FTL: Faster Than Light - Advanced Edition

Talk about that Artillery Beam from the Fed Cruiser.

 

Hull repair is 2-4 scraps per point, it depends on sector.

 

Its the hardest phase. You NEED either a bomb (any will be enough but better models are obviously superior) or the ability to launch 3 missiles per salvo or truly massed laser fire. Or crew teleportation to the shield room, destroy the shields, destroy the ship with lasers. For survival cloak when power surge warning appears.

 

get a minimum strength cloak. It lasts 5 seconds and has about a 30 second cool-down. The drone attack also lasts about 5 seconds and has a 30 second cooldown. It is really tight, but that should keep you mostly safe. It also works wonders on phase 3 when the mass of heavy lasers comes out.

 

Yeah I actually was just able to beat it using boarding and fire bombs. First phase, killed everyone in each weapons pod except the laser beam guy to avoid the AI ship. Second phase, sent boarders ASAP to drone control, set the shield room on fire. Pulled boarders out, lasered / fire bombed the rest of the ship to death. Taking out the missile launcher should always be a priority. Third phase was pretty easy, it turned into an AI ship with a super shield, and of course, couldn't board me since everyone on it was dead. I heard at first the AI ship repairs itself, which scared me, but it was really not that big of deal, particularly with fire bombs, since you can just set all the rooms on fire. Pretty neato. So yeah, nuked down the shield with lasers (level 1 burst, level 1 heavy, level 2 heavy), set the shield room on fire, set the rest of the ship on fire, bingo.

Earlier I had maxed cloak, since I had tons of scrap, so that's probably why it wasn't working for me so well, since I think the cool down doesn't start until the cloak is over. Good tip.

Also, Freespace 2 reference on the Steam Library page for FTL. Or maybe it's that mystery ship you can unlock.

 

That nice part is it repairs O2 system, thus these firebombs are working and you can send boarders.

 

I just blew up 6 boarding drones in a nice, easy row using a defense I drone on the boss in phase 2. Important tip.

 

Oh, defense drones blow up attack drones? That's good to know.

 

I always assumed if it became AI ship it'd shut off the O2, if it stays on that actually makes it piss easy if you wipe out the crew. No contest to your boarders or fires.

 

On easy normal:
Red-Tail (Kestrel Type B) with 4 Basic Lasers
2 Human Crew , 1 Mantis, 1 Energy Guy

Assignments
Human 1 : Pilot
Human 2 : Guns
Energy Guy : Engine
Mantis : Temporary Shields

Early goal:
Crew Teleporter
Another Mantis
Sensors Level 2

Then you can start working on Shields Rank 2 for extra durability or Engine for dodging.
But I prefer to get Crew Teleporter to 2 so I can warp my team out if the boarding goes south.

Early game attacks:
Your quad lasers should always fire upon their guns.
This would minimize the amount of damage taken, aside from the initial volley of missiles etc.
Once their guns are down, you have the choice of continue pounding on their guns to keep it quiet, or hit their engines to prevent escape. Most of early sectors are easy kills, take advantage of that and explore fully before the rebel waves catch up.

For weapons upgrade - you can ignore most of them and prioritize Cloaking Device and Drones.
Drones are for anti-missiles and should not be ignored.
While Cloaking Device will let you evade the initial volley before your guns shut down theirs.
But remember that FIRE BOMB is crucial for the finale.

Boarding Plan:
If you have Cloak and your Mantis crew ready - most encounters should not be too hard.
Fire all guns on their guns.
If they fire - use cloak to evade.
Once their guns are taken down, teleport your mantis on their gun bay immediately to prevent repairs.
Also STOP FIRING IMMEDIATELY. YOU DO NOT WANT TO KILL YOUR OWN CREW. Warm up the guns.

If they withdraw their crew to the medbay - fire your lasers at the medbay.
If your crew is losing the fight - teleport them out THEN fire your lasers at the room. With a little luck, this should finish off their crew AND guns.

Alternative Rock Boarding Plan:
If you gain 2 rock crews - you should start making use of Fire Bombs.
Fire a bomb in their gun bay - if a fire starts - teleport your rock in.
Now they can't repair. Warm up your triple lasers for the eventual escape towards their medbay or whatever room the enemy crew want to take refuge in once their wounds are too heavy to continue fighting.

End game
I usually end up with max crew and max energy by sector 8.
Defenses
Shield 3 is good enough. 4 is excellent - but your engine is what's keeping it running.
Engine at 40% evade is great.
Drone Defense I is sufficient. Don't sweat the Boarding Drone too much - they're not what you dreamed of. They can't be targeted and they do their own thing.
Cloak Rank 1 is sufficient. Any higher and you risk longer cooldowns.

Offense
Weapons Power at 5.
3 Basic Lasers & 1 Fire Bomb is good enough
I've had games where I lucked out and found Ion Cannon (CD 4 sec) that can be spammed and drop shields, otherwise... FB is all you need. So stock up on missiles like crazy. You only need 10+ drones.

Everything is dependent on your boarding party anyway which is why...
Teleporter Max Rank for 5 second recharge

Stage 1
Teleport your crew to the their missile launcher (3rd from left)
Firebomb the three-laser turret (2nd from left) if you have spare crew, consider throwing another to the ion cannon (1st from left)
Now, watch for trouble.
Their initial volley of 3-laser and 3-missiles can be avoided by cloak. But the 2nd one you're gonna have to bust out the defensive drone to intercept missiles while the cloak recharges.

Once the two biggest trouble are taken down. Teleport the away team to wreck the ion cannon.
You can safely ignore the beam cannon. They cannot pierce your shields.
Now it's bonus stage.
Bring back the crew, and heal up.

Alt tab, play Mass Effect 2 OST: Suicide Mission

Your objective is to kill as many crew as possible in the main body of the ship. Be aware that they have blast doors. So don't split your teams if you're beaming in two. (Yes, you should beam in your entire team. The enemy flagship is unable to mount ANY offense since you've taken down all shield disabling guns.)

Make sure your missile count is high enough (20+) else the 2nd stage is going to be a bitch.
Board the room furthest from the medbay. Beam a second team to that room to aid in the fight asap. (You DID upgrade teleporter to rank 3 didn't you?)
Once you notice a few of them started retreating to medbay > Fire Bomb the medbay.
Fire bomb the shield bay and laser up to quicken things.
MAKE SURE YOU PULL OUT YOUR TEAM before the flagship explodes.

Stage 2
Now the real fight begins.
If you did everything right, the main body of the flagship should be devoid of crew. So are their two turrets.
Initially, beam your away team to silence their guns first. The missiles do the most damage. Followed by the tri-laser.
You should realize the flagship is starting to utilize boarding drones. The issue isn't their attack, but the hull-pierce effect. If they break into your cockpit and fucking asphyxiate your pilot, you're pretty much forced to deal with it ASAP.
So Firebomb the drone bay while your crew wreck the turrets. Alternatively, you can let your away team deal with the boarding drones, but that's a suboptimal way to deal with the problem.

Spam Defense Drone to intercept boarding drones.

Cloak when the power surge effect occurs. You may want to cloak on the first tri-missle volley - just in case it fucks up your system.

Once the drone and guns are silenced (again, ignore the beam) the only threat is the power surge.
No trouble. Fire bomb the shield generator and spam laser till it's dead.

Stage 3
Victory is assured. I'm sure you know how to deal with the rest.
Once all the crew is dead, the ship would start auto repairing things.
This should clue you on how best to deal with the two turrets.
Beam one team each to the two turrets. They will stay there indefinitely while you firebomb the shit out of their systems, starting with the shields.
Spam the Basic Laser barrage.

You've won Commander.

 

2/10 wouldnt brofist.

 

ur rite, *deletes post*

 

You could just change it to tips on normal since they are more or less the same. Just not sure if 3 lasers would be enough.

 

I tried it again at work on normal difficulty.

Weapons setup Breach Missile / Fire Bomb / Basic Laser / Basic Laser
Defensive Drone I

I did made it to stage 3.
But I made a mistake in Stage 2 and lost 2 of my mantis when boarding. Goddamn blast doors.
This makes phase 3 harder cause the weapons would auto repair, I really need those two teams to keep the guns perma red and super shield complicate matters.
If that didn't happen, I think I could've made it.
When the Flagship completes the Superweapon Salvo - not many system evaded damage. Drone got dropped. Shields, Life Support etc.
Failure cascade.

Oh well, hit Stage 3 on Normal while at work. Not bad.
aLSO: AI on normal seem to surrender less. Had 2 slaver encounters where I got them to 2-1 HP and they still wouldn't surrender.

 

I have to disagree on some of these points :
scrap recovery arm is very well worth it early on, as you sell it later for 25 scraps (in sector 7), you only need 250 scraps for it to pay itself. which is quite fast.

Weapon pre igniter can be used on top of cloaking, giving you more or less 2 free volleys, so cloaking is no alternative to it. It is pretty solid, but it should never be bought before you get the high cooldown weapons to go with it (it is stupid to get it with fast firing weapons, like the ion blast 2. weapon reloaders are much better in this case).

Weapon reloader is the best augment in the game, and it stacks : 15% is significant in that it can allow you to shoot first, and makes you take less damage overall.

drone recovery arm : it is very situational indeed, but it makes using 2 drones at the same time worth-wile, and is a must with either engi ships (as they have size 3 drone bays). If you sell it by sector 7, you don't need that many drones recovered to make it worth (4 would already pay the augment back).

 

A ridiculously easy way to win the game is:
- cloak at 3
- teleporter
- two lv1 anti ship drones
- ion lv2
- some properly damaging laser
- some missile (ideally ion bomb to keep enemy shields on permanent cd).

The anti ship drones simply eat through all ships once the shields are down. And the shields will always be down with the ion cannon and the missile (ion bomb).

Not once did it happen I had to turn off the attacking drones due to how much damage they did. And more than once I lost the boarding crew because they killed the enemy ship more quickly than I meleed down the crew.

 

If you get the Ion that shoots every 4 seconds then you can keep the shields locked down, but I find that missing with slower weapons will often allow the shields to come back

Once you can get and keep the shields down (by any method), the battle is basically over for any ship.

 

is that when you can technically finish the game's objective even if your ship is destroyed, you still lose

I got to the boss and my boarding party was 2 hits away from killing the last guy, during the last stage of the boss, but my ship gets destroyed so I lose?

FUCK YOU THE GAME IS ABOUT SAVING THE GALAXY FROM REBEL SCUM NOT ONE SHIP SJASKDHSABJDGSAGKDSGDHSGDSKADHJSGDKSAHD

 

Offtopic: FTL has the best bossfight of any game in my recent memory.

 

Just an fyi once you kill all the crew members the ship's ai takes over so you were fucked anyways; sure your crew could theoretically destroy the ship from the inside but they would ultimately die from the explosion or when the ai kills the oxygen. Its best to leave one crew member alive and cripple the unmanned ship while you move in for the kill.

It would be cool if your crew could hijack a ship and continue on even in the wake of your original ship's destruction; it would certainly be challenge to beat the game with whatever your new ship was outfitted with plus maybe a percentage of supplies salvaged from the wreckage. In fact this should be the way you unlock new ships in a potential sequel; capture a ship and then have to beat the game with it.

 

Personally, I feel the AI ship is a bit overblown. Yes, killing all but one crew member is optimal, but hardly an instant "you-lose" if you kill them all, either. It doesn't repair itself that fast. Seemed to be about on par with the drone ships that repair themselves. Of course, this is assuming they didn't change it all since I last played months ago...

 

I did not mean that the AI ship was strong I just meant that if you're barely winning the fight then the activation of the AI can be fatal as the ship gets all those manned station bonuses back (faster recharge, loss of 100% chance to hit the ship you had a moment ago, etc) especially if you have a sub-optimal loadout due to rng screwing you over.

 

inbe4 those are the rules of the game that you must follow in order to win. But seriously, FTL is a pretty good game. Didn't think the boss fight was too bad unless seriously unlucky on the RNG as you said.

 

game got boring after like 3 games

 

SoupNazi, u r such a n00b!!! I captured the boss ship on liek my 1st try so stfu FTL is a good gaem