Overview
Getting the most out of the Mantis Class Cruisers – A.K.A. How not to die from boarding drone ships
[Type A] The Gila Monster
A fun, versatile ship for boarders. The weapons are puny but it comes with a crew teleporter and fantastic starting crew
Board ‘em!
If you’ve never been one for boarding, you will have to learn to enjoy it here – As it is this ship’s greatest asset. Not only do you get the teleporter, but also a top-notch boarding crew right off the bat! So long as you’re not stupid, you will completely storm the first few sectors and rake in the oodles of bonus scrap for killing crew
Luckily you start with an Engi to see to all your repairs (where the Mantis are weaker) – So it’s best to place it in the Engine room, as it’ll likely be doing a lot of running around. Whilst the pilot’s seat is more central, you don’t want them leaving the station mid-battle!
Bomberman
Though the weapons suck and you only have 1 bar (which needs 40 to upgrade), the small bomb will quickly become your favourite toy. Use it to keep weapons off your back, stall enemy FTL and, more importantly, keep those Medbays offline! Whilst you’ll want good weapons at some point, you can actually forego them for the first several sectors and fall back on your boarders to do the dirty work – Pour all the scrap into shields and engines to compensate for the reduced crew left on ship
You’ve seen the inside of scouts, right? Yeah, no oxygen – So no boarding parties. That’s what your basic laser is for (laughably). If you really must beat them, bomb the shields and sit back as the laser painstakingly chips away. That said, if you get a level 2 teleporter you can beam 2 full-health mantis in and beam them out before they die… but only just
Likewise, avoid ‘Unknown Sectors’ unless you’re decked out with weapons – Lanius ships also have no oxygen, so will be impossible to board
Watch the front
Expect problems with fires and intruders at the front of your ship. You don’t have any nearby airlocks (not without venting the entire front) – So keep that Medbay online and don’t be afraid to pull everyone back behind the pilot’s seat to vent the entire area
One thing to beware of with The Gila Monster: you lack sensors so are largely working blind. Be vigilant between fights to scout your ship for breaches or fire. You also have no idea what enemies await you on other ships, so are at risk of jumping into the fire a bit. In particular look out for blast doors (which will trap you if you get into trouble), recovery rooms or Drone Bays where they have no external ones running (which suggests either repair or anti-boarding drones: the latter is the one to watch)
When in doubt: don’t be afraid to soften things up with your bombs first. You also want to look to upgrade your blast doors (to contain threats on your ship) and teleporter (so you can pull your guys out of fights quicker if it turns nasty)
Sensors or a slug crewmember are certainly a good investment if you can snag one. After all, knowledge is power. And power means you can trash stuff better
What to aim for
The Crew teleporter solves one of the biggest system expenditures, leaving you with the cheaper 2 to augment your already formidable boarding capabilities:
– +2 Crew (Any)
– +2 Decent hull-damaging Weapons (you can keep the small bomb)
– Sensors / Slug Crew
– Hacking Module
– Mind Control
And remember, whilst you can beat most ships by boarding – the flagship needs to be blown-up, not have its crew killed. So you’ll definitely want to be packing some heavy weaponry by the final fight
[Type B] The Basilisk
A powerful, but highly specialised boarding ship. It is easily one of the best ships for boarding, but its lack of weapons and specialised crew leaves a few considerable weaknesses
Without a doubt, the Basilisk is one of the finest boarding ships to use. Packing 2 Mantis Crew, a 4-man teleporter and a boarding drone. The plan is basically to abandon your ship and send everyone over to trash the place. Now your crew are good, but don’t get cocky – You only start with 2 Mantis. Losing 1 will practically cripple your offensive capabilities. Always aim to beam them out in plenty of time (or have them sprint around the enemy ship if they start getting into trouble)
Covering your niche
Compared to other ships, The Basilisk can feel exceptionally powerful. However, success in this ship ultimately rests on your ability to cover 2 gaping weaknesses…
You may have noticed that the ship packs no offensive weaponry whatsoever. To be honest, for many enemies, you won’t probably won’t miss them much – But it leaves you severely handicapped against Drones or Lanius ships (where you’re pretty much dependent on your boarding drone), and completely helpless against Zoltan Cruisers (unless you have the Zoltan Shield Bypass). You also lack the ability to pick off your opponent’s Med/Clone Bay
Weapons are the challenge with this ship, as you’re always one step behind. By the time you get some decent weapons and upgrade the weapon’s room to bring it online (which includes the 40 scrap to get it started) – stronger enemy shields will probably render them obsolete. As such, be picky (especially as you can only field 3 weapons). Don’t waste time picking up crummy weapons, as you really won’t get much use out of them. Missiles / Bombs are probably your first priority, as they give you that edge to bypass shields and strike key systems to support your boarders. After that, laser weaponry is also always a sound investment. Remember, you need to blow up the flagship, not kill its crew: So you must have a reliable way of smashing it to smithereens
You could get drones, of course. But you can only use 2 – And you don’t really want to swap out your boarding or defence drone. Plus you don’t want attack drones shooting on your boarders. As such, I wouldn’t waste scrap upgrading this room
If you don’t have the weapons to shut them off, Med/Clone Bays mean you pretty much have to storm in and take them down by pure attrition. Get your boarding drone involved and team up with it where possible. The aim is to whittle numbers down quickly enough to buy you a chance to distract the last few crew as you run in and attack the hell out of the room. Medbays are actually easier, as any crew you manage to kill will stay dead – Plus only a few can use it at a time: So once you cause a few to run off there, the rest will fight to the death. It’s also possible to kill someone in the Medbay, but that’s generally only in a 2-on-1 situation. But where possible, avoid any fight in there
Clonebays are harder as it simply comes down to killing faster than it regenerates (not always easy at higher levels) and it’s harder to sustain an attack on it where the crew reappear in that room – But if you keep fights there, then you can potentially sneak crew elsewhere to offline other systems. The upside though, you can use clonebays as training: Enemies will get regenerated so you can keep killing and getting combat exp for your boarders
With pure Mantis crew, your repairing abilities are severely hampered. To be quite frank, if you’re forced to do repairs mid-battle – You’re probably screwed. Mantis are generally unable to repair anything faster than it’s wrecked
As you can probably guess, an Engi should be top of your shopping list for additional crew. Whilst more boarders are a deliciously tempting addition, you must get a decent repair crew first. If you’re dealing with solar flares: Vent the ship before you board. The doors / O2 room are particularly vulnerable where venting means you have to also vent the teleporter room
But don’t worry if you lose the teleporter – Once you beat the ship, a text event will allow your crew to find their way back to your ship with no penalty
– +4 Crew (+1 Engi)
– A set of weapons (x2 Normal – x1 Support/Bomb)
– Hacking
– [Optiona] – +2 Additional Boarding Crew
The fact that you already have a drone and teleporter room only gives you 1 additional system to play with. Personally you’ll want Hacking / Mind Control to help support your boarding crew (which is the crux of your offensive capabilities)
High powered weapons are a must, as you need to destroy the flagship. That said, you have a 4-person teleporter so by all means abuse it! Beaming in and shutting off the shield room to allow your weapons free reign is a great tactic (though beware the regenerating Zoltan shield in Phase 3) – and you can obviously also split the 4 into 2-man parties to quickly see to the weapons rooms. However as mentioned before, don’t go all out on 4-man boarding before you have a decent crew to actually fly the ship / make repairs first
[Type C] The Theseus
A slightly more subtle specialist boarding ship compared to the Basilisk. Instead of the full-mantis combo, you have to make use of a quirky mantis/lanius team – But are graced with some funky specialist boarding weapons in case things get difficult
Another boarding ship packing a 4-man teleporter. Like the Type A variant, you get an Engi crew member, which should be able to see to the majority of your repairs (although they’ll be tied to the pilot’s seat to begin with). The boarding team, however, is where this ship gets interesting… Instead of the 2-Mantis teams, you have to make do with a Mantis and Lanius for your boarding efforts
At first glance, they look like a terrible match-up. The Lanius likes to drain oxygen from the room it’s in… But your Mantis likes to breathe said oxygen
Truth be told, though, the presence of a clone bay actually makes this not only workable, but pretty powerful. The important distinction to understand: Your Mantis is basically the Lanius’ disposable bodyguard. Despite being a Mantis boarding ship, your Lanius is actually the important player here
The Lanius gives you a brilliant counter against drone ships – albeit costing its life (hey wait, you have a clone bay!) – Just board it in and let it trash the rooms until the ship explodes. In fact, if you need a certain room taken down quickly, feel free to send your Mantis in. Sure it’ll die, but you can make another one
The only thing to watch: Don’t switch out your Clone Bay for a MedBay unless you have at least 1 hull-damaging weapon. Without it, your Lanius has to destroy the enemy drone ship by hand: dying with it – Not something you want when you cannot pump out another
What about my fancy weaponry?
You’ve probably noticed your dedicated boarding bombs (which we’ll come to shortly). But truth be told, you don’t really need them for most fights. If anything, there’re a bit of a distraction. If you use your team properly you can get victories quickly without them… so don’t wait for them to charge – Just jump in and get cracking
This plan might sound lengthy, but you’ll rarely have to engage it to completion… in many fights you’ll likely kill the crew earlier – but this is always a solid fallback to aim for
Team your Mantis and Lanius together and send them into the enemy oxygen room. If the weapons are nasty or they’re looking to FTL away, beam into the weapons or pilot’s room respectively
Though the Lanius will ultimately kill the Mantis by sucking out the oxygen from the room: Keep them together. If you split them up, both will quickly be outnumbered and overpowered. The Mantis will ensure that your Lanius has enough time to vent the room completely (and kill people… always handy) – Once complete, few enemies should be able to survive long in there to be a threat.
If you went for the weapons or pilot’s seat first: Things are a tad trickier as you ideally need to offline the oxygen room before the last room regains oxygen and is repaired. Your mantis will probably have fallen, so make sure the clone bay is up and running. Let it regen and prepare to send it back in (keep your Lanius where it is, to make use of the oxygenless cover)
Get your Lanius to the oxygen room and let the Mantis help give it cover. The enemy will likely be weak by now, so shouldn’t put up much of a fight. Once the oxygen is off, victory is largely in your hands. Anywhere your Lanius walks will now permanently stay vented. All that’s left is to tour the ship and finish off the stragglers. Feel free to split them up at this point, as you’ll want your Mantis alive to chase down weak enemies fleeing the oxygenless rooms
What about recovery rooms?
You’ll notice that the above tactic doesn’t mention recovery rooms. The beauty is that the lack of oxygen renders both to mere annoyances. Even if the enemies heal or revive, that doesn’t negate your Lanius huge advantage in an oxygenless room. Once the oxygen is off, you can vent the recovery room – largely negating the medbay’s healing or ensuring no one stays in the clonebay long enough to stop you offlining it
The important bit here is keeping that oxygen room offline and oxygenless
So what about those bombs?
Just because you’re unlikely to need them for most fights, doesn’t mean you can’t use your bombs to snag a powerful upper hand during your boarding efforts. They need a bit of finesse to use though, as they’re largely useless if used alone. They’re not the typical blow-enemies-up variety
The stun bomb can seem pretty underwhelming… until you see how long it stuns people: 15 seconds. In FTL terms, that’s an eternity. It’s tricky to use though, as it will affect your guys too (so you can’t just port it into the room you’re fighting in) and it’s rare to have several enemies in one place to get a good shot from it. There’s a few situations though, where it is viciously effective
If you’re really flashy, then you could potentially draw your enemies into combat, then bomb as you rush your guys out of the room – hopefully just catching the enemy but not you. Pause to get the timing spot on (the Mantis pheromones should help get your guys out). It’s hard to pull off, but makes you feel like a complete boss if you do
What to Aim for
– +3 Crew (+1 Boarding)
– +2 Decent hull-damaging Weapons
– Hacking
– [Optional] – Mind Conrol
– [Optiona] – +2 Additional Boarding Crew
If you get more of a boarding crew, feel free to swap out the Lanius and have it working on your ship again. The combo’s cool, but not as fast as a crack team of Mantis tearing everything to shreds. As mentioned before, remember not to install a MedBay until you have a weapon that can finish off those drone ships (as replacing Lanius crew will get expensive)
[Bonus] Specie Spotter’s Guide – Human, Engi, Zoltan
Humans are the ‘average’ FTL race and will act as the benchmark for the rest. They’re decent all-rounders that can be useful in pretty much any situation. That said, they only have 1 blue-text event to their name and lack any decent extra skills. Keep them if you find them, but don’t go out of your way to buy more. They “learn skills quickly”, but the effect is very minor (like 1 less kill / 2 dodges / 5 shield hits to get to the next level) so is unlikely to really make them stand out
How to use them?
By and large, you can use human’s anywhere, as they lack any real weakness. It’s normally good to give them a room to man, so you can at least get some use out of the slightly faster experience
How to fight them?
They don’t really require anything special. Mantis/Rock/Crystal/Lanius will beat them in a straight 1v1 fight
Dedicated ship engineers whose main job is to keep your ship running. Keep them out of combat unless you really have to, as their damage is awful. At most, only ever use them to occupy an enemy (to prevent you from being out-numbered)
How to use them?
You need to make the most of their doubled repair speed, so station them where they can run about easily. If possible, keep them out of the pilot’s seat, as you won’t be able to leave it mid-fight if something else blows up. Shields/weapons are normally good locations, as they tend to come under fire often
If you have 4 crew manning the main systems – Try to space out spare engi so every room is in easy reach, particularly ones like O2, which can’t be manned but offline quickly with its low health
If you get boarded, it’s normally a good call to keep your engi out of it. Stick them in the doors room or let them man the important systems if you’re fighting a ship at the same time. That said, if boarders are trashing your systems, feel free to sneak your engi in to repair them once they move elsewhere
In a ship-on-ship battle – Engi will get really annoying as they’ll repair most things about as quickly as you destory them. So where possible, try to target your shots at them. Even if a system is offline, breached or on fire… If you see an Engi in there, unleash more shots at that room. Not only does it keep the room down, but you can hopefully kill the Engi too (or wound it enough that they pull it out)
Hand-to-hand though? Use anything and laugh as your guys kick the crap out of the oversized metallic piñata
Fragile souls with only 70 HP – These guys require care, as they aren’t adept in combat and have trouble surviving when dealing with fires/breaches. So what use do they have? Well they give a free bar of power to any room they’re currently sitting in – and as an added bonus: This bar is ion-proof! So any ion damage will not depower that bar: Vital when you need to keep something online
Zoltans are a tricky one and a bit expensive. You’ll want them in one of your main rooms to provide free power, but those rooms tend to come under fire – and all you need is a nasty missile to shred their HP, start a fire/breach… lo and behold you’re ditching repairs and scrambling them out of there, leaving the room for dead
They’re also quite annoying where they take their power with them, so if you keep moving them around rooms – You’ll often have key things suddenly cutting out through lack of power. Remember as well that their power cannot be deactivated, so don’t stick them in a room you’re likely to want to power down (the Federation Artillery is a prominent example, but you might not always want to use lesser-systems like drones or mind control either) – Shields, engines or O2 are good, as you generally always want them running. You can do weapons/drones, but bear in mind that their free power only goes to the left-most item, even if it’s powered down
If you have enough crew, you’ll generally want them shadowing another crewmember in a key room (or have one nearby). Engi/Rock are good teammates as they can help with repairs if a nasty shot slams into it
Also note: Placing 2 Zoltan in the shields room will guarantee 1 layer of shields, even if fully ioned
In general, keep them out of combat. Their low HP makes them too fragile, even just to stall enemies. That said, if your Clone Bay is running, feel free to throw them in – Their death blast deals 15 damage to all enemies in the room, very handy against mass boarding
The low HP makes them a great target, as you’re more likely to snatch in a kill quickly. They’re also not much of a threat in combat and can be taken down by most
Only thing to beware of when fighting hand-to-hand… Their death-blast. If your guys are weak from fighting enemies, this might nudge them over the edge: So it’s generally better to retreat, heal and maybe just take them down with weapons. It pays to play it safe here. This is doubly-true when fighting several, as the 15 damage will quickly stack. Even fighting just 2 will blast 30 HP of both of your guys
If they board you, try to suffocate them. They won’t last long and it keeps the bye-bye boom away from your team
[Bonus] Specie Spotter’s Guide – Mantis, Slug, Rock
Dedicated fighters and boarders. One of the best in game (only Rock can about match them in 1v1 combat). Quite frankly, if they’re not tearing a new sphincter in their enemies, you’re not using them properly
How to use them?
Also try not to station them in a useful manned room (like the pilot’s seat or doors) as you’ll probably want them to be the first to go and deal with intruders
They’re strong, but don’t get cocky. They’ll still quickly get taken down if outnumbered, so don’t let them run off ahead
How to fight them?
If you see mantis, pray to whatever deity you believe in that they stay on their ship. If so, go crazy with your weapons! Repairs will be very slow (verging on non-existent) so take advantage of it and wreck the joint
If you see them on your ship? Brace yourself… This is where it gets nasty. A mantis will generally match (if not destroy) any of your team in a fair 1v1 – So the secret is to never fight fair
If there’s a lot of them, feel free to use bombs on your ship too
If you have to engage them; outnumber them where possible and never let them outnumber you (even if you have to throw in an engi for a bit) – Chances are anyone engaged in a 1v1 will need to run to the MedBay, so pull them out in good time. It helps to have a ‘tag-team’ partner in the next room to switch places with anyone swapping out. There’s no such thing as overkill when Mantis are concerned
In general, even if you have an enemy ship bearing down on you: Deal with the Mantis intruders first. Their damage will mean your systems will get trashed too quickly if you let them run amok
Now if you’re boarding them – Even dedicated boarders will likely have a hard time beating them 1v1. You have the advantage though of being the aggressor, so there are 2 things you can do to spin the odds in your favour more
Firstly, of course: you have weapons – No harm in softening up your prey a bit before jumping in
Secondly, choose your teleportation location carefully. Unless they’re repairing, your enemy generally only keep 1 crew per room – which means that when you jump in, you briefly have a 2v1 window. Make the most of this. So try and pick a mantis far away from the others, or just a tucked away room where 1 mantis will arrive later than the other. Play it right and the second or 2 advantage should score you the win. Beam out and repeat
In terms of stats, identical to humans. The bonus is that they are immune to Mind Control and their telepathy allows them to see all enemies (even without sensors) and opens the door to a number of blue-text events too
Slugs are versatile creatures which can function well anywhere. Their immunity to mind control makes them handy pilots, as you’ll never get caught off guard with one suddenly blasting your controls to pieces and reducing evasion to 0%. They balance combat and repair skills well
The only thing though, you only need 1 to actually benefit from the blue-text/telepathy. So aside from more crew immune to mind control, you don’t actually gain anything from multiple slugs on your ship (except sticky floors, I imagine) – As such, generally pick up one but don’t buy more
How to fight them?
Treat slugs as you would humans, but just remember Mind Control is useless. Mantis/Rock/Crystal/Lanius should have little trouble with them
Huge, sluggish behemoths – Boasting 150 HP and immunity to fire, they’re roughly on par with Mantis as far as combat abilities go, but also are fantastic for repairs. The only downside is that their speed means they struggle to get anywhere in a hurry
Rocks make great boarding crew and can outlast most enemies – only Mantis are on par. You can capitalise on this further if you get hold of some fire bombs! Set the enemy ship alight, then beam your rockmen right on top of it! Not only do you stop the enemies putting out the fire, but it will also whittle down their HP. A truly fearsome combo if you can pull it off
They’re also very handy around your ship, though move slowly… So you’ll want to try and put them somewhere they won’t have to move much. They’re perfect in any important, manned room, as they’re better suited against fires / breaches and can hold their own against boarders. If you have a lot of rockmen, you’ll definitely want to invest in blast doors, just to help contain things whilst they move to react
As such, they’re a sound investment and can happily fit many roles
How to fight them?
If they board you, they’re difficult but aren’t actually terrible. Whilst you have little hope of suffocating them, still try to, even just to take the edge off. They have loads of HP, so it’s unlikely any of your team will beat them 1v1 – But the slow speed and normal damage actually allows you more breathing space in terms of healing wounded crew and switching your guys out. The fight will take a while, but clever switching should mean you make it in one piece. If you’re fighting a ship at the same time, it’s sometimes safer to use your blast doors and get the ship off your back first. The slow speed buys you time to hit the ship quickly
[Bonus] Specie Spotter’s Guide – Lanius, Crystal
A curious race. Their stats are like Humans, but they don’t need oxygen and drain it from any room they’re in – Giving them some unusual quirks in terms of boarding and repair
The penchant for Lanius to suck all of the oxygen out of a room makes them very unsociable creatures. The good news is that they can largely render any room resistant to boarding and fire. They can also repair breaches with no penalty
The catch is that not only do they limit access for enemies to the room… but yours too! As such, you don’t want your Lanius in a central location where your guys are likely to pass through. Also be wary of giving them an important room, as only they (and repair drones) will be able to actually repair it
The ideal room changes ship-by-ship… but in general, you want your Lanius somewhere out of the way. Anywhere that’s tricky to vent is particularly good, as you cover the weaknesses of fire and boarding massively
They’re also the only crew which can safely board drones, giving you a great opportunity to board and bring their systems down with no resistance (great for gaining exp too!)
Other than that, they generally have to work alone
How to fight them?
Ship-to-ship, they’re not much different to slugs / humans in terms of HP or repair speed. The only thing to beware of is that their ships will have no oxygen, so are largely immune to boarding. As such, it’s mostly about guns
Things get interesting when you take them on in combat – Fighting in an oxygenless room will largely guarantee a lanius victory, even against Rock/Mantis. So the important element is to keep the fight moving… each time the room loses oxygen, pull out and draw them into another room to continue fighting. Protecting your O2 room is, without a doubt, vital. Venting will obviously not work, so you just have to bite the bullet and take them head on
Essentially a weaker, but faster, rockman with decent stats. The defining element is the crystal lockdown power – which stops anyone entering/leaving the room for a short duration
The crystal is, by and large, superb. Though it lacks specialisation, its stats are cool and you can use them pretty much anywhere – though manning the pilot’s seat, shields, weapons or engines are probably the best use. The minor reduction in speed is a small price for the better HP and suffocation resistance. That said, don’t get cocky – They will still lose 1v1 against either rock or mantis
The real trick with crystalmen is the lockdown ability. Activated by their portrait, this blocks the doors to the room the crystalman is in. This is great defensively, as you can stall boarders from entering, giving you a nice chance to mobilise the rest of your crew. Placing crystalmen somewhere important and central to make use of this is a very good move that will pay off
The lockdown is also pretty nifty offensively too. Where enemies tend to have 1 crew per room, you can jump 2 guys in (1 of which Crystal) and hit lockdown before reinforcements arrive. This gives you a considerable window of fighting 2v1 – buying yourself a good advantage
That said, you will still snag trouble against rockmen or mantis, where their proficient combat skills still outweigh your advantage. As such, you tend to require 1 of 2 combos:
Firstly, team your Crystal with a Mantis. The increased damage of the Mantis will help you capitalise on the 2v1 window more than anyone else
Alternatively, use 2 Crystal and have the 2nd cast lockdown just as the first one is about to wear off. This buys you more time to milk the 2v1 fight
Superb tip by Strongest Man Kurosawa: “The primary use of the Crystalmen is boarding: drop two or more skilled crystals in the weapons room, lock it down before reinforcements come, kill any trapped crew and wreck the weapons room. Use maximum lockdown time until the reinforcements come, then take those out too if you can or beam back and repeat. They’re the best clonebay counter too: drop them in there and wreck it before it can be used, kill off one or two enemy crew after that which will never come back”
How to fight them?
I do not believe you ever fight them. I’ve never come across one
[Edit:] NomAnor131 has kindly pointed out that you do infact fight these in the secret sector – I shall return with details!
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 duel with portable Burst Laser Mk II’s?
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
– Slug Class
– Rock Class
– Stealth Class
– Lanius Class
– Crystal Class