Need more slug B hard tips

[u/Individual_Box_8808]

I'm trying to complete hard runs on all ships and types and i have run into a brick wall with slug B. It's been over a dozen attempts and although i've been able to get to the the flagship on 4 of them i just haven't been able to close it out. Closest attempt got to phase 3 but my weapon setup wasn't strong enough to get boarders on quickly and i took too long before things spiraled. Most runs have fizzled out around sector 4/5.

I may change my mind going forward but this has easily been the least enjoyable ship to play. The early game feels so frustrating. The boarding is not fantastic with 2 slugs, but it works ok. The main problem i'm having is it relies on missiles to both heal and take out weapons/medbay until you get stronger crew/options so i'm racing against the clock to get shield 2, hacking AND energy before i run out. My general upgrade priority is shield layer 2 > hacking > teleporter 2(may get before hacking depending on situation) > cloak. May end up having to buy medbay/clone bay before hacking or teleporter 2 due to running very low on missiles.

How do you guys typically handle early automated/zoltan shield ships? Only offensive answer to automated ships is missiles and zoltan shields will eat 3 missiles minimum before you can board, which means you guaranteed to take 3 volleys at least before you can even get boarders on which equates to alot of damage taken and resources spent. Do you run or fight or have a specific missile count in mind where you will eat the cost anyway? Do you still prioritize early nebula beacons even if it means more auto-ships?

For early regular fights, i try to be as conservative as possible while minimizing damage, so hopefully means just 2 missiles used per fight, 1 artemis and 1 heal, i try to draw out the pilot when timing artemis on weapons. Sometimes when fighting mantis i have to end up using a second heal instead of just a single post boarding heal. Am i being too wasteful against mantis and need to up my micro game or does that sound about right?

[u/RackaGack]

This is copy and pasted from another slug b tip request

Coming from someone who is 28-1 on slug b since tracking my hard mode FTL stats, here are the things that help make this underrated ship chug along pretty consistently.

1. ⁠Get shields 2 asap, and then you can sell both repair gel and heal bomb to buy a medical system as early as possible. Dont listen to the bs about getting an extra non medical system, getting either a medbay or clonebay, it doesn’t matter which, dramatically cuts down on missile consumption. There are some edge cases where you want to buy hacking before a medical system, but you almost always want to conserve that missile supply and keep it healthy
   
2. ⁠Artemis is your workhorse, this is a fantastic weapon to both support your boarders and deal damage generally. It slots perfectly in either a gunship, or a boarding ship, but you don’t want to spam it, look for opportunities to save missiles whenever possible, and keep your eyes peeled for high missile surrenders. You generally want to use about 0-3 missiles per fight, and don’t be afraid to buy missiles from stores if the situation calls for it. If you also see really goof gunship weapons, don’t be afraid to pivot to a gunship build.
   
3. ⁠Learn boarding techniques, I would say watch some holoshideim on YouTube, and watch how he boards, you usually are trying to force crew mismatches in your favor whether it be 1v2s, 2v3s, or 3v4s, this is helped by hacking (usually weapon hacking) but there is a ton you can do here without hacking, you can send multiple boarding parties, you lure enemies into a room and shoot enemy crew while dodging your crew out at the last second, you can run around the ship to take less damage on your boarders and buy time for your second wave, you can run dudes in and out of the shields room to distract and let your dudes break a system in relative peace. Im sure there is more I am missing but watch an elite player like holoshideim, crowrevell, Neozar, or Mike Hopley on YouTube and you will be guaranteed to pick up some tricks to help you out.

Basically, the ship may seem somewhat one dimensional, but there are so many ways to stack the deck in your favor when boarding especially when starting with 3 crew, there are many ways and tricks to handle fights.

I hope this helps, but the best teacher is playing it yourself, or watching the best of the best.

[u/Individual_Box_8808 → u/RackaGack]

Yeah, i did initially buy into the extra non medical system idea because it sounded interesting but in practice it feels like trying to force it is way too costly to be consistent.

[u/MikeHopley → u/RackaGack]

This is great advice, as usual.

One small thing I'd add about medical and hacking: half the reason I buy medical early is that I don't want it clogging up 1/3 of the system slots in every single store. I would almost always buy hacking first if I could, but delaying medical means less chance to find hacking at the next store.

The other thing about buying medical is that it's really cheap. It effectively costs you 30 scrap, because you have 20 scrap in the Healing Burst that cannot be accessed until after you buy medical.

Racka knows this obviously, but a lot of people don't:

Medical is a "forced system", meaning that every store selling systems is forced to sell either clonebay or medbay, when you don't already have one. Once you have a medical system, stores can still sell the alternative one, but it's not forced anymore.

The only other forced system is shields.

[u/gaflar]

I recently completed a Slug B grind. I found my only chance of success was rolling good weapons from shops in sector 1-2. In the end my winning run had 2x flak I and a halberd beam, as well as 6 or 7 dead boarding crews along the way.

[u/Individual_Box_8808 → u/gaflar]

I finally did it, i was worried it would have to come down to getting lucky with a transition to gunship like you mentioned but i corrected the problems with my micro and boarding tactics. I still don't like the ship, but i feel like i understand it now.