Disappointed

[Olga 1987]

I'm really disappointed about losing a perfect game because the 2 added ship classes are weird ridiculously hard-to-play things (and systems with omniforges in them are now often riddled with enemies, but it isn't a really sufficient problem). I've spent several hours trying to find out how to play Chapter 3 with this kronos mess of a ship and constantly being killed. Yes, I play on Hard, but prior to the last update it was fun to play.

[LeftPaw]

Looks like I bought the game at the wrong time. Splattercat praised the game and he is usually spot on but his review was before this new patch of death.
Surprising how many games get ruined by one patch meant to make the game better but can have the opposite effect.
What do they say? If it's not broke then don't effin fix it.

They can fix this easily by allowing players to downgrade to old version. Many dev's do it.

[Scr(A)tch]

I just finished that run, Chapter 3 on Hard with Kronos.

Although the ship is tier meh, it counters Aki's signature weapon with its shield and the most difficult encounter was actually another Kronos ship - that for some reason have 3 hull plate when AI. Even the boss ultimate does nothing to Kronos thanks to its shield ^^

I got somewhat lucky at the beginning, but the 3rd sector was horrible, got a raised alert event, the kind you can't escape by any means, and it took me me the final omniforge (for which I had saved extra Neo-N...) and the senator quest :(

Because of this, the ridiculous amount you have to spend to upgrade officer slots and the unavailability of intel brokers, I didn't even get the 4th dock and my game was entirely carried by my early acquisitions: 2 Guardian Cruisers (to swap when one is damaged) and the Shield Instability auxiliary system. A really powerful combo that negated all stealth damage and deleted the low HP Aki fighters.

I turtled almost every fight, Kronos is well suited for this with the shield regen and even though I had no backup plate. Did all damage with a single Perforating Laser Mk3.

Akis are as weak as ever, their squadrons are easily revealed with a Matter Destabilizator and extremely vulnerable to weapon damage, even a crappy Cannon Mk1.

Here's a screen before the final shot.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2980335106

Edit: also I sold the starting auxiliary system, a total waste of a slot.

[Hailspork]

I will say, I liked how FTL gave you the option of advanced content or not when you started each run. Seems like an easy fix that would appease everyone.

[Scr(A)tch]

Originally posted by Hailspork:

I will say, I liked how FTL gave you the option of advanced content or not when you started each run. Seems like an easy fix that would appease everyone.

It's mostly optional here as well, and the rewards are worth the challenge: Prag Mah give you tons of Neo-N when you're right at the Omniforge and Phalanx yield auxiliary systems, squadrons or weapons on top of scrap.

[Olga 1987]

Originally posted by LeftPaw:

Looks like I bought the game at the wrong time. Splattercat praised the game and he is usually spot on but his review was before this new patch of death.
Surprising how many games get ruined by one patch meant to make the game better but can have the opposite effect.
What do they say? If it's not broke then don't effin fix it.

They can fix this easily by allowing players to downgrade to old version. Many dev's do it.

Well said. I really liked the game before the update.

[Olga 1987]

BTW, the screenshot above reminded me of my own tactic of playing with Void ship (purchase officers, weapons and squadrons prior to hull reinforcement; I have a quite similar screenshot with an upgraded Void with only 1 default hull layer defeating a mini-boss). Though Void was better than Kronos IMHO despite being fragile.
Upd.: Just tried to have additional units/officers/weapons first, but to no avail again. Kronos is still lame.

[Scr(A)tch]

Originally posted by Olga 1987:

BTW, the screenshot above reminded me of my own tactic of playing with Void ship (purchase officers, weapons and squadrons prior to hull reinforcement; I have a quite similar screenshot with an upgraded Void with only 1 default hull layer defeating a mini-boss). Though Void was better than Kronos IMHO despite being fragile.
Upd.: Just tried to have additional units/officers/weapons first, but to no avail again. Kronos is still lame.

Kronos regens and can't take heat, so is definitely tankier than her hull points suggest.

You need mostly weapons so beeline for weapon shops. Aki fighters are extremely fragile and will die to any of Cannon, Flak, or ideally Plasma Bomb. Guessing where the stealth units are and shooting them with a Matter Destabilizator will negate their cloaking prior to the engagement. You also need at least one anti-ship device for bosses, Impaler can also work if you swap it for a quick shot.

You'll also need at least two good waves of squadrons to swap between waves, obviously. The starting Fighter is nice, it soaks stealth damage with its shield and frigates can tank and have bonus vs. fighters. Drones are only useful against other kinds of ships. Guardian cruisers are excellent but any will do.

Officers aren't really required at least early game, they're a nice to have. Weapon reload is priority (Karl P. Opper if available).

Hull is always the last thing to upgrade, you want to win the fight with superior firepower so you don't lose any.

You don't have a weapon slot for non-damaging ones so you can sell the starting auxiliary system if you need to buy something else - it will be better. The flash drone can also be sold early.

As far as Kronos is low-tier, the Aki level is one of the easiest for her due to the shield countering heat gun and boss IEM storm. Void is generally better though, if only for the intel broker thing.

[Olga 1987]

I've finally did it! I've just defeated Tetsuo with Kronos using some tips from the post above (thanks BTW) and combined them with my own tactic.

At first, I stopped wasting money on defence from overheat, but I upgraded the hull anyway.

I didn't sell the default system because I disagree that it's useless (it helps units recharge their abilities faster) and constantly used the default Kronos weapon to temporarily remove an enemy unit (or units) from the battlefield.

My weapons were Tesla lvl 2 (great weapon generally) and a thing that gives invincibility for few seconds, with some bonuses from officers.

I used my common tactic: to have an officer with bonus for Patched units against normal ones and keep my units Patched.

I also was REALLY lucky to find many useful units: a cruiser and 2 Magneto Frigates lvl 3 (!) and a Juggernaut frigate also lvl 3 (rare luck, especially for one playthrough). And so I won.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2980859998
And now I'm disappointed that the bug with missing achievements haven't been fixed yet.

[Scr(A)tch]

Gratz!

I see we have vastly different tactics :) I keep my units clean and tidy at all times.

Starting system isn't useless but you have much better ones to buy. It's also dependant on your weapons and squadrons picks so didn't quite fit in my strat. And it sells for 87 gold, so mostly pays for its replacement.

Anyway, there are many ways to get things done, glad you made it.

[Olga 1987]

Thanks!
When I started playing and saw that units can become Patched quite easily, I thought: "Why should I be cautious about my units being damaged and try to avoid it (and look for a Shipyard to repair), when I can use Patched units as my own advantage? And the Scrappers also use them", so I started turning a bad thing into a good one.

[Scr(A)tch]

Originally posted by Olga 1987:

Thanks!
When I started playing and saw that units can become Patched quite easily, I thought: "Why should I be cautious about my units being damaged and try to avoid it (and look for a Shipyard to repair), when I can use Patched units as my own advantage? And the Scrappers also use them", so I started turning a bad thing into a good one.

To be honest I don't think it's an advantage, unless you have an entire build revolving around this, like the Scrapper ship - which has suicide drones to begin with.

You may have +35% dps against fresh squadrons. But a fresh squadron with an officer has +15% (against everything ships included) and you have 50% HP, which is the same as taking double damage - so +130% dps.

[Olga 1987]

But you can forget about repairing units and with maxed squadron respawn speed, quite many squadrons and at least 3 slots you can spam units Scrapper-like))

[Scr(A)tch]

I wonder how disappointed you'll get after trying Phalanx, it's explicitely meant to not do this ;)

I don't repair so much, I turtle and swap damaged squadrons until I expect to win the fight in a single push - which can be fast with the proper stuff, heal gun and plasma bomb spam. Or I have a few drones dedicated to kamikaze attacks.

[LeftPaw]

I don't know if it's because of the update that making this game un-fun but I'm finding the game quite frustrating. In any game RNG is there to punish you for mistakes or errors of judgement, but it should NOT be at a level that causes frustration.

On the old YT reviews I watched that had me buy the game it seem to be more and less punishing.

[ReaperLord]

It would be a good idea if the player Horus ship had at least 1 more open weapon dock, or preferably 2. The Kronos would be better if had at least 1 open expedition expertise slot. Also, the events that shorten the alert are unfun and should be more avoidable when encountered.