There are a number of systems/weapons that I sell immediately when picking them up (or have never been able to use effectively when purchased). I'm curious to see if others use them effectively:
*Shield boost (big) - love the point-defense sized one, can't justify missing a weapon for more shield when there is an alternative available (use the small one instead)
*Escape pod - seriously, does anyone use this?
*Transporter - I want to like this. Just can't figure out how it makes more sense than an extra weapon.
*Missiles - I want to like these too. In all my playtesting you just need an absolutely stupid number of missiles for them to be effective (5 mounts with 3 shots per volley)
*Tesla Coil - interesting novelty?
*Energy Gatling - ditto.
*Flak cannon - fun at close range, but I tend to die very quickly in close-range combat.
*Bolter fighters - saw a thread where someone mentioned they like these. Haven't been able to make them work well for me (they seem to spend more time fishtailing than shooting)

For those who are curious - here is what I find works well for me:
*Weapons
**Death Ray - my weapon of choice
**Projectile cannon - pairs very well with energy cannon
**Repair beam / shield regenerator

Point Defense
**Bolters - when you add a burst upgrade they become very effective
**Shield booster - really, really like these late-game

Fighters
**Bolter Drones - pretty good all game
**Plasma Bombers - very effective once fully upgraded (4 ships instead of 1)

Just had this idea - there could be some special items, for one-time use or for constant use, or continuous use. Like, a ship could have like 0-3 additional slots, displayed off-ship on the schematics, where these items can be installed, and the GUI would allow a quick-access menu for activating them.

Some examples of special items:

- Warp inhibitor (one-time) - disable enemy jump drives so that they *for sure* won't chase the player if he escapes

- Shield-shattering wave (one-time) - same as a storm, but player shields are intact

- 0.25 Ship speed increase (full-time)

- Instant warp recharger (one-time)

- Missiles decoy (one-time) - a target that flies off the player ship, attracting all enemy missiles for some seconds

- Cloak- a vague concept

- Targeting Jammer (one time) - reduce enemy targeting precision by 25% for some time

- Gravity attractor (one time) - fires a position-targeted charge, which, when reaches the position and deploys, creates a gravity attractor, making the enemy ships slide toward it. Could be rather epic if made to also affect ordnance

- Repulsor (one time) - throw away enemy ships

- Mirror (one-time) - reflect all energy weapons for 10 seconds (make them damage the oppresor? or just dissipate?)

- Controlled antimatter explosion charge (one-time) - a targeted weapon that creates a damaging explosion wave when reaches the designated position

- Medkit (one-time) - you get the idea

- Various kinds of assitance buildings, like deployable turrets?

- ...


And if an enemy has such abilities, there could be an icon next to its ship, corresponding this ability so that the player would know that it may be activated any time by the enemy. Would require more AI, but.. hey that would be epic! And very rogue-like! Such things could be a great asset on harder levels, and especially in the endless mode!

Idk if it's worth the hassle though.

So, in your experience, what do you prefer? A burst-enabled Bolter or a Gatling? Or a combination of them? Why?

After many experiments I came to conclusion that I stuff my ships with Burst Bolters up to full. Bolters may have drawbacks, but being burst-enabled and in big number, they effectively create a wall of fire on approaching targets - missiles as well as fighters and are rather precise. Also, their range is greater and they seem to have a bigger hitbox and.

So, it's there in the headline! Do you use Tractor Beams? How do you use them? Which kind do you prefer? Why? What tactics and strategy do you employ?

Personally I find that Tractor Beams are good when there's nothing else to install in the weapon slots. But choosing between weapons and Tractor Beams, I prefer weapons.

Related to the question on fan fiction. Got interested in the background information on the universe.. Do maybe the universe creators have some knowledge of the following?:

1. What are the political orders of the races? In particular, what is the political model of the human state in the game? What is happening on Earth? The descriptions of Wanderers and Celestials give some insight about their political models, but not too much.
2. How many is the crew on the ships? Are the ships highly automated and self-sustaining that they require like about only a dozen crew or are they full of people?
3. Am I right that drones are controlled by AI or remote, and fighters are controlled by living human pilots?
4. What can you tell about the hyperspace technology? What kind of technology is it? How long does a travel last? Does the duration of travel depend on distance?
5. Is there an events history timeline of the universe? What is the context of the events in BS:FC and BS:H?
6. What about the planets? Do races colonize planets? How many planets does the human race possess? What about other races?
7. What non-military vessels are there? Are there any research, transport, mining, passenger and other kinds of vessels?
8. Are ship weapons operated by crew members or does AI takes the most of the control on itself?
9. Where is the rest of the human fleet?
10. Where do the auxiliary ships come from?

Maybe some questions don't have answers, but maybe some can be answered.. and these could be used as background info for fan fiction, if there'd come some.

Also maybe somebody else could think of more questions..

Does anyone play on difficulty other than Hard? I always play on hard and find it quite okay, I get killed from time to time, but it does not happen often and it's a roguelike, so no problem with this. But I get the impression that the other two difficulties are simply too easy to even try.

What is your experience with this?