FTL: Advanced Edition

[Fargazer]

I don't know how much harder Normal is than Easy, because I've yet to play on Easy.

Not gloating. Okay, maybe a little.

I've actually never played on easy either. I didn't want to give myself a crutch only to have to remove it later.

Of course, since it took me 67 tries before I beat it the first time, I still would call it difficult.

When does it come out? I'm starting to froth a bit waiting.

The update says it will be out in the "relatively near future." So I'm guessing anytime from fall this year to sometime 2020.

[Rosstin]

I started on Easy, won after 20ish tries, then switched to Normal. I can win pretty consistently on Normal with good ships, but not sucky ones.

Currently playing on Easy again, trying to get the Crystal Ship. One of my game artists, Emily, started playing the game a few weeks ago. She played it for about 100 hours and got the Crystal Ship. I'm so jealous because I've probably played about 500 hours and never got it. XD

[Tengu_temp]

I won FTL on my second try, but that was a combination of luck and cheating by not going in blind (I saw a LP of the game before, and a few tries by my bros).

Still hasn't gotten the crystal ship. Or even the stealth cruiser. The RNG makes up for its early love by hating me now, I tell ya!

[Rakaydos]

There's other ships? All I have is the Engi ring, the federation dreadnaut and the starter ship.

[darksolitaire]

There's other ships? All I have is the Engi ring, the federation dreadnaut and the starter ship.

Let's see, there's six other ships, each with their own unique set up and play style. They must be unlocked trough random event in specific sectors, and can require specific gear and picking the right dialogue options. So if you want to unlock them, checking wiki for the methods will save you lots of work.

And then there's Crystal Ship which is still hard to get. I managed to got in after around 20 play troughs.

[lord_khaine]

Yeah.. i managed to finnaly unlock the crystal ship as well.. dam it rocks

[Sharoth]

I have yet to get the Crystal Ship. It seems to be a pain to get.

[GloatingSwine]

I should like to add that there are different densities of asteroid fields. Three, if memory serves. The densest kind will bring down two layers of shields.

I should also like to point out that flying in an asteroid field only trains the shields guy. Not engineer or pilot.

Nah, if an asteroid misses you you gain XP on engineer and pilot just like if a weapon shot misses you. I've had crew ding from dodging asteroids whilst all enemy weapons were down.

Only works whilst there's a live enemy ship though, you stop getting XP from asteroids when you're not in a fight.

[ImperiousLeader]

I have yet to get the Crystal Ship. It seems to be a pain to get.

It is, but so worthwhile. The Crystal B, in particular, is a sweet ship. It took me way too many hours to get the Crystal ships, but they are a lot of fun to play.

Still, I'm eager to try out the new layouts and ships.

[Rosstin]

I wish Mac FTL wasn't coded to melt your computer. :<

I've stopped playing it on Mac entirely. I boot into Windows (on my Mac) and play there :P

[Rosstin]

Farming dodging XP works but is tedious and I wish it was de-incentivized.

EDIT on previous comment: Actually, I just tried booting into Windows and FTL STILL melts my hard drive. =/ I have a very nice high-end brand new Macbook pro...

Maybe a console version would be better...

EDIT EDIT: It looks like if I activate Frame Limit and VSync it might stop cooking my computers.

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Yes, turning on those options makes it work fine in both Win and Mac :-)

[Tengu_temp]

This is how the races in this game will always look for me:

Spoiler

Show

Well then. Favorite ship?

I'm boring, but for me it's Federation Cruiser B. Those four lasers, man. Very easy to upgrade from them, and even without weapon upgrades they can carry you through most of the game easily. Also an almost-perfect starting crew (I'd rather have an Engi than a second human, but that'd probably be too overpowered).

[Rakaydos]

Federation Dreadnaut. I sold my normal guns to buy a Defence Drone 2, then proceded to artillery beam my way through the whole game.

[Grif]

Engi A aka Torus.

That Ion Blaster II man.

[Kaptin Keen]

Nah, if an asteroid misses you you gain XP on engineer and pilot just like if a weapon shot misses you.

Nopes. You do not. I am 100% absolutely certain of this.

[Sharoth]

All the ships are fun (except the Stealth Cruiser II). Having said that, I also love using an Ion Blaster II.

[AmberVael]

Zoltan Cruiser is my favorite ship, hands down. You need to prioritize upgrading weapons, but if you can do that then you're set for the whole game. The Zoltan Shield is amazing, and the extra power you get down the line for having so many zoltan crew members is really useful.

[Soralin]

Rock-B is pretty crazy. Starts off with 4 rock crew members, and fire bombs (and a heavy piercing laser). Just get yourself a crew teleporter and you're all set. :)

Run into a ship full of mantis with a medbay? Set the medbay on fire and beam a couple rocks over and they'll clean it out. Basically, no one can beat a rock in a fight, if they're fighting in a room that's on fire. :)

And since you get more resources from capturing a ship than you do from blowing it up, you'll have plenty of resources to pick up whatever else you want. I had one game on normal, where I finished the game with around 650 unspent scrap.

[IthilanorStPete]

The Zoltan ships are pretty awesome - first time I beat the game was with a Zoltan A. I'm also fond of Engi B, because I like having only a couple of crew and flying with most of the ship open to vacuum.

[Binks]

Nopes. You do not. I am 100% absolutely certain of this.

I've dinged pilots off asteroids (during fights with ships whose weapons are disabled) as well. Has to be in an active fight but it works fine.

Engi-A is my best ship, I never really have any issues finishing off the flagship if I start out in the thing. I do love me a Mantis-B boarding operation as well. Pretty much all the ships are fun, save the Stealth Cruiser (run that thing without being able to find shields or pre-ignitor and tell me you're having fun) and the awful Engi-B.

Really looking forward to the new ships...though the fact that all the C's are going to have cloning bays makes me a bit sad as I'm not a fan of that idea. Who knows though, might be a ton of fun. *Shrug*

[darksolitaire]

I like all ships which start at least one beam weapon. I dislike relying to drone parts and missiles.

All the ships are fun (except the Stealth Cruiser II).

"Nice ship you've got there. It would be shame if I would activate my beam drone..."

[ImperiousLeader]

Favourites:

Crystal B: 4 pad Teleporter with Crystal crew is devastating to most ships. Assuming I don't run into an auto ship before I can get a weapon or two, I sometimes don't even get shot at in the first sector or two. I never fear the Rebel fleet chasing me, because lockdown means those crew won't even get back to the medbay.

Fed B: The Red-Tail's four laser combo is pretty efficient, and fast-firing. Also, just a versatile ship, good starting crew and the teleporter adjacent to the medbay is sweet.

Zoltan B: The Zoltan A's Halberd Beam charges too slowly for my taste. The Zoltan B can lock down an enemy quicker with its ion weapons, and the layout makes it easier to retreat the fragile crew to the medbay.

Engi A: That Ion 2 can last all game, such a great weapon. And drone armies are fun. Looking forward to some new drones with AE.

[Draconi Redfir]

i've always been a fan of the mantis ships. so easy to get good stuff with those ships due to the teleporters. though if you loose a man or two it can be devistating.

edit: just beat the game with the class B mantis cruiser AND the AI on the final ship. when i realized the AI repaired systems remotely, i sent a mantis and a rock to the missile and laser comprtments respectively, and just had each of them whail on the systems to keep them down. then it was just a matter of tleporting my other two manti over to destroy the sheilds, send a boarding drone in for good mesure, and evacuate before the ship exploded.

Did loose the rock though unfortionately. was able to save all three Mantai at least.

[Fargazer]

All the ships are fun (except the Stealth Cruiser II). Having said that, I also love using an Ion Blaster II.

But... glaive beam! Its the best weapon ever! It even says so in the description!

My first win was with Stealth A, so the lack of shields can be overcome I know.

I have yet to get the Mantis ship, the Slug ship, or the Crystal Cruiser. The odds on that Crystal ship are pretty low though, so I don't feel too bad about that one.

[Draconi Redfir]

i'd love to win with the stealth ship without getting any sheilds, but between getting the engines and stealth up, i can't seem to find enough scrap to get anything else. any tips?

[IthilanorStPete]

I'd like some general advice on using the teleporter/boarding crews as a main strategy. I don't really have a good feel for tactics, what to prioritize, what to upgrade and when. I imagine it's easier to do with the Mantis ship, but I haven't been able to unlock it yet. Any tips would be appreciated.

[Draconi Redfir]

if at all possible, use rock and manti as your boarding party, manti have better attack then the other races, and rocks can survive longer due to a higher health. avoid using Zoltan as they have very low health.

You're primary prey is going to be ships that don't have a medbay, with those the answer is easy, just beam aboard into a two-space room and start taking out the crew, if your boarders get low on health, make them run around the enemy ship to avoid getting hit until your teleporter can charge up again and beam them out. then it's just a matter of healing them up and sending them back in.

Ultimately you'll want to try and avoid Zoltan and A.I. ships if you can, run away if at all possible, because you can't teleport through the Zoltan shields, and the A.I. ships have no crew to kill, or air to support your own. if you have the weapons to deal with them though, just blow them up.

if you DO encounter a ship with a medbay, you'll want to use whatever resources available to take it out, focus fire on it until it''s red, then beam your crew into it to attack anyone attempting to repair it, or if you have a four-man teleporter, which is unlikely as i believe it's only available in the mantis and crystal ships, send four crewmen into the enemy ship, and have any that aren't directly engaged in combat run to the medbay to either take it out, or finish off any enemy crewmen who are running there to heal. if there are more then two enemy crewmen, then they can at least hold them off from the crewmen outside the medbay, who will be able to kill anyone not in the medbay since the medbay will be too crowded to run to by this point.

[tyckspoon]

Ultimately you'll want to try and avoid Zoltan and A.I. ships if you can, run away if at all possible, because you can't teleport through the Zoltan shields, and the A.I. ships have no crew to kill, or air to support your own. if you have the weapons to deal with them though, just blow them up.

A level 2 teleport recharges just soon enough to pull a crewmember back out before they suffocate (to the tune of something like 10 HP remaining on a human), and gives the attacker enough time to do 1-2 bars worth of system damage depending on skill. It's not an efficient way to do it and you have to watch your timers very closely, but you can do it. Mostly used as a way to lower shields if you don't have enough firepower to break through otherwise. Keep in mind you can't target the teleport when the enemy is cloaked, so keep on eye on that.. ships with cloak systems have cost me probably a half-dozen crewmembers in various ways.

[darksolitaire]

One thing not yet mentioned is that you should be extremely careful when you're boarding enemy ship which is on fire. Another bad scenario is when enemy ship starts loading FTL. Successful boarding also depends on your ability to take out at least some systems before teleporting crew in, so you can control where enemy crew goes. And you need to be able to prevent damage to your own teleporter in case something bad happens.

[IthilanorStPete]

if at all possible, use rock and manti as your boarding party, manti have better attack then the other races, and rocks can survive longer due to a higher health. avoid using Zoltan as they have very low health.

You're primary prey is going to be ships that don't have a medbay, with those the answer is easy, just beam aboard into a two-space room and start taking out the crew, if your boarders get low on health, make them run around the enemy ship to avoid getting hit until your teleporter can charge up again and beam them out. then it's just a matter of healing them up and sending them back in.

Ultimately you'll want to try and avoid Zoltan and A.I. ships if you can, run away if at all possible, because you can't teleport through the Zoltan shields, and the A.I. ships have no crew to kill, or air to support your own. if you have the weapons to deal with them though, just blow them up.

if you DO encounter a ship with a medbay, you'll want to use whatever resources available to take it out, focus fire on it until it''s red, then beam your crew into it to attack anyone attempting to repair it, or if you have a four-man teleporter, which is unlikely as i believe it's only available in the mantis and crystal ships, send four crewmen into the enemy ship, and have any that aren't directly engaged in combat run to the medbay to either take it out, or finish off any enemy crewmen who are running there to heal. if there are more then two enemy crewmen, then they can at least hold them off from the crewmen outside the medbay, who will be able to kill anyone not in the medbay since the medbay will be too crowded to run to by this point.

Thanks for the advice! I did a playthrough with the Red-Tail; didn't get the Mantis Homeworlds, so I couldn't get the Mantis ship, but it worked really well otherwise! Mantis boarders are amazing. I managed a victory with ease.