Faster Than Light (FTL)

[K9]

Is anyone else playing this? It's a roguelike space sim, and it's pretty fun.

[KallDrexx]

I bought it but haven't gotten a chance to load it yet.  I keep hearing awesome things about it though.

[K9]

Just got wiped out in the sixth sector by some slug invaders, dammit!

[jth]

Got it some hours ago and loving it so far. It's brutal, but awesome and very addicting

For us Europeans, it's cheaper on the developer's site, and you'll also get a Steam key.

[Kail]

Loving this, so far.  At first, I thought the idea was to outrun the enemy fleet as a first priority, but I think the better strategy is to stick around to level up as much as you can.

And those goddamn "incoming solar flare" encounters can eat a fucking dick, holy shit.  "Hey, captain, everything is on fire, we take damage if we try to put it out but the med bay is toast, but if we don't get them out right away our O2 is gone and we'll die from that, also engines and bridge are fragged so we can't jump away, and there are still pirates shooting at us, what do we do?"

[kildorn]

I lost my entire evening to this game. It's really fun, and the unlocks can be frustratingly difficult.

[Goumindong]

This is a really amazingly fantastic game. I will spoiler some "advanced tips" so that people don't lose the "why didn't i think of that"

Dealing with suns


Dealing with Invaders



Dealing with enemies that have Ion Cannons


General Power tips

[kildorn]

I will second that Mantis Sector pretty much means you're going to be hiding in your med bay 24/7

[Quinton]

This is an addictive little game.  I sort of wish it were a bit more rogue-like (more turn-based), but it's plenty entertaining as-is.

[K9]

Fourth try, managed to get the final ship down to 10% hull before I blew up. Not having an easy way to repair your hull in the final sector is a real pain.

I had a really good run up to that point; there is definitely a sense of snowballing. If you get ahead on resources and crew, you tend to loose less than if you're already behind, which I guess makes sense and seems balanced in a twisted way. Having a full complement of crew really helps deal with invasions, and having maxed out shields and engines means you survive a lot more.

I have tried out various weapons now, and I'm coming around to the bomb-type weapons, they can really help you pin down an enemy's shields. I had Ion Cannon/Burst Laser/Bomb on my last run and it worked pretty well. The pike beam has a lot of potential damage, but it won't go through shields, so it tends to only be useful once the fight is won in my experience. Burst lasers and missiles seem like a much better option there. I also quite like the weapon pre-igniter augment.

Another tip is to try to move your crew around as little as possible. Given the length of the game, and how easily crew-members can be lost, there's no point trying to get them maxed-out in more than one skill. Get a maxed out Pilot, Gunner, Shield Guy and Engineer and then use the rest of your crew as roving repair/defense bots.

Going to have another go with my newly-unlocked Zoltan ship, will see how it goes.

[Yoru]

Bought this last night, lost four hours to it. I managed to get to the final boss once, but I was hilariously underpowered compared to it.

Kinda wishing my laptop battery was newer, or that A380s had AC outlets inside, as this would be the perfect way to kill my 8-hour flight tomorrow.

[Soln]

Heard about it at work.  Seems pretty polished too.

[kildorn]

Fourth try, managed to get the final ship down to 10% hull before I blew up. Not having an easy way to repair your hull in the final sector is a real pain.

I had a really good run up to that point; there is definitely a sense of snowballing. If you get ahead on resources and crew, you tend to loose less than if you're already behind, which I guess makes sense and seems balanced in a twisted way. Having a full complement of crew really helps deal with invasions, and having maxed out shields and engines means you survive a lot more.

I have tried out various weapons now, and I'm coming around to the bomb-type weapons, they can really help you pin down an enemy's shields. I had Ion Cannon/Burst Laser/Bomb on my last run and it worked pretty well. The pike beam has a lot of potential damage, but it won't go through shields, so it tends to only be useful once the fight is won in my experience. Burst lasers and missiles seem like a much better option there. I also quite like the weapon pre-igniter augment.

Another tip is to try to move your crew around as little as possible. Given the length of the game, and how easily crew-members can be lost, there's no point trying to get them maxed-out in more than one skill. Get a maxed out Pilot, Gunner, Shield Guy and Engineer and then use the rest of your crew as roving repair/defense bots.

Going to have another go with my newly-unlocked Zoltan ship, will see how it goes.

Mutter mutter, that last boss is more bullshit than you probably know yet. I've yet to fully beat that sector on anything:


Non spoilery weapon stuff:

A pure burst laser build is crazy good. I tend to run three burst 2's on those playthroughs, and you can sync them to basically melt systems through shields. Beams are absolutely godlike if you have a bunch of stuff to bring shields down a bit. The rule is that they penetrate shields but lose 1 damage/room per shield that is up. So if you have a 2 damage beam you can auto pen 1 layer shields.  Ion Bomb on their shields + Beam is usually pretty decent.

The hard one to use is the anti-bio beam, which does dick all through shields. The Slug Cruiser is really just wonky to start out with. The Zoltan cruiser with a pre-igniter is hilarious however.

[Goumindong]

having maxed out shields and engines means you survive a lot more.

Re: Kildorn's boss attempt

[kildorn]

having maxed out shields and engines means you survive a lot more.

Re: Kildorn's boss attempt

[Kail]

Yeah, the end guy is kinda killing this for me, it's too big of a difficulty cliff.  I can generally kick everyone's ass all over the sector and then he just fucking waltzes in and flattens me.  If you don't have a really good missile defense, you're screwed against his first form.  If you don't have a really good drone defense, you're screwed against his second form.  If you don't have a powerful enough offense to punch through his rank 4 shields, you're screwed against all his forms.  He's got four separate weapons control rooms, so I hope your shields are good enough to tank it because that shit is not going to be disabled.  And you need to repel boarders through the whole thing, too.  Even with maxed power, it's rare that I can fit enough gear to deal with everything, all the time.

[Thrawn]

  He's got four separate weapons control rooms, so I hope your shields are good enough to tank it because that shit is not going to be disabled. 

Yeah, the final boss is just...ugh.  It feels so random if you manage to win or lose.

[kildorn]

Yeah, the end guy is kinda killing this for me, it's too big of a difficulty cliff.  I can generally kick everyone's ass all over the sector and then he just fucking waltzes in and flattens me.  If you don't have a really good missile defense, you're screwed against his first form.  If you don't have a really good drone defense, you're screwed against his second form.  If you don't have a powerful enough offense to punch through his rank 4 shields, you're screwed against all his forms.  He's got four separate weapons control rooms, so I hope your shields are good enough to tank it because that shit is not going to be disabled.  And you need to repel boarders through the whole thing, too.  Even with maxed power, it's rare that I can fit enough gear to deal with everything, all the time.

If you can pierce the shields at all, you can wipe out the weapons pretty easily. They're isolated with one crew, so they can't be reinforced and repaired. The third one over is the dick multi missile launcher.

That said, I can get to his third form, but that's about it. Boss after boss after boss seems like a really dickish ending concept given how the rest of the game works.

I was having an awesome run until I tried something stupid (and got my mantis pair killed), I lucked out with a Kestrel and got 2 mantis and an engi in the first sector from chain slaver events. So I installed a teleport pad and just rolled around the galaxy sending two star melee mantis dudes onto every ship I encountered. It's LIKE a bomb launcher! <3

[Kail]

He's got four separate weapons control rooms, so I hope your shields are good enough to tank it because that shit is not going to be disabled. 

If you can pierce the shields at all, you can wipe out the weapons pretty easily. They're isolated with one crew, so they can't be reinforced and repaired. The third one over is the dick multi missile launcher.

I guess I'll try focusing that one, next time.  Just seemed counter intuitive to aim at one of his four weapons pods when I could be taking his ridiculous shield array or that goddamn cloaking device offline.  Plus, relying on drones as much as I do means I often can't choose -where- I hit, they just kinda spray fire all over.  Ugh.

[rk47]

finished the tutorial at work. can't wait for lunch break to give this an extended play.

EDIT: Lunch break is ovah.

[Goumindong]

If you're relying on drones you've probably got some ion cannons. Shoot his weapons.

I've beaten him with Kestrel A, B, and Engi A. The hardest part is getting to him with a cloaking device, 3 shields, and enough weapons/defenses to take him down.

[kildorn]

It's pretty much the cloak requirement that kills me. I get there without one, and it's the primary way to deal with his power surge attacks. Without one I take 1-2 hull damage through shields every time, and will eventually die due to the back to back nature of the encounters.

I messed up recalling a boarding team last night, and had a 10 hp rock man doing the Benny Hill on the enemy shit while I waited for the porter to come back online.

[bhodi]

I love this game so much.

If you are wondering how to unlock all the ships, here is a handy guide. Some of them, are basically impossible without the guide. Remember that you're looking for 'homeworld' sectors, not 'controlled' sectors.

I haven't beaten it; I got to the boss twice on normal and then decided to switch to easy to start to unlock all the ships. I do agree the boss is a bunch of bullshit, though. I think the game still needs some tweaking; I'd like to have the different sectors' shops be a bit less random.


If you want to get some experience to your crew, get level 2 shields and watch for a ship that can't pierce / do damage to you. Then, just go make a sandwich. If you have a weapon that can't kill them, turn it on and get all 4 of your crew to 2 stars.

If you're trying to give your boarding party xp, they get xp on last hit and also whenever they destroy a subsystem. So feel free to split them up and move them around. Also, consider a firebomb or ion for the enemy medbay when you teleport over. You get a LOT more scrap (+1.5x+2x) as well as unique events like taking your pick of slaves on a slaver ship when you kill the crew, so you'll want to get a boarding crew as fast as possible.

You can shoot out the o2 on a slug interceptor and suffocate the crew. It's a good way to get extra scrap in the first sector.

You should buy every Zoltan you come across in a store. +1 power is worth progressively more as the game goes on and practically pays for itself even on the initial purchase. It also does not count towards your ship cap, allowing you to power more after you've maxed your energy.

[Thrawn]

as well as unique events like taking your pick of slaves on a slaver ship when you kill the crew

I've never gotten this to happen and I've tried it multiple times after reading it was possible. 

[K9]

I just noticed that apparently the rebels will pursue you slower while you are in a nebula; so by studiously avoiding nebulae I may have been making the game harder for myself.

[bhodi]

Apparently? That tip is next to your cursor on every single jump point you mouse-over that is in a nebula. There is even a blue cloud surrounding all the valid points. A nebula sector just means that most of the points will be like that.

[Goumindong]

Apparently? That tip is next to your cursor on every single jump point you mouse-over that is in a nebula. There is even a blue cloud surrounding all the valid points. A nebula sector just means that most of the points will be like that.

In a nebula sector the fleet is delayed about 25% [50% for a regular sector nebula] for any node, you don't get any benefit for being in a nebula in a nebula sector.

[K9]

Apparently? That tip is next to your cursor on every single jump point you mouse-over that is in a nebula. There is even a blue cloud surrounding all the valid points. A nebula sector just means that most of the points will be like that.

I hadn't read the tooltip previously.

Managed to get the boss down at last, despite losing my two best fighters in the penultimate sector by blowing up the ship they had invaded... Now to try and beat him on normal difficulty.

[Kail]

Ugh, FINALLY beat this.  Spent most of yesterday trying to get that Engi cruiser type B to work well, because I like the idea behind it, it just never works the way I want it to.  Switched to the type A today (I keep playing Engi in the hopes of unlocking that one ship you need them for) and lucked out in finding a second Ion Blast 2 in the first sector, which I just barely managed to afford.  Once I managed to keep them both powered, nothing in the game has shields for very long.  Managed to get a Hull Beam, which is completely useless if the enemy has shields but does monstrous damage if they don't, and became a death machine.  Kept losing crew to stupid mistakes, and I couldn't afford a cloak or repair drone, but I did snag a Defense 1 drone for the final fight.

[rk47]

Yeah finished the game by pure chance.



Lost a crew early sectors due to asphyxiation
But decided to carry on and managed to beat a pirate ship that rewards me with Burst Laser III. 
Pure death. My alpha strike consists of BL II x2 and BL III blows most encounters up.
Didn't even use teleport of drones for the final fight.

[Raging Turtle]

Is this playable on a mac and without a mouse?  Or is this a game where reflexes matter?

[rk47]

you can pause in combat to issue orders -
as for mac , i dont know.

[Kail]

Steam says it's out for mac, but I'm not sure how you'd play it without a mouse.

[Raging Turtle]

I should have been more clear, I have a macbook air and generally just use the touchpad (which is great, but not the same as a mouse).

[Viin]

Not twitchy - think turn-based tactical game (xcom?) but you have to manually pause and issue commands. Or not pause and issue commands. Or auto fire and die.