Best Weapon Combos

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5thHorseman
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Re: Best Weapon Combos

Postby 5thHorseman » Thu Aug 28, 2014 8:56 pm

Ryu wrote:When you look at the number of shots that would get through shields to hit the hull, the flak 2's start to look a little better. For example say you fire four flak 1's and the enemy has 4 shields and all the shots hit. You get 8 shots hitting their hull per salvo, whereas flak 2's would have 10 shots get through, plus whatever else you happen to be using with them. Also, when you are using a boarding type of ship, having a fast highly destructive weapon setup is counterproductive, except where you get automated ships, which are pretty rare.
Also I have as of yet to run into 2 glaive beams in any one game, so those seem pretty rare to me, though flak guns are fairly common weapon type to run into.


8 shots per salvo vs 10, sure, but you fire twice as many salvos.

10 seconds, you do 2 damage to their shields. granted it'll probably be more like 4 but still, that's 2 shield bubbles down. 10 seconds later the enemy only has 2 shields and with luck their pilot left his seat. Your 12 shots now have 10 hitting the hull (at about the same time that your Flak 2's would fire their first shot) assuming no dodging, and their shields are down. Also, you could split them up 2 at shields and 2 at weapons, and with their tighter shotgun spread actually have a chance to hit what you're aiming at.

Keep your flak 2s. I'll take 4 Flak 1s any day.
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mpassarella
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Re: Best Weapon Combos

Postby mpassarella » Fri Aug 29, 2014 10:17 am

stylesrj wrote:Four Flak 1's would probably be the best. I once did a Lanius B run with 1 Advanced Flak and 3 Flak 1's though. I didn't actually call it this but I wish I could have renamed my ship to Flakruiser considering how much I had...

You know how many Burst Laser II's I encountered in stores in that run? Zero! Stores were selling flak just as much as I was dishing out!
I'm starting to think the 4 Burst Laser II run is a myth made to inspire FTL players. Not even by delaying the fleet by a million years and visiting every beacon you possibly can and taking weapons rewards if possible can I ever get 4 Burst Laser II's.

Two Glaive Beams is a sure thing though :D


It happened to me only once. I had the pre-igniter augmentation but unfortunately no cloak. Still pretty devastating though.

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Ryu
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Re: Best Weapon Combos

Postby Ryu » Fri Aug 29, 2014 7:48 pm

5thHorseman wrote:
Ryu wrote:When you look at the number of shots that would get through shields to hit the hull, the flak 2's start to look a little better. For example say you fire four flak 1's and the enemy has 4 shields and all the shots hit. You get 8 shots hitting their hull per salvo, whereas flak 2's would have 10 shots get through, plus whatever else you happen to be using with them. Also, when you are using a boarding type of ship, having a fast highly destructive weapon setup is counterproductive, except where you get automated ships, which are pretty rare.
Also I have as of yet to run into 2 glaive beams in any one game, so those seem pretty rare to me, though flak guns are fairly common weapon type to run into.


8 shots per salvo vs 10, sure, but you fire twice as many salvos.

10 seconds, you do 2 damage to their shields. granted it'll probably be more like 4 but still, that's 2 shield bubbles down. 10 seconds later the enemy only has 2 shields and with luck their pilot left his seat. Your 12 shots now have 10 hitting the hull (at about the same time that your Flak 2's would fire their first shot) assuming no dodging, and their shields are down. Also, you could split them up 2 at shields and 2 at weapons, and with their tighter shotgun spread actually have a chance to hit what you're aiming at.

Keep your flak 2s. I'll take 4 Flak 1s any day.


I do agree with most of what you have to say, but you did overlook a couple details that I also had stated, the first being that I don't think that two flak 2's by themselves are that great, its what you can have with them at the same time that makes them so strong.. With two flak 2's, you have the choice of a third weapon with 2 power(such as Beams: like the pike, fire, bio, and hull; Missiles: swarms, Pegasus, and hull; Lasers: burst 2's, hull smasher 1's, and chain burst; Ions: charger and heavy; and Bombs: fire and breach 2's), or two other weapons with 1 power such as the mini beam, ion stunner, dual laser, most bombs, leto missile launcher, basic laser(as long as your ship has a total of four weapon slots at least).

The second thing is that you have a lot more flexibility on what your strategy can be. For example you can get a variety of weapons that can enhance your boarding strategies(like the fire bomb/beam with rock boarding party), or drastically boost your damage potential beyond what just two flak 2's can do(having a swarm missile bypass their shields to get a shot a direct shot into their piloting or shield room right before the flak gets there). In addition to this, having that extra flexibility makes it possible for you to get more blue events due to your weapon variety(beam weapon cuts a ship stuck in an asteroid out or a missile weapon to destroy the live mine by a rock ship).
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5thHorseman
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Re: Best Weapon Combos

Postby 5thHorseman » Sat Aug 30, 2014 7:03 pm

Ryu wrote:(2 flak 2s only costs 6, giving weapon options)


True, but then you can get the same benefit (mostly) with 3 flak 1s for 9 damage, plus your artemis, pike beam, or whatever. Sure you lose the ability to have 2 ion 1s or basic lasers but really I don't think that's a huge deal.

And those 9 damage per salvo are 18 every 20 seconds. Every 21 seconds you get 14 from the 2 flak 2s. 4 more damage, a better chance of hitting the room you're aiming at, an extra room to target, and better synergy with short-timed weapons like the basic laser, dual laser, mini beam, burst 1, burst 2, and heavy laser... it's just better all around.

And then there's the chance you'll get a 4th Flak 1 :D
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PorscheCarreraCT
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Re: Best Weapon Combos

Postby PorscheCarreraCT » Thu Dec 25, 2014 4:55 pm

This set up does require Hacking, no matter what. Dual Glaive Beams, I've gotten it twice and it was so OP. Beside, who doesn't want two Glaive Beams to play around with?

Another set up, my personal favorite, is the four flaks. Don't need hacking for this so if you hate hacking and want something else, then this set up is for you. If you get hacking along with it, your just getting the "icing on the cake" for your ship. This is how i won with every type of ship.

The final set up is the four hull smashers. This is very fun and doesn't need hacking too much, but it helps. Plus these smashers have double damage, decent crew damage, fire chances, and breach chances. Its a fun set up, plus they are all on time with each other, making it really easy to use as well.
PiratedChaos
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Re: Best Weapon Combos

Postby PiratedChaos » Sat Dec 27, 2014 4:57 pm

If you know how to use FTL Profile Editor, you can just grab all the boss weapons and be set. As in normal game, I like two Burst Laser Mark 2, a Breach Bomb 2, and a missile launcher of some sort.
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erumsey
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Re: Best Weapon Combos

Postby erumsey » Sat Jan 10, 2015 6:25 pm

Guys... You forgot abou the most OP early game load out. Kestrel B with 4 basic lasers. If you don't have kestrel B go get 1. If you do you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Ability to target 4 systems at once. Adapts with any weapon you get. Ability to use Vulcan instantly (kestrel b starts with 4 weapon power for basic laser x4) but basic lasers just reck in numbers. So op. Get a kestrel B if you don't have 1. NAOW
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stylesrj
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Re: Best Weapon Combos

Postby stylesrj » Sat Jan 10, 2015 10:09 pm

erumsey wrote:Guys... You forgot abou the most OP early game load out. Kestrel B with 4 basic lasers. If you don't have kestrel B go get 1. If you do you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Ability to target 4 systems at once. Adapts with any weapon you get. Ability to use Vulcan instantly (kestrel b starts with 4 weapon power for basic laser x4) but basic lasers just reck in numbers. So op. Get a kestrel B if you don't have 1. NAOW


Only if you can get some better firepower later on. And the Vulcan? That's a deathtrap. Don't buy it, and if you did don't use it.
I tried a Hard victory with the Kestrel B and well... after Sector 2 and no new guns, it was doomed to fail.

The best ships are the ones with a teleporter and a non-sucky crew. That means the Lanius B and the Crystal B :lol:
Mantis B would be in that as well if only it didn't have just two Mantises. Sometimes the Defense Drone finds the best way to stop a missile is with its face :D
mrdude
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Re: Best Weapon Combos

Postby mrdude » Mon Jan 12, 2015 4:32 pm

Personally I pwned the flagship when I had the ion Blast mk II, Burst Laser mk III, a Def drone mk II, an Attack drone mk II and and Hull repair drone to use between battles (i think I might have also had cloaking) either way it was a really lucky round but if you can get that it's almost unstoppable. The defense drone mk II is definitely worth it as it can prevent a lot of damage destroying missiles and lasers alike. The drone recovery arm is helpfull as with this setup you need a lot of scrap however it has the benefit that you don't need to use the repair shop at a store :D
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stylesrj
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Re: Best Weapon Combos

Postby stylesrj » Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:06 pm

mrdude wrote:Personally I pwned the flagship when I had the ion Blast mk II, Burst Laser mk III, a Def drone mk II, an Attack drone mk II and and Hull repair drone to use between battles (i think I might have also had cloaking) either way it was a really lucky round but if you can get that it's almost unstoppable. The defense drone mk II is definitely worth it as it can prevent a lot of damage destroying missiles and lasers alike. The drone recovery arm is helpfull as with this setup you need a lot of scrap however it has the benefit that you don't need to use the repair shop at a store :D


Defense Drone Mk.II while faster and can stop all projectiles, is plagued by the same problem a Defense Drone Mk.I has in an asteroid field. Too many projectiles and the thing blocks the wrong bullet. So if the Flagship launches a 3-missile barrage and a 3-laser barrage at the same time, it'll shoot down a laser or two and let the missiles through most of the time.
Or it'll decide to block the missiles with its face (which happens more times than you think) or catch a missed projectile.

Cloaking is kinda mandatory when facing the Flagship in my opinion.

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I've found there's some merit to using the basic lasers, especially when playing Captain's Edition Infinite. Not much damage but in early sectors, one or two is all you need before you follow up with a beam. It can go even further with a Hack to the shields.

Then again I dumped those weak guns for a Burst Laser II when I came across one in a store. Never pass up the opportunity to acquire that!