Hints on Mantis B

[Jeffreyac]

OK, i love boarding. I won many early gams with boarding configurations - so I do know many, many effective ways to execute boardng ops.

However - I just can't make any headway using the Mantis B. Other ships may be more or less effective on some tactics than others, but I can at least have time to develop some to cover their weaknesses. With the Mantis B, there is just too much that I can't touch. If I hit:

-automated ships with separate sections
-zoltans with supershields
-anomolies (solar flares/asteroids)
-anyone with a med bay

My game ends there. So I keep playing hoping to get a lucky playthrough where I stay away from these events long enough to find a weapon of some sort... The list of things I can't touch is long enough that I have a hard time avoiding everything.

...to date I've logged dozens of plays on this ship, most of them ending in sector 1. I just can't keep it alive long enough to make it viable - but I keep coming back to it because I'd like to unlock the C model.

Any one else struggling with the B model?

[Robot Autism]

Jeffreyac lähetti viestin:

OK, i love boarding. I won many early gams with boarding configurations - so I do know many, many effective ways to execute boardng ops.

However - I just can't make any headway using the Mantis B. Other ships may be more or less effective on some tactics than others, but I can at least have time to develop some to cover their weaknesses. With the Mantis B, there is just too much that I can't touch. If I hit:

-automated ships with separate sections
-zoltans with supershields
-anomolies (solar flares/asteroids)
-anyone with a med bay

My game ends there. So I keep playing hoping to get a lucky playthrough where I stay away from these events long enough to find a weapon of some sort... The list of things I can't touch is long enough that I have a hard time avoiding everything.

...to date I've logged dozens of plays on this ship, most of them ending in sector 1. I just can't keep it alive long enough to make it viable - but I keep coming back to it because I'd like to unlock the C model.

Any one else struggling with the B model?

mantis b feels like one of the easiest boarding ships for me except for maybe thoose encounteres put one person in the engine room and fully power it then ftl away search for another person

[Neytan]

with the mantis b you can board with your guys automated ships relatively safely if your teleporter is level 2. thing is, it comes off cooldown just before they suffocate. its a bit risky, but it helps with dealing with them early on. super shields now can be negated with an agumantation (its called super shield baypass or something like that). medbays suck ass, not sure how to deal with them early on but once you have 4 boarders its quite easy, they just wreck their ♥♥♥♥. worst case scenario you need to use your board drone as well. can you explain whats the problem with anomalies? i just dont see anything that special about them with this ship

[Marte]

If the enemy has medbay use the boarding drone, then use your mantis to tank the breached room until it's out of O2. The damage from asphyxiation will outpace de healing from the medbay.

[Green Raven]

1. A hacking module works wonders,letting you control enemy doors or medbay.
2. Any chance to get a laser weapon,take it. Sell your boarding drone if you must;four boarders are overkill without it.
3.Understand that at times,you just got to run.

The Mantis B is my favorite ship,just had a succesful run with it.

[the cup]

Mantis B has by far the best starting defence of any ship, 99% of sector 1 ships can't damage it (pre advanced edition, though I don't think this has changed much).

You can destroy almost any ship, though if you really are struggling against something like an autoscout, just FTL away unscathed.

[Kotli]

1) early game vs AI ship just hope your boarding drone lands in a connected room (weapons + something is the dream hit). As long as the AI scout can damage you your fine to wait until your boarding drone manages to kill the hull.

2) Must buy if you see in shop. Zoltan shield bypass and reconstructive teleport augments these really help you with boarding.
Also IMO it is worth switching your med bay for a clone bay, now if things go wrong you get your crew back, remember to get DNA backup if possible. Note you can sell starting augment as thats only +25% speed on your ship (next to useless)

3) Weapons get a bomb weapon to take out subsystems like med and clone bay (so your boarding team can kill the crew), the Zoltan shield bypass works for bombs as well. Lastly a weapon that does damage to kill AI ships so you dont need to board them. Ideally it be a 3 shot weapon so it can kill shields and damage hull on each volley (have yet to see a 3 shield AI scout ship).

4) VS med bays (assuming no hack or bombs to take it out) here a hint board the ship at the oppersite side to the med bay and attack a system hopefully only one crew will repond. What you do is when you got him low on health but before he will run is move one of your crew next door now when he runs he will be shot by your waiting crew man, and hopefully he will die as he runs past (will happen for sure if you got a double crew waiting).

[Jeffreyac]

yeah, after I posted the initial post, I really thought about it for a while - I think my struggles stem not from borading issues, but from not being good with drones (which also explains my difficulties with the Engi line..) Tried again, focused more on drone control (using the boarder in conjunction with my party, or defense to keep missiles at bay) and made it all the way to 6 before a miscalculation resulted in the loss of the boarders - oops. Went ahead and ran all the way to 8 to unlock the C model, then suicided as I had nothing that would touch the flagship.

But, at least got the unlock - and I see my issue now is less with the boarding vessel, and more with me needing to learn drone capabilities a little better.

edit: thanks for all the hints, though - particularly the med bay ones; they should help!