FTL

EvilDead wrote:

I just started playing this game and got to the end boss on easy after quite a few fails. I see you guys talking about level 3 weapons and loadouts. How do I get these? I never saw 1 level 3 weapon and only a couple level 2s to purchase on any of my playthroughs. I know I'm missing something really obvious.

Same way you get anything in FTL: pure blind damn luck

EvilDead wrote:

I just started playing this game and got to the end boss on easy after quite a few fails. I see you guys talking about level 3 weapons and loadouts. How do I get these? I never saw 1 level 3 weapon and only a couple level 2s to purchase on any of my playthroughs. I know I'm missing something really obvious.

If you don't mind the possible spoilers, you could check out the FTL Wiki Weapons page

Only one weapon goes up to Level 3, and that's the Burst Laser MkIII. There's also a rarity scale for each weapon, so the higher the rarity, the less likely you'll run into it in a shop. Rarity 0 weapons can only be obtained by starting with a ship/layout that has that weapon by default.

McIrishJihad wrote:

Loaded up last night and started a run with Stealth A, finally got my Bird of Prey and Tactical Approach achivements, as well as No Redshirts

Hello Stealth B!

Also, the hi-res background mod is pretty awesome.

I tried to download the backgrounds, but get a 403 forbidden. Registered with the one site, but no option for a direct download.
Any other sources to get this from?

McIrishJihad wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

I just started playing this game and got to the end boss on easy after quite a few fails. I see you guys talking about level 3 weapons and loadouts. How do I get these? I never saw 1 level 3 weapon and only a couple level 2s to purchase on any of my playthroughs. I know I'm missing something really obvious.

If you don't mind the possible spoilers, you could check out the FTL Wiki Weapons page

Only one weapon goes up to Level 3, and that's the Burst Laser MkIII. There's also a rarity scale for each weapon, so the higher the rarity, the less likely you'll run into it in a shop. Rarity 0 weapons can only be obtained by starting with a ship/layout that has that weapon by default.

I am not sure what is meant by weapon levels. The two weapons with the highest power requirements (4 energy) are the Burst Laser Mk. 3 and the Glaive Beam. They are both pretty rare. I would rather have 2 Burst Laser Mk. 2s than one Mk. 3 however. Burst 2s only require 2 energy to power.

Also, on the topic of wikis, I personally prefer the FTLwiki instead of the wikia. It seems to be laid out nicer and has less awful ads.

For ship unlocks the Wikia is better. It specifies for those mission whether you are looking for a jump that has distress beacon or not, and ship or not if you have long-range scanners. Really specific to help you find them.

Also the wiki doesn't have any of the non-ship quests listed. The wikia has dozens of those, if you're interested in what the most optimum choices are.

Sparhawk wrote:
McIrishJihad wrote:

Loaded up last night and started a run with Stealth A, finally got my Bird of Prey and Tactical Approach achivements, as well as No Redshirts

Hello Stealth B!

Also, the hi-res background mod is pretty awesome.

I tried to download the backgrounds, but get a 403 forbidden. Registered with the one site, but no option for a direct download.
Any other sources to get this from?

It was a b*tch for me to get too, so I threw it up on my Dropbox with a public link.

To unpack it, download 7zip, then move the .ftl file to your /mods directory, and kick off the modman.exe to enable it.

I have to remember to enjoy the journey...

Because the last couple boss fights have been frustrating as hell. I get through the first phase with 0 hull damage. Somehow I have a string of miss-miss-miss on the 2nd phase and can't punch through their shields. Then suddenly my hull is on fire. Or this last time, I had that problem on the 3rd phase. Despite having every system, and some maxed out, I never found a Defense Drone Mk 1. So I didn't have a drone to shoot down the automated boarders. And I could never use my own guys to attack because I had to defend. And of course the boarders hit my pilot... then my stealth... then my pilot again... so basically exactly where they needed to hit to make sure every damn shot from the boss hit me.

I don't know. Maybe I should play on Normal. I'm getting sick of breezing through 7 sectors, maybe getting below half hull once or twice at most, and then getting my ass handed to me because I never found a Defense Drone and/or never had the money for a cloak. It seems without those two key systems the boss is impossible.

Having some love/hate with this game right now...

You should play on normal, yes The journey itself becomes much more challenging. You'll get to the end fewer times and finally beating the end boss will be oh-so rewarding!

edit: I say this with authority because I have 1... count em, ONE victory on normal in 54 attempts

New at this boarding tactic and aside from it being awesome I just blew away a ship with two crew members on board by accident Whoops.

silentsod wrote:

New at this boarding tactic and aside from it being awesome I just blew away a ship with two crew members on board by accident Whoops.

Ya, it was awhile before I realized that each time your crew knocks a power bar off a system, it also does a point of hull damage. Many times before that I was "they had plenty of hull a second ago! Restart."

If you haven't bought FTL yet, or want to hook your friends on it, GOG has it for 25% off ($7.50 USD)

Finally got the Mantis ship.

Still 0-for-3 on Rock A achievements. Any suggestions?

Keithustus wrote:
silentsod wrote:

New at this boarding tactic and aside from it being awesome I just blew away a ship with two crew members on board by accident Whoops.

Ya, it was awhile before I realized that each time your crew knocks a power bar off a system, it also does a point of hull damage. Many times before that I was "they had plenty of hull a second ago! Restart."

Had this happening as well. Indeed restart right away.

Stele wrote:

Still 0-for-3 on Rock A achievements. Any suggestions?

1. Need to have a fire weapon and a teleporter. Set a room on fire (preferably the medbay or weapons) then teleport a rock boarding crew over into the burning room. Fire doesn't hurt them and the enemy crew can't put out the fire while fighting. It's a very deadly combo since the fire will damage systems at the same time. Now the crew will constantly flee to non-burning rooms so just keep setting rooms on fire or wait for it to spread then move your guys around until you corner them in a burning room. This is easiest to do with a fire beam.
2. This one is easy, you start with two missile launchers to begin with so just wait until you find an enemy with only one defence drone and alpha strike him to death with just missiles.
3. This one is ALL luck. You basically have to unlock the crystal ship while using a Rock Cruiser. I got this with the Rock ship B (which is awesome btw).

Tamren wrote:
Stele wrote:

Still 0-for-3 on Rock A achievements. Any suggestions?

1. Need to have a fire weapon and a teleporter. Set a room on fire (preferably the medbay or weapons) then teleport a rock boarding crew over into the burning room. Fire doesn't hurt them and the enemy crew can't put out the fire while fighting. It's a very deadly combo since the fire will damage systems at the same time. Now the crew will constantly flee to non-burning rooms so just keep setting rooms on fire or wait for it to spread then move your guys around until you corner them in a burning room. This is easiest to do with a fire beam.

Well that's what stopped me, them running to non-burning rooms. But I didn't have a fire beam. I just managed to set things on fire with missiles or other guns. So it seems to be luck whether it spreads enough before the whole ship blows up or not.

Also I won my first try with Mantis A last night. Fierce boarding crew. That was fun. Didn't get any achievements for Mantis B yet. Too many auto-drone ships that I couldn't board to get my full amount of kills before sector 6 or whatever.

You can also fight at a supernova / whatever star. That helps get their rooms on fire.

Stele wrote:
Tamren wrote:
Stele wrote:

Still 0-for-3 on Rock A achievements. Any suggestions?

1. Need to have a fire weapon and a teleporter. Set a room on fire (preferably the medbay or weapons) then teleport a rock boarding crew over into the burning room. Fire doesn't hurt them and the enemy crew can't put out the fire while fighting. It's a very deadly combo since the fire will damage systems at the same time. Now the crew will constantly flee to non-burning rooms so just keep setting rooms on fire or wait for it to spread then move your guys around until you corner them in a burning room. This is easiest to do with a fire beam.

Well that's what stopped me, them running to non-burning rooms. But I didn't have a fire beam. I just managed to set things on fire with missiles or other guns. So it seems to be luck whether it spreads enough before the whole ship blows up or not.

Also I won my first try with Mantis A last night. Fierce boarding crew. That was fun. Didn't get any achievements for Mantis B yet. Too many auto-drone ships that I couldn't board to get my full amount of kills before sector 6 or whatever.

If their O2 levels are low then the fires go out quickly; otherwise they have to be fighting fires for them to go out and it takes fires time to pass from room to room with the firewalls.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

I just started playing this game and got to the end boss on easy after quite a few fails. I see you guys talking about level 3 weapons and loadouts. How do I get these? I never saw 1 level 3 weapon and only a couple level 2s to purchase on any of my playthroughs. I know I'm missing something really obvious.

Same way you get anything in FTL: pure blind damn luck

McIrishJihad wrote:

If you don't mind the possible spoilers, you could check out the FTL Wiki Weapons page

Only one weapon goes up to Level 3, and that's the Burst Laser MkIII. There's also a rarity scale for each weapon, so the higher the rarity, the less likely you'll run into it in a shop. Rarity 0 weapons can only be obtained by starting with a ship/layout that has that weapon by default.

OK, thanks. I thought there might be some upgrade mechanic I was missing. I guess its time to hit the wiki since this game has been kicking my ass.

Made it to the boss last night for the fist time and held my own fairly well. I got him down to about 4 bars and then he just obliterated me... I needed a hull repair desperately.

JillSammich wrote:

Made it to the boss last night for the fist time and held my own fairly well. I got him down to about 4 bars and then he just obliterated me... I needed a hull repair desperately.

You need to prevent damage to your hull in the first place.

Keithustus wrote:

You need to prevent damage to your hull in the first place.

Yeah, that too... I think I only had 2 shield levels, but I was so nervous about getting into some random encounter that would wipe me, that I just went on. I guess you can't get impatient. I just can never deal with ship invaders so I'm always paranoid that I'll encounter them.

Rocked the boss again with the Mantis A. 2 for 2, I can't believe it.

Boarding parties so early earns lots of extra money and by the time things get real (s6?, enemies with 3-shield bars) I have had enough chance to pick up some weapons too and balance things.

I got ridiculously lucky. Got a Hull Breach Bomb 2 (2 power, 3 damage) from a sidequest in s3 or so. And then I saw another one in a store in s6 or so. And somewhere in between I found a Glaive. And then in s7 I found a pre-ignition. So 3 + 3 + (3x4)= 18 damage in about 2-3 seconds from fight start.

Didn't really even bother boarding any ships after that. Even on the boss, I only boarded to take out the missiles, and then before I could re-board, it would be dead.

So I broke down and had my first FTL experience last night. The emergent storytelling in this game is incredible.

Made it to the second sector then was boarded by pirates in my second encounter. They managed to kill all but one crew member, who escaped to the engine room. I opened up the airlock doors to try to suffocate them, and succeeded. But not before they destroy the door control door. So I had no way to seal up the spacecraft again. In my wisdom I thought "Well, maybe she'll make it." Ran the remaining crew member to try to fix the doors. Who then summarily suffocated. End of story.

I love this game!

EvilDead wrote:

OK, thanks. I thought there might be some upgrade mechanic I was missing. I guess its time to hit the wiki since this game has been kicking my ass.

There are some mods out there that can make things easier (start with different loadouts, increase chance of certain encounters), but then you're starting to mess with the purity of a rougelike.

McIrishJihad wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

OK, thanks. I thought there might be some upgrade mechanic I was missing. I guess its time to hit the wiki since this game has been kicking my ass.

There are some mods out there that can make things easier (start with different loadouts, increase chance of certain encounters), but then you're starting to mess with the purity of a rougelike.

I may have to try those eventually but I'll stick with the base game for now. It would be nice to have something that extended the length of the game or made it an infinite score chase. I'm always a little disappointed when I get to the final sector.

Oh wow, I see posts with "another victory", and I've yet to finish one game!! I'm sticking with it, though. I start playing a couple of days ago, and I am absolutely hooked! Can't believe I'm still failing with the game on "easy"... I suspect this game of waiting for me to get cocky after a few successes, of just biding its time before bonking me on the head with a particularly bad disaster (remind me to tell you about the time I got boarded and after fending off the intruders clicked by accident on "open all doors" instead of "close").
Still gonna keep trying mod-free though, I want to get this right!

My brother complained he hasn't been able to win, that the 2nd stage of the boss gets him. He's never tried boarding parties and I told him he really should. Also he's never upgraded his doors.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

My brother complained he hasn't been able to win, that the 2nd stage of the boss gets him. He's never tried boarding parties and I told him he really should. Also he's never upgraded his doors.

One of the complaints I have with the game is that the boss fight is a bit different from everything else. It takes a bit of time to understand what you need to do to beat it, and this is where the inability to save can be most frustrating.

Did they patch the game to give less scrap in Easy mode? My last several playthrough have felt exceptionally starved for scrap.

gore wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

My brother complained he hasn't been able to win, that the 2nd stage of the boss gets him. He's never tried boarding parties and I told him he really should. Also he's never upgraded his doors.

One of the complaints I have with the game is that the boss fight is a bit different from everything else. It takes a bit of time to understand what you need to do to beat it, and this is where the inability to save can be most frustrating.

I recommend savescumming to people still learning the game. To some people, this makes me a monster. Nothing I haven't heard before.