Overview
AN UPDATED VERSION OF THIS GUIDE HAS BEEN POSTED. See v2.1 of the tier list before you comment on a ship’s placement.http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=131186991A wholesome list of the available ships in FTL, ranking them from best to worst.Personal attempt at giving players the ability to see which ships are the best to aim for, as well as the unique benefits of each.NOTE: Every ship has the capacity to get through all 8 sectors and beat the final boss. This list is merely meant to show which ships offer distinct benefits and increased likelihood of success in the longrun.This is also meant to be a player-influenced tier list, so it’s very encouraged you leave your feedback on the placement of each ship. Some of these ships probably don’t deserve their placement at all, and I hope to get these issues fixed in v2.0 of the tier list.Also note that future tierlists will be updated here, and older versions will be placed on a separate guide page. (So when v2.0 comes out, this page will be updated, and a new page will be made to hold v1.1’s information for reference.)Thanks for taking a look at this guide, and please leave a comment and share if you liked it!
Introduction
AN UPDATED VERSION OF THIS GUIDE HAS BEEN POSTED. See v2.1 of the tier list before you comment on a ship’s placement.
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Created by Shadow the Past.
Welcome to the Ship Tier List v1.1 for FTL. This may not be the first tier list posted for this game, but I’m hoping, with your help, to make it the most collective and correct overall.
Ship placement is broken up into 5 tiers; S, A, B, C, and D tier. Higher placement in the tiers means the ship is obviously better overall than those below it. Each tier was created in order to symbolize what each ship had in terms of the overall ability to survive and win the game. This can be based on the rewards the ship is likely to get, the initial crew offered, initial weapons, subsystems, the list goes on.
S tier ships are some of the best ships in the game. These are the most likely to win the game and least likely to have runs cut short by unlucky chances the game throws at it.
A tier ships are overall very good ships, but lack the same overall benefits the S tier ships have in the longrun. These ships have good potential to win the game if luck is reasonably in their favor.
B tier ships are about the middleground of the tier list. All of these ships can win, but they will require a good amount of luck in order to give their arsenal a fighting chance in the later sectors.
C tier ships are where things start looking bleak. These ships will be able to hold their own in the beginning, but later sectors will quickly turn sour if a new arsenal isn’t acquired. There’s also usually a better alternative to these ships, although their own playstyles can be justified.
D tier ships are borderline unusable. These ships lack good starting offensive options and will usually be taking a lot of unnecessary damage from the very beginning. These ships, for the most part, lack any sort of weapons that will be of much use in later sectors and you’ll probably wind up selling most of it away.
I will also go into detail (separate from the tier list section) as to why each ship got the placement it did. If you feel like some of my reasoning is flawed, and that a ship should be placed differently, please share (I could be playing the ship entirely wrong!). These may sound slightly like guides on how the ship is meant to be played, but it is necessary in order to explain why the ship is placed where it is.
Now, on to what everyone is here for: the tier list!
Tier List v1.1
Tier List:
—-S Tier—-
—-A Tier—-
—-B Tier—-
—-C Tier—-
—-D Tier—-
1. Carnelian (Crystal B)
1. Carnelian (Crystal B)
Commonly ranked number 1 in most player tierlists, this ship stands out heavily from most other ships in the game. One of two ships with the rare 4 man teleporter (the other being the Basilisk (Mantis B)), and being a Crystal ship, this ship is begging you to board enemy ships.
The Lockdown ability of the 3 given Crystalmen makes this ship priceless. The second a battle starts, you can immediately jump into their weapons bay, lockdown, attack it, lockdown again (if you need more time), then deal with the crew. Crystalmen also have 125 health, so the only things that will put up a fight early on are Mantis and Rockmen. Another plus, you can visit the hidden Crystal Sector if you find the warp beacon in the Rock Homeworlds using your Crystalmen, skipping having to get the stasis pod event.
Once you get additional crew members, you can send your 3rd crystalmen and another boarder (Mantis preferred) into the 4-man teleporter. Once your enemies start having med bays on their ship, it’s usually better to focus only on the crew, instead of going for weapons first. Do this by teleporting into a room that has less crew than you and lock it down, or wait until they try to escape for the med bay. Also, if any stray weapon shots head your way, you can cloak for a moment to (hopefully) dodge them. An overall benefit of this ship is killing the entire crew of an enemy ship yields more rewards than destroying it, increasing the overall ability to upgrade this ship.
Starting off the game, this ship does run into a few unwinnable battles. Since this ship starts with no weapons, your primary goal is to find a weapon, either through luck or purchase, before sector 3. Since you rely entirely on teleporting into an enemy ship and killing the crew, Zoltan ships with Zoltan shields and AI ships will be basically unkillable foes. On an AI ship, you can at least teleport in and destroy the ships weapon system before your crystalmen suffocate. As long as you get some type of weapon in the first half of the game, you’ll be able to make it past these encounters, as well as the supershield at the end of the final boss.
Despite these initial drawbacks, the fact that this ship has a 4 man teleporter and 3 crystal men (which are impossible or near impossible to obtain in a regular game) makes this ship invaluable and is thus one of the best ships at boarding and overall winning the game.
2. Basilisk (Mantis B)
One of two ships with the rare 4 man teleporter, this ship starts off with a very defensive arsenal. The only ship that starts with upgraded shields and a defense drone, this ship is very unlikely to take any damage in the first few sectors.
Starting off with only 2 Mantis, it’s very likely that the ship will be running on autopilot until more crew members are acquired. Don’t worry about upgrading the ship’s autopilot (evasion chance will only increase to 1%), just focus on upgrading the teleporter to level 2/3. While the ship may be immune to almost anything the game can throw at it through sectors 1/2, a stray bomb or lucky shot from a Burst Laser II can easily knock out the teleporter and end a run early. If you see the enemy does have bombs, don’t be afraid to send a Boarding Drone over to loosen them up a bit. Once their weapons are offline, or you feel confident a single Mantis can finish off the remaining crew, teleport over and clean house.
Same as the Carnelian, obtaining a weapon is cruicial. You’ll be forced to flee from battles with AI and Zoltans with Zoltan shields. Boarding drones are nice, but aren’t going to kill AI ships anytime soon (even if it has doors) and does nothing to Zoltan shields.
While Mantis do make excellent boarders, they still don’t have the lockdown ability like Crystalmen, which means taking out enemy weapons rooms without the crew interrupting will be pretty much impossible. Also, once med bays start popping up, your Mantis won’t be able to kill the crew before they run off and get healed. However, once the teleporter is transporting 4 crew (preferably at least 3 of them Mantis), your Mantis will be able to kill enemy crew members before they even walk out of the room (assuming not all of your Mantis are caught up in their own battles). This is obviously not fullproof, so getting a weapon to take out med bays is highly encouraged (preferably a bomb, so defense drones/shields don’t block them.)
One thing this ship also doesn’t like early on is fire. Mantis are the slowest at putting out fires, and a lone Mantis flat out can’t put out a fire that’s 2 squares or greater in a room. A fire in the Oxygen room can force a choice between venting the room (and potentially not having enough oxygen to survive repairs) or trying to put out the fire. However, once you get another crew member (preferably a human, Engi, or Rockman), fires won’t be as big of a concern.
Overall, this ship has the capacity to win the game very easily as long as a reasonably good weapon is obtained and the player doesn’t have their run cut off by a stray shot to the teleporter room. However, pretty much everything this ship does, the Carnelian does better, which is why this ship gets placed at number 2 instead. (This ship avoids damage with 2 shields/def drone, the Carnelian avoids it with cloaking.)
3. Gila Monster (Mantis A)
At the bottom of S tier, we have another boarding-based ship. While this ship may not have a 4-man teleporter, it still has some simple but effective additions that make it worthwhile to keep in S tier.
Just like its type B counterpart, this ship focuses on boarding 2 Mantis onto the enemy ship and killing them before the enemies weapons do much damage, yielding bonus rewards for killing the crew. However, what this ship benefits from is the fact that it has two spare crewmembers to keep behind. Therefore, there’s no need to worry about stray shots to the Teleporter room or a Firebomb in your Oxygen room. Another plus, one of these crewmembers is an Engi, so repairs will be swift, and there’ll be a lot more blue-options at beacons for increased rewards.
Another thing this ship benefits from is that it starts with weapons; the first ship on the tier list to start with any! What makes this significant is that the smallbomb can be used to take out their medbay (if they have one), making the Mantis killing spree much more efficient. You can also opt to take out the shield, then use the basic laser to keep it offline without using more missiles. This ship can also take down Zoltan shields and AI ships, thankfully.
One problem this ship has is that the weapon subsystem starts with only 1 power, so you’ll need to make a choice between keeping your bomb or your laser online (probably your bomb is a better option if they have any shields). There’s also only 3 slots for weapons, which means you’ll probably need to sell your weapons at some point (not like you’ll miss them). However, since this ship focuses mostly on killing the crew, it’s better to view the weapons as a safeguard should the situation need them, until the later sectors.
Another problem is this ship lacks the defensive capabilities of the Carnelian and Basilisk. The Carnelian has cloaking, the Basilisk 2 shields/defense drone. This ship starts with a basic defense (only 1 shield) and thus is very susceptible to damage early on. However, swift Engi repairs and increased rewards for Store repairs make up for this significantly.
While this ship may not be as destructive as its competitors above it, it still puts up just as good a fight against enemy ships with its starting weapons being able to avoid the frustrations of Zoltan shields, AI ships, and medbays. Increased rewards from killing the crew and from Engi blue-options give this ship the ability to upgrade very quickly and thus keeps it in S tier.
Note: Refer to the Author’s Post Publishing notes if you disagree with this ship’s position, as it’s likely to change drastically in the next version of the tier list.
4. Osprey (Fed A)
Moving into A tier, we have the Osprey. Unlocked for defeating the Rebel Flagship, this ship posesses the unique Artillery Beam, which is the main reason for its position on the tier list.
Similar to the Kestrel, this ship starts with the Burst Laser II. However, it does not start with a missile weapon, but instead with the Artillery Beam, which has the unique ability to pierce through any non-Zoltan shield and tear a ship to shreds. This means it is physically impossible for this ship to run into a “stalemate” battle, as it always has the ability to deal damage. While it only deals 1 damage per room, this becomes invaluable in later sectors when you’re likely to run into longer battles with ships, including the Rebel Flagship. Fully upgraded, the Artillery Beam takes 20 seconds to recharge, which also happens to be the same speed the Glaive Beam recharges with a weapons expert manning the weapons (don’t get any ideas…). It’s also very viable to play this ship in a very defensive style, hiding behind 4 shields and a defense drone and letting the BLII and Artillery Beam do all the work.
Another benefit is this ship has the most diverse starter crew of any ship available. A human, a Rockman, an Engi and a Mantis means you get the best of 3 worlds (because nobody cares about humans). The Rockman and Engi both get a lot of blue options (so a lot of rewards), the Rockman and Mantis are good for dealing with boarders, the Rockman deals with fires, and the Engi deals with fires/repairs. Overall, it’s hard to complain about this crew (except for that stinky human).
A major drawback this ship has is that it is completely incapable of installing a Cloaking system, due to the Artillery Beam. This may not seem like a major drawback, as the Cloaking system is a completely optional upgrade that may or may not come your way, Cloaking is a very necessary upgrade for a defensive ship such as this. This leaves the ship vulnerable during the 2nd/3rd phase of the Rebel Flagship’s power surges, even if you have maxed evasion. This is the main reason this ship is not in S tier.
This ship has a very useful arsenal and playstyle, being able to just turtle and let your weapons do all the work, which is why this ship is able to sit so high in the tier list.
5. Torus (Engi A)
Most player’s first ship unlocked, this ship offers a unique playstyle from the others that rely on brute firepower or boarding parties. Instead, it focuses on using Anti-ship drones and using Engi’s to get all systems of the ship back online as soon as possible after being hit.
Originally, I placed this ship in D Tier, due to my firm belief of how limited use Anti-ship drones are. However, after doing a quick runthrough with this ship, I realised the potential of the Ion Blaster II and how the Anti-ship simply complements it.
The Ion Blaster II is singlehandedly capable of taking down any shield in the game, assuming every shot hits. Since it fires faster than it takes for Ion damage to cooldown (4 seconds to recharge,~6 to cooldown from Ion damage), shields won’t be able to stay up against this, unless the enemy has high evasion. Obtaining a second Ion weapon (that isn’t the Ion bomb) will almost guarantee the enemy’s shield will be down within 15 seconds and never come back online again.
Once the enemy’s shields are down, this leaves the Anti-ship drone to do the dirty work. While I don’t much like that it fires entirely randomly (and thus can’t focus on taking out rooms in a particular order like other weapons), it’s still useful in the fact that it has very high DPS output compared to anything else that uses 2 power. Probably the only thing that does more would be the Beam Drone (which is probably worth replacing the Anti-ship with, once you get a second Ion weapon).
This ship also has a decent crew of 2 Engi’s and a human. Engi’s will give you a lot of blue-option rewards, and will be able to repair systems very quickly while your human pilots the ship. This ship also starts with a rare augment, the Engi med-bot dispersal, which will save you the trouble of needing to send your crew to the med bay after rooms take a hit. It also means your Engi can hold their own against intruders who aren’t Mantis, although it’s still perfectly viable to vent the entire ship and head for the med bay.
One drawback/bonus this ship has is that it replaces a weapon slot with a drone slot. While this leaves open the option to have two attacking drones and one defense, or two defense and one attack, it also means you need to be picky about what 3 weapons you get. You’re probably going to be keeping the IBII and whatever other Ion weapon you get, so the 3rd weapon needs to count.
This ship will also probably be needing to use at least one drone at every battle, which can quickly leave you without drones. Stores usually only sell around 3 drones at 8 scrap each, so you’ll need to hope you get lucky and get good drone rewards from beacons, or you can get lucky and get a Drone Recovery Arm and essentially never run out of drones ever.
While this ship can theoretically take down any ship in the game with its starting arsenal, it’s still very necessary you get some weapon upgrades in order to make sure your ship stays ahead of the opponent in the battle and doesn’t take unnecessary damage while you’re still trying to get through their shields. With this being the highest ranking ship that actually needs to focus on taking down shields to do damage, it’s definitely worth considering using this ship.
6. Bravais (Crystal A)
Offering 2 unique weapons for the player to use, the Bravais offers a very conservative playstyle to the player of simply destroying the enemy ship as quickly as possible with all of its available firepower. What makes this ship notable is what few unique things it starts with and what impact these have later in the game.
This ship starts with 2 Crystal weapons, each of which have the ability to pierce one shield, giving this ship a distinct advantage in the earlier sectors. It will be very hard for a run to end early, being able to fire a 2 damage projectile and two 1 damage projectiles doesn’t give the opponent much opportunity to retaliate. Even when the opponent has two or even three shields, with lucky aim it’ll still be able to get a shot in with this loadout.
This ship also starts with two Crystalmen, which means this ship can easily turn into a boarding ship should the situation arise, after getting a crew teleporter. Just like with the type B, it can also go to the Hidden Crystal Sector via the Rock Homeworlds without needing to find a damaged stasis pod.
An initial downside of the ship is that the weapons usually take a while to charge up, meaning some early enemies will probably be able to get a few shots off before you take out their weapons (which can activate the Crystal Shard augment, if you’re lucky). This initial downside is easily resolvable once more weapons and systems are acquired.
This ship overall lacks any initial downsides and offers a unique arsenal and crew that almost no other ship offers, but lacks anything else system wise to make it anything but above average starting off.
7. Adjudicator (Zoltan A)
One of the few ships that starts with a Beam-weapon, the Adjudicator offers a very safe ship for the player to use.
Entering every battle, you’ll start off with a Zoltan shield that will protect you from 5 damage of any kind (Ion damage is doubled against it) and prevent your ship from being boarded (unless it’s a scripted event). This is a priceless augment and should never be sold ever. The fact this augment is unique to only the Zoltan ships with no other way to obtain it makes this ship very handy in the long run. You’ll be able to avoid annoying damage like missiles/bombs early in the battle that pester most other ships.
This ship starts with a Halberd beam and Leto missile launcher. With shield piercing, the Halberd beam can take out most ships in the first two sectors that only have one shield. However, once ships start having 2 or more shields, the beam will need help getting through shields, which is where Leto comes in. It’s not preferrable to rely on this weapon, as it’s overall pretty weak, so it’s probably better to try and get your hands on another weapon. (Ion isn’t a bad choice.)
This ship also starts with 3 Zoltans (my least favorite crew members), so getting more crew members is a pretty high priority. Despite the Zoltan shields, enemies can still board your ship (either through a scripted event as soon as you jump to the beacon, or after your shields are down). Zoltans can’t fight very well (they may even be worse than Engi’s), and they can’t leave their positions early on in the game, unless you have spare power to give to their respective system. Therefore, you’ll really want to replace the pilot with a new alien and a some fighters to deal with enemy boarding parties.
Zoltan shields give this ship an edge that no other ship gets, but the fact that it has a very weak crew and struggles to deal with any shield level 2 or greater means this ship hangs just out of B-tier’s reach.
8. Kestrel (Kestrel A)
Here we are, at the ship everyone is familiar with. The lovable Burst Laser II and Artemis missile launcher are both here and waiting for the player to pick up for their first, fifth, or hundredth time.
This ship is about as basic as you can get, but what else can you expect from a starter ship. The Burst Laser II will tide you over until enemies start getting more shields (2 is managable, but you’ll need lucky shots). Artemis deals with systems you want disabled quickly, like shields and missiles. These two weapons get the job done and are a very viable combination for most of the game. (Fun fact: Two BLII’s is one of the most powerful weapon combinations in the game, and it only costs 4 power and a bit of luck to find.)
While the Kestrel is a very usable ship, it is also very bland from the beginning. No unique systems, boring crew, and the weapons themselves aren’t terribly uncommon. Originally I had this ship placed above the Osprey, due to the fact the Kestrel starts with a missile launcher and can have cloaking, unlike the Osprey. However, after considering the fact the Kestrel doesn’t have the Artillery beam and an overall much worse crew layout than the Osprey, it was knocked all the way down to the top of B tier. I believe it doesn’t belong in A tier, due to the fact this ship offers absolutely nothing special, compared to all the other ships in A tier.
9. Red-Tail (Kestrel B)
The alternate layout to everyone’s* favorite ship (*not likely everyone’s), this ship has a completely filled weapon loadout and 4 crew, which is an unheard of combination compared to every other ship. However, don’t let this give you the idea this ship is anything above average.
This ship starts with four Basic Lasers, each firing one shot simultaneously. Getting through shields in the early sectors will be no issue, and with the firing rate being 10 seconds or less, the opponent won’t be able to do much to retaliate.
The crew, however, is rather boring. Two humans, a Zoltan and a Mantis. In my eyes, you’re basically given 4 humans (the Mantis and Zoltan cancel each other out due to each’s combat capabilities). They also don’t offer any unique blue-options.
What will probably wind up happening while using this ship is when you acquire a new weapon, you’ll need to remove one or more Basic Lasers to make room for it and give it enough power to function. While it feels nice to be “upgrading” your weapons and sell them for 10 scrap each, it’s less than desirable when compared to comboing weapons you find with weapons you already own.
Overall, this ship has the same problems that the type A Kestrel has, in the fact that it’s too basic. The crew is still boring, even with 3 races on the ship, and the weapons offered are less than desirable, although it has strength in numbers.
10. Nisos (Fed B)
Similar to the Osprey, this ship is equipped with an Artillery Beam which promotes, yet again, a very defensive playstyle for this ship to pursue. However, most of its equipment is lackluster compared to its A-tier counterpart, for a number of reasons.
The weapons provided to you (ignoring the Artillery Beam) are basically a straight downgrade of the Kestrel type A base weapons. The Dual Lasers only fire two shots compared to the BLII’s three shots, and the Leto only does 1 damage compared to the Artemis’ 2 damage. While these still can do their work, it forces you to rely on the Artillery Beam much more than you might desire. While you might be doing the same DPS as the Osprey, these weapons are much more likely to be replaced in comparison to the BLII of the Osprey.
The crew is also lackluster in comparison to the type A. A human, a Zoltan, and a Slug don’t offer much for the ship. The Slug is pretty much pointless to begin with since none of your weapons focus on enemy crew, and loses all usefulness once your sensors are upgraded. The Zoltan (my least favorite crew-starters) is pretty much defenseless against boarders and will need to divert other crew members to save him.
Overall, this ship is pretty much a straight downgrade to its type-A counterpart. While this ship can certainly holds its own over the course of the game thanks to the Artillery Beam, the lame crew, downgraded weapons, and inability to purchase cloaking hurts this ship’s standings heavily.
11. Noether (Zoltan B)
This ship has several unique traits. Zoltan shields, no starting shields, and the only ship that starts with two Ion weapons. While this ship is certainly unique, its main qualities are what can ultimately lead to its downfall.
First, Zoltan shields are nice, but it simply can’t rely on them. Starting off, you will have no normal shields until you can muster up 100 scrap and spare 2 power to your shields system. This means you will need to finish your battles quickly before the enemy can get your shields offline (which also happens to be an achievement for this ship).
This ship also starts with two Ion weapons, which can lead to some overpowered runs with a bit of luck obtaining another Ion weapon. While two Ion weapons can keep a shield and other system offline assuming all shots hit, similar to the Torus, obtaining another Ion weapon will almost ensure it can get through any shield in the game and keep it offline permanently.
The major problem this ship has is that it’s flat out weak defensively. Relying entirely on Zoltan shields to begin with, once those are gone, it’s easy prey. Any encounter with an enemy with Anti-ship drones, Ion weapons, or a beacon with an environmental hazards will leave it sitting naked and just asking to eat some damage. This ship will likely be doing a few restarts in the first sector if it has any of these encounters, and there’s not much it can do about it.
Another problem is that, like the Adjudicator, its crew is weak. Scripted events will be able to get past the Zoltan shields and most likely force you to scramble your men to the med bay while the ship wastes time holding off the enemy with the Zoltan shields. If the enemy does get past the shield, it can begin to board normally, in which case you’re probably already in a lot of trouble.
This ship can be fun to use, but the fact that it dies very easily in just the first sector hurts its longterm benefits.
12. Stormwalker (Slug B)
The last ship in the tierlist with a starting teleporter, this ship offers a familiar boarding playstyle, but does so somewhat awkwardly compared to most other ships that promote it.
Starting with 3 slugs (honestly, just think of it as 1 slug and 2 humans), 2 of them will be sent to board the enemy ship. Slugs are not nearly as combat-hungry as Mantis, Crystalmen or Rockmen, but they can still hold their own for the most part. One thing to help their struggle is the Healing Burst. While the slugs are still on the enemy ship, a healing bomb can be sent into their room to fully heal them and continue the battle without needing to return to the ship, unlike other boarding ships. The Healing Burst charges slowly, so you may need to wait a second before you teleport over to ensure your bomb is charged. The ship is also equipped with an Artemis missile launcher, in case you need to take out a medbay or weapons system.
This ship does have major drawbacks compared to other boarding ships. For one, it doesn’t have a regular medbay, which means in order to heal your crew, they’ll all need to be herded into a room and bombed by the Healing Burst (thankfully you can target your own ship). However, this drawback is forgivable as medbays are relatively cheap and can usually be acquired before the end of Sector 1.
Another flaw is the fact that it has no sensors. While Slug Repair Gel will deal with any breaches that may occur in your ship, you’ll need to be listening and watching your system meters to see if anything has caught on fire. Also, until sensors are bought an upgraded, you can’t see what races the aliens on the enemy ship are, except by judging their movement speed.
Similar to the Mantis boarding ships, this ship won’t be able to take out the weapons system on their own before the enemy crew swarms in, leaving the ship vulnerable. If their weapons need to be taken offline, an Artemis missile will need to be used. Using up all of your missiles should be a big concern, although you start with 25. Run out of missiles and you’ll need to start fleeing battles and trying to find a store to buy some more.
While it’s nice that this ship starts with a unique weapon like the Healing Burst, you’ll need to make an effort to make sure your slugs don’t die to a series of strong hits from enemy crew. Replacement boarders like Mantis or Rockmen are a pretty high priority, as well as obtaining Sensors and a med bay, all of which are pretty big investments.
13. DA-SR 12 (Stealth B)
Starting with the most powerful weapon in the game, this ship can be very tempting to unlock in order to wield that power. However, this ship was severely nerfed in other areas in order to try and balance out the fact it starts with such a powerful weapon, which ultimately cripples it heavily.
The Glaive Beam is singlehandedly the most powerful weapon in the game. Capable of dishing out 12-15 damage on most ships, it can rip through one phase of the Rebel Flagship in 3 charges. The shield piercing attribute of beams also means this ship can hold its own until enemies obtain level 3 or 4 shields.
Another nice attribute is that it starts with a Cloaking device, which will want to fully upgraded quickly. With the Glaive Beam (obviously) being a beam weapon, firing it during a cloak won’t drain your cloak like other weapons would.
This ship also has a Long-range scanner augment, which means you can knowingly avoid beacons with environmental hazards that would otherwise destroy the ship rather quickly. This is a distinct advantage over the Noether, although this ship is still placed lower.
This ship, however, still has some of the same drawbacks the Noether does. Since it has no starting shields, ships with anti-ship drones will destroy you quickly, even with cloaking, and if you’re forced to go to a beacon with an environmental hazard, you can guarantee your ship dead.
Another problem is that this ship starts with a boring crew of humans and a Zoltan. While they can hold their own against intruders and can deal with ship damage reasonably well (except the Zoltan), they’re still boring and offer nothing for your ship other than being crew members.
Probably the biggest problem with this ship is the Glaive beam itself. If your weapons room is unlucky enough to take a hit, you’re going to have to waste time waiting for it to get repaired and recharged. This ship wasn’t designed to have the Glaive need to charge more than once, so the longer you’re in a battle, the worse off you are.
The Glaive Beam may make this ship seem like it could be potentially overpowered, the Glaive Beam doesn’t necessarily make up for all of its starting flaws. If you really want to play with the Glaive Beam you’re probably better off playing another ship and hoping you get lucky at a shop (they’re only 120 scrap.)
14. Shivan (Rock B)
Note: This ships placement is heavily changed in the next tier list. Don’t take anything super negative I say here to heart (just keeping it this way for archiving purposes).
One of the cooler looking ships, this ship is one of the few that offers a starting crew of Rockmen, in this case 4. It’s also the only ship that starts with a fire weapon, which can lead to some interesting playstyles.
This ship starts with two weapons, a modified Heavy Laser I, which pierces through one shield (similar to the Crystal weapons), and a Fire Bomb. The Laser can deal with enemies in the first two sectors effectively enough, although this ship is steering you towards a different playstyle.
If you can obtain a crew teleporter, a very viable strategy becomes an option. Since Rockmen are immune to fire, you can fire bomb the enemy ship and then send in the Rockmen right after. Since the enemy crew can’t put out the fires or repair the systems while in combat, they’re forced to fight an unwinnable battle against you. You can also do this in your own ship, although you don’t have a door subsystem or even doors that go outside, so quelling the fires after they start may be difficult, even for Rockmen. You can turn off your Oxygen and let the fires burn themselves out, then use your level 2 Oxygen to fill the air back up quickly.
This playstyle may seem very fun, but it quickly loses its charm. For one, the ship doesn’t even start with a crew teleporter, losing much of the initial appeal of the ship. Two, the ship only starts with enough power and upgrades to run one of its two weapons at once, meaning you’ll need to choose between the Laser and the Bomb. This is obviously less than desirable, and is another turn off of the ship.
Another problem is that the Firebomb strategy loses its effectiveness against ships that house other Rockmen. While you may be able to win in numbers against ships that aren’t all Rockmen, you’ll ultimately be relying on your Laser more often than not. You can still firebomb their weapons room and occupy it with your Rockmen to prevent the enemy from repairing.
One benefit this ship does have is the Rock Plating augment. While it in itself has its perks, it gives a blue-option when at a beacon with the stasis pod event, guaranteeing the option to get the stasis pod, allowing the addition of a Crystalmen to the crew and the potential to visit the Crystal Sector.
Overall, the appeal of this ship is somewhat low, especially since it doesn’t heavily promote its own playstyle from the beginning, forcing you to buy a crew teleporter on your own. The Heavy Pierce Laser I is also paled in comparison to the Bravais’ crystal weapons.
15. Bulwark (Rock A)
This ship is overall very basic, relying entirely on missiles in order to deal damage to enemy ships. The fact that this is the ONLY way this ship deals damage is what places this ship so low in the tier list.
The Artemis’ missile will, more often than not, be used to take out the enemy’s weapon system, while the Hull missile focuses on an empty room to double its damage. The objective is to kill the enemy ship in as few missiles as possible, which may mean firing another Artemis missile at the pilot’s room in order to make sure none of the Hull missiles miss.
The fact that this ship relies exclusively on missiles in order to deal with the enemy has its obvious drawbacks. It’s likely to run out of missiles very quickly, so finding a new laser weapon of some kind is a pretty high priority.
While Rockmen may make good crewmembers and give a lot of blue-options at beacons, their slow movement across their rather large ship can be cumbersome (there’s at least 3 doors between the pilot’s room and any other room with a system). This is a minor complaint, as the crew is still very usable compared to most other ships.
Similar to its type-B counterpart, it starts with Rock Plating, although this is hardly worth bragging about since it relies on chance. Not to mention the augment can be obtained by other ships in the Rock Homeworlds.
In a nutshell, this ship is hardly any different than the Kestrel, except it has a Hull missile instead of BLII, Rockmen instead of Humans, and an extra augment. However, due to the fact this ship relies exclusively on missiles hurts this ship’s chance of long term success with its available arsenal, and you’ll probably wind up replacing one, if not both, of these weapons.
16. Nesasio (Stealth A)
Basically the same as it’s type-B counterpart, this ship has the same problems and several more of its own.
Early on, this ship will rely on the Dual Lasers in order to take down shields, then use the Mini-beam to deal a bit of damage. Cloaking can be used to dodge shots with very high evasion, due to starting with an upgraded engine (upwards of 75% evasion). While this is certainly faster than waiting for the Glaive Beam to charge, these weapons don’t have much long term use and will probably be replaced very quickly.
Also like the type-B, no shields means that Anti-ship drones will destroy the ship rather quickly. Long-range scanners are available to avoid unsafe beacons, along with a unique Titanium Casing augment, although it has limited use, and will probably be better off sold in order to afford a shield sooner.
The crew, less than amazing, is comprised entirely of 3 humans. Nothing special about this.
For the most part, anything this ship does, the type-B counterpart does better, if not by much. The Glaive Beam has much more long-term use than the Dual Lasers and the otherwise unobtainable Mini-beam.
17. Man of War (Slug A)
This ship relies on a very specific strategy. First, use the Dual Laser/Breach I bomb to take out the shields and medbay, then use the Anti-bio beam to slowly kill off the crew.
The Anti-bio beam does 4 personell damage, which equates to 60 hp. It will obviously take more than one swipe of the beam to kill off even one crew member, which is where the first problem comes in. Longer battles are always less than favorable, as it leaves the ship vulnerable to take damage, and this ship is likely to run into a lot of them.
This ship also starts with two slugs (read: one slug and a human, basically), Slug Repair Gel, and no sensors. Just like other ships without sensors, you’re very susceptible to fires that you may not even notice until a system is destroyed.
In reality, this ship has a very similar loadout to the Gila Monster. The Gila Monster uses a bomb to deal with the shields/med bay, then sends in Mantis to kill them off. The Man of War replaces the teleporter with the Anti-bio beam, which is definitely not a very worthwhile replacement. You’re not going to kill the Rebel Flagship with it, and you’re honestly just better off selling it and replacing it with whatever other weapon you find.
18. Vortex (Engi B)
With one of the most dramatic gaps between the type-A and B ships, the Vortex is a rather unique ship, as it only starts with a lone Engi. However, it attempts to make up for the small crew by supplying multiple ship drones to keep the Engi company. However, these are hardly replacements for hard working crew members, and it clearly shows by the placement in the tier list.
Since this ship only has one crew member, he’ll need to sit in the cockpit while the ship basically takes care of itself. The Heavy Ion will take out their shields, while the Heavy Laser takes care of the rest.
Naturally, a major problem this ship will face is how it handles repairs. You also have no sensors to see if there are any fires/breaches, although system repair drones will cover most problems. However, if you’re boarded and a vital system is destroyed while your Anti-personell drone is still fighting, the Engi will probably need to leave and repair the system himself. Because of these scenarios, an upgraded pilot’s room, blast doors, and additional crew are a must for this ship to stand a chance.
Another problem is deciding what drones you’ll want to put in. Since all 3 slots are already filled (and somewhat necessary), you’ll need to decide whether you want to invest in putting a Defense drone to replace one of the other drones. This choice gets harder when considering you have a very limited crew.
This ship also struggles to do damage to enemy ships. The Heavy Ion is the only way to get past shields, and if it misses, you’ll be waiting a long time for it to reload again while the ship is busy taking a beating.
I can see what this ship was intended to be; the closest thing the players could have to a fully automated ship. However, the fact that it has almost no offensive capabilities and the fact that pretty much anything this ship offers, the type-A counterpart trumps in almost every way. (Better starting augment, larger crew, better Ion weapon, useful offensive drone instead of silly repair/Anti-personell drones.) System repair drones/Anti personell drones were meant to be a safeguard, not a foundation for a ship, which is why this ship struggles, as it tries to rely on it.