FTL: Faster Than Light - Advanced Edition

[toro]

You definitely don't need cloaking. Maxed evasion (52%) and shields puts you in a position where you can expect to not be hit by a single shot on the third surge. There will, of course, frequently be times when you take a couple damage, but if you're taking that long to take down the third phase, you're already fucked. The second stage is harder to predict, but it's still realistic to get through most surges with minimal/no damage.

It definitely helps, but it's by no means a requirement. Teleporter is probably the closest thing to a requirement for the flagship.

Both play-throughs with Max Shield, Max Evasion (including 2 stars for the pilot) and my ship was gone because of the Power Surges (once because of the Missiles and once because of the Drones).

I've beaten most ships without losing one point of Hull and then, with the end boss, I could not do anything except watching how my ship went in flames.

Therefore the question is: Has anyone beaten the game without Cloaking and Transporter?

 

[Ashery]

You definitely don't need cloaking. Maxed evasion (52%) and shields puts you in a position where you can expect to not be hit by a single shot on the third surge. There will, of course, frequently be times when you take a couple damage, but if you're taking that long to take down the third phase, you're already fucked. The second stage is harder to predict, but it's still realistic to get through most surges with minimal/no damage.

It definitely helps, but it's by no means a requirement. Teleporter is probably the closest thing to a requirement for the flagship.

Both play-throughs with Max Shield, Max Evasion (including 2 stars for the pilot) and my ship was gone because of the Power Surges (once because of the Missiles and once because of the Drones).

I've beaten most ships without losing one point of Hull and then, with the end boss, I could not do anything except watching how my ship went in flames.

Therefore the question is: Has anyone beaten the game without Cloaking and Transporter?

Really depends, but ultimately it's kind of a pointless question. It'd be like trying to beat DCSS without using potions. It's also possible that you simply aren't focusing on taking down the right systems first. After looking back at some of my early near wins, I noticed that it was usually my own fuck up, either during the flagship fight or prior, that cost me the game.

Without cloaking, I've got two Fed ships (Their artillery beam takes up the same "slot" as cloaking) that had three or less points of damage at the time of finishing the flagship's third stage. Without cloaking or a teleporter? The only reason for doing that would be as a challenge run.

You also need to use the first stage to prime the flagship for the following two stages if you've got a weaker setup (Or various other reasons). That is to say, you need to kill the crew while you don't have to worry about the surges. But that's mainly useful when you use a teleporter to send over guys to wreck various systems while your weapons are focused elsewhere.

Not sure where your missile surge is coming from. Second stage has drones and the third has the eight laser shots.

 

[Jasede]

What I dislike about the game is that it has been abandoned. It could do with a content update, like Terraria- an extra true final boss, too, new weapons, ships, events, etc.

 

[Turisas]

What I dislike about the game is that it has been abandoned. It could do with a content update, like Terraria- an extra true final boss, too, new weapons, ships, events, etc.

Free updates vs. selling a sequel at full price - which is better and why?

 

[Borelli]

What do you mean "abandoned"? Game was kickstarted, funded, made, released and then patched. A completely normal videogame cycle.

 

[Zewp]

For a $10 game it's got more than enough going for it so that I'm not going to complain because I didn't get extra free content. It would have been nice, but not necessary.

 

[Jasede]

What do you mean "abandoned"? Game was kickstarted, funded, made, released and then patched. A completely normal videogame cycle.

It has rogue-like elements. Compare Binding of Isaac, Crawl, Terraria, Dredmor. Those games get stale once you have seen everything. Continual updates prevent this.

This game feels like it could benefit from more stuff; they could sell it as a 3-5$ expansion. I would buy it. Wouldn't you?

 

[Damned Registrations]

Well, the same could be said of pretty much any game to be honest. The main difference is that in a game like the ones you mentioned (or this one) the amount of content and the work required to add that content so the game feels fresh is trivially small. A dozen new weapons, couple new ships, and a new boss or optional sidequest would do wonders. You've already done all the hard work of designing the game systems, why not do 5% more work to double the replayability? It's insane that content is the easiest part of game development but gets the least amount of effort put into it more often than not.

 

[Borelli]

What do you mean "abandoned"? Game was kickstarted, funded, made, released and then patched. A completely normal videogame cycle.

It has rogue-like elements. Compare Binding of Isaac, Crawl, Terraria, Dredmor. Those games get stale once you have seen everything. Continual updates prevent this.

This game feels like it could benefit from more stuff; they could sell it as a 3-5$ expansion. I would buy it. Wouldn't you?

Ah an expansion pack. I can get behind that. You mentioned Terraria so i thought you meant free updates.

 

[Ashery]

Well, the same could be said of pretty much any game to be honest. The main difference is that in a game like the ones you mentioned (or this one) the amount of content and the work required to add that content so the game feels fresh is trivially small. A dozen new weapons, couple new ships, and a new boss or optional sidequest would do wonders. You've already done all the hard work of designing the game systems, why not do 5% more work to double the replayability? It's insane that content is the easiest part of game development but gets the least amount of effort put into it more often than not.

Except for the whole balancing part. I find the game to be remarkably well balanced as it stands, and new content could very easily throw that off completely. Just look at the mods for examples.

 

[Destroid]

Well, the same could be said of pretty much any game to be honest. The main difference is that in a game like the ones you mentioned (or this one) the amount of content and the work required to add that content so the game feels fresh is trivially small. A dozen new weapons, couple new ships, and a new boss or optional sidequest would do wonders. You've already done all the hard work of designing the game systems, why not do 5% more work to double the replayability? It's insane that content is the easiest part of game development but gets the least amount of effort put into it more often than not.

Content isn't easy. It's non-technical, but it isn't easy.

 

[Damned Registrations]

You can shit out half a dozen weapons in half the time it takes to get the first one working. Once you have a template all you need to do is copy and tweak things. Especially in games with minor or no graphics at all. So why stop at 12 weapons instead of 24? The same thing applies to ships, races, accessories, drones, quests... The hard part is always getting the system in place to begin with and making sure it works properly. This is the entire reason modding games is a THING. Because even someone with limited skills can double the content of a game in their spare time. And that's without access to the proper tools the devs had.

 

[Destroid]

You can shit out infinite numbers of shitty weapons. Making the content actually good is what takes time.

 

[knightley]

What I dislike about the game is that it has been abandoned. It could do with a content update, like Terraria- an extra true final boss, too, new weapons, ships, events, etc.

So if I buy a meal at a restaurant, I am entitled to have free break first for a few years?
FTL has its share of problems, but free stuff is not one of them.

Maybe I am just not trying h, somehow find the game does not offer enough different tactics.
You specialize either in boarding or shooting to win the game.

And also dislike the very heavy emphasis on luck.

Personally I enjoyed it as a good game, not a great game.

 

[DarKPenguiN]

What I dislike about the game is that it has been abandoned. It could do with a content update, like Terraria- an extra true final boss, too, new weapons, ships, events, etc.

So if I buy a meal at a restaurant, I am entitled to have free break first for a few years?
FTL has its share of problems, but free stuff is not one of them.

Maybe I am just not trying h, somehow find the game does not offer enough different tactics.
You specialize either in boarding or shooting to win the game.

And also dislike the very heavy emphasis on luck.

Personally I enjoyed it as a good game, not a great game.

I am not sure thats what he was asking for (Free stuff) but more or less Xpacs with new content to be made purchasable.

For what I paid for this game (I thought it was like $5.99 or something insanely cheap) I totally was happy. But after a few playthroughs its boring. A game like this could benefit from Xpacs more than many games that get them- More Random elements, more ships, more enemies and things to do in a game like this (where the randomness makes for great replayability) seems like a damn good idea.

-Still a fairly fun game and I love the idea behind it- But needs moar contentz.

 

[Damned Registrations]

FTL did not have some kind of masterful balance among it's items. There are numerous weapons that are just strictly superior to other weapons, the ships aren't even remotely balanced, etc. Balancing items isn't the point of this kind of game. Finding a wand of wishing and then dying 2 floors later anyways is part of the fun. BoI already had horribly unbalanced shit like the fetus in a jar, did it balance them in the update? Fuck no, he added the even more broken epic fetus item and a ton of other broken shit.

Stop acting like it takes some kind of fucking genius to pallette swap some lasers blue, make them do more hull damage and less fire damage, and add them to the item table. Doing that a dozen times would vastly improve the game and take like a couple hours of work with access to the original toolset.

 

[Metro]

Game is fine, stop being a fag.

 

[knightley]

FTL did not have some kind of masterful balance among it's items. There are numerous weapons that are just strictly superior to other weapons, the ships aren't even remotely balanced, etc. Balancing items isn't the point of this kind of game. Finding a wand of wishing and then dying 2 floors later anyways is part of the fun. BoI already had horribly unbalanced shit like the fetus in a jar, did it balance them in the update? Fuck no, he added the even more broken epic fetus item and a ton of other broken shit.

Stop acting like it takes some kind of fucking genius to pallette swap some lasers blue, make them do more hull damage and less fire damage, and add them to the item table. Doing that a dozen times would vastly improve the game and take like a couple hours of work with access to the original toolset.

Yeah cannot agree more, the balancing is done via randomness which for me is just not much fun. Some weapons are better than others, if one has the choice, but unfortunately the choice is often determined by chance.

 

[J_C]

I don't know if any of you heared, but the amazingly good FTL will get an advanced edition, which will be free for the owners of the original game. Basicly it is an expension, with new subsystems, new powers, new sectors, events etc.

But the most interesting thing is that MCA will write some of those events and sectors, which will increase the game's appeal by 200% for every decent Codexer.

We’ve been working hard over the summer and are excited to finally officially announce a free expansion, FTL: Advanced Edition! FTL: AE is a huge content addition that includes new weapons, drones, augments, systems, enemies, and more. Here are some details on just a few of the additions visible in the trailer:

• Mind Control System: Temporarily turn enemies into allies. Force a boarder to repair the damage they just did, or have the enemy pilot sabotage their own helm.
• Hacking System: Lockdown and disrupt enemy systems. Unique effects for each system, ranging from forcing a teleporter remove boarders to making the medbay damage instead of heal.
• New Sector and Events: Our writer Tom Jubert has returned along with special guest writer Chris Avellone (of Planescape fame), who managed to find some time for us between his work on Project Eternity and Wasteland 2. They’ve been helping us add a new sector and scatter new events throughout the rest of the game.
• New Weapons and Effects: Many new weapons that take advantage of new mechanics: overcharging to increase the number of volleys, stun effects to freeze crew, and area effect targeting, to name a few.
• And more systems, drones, augments, enemy ships, enemy layouts, and hostile environments. All of which we’ll be sure to talk about more in the coming weeks!

In addition to new content, we’ve continued to polish FTL and add some of the most requested small features. As a few examples: you’ll be able to save your crew positions and send them back to battle-stations, save and quit during combat, and find more items for purchase in stores.

For the purists out there, FTL vanilla will still be available. All of the new content can be disabled from within the hangar before starting a new game.

Edit: http://www.ftlgame.com/?p=598

 

[Gord]

Interesting - FTL might be worth checking out eventually.

 

[Trash]

Kewl. I thought they simply stopped working on this after that third or so patch. It could do with some more actual content.

 

[Turisas]

Glad to see they haven't abandoned it yet - they could've just as easily charged for something like this so thumbs up for making it available free of charge.

 

[Jaedar]

Man, MCA is going to be as ubiquitous as Steve Blum soon. HIS ASCENSION HAS BEGUN!


Seems like this will make the game playable for several more runs at least. I hope they make some changes to the final boss too.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Man, MCA is going to be as ubiquitous as Steve Blum soon.

And Mark Morgan.

 

[Infinitron]

J_C Source goddammit.

EDIT: http://www.ftlgame.com/?p=598