Why "stealth B" is the best ship ever for hardmode.

[Tamiore]

I've tried using other ships. They even looked good "on paper".

But, really, stealth B is the only ship I can bear to play on hard (won with it two times on hard by now, got to sector 8 about a dozen of times).

Why do I like it so much?

1) Stealth B has everything you will need for sectors 1-2 "pre-installed" (you just need scrap to upgrade here and there), thus giving you time to visit a few shops to buy what you will need for sectors 3+

2) Stealth B has long-range scanners pre-installed, making sector map gameplay actually meaningful (instead of just jumping blindly).

3) Cloak is an ACTIVE defense, where in many situation you have to actually think when and how to engage the cloak to maximise its defensive value.

4) Cloak works equally well against both missles and lasers.

5) Cloak + Glaive beam makes even the heavies enemy weapons moot in early sectors as you just alpha ♥♥♥♥ down before rebels get a chance to fire.

6) Glaive beam has a myriad uses depending on HOW you target it. With glaive beam different enemy ships are actually DIFFERENT depending on the shape of the ship and room layout.

7) Glaive beam one- or two-shots most stuff, speeding up gameplay considerably (I can get to sector 8 about 2-3 times faster compared to a "boarding" ship or what-not).

8) Stealth B does not realy on boarding, making hard mode flagship about as strong as normal one (as stealth B does not rely on flagship's main weakness).

9) Intrinsic cloak allows to safely wait out rebel cruiser and ASB assault if you need to jump to exit beacon after rebels get there (giving you much need extra beacons to visit each sector).

10) Stealth B actually gives you a second chance if things turn ugly — unlike many boarding ships a single unlucky missile to a cloning bay does not make retreat _pointless_

11) Combination of cloak and sensors give many blue options to avoid combat if you are critially low on full points and need to find a store to fix it.

12) Glaive beam can be made to pair well with flak, lasers and ION weapons (and specially with charge weapons), giving you viable options from many different RNG results.

13) You don't really need a shield until sector 8, thus giving you scrap to spare as you don't need to spend it on shield and reactor upgrades early on.

14) With some luck to get another glaive (or halberd or a couple of pikes) and hacking module you can easily alpha down a flagship in all 3 phases (well, you will need two volleys for phase 3 due to zoltan shield, but still).

[KazaaakPlethKilik]

+1

Stealth B is OP.

[slappy_d0]

Meh, the day hard mode came out I jumped in with crystal-b. I won without knowing about the boarding nerf or new mothership layout... This was before knowing any new AE information. So best ship ever? -- No.

[gambit]

It's clear troll man.
I won in first try on hard with DA-SR and even I don't think it's nowhere close being best ship on hard.

[Tamiore]

Escrito originalmente por gambit:

It's clear troll man.
I won in first try on hard with DA-SR and even I don't think it's nowhere close being best ship on hard.

It's really NOT a troll, I assure you.
Stealth B is right in the sweet-spot of being challenging enough to not be boring and predictable enough to make you feel like your choices have greater impact on the result than RNG.

[Skinny Pete]

The great thing about beam weapons is if you can reliably take down shields, you can win almost all encounters purely deterministically and limit the role the RNG has. Beams never miss. And 3 damage per system room is enough to put a serious damper on any retaliation from the enemy.

[Tamiore]

Escrito originalmente por Skinny Pete:

The great thing about beam weapons is if you can reliably take down shields, you can win almost all encounters purely deterministically and limit the role the RNG has. Beams never miss. And 3 damage per system room is enough to put a serious damper on any retaliation from the enemy.

In sectors 1-2 9 out of 10 of non-automated ships never even GET as far as retaliation if you land just one hit from glaive beam.
And by sector 3+ chances are you have something else on board as well.

[zverozvero]

Glaive-bearer is good for 2 things - it provides 'feel of power' for lategame and it teaches valuable lessons such of mitigating damage and 'big gun' operating. Other than that... on Hard i was f--- more only with 'E-B droids voyage'.

Somehow 'missed' that Cherenkov has Lv2 f--- battery at start, and played counting on 2 energy only... And it was much better than S/E-B cadavers :)

[Jersee]

The boss fight was surprisingly easy with stealth B on hard. I didn't even buy any other system..
Just the glaive and 2 flaks I.

[KazaaakPlethKilik]

Glaive beam, 2 Ion bomb. I find this workes well, although 2x flaks may be better (could actually do dmg). Ieadlly, id go Beam, 2 ion bomb, attack drones...

[zverozvero]

I-bomb is a beast. That power for only 1 energy is exeptional.

[Lt. David Pulsar]

Everyone has their combos, for me it's Clive the Glaive and Vulcan laser 299 shots a second, with weapons pre-ingniters because Vulcan charge beomes bearable and free Glaive shot, which is op

[gall0ws]

Escrito originalmente por zverozvero:

I-bomb is a beast. That power for only 1 energy is exeptional.

Totally. IMO it's in the "best weapons" class.
Against the flagship just make sure to lower their evasion (mind control is good for that) and you're done.

[Sp00kels]

Crystal is just too op to be compared to

[Skinny Pete]

Escrito originalmente por (Pleb4lyfe) Pleb Ninja:

Everyone has their combos, for me it's Clive the Glaive and Vulcan laser 299 shots a second, with weapons pre-ingniters because Vulcan charge beomes bearable and free Glaive shot, which is op

Glaive with pre-ignition is the biggest, fastest damage dealer in the game. Throwing in a vulcan too is pretty much overkill. It's hard to imagine not making short work of pretty much anything you encounter. Throw in hacking and you could also never miss with the laser.

[zverozvero]

Escrito originalmente por Skinny Pete:

Glaive with pre-ignition is the biggest, fastest damage dealer in the game. Throwing in a vulcan too is pretty much overkill. It's hard to imagine not making short work of pretty much anything you encounter. Throw in hacking and you could also never miss with the laser.

Funniest part is that with preigniter and Hack, dreaded Burst-3 abomination will do job perfectly too :)
Guess with sufficient deffences, Glaive works with anything aible to deliver 4-6 shield-busting shots.
But yep, Vulcan is (same as Glaive) 'bottom' weapon, that you want be most left in weapon barr. Dont think that Glaive-V combo is much worthy even with preigniter...

But again, for its multypurpose nature, Vulcan is able to deal with shields on own so to its credit - if theres somehow no other way to bash shields reliably, it will fill role and do it good way.