The Engi Cruiser's second layout gets its first run here, on Normal. The ship is The Vortex, with a single Engi crew member, Maxwell, a Heavy Ion and a Heavy Laser I, an Anti-Personnel drone, two System Repair drones and the Drone Reactor Booster. The run reaches Sector 3, the Zoltan Homeworlds, where an Auto-Surveyor destroys the ship.
Part 1: One crew member and a lot of drones
The part opens on a game already under way in the Uncharted Nebula. "I mean I'm in pretty good shape here," the commentary says, "but I think actually I want to start with the other one." Basket leaves for the hangar and picks the Engi Cruiser Type B. "So just one guy and then an ion beam and a heavy laser."
Sector 1 is a Civilian Sector. A Mantis Interceptor breaks apart, then Basket helps a civilian ship being chased by pirates, and the Pirate Invader sends boarders. Basket vents the oxygen to slow them ("We don't need oxygen over here anyway") and gets through it. "That was pretty rough." A pirate offers a bribe to stay out of its business and Basket takes it, and a damaged ship's cargo, carried to its station, pays 12 scrap and an Anti-Ship Beam Drone I.
With the beam drone aboard, Basket defends a refueling outpost from a Rebel Disruptor, then fights a Slug Interceptor and an Auto-Assault, and the shields go up to two layers. A Pirate Rigger is different. Its missiles keep landing, so Basket jumps away: "I really need a combat drone, or a defense drone." A Rebel Fighter leaves the hull badly damaged. "Just getting beat up is our regular pattern."
Sector 2 is the Engi Controlled Sector. Ships fleeing a station overrun by giant alien spiders ask for help, Basket sends the Anti-Personnel drone in, and the reward is a Weapon Pre-igniter, so "things that will take a while to charge up are already ready right off the bat." A store patches the hull and sells fuel. A Mantis Scout sends boarders straight into the room with the Anti-Personnel drone and is destroyed, and the part ends with a Pirate Scout going down on the last shot.
Part 2: The Zoltan Homeworlds
The sector map offers Zoltan Homeworlds or the Uncharted Nebula, and Basket picks the Zoltan Homeworlds as Sector 3, hoping for a store to "recruit some guys." Maxwell is still the only crew. A ship stranded at a distress beacon gets some of the spare fuel and pays scrap back.
In an asteroid field a Zoltan guard, an Energy Instigator, tells the ship its weaponry "will be confiscated for processing." The event text says "You don't have time for this," and the Instigator breaks apart with a big pile of scrap. "Man, I really need somebody to man the weapon systems," the commentary says, since nobody sits at the weapons and shots keep missing. No store turns up.
Then: "This must be one of the Rebels' unmanned scout ships." The Auto-Surveyor wears the systems down while Maxwell runs repairs, a fire starts, and the engines and hull go critical. "Wow, normal is tough."
How it ended
The Vortex breaks apart in Sector 3 with Maxwell aboard. The game-over screen reads "One last explosion marks your fate as your ship is torn apart," with a score of 1032 and "New High Score!" The video returns to the hangar before its end cards.
