Overview
Getting the most out of the Lanius Class Cruisers – A.K.A. How not to die from copious rocket fire
[Type A] The Kruos
A really cool ship to play. The weapons aren’t amazing, but with 2 Lanius crew (+human) and a Hacking module right off the bat… they don’t have to be
The Kruos is largely similar to the Swallow (Kestrel Type C) – Ion Stunner and a 2-shot laser. If you’ve never played with chain weaponry before: The Chain Burst Laser takes 16-od seconds to charge, but reloads faster after each shot (so long as the weapon stays powered – this is important) to a minimum of 7 after 3 volleys. So the trick is to keep it firing and just try and time the ion stunner around its shots. It’s not amazing, but it’ll suffice until you get stronger kit
Unlike the Swallow though, you get 2 Lanius crew. Big deal, you might think. But what you actually have is a pretty powerful boarding crew. Sucking out the oxygen in the room means that they can win most fights. In fact, if you do this in the oxygen room and destroy it, then any room you vent won’t restore!
Just play carefully – Lanius are hard to replace and can potentially be taken down by Mantis / Rock in a straight fight (depends how quickly you can drain the oxygen) – So keep a close eye on that Clone Bay and upgrade boarding to Level 2 if you switch in a Medbay
Lanius can also board drone ships and take pesky weapons/engines offline. So if you can save a bit and grab a crew teleporter early… do it! If you get breach bombs too… well now you’re just rubbing it in
Unlike other ships, you start with hacking capabilities! Whilst it’s pretty cool, it will likely be relegated to being used on the pilot’s seat to buy you a sure-fire hit in early sectors. You ultimately need to upgrade it to really get the most out of it – That said, always go for better weapons / boarding crew / shields first. Hacking’s great but largely needs backing from other systems to actually make an impact. Also, try not to be too trigger-happy with it, as they use drone parts
That said if you use it and have a teleporter, beam your Lanius into the same room – The blast doors will slow down enemies breaking in, buying you a chance to suck the oxygen out of the room before they show up
Better still – If you really want to be nasty… Latch it onto the Oxygen and beam your Lanius in there as well. Hack away as they trash it – Play it right and you’ll carpet vent the entirety of the enemy ship and asphyxiate the lot in no time at all. Evil but oh-so powerful. It’s well worth trying to snap up boarding early to abuse this to the hilt. If you get this rolling, upgrade hacking to Level 2 (maybe even 3) early on
Ship autopsy
Once you get boarding – you’re rolling with this ship. You’ll buy plenty of time to hunt for the really cool weapons. To be honest… there aren’t a lot of negative points about this ship. The only pain is that the engines start out weak, so you might be more of a magnet for missiles – particularly where the Chain Burst Laser starts off so slow. As such, it’s definitely wise to invest in bolstering them early. It also might be a good idea here to invest in Drone Control and a Defence Drone to keep missiles off your back if you have the spare scrap.
Possessing the hacking drone already gives you one of the main systems you need. All that’s left is to get hold of a crew teleporter and you’re rolling!
– +3 Crew (x2 Boarders: Rock / Mantis – x1 Engi)
– A new set of weapons (x2 Decent Hull Damaging x1 Support/Bomb is a reliable build)
– Crew Teleporter
– Mind Control / Drone Control
And just because the Lanius can make a deadly boarding crew – Don’t feel you can’t use the standard boarding team if it’s more comfortable (or if you get the appropriate weapons: Such as Fire Bombs for a Rock Crew): The Lanius can be quite fragile until they’re “set up” in their oxygenless bubble. So don’t worry – I won’t judge…
[Type B] The Shrike
A flying Swiss-Army Knife of sorts! This fantastic ship starts with a lot of cool stuff installed on it – Leaving your main task to upgrade it all. There’s a lot to play with and it’s easy to get lost choosing what to upgrade. However, so long as you’re careful, you should find this ship to be pretty damn powerful
As mentioned for the Kruos, a Lanius boarding party are pretty lethal. Well now you get to abuse it right from the start! Send both in and watch them suffocate any enemy stupid enough to run in and take them on. If possible, aim to beam in as far away from the enemy as possible, so you get those few extra seconds to draw more oxygen out
But it gets better – You also start with Mind Control! This decisive bugger will quickly help give you an immediate edge to most fights. The best use is to wait for 2 enemies to get in combat with your Lanius… and use it one of them. By forcing them to convert and leave the room, you’ll be left with a momentary 2-on-1 situation to gain the upper hand
So long as you keep your Lanius together and don’t have them leave the room until it’s fully vented, you should be able to win most fights – even against Mantis/Rock. In fact, if you’re particularly brave, you can even take on larger 2v2 rooms – using the Mind Control to briefly even the odds. This is particularly useful if you need to crack the enemy weapons early on. The only thing to consider though – unless you get a MedBay/Reconstructive Teleport, if one of your Lanius dies in combat: Try to let the other one die and beam both back in. You need both on plenty of health as you establish your foothold when beaming in – So you don’t want them on flimsy health and dying in the next fight before you can vent the room properly
As such, the only thing to beware of is the clone bay – You must keep that online. Lanius are very hard to replace, so losing one permanently (if they die and the clone bay goes offline) will really shoot you in the foot. Despite having an Engi, it’s a bit of a walk from the pilot’s seat – So keep an eye on it and move your Engi closer (like the weapons room) when you get more crew. Upgrading the clone bay early on and investing in a DNA Backup is also a good idea if you can get it
The fact that your Lanius do not require oxygen opens the door to a very curious, but powerful, new boarding tactic: Hit the oxygen room
Your Lanius vent oxygen from rooms… and if the O2 is no longer working, then they will permanently stay that way! It’s a vicious tactic that can basically guarantee a victory so long as you can stay long enough for everything to vent out. The catch is that you’ll be leaving their other systems alone – So investing in some bombs to smash the weapons or the Pilot’s Seat is a very good call: As you’ll be more vulnerable to shots or ships fleeing as you pull this off
Just remember though that Anti-Boarding drones don’t need oxygen, and will overpower your Lanius if you’re not careful. So don’t hesitate to bomb the Drone Controller Room if one of those rolls your way
Unusually for this game, you also start with great weaponry in addition to the boarding capabilities. The Advanced Flak is, quite frankly, amazing. Ordinary flak is pretty cool as is… But this one fires faster and only uses 1 bar of power. Economically speaking, nothing matches it. Keep it, treasure it and abuse the hell out of it
That said, the weak weapons system means you’ll need 40 scrap to get a 2nd bar of power to get more online. However, the flak does a pretty good job on its own, and you’ll generally be relying on your Lanius Crew to do the majority of the work anyway… so you won’t really need to worry about weapons for a while. To be honest, there probably isn’t anything you cannot decimate in the first several sectors
Where you don’t have to fret about weapons or a boarding crew – You’ll want to put a lot of scrap into your shields and engines first. This is the big weakness to this ship – It can’t kill things very quickly. So where the fights will be more drawn out, expect a lot of shots coming your way. Your engines, in particular, only start with 1 bar – So missiles will be a prominent headache
As your Lanius will be off gallivanting – You’ll definitely want more crew too; even just to allow your Engi away from the pilot’s seat for field repairs
– +3 Crew (x2 Boarders: Rock / Mantis – x1 Engi)
– x2 Additional Weapons
– Hacking / Drone Control / Cloaking
Personally, the defence-oriented systems (Cloaking or defence drones) cover this ship’s weaknesses better than the Hacking will (you already have Mind Control on top of a formidable boarding team) so I want to choose them… However, doing so means you must have a Plan B for the Flagship’s hacking if it latches onto something important like shields or oxygen. Not doing so will mean you’re pretty much flipping a coin as to how the first phase will go
Play it entirely by your weapons and preferences. If you have enough to smash that room to pieces (and keep it that way) – Invest in the defence options. But if you want to play safe or lack the ability to take it down quickly – Go for Hacking
Of course, if you pick up Hacking, then you can re-create the lethal Hack-Oxygen + Boarding Combo that served you well with The Kruos
Thoughts and Suggestions
Anything I’ve missed?
Anything you’d like more detail or explanations on?
Disagree with any of the above and want to challenge me to a children’s card game – Loser gets sent to the Shadow Realm?
Give me a shout! There’s plenty more to come, so any changes and suggestions are welcome. The awesome ones shall be implemented and full credit will be given to the delightful owner
Happy Gaming
Links to the other Class Guides
Hungry for more? Fear not – The other ship classes are catered for! Just follow the links below:
– Kestrel Class
– Engi Class
– Federation Class
– Zoltan Class
– Mantis Class
– Slug Class
– Rock Class
– Stealth Class
– Crystal Class