FTL: Advanced Edition

[Lunix Vandal]

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.

I wasn't a fan either, at first, but it's grown on me. It's mostly a new-player-accessibility change, so that there's zero ambiguity as to which reward is going to which pile of resources (rather than shops and the top bar using icons and event text using words).

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.

Eh. That's a matter of personal taste, I think -- note that each race already had a distinctive style, and some other ships (e.g. Rock B, Mantis B) were already plenty "busy-looking." I'm of the opinion that the Lanius' ball-of-knives look isn't too far-fetched, given that Auto-Assaults were halfway there already.

also noticed the enemy ship layouts have changed as well, not too fond of that either.

I actually think it was kind of clever -- the only really drastic layout changes were to the Hard-mode Flagship and the assorted pirate ships, which gives pirates their own sort of "racial quirk." Everything else is the result of tacking an AE system onto an existing ship, then shuffling which system is where.

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.

The Lanius (and their ship) get more of an introduction if you reset your save, or simply didn't play FTL before the AE update -- the unlock condition is "Kestrel A plus 4 other ship unlocks," meaning you can't use the Lanius A until (at earliest) your second run* (and more likely ninth or tenth, unless you are fantastically good and/or lucky). By the time a fresh save (especially for a new player) is able to use the Lanius A, you've likely run into the Abandoned Sector a few times.

*Unlock Kestrel B via achievements, Engi A by reaching Sector 5, and any two of the other "A" layouts via their respective quests. Lanius A as the third run is slightly more possible, requiring only Kestrel B and Engi A from the first run, then using the Engi A to unlock Engi B (achievements) and Fed Cruiser A (victory) in the second run. The Lanius unlock doesn't count "B" or "C" layouts as separate ships, so you're looking at needing four wins and/or quests to earn it.
EDIT: Confirmed for requiring five "A" layouts.

[Grif]

I actually think it was kind of clever -- the only really drastic layout changes were to the Hard-mode Flagship and the assorted pirate ships, which gives pirates their own sort of "racial quirk." Everything else is the result of tacking an AE system onto an existing ship, then shuffling which system is where.

The one layout change I did notice was to connect the previously disconnected rooms on the small Slug ships. It used to be that you could disable Oxygen and Engines without them being able to repair it.

[Eldan]

That was really nice about the slugs, yes. So easy to pirate those ships.

I think I'm just really bad at this game. I've finished it once or twice, but since the advanced edition, I can't seem to get past sector three or four. And I still don't have the Rock, Crystal, Slug or Mantis ships.

[Grif]

That was really nice about the slugs, yes. So easy to pirate those ships.

I think I'm just really bad at this game. I've finished it once or twice, but since the advanced edition, I can't seem to get past sector three or four. And I still don't have the Rock, Crystal, Slug or Mantis ships.

You're not the only one. Even with Kestrel B, I only managed to reach Sector 5 with some hefty luck. This despite me finishing with Kestrel B several times on the same difficulty in the original.

The difficulty is definitely retuned somewhat, and the added subsystems/weapons are wrecking merry hell on my ships. (Flak is the bane of my existence, hacking, the ion droid and new anti-droid droid the second.)

[Sam cw]

The one layout change I did notice was to connect the previously disconnected rooms on the small Slug ships. It used to be that you could disable Oxygen and Engines without them being able to repair it.

I've definitely seen a couple of small Slug ships that kept the isolated O2 room, so they're not gone completely.

[Jamin]

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.

i found Zoltan C to be the best of the Zoltan ships. The Ion Charger is good weapon and 4 Zoltan more than make up for the low staring power. I am not the biggest fan of the Zoltan ships overall but I liked the feel of C more than the other 2. The back up Battery takes some getting used to but overall it works very for cloaking hacking or mind control. I have got to agree with you about Engi B worst ship getting engi C was a big pain. Overall I like the new additions I think a 3rd Lanius Ship that was more traditional would have made it 10 out of 10 but for a free update this has to be up there is the top best free update of all time.

[Tengu_temp]

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...

My reason for why Slug A is so high is simple - I vastly prefer to kill enemy crew than to destroy the ship, it gives much more resources. And unlike most boarders, Slug A isn't entirely helpless against drones, and can break through a Zoltan shield in less than a decade.

[Draconi Redfir]

I actually think it was kind of clever -- the only really drastic layout changes were to the Hard-mode Flagship and the assorted pirate ships, which gives pirates their own sort of "racial quirk." Everything else is the result of tacking an AE system onto an existing ship, then shuffling which system is where.

i dunno, i kinda liked the fact that pirate ships were just painted versions of other ships, since y'know they were pirates, it would be understandable that they just stole ship and started raiding people.the internal structure doesn't change when someone of a different profession takes your vehicle/house.

[nhbdy]

Just unlocked the slug C and I really have to say that the hate is justified on the slug B. If anyone was looking for tips to run a successful B, I'd say that you should always board when possible early on, and prioritize breaking that missile dependency (namely by buying a medbay/clone bay and laser weapons ASAP).

[IthilanorStPete]

Played my first game with AE, using the Zoltan A (on Easy). I managed to get to the flagship's second stage, but it ripped me apart - without cloaking, one defense drone isn't able to protect against the flagship's missiles + drone swarm. The only new system I tried out was hacking, which looks pretty cool; I'll definitely be trying it out more. I also had a Flak I, which worked quite well. Next, I'm going to try taking the Mantis A out for a spin.

EDIT: I really like all the interface tweaks. None of them are enormous changes, but when added together, they make the game much nicer to play.

[Studoku]

It might be a trap but slug B with a clone bay + healing bomb actually looks viable.

[nhbdy]

It might be a trap but slug B with a clone bay + healing bomb actually looks viable.

I'm sure it could work, I just dislike relying on healing bomb, as it takes a weapon slot (could be ion, or burst laser, or flack, etc...) and it doesn't contribute anything when boarding isn't an option (later in flagship fight... you don't want AI to take over, or with drones) it is also a rather tough start, but if it sounds fun to you, I say go for it!

[Tengu_temp]

Played my first game with AE, using the Zoltan A (on Easy). I managed to get to the flagship's second stage, but it ripped me apart - without cloaking, one defense drone isn't able to protect against the flagship's missiles + drone swarm.

It's very much possible to beat the flagship without cloaking or defense drones, but you need very high evasion. And if you're unlucky, stuff might get awful really fast.

[Grif]

Amazingly enough, despite all my hate on Rock A, I got my first Normal win on AE with it.

I take back everything I said about you.

I went into the flagship fight with maxed shields, 3 Flak Is and a Small Bomb. Flaks ripped the flagship a new one in no time.

[Rakaydos]

I just got an Engi B victory. Found a Vulcan near the end of sector 2... from then on, it was simply about staying alive until thing died. Including the flagship.

Boarders wernt really a problem- I kept the ship depressurized with level 2 bulkheads, shen someone showed up I'd close the doors and turn off the O2 for a bit.

[Eldan]

My first advanced victory with Stealth A. Still don't have Stealth B unlocked.

Brought cloak up to level 3 in sector one and had some early luck with weapon drops, so it was pretty smooth until sector four.
Sector four was a harsh setback. I had pretty much no defence against boarders, other than putting everyone in the medbay and depressurizing the rest of the ship. I was boarded by four Lanii and two of my three crew members suffocated.

Still managed to get to sector six with just a pilot. Then I found a shop selling three Engies and a Shield System.

By sector seven, I had a Flak 2, Mini Beam and Burst Laser 3. Two very combat-experienced potential borders but no teleport, sadly. Still managed to tear the boss apart by virtue of superior firepower and a level 3 cloak and 4 shields. Dicey, though.

[Tengu_temp]

You sold the dual laser but kept the mini beam? Don't do that! Dual laser is the best 1-power weapon. From my experience, there are many, many weapon tactics in this game, but nothing beats simply spamming lots and lots of lasers.

[Starsign]

You sold the dual laser but kept the mini beam? Don't do that! Dual laser is the best 1-power weapon. From my experience, there are many, many weapon tactics in this game, but nothing beats simply spamming lots and lots of lasers.

This in a nutshell. Dual Lasers are an excellent weapon to have and getting two of them is one of the best things you can ever have. The mini beam is nice to have but I find it better to be sure that you can remove threats with lasers... usually (selling my Zoltan B Pike Beam for the Burst Laser Mk 1 was such a bad idea )

[Eldan]

I thought it was a pretty good deal, actually. At that point, I already had a much better burst laser and the flak, so shields weren't ever really a problem and the beam just did more damage.

[Grif]

This in a nutshell. Dual Lasers are an excellent weapon to have and getting two of them is one of the best things you can ever have. The mini beam is nice to have but I find it better to be sure that you can remove threats with lasers... usually (selling my Zoltan B Pike Beam for the Burst Laser Mk 1 was such a bad idea )

Burst Laser I is just a weaker version of Burst Laser II. Not worth having in a lot of cases.

But you know what's better than lasers? Flak. Lots of them. Fill your ships with Flak and laugh.

[Starsign]

Burst Laser I is just a weaker version of Burst Laser II. Not worth having in a lot of cases.

But you know what's better than lasers? Flak. Lots of them. Fill your ships with Flak and laugh.

I have yet to get a darn Flak mkI weapon (much less a Mk2), but based on what I've been told, it's basically the best weapon in the game. Two Flak weapons of any kind can completely obliterate the Flagship apparently, which... almost scares me.

[Tengu_temp]

I like flak to break enemy shields and cause extra damage, but it's a supplemental weapon to use together with lasers. It's too inaccurate and imprecise to break enemy systems reliably. Flak is great, but not as the main weapon.

Also, from my experience: until lategame when you have strong defenses and possibly stealth, don't rely on Flak II or Burst Laser III as your main source of damage. They're too slow.

[Fjolnir]

The Explosive Replicator helps if you can find one as far as missile dependency goes...

[Lunix Vandal]

I have yet to get a darn Flak mkI weapon (much less a Mk2), but based on what I've been told, it's basically the best weapon in the game. Two Flak weapons of any kind can completely obliterate the Flagship apparently, which... almost scares me.

Pretty much, yeah. If your target has a 2x2 room to target (which most stronger targets do, especially for Shields or Weapons), Flak I is essentially Burst Laser II with a 2-second-shorter cooldown. Two Flak Is give you a 6-pellet burst every ten seconds -- with no misses (read: hack the pilot), it's easily enough to rip through anything's shields with damage to spare, and then do it again before a one-man repair crew can undo the first shot. (Or the second, or the third, or ...)

Flak II, conveniently, has exactly twice the cooldown of Flak I, so you can put a mixed I/II setup on autofire from the start of each fight and they'll sync up every time the Flak II is ready.

For all the gushing praise we've had for the Chain Vulcan, it does bear pointing out that it also needs a decent defensive setup to use effectively -- letting off a shot every ~.9 seconds (assuming max-experience gunner) is impressive (and sufficient to kill most anything), but you have to keep it online and autofiring for 28 seconds before it gets to that point. This means you're likely to take 2-3 volleys of all of their everything, every fight, before your "I win" button comes online. (Also, put it in your first weapon slot, not the last. It's more resistant to being knocked offline by Ion/Missiles that way.)

[Sam cw]

It's also worth noting that flak bullets can get shot down by level 1 Defense Drones and that if you target a smaller room on it's own, any of the shots that would land outside the ship actually miss. The last bit is extra important for the Flak 2, as it has a wider spread pattern than even a 2x2 room. And they have a slightly longer travel time than Lasers, so you'll want to fire them a little ahead of the rest of your weapons to get the best effect.

So yeah, Flak is fantastic for breaking shields and supporting other weapons (especially Beams), but all Flak all the time can get awkward when you need system damage to gain the edge.

[Yana]

The Explosive Replicator helps if you can find one as far as missile dependency goes...

I can concur with that statement. I recently ran a ship that had a Vulcan, Breech Bomb II, and Fire Beam. Essentially, I started spooling up the Vulcan and had it auto target the enemy's shields. In the meantime, I spammed breach bombs on the weapon bay. Once the shields were downed, I set fire to everything inside, and that left the enemy with a few dwindling options: suffocate, burn, or get shot.

Oddly enough, they never chose to surrender. Fancy that.

[Eldan]

I just met the most useless enemy ever: two mini-beams and a beam drone. Nothing else that can do anything to the enemy.

[nhbdy]

I just met the most useless enemy ever: two mini-beams and a beam drone. Nothing else that can do anything to the enemy.

Fight that early on as a stealth cruiser and you'll have nightmares...

[Blackdrop]

Fight that early on as a stealth cruiser and you'll have nightmares...

I dealt with one of those ships near a pulsar. Never again.

It's also worth noting that flak bullets can get shot down by level 1 Defense Drones...

I wanted clarification on something: Could defense drone always intercept laser shots, or is that a recent thing? Or is my game just bugged in a hilariously frustrating way?

[mythmonster2]

Level 2 defense drones can indeed shoot down any projectile and have always been able to. Fortunately, they're rather rare (at least in my experience).