FTL Hard mode, NO pause, Random Ship Streaks! Zoltan C, 38th run

July 4, 2024 stream, playing FTL on hard difficulty with NO pausing! Here it is, one of the worst ships in the game and my own personal streak killer: Zoltan C! This ship starts with bad weapons, forced drone offense, 4 Zoltan crew, and only 2 power...I hate this ship! However, we actually have a pretty decent start, but we can never get complacent on a ship this weak. Get ready for a GRIND of a run as we attempt to keep the streak alive with this dismal ship and go for that 38th GG, cookie time in a row! -- Watch live at / rand118

[@Quatroizer]

Absolutely heartbreaking to watch, but of course we always knew in our souls that Zoltan C would likely be the executioner. You persevered where few would and should be proud though man, I don't know that even a robot like Holo could have fully salvaged THAT brutal a seed.

[@tharfagreinir]

Congratulations on the 37 streak! That's almost halfway into the next cycle. So not only did you beat the cycle, you crushed it.

[@mgattii4324]

So my hard mode with pause streak is 1. Maybe better players will correct me, but I came up with one idea as to what went wrong: *On Zoltan C, early hacking is bait.* On a ship with drone offense, you can't use early hacking anyway. You must use a drone to kill enemies, and 2 drones per fight is too expensive. The system is just taking up scrap that could be better used elsewhere. This is the second time I've seen Rand lose a run when he bought early hacking on a drone-offense ship. That scrap could have gone towards getting double ion online. Double ion + beam drone isn't bad. Easy O2 kills on safe fights, possible kills with zero drones used. Compare to one ion, beam drone and hacking. The only way this setup works is 2 drones per fight. Rand loves hacking and hates drones with reason, but we have to play the ship as it is, not as we wish it were. If you have a decent weapon setup, hacking is obviously the right choice. But I think it might be prudent to get a decent weapon BEFORE you get hacking. Anyway, my 2 cents. I also completely accept that I could be totally wrong, and am happy to have somebody explain why. :)

[@sfurules]

You played great, RNG just didn't want you to have any chance....freaking FTL man...

[@rand118]

Zoltan C really is my kryptonite...every run on this ship is SUCH a struggle!

[@larsbouwmeester5022]

What a streak. Well done! Quite the accomplishment mate!

[@Trogdor00]

Early hacking is a bait on zoltan C. Buying small bomb instead of flak II was what sealed the run's fate. Hope you've learned some valuable lessons from this run, GL on future runs

[@tim9241]

Amazing record at least! Only final lesson here might be that although you dislike teleporter on no pause - with double mantis, clone bay, ion 2 for zoltan, and hacking all up early you were also offered TP several times early. Boarding is a pain but that’s a damn strong start if you went in that direction! You almost pulled it back regardless, so unlucky mate…

[@IAMDOYLEKID]

Best run of all time seriously you didn’t stop fighting till the bitter BS end.

[@themightiestpen]

Such a badass streak

[@Dadbod007]

Well that escalated quickly…

[@duckdogfill]

Truly a great continuation of the cycle. They're right it is now time for rest

[@SpctrProductions]

What a run! Keep on trying, we believe in every attempt you make Rand!

[@benblack5126]

Congrats on the new PR! This one had me on the edge of my seat the whole run! With that out of the way, time to fingerwag at you and second guess your decisions Kappa. I found your channel in 2018ish and have been watching your attempts since then. Its been very nice to see you master the game, and to see you learn to better temper your anger. I knew you had it in you to make that cycle. Congratulations on achieving your goal and i look forward to see what the future brings for you

[@b.sullivan7439]

heroic run. feel nothing but pride, you've earned it.

[@millerman12]

Brutal way to end the streak but you played that boss fight as well as you could. 37 is incredible!

[@kempwinkler2393]

Phenomenal clawback the entire run

[@TheRedWon]

Amazing freaking effor rand honestly

[@sadasdafa]

2:19:41 not being able to look at map or to do pretty much anything during a dialogue is also probably a future technology

[@veditoid]

Very valiant effort. Insiringly composed until the end.

[@lukeh8376]

I was cheering when you made the greed jump in s7 and got the store with cloaking + flak. GG Rand

[@briangilbert1935]

That’s crazy man hell of a ride

[@Taiters19]

Great streak and new personal best! I thought you would at least get to 40 immediately after getting The Cycle. Not surprised it took a rough Zoltan C run to take you down. I look forward to some challenge runs.

[@rand118]

Thanks Taiters!

[@GreennSoda]

Only a master such as Rand could have even made it to phase 2 of the boss. A thousand kudos for an amazing streak. Hope you can relax on your break. P.S. can I be any crew on your next ship? Green Soda

[@rand118]

Sure thing! I'm doing some other hard, NO pause challenges as a small break from cycle streaks, so let me know if you're OK with being in a challenge run!

[@GreennSoda]

@@rand118 A-okay

[@samuelpipe88]

What a run. Great streak though, congratulations

[@Youmu_Konpaku_]

Welp ggwp, that was one painful run

[@RackaGack]

Noooo and you called it in your last comment 😭 Well done on the new pb at least what a disgusting run this ship is absolute garbage

[@rand118]

Yup, it's not surprising to me that Zoltan C took me down...this ship is SO bad. I'm honestly pretty proud I got to phase 2 of the boss with this crapfest of a run, but man I was hoping I could keep the streak going through this horrid run!

[@Shredinsocal]

What a valiant effort…dammit! I felt so hopeful after the way phase 1 went! That it took disgusting RNG with one of the worst ships is a testament to your incredible skill! The only thing I saw in retrospect was maybe you cloaked slightly early on that last drone phase? Just so damn hard with everything else going on though…

[@rand118]

Yeah, there might have been a cloaking play that made phase 2 go better...somebody mentioned using level 2 for the drone phase. Could've helped, but it's NO pause for a reason and I missed making that play, sadly.

[@MathieuMyrick5633]

Is it ever viable to: When you’re pre-venting rooms (like you did in the beginning) and you get boarded in cloning bay, can you turn off O2 and close doors? I feel like they would have taken significant damage that way if you had. But I’ve only beaten this game like twice lol

[@rand118]

That's definitely a viable play, although perfectly micro'ing your doors and handling O2 levels while not pausing can be quite challenging. A lot of "min/max" plays you do in FTL when you can pause are much more difficult...borderline impossible if playing with the restriction that you cannot pause during combat.

[@sadasdafa]

1:34:43 drone can hit drone with bullet but drone cant hit drone with laser beam cause fukc life

[@sadasdafa]

2:17:45 surrender offering without a crew is probably a future technology

[@JohnHearts]

Insane plays, rng just wasn't on your side on a hard ship. Well played though!

[@bonkboyderp8052]

Are there any chances that you play more multiverse ?

[@rand118]

I doubt it, my plan is to do some other vanilla FTL challenges as a short break from cycle streaks. I just don't enjoy Multiverse as much as other people do, unfortunately.