FTL Challenge run! Kill boss with only Fire and Anti Bio beam!

So we do another ridiculous run where we have to use anti-bio beam and fire beam to kill the boss! We allow hacking and ion weapons to get through the shields, but we have a SUPER fun run killing ALL the crew! I've never used anti-bio beam and fire beam together, and it's INSANE! We also discuss whether it's possible to find anti-bio beams in store, and I was wrong, you CAN find it in stores, I just never buy it. GG, super fun run, cookie time! -- Watch live at / rand118

[@mg42sd]

This was actually really fun and I agree that the road to the boss was way more fun than the boss fight.

[@SanraiDalris]

You know, it makes no sense that a slug crew member couldn’t find Khazak.

[@rand118]

Do you mean he should have been able to sense him with his mind reading or something?

[@SanraiDalris]

rand118 Yeah, it’s not actually a blue option but it should have been.

[@mihneababanu4224]

kazaakplethkilik*

[@timecubed]

​@@mihneababanu4224 honestly though, the name sounds like an oddly perfect keyboard smash, ain't nobody remembering what the guy was named

[@mihneababanu4224]

@@timecubed tbh it rolls off the tongue xD

[@SerialSnowmanKiller]

Halfway through the second phase of the boss fight, it occurred to me that you could use ion on the oxygen system to put out the fires and reset the boss... and then someone pointed it out at the end of that phase. XD One thing I would point out though, if I remember correctly, is that if the boss is down to just their super-weapon, then using level one cloaking is most efficient because it comes off cooldown fast enough to protect you from each blast. With level two cloaking, you can only protect from every other blast.

[@timecubed]

I've theorized before about using level 1 cloaking to dodge the power surges, but does the timing actually fit that well? I've never actually tried it in a run before Also what phase are you talking about? Is it phase 2 or 3?

[@dadaketgasparge]

yes, lvl1 cloaking works for both the super weapon and the drone swarm ​@@timecubed

[@guardiangames6925]

I was watching this while playing, during the debate about bio beams being in stores i found one in a store myself

[@qiTsuk]

I've seen the anti bio beam, in stores, in your videos. Well, I've seen it like once...

[@rand118]

Yeah, I was mistaken when I kept saying I haven't seen it in stores. It's one of those weapons that I look at and instantly forget it because it's not in my A tier (or S tier) of weapons. It's also the same rarity as Glaive beam and Vulcan, so you don't see in stores super often, either. I was wrong, I am internet shamed!

[@poryg5350]

I never saw it in stores. Once got it from slugs for letting them live.

[@Average_____enjoyer]

I got to final sector

[@SpathiCaptainFwiffo]

When unlocked slug ship for the first time the net store I saw had it and I had at least 150 runs by then so I thought I unlocked it now, never saw it again. When I did the same quest it happened AGAIN

[@Peterscraps]

2:24:07 "just barely" *105% evasion*

[@mediocre_gaming_skills]

He was talking about the timing.

[@Murr1can]

Fancy seeing you here Peter!

[@krakowski_6237]

You call that a dodge? I've _crapped_ bigger dodges than that.

[@Krosis_]

The cloak lasted just barely long enough to keep the evasion up.

[@bobmcbob4399]

1:16:03 Best tutorial is Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. Computer Voice: "To look around, look around."

[@TheJimmyDonut]

I know I’m late to the video, but the repair bomb could be used to make sure their ship doesn’t blow up before you get a chance to kill crew. Sort of sadistic

[@jkis99]

Could you just imagine if an enemy ship did this? I'd rage quit so fast...

[@chimuoma390]

If A Player Spammed LeoKingdomGX In MMSF 2 As Tribe King!That Could Make You Rage Quit!BURN!

[@xenxander]

You can get a second anti-bio beam in the slug homeworlds, if you accept surrender and don't ask for information and take the weapon *which is the anti bio beam*. Also some stores even sell one.I've seen it for sale more often than not. If you're not looking, you'll miss it.

[@rand118]

Yup, I was definitely wrong about not seeing them in stores. I just usually ignore them because I'm so addicted to flaks, burst lasers, and heavy lasers

[@KCzz15]

Can confirm, I just got offered one in a Rock world store in sector 2, took note of it + a picture because of this video.

[@MYPSYAI]

I got 2 antibio on slug a because I found one at the first store. It doesn't take a genius to figure out 60 damage times 2 is a delete on anything other than a rock. Awesome.

[@Shabazza84]

When you have hack (and drone parts...) or any other way to reliably down enemy shields, I absolutely LOVE fire beam. It's heavily underrated. One sweep completely occupies the enemy and wrecks systems. Is pure joy. I could cry. Not having any direct hull damage weapon tho is kinda wack outside of a challenge run.

[@NishaPerson]

Fire Builds in FTL are always really fun. Never tried taking out the boss with them though lol, always need a backup. Love these vids.

[@vaultence9859]

Flagship is a glorified auto-scout with o2.

[@Average_____enjoyer]

Yeah

[@dillon8124]

1:06:06 how can sector 4 ship even spawn like that? You'd think they would put some kind of code in to have at least 1 other kind of weapon in.

[@darkstonefire]

Very late reply, but I had an automated scout appear in an asteroid storm with no shield and only a beam weapon and drone… I just watched

[@dillon8124]

@darkstonefire2530 The reply is neither late nor early, but, precisely when it was needed

[@jozefkovac6858]

Well done run!

[@potatoheadpokemario1931]

I think the low O2 puts fire out

[@casual_citizen]

in sector 6 you could've bought fire bomb on the last store. i think that would be more useful that dual lasers to take down shields, and it would be more in the spirit of the challenge as well like you say 😋 btw, i've really been enjoying the ftl series. i watch a few videos every day now. this video is particularly fun as you really seem to enjoy it yourself

[@rand118]

Yeah, the challenge runs were a good time. I'll have to do some more of those when we FINALLY get the hard, NO pause cycle complete!

[@Zetro_Hermit]

Ha! Just started watch your FTL videos recently, they're amazing, learning tons of pro tricks, like that neat power toggle trick to get the hacking drone to stick! that's amazing! I found this run in particular absolutely wonderful. The Bio-beam is my absolute favorite weapon in FTL, and I was just busting a gut as you and chat went googling to find out if it's a shop item. I dunno about its rarity or availability, but having insider info a year after the fact was fun. Shortly after finding out that you get bonus rewards for killing all of the enemy crew, I went absolutely boarding and crew kill crazy in FTL, because it was "the most efficient way". Which is just as laughably absurd as my first play through of Dark Souls, "HP up? it only improves one stat...all these others improve multiple things. It's way more efficient to just shield and not get hit! I'll do that". Fortunately FTL is far more merciful when foolish mistakes are made. (on the plus side, I'm above average skill at dark souls, and it makes for a funny story to tell, so I got that going for me, which is nice.) The mantis, bio-beam, and fire weapons are all still my favorite way to play, although I did get myself killed by the boss the first time I ever used the bio-beam slug ship, because I thought I would just win like normal when I killed all its crew, he would warp away, and come back with more crew! Instead, I got absolutely DESTROYED because I had nothing I could do to survive long enough for his O2 to go down, and back up, like you did. That in particular made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, like vicarious revenge for my failure. I had almost the exact same weapon set you did, except I don't think the FTL expansion had come out yet, so it was just two ion weapons, I think an ion 2 and ion 1? I can't remember.

[@rand118]

Nice! You're right in Dark Souls being more punishing. I did a playthrough of DS 1-3 on stream a while back, and my GOD did I rage at some of those boss fights! Glad you were able to get satisfaction for your punished attempt at killing the flagship crew, that is funny!

[@tappedindustries1551]

Hey, I have a screen shot of the anti-bio weapon in a store. in engi space!

[@AbdulPanganting]

Killing ships with fire means you can't kill the last guy that repairs stuff, and you can't destroy the O2 or the fire dies. Plus you gotta be alive to wait for the fire to keep destroying systems to take points off the hull. It's a hard run.

[@Davidsmith-lw8gb]

Thank you awesome run!

[@nopushbutton]

insane strat haha, nicely done

[@cdgonepotatoes4219]

for the unmanned drones I guess a thing you could do is chain the fire beams so, just as soon as the fire is about to die down, the second beams follows and refreshes the fire... unless the "fire on the tile" countdown doesn't refresh and at that point I really wouldn't know.

[@rand118]

Yeah, killing auto scouts with fire is not a good strategy. Chaining fire is probably the best bet, but it's so slow, I would never want to commit to that strategy!

[@cdgonepotatoes4219]

@@rand118 eh, it was for your challenge. There's of course also the challenge of going boarding only, if you want to go the efficient way it's dumb as hell but it's there.

[@xenxander]

Christmas Tree was an eastern european thing. I know the Germans had it well before it was adopted in the 20th century by other states.

[@flerchin]

Hey Rand, I found it. This is the run where we questioned if antibio beam is in stores. Been a channel meme ever since!

[@rand118]

Hah, nice Flerchin! I may have to link this video in a channel command so we can use it for future reference. Thanks for finding it!

[@Daniel-oy4gu]

fire is a lot of fun it is a real riot

[@ClickBeetleTV]

There is a really interesting Egoraptor video from many years ago on conveyance of tutorial information organically to players through regular play in the Megaman games if you are ever interested

[@john_titor1]

IMO bio beam is an OP weapon. It's really good at getting a lot of scrap really quickly, especially in hard mode, where you are normally quite strapped for cash. Just switch it out late game for something better, as by then youll have plenty of scrap and it's not good against the boss.

[@rendomstranger8698]

A bit of a late response but it is actually incredibly good against the boss. In fact, the bio and fire combination as a whole is incredibly good against the boss. The bio beam kills the crew before they can heal and the fire easily keeps the ai under control. Once the crew is dead, just switch the power from the bio beam to anything that deals damage. You'll kill the flagship before they ai can do any meaningful repairs.

[@john_titor1]

@@rendomstranger8698 Very true, but it can be difficult to have the bio beam be well supported. Fire is definitely it's best compliment, though you'll need something to get passed the shields.

[@supersanttu7951]

Some weapons cannot be found in stores and can only be obtained from events regardless of their rarity. In random weapon events, a weapon's rarity indicates its chance of being selected from the weapon pool.

[@friedcorn6168]

Even though the bio beam kinda sucks for killing crew with no other anti personal weapons

[@agentdecember5785]

25:27 you can because i got anti-bio beam on a stealth cruiser while watching this video

[@stevenschiro1838]

Oh nice! I was going to suggest this and you beat me to it

[@rand118]

Yeah, super fun run!

[@johnnyjohnsonjohn2593]

The first time I beat ftl I used this strategy, it’s super op.

[@rhaining]

Very cool!

[@kitosans4800]

that just pyro in a nutshell

[@contesul]

@25:24 i had 2 anti-biobeams in the same time on my ship, at least once

[@helloeverybody9675]

You can buy the anti bio beam in stores. It costs 50 scrap. Maybe only in advanced version though? I've seen it in a store multiple times.

[@rand118]

*Sigh, yes I know...this meme really is getting old, but I DO know you can buy it in stores. I said it ONCE years ago and people keep "helping" by telling me you can buy it...

[@helloeverybody9675]

@@rand118 Didn’t know it was a meme. Thanks for replying!

[@doomsday1273]

i saw this vid and the huge debate on if you can buy an anti bio beam in store, and i though the run was fun so i tried it out, and in sector 1, first store, anti bio beam LOL

[@bebe7930]

I always miss your streams. Do you even stream on YT or twitch only? And when?

[@blank_page_]

Twitch, says so if you read the description.. Also has a schedule if you check the twitch. He streams Mon - Fri 11AM - 4/6PM.

[@rand118]

Yup, as Christoffer says, I only stream on Twitch, feel free to come watch! twitch.tv/rand118 and I stream (normally) Mon-Thursday, 11am-4/6pm (Central US time zone). That schedule is not always accurate right now, however, because I have a lot of singing gigs this time of year, but I stream as much as I can and highlight videos as much as I can!

[@Murr1can]

Does the Bio Beam have blue options for the weapon specifically? (As in besides beam options)

[@rand118]

I believe Bio Beam as a blue option for "Giant Alien Spiders", and that's it. There's not a ton of blue options for bio and fire beams, sadly...

[@Murr1can]

@@rand118 shame, i can see its application in some other events

[@icete93]

why don't you upgrade your engine more in your play throughs? 🙂

[@userPrehistoricman]

1:02:11 Mind control on your Mantis stopped immediately because a Zoltan walked through the room?

[@someone4650]

It's probably because while the Zoltan powered the room, the ship rerouted the power elsewhere, and when it left there wasn't enough power to power the mind control.

[@bexleytychus344]

I miss the fucking strem rrrrreeeeeeeeeee

[@Xitrial]

They said that bio beam was only mildly useful at the beginning of the game

[@Average_____enjoyer]

Crew kills made lots of homes for space monsters

[@nickdumas2495]

I had to do a challenge like this once thanks to the RNG beating me with the unlucky stick. Got to the final sector with tons of cash from ship captures, but zero equipment that did normal damage so I had to burn down the flagship then let it repair systems repeatedly.

[@rand118]

It's a pretty niche strategy, but it works! Funny that the game actually forced you to do it. That's some bad weapon RNG!

[@Liberator1917]

How are you supposed to beat a Zoltan shield with fire and anti bio?

[@zandbergx9747]

Beams reduce zoltan shields. Don't ask ne why that's just how it works (Ion and Beam weapons are the best)

[@alexlloyd5354]

The one thing this is missing is a stun ion (to trap crew in rooms on fire) and to double to ion the shields.

[@semajniomet981]

(2:20:10) Thank goodness a human player couldn't control the flagship against you during this challenge run, right?

[@ErinTheNerd]

Do you ever plan to fix the audio desync with your facecam? It’s been desynced for at least weeks now, if not months.

[@rand118]

Erin, the main issue with audio desync for me is that OBS is inconsistent. I do a test before EVERY stream to get it close, but getting it exact is pointless because the sync is different every time I load up OBS. If you have some tips or experience with using OBS studio, an Elgato capture card, and dual PC streaming, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise, the HOURS I've spent on this haven't afforded me a permanent fix yet. I've been streaming 4+ years and had audio sync issues for most of that time.

[@castortoutnu]

Double anti-bio beam is really cool, you can insta-kill enemy crews

[@ghost_ship_supreme]

On hard mode the boss should have the fire suppression augment installed

[@rand118]

Yikes...why would you want to BUFF the boss on hard mode? You should just play Captain's Edition or SMPK Insurrection if you want a harder boss, hah!

[@oogaboogadoogadooga7530]

I clicked off one of your videos for another one

[@hdckighfkvhvgmk]

fire beam is the best weapon in the game fite me

[@rand118]

I'd say it's the best weapon in the game to watch your enemies run around in terror!

[@intetx]

Wtf 2000 Bitcoins?

[@xXTheSwedishVikingXx]

The camera delay is quite annoying...

[@xenxander]

"Pretty sure fire beam does no damage to zoltan shield...." "yeah fire beam does not" as you can clearly see one zoltan damage from the fire beam. You are not observant.

[@meccevil321]

playing on normal? that's disappointing =/

[@rand118]

Killing the flagship using only weapons that do no hull damage and having to wait for fires to kill all the rooms, then have the auto pilot repair, for it to burn down again? Sorry I can't do something challenging enough!

[@HyphaeHighway]

@@rand118 As long as you're having fun and posting videos, we will all keep watching em!

[@TheMaxibon1]

Please edit out all of the annoying twitch stuff that interrupts the gameplay.

[@ryanmanning2319]

The complaining is a bit much. FTL without missiles would be an easy, and therefore worthless, game. So embrace it.

[@rand118]

I just love comments telling me to do something different....after I've been doing the same thing for 3+ years. I will never stop complaining about missiles because they are imbalanced for the AI, change my mind!

[@ryanmanning2319]

Have you ever done a challenge run with a Mantis A where you can never use any weapons other than then basic laser and the bomb that you start with? It's possible to do, even killing all the drone ships. The boss fight is super challenging, a true puzzle (hint: open all of their doors to make it easier). I have scanned through all of your vids, and it doesn't look like you have posted one of a run like this.

[@rand118]

@@ryanmanning2319 I have not, and it definitely sounds doable but tedious. I'm not quite sure what you mean by opening all their doors, are you talking about hacking the flag ship doors? My plan would just be to board and kill all the crew, kill systems while slowly killing them with the basic laser.

[@ryanmanning2319]

rand118 It’s not really that much more tedious than burning down the flagship with a fire beam. No, the problem with boarding the flagship is the level 3 medbay and doors. They cycle through their crew and you are stuck in one room. So spend the first part of the fight attacking open the doors (after killing missiles) so that your hyper fast mantises have mobility. Moving from room to room allows you to hit units as they chase you, getting free hits and staggering the times that the enemy crew enters the room, letting you focus more damage on a single unit to drive him to heal before he can shoot as many shots. You can also chase down fleeing units as they go to the medbay to kill them en route.

[@ryanmanning2319]

rand118 Also, you need level 2 teleport as your first upgrade so that you can send units to a drone and not have them die. The run actually goes really fast, and you get to put all your weapon money into shield and engines, plus boarding kill money.