FTL: Faster than Light, So... Anyone picked this up yet? Options

[X-Kalibur]

One frustrating thing for me, i like taking ships intact, i loose more boarding parties though to computer cheats or firing mishaps then i'd like to think about, really sets you back.

Unless you're starting with a ship that has a teleporter the enemies quickly have level 1 and 2 melee skill, making even your mantises at risk in melee. Also make sure your teleporter is at least level 2 so you can jump them back and run to a med bay.

[X-Kalibur]

Who wants to pilot the Serenity???

http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2525

[StealthSigma]

Word of caution and advice.

DD NOT, I repeat DO NOT kill the entire crew of the final boss. It makes the fight harder because an AI takes control and all systems start self repairing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[_Pax._]

Word of caution and advice.

DD NOT, I repeat DO NOT kill the entire crew of the final boss. It makes the fight harder because an AI takes control and all systems start self repairing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

.... which actually isn't bad if, like last night for me, you're running a ship with two Fire Bomb weapons. FIRE, FIRE, FIRE!!! hehehehe

[StealthSigma]

.... which actually isn't bad if, like last night for me, you're running a ship with two Fire Bomb weapons. FIRE, FIRE, FIRE!!! hehehehe

Assuming there's Oxygen for the fires to burn. Sure. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[X-Kalibur]

.... which actually isn't bad if, like last night for me, you're running a ship with two Fire Bomb weapons. FIRE, FIRE, FIRE!!! hehehehe

Even better if you board with rock men, who are immune to fire...

[Mäx]

It sure is lot of fun to play(even if Borderlands 2 and Torchlight 2 are taking most of my gaming time now), especially now that i cheated a little and got all the ships to play around with.
Pretty much all of them have such a different base play styles.

[StealthSigma]

I do have 8 ships unlocked now.

Kestral A/B, Engi A/B, Zoltan A/B, and Federation Cruiser A/B. I just can't get lucky with unlocking any of the other ships.

[X-Kalibur]

I do have 8 ships unlocked now.

Kestral A/B, Engi A/B, Zoltan A/B, and Federation Cruiser A/B. I just can't get lucky with unlocking any of the other ships.

Some of them are just a bitch to unlock (especially the hidden ship, slug ship, and mantis ship).

After playing with it more, I'm really liking the B plan stealth ship. It's a very high risk, high reward style. (Starts with a Glaive beam only, 25 second charge time and cloak only lasts 10 seconds until you upgrade to 3) but one shot will usually win a fight or at least seriously cripple your foe.

Overall my favorite is the Kestrel B (Red-Tail). I still need the Rock, Slug, and hidden ship, not getting any joy with them, although I did mod the files to lower the pursuit speed. For a real challenge - try playing without pausing.

[CanRay]

I only have the two ships unlocked. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[StealthSigma]

I only have the two ships unlocked. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

The Kestal A, of course, is unlocked by default.
The Federation Cruiser A is the "easiest" to unlock in the sense that it's a 100% reward if you can beat the final boss. Most of the remaining ships require you to have either a crewman of the race or a specific upgrade and upgrade level as well as requiring you to find a special encounter in a homeworld zone (not <race> controlled) and then manage to still outpace the federation.

[X-Kalibur]

The Kestal A, of course, is unlocked by default.
The Federation Cruiser A is the "easiest" to unlock in the sense that it's a 100% reward if you can beat the final boss. Most of the remaining ships require you to have either a crewman of the race or a specific upgrade and upgrade level as well as requiring you to find a special encounter in a homeworld zone (not <race> controlled) and then manage to still outpace the federation.

Actually, the Engi ship "Torus" is the easiest to unlock as it becomes available as soon as you hit Sector 5.

[StealthSigma]

Actually, the Engi ship "Torus" is the easiest to unlock as it becomes available as soon as you hit Sector 5.

Woops, I was thinking it had a requirement.

[_Pax._]

I'll admit ... I found a trainer. I'm going to unlock all the blasted ships. Then I'll go back to legit play. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I got the Engi Torus A legit. I've since gotten the Cruiser and the Mantis ship, and the Kestrel B.

[LurkerOutThere]

Finally beat the game yesterday, then put the lessons learned into play and beat it again pretty much thereafter.

General Tips:

Always buy fuel and explore as much as you can.
Get a teleporter as there are a lot of crew recruitment events it helps with and crew is vital. Taking ships intact is also good, rocks make bout the best boarders, their slow speed isn't really a hindrance as you should be softening ships up selectively and then beaming them directly onto their target (usually med bay, weapons, or helm) and then holding there. Before boarding a ship be sure and knock out it's medbay unless your using mantis boarders.
Get into a slap fight situation with someone (that is a ship that can't get past your shields) and then let you guys train up shields, helm, and engineering, this seems to make all the difference in the world. You'll have to leave the game running while you do something productive but once you've maxed help and engineering alone your adding more then 10% to your evasion just from that. A fully trained shield man seems to get the shields up about a fourth factor which can mea the difference between a shield hit and a hull hit. Weapons can also be trained up in this manner if you've got ions.

[ShadowDragon8685]

I strongly suggest using the mod that disables the rebel fleet pursuit. Being able to just take your time and thoroughly clear each sector helps immensely.


I also recommend cheating at the game start, to give yourself fuel and scrap (and maybe missiles and drones.) I even wrote a guide to doing so.

[Mäx]

I strongly suggest using the mod that disables the rebel fleet pursuit. Being able to just take your time and thoroughly clear each sector helps immensely.


I also recommend cheating at the game start, to give yourself fuel and scrap (and maybe missiles and drones.) I even wrote a guide to doing so.

IMO, cheating like that makes playing the game pretty pointless.

[ShadowDragon8685]

IMO, cheating like that makes playing the game pretty pointless.

Did I ask for your opinion on the matter?



I'm getting bloody annoyed at people peanut-gallerying and preaching about how it's not "playing the game right" to cheat. That's like people who insist you must always "eat your food as it is presented to you," and never season to taste.

[Bigity]

I had a stupid discussion the other day with a friend who insists that modding a retail game's bugs out (ToEE, Dragon Age, etc) was cheating.

People just have a wide range of stances on it, but yea, as long as it's not a online game against real people, it's kinda to each his own kinda thing.

[Tanegar]

Did I ask for your opinion on the matter?

Considering the point of a message board is to express opinions, how about you dial back the smarm, hmm?

[Xahn Borealis]

I think cheating is perfectly justified if it helps you experience more of the game. And FTL is pretty hard with the random events. Some cheats to take off some of the pressure would make it feel like it was my skill that got me through, not a lucky RNG outcome. Where can I find that mod that halts the Rebel pursuit, ShadowDragon8685?

[X-Kalibur]

I think cheating is perfectly justified if it helps you experience more of the game. And FTL is pretty hard with the random events. Some cheats to take off some of the pressure would make it feel like it was my skill that got me through, not a lucky RNG outcome. Where can I find that mod that halts the Rebel pursuit, ShadowDragon8685?

You can actually just mod the data file, truth be told. But check out the forums at ftlgame.com

[Mäx]

Did I ask for your opinion on the matter?

Is this a messageboard or what?

[Xahn Borealis]

Used that Cheat Engine thing that ShadowDragon8685 linked, finally making some progress. I may be going against the point of the game here, but unless the point is to watch yourself get blown up over and over (and I rather suspect it might be), I'm finally able to see more of the world of FTL. One of my favourite tactics so far is using a Fire Beam to set the enemy's shields on fire, then beam over Rocks to occupy their repair crews while I hide behind my cloak and take potshots with an Anti-Ship drone. :3

[taeksosin]

1st game, normal mode: ROFLstomped in the second sector.
2nd game, normal mode: Third sector, accidentally blew up my boarders and had the captain/pilot left. Spaced him.
3rd game, easy mode: Heeey! Made it to sector six before a crew of Rockman boarders slaughtered my crew.
4th game, easy mode: Sector 8! Wooo! Huge crew! Fully upgrade Kestrel A! What do you mean I let the flag ship get too close to the base? KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHN!

LOVING this game. So far, my favorite loadout has been Kestrel's starting laser, the 4sec charge ion thingie 2, and fire beam. Drop their shields, work their weapons, and light 'em up. Bonus points for beaming over Rockmen once I finally got some for my crew. Note to self: Just because a sector is red doesn't mean it's a bad place to go.