FTL: Things That Go Boom pt. 6

Today we are going to talk about some more offensive options in FTL, including consumable weapons.

Bombs Bursting In Air

Missiles

Direct hit, Captain.

Missile launchers are the most common form of consumable weapon. Each shot from a missile launcher consumes one missile, so care must be taken in using these weapons efficiently. Missile launchers penetrate all shields but are vulnerable to defensive drones. Missiles typically do devastating damage and charge moderately quickly. Due to their high damage and ability to penetrate shields, missiles are best used tactically in small numbers to eliminate important enemy systems at the beginning of the fight - most frequently, the shields or weapons systems in order to open up more offensive options or to limit the amount of damage the enemy can do to you. Missiles make good complements to almost any other weapon, as long as care is taken with their ammunition.

Bombs

Prepare to meet my little friend.

Bombs are similar to missiles in several ways - they use one missile per shot, they bypass shields, and they can do heavy damage to specific systems. However, bombs have two key differences from missiles that give them a much different strategic purpose: bombs do no damage to hull, and bombs cannot be stopped by defense drones. Consequently, bombs cannot be stopped by any defensive systems available other than cloaking, because they can miss. Bombs also often have powerful secondary effects, such as starting fires or breaching the enemy hull. Bombs typically charge moderately quickly, although slightly slower than similar missiles. Bombs work excellently with an offensive boarding team, as they allow you to systematically destroy enemy systems without the possibility of accidentally destroying the enemy ship while you still have crew on board.

Drones

As well as defensive drones, offensive drones are available. Using offensive drones requires one drone part, so they need to be used sparingly, although typically you will only need to launch an offensive drone once per fight so drone parts will be depleted less rapidly than missiles. When launched, offensive drones continually attack the enemy ship until either the drone or ship is destroyed. Offensive drones do a lot of damage over time, but typically cannot penetrate enemy shields effectively on their own, and thus they work best when supporting a weapons array that involves either heavy energy weapons to bring down the enemy shields, or missiles or bombs to tactically weaken the shields system. Drones can be a powerful choice for the right strategy.

Tomorrow we will finish discussing ship systems with a look at offensive boarding, as well as some things to try if you are boarded.


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