What systems do you target first?

[MrEnclan]

What enemy system is most benifical to hit first, does it depend on the ship?

[The Real HELLCAT]

I go for their shield and weapon systems first.
So my weapons can hit them and theirs can't be fired at me :D

If they have a transporter that's at least the next thing supposed to go, oxygen and piloting after that.

There might be better strategies, but so far this worked well for me :-)

[the cup]

Weapons then Shields.

Depending on how evasive they are Engine priority increases up to being the most important to hit 1st.

[Zenoxq]

Use bomb, missle, or ion sheild then distroy the weapons.

[Wasted]

go for weapons 1st unless they have anti-ship/beam drones.. if you have 1 shield bubble or less you will want to target their drone system 1st in this scenario.. If you keep their weapons down constantly , it is much more difficult for them to damage you.. and taking damage is what hurts you the most in ftl

[sfnhltb]

If not boarding usually I take out the shields first (minus when having the rock B with its penetrating heavy vs 1 shield enemies) and then hammer the weapons to red, while keeping the shields down as they will be the priority repair item. If they have a big weapon (especially missile) I might switch to weapons before completely taking down the shield. If boarding I just take out med centre (if there is one) and board into that room, and then take out weapons if needed while their crew dies.

The only other rooms I would ever bother hitting as a priority (i.e. not just something else to shoot at once shield/weapons are solid red) are pilot if they are trying to flee (followed up by engine if I have boarded as backup to make 100% sure they aren't leaving with my men), rarely the transporter (only if they have boarded AND they have a med bay AND I plan to board later), occasionally drone bay to stop repairers or problematic combat bots, although normally shields/weapons still comes first. I never really find the offense drones do more than give your crew practice at dodging shots and powering shields, assuming the main enemy weapons are down.

Taking out the O2 bay in the slug(?) small fighter can be amusing just because there is no door to it, so they can't repair it so you can just button up and watch them asphyxiate, but in general it is too slow to be much use. Taking out the pilot on a craft with a lot of engine points can be a good idea as in one shot (usually) you hit a lot more often, but generally more important to get complete control of the fight first.

Obviously if you have certain strategies/weapons sets this changes - if using fire beams/bombs taking out med bay if it exists helps a lot (and AVOIDING taking out the O2 generator as that is fuel for your fires) as you can completely stop all non-drone repairing/firefighting fairly rapidly. Equally if you use missiles as your primary attack then defense drones are basically number one priority, although I tend to avoid strategies that can run out of ammo, so while I do sometimes have bombs/missiles and usually have drones, they are bonuses in certain situations rather than key parts of the build.

[Mandrake]

It's situational.
Weapons if they're able to cause serious damage
Shields once weapons are offline
Engines and piloting if evasion is high or they're trying to escape
Medbay if you're using a boarding strategy
Drones if antiship/beam/boarding drones pose a threat
Cloaking if it's a nuisance
O2 if you're evil

[sierra_one_]

On average, I tend to target shields first because I use a lot of ion/beam builds, and if the shields go down, the enemy ship is basically dead. This was one of my favourite playthroughs, and I got a 6th weapon slot soon after the screenshot. Using the power of , I could disable the shields system with one Pegasus volley, and then shred their ship with the dual Halberd Beams. All this with only 5 reactor slots!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=191532601

[ᵀᴴᵁᴺᴰᴲᴿ ᴰᴬᴺ (Dan0)]

I perform a risk assesment before i target.
-Weapons: if they have missiles or a weapon combo that is able to punch my shields
-Shields: if they have strong shields but weak weapons like beams and shingle shot lasers.
-Engines: if they plan to make a jump to FTL to escape or they have a high dodge chance.
-Oxygen: if its a slug cruser (bad ship design on their part... +Extra stuff when you win)
-Drones: if they are rolling a defence drone if missiles are one of my main weapons.
-Cloaking: if it is on a annoying auto scout that has high dodge chance and weapons.

I will always target the weapons first if the ship has missiles to reduce damage as much as possible on my part. I often target enegines next to maximize my damage output on them with my weapons. Shields will usuaually be third unless they are causing issues for my shots with beams and what not.

[Biohazard063]

Originally posted by MandrakeDuck:

It's situational.
Weapons if they're able to cause serious damage
Shields once weapons are offline
Engines and piloting if evasion is high or they're trying to escape
Medbay if you're using a boarding strategy
Drones if antiship/beam/boarding drones pose a threat
Cloaking if it's a nuisance
O2 if you're evil

Yup, that's how I see it myself. Although keeping O2 down can be difficult.

[Cougarific]

Agree, unless you're running Ion-heavy it's so hard to keep O2 offline long enough for them to suffocate *without destroying the ship*.

'Cause you also want their weapons offline while you wait for them to die.

[anonion]

Depends.
If its a pirate ship and they have good drones, I hit them first.
If the ship doesn't have drones, I hit the weapons then shields.
If the ship powers up its FTL, I hit its engines and then its weapons
If it has a teleporter, and I have Weapon Pre-Igniter, I hit that first
If I have a fire bomb, and the ship isn't really that good, I'll target their oxygen to get the most scrap.

[The Fanta Menace]

Depends. If they're hitting me hard, weapons bay. If I think they might flee, then engine room. If drones are an issue, then I shut those down. Otherwise I'll go for shields for obvious reasons. Pretty situation based really.

[Golddragon]

Almost always shields, then weapons or drones depending on their more threatening one.

[Wasted]

targeting piloting can sometimes be more effective than shields because when piloting is red you will not miss

your top priority should be to prevent your ship from taking any damage whenever possible

[Cultist]

Shutting down the weapons is almost always the best way to win if you want to take as little damage as possible - this is especially important in the early part of the game, where you will rarely walk away from a fight without a few scraches. Drone-heavy ships sometimes require a different tactic, but mostly if you use missiles and they keep getting shot down. Drone ships tend to be lacking in other areas and once you take care of their weapons, their drones alone usually can't penetrate your defenses. The boss ship is a different story though.

I never target shields first unless facing a much weaker ship. While you try to wear their shields down, the enemy's weapons are slowly chipping away at your hull and repairs are
a) expensive and
b) not always available when you really need them.
Shields are usually my seconds priority, if I'm using lasers/beam weapons anyway.

You can try to take out cloaking and teleporters, but the problem is the same as mentioned above. Unless the cloaking or teleporting is completely shutting you down, keeping your ship undamaged is often more important than disabling some of the enemy's more advanced features.