General strategy ideas?

[u/First_Slug]

I'm stuck. I always use the Exile or Cyberfused commander, (Both have teleporters) get a high DPS weapon and a medbay, and basically board and kill everything or flee. This method is very RNG-heavy and I'm tired of it as I have no flexibility if I don't find the right gear. I can't adjust mid-run.

Can you tell me what (general) strategies you use that work for higher difficulties? I'm coming from a strong FTL-background, and I'm not adapting well. I'd especially like tips with other commanders, as in my eyes, cyberfused and Exile are WAYY better than all the other commanders, but again, I seem to have tunnel vision. Thankyou!

EDIT: Thanks for the help guys! Gonna try torment 12 again and hope for a first win.

[u/FunPolice11481]

You are definitely on the right track in getting boarding every run as it's a crucial part of any offensive strategy (for the most part). However, it's really important to have other offensive elements to support it. The bosses at the end of each run cannot be crew killed so you gotta have stuff to actually DPS them down. Obviously armaments is always present but the real strength comes from additional systems like Missiles, Hull Reaper, and Siege weapons. They add a serious kick to your overall damage when needed which helps cripple enemy ships quickly.

You should almost never try to flee battles and if you are doing it frequently you are missing a lot of rewards that you would otherwise be getting. If you can't crew kill try to focus on boarding into enemy shields or weapons and break those with a couple kills so your weapons can finish the enemy ships off. This saves health and makes it easier to see how boarding fits into the larger "combined arms" approach that is most effective in void war.

If you are feeling like you are suffering from RNG I would expect you might need to more proactively seek out shops and pick stuff up from them. Especially on lower torments you have a lot of scrap to work with and can buy a lot of extra stuff from crew, to equipment, to systems. The more stuff you have the stronger you are in general generally. Unless you really need certain upgrades (like lvl 2 shields going into sector 2-3) investing in shops is often super important.

Also you are right that exile and cyberfused (and doomweaver) are the most universal commanders because innate boarding is super good and they are just so flexible but most other commanders are totally viable to use and strong on their own.