Luck, meaning whether the game allows you the probability to win.

Case in point. I finally had a great game on Normal and was able to dominate the boss through his second phase. My stats were the following:

1. 4 Shields
2. 2 points toll max engines
3. Full energy
4. Four weapons: Great Ion, S. Bomb, Burst Laser II, Burst Laser 1
5. Teleporter - 1 Mantis 1 Rock 1 Slug (max fighters)
6. Autopilot 2
6. Boarding Drone

By the third fight with the flagship I still had half health. Needless to say, the battle lasted only maybe 2-3 minutes max. It took me till my third volley to take down his Zoltan Shield (my shots kept miraculously missing), and he at least got one shot on me every Surge and missile launch. My shields and cockpit were both on orange, my doors were completely destroyed, and there were 3 fires. I sent over a boarding drone and 2 additional boarders to take out the weapons. Even after getting them on orange, his Surge just kept hitting every shield till depletion and managed to get through the hull.

And then that was it. All my dodging and shields beforehand didn't even help me. It didn't matter. What I was able to dodge the two battles prior all of a sudden became meaningless. Its like my entire ship just "shut down" magically for the final fight on my best run.

Well, you rely on luck mostly on hard. Normal usually gives you pretty ok amount of scrap..

To defeat surge, you need cloak - cloak the moment he fires the weapons and its 100% miss for him.

You have ion, I hope you know how it works, because ion is only good against zoltan shield or when used in chain so overloading actually works.

Don't underestimate Engine. Engine boosts raw dodge chance. At 33%, you'll dodge 2 of 3 missiles. At 50% - half. If you don't invest in engine, you find missle often hitting the hull - and hull repair cost goes up with progress...

Do you really need autopilot 2?.. Ok autopilot 1 in case there is fire or fight in pilot bay, just to keep dodge chance up from missiles.

It is normal that your shots miss, if he has good engine. Remember, engine contributes to dodging.

I mostly play on hard, but still on classic mode.

The flagship battle is the one LEAST reliant on luck - it is always the same and you can prepare for it. You even have a variety of counters to pretty much anything it throws at you. On Normal, if I make it to the final boss, I win around 80 - 90% of the time.

It is absolutely worth investing in stealth in the base version as it'll take out most of the really dangerous offensive weapons of the flagship. Missiles in first stage, drones in the second, surge in the third. A single point of energy is enough as it'll refill in time.

Likewise Drones are probably underrated for the final battle. Especially hull repair drones (use at the end of each stage).

Ion weapons help for the third stage. Beam weapons and drones, too. (They don't ever miss and take down the shield for you).

In the advanced edition you have so many additional counters. Say the Zoltan Shield Bypass that lets you beam through both people and bombs through zoltan shields. Hacking module to take out shields, or their hacking module (1st stage). Mind control to counter flagships mind control (3rd stage) or have the folks in the weapon rooms pre-damage weapons. Defense drone and anti-drone drone to reduce missile volleys / drones attacking you a little.

played on easiest. died right away. game is pretty much crap.

You have no defense drone and no cloak. Just one of those, used properly, could have made the difference (cloak preferred for the flagship, but imo defense drones are almost as good if you know what you're doing - it's just a bit more difficult).

Also beam lasers are great once shields are down as they're a guaranteed hit, so less reliance on RNG for hitting the enemy. Back in the day, we would call that a "challenge". ;)

lol are you sure you are from "back in the day"?

I'd suggest checking out the various tips threads if you're having trouble, there's some good stuff in there. Luck certainly plays a part in this game, but with some planning and skill you can overcome a lot of the RNG reliance. It's a pretty challenging game, but it's winnable with some regularity once you get the hang of it. Good luck!

Definitely. The biggest piece of advice - which I am often guilty of ignoring - is "Don't be afraid to run", or alternatively "Don't get too greedy".

There are many situations - especially on Normal and even more so on Hard - where fighting just isn't worth it. There's no point defeating an enemy if the damage you take and the ammo you use exceeds what you win from the fight.

I'm totally with you on that one. It wasn't until I realized that retreat or avoiding battle against a ship that you see has missile launchers, when you have no missile defenses, is crucial to survival (especially against those seemingly unending missile barages on hard in particular!) that I was able to finally start getting further and winning on hard.

Somewhat ironically this can actually make the game easier to learn on harder levels, since screwing up leads to dying faster.

On the lower difficulties, you can easily be led into a false sense of having to defeat everything, and a false sense that "you're doing well" - only to find that you haven't really progressed in terms of ship upgrades, so that once you get to sector 5 you suddenly find yourself way outclassed.

Which is why I'd personally recommend that, once the basics have been learnt, to play on Normal as opposed to Easy.