FTL

Yeah I won again with the Rock A yesterday. Still got none of the 3 ship achievements.

Still missing Stealth and Crystal ships.

Really wish that some of the side missions weren't restricted to "X Homeworld" but just "X Controlled Systems." Seems a little restrictive since so many times those zones never even show up in game.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
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. ;)

No, savescumming doesn't make you a monster. The fact that you're a monster makes you a monster.

You monster.

Got through a Normal run with the Slug A, and unlocked the Slug B while I was at it ("kill 3 enemy crew with 1 anti-bio beam shot", and the "visit 30 nebula nodes"). That's now once with Engi A, and once with Slug A (on Normal at least).

I'm having a really hard time unlocking ships. I seem to be really unluckly at finding the node in the homeworld system to initiate the quest, or if I do, the next point in the quest is already over-run. Any general tips on what layout/strategy I should use for ship unlocking runs, of course, not knowing in advance which possible homeworlds I might encounter?

Dysplastic wrote:

I'm having a really hard time unlocking ships. I seem to be really unluckly at finding the node in the homeworld system to initiate the quest, or if I do, the next point in the quest is already over-run. Any general tips on what layout/strategy I should use for ship unlocking runs, of course, not knowing in advance which possible homeworlds I might encounter?

Play on Easy is the only tip I have so far. At least that way you have a better shot at living until the unlock quest.

My games last like ten minutes. I even lucked out with six crew by the time I left the first sector, and wham, a single Rebel ship just slaughtered me in the second. This is hard!

Archangel wrote:

My games last like ten minutes. I even lucked out with six crew by the time I left the first sector, and wham, a single Rebel ship just slaughtered me in the second. This is hard!

Six crew?? Wow! The most I've gotten is four, and I've even limped through a sector or two with just one. Let's just say that if there's a quarantine in place or some sort of experiment, I'm not stopping anymore. :p

Is everyone spending their scrap on ship upgrades as soon as possible? Sure, you've got to keep up on repairs and fuel, but in general you're better off investing in your ship than saving for a rainy day. And don't be afraid to upgrade your ship systems a little beyond what the power plant can handle. Smart power management can get you through until you can afford to upgrade the power.

One caveat: don't buy half of a shield level; save your scrap until you can get both the upgrades necessary for the new shield level. That way if something else comes up before you get enough saved then you can spend the scrap on that instead. Opportunity cost and all that.

Actually half a shield can help. Minor laser/ beam damage of 1 won't knock out a bar of shields.

I'm spending my scrap like crazy. Each time I have enough for something, I spend it. My priority is upgrading shields, and then engine or piloting. The main idea being *do not get hit*. Actually worked out okay this morning, I got all the way to the last sector with almost all my crew (lost little LaForge in the nebula, which was sad because he was a level 2 engineer). And then I waited for the flagship to come to me. Because I hadn't figured out that you were supposed to get it to before it reached your base. *facepalm*
Good news is I'm making progress, and I hadn't enjoyed being this frustrated in a long time!

Eleima wrote:

I hadn't enjoyed being this frustrated in a long time! :D

That's what keeps me coming back to this game time and again. I haven't won yet in over twenty hours (playing on Normal)!

Quintin_Stone wrote:
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. ;)

Good advice, monster.

(I savescummed once to learn the boss myself; although I didn't beat it, the extra attempt highlighted what I needed to do in the future)

Malor wrote:

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

Seems like it.

Are you sure? I haven't noticed any difference. There hasn't been any news out of the developers in a long time.

I bought mine directly from the developer. I have never run it through Steam, so I don't think my version has ever patched itself.

Picked the Crystal ship this run (still on normal). I've just reached sector 8 and had to fight the most ridiculous drone ship ever:
2 drones (anti-ship & beam)
2 Ion guns
1 3xLaser
1 Artemis
And 5 (yes FIVE!!!) Levels of shields!!!

I was almost ready to give up and jump away, but my brave boarding party (2 crystals - suffocation resistance) beamed into the shield room to knock it down enough (before emergency beam-out before asphyxiating) for me to be able to finish it off.

I'm not used to having crystal crew. I've barely scratched the surface of the neat tricks you can do with lockdown and teleporters.

Stele wrote:

Actually half a shield can help. Minor laser/ beam damage of 1 won't knock out a bar of shields.

That's a good point.

EvilDead wrote:
Stele wrote:

Actually half a shield can help. Minor laser/ beam damage of 1 won't knock out a bar of shields.

That's a good point.

Really? I never actually field tested it. I just saw there wasn't a new bar and assumed that it was useless to do one at a time. It's good to know that it does something... I'd thought the shield upgrades seemed like an odd rough spot in an otherwise smooth design.

Vargen wrote:
EvilDead wrote:
Stele wrote:

Actually half a shield can help. Minor laser/ beam damage of 1 won't knock out a bar of shields.

That's a good point.

Really? I never actually field tested it. I just saw there wasn't a new bar and assumed that it was useless to do one at a time. It's good to know that it does something... I'd thought the shield upgrades seemed like an odd rough spot in an otherwise smooth design.

If you get hit in the shields with 1 ion damage, it won't take down a layer of your shields. The shot will be "absorbed" by the unpowered investment, and keep the rest of your shield layers up and running. You still need paired bars that are powered for each layer of shield, but you've got a buffer for ion damage.

It's the same reason a lot of people talk about putting a 2nd point into O2, MedBay, or Cloak. You don't need it, especially the 2nd cloak point for the boss, since the 1st rank is perfectly timed with boss attacks. But the 2nd point can keep your cloak, O2, MedBay, etc from getting completely disabled.

Does the Engi medbot dispersal improve with more power to the medbay? It's hard to tell the difference, if there is one.

Stele wrote:

It's the same reason a lot of people talk about putting a 2nd point into O2, MedBay, or Cloak. You don't need it, especially the 2nd cloak point for the boss, since the 1st rank is perfectly timed with boss attacks. But the 2nd point can keep your cloak, O2, MedBay, etc from getting completely disabled.

I find the extra point or two in cloak can be really nice for the drone swarm on the second wave. I also usually fully upgrade my cloak on the cloak ship since I tend to have weaker shields with them. With the alternate cloak ship layout max cloak is almost necessary to use the glaive beam effectively.

Full cloak is still useful for all the other fights.

Tamren wrote:

Does the Engi medbot dispersal improve with more power to the medbay? It's hard to tell the difference, if there is one.

No, according to the wiki. Dispersal never gives more than a level 1 heal.

EriktheRed wrote:

I also usually fully upgrade my cloak on the cloak ship since I tend to have weaker shields with them. With the alternate cloak ship layout max cloak is almost necessary to use the glaive beam effectively.

Still don't have the Stealth ship or the Crystal. It's getting really frustrating. I've won like 4 of my last 6 games on Easy which is cool, but I just want more ships dammit.

What about in the medbay? Does it give the upgraded amount when someone is in the room?

From PAR/PC Gamer: I had no idea FTL was moddable. Time to pilot Serenity.

As if this game didn't have enough replayability. Time to go lose some more sleep!

Archangel wrote:

From PAR/PC Gamer: I had no idea FTL was moddable. Time to pilot Serenity.
As if this game didn't have enough replayability. Time to go lose some more sleep!

I knew it was moddable, but hadn't looked through the various mods yet, so thanks!! I'm already calling the Kestrel "Enterprise", and naming my starting guys Picard, Worf and LaForge, so I might as well use these!!

I'm finding the second stage of the endboss a pain in the A. I'm rarely running into the laser power to knock out the shields and his defense drone and evasion takes care of my missiles. The teleport team does a fine job of handling the guns but the drones always seem to whittle me down. The teleport team never can do damage to the main area due to the medbay keeping his guys fighting. Its just doesn't feel nearly as balanced compared to the rest of the game as it really favors particular load outs.

My last attempt I had a ship with full shields, 5 points into the engines, and full evasion and he still kicked my ass.

Queueball wrote:

What about in the medbay? Does it give the upgraded amount when someone is in the room?

Yes it does.

EvilDead wrote:

I'm finding the second stage of the endboss a pain in the A. I'm rarely running into the laser power to knock out the shields and his defense drone and evasion takes care of my missiles. The teleport team does a fine job of handling the guns but the drones always seem to whittle me down. The teleport team never can do damage to the main area due to the medbay keeping his guys fighting. Its just doesn't feel nearly as balanced compared to the rest of the game as it really favors particular load outs.

I've got to the point where I never use missiles if I can avoid it. Small Bomb I can almost always find. Breach Bomb only when I'm very lucky. But missiles get shot down so much in the boss fight, and even sometimes in the final sector or two that it's not worth it.

Small/Breach Bomb + Halberd/Glaive is my favorite setup.

2nd favorite is a pair of Burst Laser MkIIs. 6 shots usually punches through any shields, even with a couple misses. Sometimes still need a bomb, or just some more Burst Lasers, or one of the above beams to finish it off.

EvilDead wrote:

My last attempt I had a ship with full shields, 5 points into the engines, and full evasion and he still kicked my ass.

Did you have your own defense drone? Without that you have to board and take down his missile launcher early in all 3 phases.

Or cloak? It seems like without that his super-powers in phase 2 and 3 will kick your ass. If you don't have cloak you better be loaded with firepower and take him out before he does the super-attacks more than 2 or 3 times.