Subject: Oh boy, do I have tips for you.
Author:
Posted on: 2014-03-03 01:31:00 UTC
Fly the Kestrel for your victory run. It's one of the best-balanced ships in the game and you can install all the subsystems on it.
Spend as much time exploring: don't rush the exit beacon. The goal is to maximize the scrap collection from each sector. Watch your fuel, though.
Upgrade shields to level 2 no later than Sector 3, level 3 by sector 6, and level 4 by the final sector.
Upgrade engines all the way up to two levels under maximum by the endgame. You don't really need the last two.
Make sure your weapons system can handle your current loadout-- and a bit extra. Getting shot in the weapons bay is never fun, and extra power bars can act as a buffer against damage.
Upgrade scanners to lvl 2 only.
Spend money on doors. It helps contain boarders and the blasted boarding drones. Don't forget that you can vent people out into space if need be; turn off O2 to speed up the process. Don't screw up like me and forget to turn it back on afterwards.
Upgrade Life Support, Helm, and Medbay to lvl 2 when you have the cash. As mentioned above, having an extra bar (even unpowered) helps you shrug off a shot that would have otherwise crippled those subsystems.
Prepare a boarding party and buy the Crew Teleporter. Killing off enemy crews gives you a bigger scrap haul than blowing up a ship. It will also help you for the final fight, hint hint.
Buy the Cloaking Device, but only use one bar of cloak for a faster recharge time. Only use it when shields are down and shots are incoming or whenever a missile has been fired.
The Drone Bay isn't worth your scrap, IMO. It's a drain on reactor power anyways.
Stay the heck away from the Giant Killer Spider event unless you have an Anti-Bio beam. Same thing for the travelling Zoltan Planet.
Kill those filthy Rebels, even if they beam aboard and surrender.
Spacebar is your friend. Use the pause function to plan your next few shots.
Always fire everything you got in a single volley: you'll make sure you can deplete the enemy's shields and do some hull damage.
Does your opponent have an ion/missile/bomb weapon? Shoot their weapons bay first. If not, go for their shields.
Are your shots going wide? Shoot the enemy's Helm. Most ships only have 1 point in Helm, so destroying it makes sure all of your hits land.
Pray to the RNG god and hope you don't get bad events.
Source: 40+ hours of gameplay experience.