How far have you gotten in FTL

[Inconspicuous Trenchcoat]

Playtime Total: 7 hours
Playthroughs: 3 serious ones, and a handful of brief experiments, e.g. what happens when you run out of fuel?
Difficulty: All 3 playthroughs were done on Easy.

First: Starting human ship. Reached sector 4 or 5 maybe? Died to a distress call trap. 3 or 4 Mantis boarded my ship while their ship shredded me with missles. I probably died here from inexperience and panicking--hadn't developed the asphyxiation + retreat to med bay strategy yet. Having only 2 crew members at that point didn't help.

Second: Starting human ship. Reached the flagship/final boss, kicked the crap out of it. Oh wait, it has another form!? It demolished me with drones, while I couldn't even break its shields; I had been relying on missles to bring down shields up to that point, but the flagships' defense drone ensured my doom.

Third: Played with the Engi ship I unlocked last playthrough. Made it all the way to the flagship again. Took down its second form, YEEEEESSSS!! ... It has a third!?! NoooAOAOO!! But, I intercepted a third time and managed to bring it down. My ship was still boarded, had 2 or 3 hull points left, on fire and breached in 3+ spots but I won!

So, beat it on easy with this loadout: Maximum shields, maximum weapons system power, 1 Ion Bolt gun, 2 line laser guns, 2 anti-ship drones and 1 defense drone. Fully upgraded doors, one point in sensors and about 42% dodge chance, all stations had a maxed out specialist for the system.

It's a very fun game.

 

[Erttheking]

On easy mode I managed to get to sector 8 three times and the rebel flagship once. It blew me out of the water though. Haven't tried normal yet.

 

[veloper]

I only beat the second stage of the flagship, on normal mode.

Getting to the last stage is very doable on normal and beating the first flagship incarnation isn't too hard either, but the game always give me a major FU somewhere at stage 8 that makes me lose the game just steps away before the end.

I like this game for the most part, but the last stage is just one big middle finger to the player.
Not just a very steep incline in difficulty, but even an FU from a narrative perspective, bare bones as it is.
"OK soldier, so you completed your original mission, here's a little fuel, now beat some giant flagship all by yourself." Even the flagship's weakness is never explained.

The entire game has now changed from just flight and survival, to metagame preparation for the boss fight.

 

[rayen020]

really funny LP

Part 2 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCScFxVycRc]
Part 3 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCScFxVycRc] <- this one is really long (over an hour)
Part 4 (finale) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al7ZC5IrhSY]

 

[lRookiel]

Flagship, final stage with the Kestrel, it was annoying!

 

[Terminal Blue]

I've gotten to sector 6 twice. Once with the starting Kestrel, and the second time with the Red Tail, the Kestrel's second layout.

My most successful game was when I ended up with two mantises and a teleporter. I won a lot of fights by launching hit and run attacks on enemy crews to kill them all then falling back to heal as needed. That is, until my teleporter got hull-breached while my away team were out. Alas, poor mantis marines.

At the moment I'm playing around with the Vortex (Engi cruiser layout B). I never seem to get very far with it, but it's fun as hell. You start out with one dude, a drone bay full of repair and defence drones and a heavy ion/heavy laser combo.

I also got the stealth cruiser, which is insanely difficult to play. Any encounter involving beam weapons may as well be goodbye.

You guys who have done really well, can I ask what upgrades you prioritized? I tend to aim for a second shield as quickly as possible, then more power, then I start thinking about getting a teleporter or cloak. I suspect a lot of my failure is due to neglecting engine upgrades, but beyond that I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

You guys who have done really well, can I ask what upgrades you prioritized? I tend to aim for a second shield as quickly as possible, then more power, then I start thinking about getting a teleporter or cloak. I suspect a lot of my failure is due to neglecting engine upgrades, but beyond that I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Well shields is basically your big priority unless you find new weapons to upgrade your capacity for. However, it's worth getting the first upgrades for both doors and sensors since they're dirt cheap and don't require any extra power (as well as effectively reinforcing those systems). The sensor upgrade is especially useful as it lets you make opportunistic attacks whenever there's a fire/breach/weakened crew member on an enemy ship. Upgrading engines about half way is pretty useful, as it makes you both better at escaping and evading individual attacks. It's also relatively cheap compared to upgrading shields.

So in terms of priorities... Yes, shield upgrades (and weapon upgrades if you need them) should be your main priority but it's worth putting aside some scrap for some of the less obvious upgrades (seriously, the sensor upgrade is worth it for the amusement factor alone). Generally a cloaking system is far too expensive to be worth it since you have to upgrade it for it to be much use, meaning you can buy an entire level of shielding for the cost of it. Teleporters are good, so long as you have Rock or Mantis crewmen to back it up. However boarding is pretty risky as you may have noticed. Also works best if you have a missile/bomb launcher of some kind to take out their medbay with minimal effort.

Oh, and I generally keep my reactor level at least equal to maximum power required by the ship minus one. That's probably wasteful, but since you can turn off your medbay at the beginning of a fight with no consequences it lets me fully power everything from the start.

EDIT: I realise that having only reached the second stage of the final boss on normal I may not qualify as having done really well, but that's my two pence worth of advice.

 

[Terminal Blue]

EDIT: I realise that having only reached the second stage of the final boss on normal I may not qualify as having done really well, but that's my two pence worth of advice.

Still much better than me, which is what I meant by "really well".

And yeah, the cloak is very expensive. I've been using it to jink missiles, but it's probably not worth it.

And yeah, I tend to upgrade doors at least pretty early on. Like you said, it's very cheap and useful for damage/boarding control. Heck, I've repelled more than one boarding action through suffocating the invaders without having to fight.

 

[SilverStrike]

I'm amused that everyone else is having as much trouble as I have been.
Mind you, beaten the Flagship 3 times now. Got the Rock ship as well, and all four of my ships B types unlocked. Love the Shivan reference.

I really want the stealth ship and the mantis ship for boarding.

My first kill with Flagship was surprisingly with the Engi ship, Torus.

Pro tip, middle right gun. DISABLE THAT FUCKER. That fires three missiles. Makes life easier if you take that out. Boarding parties for the win, because nobody can repair it.

Also, I won once with two halberd lasers. Disable shields. 8 damage per shot per laser. 16 hull damage ************.

Also, CLOAK. GET IT. Time it with when missiles/dronesomg/superduperbeam happens. Increases dodge chance, major bonus. Stealth weapons are a big help too if you can but they're rare.

 

[Terminal Blue]

Well, I just got to sector 8 with the red tail.. and got stalemated by the flagship.

I sent boarding parties to wipe out the isolated turrets, and found I could kill the crew slowly by dropping bombs in the medical bay and then teleporting into it while they tried to repair.. that is, until they decided to cloak just as I was attempting an extraction. Lesson learned, I guess.

Anyway, I ran out of bombs.. most of my good marines were dead, and I decided to break off rather than sending my entire crew in waves (which might actually have worked). Made one jump and died to a 4 shield AI missile cruiser.

Next time, bring enough missiles..

I really want the stealth ship and the mantis ship for boarding.

I almost got the mantis ship, but I think I was missing an upgrade required to complete the quest. I'm guessing my medical bay wasn't good enough.

It's a pity. The B layout in particular looks like it could easily be my favourite ship design.

 

[IMAGinES]

Close to the end of Sector 2 on normal. Low on hull and tried to get to a Store only to find the Rebel Fleet all over it like a rash. After that the exit system was locked off.

I kept hearing the Miracle of Sound track, "You Died" as I read this thread...

 

[lacktheknack]

Sixth sector with Engi ship.

No achievements.

I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH. WHY DOES IT NOT LOVE ME BAAAAAAAAACK?

 

[Loop Stricken]

Oh hey, I found a

Spoiler

alien!

Wanted me to take him to the Rock homeworlds.
Those were the systems I just came from.

Sigh.

 

[StashAugustine]

I was just about to fight the flagship for the first time when it circled around me and took out the base. I think I mighta been able to take at least a little of it, too.

 

[Hawkeye21]

I actually beat the game, but this was on easy mode... I was just BARELY able to beat the flagship the third time, by leaving two crewmembers (guns and piloting) behind and teleporting the rest to wreck havoc on the enemy's shield. Fortunately I've had upgraded doors to third level, so enemies had hard time getting through my ship, and my counterattack succeded just in time. Out of 5 people in my crew, 3 survived.

 

[Gennadios]

I've gotten to zone 8 and made the mistake of trying to help a civilian ship on the way to the Flagship. Got boarded, set on fire, and had all but my weapons guy dead by the time my warp drive recharged and I got the hell out of there.

The fight didn't go too well, i gave it everything but only got as far as about half health. I've realized how much beam weapons suck now and I'm working through on my Engie unlock now, Ion cannons and drones seem to be far superior in terms of keeping an enemies systems down.

 

[ShadowKatt]

Well, I made it to the flagship.

Once.

Even on easy this game is WAY hard. I keep questioning myself as to why I keep playing it.

 

[Bertylicious]

I've beat it with the kestrel, the osprey and the torus but the Zoltron cruiser is doing my fruit. Beam lasers are all very well but they're only good once you've got Ion/burst lasers to drop shields and you end up getting rinsed early game by the enemey shooting missiles at you before your cumbersome halberd beam can deck them.

Anyone looking for help; ion cannon FTW.