Why is zoltan B so underpowered?

[Ponypony]

It should start with a shield and another bar of energy, like zoltan A. its got a slightly better layout, but thats why its a ship you unlock. At the very least, it can't be 100 scrap to get a shield. That is absolutely rediculous. It looks unplayable to me.

It would still be playable(if underpowered) if it took a normal amount of scrap to get a shield, but right now, it's awful.

If you hit an asteroid belt or something that has an attack drone you just die.

[Ray Robertson]

You''ll find that many ships was designed with some specific challenge(s), not all ships you unlock are going to be neccesarily stronger than other ships in all regards. Every ship has its advantages and dis-advantages.

Zoltan B is a pretty decent ship if you play it cleverly, I think I had a victory with it on my first attempt in Hard mode.

[NK SemTex]

Sector 1-2, enemies with one shield: Aim both ions on weapons (drone, if they use beam drone), use pike beam when they have no shield = success.

You take little damage if you play your cards right. Less scrap spent on repairs means you can upgrade shields before you enter sector 3 or get a new weapon. I suggest you upgrade engines to 3 before you get shields though. Your zoltan shield will last longer then.

Sector 3-4 aim both ions on shields if they have 2 shields. That's the general strategy, good luck.

[Ponypony]

thanks for the strategies

[Dr. McWeazel]

引用自 NK SemTex：

Sector 1-2, enemies with one shield: Aim both ions on weapons (drone, if they use beam drone), use pike beam when they have no shield = success.

You take little damage if you play your cards right. Less scrap spent on repairs means you can upgrade shields before you enter sector 3 or get a new weapon.

Back when I played on Easy all the time, I could get shields before the end of sector one, and I can still do that on Normal about half the time.

100 scrap isn't that much, OP, and you can (and I have) defeat the Flagship with the Zoltan B's default weaponry. Throw in an extra Ion weapon, you'll kill the thing in no-time. Ironically, it'll be slower if you do get an extra Pike Beam than if you get an extra Ion Blast. Weird, right? Also, the Zoltan on weapons will level up like a madman, and you can take the power to run all your weapons out of the Med Bay. Until you get extra (read: Non-Zoltan) crew, nothing bad will come of that.

The Zoltan B is hilariously overpowered if you know what you're doing, and personally, it's my favorite ship.

[Ponypony]

I am not playing on easy. easy is for noobs. That said, 100 scrap is a HUGE amount. you can buy 2 crew members. You can upgrade 2 piloting and 2 power and have scrap LEFT OVER. its a huge amount of scrap. If you invest 100 scrap into that then you are basically starting on sector 2 with no upgrades. It's actually 120 scrap, since it starts out with so little power that you have to turn off systems just to get the weapons to work.

It's underpowered but may be playable.

[Dr. McWeazel]

No, really, 100 (+20 or +40) scrap isn't that much, and it's well worth it to get your shields online. It's also not as bad as the 150 (+40) you have to spend if you want shields on the various Stealth Cruisers, and, as I said before, the thing can kill the Flagship with it's default weaponry. As far as I know, only the Zoltan B and the Engi A can say that without relying on missiles.

Plus, it starts with a Zoltan Shield, and if you can pick up an extra crew member (hopefully for free), you can just plop the Zoltan from the Pilot seat into the Shield room, no problem. if you get an extra Zoltan after that, just move him in there, too.

Also, believe me, Easy may be for people who are new to the game, but it's still very hard, and there is no shame whatsoever in playing on Easy for awhile first.

[Ponypony]

You can say its not that much, but the opportunity cost is unaffected by what you say.

Also, I don't think it can even get to the flagship with it's default weaponry. it would struggle against anything with 2 shields, and be completely unable to kill anything that had 3 shields without upgrades. It has to have drones or a teleporter at least.

[pi73r]

I find zoltan b pretty strung (well it's debatable but 1 of the better ships in game). Sure 100 for 1st shield is a bunch but you don't really need it early on (if you pump up the engines you won't really even lose super zoltan shield and starting weapons are okay for 1st 5 sectors). Until then you will be floating in scrap alrdy.

[Batmagoo]

引用自 trademark2：

I am not playing on easy. easy is for noobs. That said, 100 scrap is a HUGE amount. you can buy 2 crew members. You can upgrade 2 piloting and 2 power and have scrap LEFT OVER. its a huge amount of scrap. If you invest 100 scrap into that then you are basically starting on sector 2 with no upgrades. It's actually 120 scrap, since it starts out with so little power that you have to turn off systems just to get the weapons to work.

It's underpowered but may be playable.

No it's not a big amount. That's 10 fights on Normal, 15 on Hard, and if you are not fighting against drones, The Zoltan B is better than the A because is faster.

And you shouldn't have trouble in sector 2 with its starting weapons anyways, so no need for upgrades.

[Dr. McWeazel]

引用自 trademark2：

You can say its not that much, but the opportunity cost is unaffected by what you say.

Also, I don't think it can even get to the flagship with it's default weaponry. it would struggle against anything with 2 shields, and be completely unable to kill anything that had 3 shields without upgrades. It has to have drones or a teleporter at least.

2 Ion Blast I's can take out any number of shields. Even the absurdly rare 5 shields that the AI occasionally gives itself, because the RNG is a total jackass. It'll be slow in the first stage, but you'll get past that eventually, and then the next two stages will fly by. I can guarantee that much, because I've done it before. Just because you're not patient doesn't mean it can't happen.

I'll agree about the teleporter, but that's only because any truly effective ship is going to have one by Sector 8.

[eeKay]

I consider Zoltan B to be one of the best ships in the game.

[Trigon (The Trash)]

Zoltan B easily wrecks anything in the early sectors. I honestly find it to be one of the best ships.

[Ponypony]

I been playing it and its better than I thought. But you have to get EXTREMELY lucky to kill anything with 3+ shields, because if one of the ion cannons misses, it completely gimps your progress. IDK how you would kill a 5shield with it, id like to see it.

[Red Bat]

Zoltan B is considered one of the better ships by many players. If I was going to make a thread to complain about an underpowered ship, I'd be more likely to pick something like Stealth C.

[Trigon (The Trash)]

引用自 trademark2：

I been playing it and its better than I thought. But you have to get EXTREMELY lucky to kill anything with 3+ shields, because if one of the ion cannons misses, it completely gimps your progress. IDK how you would kill a 5shield with it, id like to see it.

Well by the time you're fighting a five shield I would hope that you had upgraded the ship somewhat beyond its starting gear.