The Anti-Bio Beam...

[Rellos]

So I've just unlocked the Crystal Cruiser by beating the game with every A and B variant of every ship, the last one being the Slug A and it just got me wondering, how do you use it effectively?

Starting out with a Breach Bomb it makes much more sense to knock out the O2 and, if present, the Med/Clonebay and just wait your time. Taking out either with the dual laser and do the rest of the work with the Beam seems almost impossible thanks to the long cooldown of the beam which usually gives the enemy more than enough time to repair the medbay.

You can't even really combine it with boarding since your crew despite careful aiming always seems to get hit by it anyway somehow. It not being able to pierce any shields is just the icing on the cake.

Is there something here I'm not seeing? Does anyone have a decent strategy with this thing? Because as of right now it's just 35 extra scrap for me.

[Austellus]

Well, if they don't have any medbay it's obviously good. Even if they do, it only takes two shots to kill someone (other than rockmen or crystals), and the charge time isn't so long as to make it implausible to keep their medbay down.

In conjunction with boarding you don't use it while your crew is over there. You fire it, then invade the ship which now has crew so badly wounded that even engi have the numerical advantage in a fight.

You can also use it to speed up the O2 strategy you mentioned. Having 60 less health means they have much less time to repair it before they suffocate.

[anarcher]

A-B beam is better as a finisher, but if you can sell it and buy almost anything else, it's more useful that way.

[Drain]

If you are in a situation where the enemy can't hurt you, and you can take shield down, then the beam can be useful to salvage a ship intact. But usually, yes, it's a crap gun. I usually sell this thing at the very next store if the money allows me to buy something.

[Skinny Pete]

Originally posted by Metaknightkirby2:

So I've just unlocked the Crystal Cruiser by beating the game with every A and B variant of every ship, the last one being the Slug A and it just got me wondering, how do you use it effectively?

To be perfectly blunt, you don't.

It's a piece of ♥♥♥♥.

Sell it off and buy something that actually damages enemy ships.

[Skinny Pete]

Originally posted by psieks:

Honestly I think it's only really beneficial if you're going for the scrap. Beam weapons, in spite of their extended damage across the ship, are generally best used with laser shot weapons or ion weapons. Since the slug cruiser lacks them I see it more as a looting ship than heavy duty battleship.

I'm a bit of a pyro. And fire beams are vastly more efficient ways of turning an enemy ship into a s'mores factory. Unlike the anti-bio beam, fires spread. There is nothing more catastrophic to an enemy than a ship where every room is a blazing inferno.

I love fire. Fire. Fire. Fire.

ETA: I should point out the fire beam is only slightly better than the anti-bio beam as a weapon. I just like fire. It's objectively a pretty terrible weapon, though, against most ships. It is reasonably good against large ships where fire spreads, and especially the flagship. I just really love seeing every square of a ship burning.

[Ray Robertson]

Proper use of Anti-Bio beams are pretty useful, it can have this as a result:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=339311148

Or, even only one can have this result:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=332569531

[Skinny Pete]

Originally posted by Ray Robertson:

Proper use of Anti-Bio beams are pretty useful, it can have this as a result:

The problem is this is a rarity. You have to hit crew repeatedly to kill them with this wretched thing. If the enemy has a medbay, it is utterly useless. Plus, crew start moving around even while the beam is cutting through them, so unless you have one of those ships with straight passages, they're moving out of its way.

This is just an objectively awful weapon.

ETA: I must compliment you though for an elegant use of breach weapons. I also note you are apparently a fan of murdering the entire crew on phase one. I do that too.

[Ray Robertson]

:)

[Austellus]

A dead crew on phase one means no repairing the drone bay in phase two. A destroyed drone bay means no more thrice-cursed boarding drones making holes in the ship and holding everything up while you shoot it.

[Bravo]

If the enemy crew members are moving, it is possible to kill an enemy crew member with just one shot from the beam, the key tell-tale sign is doors opening/closing, if you fire on say the bottom left corner of the room they are leaving they will take damage once, and have fully entered the other room by the time it reaches them if you aim for say the top right corner.

[FDru]

The addition of clone bays didn't help it any, but hacking did. You can hack a clone bay or the shield if there isn't a clone bay. Even a lvl 1 hack is good enough to kill off crew if there's a clone bay. I've had mostly decent results while using it in AE, but not quite as good as before since killing of crew isn't as valuable as it used to be.

[Skinny Pete]

Originally posted by Bravo:

If the enemy crew members are moving, it is possible to kill an enemy crew member with just one shot from the beam, the key tell-tale sign is doors opening/closing, if you fire on say the bottom left corner of the room they are leaving they will take damage once, and have fully entered the other room by the time it reaches them if you aim for say the top right corner.

That's a very good point for making this crappy weapon semi-effective. However, I have only ever pulled this off accidentally.

In fact, I have yet to get the anti-bio beam achievement.

[Thundercracker]

breach weapons do decent crew damage. crew also start moving towards broken systems. what you do is you do a breach bomb on the shields, but you hold it back till your beam is ready.

once your bomb hits the shield generator, set your beam to hit both the guy in the shield room, and along the path of as many crewmembers incoming to that room as you can.

depending on your timing, and the enemy ship layout, you can have almost all the crew dead in one shot.

the bio beam isnt too bad, but i do prefer weapons that can actually do damage. augmenting the bio beam with an ion weapon just makes fighting the boss that much more difficult.

[Austellus]

Originally posted by Skinny Pete:

In fact, I have yet to get the anti-bio beam achievement.

Easiest done against an early game mantis ship. No medbay, and the helm, shields and... weapons, is it? Are all in a line in the left wing. Two shots and they're gone.

[Dr. McWeazel]

Originally posted by Hutch:

Originally posted by Skinny Pete:

In fact, I have yet to get the anti-bio beam achievement.

Easiest done against an early game mantis ship. No medbay, and the helm, shields and... weapons, is it? Are all in a line in the left wing. Two shots and they're gone.

Engines, usually, but the Advanced Edition has a habit of changing up ship layouts a bit, so sometimes you end up with all the important stuff on one side- the Oxygen, Shields, Weapons, and Pilot's seat.