The Engi Cruiser, unlocked during the Kestrel's first run, gets its first try here, on Normal, in layout A. The ship is The Torus. It launches with three crew, Chriz, Kusy and Jill, one weapon, the Ion Blast Mark II, a Combat Drone Mark I, and the Engi Med-bot Dispersal augmentation. The run reaches Sector 7 and ends with The Torus destroyed by a Slug Instigator.
Part 1: The drone does the damage
The ion gun cannot hurt a hull on its own, so the plan from the first fight in the Civilian Sector is to knock out shields and let the drone work. "You have to use the combat drone to actually do any damage," the commentary explains. An automated Rebel ship near a small station goes down that way. At the first store Basket buys a Defense Drone Mark I, then trades two drone parts for fuel with a ship stranded at a distress beacon, because "so is fuel." A pirate ship falls after a few more shield hits.
Basket also reads the ship's achievements off the pause menu: three drones running at once, a kill with drones alone, and four enemy systems ionized at the same time. Sector 2 is the Abandoned Sector. Basket turns down a Lanius trade offer, then fights a Lanius ship with a cloning bay, an ion weapon and a beam until it surrenders, and Basket takes the offer.
Part 2: Two new crew
A Federation science craft hands over a free weapon the ship has no power for, so Basket upgrades the reactor, then sells the weapon, a Small Bomb, at the next store to buy a Scrap Recovery Arm. On a planet of six-legged, horse-like animals, Basket tries to talk to them. The event text says they lead the shuttle to an old Engi ship's crash site, where the crew reactivates an Engi. Ryan joins the crew.
Sector 3 is the Uncharted Nebula. A Rock transport lets Basket leave instead of fighting, a Rebel ship gets away and warns the fleet, and a badly damaged Federation ship hiding in the nebula gives up a pilot named Maloney, better trained than the current one. Basket makes Maloney the new pilot and moves the old one to guard the doors. The part ends with the crew being shuffled around the ship.
Part 3: Rock boarders
The run picks up in the nebula, and a card names it Engi Cruiser A, Run 1, Part 3. Basket buys Long-Ranged Scanners and an Anti-Combat Drone, and in the Rebel Controlled Sector (Sector 4) beats a ship that mind-controls Chriz. Another fight adds a crew member, Johnson, and Basket upgrades the drone system and the doors.
Sector 5 is the Rock Controlled Sector. Basket buys a Small Bomb again, a "teleporting bomb" that "ignores shields." Then a Rock Fighter sends boarders in. Basket vents rooms to slow them, but Kusy drops off the crew list in the fight. "Man, this is rough," the commentary says. The fighter is destroyed, and a quest reward opens a store where Basket buys the Vulcan, which "charges up quite a bit, but now I'm broke." The part ends at the edge of Sector 5.
Part 4: The Vulcan, and the Slug Instigator
Sector 6 is another Uncharted Nebula, and the Vulcan starts earning its keep. A Mantis Bomber teleports boarders in, and Basket answers its threat with "There won't be a next time. Open fire!" The boarders suffocate in vented rooms, and the Vulcan "fires faster than their shields can actually repair." Basket refuses a Rebel Rigger's surrender and finishes it, survives a cloaked Slug pirate that ends up paying fuel to leave, and picks up a sixth crew member, Alex.
A fight against a second Rebel Rigger costs both the combat drone and the anti-combat drone, but it earns the Robotic Warfare achievement, three drones working at once. That Rigger surrenders with a Fire Beam in the offer, and Basket accepts. Two more fights go Basket's way, and at the last store the scrap goes into more shields.
Sector 7 is a Slug Controlled Nebula. A Slug ship guarding a station asks which system Basket would rather lose: shields, oxygen or weapons. Basket gives up the oxygen. The Slug Instigator cloaks and has no missiles to shoot down, and the bombs on its shields are not enough. "I have just very little chance I'm going to survive this," the commentary says.
How it ended
The Torus breaks apart in Sector 7 with Chriz, Jill, Ryan, Maloney, Johnson and Alex still aboard. The game-over screen reads "One last explosion marks your fate as your ship is torn apart," with a score of 2456 and "New High Score!" Back in the hangar, the plan is to fly the Engi Cruiser again and chase its next achievement.
