FTL - Fear The...something

[Victor]

It's one of the easiest to get, actually. I think you just need to act tough in a random encounter with a rock cruiser in the Rock homeworlds, then follow it to a nearby sun and survive a battle with solar flares. Then follow the cruiser again and they'll give you Rock plating and the ship.

[Dexter345]

I guess I just haven't had it come up yet.

[Victor]

Yeah, I'm trying to get the crystal ship and the second layout to the Rock cruiser. Can be tough. (I really recommend getting the second layout of the Kestrel. It's amazing)

[Dexter345]

I love the second Kestrel. Having a Mantis on board from the beginning is great.

[Victor]

It's awesome, and four lasers from the start make your gunner a beast in no time. By sector 2, I'd already have my gunner and the shield...er? at level 2.

[Arttemis]

Hoooooooly shit, this game is phenomenal. Naming your characters after yourself and friends/family really change the way the game affects you. My first play through with default ship and crew names on normal only lasted to the second sector, and my next crew which I named after my best friend, wife, and myself had a crew member die on the second jump and first away mission (it was me)!

I unlocked engi ship and made it to the flagship on easy, but it just four hull armor too many and outlasted me. I'm not sure if drone dependence is a good strategy on Normal since supplies seem so limited in comparison. My favorite tactic is to fire a piercing missile through an enemy's shields and target their shield generator, then use my laser to rail weapons systems only. Engi ship with a Halberd laser is insane.

The game is straight up Star Trek Voyager, though, and it's awesome. I really want to beat it before trying out the mods, and it'll fill the void of captaining a starship in the mean time.

[Char Aznable]

I wanted to explore more of the game, so I installed a mod to disable the rebel fleet and the creeping red line that chases you. It makes the game a lot more fun for me, as I get to see more of each sector without having to worry about getting caught at every jump. You can also earn a lot more money if you're trying to upgrade your ship, get a full crew, or try out some new weapons.

I don't really give a shit if it's cheating or whatever, the game is still incredibly fun.

There were two separate times that I blew up the goddamn rock ship before unlocking it, though. The federation cruiser is too damn awesome with that artillery beam.

[Victor]

Glaive + burst + pre-loader = profit. Seriously.



And I can't imagine playing without the rebel fleet. It adds so much tension.

[Dexter345]

I could imagine playing without it, and I imagine it being much, much easier.

[Char Aznable]

The actual fun for me is in the combat, and there are significantly more things to fight if you can explore everywhere. I guess it's more of a marathon than a sprint without the fleet on your ass.

[falsenipple]

I started playing this game earlier today. It is really, really hard, or I am really, really stupid. The furthest I have gotten is sector 5, but I either die to Mantis boarding parties or Ion Storms every time.

Does anyone have some idiot-proof tips?

[Dexter345]

I started playing this game earlier today. It is really, really hard, or I am really, really stupid. The furthest I have gotten is sector 5, but I either die to Mantis boarding parties or Ion Storms every time.

Does anyone have some idiot-proof tips?

Start playing on Easy, and don't move up to Normal until you've at least gotten to Sector 8, if not beaten the Flagship.

You generally don't want to use Autofire on heavily shielded enemies. You want all of your weapon volleys to go off at the same time, so something gets through.

The best tip I can give is to get a teleporter and get good at using it effectively. Send Mantis (best), Rock (good), or Humans (okay) over, keep a close eye on their health, and recall them if they're in trouble. You get more scrap from winning a battle with the enemy ship intact than from destroying the ship.

Spend as much time in each sector as you can manage without being caught by the Rebels. The more planets you visit, the more potential scrap you will gain, the better your ship will be.

Don't go on the risky missions unless you are near the beginning of a run or you would die without the rewards (or you have the blue text that basically ensures success). I'd consider the giant alien spiders and the crazed hermit as risky missions, because you could potentially lose crew members from them.

[Victor]

Starting on easy will only make you weak.

Get door upgrades and suffocate enemies. You can also open all doors except for the med bay and fight boarding parties there.

Beams will eat through Zoltan shield like it's no big deal.

Burst lasers.

Missiles for emergencies.

Get the teleporter.

Get cloaking by sector 7 if you can spare the scrap.

Don't forget the engines.

Manually fire every shot.

If you turn the shields off then on again, the crew member who's in charge of them gets experience FOR EVERY SHIELD RECHARGED. Great way to earn experience early on.

Don't send boarding parties into drones unless 1)you have a level 2+ teleporter or 2)They're Rock. And never if the drone has cloaking.

That's it, I guess.

Oh, and you can turn oxygen off in ion storms if you need the power. Just remember to turn it back on if your O2 gets low. And opening doors lets it spread more quickly.

[falsenipple]

So four pirates get on my ship right after I lose 5 crew members while trying to run from the Rebel fleet. This game is mean.

[Victor]

Yup

[falsenipple]

Yup

The worst part of it was that they boarded in a system with solar flares, so I had to jump into another mess while my ship was on fire and they were still in it. Seriously, this game is really, really mean.

[Victor]

I wouldn't jump in that situation. I'd vent all systems, restrict my crew to very few rooms and hope the O2 wasn't damaged.

[falsenipple]

I wouldn't jump in that situation. I'd vent all systems, restrict my crew to very few rooms and hope the O2 wasn't damaged.

They were breaking my shields. My crew was all Engi and 2/3 were on the wrong side of the boarding party to get to the med bay. I honestly don't think I could have won if I tried. No shields, ship on fire, 4 man boarding party, and a worthless crew to resist with seems like a death sentence to me. I might be wrong, but it felt bad, man.

[Victor]

They'd destroy systems, sure, but those can be fixed. If you vent, they rush to wherever there is air. Shields are useless if there's no opposing ship anyway.

[Char Aznable]

Upgrading the subsystems - piloting, sensors, and doors - will help a lot when you get past the first few sectors. Level 2 sensors are especially useful when you get into teleporting as Dexter mentioned, because you can see inside the enemy ships and spot weak crews. Upgrading the doors will save your ass when you get into Mantis territory, where they board you all the damn time.