Basket takes the Slug Cruiser out for the first time in the series. The ship is the Man of War, Layout A, on Normal with Advanced Edition content enabled, carrying an Anti-Bio Beam, a Breach I bomb, Dual Lasers and the Slug Repair Gel augmentation. The crew list shows two Slugs, Artyom and Zerimar. Basket restarts once early in Sector 1, then plays the run through six parts, and the Man of War destroys the Rebel Flagship in Sector 8 with a score of 3788.
Part 1: A practice start
Basket reads the Anti-Bio Beam's tooltip first: it hurts crew, not rooms. The pause menu lists the ship's achievements, among them "Home Sweet Home": "Jump to 30 nebula locations before sector 8." Basket expects that one to be "fairly easy."
The first game goes badly. The beam has to actually hit a crew member to hurt them, and a fight leaves the shields and engines critical. Basket opens the pause menu and starts a new game: "I'm still gonna call this the first run but this is just getting used to the ship."
The second game starts with the same two Slugs. A station gives up a Halberd Beam, a virus knocks out the shields for one fight, and a quest to capture a bandit's ship ends with only its crew killed and a Fire Beam on board. The part ends with a jump into the next sector, a nebula.
Part 2: More crew in the Uncharted Nebula
"We're taking the slug, Cruiser A, on its first, or technically second, journey." Sector 2 is the Uncharted Nebula, and Basket tries to visit as many beacons as possible for the achievement. Boarders get no air: Basket turns off the oxygen until they die, then closes the doors and refills the rooms.
At the first store Basket hires two crew, Graffin and Zas, so someone can man the shields and the weapons. A Pirate ship surrenders for fuel, and a later fight drops a free drone the ship has no system for. At the next store Basket sells the Fire Beam and the drone and buys Drone Control, which comes with a System Repair Drone. The part ends at the exit with fuel bought and "some free stuff" from an event.
Part 3: Mantis space
Sector 3 is a Mantis Controlled Sector. A Mantis Scout beams a boarder over, the crew fights it off, and the wreck gives up a Heavy Laser II. A young Mantis then asks for sanctuary from the Engi. "Let's hope that we can get the guy, no we can't, okay that was a trick," Basket says, and a ship with a hacking system has to be fought off.
An escape pod turns out to be Mantis. Basket pries it open, the Mantis inside comes out fighting, and Zerimar is gone from the crew list. "Oh no! We lost the guy." At the next store Basket hires a replacement, Atreyu. The part ends with the hull low and a jump toward the next sector.
Part 4: The Weapon Pre-igniter
The part opens at Hull Critical: "We're really hurt." Sector 4 is the Engi Homeworlds. A store patches the hull, a wreck gives a free Stun Bomb, and three separate events hand over Boarding drones. At another store Basket buys the Weapon Pre-igniter for 120 scrap, so every powered weapon is charged the moment the ship arrives at a beacon. "That's amazing."
Sector 5 is the Uncharted Nebula again. Fuel runs low, and Basket admits a detour "is kind of risky if I don't find more fuel," but surrenders and wrecks keep it topped up. At a store Basket buys an Anti-Drone and sells the Breach I. By the end of the part the weapons bar reads Dual Lasers, Heavy Laser II and two Hull Laser I, and opening volleys win fights on their own: one ship surrenders "just in that initial blast."
Part 5: Home Sweet Home
Sector 6 is another Uncharted Nebula. Early on Basket takes a bribe and says, "we got the achievement." The pause menu marks Home Sweet Home as new. The third ship achievement, killing three crew with one Anti-Bio Beam shot, is out of reach: "I don't have the bio beam anymore."
The rest of the sector is fights with crew teleporting ships. Boarders get the oxygen treatment again, and a ship surrenders for a pile of missiles. At the exit a black market buys missiles, and Basket sells them: "we don't use missiles so that sounds like a good deal to me."
Part 6: The Last Stand
Sector 7 is an Engi Controlled Sector. An Engi station offers a reward, and Basket asks for a drone. At a store Basket spends saved scrap on Cloaking and hires a Human, Mr Buga. A cloaked pirate in an asteroid field turns out to be "a lot harder than I thought," and Basket jumps away rather than finish it. A quest pays out a reactor upgrade, and an event gives a free combat drone.
Sector 8 is The Last Stand. A Rebel Rigger with four shield layers shrugs off the guns, and Basket worries: "I don't know how I'm going to beat the last guy if I can't even get through those shields." Basket upgrades the ship and heads straight for the Rebel Flagship. The first stage hacks the ship and cloaks, the second sends boarders, and the third adds mind control and a big charged blast that Basket dodges by cloaking. Fires, a downed Repair drone and suffocating crew follow, and then the Flagship breaks apart. "I think we got it guys, we got it."
How it ended
The end crawl thanks the Man of War "and her successful crew: Artyom, Graffin, Zas, Atreyu and Mr Buga." The victory screen reads "Congratulations! You've defeated the Rebel Flagship and ensured the victory of the Federation!" with a score of 3788 and "New High Score!" Back in the hangar the Rock Cruiser is now open, and Basket is surprised: "we just unlocked the rock cruiser, I didn't even realize that was a part of the objective."
