[SHIP] [AE] 686-Apollo

[steamtex]

Essentially this is Biohazard063's AI Cruiser 'Anomaly' (which I highly recommend) with a different skin and floor plan. It also trades in a beam weapon for hacking. Borrows RannL's SlugAugRemover modification (removes blue options should you have the Slug Repair Gel and FTL CE), so it should work with Captain's Edition. Sprites for the ship were based off of the AI Bomber and AI Station from FTL CE, as well. Has the same issues as The Anomaly, see below. The main reason I actually decided to release this was because I thought it looked cool, to be honest. And because it makes your pilot (should you get one) have to stand like the rest of the crew, instead of being the only one on the ship with a chair.

686-Apollo Replaces Kestrel A (The Kestrel)
686-Apollo was created by the Engi as part of a secret program to develop a new class of AI ships, capable of countering Rebel technology. The first of its kind, it is fully self-aware, capable of autonomous decision-making, and is self-sufficient.


Starting weapons:
- Burst Laser Mk I (Will potentially be changed)

Starting drones:
- System Repair Drone
- Anti-Personnel Drone

Starting augments:
- Slug Repair Gel

Bugs
- The game will crash if you should lose a crew member in an event, and have no crew.
- Sensors will not be fully disabled in nebulas as the AI will still be able to man them keeping them at level 1.

Download v1.0

[Squishybrick]

My personal take on the ship, having played it.

At first not having to have crew sounds quite nice, but late game you realize just how much of a crippling
downside that really is. The auto-repair function repairs things at a ridiculously slow rate, which means
taking a stray rocket in the wrong system can literally cost you the whole game.

Its starting weapon is weak, and you're not always guaranteed a boarding, or repair drone. But you start with
20 drones, so you are heavily encouraged to make use of your hacking and drones. Even if you don't use drones,
upgrade your hacking to at least give you some breathing room.

This is a very methodical slow-paced ship. You can't go hard in this, you have to take it slow, and strategic. You live,
and die by your systems, not by your weaponry.

Not having oxygen and a medbay really frees up potential slots for more systems, allowing you to have a ship with cloaking,
hacking, and mind control all at once. Cloaking works GREAT when used in conjunction with hacking, as you can almost perfectly
time the enemy's weapons to get hacked after cloaking to leave only a small window for them to attack a single time before you
do it again, giving you the needed time for your slow-ass auto repair to fix something, or for your anemic weapon loadout to actually
kill them, or for your mind control to cause an enemy to damage or destroy a system.

Frankly, definitely not the ship for me, and using it was a total slog, but, it was unique, and the challenge was a breath of fresh air.