FTL: Faster Than Light - Advanced Edition

[AlexOfSpades]

You could have just hacked his hacking system.

Forgot to mention, our hacking room was hit by his missile volley and breached. Wanted to send in my engis to take a look, but due to the Kestrel's layout, the hacking room is inaccessible if the Weapons room doors are locked (which they were thanks to the hacking). When i got my engines guy to walk over to the hacking room to repair the breach, our O2 room was hit and ended up red and that had to be fixed first. Looking back, maybe i could've sent people to destroy the Weapons room doors but i was too much in panic.

It was a pretty unlucky run.

 

[tindrli]

shit happens bro

 

[AlexOfSpades]

Defense drone 2 is even more effective.

I never bought the Defense II because i was unsure if it would be an improvement over the 1. I know i know, sounds stupid, but hear me out: It blocks other projectiles too, correct? This means that since it can't stop all of them at the same time (it has a "cooldown" between shots), it may end up protecting some harmless Laser Burst beams and let that Hermes rocket pass by - while the Defense Drone Mk1 would reliably stop the Hermes missile, and leave my shield to take care of the rest. Is it worth it?

 

[Modron]

Yeah I always felt Defense drone 2 was inferior to drone 1 in defending because they will quite frequently blow their load against ions/hull lasers while a big threat like a missile/boarding drone/hacking module sails right past them. Furthermore, since you could field two defense drone mark 1's for the same energy it really undermines the concept of the mark 2 being an upgrade.

 

[Renegen]

Yes I thought the mark 2 was inferior too but it's quite superior, it can destroy ion shots and plasma shots, the flagship does quite a lot of sustained damage with those two weapons. It also synergizes much better with high evade, that's because the drone AI knows which shots will be evaded and will NOT target them, meaning in effect it only tracks half of all shots directed at your ship making it more likely to hit the missile if it's approaching. I think its faster firing rate under perfect conditions might even make it shoot 2 out of 3 missiles. Also slot efficiency is quite important for drones, as well as simple luck of finding two mark 1s and keeping them.

 

[Renegen]

Speaking about unlucky runs, I was having a really good one until it ended abruptly. I was playing with the Slug C on normal, looking to test which of the Slug A or C is stronger and has the easiest time winning on hard. The Slug C has a few things going for it, it has mind control and hacking but it also has a lot things against it, only a chain laser, one of the weakest weapon loadout of any ship. So I was playing with it and with just a few lucky finds I had amazing success. With only a Flak and a Halberd beam I was tearing apart 3 shield enemies, I was on my way to sector 6. Then I find a Vulcan! Alright, here I am saving scrap to be able to upgrade to a Vulcan/Halberd build and I'm going light on my defense, 2 shields, 35% evade, I should be fine right? I'm also saving a lot of scrap for a Cloak, it's just so convenient why not go for it as the final upgrade.

Well out of nowhere comes a 3 shield ship with dual burst laser mk3s, I got fucked. I thought of going for a swift victory and charged my Vulcan but I should've went for the slower Flak/Halberd combo. What really killed me is among all those shots, I lost my oxygen and my clone bay, my ship could've lived with a few bars of health, but my crew was decimated. The more I play, the more I realize the importance of DNA Bank...

 

[MisterStone]

Thoughts on FTL? Love it...

 

[DwarvenFood]

Unlocked Stealth cruiser recently, Rock ship class C and Federation Cruiser. Still haven't beaten the boss though.

 

[RK47]

Stealth Cruiser has different style of play if you unlock its variant.
The minibeam itself will last you a long, long time - but it will backfire if you get too attached to it since the ship only has 3 gun pods.

 

[DwarvenFood]

I really fucking thought I could win it this time, Rock class C

Got a Vulcan, Crystal laser, Swarm Missiles, and Flak 2 for when the enemy shields are lower. Two mantis guys to deal with boarders. Fire beam combat drone.


Guess what..

Weapons room got hacked, draining swarm and vulcan, leaving me no options to deal with enemy hack system.

 

[Renegen]

Hacked weapons is not a death sentence if you have a good defense, you had nothing to defend against missiles or plasma rape.

 

[JoKa]

yeah, no hacking and no teleporter means you'll have a bad time against the boss...

 

[Ashery]

No upgraded O2. A single upgraded hacking done to your O2 would've killed your entire crew.

Maxed doors, sensors, and bridge when shields and engines aren't maxed.

Drones would've been a good subsystem if you had a defense drone, but the fire drone is pretty much the least synergistic drone for your build. A teleporter, cloaking, or hacking would've all been better choices.

 

[AlexOfSpades]

Remember: You can jump away and back to reset his hacking. If you jump away, you can even deal with his boarded crew, repair and come back - his crew is dead for good.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Never thought of screwing his crew over that way. Good tip.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Remember: You can jump away and back to reset his hacking. If you jump away, you can even deal with his boarded crew, repair and come back - his crew is dead for good.

FUUUUU~~~
Thanks, will do that next time. Also: I assume you guys just all wait at the base for the ship, instead of flying to meet it somewhere in the sector..

 

[Damned Registrations]

I usually am badly in need of repairs when I get there so I fly out to recover some hull.

 

[PocketMine]

I usualy flying to meet it unless i need more scrap to upgrade some systems sector 8 encounters give the most scrap reward unless you jump to place thats already taken over by rebels.

 

[DwarvenFood]

At start of battle:

I enjoyed my setup, having ion stun + system bomb targetting same room (mostly shields) proved a real winner, they could never get it repaired ! Leaving way open for laser and flak to slowly finish off the rest. Also had weapons pre-igniter and stealth weapons equipped.

My first win, finally. Low hull, because couldn't repair. At all.

Unlocked a sweet ship while at it.

 

[AlexOfSpades]

Despite the size of the station, the Federation's main base is completely silent. Thousands of uniformed workers stare at the screens and the windows, watching helplessly the terrible battle outside. Hundreds of laser cross space like silent green comets, some bouncing off shields, some puncturing ships to their demise as the Federation and the Rebels fight to a standstill. You stare at the windows, nervously, trying to ignore your own reflection at the reinforced glass, searching for the flagship. Where could it be?

Suddenly, the intercom broadcasts a message. "Attention all Federation personnel - the Rebels are falling back. The flagship has been destroyed!". Your heart races of happiness, the deep concern leaving your heart to give space to relief. It's all over! A deafening cheer spreads across the station, as the crowd celebrates the victory. You, together with many, rush to the hangar to see the returning ships.

The hangar's massive gates open, allowing many Federation ships to land, covered in scorch marks and hull breaches - the battlescars of a space war. The airlocks open as proud heroes emerge, holding their helmets and smiling despite their injuries. Families are reunited as husbands hug their crying wives and children, and the medics and mechanics arrive to take care of the hurt and broken. You walk nervously across the hangar, checking the name of every ship... "Where are they?" - you ask yourself, searching for the Zoltan ship that belonged to your friends. The Zoltan ship that would have you as crew, if not for your back injury.

But minutes pass, moments that feel like hours for you, and the Zoltan ship never arrives. The hangar gates close, and you approach a military officer to ask him about your friend's whereabouts. They did win the battle, didn't they? He looks at you with a saddened expression and pats your back before revealing the truth: The Zoltan Ship, the Adjudicator... didn't make it. They sacrificed themselves to stop the Flagship, and thanks to them, we won the war.

You fall to your knees against the Hangar's steel floor, hands shaking. Tears fall down your cheek when you realize that you will never get to see your friends again. But now their names will be forever remembered in history, as heroes.

Spoiler

Rest in Peace, Adjudicator and their crew. It was one amazing ride.

 

[Gozma]

Is it possible to beat this reliably on hard? It seems like on the ships that are a little weak at the start the RNG would be too much. But then I know people complain about Dungeon Crawl SS when I think it manages to walk the line correctly (that's a much more free game, though). If there are dudes that streak 20 FTL wins with random ships on hard I will hold off my newb opinions

 

[Ashery]

Is it possible to beat this reliably on hard? It seems like on the ships that are a little weak at the start the RNG would be too much. But then I know people complain about Dungeon Crawl SS when I think it manages to walk the line correctly (that's a much more free game, though). If there are dudes that streak 20 FTL wins with random ships on hard I will hold off my newb opinions

I'd argue that it's a bit more luck dependent than DCSS, but not nearly as bad as most people make it out to be. I think around four of my eight AE playthroughs reached the flagship with viable loadouts and I'm far from the best player out there.

 

[Gozma]

I started playing and got a couple wins before turning on the advanced edition stuff, and I think the added bits in the DLC don't help the game much. One thing that bugs me is that they added so many gimmicky guns that they crowd out stuff with real core differences like beams from the in-game itemization. Also flak guns are strong but it's annoying to have a projectile weapon that's so much slower than everything else in a game where you have to coordinate the moment when all your weapons hit to get through shields that recharge in a half-second. So I end up pausing a shitload making adjustments to get everything to hit at the same time - that kind of awkwardness is when the fundamental problems of Rtw/P even in as basically well-designed stuff as FTL get salient.

 

[Gozma]

Is there fun to be had in this after you've won on hard a couple of times? It seems like I always have the same optimized tactics now - basically, as many burst lasers + flak as I can get to drill through shields, plus cloak and hacking to get a good enough alpha strike to keep fights from getting attritive. Other toys like boarding/mind control are only for fun and aren't doing the real work - even more so with the hard mode flagship where boarding isn't a no-brainer.

I'd somewhat like to play with all the B and C type ships but the unlock conditions are completely uninteresting.

 

[Renegen]

I moved on to Captain's edition after tiring with the main game for the same reasons, still haven't won yet with the mod. It has quite a lot of bullshit things about it, for example unavoidable ABS damage in normal encounters.