he could only rarely get through my shields and drones.

[Zakilevo]

I had fun with the stealth cruiser version 2. That glaives beam... it is insane. I hit about twice while I was still cloaked with Weapon Pre-Igniter and Stealth Weapons.

I am going to try getting three Automated Reloader in my next play. Well if I can find three that is.

[De-Legro]

I'm beating the boss pretty regularly now so here are some notes

• Killing all the crew in the boss is not a instant win, an AI takes over. Still it helps slow down repairs
• I find Beam Weapons in general to be a waste. Sometimes I use a single one if I've got other good weapons. The reason is they are useless against sheilds. They can do significant damage though so others might find them useful
• Against later opponents shields and the Helm are priority targets. Take down the helm and they lose their evasion bonus which makes your shots really count.
• I'm a big fan of teleport bombs. My most successful boss run I had 4 bomb weapons of various types. Being able to avoid their shields and target what I want is very helpful.

[Norrel]

Just beat the final boss on normal for the first time. used the Kestrel, stocked up on spammy laser weapons and managed to pick up stealth. Also got a repairer drone, was able to crush the first two forms of the boss. Last form was a toughie since he managed to take out my drones and weapons but I managed to pick him off with 5 hull left.

Oddly enough, my first victory only gave me my #2 high score - apparently losing in awesome ways is better!

[Zakilevo]

Yahoo! I beat the normal boss finally. Got super lucky too. Evaded most of the final boss' missiles until I managed to disable his weapon system ;).

If you want to use a beam weapon, you need to have something to cripple the shield room. I actually liked my fire bomb and that breach bomb combo to take out a room :). Once the shield room was destroyed, I could just beam/laser the boss' weapons to death.

For me the second form of the boss was the hardest. He summoned too many drones. I almost lost my *shield room* in that fight but barely beat him and repaired my ship before beating him.

But I got to say that Nisos is probably one of the best ship to fight against the boss since you automatically fire a beam that penetrates the shield and damages the ship.

[De-Legro]

Yahoo! I beat the normal boss finally. Got super lucky too. Evaded most of the final boss' missiles until I managed to disable his weapon system ;).

If you want to use a beam weapon, you need to have something to cripple the shield room. I actually liked my fire bomb and that breach bomb combo to take out a room :). Once the shield room was destroyed, I could just beam/laser the boss' weapons to death.

For me the second form of the boss was the hardest. He summoned too many drones. I almost lost my shield in that fight but barely beat him and repaired my ship before beating him.

But I got to say that Nisos is probably one of the best ship to fight against the boss since you automatically fire a beam that penetrates the shield and damages the ship.

Yeah the second boss is tough. Since I prioritise getting cloaking though its not so hard, I just hit cloak whenever the drones appear.

[Zakilevo]

Yeah the second boss is tough. Since I prioritise getting cloaking though its not so hard, I just hit cloak whenever the drones appear.

I actually timed things to take out those accursed drones until I realized the final boss had an infinite number of drones under his arsenal... then I just bombed his drone room.

Having either 2 repair drones or 2 defence I drones are pretty nice against the boss too. Damn missiles hurt a lot :o

I usually save up/buy as many missiles as possible before fighting the final boss and just spam them to take out the shield room or the drone room. Worked out very well so far. Just need two Pegasus Missile to own the boss.

Have anyone tried getting 4 Burst Laser Mark II?

[Velax]

The Burst Laser Mark III (5 shots) is awesome for taking down shields. If I can get a hold of one of those and a Halberd Beam, it makes fights much easier.