Basket takes the Engi Cruiser Type B out again. The hangar shows The Vortex on Normal with Advanced Edition content enabled: a Heavy Ion and a Heavy Laser I, an Anti-Personnel drone, two System Repair drones and the Drone Reactor Booster augmentation. The crew is a single Engi, Ken. The goal, as Basket puts it, is to beat the Flagship, or at least reach Sector 8 "and unlock the next Engi ship." The Vortex reaches Sector 8, The Last Stand, and is torn apart by the Rebel Flagship for a score of 3562.
Part 1: Back from 1 hull
Sector 1 is a Civilian Sector. The first beacon has a pirate blockading a settlement, and Basket attacks it. An automated ship drops a Hull Laser I, and a long fight with a Rebel ship goes badly when a shot lands on the wrong target: "That was shields. I don't know why I did that." A pirate offers to surrender for supplies. "I don't need missiles, don't need drones, I just need your money."
Sector 2 is the Rock Controlled Sector. A small Rock craft complains about the propaganda back home, and Basket tells them their god sent them to join the crew. "Oh, look at that. We got a free guy." Geryk, a Rock, comes aboard. The fights that follow push the hull into the red, and a refugee ship turns into a fight that pays out a defense drone. By the time a store appears, the hull reads 1. Basket sells a System Repair drone and repairs everything. "We actually brought this back from the dead."
Part 2: Into the nebula
Sector 3 is an Uncharted Nebula. A Mantis ship with a clone bay keeps sending its boarder back, and a black market weapons trader gets attacked rather than paid; it surrenders and hands over fuel. Basket upgrades the engines "to increase our dodge," and the crew fight off boarders in the Medbay.
Sector 4 is the Zoltan Controlled Sector. An automated ship breaks apart and leaves a Defense Drone Mark II. "Ooh, that's exciting." The next fight shows its limits ("This guy isn't doing his job, that's all I gotta say"), but the drone settles in. Basket buys a third shield layer, and in an ion storm a rebel ship gives up fuel, drone parts and scrap. "The ship is actually working pretty well. We're halfway there."
Part 3: A combat drone
Sector 5 is a second Zoltan Controlled Sector. At the first store Basket sells the spare defense drone and, after a long look at the shelves, buys a Combat Drone Mark II, then fuel and repairs. In a plasma storm an automated Rebel scout attacks while The Vortex runs on low power. Basket upgrades the autopilot afterward.
A ship with crew teleporting and a Glaive Beam takes a long time to beat. "So many misses." It finally surrenders fuel. The next ship knocks out the oxygen, and one crew member races to the Medbay. "I think he might be healing faster than he's dying. He is." Basket buys a reactor upgrade, helps a drifting refugee ship and reaches the exit.
Part 4: The Rock Controlled Sector
Sector 6 is another Rock Controlled Sector. This time the Rock craft refuses the offer and jumps away. A Rock ship docked with a damaged Mantis fighter floods The Vortex with boarders, the oxygen fails, and Basket jumps out. "I'd rather not die in this fight." The next ship, also carrying crew teleporting, pays well once it goes down.
At a human mining colony struck by disease, Basket uses the Medbay option, and the ship's medical computers find the cure. A Rock ship offers to surrender and gets turned down. "I'm just going to kill you." At the next store Basket hires Tomas, a Zoltan, as "our engine guy," buys a Chain Ion and sells the Heavy Ion. Defending a civilian ship from a Pirate Fighter earns one more recruit, Varnas.
Part 5: The Rebel Stronghold
Basket picks Sector 7, the Rebel Stronghold, over the nebula. A drone sent to distract an automated ship at a radar station gets shot down, and the stealthy ship takes a long fight to kill. Hacking the station afterward fails, but the map updates anyway. A rebel ship surrenders for scrap, and an abandoned automated scout gets stripped for scrap.
At a store Basket buys a Drone Recovery Arm, fuel and repairs. A research station is on fire, and the repair drone goes in rather than the crew. "Let's send in a drone, because I don't want to lose a guy." The survivors hand over an Anti-Ship Beam drone. A merchant gives free drone parts, and a fix-it shop upgrades the doors for 9 scrap before the jump to Sector 8.
Part 6: The Rebel Flagship
Sector 8 is The Last Stand. At the first store Basket hires Jorlack, a Human, and buys a Crew Teleporter to send them over as an attacker. A big ship among the wreckage of an old battle is too much, so Basket jumps away. The next ship goes down and leaves a pile of scrap.
Then the Rebel Flagship. Basket raises the defense drone and teleports Jorlack aboard. A few minutes later Jorlack's health bar is empty and the name drops off the crew list. The Flagship's hacking drone sits on the shields. "That hack is so deadly." Hull breaches keep opening, the weapons get beaten up, and the shields stay hacked.
How it ended
The Vortex breaks apart in front of the Flagship with Ken, Geryk, Tomas and Varnas still on the list. The game-over screen reads "One last explosion marks your fate as your ship is torn apart," score 3562. "He hacked my shields. I think that was what did me in the most," Basket says. The hangar then shows the Engi Cruiser Type C, the Tetragon, now open, and Basket says that is what comes next.
