The Engi Cruiser Type B goes out once more on Normal, with Advanced Edition content enabled. The ship is The Vortex, with one Engi crew member, Ariel, a Heavy Ion and a Heavy Laser I, an Anti-Personnel drone, two System Repair drones and the Drone Reactor Booster. Basket wants Sector 8, to unlock "the third design for the Engi ship. I think it has four combat drone stuff." The run reaches Sector 3, the Rock Controlled Sector, where a Pirate Investigator destroys the ship.
Part 1: A Rockman and two new drones
The first fight is an Auto-Surveyor in an asteroid field, and Basket counts on the rocks to help: "The asteroid should hurt him enough, I think." It breaks apart. In Sector 1, a Civilian Sector, a heavily damaged Federation ship is hiding in a nebula, and Basket follows it. The event text says the survivors are "thrilled to be found by friendlies," and Tach, a Rockman, joins. "We got a free guy," Basket says, and puts Tach in the engine room. "He's also fireproof, so that's handy."
Intruders turn up, and Basket vents the air everywhere except the medbay and pulls the crew back there. "Oh good, they all died." A Pirate Invader offers to make it worth Basket's while if it can leave. "I'm not gonna take it, 'cause I think we can take them." Basket destroys it and gets little for it. At a sun, a Pirate Interceptor offers "everything we have," and Basket keeps shooting instead ("let's see if we can get more stuff") until it blows up.
At a store Basket weighs a fire drone against a beam drone. "Fire might be nice. But that doesn't do as well against automated ships." Basket buys the Anti-Ship Beam Drone I, plus fuel and a repair.
Sector 2 is the Uncharted Nebula. After an Auto-Scout, a second store sells a Defense Drone I, and Basket sells gear to afford it. "We can't have both of these active at the same time," Basket notes. In the fog The Vortex practically bumps hulls with a Mantis ship, which lets it pass with a warning: "Next time, humans all die." Basket picks "There won't be a next time. Open fire!" A fire breaks out aboard, but the Mantis Scout goes down.
Fuel runs low ("I only have four left"). A Pirate Instigator surrenders fuel, missiles and scrap. A Rebel ship waits off the beacon, and Basket tries to stay hidden. The event text says the ship gives chase and is lost in the clouds, but "you expect they warned the fleet of your position." The shields go up to two layers, and a Rebel Fighter that teleports crew aboard asks to surrender: "We merely request our lives." Basket refuses, and the fighter explodes into scrap. The reactor gets an upgrade, and the part ends at the Sector 2 exit. "We're kind of hurting, so we'll see if we can make it."
Part 2: The Rock Controlled Sector
Sector 3 is the Rock Controlled Sector, and the event text warns that the Rock people "have a particularly aggressive stance toward alien races." Basket hopes otherwise: "Maybe some people will like us because we're rocks."
A settlement asks the travelers to take up "a bit of mercenary work": damage a pirate ship enough to change its mind, without killing everyone aboard. The talk goes wrong ("Something happened in negotiations and they're going to attack us"). When the Pirate Investigator hails "You win! We're not cut out for this!", Basket picks "Forget your promise, they die!" and finishes it. The event text closes it out: "With all of the would-be pirates dead, you think it best not to return to the settlement." A store sells fuel and some repairs. "Things would be more efficient if I had more crew."
The next beacon sits beside a red sun, and another Pirate Investigator has two shields and "a bunch of blasters." Basket opens all the doors against the fires, but the shots do not take the shields down. "Sucks not having any crew." The hull and the engines go critical.
How it ended
The Vortex breaks apart in Sector 3 with Ariel and Tach aboard. The game-over screen reads "One last explosion marks your fate as your ship is torn apart," with a score of 885. "Well, I guess that's how the cookie crumbles," Basket says. The video returns to the hangar before its end cards.
