FTL: Faster Than Light

Kendrik

Kendrik

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As far as I know, there isn't already a thread for this game. If there is, chalk this up as an oops. :p

What is FTL? Well, here's the general idea from the FTL website:
FTL is a spaceship simulation roguelike-like. Its aim is to recreate the atmosphere of running a spaceship exploring the galaxy (like Firefly/Star Trek/BSG etc.) In any given episode of those classic shows, the captain is always yelling “Reroute power to shields!” or giving commands to the engineer now that their Warp Core is on fire. We wanted that experience, as opposed to the “dog fighting in space” that most videogames focus on. We wanted a game where we had to manage the crew, fix the engines, reroute power to shields, target the enemy life support, and then figure out how to repel the boarders that just transported over!
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It's been on sale for as little as $2.49 lately on the official site and GOG.com. I finally got my hands on a copy, and I couldn't be more pleased with it.

It's simultaneously chaotic and thoughtful, strategic and intuitive, and so on. Most of all, though, it's fun, compelling, and addictive in the way that most roguelikes tend to be, requiring another attempt to get "just a little farther this time!"

Then the game throws moral decision making at you, decisions that don't necessarily have reaching consequences, but can you really just pretend you didn't see that slaver ship? Forced to choose between taking slaves as new crewmen as tribute or destroying the vessel, with all its slaves aboard, what do you do? Even though the game isn't branded as a game of complicated morality, I've had just as much trouble making these sort of decisions as in making parallel decisions in Mass Effect. heh

The game also gives your runs a score. I'm usually a sucker for high score-driven games (I don't even want to know how many hours I've poured into Galaga, or the hypothetical quarters for play had I not been playing a home emulation of it). That is certainly in full effect here. The fact that there seems to be a bit available for unlocking (including different ships) is a nice bonus.

Anyway! Who else plays? What are your high scores?

My highest score is 566. heh Got a lot of improving to do.

Ooh. Just more than doubled my score. It's now sitting at 1351. Still a lot of improvement to go.
 
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I absolutely love FTL, glad to see that some one shares my sentiment. The soundtrack is amazing, I'd say the game is worth it for that alone.

My current high score is 3540.

I've come REALLY close to beating the final boss, but never quite made it. About 100 games played so far and I still can't beat that thing. (I still steadfastly refuse to try Easy difficulty)
 
I put a lot of hours into FTL when it came out. My current high score is 4887.

I have beaten the boss multiple times on normal, and have every ship/layout unlocked.
 
Current top score is 5631 but so much of it is determined from randomness.

I like the game but I wish more had been done to balance the random generation. Like if you start a new game, going for high score, and you spawn next to a store you might as well restart. That is because you won't have the scrap to buy anything by the time it passes and you have a limited number of store opportunities/rolls to find anything worthwhile.

I haven't gotten every ship yet, due to the rolls, but I've beaten it with every one I have. Also on tips...

1. Adapt. Waiting for the perfect equipment at a store probably won't happen. Adapt your playstyle to what is available. The best part of the game is multiple configurations are actually valid as long as you can get to and knock out enemy weapons. That said 3 or more burst laser level 2's and stacked automatic re-loaders are fun or as I call it DEATH BLOSSOM! :p (FYI level 3s are usable but inefficient and level 1's won't cut it end game) .
2. Intact ships give more scrap. While ship upgrades like crew teleporters, which let you capture ships intact, are found more often than good weapons it seems. You can get ahead of the curve on scrap if you spec right to keep your repair cost negligible while you kill enemy crews.
3.Unlike the random enemy spawns the final boss has set weapons. Basically once you know what to target/avoid then it becomes easy if you've configured your ship sufficiently and correctly. Also a crew teleporter attack can easily knock out weapons when the rooms are isolated.
4.Some of the random event choices aren't random and will indicate a result by text differences. I prefer to keep it random for my part though and have not learned them.
5. Being able to recover drones is probably the best augment IMO. The only real missile defense is a drone or cloak and cloak does not recharge quick enough.

On most games I question the moral choices but with FTL it's so plot dry and has really no punishment for immoral choices :/ . It always comes down to will this give me the most of what I need. Pretty much everyone dies unless they offer more than I'd get other wise XD .

...and yes the game does do some things similar to ideas I've had which is why I got it.
 
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The Mighty Gerbil said:
On most games I question the moral choices but with FTL it's so plot dry and has really no punishment for immoral choices :/ . It always comes down to will this give me the most of what I need.
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That's exactly what makes those choices so interesting and so difficult for me. I tend to overly roleplay all of my video games. When presented with a moral decision without significant consequence, it requires that I ask myself, "Am I willing to act immorally to get ahead if I know I won't be caught or punished?" I think that's really cool. haha

Nice to see some FTL love here. Looks like I've got a long way to go on my scores to catch up with you all. :)
 
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Kendrik said:
That's exactly what makes those choices so interesting and so difficult for me. I tend to overly roleplay all of my video games. When presented with a moral decision without significant consequence, it requires that I ask myself, "Am I willing to act immorally to get ahead if I know I won't be caught or punished?" I think that's really cool. haha

Nice to see some FTL love here. Looks like I've got a long way to go on my scores to catch up with you all. :)
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I tend to roleplay or be the main character in every game I play too. I usually change one of the npc's on my ship to "Mighty Gerbil" (Keero was even the weapons dude on one of them :p). I just pretend everyone I blow up needed to be. Given the sparse plot it very well could be the case. It helps if you envision Bugs Bunny saying "Repugnant!?!? dems fighting words!" :p but yeah on more realistic, plot driven, games I'd have the same problem. I still don't know how some Christians can play some games. It's like how can a Christian enjoy virtual sinning? Even if it's virtual you are still pursuing enjoyment though pretending to sin. It's like saying to the world I don't actually do it but wanting to do it, the desire, should not be fought. Even thinking that way without acting on it is wrong. I can't see Christ playing a pimp simulator.

Note: Ugh accidentally edited your post instead of quoting it Kendrik XD sorry (I knew I would do that one of these days XD). I think I put it back right though.
 
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I unlocked Crystal Ship B today...

>.> <.<

It is extremely OP compared to any other ship I've used. You will have to restart many times to find a weapon early on but once you do you are set for the rest of the game.

Crystal ship B starts with a four man teleporter and 3 crystal dudes. So you just beam them into the enemy weapon (or medical) room and chain use lockdown to control the people going in and out. Either keeping them out of a room until a system is destroyed or keeping them from leaving to go to the medical bay. Since Crystal dudes suffocate slower you can even beam them into drones. You even start with cloak so you can negate damage while they do this. The only issue is you need to find a damaging weapon for the final blow to drones and to take out super shields.

High Score 6457

Some luck was involved in finding scrap recovery and long range scanner augments. I maxed out my ship before the last sector and at the end I had 600+ unspent scrap. Though I am quite sure I could have gotten a a higher score if I had taken more risks. Seriously it breaks the game hard.

Edit: Sigh... I assumed they would have negated any point gain from fighting infinite enemies but I just found out killing the rebel pursue fleet does in fact gain you points. Ergo people are exploiting it making any scores pointless whatsoever. I didn't expect balance from an indie game but why would you do allow that in a game so strongly based on getting high score? I mean they had the sense not to give you scrap or drops off them why do they give points? It's like the first question you ask in a score based game "Can I farm X resource forever?" :( .
 
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The Mighty Gerbil said:
Note: Ugh accidentally edited your post instead of quoting it Kendrik XD sorry (I knew I would do that one of these days XD). I think I put it back right though.
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You edited my post!? D: lol No biggie, mate. You can edit my post any day.

And Crystal Ship B sounds intense. I think I want one. Nice high score too. :D
 
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