Need some help with combat

[delet0r]

Hey Captains,
i need some help with combat. While i succeeded in the second run with the first two outer regions (i left the second "boss", couldnt get him) and killed Janet Pack. But from that onward, i can't seem to get through the combats at all. Especially with all those missile guys coming up, the combats tend to be money sinks towards repairs and decoys.
Any one of the experienced Captains got a few tips for me? How do you use jeff, red/blue and all those perks?
Thanks in advance,
chris

[1410c]

Phew, I guess one could wrie a full guide about it. As for J.E.F.F. I try to use him sparingly since his 10 Battle Cards are finite and gone after you used them up. To me the best perks are those from the E-Capsule-Converters (you can actually get two of them, which is - to me - insanely good) for their Energy Capsule Boost (30 Energy for 1 Capsule once per Battle), from Glacies (Repair with Capsule Ability (+20 HP for 1 Capsule as often as you want) and from the Energy Distributors (Emergency Energy (+10 Energy for 30 Stress).

30 Stress sounds like a lot but stress vanishes after a combat without need for repair, so throwing that out there in the last or second to last round is never a loss.

I feel that the most important strategy is to always(!) check what the enemy ships are going to do next (clicking on them shows their currently planned action) and act accordingly. A full salvo of Laser will in 75%-80% of all cases stun the enemy ship - if I see the enemy will fire a full salvo of rockets next turn I'll try to disable it that way and make it skip a turn. You should also check the turn order - Lasers fire in Turn 3, Plasma in Turn 4 - so if you can hit the enemy with a Laser, Rocket or Gamma Gun (all Turn 3) shot that would destroy him, you don't need to get the red shield up since he won't get the shot out in time. Anti-Countermeasure-Rockets always fire before your actual rockets (and stun rockets) so you never need to worry about that as well. Red (Plasma) has the benefit of targeting all enemy ships at once - which is lovely when you fight 3-4 ships but (to me) quite worthless when fighting one or two, I'll focus the energy on firing the Laser then. I also try to always upgrade offensive before defense - a MK 3 Laser will stun an enemy ship in 95% of all cases except for big bosses or the like. Oh, and one other thing - as far as I know the countermeasures of a ship vanish once it's destroyed and the countermeasures are often placed by small scout vessels. I need to verify this though.

And one further thing - enemy Plasma damage (red) will "only" cause stress, not actual damage you have to repair later. Sure, you will die if your stress reaches 100, but if I'm low in stress I'll gladly eat a full plasma salvo if it means I can use the energy it would take to stun/shield that damage to actually destroy one or two ships.

Sorry, this was written a bit confusing. I'll think about making a proper guide.

[delet0r]

Thanks for your answer! I'll give those a try!

[gv_eskimo]

Just saying, I hated (space) combat at first.
Once you get (any) upgrade, you can blow though most things as soon as you get the "needed" upgrade for the specific combat scenario. And don't believe everything you see on the net. Someone said you don't need counter measures for a certain battle and that was horrible advice. By now I could probably do that battle without, on my 6th run.
Around Lyme/Pi, having TWO E-Capsule converters means you can kick in 30+30 energy in the second round. That is just insane. And this is something I tested on my 6th run. Well, been trying to get all achievements and cards and since some are exclusive, it takes several runs.