Soooo... how does one win with zoltan?

[someguy216]

The zoltan ship gets an awesome start but... well just completeley sucks mid to late game due to its low power, beam weapon that needs a supporting weapon pretty quick and the zoltan shield quickly becomes useless. Am I just not praying to RNGesus hard enough? That's usually the reason.

[Ruinae Retroque Rursus]

Ye shalt sacrifice an unblemish keyboard that has not been worked at the yoke to Our Most High, RNGesus, and then he shalt have mercy on you and your sins will be atoned for.



As far as serious advice - The Zoltan Shield is pretty awesome IMAO. Yes, it tends to get shredded easily lategame. But consider this. While your Super Shield is up, your normal shields aren't doing a THING. But your engines and your dodge chance are.

As such, it's actually better to put scrap into engines as opposed to shields for the first three sectors (though obviously you will want upgraded shields, but what I'm saying is that these are less of a priority).

I could say more.... but I'd be just regurgitating these excellent guides written by HappinessOfficer, so go read them. They're light reading material, not excessively spoilery (but given that you have the Zoltan Cruiser already there's not much left to be spoiled, apart from the matter of that one elusive ship which has a ridiculous alt unlock :P). So yeah, just read them instead. :P

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=294130421

[DarkTwinge]

The Zoltan Shield is one of the most powerful things in the entire game.

The Halberd Beam is one of the strongest weapons in the game.

The Zoltan A doesn't have a terribly good layout or crew, but it's a very strong ship because of these aspects. You should keep the Halberd and Zoltan Shield the entire game virtually always.

The default should be pairing the Halberd with Hacking, which guarantees 6 damage every ~15 seconds (usually 8, sometimes 10). It can also be paired with ion weaponry or lasers instead if that's what is available.

[JolyJew СлаваУкраине]

i have no idea what you're talking about i beat the game with the abjudicator on my very first try with it. on normal.

you are basically untouchable in the first 3 sectors of the game, just hoard scrap till you can get good weapons or systems that take down their shields. then a single swipe of the halbard beam is enough to cut their ship in half

[someguy216]

AFter 10+ runs I declare zoltan ship officially impossible to win on normal!

[Lord Of Dorkness]

The zoltan ships do very well with increased dodge in my expereience, preserving the super-shield as long as possible.

Since shield is so often the go-to priority normally, it can be a hard instinct to shake.