FTL: Advanced Edition News Update - Clone Bays, Hacking And More

[Steven Bogos]

FTL: Advanced Edition News Update - Clone Bays, Hacking And More

FTL developer Subset Games has announced a wealth of new features coming with the free "advanced edition" update.

Late last year, Subset Games, the developer of the incredibly addictive FTL: Faster Than Light roguelike space sim, announced that the game was making its way to tablets, alongside an absolutely free advanced edition update [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129534-FTL-Dev-Announces-Advanced-Edition-iPad-Version] for all current and future owners of the game. The developer has been quite for a while, but has now shed a bit more light on some of the new systems, subsystems, and features we can look forward to in the coming update.

The three new systems announced were the Clone Bay, Hacking and Mind Control, while the Backup Battery was announced as a new subystem.

[gallery=2106]

The Clone Bay replaces your Med Bay, and rather than healing up your troops, it simply clones them when they fall in battle. It should become a quick favorite of those who favor using the teleporter to beam into an enemy ship, rather than fighting with external ship weapons.

The Hacking system allows you you to launch a hacking drone that attaches to a chosen system on the enemy vessel. As a passive effect, that system's doors will be blocked (delaying enemy crew) and you'll be granted detailed vision of that system. You'll also then be able to initiate a hacking pulse which affects each system slightly differently, such as draining an enemy's shields, or depleting an enemy's weapon charge.

The Mind Control system temporarily turns a single enemy into an ally. Upgrading the system will increase the duration of the control as well as providing a health and combat boost to your new minion. The caveat of mind control is you need vision of an enemy to use it, and the telepathic "Slug" race is immune.

And finally, the Backup Battery is a new subsystem that when used, temporarily provides your ship with an additional four bars of battery.

Some other minor tweaks that Subset announced was some visual upgrades to quests, as well as the addition of a "Hard" difficulty level.

Subset still doesn't have a solid date for when they think the update and the iPad version will be ready, but will be sure to let us know when they do.

Source: FTL Blog [http://www.ftlgame.com/?p=647]

Permalink

 

[lvramire]

Alright, looking forward to this.

A Hard mode...dear lord, I barely squeak by on Normal. I hope they revamp how difficult it is to get that unique Crystal ship, I've never even managed to get the crew member.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Spoiler: The hour is later than you think

Rebel forces are already moving.

Against the power of hard mode, there can be no victory.

Cloning sounds awesome though!

 

[Legion]

I might actually be able to beat the game now... That horrible final boss always crushes me by the smallest margin.

Although I am looking forward to the new race the most. I am also hoping getting the Crystal ship might be a bit less randomised. I barely ever get the right conditions come up for it.

Edit: Looking back at the last news about this, I more or less said the same thing. Funny how you forget.

 

[JediMB]

Although I am looking forward to the new race the most. I am also hoping getting the Crystal ship might be a bit less randomised. I barely ever get the right conditions come up for it.

I got the right conditions a few times during my earliest playthroughs (before I knew what the encounters were about), but once I'd read up on them they pretty much disappeared from my game...

 

[serious biscuit]

This would be great news, if I was able to beat the original on easy

 

[Darkong]

Is it weird that this is my most anticipated game of this year?

 

[Jiveturkey124]

Ive played 31 hours of FTL since I purchased it 1 month ago and it is easily in my top 10 games of all time, along side Morrowind, Kotor, Baulders Gate 1/2, and a slew of other RPGS.

The randomness of the game really shines as the brightest aspect. It literally makes you forge a story of random encounters into an overarching tale of your ship and characters. The combinations are seemingly endless.

For example the ship I used to destroy the final boss was outfitted with tons of missle launchers, and ion cannons, and I mainly used my extremely good teleporters to transport waves of my crew to take out their guns.

When my friend beat the final boss, he did so in a ship with nothing but drones, his main engi character and a random rock man he saved from a derelict planet near the end of the game. He literally almost SOLO'd the boss because he had the best shields and drones money could buy. His character was built around a very solitary exsistance that came with the RNG never putting up a crew member at a station. His character was so good at navigation he escaped multiple encounters simple by a blue choice to out-run the enemy.

THATS ROLEPLAYING!! Its not the holding your hand dedicated story, its a real experiance, with real choices and consequences, and you just dont find that level of awareness in modern day games.

 

[Longstreet]

Alright, looking forward to this.

A Hard mode...dear lord, I barely squeak by on Normal. I hope they revamp how difficult it is to get that unique Crystal ship, I've never even managed to get the crew member.

I once got the stasis pod, had no clue what it was, and sold it.

Still, no fucks given.


OT: I barely beat it on easy, the few times i tried medium i got my arse kicked. Kinda fear hard mode now.

Also, a free update?! Awesome, other devs should take note.

 

[Frankster]

I'm not too eager about the mind control module tbh, the possibility of your crew being possessed with the choice (i'm assuming) to either kill them or ignore them until the duration is expired doesn't seem much fun.

Everything else is cool though mantis shape with clone bay that keeps on sending mantis boarders will be the game's new easy mode I predict.

 

[Legion]

Let me guess, still no normal safe function right?

It was confirmed in the last article that you can save properly, including during combat.

The Advanced Edition will also include "small features" like the ability to save and quit during battle and more in-game items to purchase in stores. Players who already own FTL will receive the Advanced Edition content as a free expansion.

 

[Violet Action]

My Mother has played over 900 hours of FTL. I had almost gotten her to move on to a new game. Guess I should just give up.

 

[Easton Dark]

Mind control would make the boss trivial, but have the path leading up to it be the most annoying thing ever. The era of the slug ship.

 

[michael87cn]

FTL is kinda fun. But it really is a game of pick random choices and hope they pay out. You don't really have control over much, (once you understand how to play it) its a big slot machine.

Pick choice 1? You do well!

Pick choice 2? You do pretty badly.

Pick choice 3? YOU GET CRUSHED! >

 

[grey_space]

This is great news, I keep coming back to this game.

I only hope they are also putting in more random encounters and making it longer with a few more sectors.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Why do I get the feeling that mind control is going to be the downfall of many of my crew mates?

Looks like they've added a lot more variety to a game already loaded with replay value. Cannot wait till they release it.

Alright, looking forward to this.

A Hard mode...dear lord, I barely squeak by on Normal. I hope they revamp how difficult it is to get that unique Crystal ship, I've never even managed to get the crew member.

I feel you, I've only managed to beat the game once, on easy at that. God knows what they'll throw at us in an actual hard mode.

 

[Teoes]

I am so so ready for this and continue to love the sound of these improvements. FTL is one of my more beloved games.

Hard mode? Bring it on.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

That sounds great but I couldn't help but cringe at the mention of hard mode...I still can't beat the thing on easy. The new systems sound great though!

 

[antidonkey]

Here's a tweak suggestion.....make the game easier. I have played the game quite a bit but can't manage to win even on easy. I get regularly get the lost boss but it eventually wears me down. Lots of fun but also lots of frustration.