FTL: Advanced Edition

[Tengu_temp]

I think I officially hate the Rock A ship. The only other pre-Advanced ship I hate even more is Slug B.

I made god knows how many runs with that flying piece of crap (that's even how it looks like). Never reached the final boss, and the only achievement I ever unlocked was Defense Drones Don't Do D'anything, because from the other two one is extremely luck-dependant and the other is buggy as hell. Relying on missiles has to be the least cost-effective way to fight in this game ever.

[Ailurus]

There's a new augmentation I saw in a store (but didn't try out) which was something to the effect of "missiles have a 50% chance of not using ammo" which should help explosive-heavy builds get more effective (assuming you can find it).

[nhbdy]

I share your pain, I've run the rock A much more than I'd like, and I hate it every time. Relying on missiles is a huge pain early on, because you have to watch each shot until you get some stable energy weapons. On top of that, every crew member is a rock, so moving around to face boarders or to fix systems just doesn't happen at any reasonable speed. I too have only gotten the defense drone achievement, if only because I've yet to win the lottery with the crystal ship, and every time I attempt the fire based one, the enemy simply flees the burning room (even if there is no medbay) before I can secure the kill, with AE that means I need hacking or something to disrupt their door systems to even be remotely sure of the kill, which is a lot of things to gather just to hunt an achievement.

[The_Final_Stand]

My favourite new augment is the "Reconstructive Teleport". Full heals your crew when they teleport, so you don't have to spend power on the medbay, and you can quickly pull them back and forth to deal with threats as they become apparent.

[ImperiousLeader]

My favourite new augment is the "Reconstructive Teleport". Full heals your crew when they teleport, so you don't have to spend power on the medbay, and you can quickly pull them back and forth to deal with threats as they become apparent.

Yeah, I want one for the Mantis C, or any other boarding ship with a clone bay.

[Eldan]

Damn that sounds awesome.

I noticed that some shows have two pages of goods. Is that a new thing or did I just never notice it before?

[nhbdy]

Damn that sounds awesome.

I noticed that some shows have two pages of goods. Is that a new thing or did I just never notice it before?

It's new, it also REALLY helps with ensuring you have some options for upgrading key systems/weapons

[Grif]

Damn that sounds awesome.

I noticed that some shows have two pages of goods. Is that a new thing or did I just never notice it before?

It's a new thing. An awesome addition really, with some stores now selling all four classes of goods available. (Crew, Weapons, Augmentations and Drones)

[Hydranova]

And ship systems too, don't forget.

[AmberVael]

I got reconstructive teleport on one of my boarding ships, and it was great. Very nice stuff.

Also, I have a new favorite weapon: the Vulcan. That thing is sweet with its chain lasers. I managed to get it onto a ship along with two flak cannons, and it was just a murder ship.

I've been slowly working on getting all the type C ships. Only have a few so far- I've been having some bad luck. I keep trying to use the stealth ship and then suddenly every single enemy has beam drones.

[darksolitaire]

Relying on missiles has to be the least cost-effective way to fight in this game ever.

Engi B "Forever Alone" would like a word with you

[FLHerne]

These new things are awesome! Mind control in particular seems to have strategic fun.

The combination of full Hacking and twin Glaive Beams seems to be rather unstoppable. After dropping the shields you can slice through every ship in the game - only those pesky Zoltan bubbles and Defence Drones cause problems.

[nhbdy]

Engi B "Forever Alone" would like a word with you

What's the problem with the engi B? It starts with a heavy ion and a laser, seems perfectly fine for the first two sectors, whereas the rock is constantly losing missiles, which is an additional cost that most people (like me) would really love to avoid.

[Ailurus]

What's the problem with the engi B? It starts with a heavy ion and a laser, seems perfectly fine for the first two sectors, whereas the rock is constantly losing missiles, which is an additional cost that most people (like me) would really love to avoid.

The gun configuration on the hobo van is decent, but still inferior to something like burst laser II, because you need to have both guns hit to do any damage. But, the problem with the ship is that while the drones are nice they aren't enough of an edge to allow your lone crew member to deal with multiple threats. You can't afford to take any chances on events that could hurt your crew, since one death means its game over. Solar Flares, hull breaches or fires (particularly if they hit your drone control), or any event that leads to multiple boarders go from being potentially difficult challenges to being life-threatening events. And even once you start acquiring crew, they're all going to be under-leveled unless you find and abuse some safe fights. While it is fun to not only be able to but actually be encouraged to run around with most of your ship exposed to vacuum for fear of a mantis coming aboard or a firebomb hitting, its not conducive to long-term survival.

[Starsign]

What's the problem with the engi B? It starts with a heavy ion and a laser, seems perfectly fine for the first two sectors, whereas the rock is constantly losing missiles, which is an additional cost that most people (like me) would really love to avoid.

Haha no. Heavy Ion is the worst Ion weapon in the game. Draining 2 if it hits is nice but it only does 1 point of shield damage if it isn't a direct hit, and takes 12 seconds to charge. In addition, Heavy Laser has a charge time of 10, needing to wait another two seconds to fire the Ion so you can damage something. It ends up with your ship being wide open for 12 seconds, which is easily enough for a missile to come crashing down on your pilot or drones. Both these weapons are useless without another weapon to support it the moment enemies come along with 2 shields.

Secondly you only get one pilot. Doesn't sound that bad considering you have a Drone guard; except the guard can't handle 2 Mantis' at once. Nor is it coming to save your Engi if enemies teleport to where he is. (which is most likely the pilot compartment) And you have no cloaking, offensive drone, or system that you can otherwise protect you from a bad setup. What this all equates to is that Engi B actually can't kill half of the things in Sector 2 if you are playing on Normal or higher, and can dies just as easily. The only way to survive is literally to act as if you start with nothing and that ANYTHING you get is better. You also need to build up a crew fast, improve shields and engines, get Hacking or Mind Control, and pray you don't get screwed over.

It's frankly easy to see why Engi B is the worst ship in the game. (though Zoltan C, again, might be worse) Helps that Slug B is better cause Hacking and Mind Control greatly improves their ability to board.

[nhbdy]

I understand that the ship isn't top tier, and I'll even concede it's a low pick, but I still would take it over that rock ship. Namely because starting with drones is really awesome, and while the weapons aren't great, it just means I have to prioritize finding a store to buy better ones (something that is part of any playthrough, just needs to happen sooner). Boarding is a problem, till you get blast doors (you don't start with em, right?) at which point I (assuming 1 crew member) vent the ship to space except for the cockpit to the medbay, makes boarders have a lot harder of a time. All said and done, you are at a disadvantage early on, but the gimmick is solid (drones are extremely versatile and a great system to get right out of the gate) and I'd much prefer it to the rock's gimmick which seems to consist of "We don't take fire damage *but we move unbearably slowly, so repairs suck* and we think missiles are the only weapons worth using *so you have major ammo problems unless you can get another functioning weapon system*"

[Tengu_temp]

I consider the Engi B hoboship to be leaps and bounds above Rock A. It's much easier to get extra crewmen (especially since almost all shops sell them in Advanced) than the amount of missiles the latter chews up on a regular basis, or decent enough lasers that you don't have to constantly rely on missiles to actually deal any kind of damage.

In fact, here's my private ranking of ships, from best to worst. Let the controversy commence!

Spoiler: potential heresy

Show

Kestrel B
Zoltan B
Slug A
Engi A
Mantis A
Federation B
Federation A
Kestrel A
Zoltan A
Engi B
Stealth A
Lanius A
Rock A
Slug B

I haven't tested the others.

[nhbdy]

I consider the Engi B hoboship to be leaps and bounds above Rock A. It's much easier to get extra crewmen (especially since almost all shops sell them in Advanced) than the amount of missiles the latter chews up on a regular basis, or decent enough lasers that you don't have to constantly rely on missiles to actually deal any kind of damage.

In fact, here's my private ranking of ships, from best to worst. Let the controversy commence!

Spoiler: potential heresy

Show

Kestrel B
Zoltan B
Slug A
Engi A
Mantis A
Federation B
Federation A
Kestrel A
Zoltan A
Engi B
Stealth A
Lanius A
Rock A
Slug B

I haven't tested the others.

Interesting ranking, seeing as you ranked slug A so highly and I have yet to make it really work for me, do you have any tips/strategies to pass along?

[Tengu_temp]

The main tactic of Slug A is to kill the enemy crew without boarding. Use your laser to reduce enemy weapons to the point where they can't hurt you, wait until your beam charges, fire lasers to break the shields and kill crew with the beam. Rinse and repeat. If the enemy has a medbay/cloning bay, make sure to destroy it too or else they will heal.

The bombs are there for when the laser is not enough, either because the enemy has very powerful weapons, because the shields are too hard, or because there are defense drones. But generally don't use them if you don't have to.

In addition to the essentials like better shields and stealth system, you have to prioritize improving weapons or else enemy shields will get too hard to break sooner or later. But since killing the crew gives more scrap than destoying the ship, you're at an advantage here. You can get rid of the bombs if you find a better weapon, but stick to your other starting weapons - dual lasers are very good for a power 1 weapon, and anti-bio beam is this ship's defining feature and really great if you know how to use it.

[nhbdy]

Going to have to try the slug A again, always had trouble with it but thought the concept was neat.

On a side note, just had a flack run get shut down by an enemy spamming defense drones, apparently they can shoot down flack, who knew? (was running flack 1 and heavy laser 2, when the enemy has 3 shield and shoots down your flack, it sucks)

[NEO|Phyte]

I've never seen a defense drone I shoot down flak, was it a defense drone II?

[nhbdy]

I've never seen a defense drone I shoot down flak, was it a defense drone II?

It probably was, there were at least 3 defensive drones on that ship, and it drastically reduces the shield stripping power of said flack

EDIT: Thinking back on it, I probably should have run, the ship had good evasion, and my flack I which shoots 3 projectiles was stripping 2 shield, meaning only 1 projectile was being shot down, meanwhile my heavy laser wasn't doing consistent damage. Instead I stayed and was killed.

[Fargazer]

Man, I seem to have an uncomfortable tendency to favor those ships which others hate. My first victory was in Stealth A, followed by my second victory in Rock A (and my third victory in Rock B.)

Now I'm trying out that Lanius cruiser some more.

[nhbdy]

Man, I seem to have an uncomfortable tendency to favor those ships which others hate. My first victory was in Stealth A, followed by my second victory in Rock A (and my third victory in Rock B.)

Now I'm trying out that Lanius cruiser some more.

If it makes you feel any better, I love stealth A and it was my first normal win, that doesn't mean I think it's stronger than kestral B mind you (that ship has an insane start) but I do like it, a lot.

[Starsign]

Still trying to use Engi C, haven't had really any luck so far getting far on Normal difficulty. Not sure if Engi C is just garbage (which shouldn't be the case as they're quite safe from most ships early on) or I'm not used to Normal, but I'm never in a good enough condition to make it to Sector 8. Anyone got any advice, for using/deciding what to go for with Engi C, for getting through Normal, or both?

Also at some point I'm gonna NEED to use Zoltan A/B (not using C ) to get Slug C. It looks like such an awesome ship but I need to get both Slug ships first and I don't like Slug A or B.

[Tengu_temp]

If it makes you feel any better, I love stealth A and it was my first normal win, that doesn't mean I think it's stronger than kestral B mind you (that ship has an insane start) but I do like it, a lot.

I rank the stealth ship low, because I'd rather start with shields and buy stealth when I can afford it than the opposite. Having no shields is just too dangerous. And apart from starting with the stealth system, there's not much to it.

[Hydranova]

Urgh, I'm never good with dodge-only stuff. I'm too far used to level four shields and weapon pulverizing.

[nhbdy]

Finally got somewhere with the slug A and unlocked the slug B. I used the anti bio beam the entire time (I did not clear the flagship and I was playing on normal). Based on my experience I think that tengu was overrating the slug ship, though it could have been my luck but it was always a struggle to keep them disabled without outright murdering them, especially when they had a ton of offensive systems, like a strong weapon battery, drones, mind control, etc...

It certainly wasn't a bad ship, and it was a fun run, but I wouldn't put it in 3rd place... I'd probably say that the top 3 for me would be Kestrel B, Fed. Cruiser B, Kestrel A.

EDIT: The above 3 were chosen because they are completely non-committal in terms of strategy, you can more or less wing it and roll with whatever you happen to find first, which lessens dependence on RNG, that said, more specialized ships can be more powerful, but if for example you go for an Engi A start and run dry on drone parts, or just fail to find a suitable weapon/drone setup, but get tons of opportunities to go for a boarding strategy, you would be worse off than the above. That said, with AE's store modifications this is probably more moot, but I still hate testing my luck when I want to talk about raw power.

[Grif]

Had a surprisingly good run with Rock A earlier on Normal. (Further than what I got in the original on Easy.)

Explosive Replicator is definitely a boon to the ship if you can snag one, and the missiles are quite good once you don't need to worry about ammo.

[Draconi Redfir]

checked out the new ftl lately and... ech... the new layout and display for things like battle rewards and the like isn't exactly appealing to me. and the new race ship is an utter mess, sore on the eyes, and waaaay too busy. really stands out against the more simplistic other ships. also noticed the enemy ship layouts have changed as well, not too fond of that either.

plus i think it would have been better if we had gotten an introduction and a quest to the new race and to unlock their ship, rather then just getting it right off the bat.

all in all, the new FTL hurts my eyes, and i miss the old layout.