Man, I wish it wasn't such an obscure way to get ships. I know that the idea is if we just play enough we'll eventually get all of them just by chance, but some have such an extreme amount of RNG and luck with the crystal ship just being icing on the cake. While I like game wikis, I'm of the opinion that if players NEED a wiki to help them get an in game item then it's poorly designed.lvramire said:
FTL: Advanced Edition News Update - Clone Bays, Hacking And More
- Thread starter Steven Bogos
- Start date
I'm surprised so many have trouble with the final boss. Any ship with a good amount of laser fire, max shields and maybe a drone or two can destroy the final boss with relative ease on normal, at least in my experience. Granted taking a bad hit to your weapons or shields early on can spell doom, so it certainly is no cakewalk, but I've beaten the game about 30-40 times on normal (never even played on easy).
Oh wow, a hard mode? This could get interesting.
That, or the simple hint of "pick the first engi ship, get more ions and drones, win game". D:
A lot of people don't know what a good endgame build looks like, or how they should transition into it. It takes some experimentation to get there.Gorrath said:
That, or the simple hint of "pick the first engi ship, get more ions and drones, win game". D:
I guess that's part of my surprise, there are so may ways to be effective that it seems like one would stumble on them with a few decent runs. There is more to it than just ship build of course, so I wonder if people maximize their time in each sector and fight as many ships as possible and if they use the pause function to plan their weapons fire out effectively. I know what you mean about the Engi ship too, those ions can really make a mess of the enemy's ability to do anything.Naeras said:
What build do you prefer for the end game? As I mentioned, I tend to like mass laser fire along with attack drones. The boss can't do crap to you if you annihilate him in just a few volleys. I tend to teleport two crew to the missile launcher and have them melee it down while I concentrate my lasers on his shields. This tactic has served me well on many occasions.
Could be. There's a lot of precautions and tactics that I don't think a lot of players are using. The game gets so much easier once you figure out what you should actually do. :VGorrath said:
I don't really have a pre-set build. I'll always get at least 3 points in shield, 40% dodge and a teleporter, those three are pretty much a necessity. I'll also try to get a defense drone and cloaking if I can afford it, and if I find an automated re-loader I'll pretty much always add one of those in. Other than that I kind of improvise, but my favorites are:
Glaive/Halberd beam supported by lasers: this can kill the flagship in two good hits, and is insanely strong if you get a pre-igniter.
Drone+ion-builds: preferably Ion Blast II, Ion Blast I, Laser Drone I, Defense Drone I and Beam Drone I. Autofire the IB1 towards the shield, the IB2 towards the engines, launch drones, and go make a cup of coffee while whatever you're fighting dies. Everything in this build, except the IB2 and the laser drone, is interchangable as well, so it's insanely flexible.
LASER SPAM OLOLO: Because lasers. And stuff dies.
Getting at least something that resembles one of these is pretty realistic.
Still, I've actually killed the flagship with a ship that was armed only with a Pegasus Launcher, a pike beam and a laser drone. I have no idea how that happened, but it worked. So you don't really need a top tier build, although it certainly helps :V
I've used all the builds you mentioned and been successful as well. I tend to avoid missile builds as keeping your stock up can be very difficult. As for subsystems, I tend to like the advanced sensors so I can maximize my ship-to-ship encounters along the way. I always treat shields 4 and 40% dodge or a cloaking device as a must. Now that I think on it knowing when to spend your scrap on ship upgrades vs saving for things you need from the shop is a pretty huge part of it. Upgrade your shields too quickly and you won't have scrap for those subsystems, drones and crew. Upgrade your shields too slowly and you might find yourself getting blasted to bits rather suddenly.Naeras said:
But that's what I love about FTL, so many ways to win, so many ways to die.
Adding saving during combat is just the removal of one variable (the one that checks if you are in combat, obviously). NOT THAT HARD.Valderis said:
A "normal" save as in "reload it when something goes wrong" will never happen due the game being a Roguelike and not being able to reload an older game is part of why a Roguelike is a Roguelike.
I personally don't think level 4 shields is a necessity. If you have enough evasion, it's relatively rare to eat a volley big enough to actually damage you, and the exceptions(superweapons, and the odd case of bad luck) can generally be circumvented with cloaking. Paying 180(I think it was?) scrap and two energy for that is usually not worth it, in my opinion. Although, if you've got neither a defense drone nor cloaking it's definitely worth a consideration.Gorrath said:
Long Range Scanners are also amongst the best pieces of equipment in the game. It just does so much for you by allowing you to find (or, if necessary, avoid) encounters, and generally makes it possible to avoid the dreaded ion storms in nebulas.
Indeed, I think my opinion of level 4 shields is based on the fact that I rarely use defense drones or cloaking. Against most ships level 4 isn't necessary, but I buy them as an insurance measure against taking a bad hit on the shield room and I find them useful for the end boss when he's firing his super weapons, though I'll grant that the better option in that case is cloaking anyway. I'm usually swimming in scrap so the 180 is no biggie and I can always change my power assignment around depending on situation.Naeras said:
While you can still unlock ships the old fashioned way, they are making it so you can unlock them sequentially by repeatedly beating the game. For those that don't want to do it the 'easy' way, that feature can be disabled.Legion said:
More on topic: I'm thrilled about the new additions. I'm still learning new tactics and layouts, and the chance to mix it up even more is going to be sweet; especially with that new vacuum friendly race.
Oh man. Terraria and FTL are being unusually kind to me...and long-lived.
Developers and Publishers, take note. THIS is how you cement your game as a classic.
And that's before they increased the rate of the derelict vessel event.
All I can say: Play as a Rock Cruiser; it ensures 100% chance of getting the Stasis Pod if you encounter that event and choose the blue option. Everything after that is still ridiculously luck-driven.
Developers and Publishers, take note. THIS is how you cement your game as a classic.
Normal was a luck-driven mess to begin with for most ships. (I can semi-regularly beat Normal as Engi A, Crystal A and the Kestrel) I cannot imagine Hard being beatable without some incredible luck and a perfect approach.lvramire said:
It took me 40 hours, and the sacrifice of many rabbits, but I managed to get it.
And that's before they increased the rate of the derelict vessel event.
All I can say: Play as a Rock Cruiser; it ensures 100% chance of getting the Stasis Pod if you encounter that event and choose the blue option. Everything after that is still ridiculously luck-driven.
That's not completely true. You don't really have much control over what encounters you'll have, but there is a definite strategy to dealing with the choices you are presented. Of the two 'grey' options, one is usually a 'play it safe' choice that nets you little reward but keeps your ship/crew untouched, while the other has the potential for a huge payoff but can also backfire badly. Any 'blue' options are almost invariably good. Basically you have to make the decision based on how much you can afford the risk.michael87cn said: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! >
Another really good build for the flagship is ion/lasers + fire beam + rock boarders. Setting the drone room on fire and teleporting 4 rockmen into it is my favourite way of dealing with that stupid boarding drone.Naeras said:
OT: Well great, there goes another 300 hours of my life. I shudder to think what enemies with mind control are going to be capable of...
Either I'm consistently incredibly lucky, or that claim is wrong. 80% of my runs on Normal(and ~100% of them on Easy) end up with a dead flagship. The remaining 20% are mostly due to bad decision-making in terms of where to jump and what to buy, as well as the occasional "jump yourself into a corner"-death.Atmos Duality said:
That.. sounds incredibly situational. Could be fun with a Rock Cruiser, but it would be horribly impractical with any other ship.Shamanic Rhythm said:
Still, maybe I should try it. I do love punching the flagship to death.
PS: easiest way to deal with the boarding drone would be to get a defense drone. Which is rarely a bad investment anyway :V
It was certainly the case about a year ago. I dunno, in Normal, I'd frequently end up in a situation where I could get my essential devices in order to take on the flagship (Teleporter, Cloak and a Drone Bay), but I'd lack the firepower to close or vice-versa.Naeras said:
Or I'd get obliterated early on by drone ships (assault drones are the worst for boarding strats) and hazard jumps.
I can clear Easy with any ship almost 100%, and I know the odds on nearly every event that matters. So I don't think not really my approach that's problematic. Basically, if I don't have an extra closer by the end of Sector 4, it's a loss because I have to avoid future encounters or get shot to pieces.
Of course, I have either amazing luck, or wretched luck. There's no such thing as an "average" FTL run for me.
I can't say I recognize the situation. On the average run (I TOTALLY DIDNT SAY "AVERAGE" ON PURPOSE LOL) I'll usually curve out fairly nicely if I know when and how to spend my resources, and look for a way to get a good late-game weapon outfit from the get-go. The weapons and basic upgrades are usually done somewhere within sector 6, and with quite a bit of spare scrap for any luxury devices. This doesn't happen every time, of course, but it's the case more often than not. And if my build doesn't turn out like I wanted, it is because I decide to get an upgrade I didn't need quite yet instead of checking whether there were any shops nearby first.Atmos Duality said:
Also, since you're capable of writing coherent forum posts, I'm also assuming you're not making the horrible mistake of using autofire with every weapon build. I've heard people genuinely complain about "how the final boss is impossible and ftl is so random blaaaaargh rage" when they're not even firing in volleys. D:
Oh, and yeah, assault drones are horrible in general, and even worse if you started out with one of the mantis ships. I've seen an assault drone with five layers of shield, wtf is that =.=;
Unless the weapon is an Ion Cannon or if the enemy starts with a Zoltan Barrier, I -NEVER- Autofire.Naeras said:
I'll have to download my old saves from before and see if my win:loss ratio was as bad as I remembered, but not since I first started Nethack have I cursed so much over random chance.
Rape incarnate.
That's what it is.
I've encountered the other death machine: The shieldless, 12 second cloak assault drone with base 73% evade before.
Great if you've got beams or a Boarding Drone to hit its engine room directly. Terrifying if you don't.
Hard mode? Are you kidding me? I barely got to the boss on Normal, let alone win against it, and now they're giving Hard mode? I probably won't even pass the first section!
Actually I've found it works well against most ships, bar Rockmen and automated scouts. The AI doesn't have the power to vent the way you do, and the fire beam can easily start fires in 4 to 5 rooms, so they're usually still putting some out by the time it recharges. You don't even need to board to finish the job: if the ship has a substantial amount of hull it can usually tank the damage from every system burning down without exploding. I've found it to be the best non-boarding way of taking ships intact.Naeras said:
I say it's my 'favourite' way of dealing with the drone because it's much more vindictive than just shooting it down