How do you play with Kestrel A?

[Dron]

My first day playing FTL. I can do reasonably ok with the Torus, but the default Kestrel A I rarely suvive past the 3rd sector. In nearly every battle I take some hull damage. All the scrap I find is spent on repairing the hull and buying missiles. I don't have any of those problems with the Torus ship. Am I doing something wrong when playing the Kestral A ship?

[Biohazard063]

My advice would be to replace the artemis with a different weapon when given the chance. Missile are nice, but they run out. So handy at the start, but I'd replace them asap.
Burst MkII is a top tier weapon giving 3 shots for 2 power. You may want to aim those shots at their weapon system instead of their shields if hull damage is a constant problem.
Also, seeing how you're still new, 2 shield bubbles is something to be prioritized.

[Dron]

Originally posted by Biohazard063:

My advice would be to replace the artemis with a different weapon when given the chance. Missile are nice, but they run out. So handy at the start, but I'd replace them asap.
Burst MkII is a top tier weapon giving 3 shots for 2 power. You may want to aim those shots at their weapon system instead of their shields if hull damage is a constant problem.
Also, seeing how you're still new, 2 shield bubbles is something to be prioritized.

Thanks. Would I still be able to breach the enemies shields without missiles? I always take out their weapons first, unless there is a drone or mind control device that causes a bigger threat.

[Biohazard063]

Every laser shot takes off a shield bubble. So with just the mkII you should be fine for at least sectors 1 and 2 maybe 3. Giving you enough time to replace the artemis or at least pick up something else to help your offense.
Keep in mind that just the MkII doesn't allow you to spread damage, which can become problematic when the enemy is trying to book it.

[Dron]

Originally posted by Biohazard063:

Every laser shot takes off a shield bubble. So with just the mkII you should be fine for at least sectors 1 and 2 maybe 3. Giving you enough time to replace the artemis or at least pick up something else to help your offense.
Keep in mind that just the MkII doesn't allow you to spread damage, which can become problematic when the enemy is trying to book it.

I definitely seen the MkII cause fires on enemy ships though, if thats want you meant by spread damage. What does it mean when enemy is booking it?

[Index]

Originally posted by Dron:

Originally posted by Biohazard063:

Every laser shot takes off a shield bubble. So with just the mkII you should be fine for at least sectors 1 and 2 maybe 3. Giving you enough time to replace the artemis or at least pick up something else to help your offense.
Keep in mind that just the MkII doesn't allow you to spread damage, which can become problematic when the enemy is trying to book it.

I definitely seen the MkII cause fires on enemy ships though, if thats want you meant by spread damage. What does it mean when enemy is booking it?

When they charge their FTL in order to escape. You want to avoid that by damaging their engine but usually you also want to keep their offensive systems down at the same time. He's saying that with just the MKII you can't damage more than one system per volley so having a second weapon is very helpful.

[artydax]

I find the Kestrel A is vulnerable to boarders early on. You'll find Mantis, Slug and sometimes Rebel sectors have many events wherein enemy ships have teleporters and events that lead to enemies boarding your ship. Getting some more crew (Mantis especially) will be great for killing boarders. Higher level doors can also be used to trap enemies and suffocate them by venting O2.

Some other random advice regarding the Kestrel A and the game in general:

• The MkII Laser is excellent for its power usage and worth using for the rest of the game, provided using it doesn't stop you from using better weapons. However, it won't carry you on its own and you'll begin to struggle if its your only gun in Sector 3.
  
• You want to replace the Artemis relatively quickly. Missiles run out very fast and should only be used in situations where they are worth the ammo.
  
• You can vent O2 quicker by turning off your oxygen, but because Oxygen is offline this will lower O2 in every other room slowly until you turn it back on.
  
• Killing enemy crew will grant you a slightly higher level of scrap than blowing up the ship. If you're on AE edition, you're using hacking and you have the drone recovery module then you won't use up any drones. (Very specific, but not many people realise this)
  
• Drones are cool but it's difficult to use them in anything more than a support role.
  
• Expect to die a lot and very often. You'll also probably die a lot in Sector 5, the difficulty increase from Sector 4 is significant.
  
• A fully human crew isn't bad but it means you don't have any blue options available during events. Focus on getting members of the other races who each have their own pros and cons. You'll also find more blue options are available for races in their sectors. (Engi have more blue options in Engi sectors & Engi homeworld sectors, for example)
  
• Don't blame your death on RNG. Sure, it's possible to lose early on to RNG, but the longer the game goes on the less it comes into play. If surviving the rest of the game means not losing any crew members, then obviously don't choose any options that might kill your crew members.
  
• Don't be afraid to look up the outcomes for events on the wiki. Plenty of people do it, and since most options have several outcomes you're still taking a risk.
  
• The skill barrier for this game is higher than you can perceive when you first start playing.

Don't be afraid to ask here for more tips and tricks. There's a great community ready to help and there are some quality guides available too. I hope you get to enjoy this game as much as I have!

[Dron]

Thanks for those porgydax. Is dying always making you restart again?

[Biohazard063]

Unless you backup your continue.sav, yes, death means restart.
Not something I'd personally recommend as it defeats the purpose of the permadeath mechanic though.

[HYPERFORMANCE]

Just wanted to chime in and +1 Biohazard's first post. and talk about my Kestrel usage. I just beat the flagship on Normal for the first time, using the Kestrel.

I ditched the missiles asap and used 2, then 3 burst lasers through the last 3 sectors, cycling through teleporting bombs and then ion bombs as my 4th weapon. Missiles just don't cut it later on, when defense drones are commonly used by enemies. I could win most battles in two volleys with that setup, first targeting their shield room with all the burst lasers, then spreading the damage between weapons/shield/drone or teleporter.

2 shields is a must, but I actually had 3 by the end, as well as 2 defense drones mk I and lvl 4 engines. The engines are cheap to upgrade and should be done early, since they will help you out considerably when you face enemies with missiles and flack if you don't have defense drones yet.

In the past I had attempted to use teleporters (especially against the flagship's detached weapon rooms) to disable enemy ships but overall I find the cloaking ability to have much more use. It is also not very expensive to upgrade. With the cloak maxed, I beat the flagship with over half of my hull intact, never having to repair between the 3 encounters.

[Dron]

Originally posted by Biohazard063:

Unless you backup your continue.sav, yes, death means restart.
Not something I'd personally recommend as it defeats the purpose of the permadeath mechanic though.

I agree, this is not a game that would be fun if you can save scum.

[Dron]

Originally posted by HYPERFORMANCE:

Just wanted to chime in and +1 Biohazard's first post. and talk about my Kestrel usage. I just beat the flagship on Normal for the first time, using the Kestrel.

I ditched the missiles asap and used 2, then 3 burst lasers through the last 3 sectors, cycling through teleporting bombs and then ion bombs as my 4th weapon. Missiles just don't cut it later on, when defense drones are commonly used by enemies. I could win most battles in two volleys with that setup, first targeting their shield room with all the burst lasers, then spreading the damage between weapons/shield/drone or teleporter.

2 shields is a must, but I actually had 3 by the end, as well as 2 defense drones mk I and lvl 4 engines. The engines are cheap to upgrade and should be done early, since they will help you out considerably when you face enemies with missiles and flack if you don't have defense drones yet.

In the past I had attempted to use teleporters (especially against the flagship's detached weapon rooms) to disable enemy ships but overall I find the cloaking ability to have much more use. It is also not very expensive to upgrade. With the cloak maxed, I beat the flagship with over half of my hull intact, never having to repair between the 3 encounters.

Where do you get enough scrap to do all that? The furthest I got was 3rd sector and I never had so much scrap to be able to buy new weapons, drones and cloacking etc. Most new weapons I got was from capturing or being given them in encounters. I am doing something wrong, I play on Normal difficulty.

[HYPERFORMANCE]

In the later sectors, battles are more dangerous but the scrap payout is much higher.

If you struggle in the early sections, consider upgrading your engines to level 2 or 3 quickly, then get level 2 shields. This helps you conserve hull points by avoiding damage. That way, you don't have to drop 35 or 40 scrap every time you hit a store just for repairs, and you can afford better weapons earlier on.

Also know that some weapon set ups are better than others. Just because a weapon is expensive in the store doesn't mean that it will be of great use to you. Burst lasers, chain lasers, bombs, and ion weapons usually don't require much power to operate but they are reliable and can carry you far. Buy them early and use them to incapacitate enemy shields and weapons at the beginning of every fight.

[artydax]

One thing I forgot to mention is that whenever you take damage you lose scrap because you'll later have to put scrap into repairs. (You can get cheaper/free repairs through events, but you can't often rely on this RNG)

This means that the less damage you take the more scrap you can spend on upgrades that will make you take even less damage, giving you even more scrap. This cycle continues.

Try to make sure you have Level 4 shields (2 layers) and level 4 engines by the end of Sector 1. Powering them up is a good idea too, but generally you'll only need either the shields or engines and thus you can get away with powering one of them. You should try to stick to this unless you find something in a store really worth buying instead.

You generally only need shields or engines powered because the weapon archetypes for enemies in sectors 1 and 2 are either reliant on missiles or lots of lasers. We get both the upgrades for shields and engines because we have no idea which weapon archetypes we'll be up against, but then we can get away with putting extra power into one of the systems.

[patrick]

Well, i'm also new. So far i've played a bit less than 40 hours and just had my 2nd win, but neither was with the kestrel A. My suggestion is to try to stay away from store weapons if you can, but take them if you feel like they are good for you and you are far enough into the game to struggle against enemey shields and dodge.

For Subsystem targeting i suggest you look at the enemey weapons first. If they field missiles you shouldn't be frugal with your own. Missiles are valueable, but so is hull and if the enemey gets an advantage in combat it can get expensive. Even if you can't see the charge up (until you get 2 upgrades on sensors or 1 upgrade 1 send a crewmember there) you can try to guess how long it takes and try to take down weapons before they fire again by hitting the subsystem. Autofireing an ion blast at the shield while using your burst blaster on weapons whenever you see a good opportunity is a good working tactic usually, but feel free to just fire artemis at their shield and then your blaster at their weapons if you have to.

I'm only playing base version so far.

A bit of a "save scummy" approach would be to play risky in the first sector (if a giant alien spider eats your crew you can restart or die sooner than later) and you have a chance for free scrap. But it depends whether you are into that or whether you dislike the idea of wasting time on dead approaches. I alternate between the two. Later on in the game i don't feel like risking anything with bad text events.

One of the first steps which i improved upon was not to get too focused on shields, but make more use of engines. And the trick with upgrading pilot and engine crewmembers is also to just level your engines. Because if you dodge 15% of the shots, you only get an exp point 15% of the time for them. If you have 30% instead, you get twice as much. By roughly the 4th upgrade you have a 40% dodge chance (maxed crew). See that as a 40% improvement on shield vs all weapons (except boarding and whatever adv edition has ready for you). Every bit of missle weaponry that you dodge is less scrap spent on repairs and decent dodge makes your shields not being that high more acceptable (but don't overdo it). Once you get the cloaking subsystem you can boost that to 100% for 5/10/15 seconds during which your weapons reload.

You should upgrade or man your sensor system at some point in the game to see enemey weapon charges, that way you can try to fire your salvos and directly reallocate energy (for example from shields) to stealth the moment you see the enemey fire their rockets. And the stage before that shows the interior of the enemey ship with unit hitbars, fire, breaches. Very often your enemey goes through the same kind of struggles as you do and you can capitalize on it if you know about them. Like fireing at a med bay if the enemey has a dieing unit in there that struggles to fight fires in their ship. Especially when your enemeys FTL is charging you want to see what is going on in the enemey ship, wheather you need more missiles or whether the enemey is almost dieing by itself already.

[patrick]

Judging by your profile picture you should be receptive to the idea of cloaking alot anyways ;)