Engi B

You urgently need extra offence, since you cannot harm ships with two shields. Bad offence makes you vulnerable, however, so shield upgrades are urgent too. You want crew as well, but they are a much lower priority.

You have a lot to sell at a store, especially if you get free crew early. AP Drone sells for 17, Repair Drones for 15 each, and DRB for 25. Heavy Ion sells for 22. This gives a total of 94 scrap in sellable items.

Until you get more crew, try to keep one Repair Drone and the AP Drone. Selling all the drones is probably worth it to secure a weapon. Boarding events can be sketchy without the AP drone, but still manageable with exact technique. The main danger is boarding events together with a ship fight; nevertheless, having better weapons helps a lot with the ship fight.

Because you are so vulnerable, typically rush shield upgrades. Rushing shields also gives more chances for early crew kills. Use the Heavy Laser as a shield-breaker, so you can ion O2.

It’s even reasonable to hit an immediate store and trade drone stuff for shields. It’s probably better to circle around the store though, maybe getting shields-3 and then saving a little scrap before a shopping trip.

If your weapons take one damage, you can still attack. Fire the ion then switch to the laser (you can wait to see if the ion hits).

Use your Engi for manning and repairs; you only have 10% dodge anyway. Walk them towards weapons during the FTL jump.

Vent below 50% oxygen to reduce the chance of enemies targeting weapons. Your Repair Drones make this quite safe. Pre-vent O2 and engines (which is otherwise vulnerable to boarders). Then turn off O2 and drop it to 74% before you jump. At the next beacon, open all doors and airlocks, then shut the weapons left door and the doors right door.

The drone system requires power to be smart-targeted. Turn on a drone before enemy weapons fire. It may be worth deploying an AP drone before it’s even needed, as that powers the system without letting Repair Drones unpark themselves (see below). This can also protect your Repair Drones from boarders, since the first boarder will attack the top-left tile.

Drones take half damage from weapons. Even unpowered drones count as crew occupying a room, so partial repairs will not reset.

Note that enemy boarders will stay in an airless room, provided they are already fighting your “crew”. Try to time your venting so that the AP Drone arrives shortly before the air leaves.

Heal your AP drone between fights, even though it’s tedious. Park Repair Drones for quicker repairs and to prevent boarders trashing them; but they sometimes insist on returning home before repairs, so maybe park them close to the drone room! Note that having even one extra crew helps you control Repair Drones.

When a vented room is on fire, Repair Drones will wait for the fires to go out before setting off. Sometimes you might want to turn the drones off until the room is vented, to make them prioritise another room.

Sector 1 distress beacons are well worth visiting. You have good blue options from the Engi and both drones. It might even be better to pick distress over a guaranteed fight, especially since early fights can go badly on this ship.

At the Engi Research Station event, it’s always safe to save the Engi.

…and I lied. It is technically possible to kill two-shield enemies with your starting weapons, if you’re utterly desperate.