FTL: Advanced Edition: First thoughts?

[yamy]

My only gripe with the game is that there's no game mode that allows you to just fly around the galaxy and explore without having to worry about rebels pursuing you.

Allow me to introduce you to the FTL: Infinite Space mod. [http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3542]

As to the advanced edition, I feel like they've tried and mostly did a good job in introducing new elements whilst balancing the difficulty.

However I think the new Hacking module is a bit overpowered. There's just no reason to not use it- it's an instant fire and repeatable ion bomb that can only be shot down by drones, plus it can take 4 whole shields down. There is no other weapon anywhere else in the game that is able to take 4 shields down reliably when you factor in evasion chance.

Hack their shield, fire a salvo and that's 90% of my enemies done for.

The new type-c ships are interesting. I wascompletely baffled by the federation c ship

Spoiler

no weapons and artillery beam turns into artillery flak

until I realized you're supposed to use Zoltans as suicide units.

I'm also really liking some of the new events and options. For example if you have a fire weapon, in one event you run into a pirate blockading a small planet unsuccessfully. You have the options of terrorizing the planet by burning all their crops or fire bombing their buildings.

So. Much. Evil.

You can also counter alot of the annoying Slug events now with hacking or for my favourite:

Spoiler: you can have a Mantis oversee Slugs baiting you into a trap

 

[Dom1]

Best run so far has been with the Zoltan cruiser. I managed to pick up two Flak II weapons, and the pre-igniter. By the end I was swimming in scrap because I rarely took any hull damage.

On balance, I'm losing a lot more than I did.

 

[Woiminkle]

Oh it's handing me my arse even more sadistically than it did before, and I'm loving it.
I really like the cloning bay. I was worried the loss of skills would be painful but it's not like they go back to being rookies or even dropped an entire level, seemed to be somewhere between a quarter or a third of their progress to the next level. In combination with the DNA bank it's pretty sweet.
I'm loving the new encounters and quests, it's refreshing to have something to read again instead of just seeing what i got before skipping merrily along (towards doom).
It's also kind of a big deal to me that there is the alternative way to unlock the ships, since I am the unluckiest bastard ever when it comes to getting the special events, have managed to see the Mantis event once in 100+ games (and a grand total of 4 wins!) and of course I had none of the reqs, like the upgraded med bay or teleporters when I did see it.
Am looking forward to trying out the mind control, it shits me right up when I've had it used against me so now i want to turn the tables.

I really would have liked them to add the ability to sell missiles and drone parts at shops though. I just always seem to either have money and nothing I want at shops or the exact thing I want but not enough for it and not enough time to get back there after grinding up the required scrap. I have never been able to afford the weapon preigniter when it has been available in any of the games I've played, I feel like being able to sell the buttload of whichever one of missiles or drone parts that I accumulate and don't use might help with that a small bit.
Overall though I'm loving it again and might just lose another 100 or so hrs to it. What a game.

 

[Get_A_Grip_]

It keeps kicking me in the teeth.

I keep coming back for more.


Then again I've never even beaten the vanilla game on easy and yet still had a good time with it.

 

[flying_whimsy]

I've beaten it a couple of times now, but even on easy it can turn on me faster than a pit bull. I love the new additions, especially the hacking mechanic (it's extremely powerful), and the way the rebel flagship uses so many of the new abilities. I did notice the rebel flagship taking it a little easier on me (longer times between power surges, less drones during a surge, etc.), but the new abilities like the hacking and mind control more than made up for it.

I've found the game to be more punishing than before, with each of my playthroughs somehow awarding less scrap than the ones I had in the vanilla version. On my second attempt in the enhanced edition, I died on my second jump with the b build of the federation cruiser. My shields got hacked and my weapons caught fire from solar flares.

I also ran into an auto-hacking drone: that was the single hardest fight I've had outside of the flagship. It hacked my weapons, ionized my shields, and pummeled me with missiles and beam weapons.

I've had to completely change the way I prioritize upgrading my ship and what extra systems to go out of my way for. I couldn't have hoped for more.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I like vanilla FTL but I can't beat vanilla FTL. I also really like the updates to the FTL system even though it guarantees I will never, EVER beat FTL. I'm alright with that too I guess.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

i love it, finished 3 runs already, ive been lucky, the final rebel ship has never hacked any important systems of mine in its first phase, it always hacks either the sensors or the doors


also, may i mention hacking is kind of silly powerful?, maybe im overthinking it, i thought mind control was meh, until i used it, oh boy, a mind controlled captain is absolute doom for the enemy ship, also am sorry you guys were repairing that room? too bad, now fight among yourselves

amazing disruption tool

when i faced the final ship with both hacking and mind control in my kestrel, they bastards couldnt do shit in the first 2 phases

I like vanilla FTL but I can't beat vanilla FTL. I also really like the updates to the FTL system even though it guarantees I will never, EVER beat FTL. I'm alright with that too I guess.

more options plus a few design changes makes the game less reliant on luck now

My only gripe with the game is that there's no game mode that allows you to just fly around the galaxy and explore without having to worry about rebels pursuing you.

Allow me to introduce you to the FTL: Infinite Space mod. [http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3542]

by gabens holy name, how did i not know this?

You can also counter alot of the annoying Slug events now with hacking or for my favourite:

Spoiler: you can have a Mantis oversee Slugs baiting you into a trap

that happened to me once, on mantis, they can be so hard to hate sometimes

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

i... i think FTL just became my favorite indie game, sorry mark of the ninja, you are a stealth masterpiece, but FTL now relies less on luck and you still have retarded checkpoints

 

[NewYork_Comedian]

Fuck the final boss now. I did a great run as the Mantis type B-not losing a single crew member- all the way to the rebel flagship... then it succeed in hacking my oxygen and after about 10 minute of desperate fighting all my people died from lack of oxygen. Is there a way to stop them from hacking other than targeting the hacking port on their own ship? Because otherwise that first stage seems nigh-impossible.

Oh, the expansion pack as a whole? It turned one of my top favorite games ever into an even more amazing adventure. It could get lost in the incredible soundtrack alone, and the new music is just as fantastic as the vanilla songs.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

Fuck the final boss now. I did a great run as the Mantis type B-not losing a single crew member- all the way to the rebel flagship... then it succeed in hacking my oxygen and after about 10 minute of desperate fighting all my people died from lack of oxygen. Is there a way to stop them from hacking other than targeting the hacking port on their own ship? Because otherwise that first stage seems nigh-impossible.

Oh, the expansion pack as a whole? It turned one of my top favorite games ever into an even more amazing adventure. It could get lost in the incredible soundtrack alone, and the new music is just as fantastic as the vanilla songs.

hah and my pal told me the game must be easier now because i managed to beat it 3 times, he hasnt even played the update yet


anyways you said the answer yourself, if one of your critical systems gets hacked, fuck his hacking room or counterhack him by hacking his hacking room but for the love of good dont lose any time, the good thing about hacking is that is only works for a set amount of time before it needs to cooldown, so you have some time before you run out of oxygen, also from my experience and if the wiki information is correct, opening all your inner gates should speed up your oxygen recovery

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Fuck the final boss now. I did a great run as the Mantis type B-not losing a single crew member- all the way to the rebel flagship... then it succeed in hacking my oxygen and after about 10 minute of desperate fighting all my people died from lack of oxygen. Is there a way to stop them from hacking other than targeting the hacking port on their own ship? Because otherwise that first stage seems nigh-impossible.

I found that using a Defense Drone or the new Anti-Drone er, Drone kills the hacking missile before it hits and starts messing you up.

The overshield Drone could work as well, but in practice the overshield lasts for jack before being taken down.

 

[Shim3d]

Seems easier to me now. I always play on Easy mode and actually got to the end for the first time yesterday (obviously I'm not very good at it yet)

Also the iOS port means this is the first time I've regretted buying an Android tablet. Could anyone guess an ETA for port? They did say it's in the works.

 

[GiantRaven]

Does it seem to anyone else that the miss rate has been increased? I feel like I'm missing shots a lot more than I used to.

 

[Legion]

A great game got a free great upgrade, what's not to like?

The new systems are fun and give a lot more variety to the game. The new weapons are interesting and add new tactics. The new machine race looks cool, has interesting ships and encounters. The new C classes for each ship type look good too (I have unlocked them all but have only used the Rock's).

I like the little touches too such as laser weapons showing which rooms will be hit when you aim them.

The main downside I think is that hacking doesn't seem to use up more than one drone per attack. I believe it ought to latch on and then be destroyed after use so if you wish to do it again you need to fire another one.

The add-on doesn't include anything bad though in my opinion. I think the worst that can be said about it is that the (relatively few) problems the game already had still exist.

Does it seem to anyone else that the miss rate has been increased? I feel like I'm missing shots a lot more than I used to.

With certain weapons, missing does seem to be far too common. The laser you get with Rock ship C seems to miss around 50% of the time at the very least.

 

[GiantRaven]

The main downside I think is that hacking doesn't seem to use up more than one drone per attack. I believe it ought to latch on and then be destroyed after use so if you wish to do it again you need to fire another one.

Oh gods, that would be the worst. I was raging during the final battle when the cloak would destroy my hacking drone every time.

With certain weapons, missing does seem to be far too common. The laser you get with Rock ship C seems to miss around 50% of the time at the very least.

Reading on the Steam forums, the cockpit upgrade buff could be contributing to missing more.

 

[EvilRoy]

The main downside I think is that hacking doesn't seem to use up more than one drone per attack. I believe it ought to latch on and then be destroyed after use so if you wish to do it again you need to fire another one.

Oh gods, that would be the worst. I was raging during the final battle when the cloak would destroy my hacking drone every time.

With certain weapons, missing does seem to be far too common. The laser you get with Rock ship C seems to miss around 50% of the time at the very least.

Reading on the Steam forums, the cockpit upgrade buff could be contributing to missing more.

I've noticed I'm missing quite a bit more as well, and it has really lead to a shift in strategy. Previously I was all about the one two combo with shields and weapons, but now I find myself having to depend on hacking to disrupt shields and expending weapon turns on engines first, then weapons.

It also lead me to start dumping more scrap into my engines and cockpit, which has resulted in more than a few weird experiences where neither me nor the enemy can land enough hits to actually do damage.

 

[GiantRaven]

I've noticed I'm missing quite a bit more as well, and it has really lead to a shift in strategy. Previously I was all about the one two combo with shields and weapons, but now I find myself having to depend on hacking to disrupt shields and expending weapon turns on engines first, then weapons.

It also lead me to start dumping more scrap into my engines and cockpit, which has resulted in more than a few weird experiences where neither me nor the enemy can land enough hits to actually do damage.

I've been mostly hacking the cockpit/engines first, although that leaves me agonisingly paranoid about not using it on shields/weapons. I find it really interesting how much the strategy changes just from one small manipulation in the mechanics.

 

[Windcaler]

I did 3 or 4 runs last night and I think hacking may be a little OP at this time. It seems like theres no ability to get rid of a hack once its attatched and I dont care for that. That said, I like to use teleporters a lot and just kill the crew inside the ship and having a hacking device to hack their med bay when they retreat is an excellent compliment to my usual tactics. However the new alien guys make that kind of hard since they suck out all the oxygen in the room so I may have to try some different tactics for those ships. I need to try the Lunias out for boarding party operations because I think they could be pretty good

RNG still seems to be a pain though. I did two runs with the Kestrel and I did not find a single store with weapons the whole game, neither did I manage to find any along the way. So going against the flagship with a minibeam and laser didnt go so well. I do like how stores now have a second page though, having only one previously felt pretty limiting.

The cloning bay, I dont really care about. It was not something I worried about in the game and my guys almost never die in combat so its not something I would usually use. I did pick it up to try it out and it was nice when one of my guys was murdered by a stranded guy on a planet but not afterwards. Having a system be useful one time in a run isnt what I consider money well spent. I would be better off getting drones or a teleporter or almost any passive

The backup battery was pretty much useless. I tried it in three games and never found that burst of power to be useful

Mind control is kind of hit or miss. Coupled with boarding parties it worked really well but not really otherwise

Manning subsystems can be useful though. I like being able to see when weapons are charged. I like being able to see how much power theyre putting where. However for the doors I just dont see much of a use there.

I havnt tried out a lot of the new drones yet but there are a couple that look pretty scary. I did try out the emp intruder one and that was useful for shutting down a subsystem. I think it might work better with a simultaneous breaching drone though

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

How have I died in this update? Let me count the ways...

-Jumping into a pulsar with a high level enemy.
-Jumping into an asteroid field with an enemy with the flak gun.
-Being kited and stunned by that fucking intruder drone while the enemy rails on my ship.
-Missing too many shots at a rebel powering its FTL drive up, having the fleet overtake me and then being owned by the anti ship battery and elite fighter.
-Getting my shields knocked out in fight where a fire drone was deployed. IT BURNS.

I haven't even made it to the boss yet.

I think it's a great update though, because it takes me back to those first feelings of playing FTL where every death was another lesson to be absorbed.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

I did 3 or 4 runs last night and I think hacking may be a little OP at this time.

I concur that hacking is currently OP. The most powerful effect isn't even the actual hacking pulse: it basically has the same effect as a crystal lockdown, even when the cooldown is on. For one bar of power that's just insane, as you can delay the enemy from repairing a damaged system, escaping your boarding party or getting to a place where they can heal up.

RNG still seems to be a pain though.

Can confirm. I encountered seven consecutive AI drones as the Mantis B. Three of them in an ion storm.

The backup battery was pretty much useless. I tried it in three games and never found that burst of power to be useful

Two reasons. 1) Can exceed max reactor capacity. 2) Works during ion storms.
Also I found that it's a good way of powering the systems with a long cooldown, because you don't have any power locked into it when the battery runs out of charge.