Can other forms of avoiding damage block the "Phase Shift" achievement?

Question

On a recent playthrough on easy using the Stealth Cruiser; Layout 1 The Nesasio, I tried to unlock the "Phase Shift" achievement. This achievement requires that you avoid 9 points of damage in a single cloak, to this end I fully upgraded and powered the Cloak system and used it just as I saw a lot of damage coming from an enemy ship that I counted to total more than 9, but the achievement didn't ding. I even completely dodged the third stage power surge of the boss with a cloak which should have totaled 12 damage. (I got my high score off this run though :P )

This made me think that maybe the game thought I didn't avoid 12 points of damage using only Cloak, as my fully upgraded shields and engines may have helped avoid some, most likely the shields. Did I not receive the achievement because my shields would have taken off most of that or my engines alone would have saved me?

I really want this achievement to unlock the Stealth Cruiser Layout 2 as I have found that Tactical Approach is influenced more heavily by luck (A Hazard being your only possible route at times.)

Answer 1

Doesn't seem possible to get this achievement currently. Used on Flagship wave3, with the cloak up: 3 missiles, 3 laser rounds AND the power surge laser spray all missing in one go. Didn't work.

Repeated with 0 shields on. Didn't work.

Removed engine power to prevent dodging, resulted in only a 60% dodge chance from the cloak alone, which resulted in pretty much every single projectile hitting at once and the entire ship filled with flames. Twice. 60% dodge my ass.

Something is definitely bugged with it at the moment.

Answer 2

For best results, you need lots of incoming damage; asteroids count.

Here's how I unlocked that achievement:

1. Fully-upgraded Cloak (of course)
2. Find a late-game enemy with lots of weapons (preferably burst lasers) in an asteroid field.
3. Cloak when just about everything is firing, and hope that all of that incoming damage (plus a few asteroids) is enough.

Shields don't affect this achievement; you're looking for misses, not simply damage avoided. I'm not sure if having a naturally-high dodge (i.e., engines + skill) affects this achievement, but my wild guess is that the game is simply looking for a dodge-while-cloaked, rather than a dodge-due-to-cloak-evasion-bonus-only.

Answer 3

Actually, since I've had this problem too, I'd like to share my 5c on the question asked by OP:

• other forms of damage prevention doesn't count as long as the shots still miss, since evasion is proc'ing before almost everything else (shields/Zoltan Shields/resistance etc) except Defense Drones (and possibly other drones if you're [un]lucky), which block the shots preventing the evasion at all!
• your piloting/engines bonuses actually help you with getting this one, since you don't automatically get 100% evasion with cloak, but only +60%; it's imperative to get at least 40% base evasion before cloak to maximize the chance of getting this cheevo.
• the achievement is 100% gettable ATM, I don't know what was the case with it 2 years ago, but now you can 100% get it, and it's not bugged - but see below
• you actually can and should get it on wave 3 of Rebel Flagship - only bear in mind that it takes some time and luck to get it
• remember that misses before full shield activation doesn't count here and misses after the activation basically won't happen (since cloak stops weapon fire, it could only happen with asteroids) - that's the obvious reason why you rather won't be able to get it on every single try (and why you - and me too! - didn't get it on the first try)

The best way to get it is to actually:

1. approach Rebel Flagship 3 (easy difficulty with AE disabled comes to mind if you're not an FTL vet),
2. permanently disable Triple Leto Missile Launcher, since it's the only weapon capable of punching through the shields and posing a real risk for cheevo grinding (preferably by using a boarding party but fire bombs or concentrated laser fire works wonders here too), but leave the Heavy Triple Burst Laser intact - and remember to leave at least 1 crew member alive (AI!),
3. remember that Hull Repair Drone, high base evasion and 4 shields are helpful on every difficulty above easy, but you can manage getting easy cheevo with just an almost-full HP ship and 3 shields with a bit of luck; mitigating the risk of Mind Control on AE is important too, but you should probably try getting this achievement with AE disabled anyway,
4. wait for the Power Surge, as soon as you see the Flagship shooting the surge but before they enter your ship view activate evasion,
5. rinse, repeat until Cheevo Get. This will happen most probably when the burst is timed with regular Heavy Triple Burst Laser shot.

The only thing that made me wonder is the fact that Power Surge actually uses 8 shots - I can't recall, but if every of them is 1 damage only, you actually have to have the surge timed with regular 3x Flagship Laser to be able to evade 9 damage. Alternatively, the description could be simply wrong in that it requires 9 shots evaded, not 9 damage (although I seriously doubt that); that would be the reason it's a bit harder to get this cheevo than to simply wait for RF 3 Power Surge.

Alternatively, you can get the asteroid field with some late-game enemy (as pointed out by Paul Marshall), although I'd say it's actually the harder way, since a) asteroid fields ain't that common in the endgame, b) there's only a slight chance you'll be able to encounter a ship with so high damage output in one burst, other than the mentioned Rebel Flagship

more info (although it's been mostly already stated here): http://ftl.wikia.com/wiki/Phase_Shift