FTL: Faster Than Light is pretty awesome

[ramboondiea]

bought it about 2 minutes after launch, its a good game, but feels really bare-bones, i mean there is so much that could have been added to the game.


only need a four person crew to operate all systems, but it would have been nice if every system could have had a crew member or being able to add multiple crew to one system for better performance.

an endless mode would have been nice, getting to sector 8 isnt that difficult, its just the cheap boss that makes it hard.

ship customisation would have been a nice dynamic, as would different upgrades, such as increasing the hull to mitigate damage and prevent boarding drones.

making the systems a little more important so its means more to lose one, like engines, all it does is give a slight dodge chance, why not tie it to your overall power amount, make it important and change the whole, aim for shields and gun combat that every encounter becomes.

i would also like a bit more animation, but thats a small gripe,

i do think for the amount that the devs made they could have added a lot more to this game, and i am hoping for some updates at some point

 

[Tohuvabohu]

bought it about 2 minutes after launch, its a good game, but feels really bare-bones, i mean there is so much that could have been added to the game.


only need a four person crew to operate all systems, but it would have been nice if every system could have had a crew member or being able to add multiple crew to one system for better performance.

an endless mode would have been nice, getting to sector 8 isnt that difficult, its just the cheap boss that makes it hard.

ship customisation would have been a nice dynamic, as would different upgrades, such as increasing the hull to mitigate damage and prevent boarding drones.

making the systems a little more important so its means more to lose one, like engines, all it does is give a slight dodge chance, why not tie it to your overall power amount, make it important and change the whole, aim for shields and gun combat that every encounter becomes.

i would also like a bit more animation, but thats a small gripe,

i do think for the amount that the devs made they could have added a lot more to this game, and i am hoping for some updates at some point

I agree with all this. I'm having a ton, a TON of fun with what we got, but I do think we need more.

I'd like to see more 'stories' be available to play. The rebel-chase to the end, plus final boss is awesome and all. But a game like this could be improved with more scenarios to play.

Perhaps something more focused on deep-space exploration, where the risk of running out of fuel is high.
Or something a bit more focused on diplomacy and negotiations, something that gives us a lot of choices to make that alters the outcome.

Also, more encounters. I've already ran into Dread Pirate Tuco like 10 times, once I ran into 3 times in one sector - twice back to back! The federation would have better chances recruiting Tuco for help, since he has the uncanny ability to continue living after exploding horribly.

There's apparently already mods being released for the game (One of which disables the rebel pursuit, allowing you free exploration without the risk of running into an elite rebel fighter with every jump) I can see the potential of all our problems being fixed by mods, including players coming up with their own campaigns and creating custom sectors with custom encounters.

But still, I would like to see the devs put more effort into this game. They got quite a lot from Kickstarter, and the game seems to have gained a pretty fair amount of success so far. I hope they keep adding more.

 

[sathall]

I would like to see a fire control subsystem. Yes venting the ship is fine, but a subsystem that was maybe a sprinkler system that put out the fires but shorted out the system if you used it. Like a fire in the engine, you use the sprinkler system. It puts out the fire but it shorts the engine out as if it was hit by an ion weapon.

Multiple decks would be cool too. Could have some redudant systems on them or even new systems.

 

[R3dF41c0n]

I bought it Friday and I can't put it down. Btw, if you buy it from the offical FTL website you get a DRM free copy of the game AND a steam code.

 

[oooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

I bought it on launch day after watching Nerd Cubed's lets plays of the beta and its bloody amazing. I've managed to beat it twice so far, but only on easy. Second stage of the fight with the rebel flagship is nigh on impossible on Normal difficulty. I do agree with those above who say another scenario or two would have been great, but overall I'm loving the game.

 

[Schadrach]

I hadn't even heard about this game before it popped up on Steam but I gave it a shot and I am loving it so much. It's the first game in a while where I've really embellished the story myself, given my crew a backstory, said shit like "SET PHASERS TO FULL" and all that.

http://www.ftlgame.com/

Has anyone else started playing? I'm curious to see what others think because I've heard literally nothing about it from anyone.

Been playing it for a while now. I was in the Kickstarter, so I had a beta copy. Lot of fun, was definitely worth the price. I can only hope that Castle Story turns out so good.

Teleporting bomb to their weapons control room FTW. The second one goes to their shield systems. Then they die.

Yep. My friends keep dying. Oh and I HATE boarding parties. I am going to go play it right now.

There's a drone that helps a LOT with boarding parties, or you can get a couple of Rockmen (high HP, reduced asphyxiation damage) or Mantis (higher DPS) crew. Or if they beamed in to the right part of your ship and you have upgraded doors, you can just vent part of your ship to space and watch them asphyxiate. Especially if they beamed in at the airlock, then it's only one room to open to void.

Balls.

Got to sector eight, blowing the crap out of the flagship...

Spoiler

Fucker runs away, and my hull is low and I can't find anywhere to repair and SO MANY DRONES OH MY GOD WHAT ARE MY CREW DYING FOR

Hull repair drone. They cost a drone part for 3-5 hull each. I usually run antipersonnel or anti-missile and systems repair drones (swap out for hull repair after the fight if things went bad). Drone arm helps for any drone heavy strat.

 

[Fwee]

AAAAAAAAAHHH!

I was just thinking up an idea for a game like this!!! I might have to pick up a copy if one of my computers can handle it.

 

[Inconspicuous Trenchcoat]

Took me an hour to beat the final boss (Killed all of the gunners with my two Mantis crewmen, but then I didn't realize that you can't pull guys out of a cloaked ship...so they both died after it cloaked. And my weapons weren't strong enough to punch through the shields, so I had to sacrifice a crewmember to get a single damage on the Rebel Flagship's hull (Have them attack the pilot, distracting him so that the evade chance went to 0% and I could unload on it). I finally killed it with two crewmen left (One died because the Flagship warped away with him still onboard though)...and then the game tells me that it came back more powerful than before. And here I am, with one Engi and a ship that could barely beat the first form at full power. Died before I could even reach the second Flagship.

So laaaaame.

Then, you probably won't want to read this:

Flagship/final boss related spoiler:

Spoiler

The flagship has a third form!
I was whooping out loud when I took down its second form, but then came the third!?! NO!!!! But, I still had half my hull and level 4 shields and there was no time to repair, so threw caution to the wind and intercepted for the final showdown.I barely managed to finish off its final form and win the game, while my ship was on fire and had a handful of hull points left.

That was on easy; I'm scared of Normal.

 

[Yojoo]

For those still learning the ropes, try making use of your own boarding party. I just finished the game on Normal using this strategy for the majority of the game:

Upgrade sensors to level 2+ and teleporter to 2-3. Try to train either Mantis or Rockmen in close combat, then use them two at a time to board enemy ships. Always teleport into rooms no larger than two squares, so as not to be outnumbered. The sensor gives you information on where to teleport (pilot's cabin is a good spot), and an upgraded teleporter lets your guys bail out if they get into trouble.

Against enemy ships without healing bays, you'll be able to inflict heavy damage on the enemy crew. If they have a healing bay, toss a couple missiles into it (either before you board or, if you're feeling sadistic, after injured enemies flee to it), and you're good to go.

Capturing ships this way usually leads to better rewards in terms of scrap and fuel, as well as making it more likely to find a crew member or a weapon. It takes some getting used to, though, since if the enemy is destroyed or makes an FTL jump you can easily lose two crew members.

 

[Do4600]

I've played four hours of this game, unlocked one ship, and my conclusion is that this game is full of shit. I've never played a game that feels more unfair in my life, never. There is no strategy or skill involved, it's all luck. The ships system and crew system are really awesome. I like that you can put out fires by exposing the room to space. There is no way to beat this game without a huge amount of luck. All necessary items are scarce and random, all of the encounters are random, all of the navigation is timed to a certain number of turns before you face certain death.

There is no way to get better at the game because your success is 100% dependent on ridiculous random events. The random events are beyond bullshit also. In at least one third of all of the combat events in the game the enemies are beyond suicidal. What fucking sense does it make for a squad of npcs to board my ship in the middle of goddamned supernova when they don't have a ship to return to and immediately destroy the shields and life support systems? This game just trolls, hard, on purpose, and I paid for it.

 

[RedMattis]

I've played four hours of this game, unlocked one ship, and my conclusion is that this game is full of shit. I've never played a game that feels more unfair in my life, never. There is no strategy or skill involved, it's all luck. The ships system and crew system are really awesome. I like that you can put out fires by exposing the room to space. There is no way to beat this game without a huge amount of luck. All necessary items are scarce and random, all of the encounters are random, all of the navigation is timed to a certain number of turns before you face certain death.

There is no way to get better at the game because your success is 100% dependent on ridiculous random events. The random events are beyond bullshit also. In at least one third of all of the combat events in the game the enemies are beyond suicidal. What fucking sense does it make for a squad of npcs to board my ship in the middle of goddamned supernova when they don't have a ship to return to and immediately destroy the shields and life support systems? This game just trolls, hard, on purpose, and I paid for it.

Then you're doing something wrong. I get to the boss every third time on average and beat him half of the time. Also, having learned more and more effective tactics my overall success rate keeps going up.

Stop using your weapons on auto-fire, consider what sort of defence you will us to counter your opponents weapon, and try to buy stuff that actually compliments your other equipment etc.

Here are a few great weapon combinations:
¤ Beam/beam drone + as much EMP as possible (disable shields then disable & cut them to pieces)
¤ Heal-bomb + Boarding party (kill their crew)
¤ System destroyer bomb/missile + Lasers (kill shields and pound them to pieces)
¤ 1x EMP + Burst Lasers (stop shield from recharging, and pound the shield followed by their systems)

Try to create a combination which will work even if the enemy dodges half the projectiles.

Defensively:
¤ Hurry up and get reinforced doors if you lack a combat capable crew.
¤ Cloak fantastic and a decent replacement for missile defence drones.
¤ Unless you're a flying fortress, get some upgraded engines. Quicker escape is critical, and you probably won't survive without the (~45%) dodge later.
¤ Defence drones are great vs. missiles. Overall drones are pretty great actually. Use them!

General:
¤ You don't need to be able to power everything. Instead try to have a counter to most types of encounters (even if the counter is a swift escape)

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

God damn the final boss is hard. I though I had him on my last playthrough with a fully kitted out ship with over 50 missiles to spare and plenty of drone parts. But I time a cloak wrong and got a few damaged systems and with only two crew members once the systems started going down it was only a matter of time. I'm still too scared to try normal mode again.

I've found that an Engi ship with two Ion blast and a beam drone is pretty unstoppable. The ion blast take 4 seconds to charge so 2 of them can quickly take down even high level shields. Then once the shield is down re-target one of the ion blasts at the weapon system and release the beam drone. Now just watch as the enemy ship is cut up by the drone without being able to fire back. I managed to get to sector 8 without using any missiles or needing to pay to have my ship repaired using this strategy.

For boarding parties I find it's best to upgrade your doors as soon as possible and leave all unmanned rooms opened so they have no oxygen in them, that way enemy boarding parties take damage the minute they come on board. This works well in tandem with an anti personnel drone as they don't need oxygen and thus can be used to keep the enemy busy in a room without any air in it. Of course the risk is if you take damage in an area that you've flushed out the oxygen, repairing it in the middle of a battle can be risky. I've lost many crew because I got distracted quickly finishing off a ship, not realising my repairman has suffocated.

 

[Dansen]

I really like the game, but I think it could be improved a lot by implementing fleet battles.

 

[Rose and Thorn]

I haven't gotten past sector 6, but I am loving this game to death and I refuse to play on normal, before anyone suggests it. I like the challenge!

I got it the day it came out. I am usually in the gaming loop because of people like Total Biscuit and others.

 

[TrevHead]

I've been playing this game non stop the whole weekend, great game.

I've been trying to avoid spoilers as i'm trying to beat the game on normal. Made it to the final boss last night.

Spoiler

The only tip I used was that someone suggested not using power 4 weapons due to the fact they were difficult to keep fully charged.

This spelled my doom when met the final boss when I couldn't get its level shield down with a lv1 bomb, lv 2 ion cannon and level 2 and 3 lasers. Monty Python's big foot of death would decribe the encounter better lol.

Iv'e just unlocked the Orange Falcon, i'll see if it makes the game easier for the endgame.

 

[Laughing Man]

In fact, has anyone tried focusing down the O2 system with Ion Cannons? Since they go through shields, it wouldn't matter how tough the enemy ship is, you could theoretically choke everyone onboard as long as you can defend yourself long enoug

Doesn't work, the Ion Cannon doesn't appear enough for you to equip enough of them on the ship to take out the O2 for a long enough period to suffocate the crew. By the time the Ion cannon comes back on line the O2 has reset and topped the Oxygen level back up a bit, in the early game you may be able to last long enough to hold out but in the late game you'll get tanked long before it has any effect.

I go for as many lasers as I can, each round removes one point of shield with late game ships having 4 shields having enough fire power to punch through and damage the shield is good. I also keep a breach weapon on stand by as well as an anti bio beam.

Use the breach to hit the shields, tank the shields with as many lasers as you can once the shields are down hit the crew with the anti bio beam, while using the breech. It cause loads of damage causes hull damage and contributes to killing the crew. You get loads more scrap, and have a higher chance of finding new crew mates as well as tech on ships with no crew than if you destroy them.

 

[NardBasket]

I love this game so much! And you're right, it's all the more fun when you give your crew verbal commands I've never played a more fun space captain simulator

 

[Zantos]

I really like it, even if it's so damn frustrating! It's still fairly popular amongst my friends and I to name your crew after people and post the story of your inevitable, heroic (or not so) deaths to facebook. I imagine by this point it's satisfying if you actually win.

I particularly like opening up airlocks for fires, intruders, fun...