FTL - new ace PC game - The Bear and Badger

Mod74

Looking at the size of the window you'd need a screen 1366x768 minimum.

Subbax

Yeah, I don't have that. Gutted.

I do have a spare monitor actually, I wonder if that'd help.

djchump

Cor - just lost a few hours to this. Fun stuff!

Elmlea

Isn't it? Just played for hours. What are people's tactics so far?

I've had most success by sticking to the default Kestrel weapons and adding one or 2 extras, rather than going down the route of drones or boarding. I keep getting killed because I never upgrade my shields, though.

djchump

I've only done the tutorial and had about 3 runs on Easy - first time died fairly early cos everything was on fire and ohmygodohmygodthere'snooxygenargh. Second time did better but then got my ass kicked.Â
On the third run through now and doing quite well using the Engi ship I unlocked - it's got a reasonably quick-firing blaster thingy that takes out shields and EMP disables whichever thing you target (I think - it goes blue anyway) and the little drone wizzes round the other ship blasting it. Managed to get a Rock crew member alien guy who's dead handy for putting out fires.

If you get boarded, try to have the fight in medbay - managed to fluke a defense cos I had four guys in there pummeling the boarders and getting healed by the medbay during the fight Â :-D

Carbon_Altered

Elmlea wrote:

Isn't it? Just played for hours. What are people's tactics so far? I've had most success by sticking to the default Kestrel weapons and adding one or 2 extras, rather than going down the route of drones or boarding. I keep getting killed because I never upgrade my shields, though.

My victorious run was laser based - I had three multiple burst lasers that gave me eight shots if fired simultaneously. This was enough to overwhelm most enemies' shields. Then I had this great beam weapon where you sort of "draw" a line across the enemy ship and if then is no shield in the way, it ripped through their systems.

Current run is missile / boarding in a Rock ship. Rock men are great at boarding, but running out of missiles sucks....

Carbon_Altered

djchump wrote:

using the Engi ship I unlocked ... getting healed by the medbay during the fight Â

Assuming you're using the "type A" setup of that ship (the default before you do the relevant achievements) then its perk is that your crew get healed where ever they are (although at a slower rate than in the med bay).

AJ

That's the ship I've done my best run so far with. Â Two offensive drones, an ion cannon, a laser and one of those bombÂ teleporterÂ things, a shit-load of crew and a maxed out engine by the end.

My strategy seems a bit hit and miss, though.

Carbon_Altered

Just ran out of fuel like a right pillock. Was on my way to unlocking the "unidentified cruiser" as well by

Spoiler:

isanbard

Just hd a decent run through to the engy homelands in an Engy type A. Did have a point whereby I suddenly realised using drones actually required a stash of dronesâ€¦ Eejit but I had a successful setup of system repair and two basic assault drones off floating around with the ion cannon taking out the shields as much as possible.Â

Just before I was slaughtered I did unlock

Spoiler:

Gotta play something before Blands 2 hits eh?

djchump

Carbon_Altered wrote:

djchump wrote:

using the Engi ship I unlocked ... getting healed by the medbay during the fight Â

Assuming you're using the "type A" setup of that ship (the default before you do the relevant achievements) then its perk is that your crew get healed where ever they are (although at a slower rate than in the med bay).

Cheers - hadn't clocked that perks thingy.

the fight in medbay was in my second run in the default kestrel ship - I just kinda lucked out that the boarders followed a couple of guys in when I sent them for healing.

Looks like I haven't even scratched the surface! Looking forward to powering up to a beast of a ship then losing it all through my own panicked incompetence :-)

This is ideal tho for iPad - hope they're doing a port!

AJ

Stats page is a nice feature. Â I'm about to start my 22nd game.

Mod74

My best run was Engi ship and two attack drones. Which I of course spannered up right before the end by attacking a Pirate ship. Hubris. Oh hubris.

Little Franklin

Looks like this is one of those "Oh crap, it's 12:30" games.

Made it to the final boss on first run, then got pummelled by drones.

AJ

I just finished it on my 23rd go, EngiÂ type A. Maybe now I'll be able to just play it occasionally and get on with all the other stuff I'm meant to be playing.

It is superbly balanced, though; just the right amount of time to craft your ship and crew into a badass killing machine by the end, with the right scope to try different configurations onÂ differentÂ play throughs without it feeling confusing or restricting. Â I imagine a spreadsheet had something to do with that.

A sequel with nicer graphics, perhaps involving snazzy 3D battles with schematic overlays or something, would be lovely. Â As would an MMO using the same mechanics.

Carbon_Altered

AJ_ wrote:

A sequel with nicer graphics, perhaps involving snazzy 3D battles with schematic overlays or something, would be lovely. Â As would an MMO using the same mechanics.

Very much agree about the MMO aspect, but how would you balance the need to pause the game to plan tactics? It would lose some of the appeal for me if it turned into a RTS.

Would love there to be more of an exploratory angle added to it.

Mod74

38 goes and I've seen the bad guy once, on Easy. He raped me.

How are you pausing to plan in the middle of a fight?

Little Franklin

Spacebar to pause. Didn't you do the tutorial? No wonder you're having trouble. Wouldn't even play the game if I couldn't pause it.

Mod74

I know how to pause, but what I'm saying is how are you changing your tactics mid battle?

I can see you might switch off an attack drone to activate a repair/anti personal one, but you can do that easily enough mid battle, It's not like you can alter the ship configuration/upgrades.

Carbon_Altered

Mod74 wrote:

I know how to pause, but what I'm saying is how are you changing your tactics mid battle? I can see you might switch off an attack drone to activate a repair/anti personal one, but you can do that easily enough mid battle, It's not like you can alter the ship configuration/upgrades.

I mean plan in terms of where my weapons are targetted, and what my crewmates are doing. By then end game you could have 4 different weapons to manage - I cycle what they are targetting quite a lot.

It takes even more management if you have sustained damage, or if you're managing a boarding party.

I just like being able to play it at quite a slow pace within the battles. I bet others like it more intense though.

Bollockoff

Can you not use drones at all unless you have the right ship? Found a drone at random and can't seem to install it.

isanbard

You have a drone control room installed? Comes as standard on a Engi but not the first ship you have. Costs about 80 (from memory) if you need to buy one from a store.

Bollockoff

That'l be the ticket. Cheers.

AJ

Hadn't thought about being able to pause in an MMO, that's gonna be difficult. Maybe if they let you queue up actions or set conditions for things to be performed...

Bollockoff

Some bastard Mantis Fighter boarded my ship and we had a glorious fuck off battle while orbiting too close to a sun and fires were randomly springing up in my rooms. Missiles and crew gang raping save the day but i'm ow at 50% hull. How do you repair?

metagonzo

I don't think you can repair hull, can you?

Mod74

You can repair it at a store.

Bollockoff

Made it to one. Just about. Thanks for the hints you both.

AJ

You can also get a repair drone that repairs a certain amount then dies and and augment that uses a percentage of the scrap you collect to repair your hull.

Bollockoff

Yeah got the repair arm augment. Seems handy for the low disadvantage.

Just hit sector five. Come on first time completion.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories