Top 28 ships

1. The Shrike

With teleport and mind control, the Lanius B Cruiser is a killer out of the gate, stealing and murdering the enemy crew. Its own crew is fantastic, with 2 Lanius and an Engi, and it even has one of the best weapons in the game, the Advanced Flak Gun. All it really needs to win is a good defense, which it will easily pick up as it lays waste to every sector in its path.

2. Carnelian

This could also be number 1. The Crystal B Cruiser has a 4-crew teleporter and cloaking, and tops it off with a fantastic crew. The reason it's not the top is it has no weapons, which can be a problem at the start, but it's barely worth mentioning because weapons are so easy to get.

3. The Basilisk

With a 4-crew teleporter, a boarding drone, and a defense drone, the Mantis B Cruiser is ready for domination. With no weapons and only 2 crew members, though, there area immediate problems to solve. Once it solves them it crushes.

4. The Theseus

No surpise here, the 3rd 4-crew teleporter is the 4th ship overall. The crew of the Mantis C Cruiser is fantastic, with extra fun from the Crystal Lockdown Bomb and Stun Bomb. Most games will be victories.

5. Cerenkov

Switching gears, we have the Zoltan ships. All 3 Zoltan ships are great, because they have the incredible defense of their Zoltan shields, and the incredible power production of their Zoltan crew members. The Zoltan C Cruiser is slightly better than the other 2 because it has drones.

6. Noether

The Zoltan B Cruiser has Zoltan shields and Zoltan crew members, and is slightly better than the next Zoltan because it has 2 Ion Blasts.

7. The Adjudicator

The Zoltan A Cruiser has Zoltan shields and Zoltan crew members, and decent weapons, which it will eventually have to replace. It has level 2 doors, which are nice, as well.

8. Ariolimax

This is a controversial pick, but the Slug C Cruiser has mind control and hacking, so all it needs is a teleporter to start destroying. The slug sense and the level 2 doors are nice as well. Its weapon isn't great but at least it has one.

9. The Fregatidae

The Federation C Cruiser has the powerful Flak Artillery, a fantastic crew, and a teleporter, so all it needs to beat the boss is defense. Drones are a straightforward win.

10. The Torus

I love this ship. It doesn't seem that great, but the Combat Drone 1 and Ion Blast 2 are just enough to beat everything it comes across in the early game. Every time I play the Engi A Cruiser I win easily, it seems. The Med-bot Dispersal with Engi repair skill are great synergy, and that Ion Blast 2 is fantastic.

11. Nisos

The Federation B Cruiser has a great crew, the best laser weapon in the game (Dual Lasers), and the Artillery Beam as the finisher. Much like the Federation C, it only needs defense to win. It's more flexible with its builds than the C as well.

12. The Osprey

Much like the Zoltans, the Federation ships have great crews and a powerful theme that makes them all effective, in this case the artillery weapon. It's a beam again this time, and it combines with a great laser, the Burst Laser 2, to slowly destroy all enemies.

13. Bravais

The names are pretty good in this game. The Crystal A Cruiser is a straightforward ship with a fantastic crew and powerful weapons. The Crystal Burst 1 and Heavy Crystal 1 just wreck. That's all it's got, but it's plenty. A number of directions can win.

14. DA-SR 12

So much for the names. The Stealth ships have no shields, so it's dicey. But this Stealth B Cruiser has a Glaive Beam, a Zoltan, level 2 cloaking, and long-range scanners, so it's got a lot to build on. Just get those shields together. It has a Glaive Beam.

15. The Gila Monster

I had this a lot lower, but it has a really great crew and a teleporter, so I had to move it up. The Mantis A Cruiser has bad weapons, so it needs a lot of work, but they're good enough to start with, and there's a lot of power here.

16. Tetragon

Dual Lasers, drones, a great crew, and hacking give the Engi C Cruiser a lot of possibility, even if it's not so strong to start with. One good anything makes it powerful.

17. The Swallow

The Kestrels are flexible ships. You can make them whatever you want them to be. Heavy lasers, cloaking, drones, you can even do teleport and mind control, for the ultimate combo. The key is to be economical. Spend your money wisely, on things that go together well. Also spend money on shields and improve doors and clone bay. Then you decide on teleport or big laser, basically.

The point is the Kestrel C Cruiser is great because it has a Lanius crewmember which means awesome crew automatically and it has Dual Lasers, and Ion Stunner, which are fantastic weapons in any build all the way to the end. Get teleport, or get Burst Laser 2, Burst Laser 3, or a Flak Gun or some ion weapons, and a Glaive Beam. You have options. Make your best choices.

18. Kruos

The same thing applies here. The Lanius A Cruiser is basically a Kestrel with an extra Lanius and worse lasers. You also have hacking though. So this ship is awesome.

Wait a minute, am I saying Dual Lasers are better than an extra Lanius and hacking? No, I think the extra Lanius is definitely more valuable if you get teleport, and I think it's likely you get teleport, so I say

17. Kruos

It's a revolution.

18. The Swallow

19. Red-Tail

Kestrels are so good. The Kestrel B Cruiser has a really great crew, and comes into the game with the firepower to destroy everything it sees for a long time. It's a Kestrel so it's a great ship. This one's gonna be expensive, because all you have to start with are 4 lasers that you'll eventually want to replace.

Get teleport.

Guess what's next?

20. The Nesasio

It's got cloaking. Cloaking is good, and expensive. It's got Dual Lasers, which are the best lasers. It just needs shields, or defense drones and a Pre-igniter.

It's got 3 crappy humans. The stealth ships are fun because they all have Long-range Scanners, and Long-range Scanners are fun. The Nebulae are fun.

The Stealth A Cruiser also has a Mini Beam.

21. The Kestrel

You knew it. All things are judged in Kestrels. You can win with a Kestrel, so anything that's better than a Kestrel should win.

The Kestrel A Cruiser is a flexible ship that has a Burst Laser 2 and Artemis Missiles, which are effective tools in any build direction.

22. Simo-H

That's the last of the good ships. The Stealth C Cruiser is fun though, because it has Long-range Scanners and Drones.

You need to get shields. Or teleport, or anything you want.

Get shields.

The Simo-H has a Mini Beam.

23. Man of War

The Slug A Cruiser has Dual Lasers and a Breach Bomb 1, which are fantastic weapons, so it's basically a Kestrel, except the crew is 2 Slugs.

All Slug ships have level 2 Doors, as opposed to Rock ships, which don't.

24. The Stormwalker

It's fun to play Slug Cruisers because it's fun to win with Slugs. The Slug B Cruiser has teleport, which is awesome, but it's hard to board with Slugs. It also has Artemis Missiles, which are awesome. It just needs cloaking or a big laser or drones to be good.

Slug Repair Gel is pretty cool too.

25. The Vortex

The Engi are the best-designed group because they're all interesting to play and they're different from each other. Also, they have a wide variety of difficulty levels. They all have drones but they take different paths. They have a common identity and each has a unique identity.

The Engi B Cruiser is difficult to win with. The drones are cute but they don't replace crewmembers. You need crewmembers, fast. And defense drones. And Drone Recovery Arm, and Scrap Recovery Arm. All arms on deck! And hands.

26. Tektite

The worst ships are the Rock ships. The Rock C Cruiser has a Crystal crewmember, doors to the outside, and a weapon that does damage, so it's better than the others.

27. Bulwark

The Rock A Cruiser has 2 good missile weapons that are redundant in most builds, and doors to the outside. A teleporter is recommended.

28. Shivan

The worst ship is not fun to play. The Rock B Cruiser does not have doors to the outside. That is its biggest flaw. It has no doors to the outside. It doesn't even have Door systems! You'd have to buy that, I guess. I don't know. I've never played it. Why would you play it?

Apart from not having doors to the outside or Door systems the Rock B Cruiser has 4 Rockmen, a Heavy Pierce Laser 1 and a Fire Bomb.
- posted by julien @ 6:26 AM