When you upgrade your Engine Systems, it increases the rate your FTL drive charges during hostile situations. To reap this benefit, do your upgraded engine's need to be MORE powered than otherwise or is it enough to upgrade them and use only 1 bar of power?
Do engines require their extra power bars to be powered to influence FTL recharge rate
ftl-faster-than-light
Related Solutions
Ship upgrades are not what enables you to win against the Rebel Flagship, equipment is (which requires some upgrades, of course).
And your equipment just isn't good enough. You don't seem to want to hear it, but ion weapons are difficult to use against strong shields (and not much use at all when you can't keep up a constant barrage) because they don't remove enough layers for the weapon slots and power they use. You write:
Ions are the only way of keeping a ship's shields down once they're down with the Engi cruiser, and they're the only tactic I can work almost flawlessly.
That sounds like you haven't tried enough burst lasers. The idea is to punch down the shields and still have some shots that actually do damage to the shield subsystem, such that next time there will be fewer shields to punch through. Things that can help with this:
- Bombs or missiles to weaken the shield subsystem (bombs are better because they can't be blocked by a defense drone) before using the lasers
- The weapon pre-igniter augmentation gives you a free shot
- A fully experienced crewmember operating the weapon controls and the automated reloader augmentation speed up weapon reloading to give the enemy less time for repairs
- A cloaking system protects you better than anything else
One option is to look for the Emergency Respirators augment. It's reasonably cheap, and halves the damage your crew take from lack of oxygen, meaning they can last a reasonable amount of time in an oxygen-free environment. You shouldn't be too worried about "playing leapfrog" with your crew, since whenever you send in boarders they're always going to take damage from something; suffocation is just a different cause. Indeed, the Fregatidae-class Federation Cruiser comes with this augment and a teleporter as standard, and I've successfully beamed Zoltan aboard oxygen-free ships and brought them back alive. That particular ship, however, is more than slightly insane, so don't be too eager to replicate its strategies.
Also, following 5pike's comment, the reconstructive teleport augment can be immensely useful here by completely healing your boarding party every time they beam somewhere, meaning that the usual problem associated with having a clonebay is largely nullified.
You could also start looking for some Lanius crewmen to add to your boarding party, who will of course be completely immune to the effects of low oxygen.
Finally, you might want to look into picking up a clonebay. Rather than bringing back suffocating boarders, just let them die and clone some more!
Best Answer
Yes, the recharge rate of your engines will only increase to the level you are powering them. The Nesasio (Stealth) starts with level 4 engines, but there is a noticeable difference in recharge rate between 1 power and 4 power.
This is consistent with all powered systems. To get the described bonus from a certain level, you must power the system to that level.