Flagship Best way to deal with hacking drone?

[Obz3hL33t]

Two DD1's are better than one DD2, incidentally. Release them at 180 degrees' separation.

[Braxbro]

Two DD1's are better than one DD2, incidentally. Release them at 180 degrees' separation.

Yep; but I usually like to have a DD2 on-hand as well (Third stage power surge) as it
a. can shoot down lasers

b. shoots faster

c. is another drone that can block a projectile with its face

Yeah. Many a run has been saved by my defense II blocking that last projectile of the 3rd stage power surge that would have killed me. Three wins because of it xD

[Peaoui]

I have found that hacking on the final boss isn't something you need to worry about unless it hits your shields or med bay. This just takes a LOT of preparation but I win 99% of the time.
You need:
1. L2 Crew Teleporter (most important)
2. 2 mantis or rock men boarding crew (a fire bomb is a nice addition to the rock men)
3. L1 Mind Control
4. L3 shields minimum
5. L2 sensors or slug man crew member.
6. Any weapon that does damage (avoid missiles and bombs)
With this it's possible to beat the boss even with a single shot laser weapon.
If the boss hacks your shield or med bay best to leave and try again, he's going to pwn you.
First teleport your crew over and take out the weapon rooms individually starting with that annoying missile launcher, then the ion weapon and finally the beam weapon. Leave the laser weapon (second from left, VERY IMPORTANT)
As for the rest of the crew, spread your crew members around your ship, make sure you put one person in every system room especially the O2 room. Then it's just like alien abduction. Vent the O2 from the rest of your ship, mind control an enemy and teleport him to your ship. He'll just stand there in a vented room until he dies. For added ease always mind control the pilot and don't teleport him until the mind control is about to wear off. His own crew will do most of the damage first and he'll barely scratch at your doors.
Once all the main crew is dead (the guy in the triple laser room should still be alive) teleport your boarding crew into their doors room. Take out the doors, cloak, hacking, shields and cockpit. Now just blast away with whatever weapons you have until it's gone. Avoid hitting the O2 in order to keep that last guy alive. If he dies the ship goes into auto repair and then things get really tough.

[stylesrj]

You may want to change that strategy a little bit on Hard or on any difficulty in Captain's Edition as the Main Weapons Rooms (Lasers and Missiles) are connected.

[Arthur Dent]

Where exactly hacking drone is much of a problem depends a lot of the setup of your ship. Shields or drive/pilot are of course always a problem. On weapons, it is always annoying, sometimes (if you have slowly charging weapons) it's even crippling - in connection with that pesky cloaking device of the boss, the hacking drone will always be cooled down in time before your beam can be used. Medbay is much of a problem only if you employ a boarding strategy, but much less so otherwise.

Of course, you should NEVER have crew in the medbay when you start the fight. I don't know if it's coincidence, but the last 2 times I did, the hacking drone would hit the medbay - in one case killing the crewman inside, in the other, I was fast enough to get him out just before the drone could hit.

Generally speaking, it's best to approach the base as early as possible so the base is still 2 or 3 rounds from destruction the moment you attack the boss. This way, you can always jump away and return in case the hacking drone hits something critical. Such a jump-and-return maneuver may, in some instances, make sense even if you have nowhere to turn but already conquered spots where you will have another dangerous fight with nothing to gain.

[elijahdb]

Generally speaking, it's best to approach the base as early as possible so the base is still 2 or 3 rounds from destruction the moment you attack the boss. This way, you can always jump away and return in case the hacking drone hits something critical. Such a jump-and-return maneuver may, in some instances, make sense even if you have nowhere to turn but already conquered spots where you will have another dangerous fight with nothing to gain.

I had this problem with the Flagship when it hit my weapons, so I jumped away and came back.

What were the odds that my weapons would get hit again?

[Peaoui]

Has anyone tried closing and restarting the game. When the round reloads will the boss hit something different with its hacking?

[stylesrj]

Has anyone tried closing and restarting the game. When the round reloads will the boss hit something different with its hacking?

Probably not as it's already in flight and thus set on a target already.
You know when you fire a flak, the spots where it's going to hit are already designated as soon as the projectile leaves the gun. I think the same applies for the AI.

In other words, I don't think anyone has tried yet. You want to?

[Stormbringer]

Either shoot that drone down constantly or jump away and come back and hope it'll hit something else

I find this ineffective as unless you have zoltan shield and/or cloaking. I advise just having at least 2 defence drone mk 1s, and then hope like hell one of them hits.

[stylesrj]

I find this ineffective as unless you have zoltan shield and/or cloaking. I advise just having at least 2 defence drone mk 1s, and then hope like hell one of them hits.

And you say jumping away is ineffective... before suggesting the Defence Drone Mk.I. That thing will block a missile with its face.
Also, I found that Defence Drones ironically cannot protect Drone Control on the Mantis B. They really just cannot shoot the drone down before it impacts with the room.