FTL

Even with proper, smart choices not every run will end up a win. That's just the roguelike nature.

garion333 wrote:

Even with proper, smart choices not every run will end up a win. That's just the roguelike nature.

Yup, definitely not one for the 'old fart with a beer who wants to feel like Sun Tzu'-drunk armchair generals like I am.

I see the game is good, but to invest over 40 minuters of my precious time to get beaten by random bad luck... nah. Oh well.. off to something else.

I enjoyed the wins in FTL but the moment to moment decisions were what made it fun and replayable for me. Feel free to use the pause if you want to think it through a bit more.

I mean a lot of us got 100+ hours out of this one. Unlocking all the ships, fighting the end boss on various difficulties, there's a lot of fun to be had.

But if the minute to minute isn't fun I guess it's not for everyone.

I can see the brilliance of the game, and people rightly loving it.

It's the luck thing that holds me from loving it.

It's funny, I clearly remember being a kid and playing solitaire with actual cards, after I lost a few games, I went and looked through the draw pile/cards under the rows, and realized that the game was unwinnable no matter what I chose. I never had any interest in it after that, be it from cards, or on the computer.

FTL is like that for me. I keep coming back to it every few months because I love the idea and the premise, but I play a few games, lose and when it feels like I lost through no fault of my own that I take a break from it. I think the big thing is not knowing what I could improve for the next run that is the most frustrating thing.

While there are a lot of random events, there are ways to mitigate the luck problem (mainly different crew). The problem is, the game snowballs slowly. Bad decision making in Sector 1 will catch up to you by Sector 3/4. My recommendation is to watch some of LethalFrag’s runs and listen to him explain things. He is using a mod - a balance mod for pricing, scrap rewards and other things (overall it makes the game harder), but he shows how to play in a way that wins more than not. I do think some of his runs are boring (he tends to go for the same builds).

athros wrote:

While there are a lot of random events, there are ways to mitigate the luck problem (mainly different crew). The problem is, the game snowballs slowly. Bad decision making in Sector 1 will catch up to you by Sector 3/4. My recommendation is to watch some of LethalFrag’s runs and listen to him explain things. He is using a mod - a balance mod for pricing, scrap rewards and other things (overall it makes the game harder), but he shows how to play in a way that wins more than not. I do think some of his runs are boring (he tends to go for the same builds).

Emphasis mine. That’s my biggest gripe about FTL is that only a handful of builds are really effective against the mothership.

You can have lots of fun with quirky builds until the last sector and then just get completely smashed.

Yeah, the mothership/end boss is the worst part of the game. I wish they had done an FTL2 and fixed that aspect.

Not that I'm complaining they went and made Into the Breach.

I've played FTL quite a bit and I think I've seen the final boss once. The moment-to-moment gameplay is plenty fun to me, not making any permanent progress does not bother me at all.

Keep in mind that your goal should be to visit as many systems as possible before leaving a sector. The more encounters, the better.

Suvanto wrote:

I've played FTL quite a bit and I think I've seen the final boss once. The moment-to-moment gameplay is plenty fun to me, not making any permanent progress does not bother me at all.

I think this is the essence.

Back in the days of the Aplle II I connected with the snake that grew longer and longer, I connected with my Space Invaders Spacecraft, and since Karateka I have always be a sucker for bonding with my pixel, dot or character. The Two Headed Ogre in Warcraft I still hold a special place in my heart...

A rampage in X-com really hurts me, and these rogue games alike.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Keep in mind that your goal should be to visit as many systems as possible before leaving a sector. The more encounters, the better.

Truth. The more points you visit per sector, the better off you are when you have to deal with Sector 8.

FTL is great! The reason that I don’t play it anymore is the panic inducing gameplay loop of putting out one fire while two more flare up in a different part of the ship.

I did have some satisfying and interesting experiences while getting boarded by enemies. I would enjoy a sequel I think.

I agree with this post. For me the game just lacks fun because I know no matter how perfect I play I will ost likely lose. It is a lot like solitaire.

Skraut wrote:

It's funny, I clearly remember being a kid and playing solitaire with actual cards, after I lost a few games, I went and looked through the draw pile/cards under the rows, and realized that the game was unwinnable no matter what I chose. I never had any interest in it after that, be it from cards, or on the computer.

FTL is like that for me. I keep coming back to it every few months because I love the idea and the premise, but I play a few games, lose and when it feels like I lost through no fault of my own that I take a break from it. I think the big thing is not knowing what I could improve for the next run that is the most frustrating thing.

farley3k wrote:

I agree with this post. For me the game just lacks fun because I know no matter how perfect I play I will ost likely lose. It is a lot like solitaire.

Skraut wrote:

It's funny, I clearly remember being a kid and playing solitaire with actual cards, after I lost a few games, I went and looked through the draw pile/cards under the rows, and realized that the game was unwinnable no matter what I chose. I never had any interest in it after that, be it from cards, or on the computer.

FTL is like that for me. I keep coming back to it every few months because I love the idea and the premise, but I play a few games, lose and when it feels like I lost through no fault of my own that I take a break from it. I think the big thing is not knowing what I could improve for the next run that is the most frustrating thing.

Try disabling the expansion content and play on easy if it seems like the deck is stacked against you. FTL’s expansion added fun toys but really imbalanced some enemy combinations.

It can be very hard to learn the fundamental game systems with the expansion content on.

Getting a drone with hacking and a shrapnel gun is just awful in the first sector, for example.

One thing that Malor recommended years ago is still relevant

Jumped back into this after some discussion in another thread.

Came back pretty quick. Made the final boss my first run. Got my ass handed to me in 2nd phase. Things are a little different than I remember with the AE stuff. Boss hacking me and stuff, I wasn't really prepared. I took out the missiles first because I didn't have a drone or cloak or anything, and still made it through first phase somehow. Might have at least got to last phase if it wasn't for 3 straight f*cking misses with my bombs.

2nd run I felt a lot better. Used Lanius ship and got the achievement for sector 8 with sub-20% oxygen. I actually kept my starter pilot alive with that room only having oxygen. Then picked up another Engi at some point and dumped him in the security room. I think you can do 3 rooms at 19%, so I was under easily.

Had a nice hull breach bomb and got the augmentation to let me bomb/mind control through Zoltan shields. Figured that would make the final boss more manageable in the one stage. Even had a defense drone to shoot down missiles so should have been a lot easier. But this time, couldn't even beat the first stage. Bombed the shields, had the room on fire, but then a string of misses and my weapons getting damaged let them repair. Never could get close again.

I don't remember the difficulty being this crazy between the regular game and the final boss. I mean I was never in danger in 8 sectors. Maybe a couple times the first game my hull was down to 30-40%. But the 2nd run with the rust off I never went below 50%. And then boom, final boss ass kicking even worse than the previous time.

Not sure how much more I want to play. I had an idea since i only needed 8 more achievements that I might go back and try to 100% this game after all the fun I had years ago. But today was fun until it really wasn't. And those runs took a long time. Maybe I should look at some mods. Or maybe I really am done with this one.

This morning I've been playing FTL with the Multiverse mod. Its a massive expansion to the base game which uses the same mechanics and themes but has a stunning amount of new content. Encounters, weapons, systems, crew, ships. I haven't seen a single encounter that I remember from vanilla yet.

That sounds nice. A lot of games have been called FTL-like but I haven't found another fun enough to put 100+ hours into. Maybe more to play here.