FTL - new ace PC game - The Bear and Badger

Paul the sparky

Had another shot on this last night, first go in ages. Got to the third boss stage but I couldn't get through his shields/he was dodging too many shots, one more laser or a bomb and I'd have had him.

Still, the run was a good 'un, the Kestrel alternate design (Red Kite or Tail or something) was a beast. Still utterly reliant on lucking out in a shop/with a drop to beat the boss though. Nothing but crew for ages when I've got a full ship, fucking typical.

AJ

Had a play for the first time in a while tonight. Felt the ship was particularly badass, so I thought I'd post it here. Very nearly made it through the last two sectors without a scratch and the boss only took half my health.

Spoiler:

Somehow I managed to get the most scrap I've ever collected, too, which is odd seeing how I didn't have a scrap recovery arm. Wonder if it's anything to do with heavy beam use?

Mod74

I don't think I've ever been offered a Drone Reactor Booster.

You took an FTL Jammer over the Engi Medibot Dispersal? That seems to me like swapping one of the best for one of the worst!

AJ

The Medibot Dispersal doesn't come with that variant of the ship, whereas the Drone Booster does. It's the one that starts with a pilot and no other crew. I didn't find that many useful augs on the way, hence the FTL jammer.

The Glaive Beam with a couple of Ion Blasters is absolutely devastating, I actually felt happy to walk off and make a cuppa while battles were going on. I did enjoy imagining all those Zoltan, hanging about just to power shit and getting hassled by the rest of the crew, too.

Mod74

I can't have that ship variant unlocked then.

AJ

It's wicked fun, you get two repair droids and a security bot with it so don't have to keep an eye on what's happening inside too much.

I might have a concerted effort to unlock some more ships, it just takes so damned long.

Carbon_Altered

AJ wrote:

The Medibot Dispersal doesn't come with that variant of the ship, whereas the Drone Booster does. It's the one that starts with a pilot and no other crew. I didn't find that many useful augs on the way, hence the FTL jammer. The Glaive Beam with a couple of Ion Blasters is absolutely devastating, I actually felt happy to walk off and make a cuppa while battles were going on. I did enjoy imagining all those Zoltan, hanging about just to power shit and getting hassled by the rest of the crew, too.

Respect for completing it with that ship - I find its initial setup really hard to get on with.

AJ

I actually find both the Engi ships the easiest, generally you just set them off and leave them. Different play styles, I guess. Which is your ship of choice?

Bollockoff

This game is brutalising me. I'm nearly 75 games in and i've only got to the Flagship twice now on normal but yet to defeat the first phase. My last game as a Zoltan Cruiser got there but I decided to fight another rebel ship just before the Flagship and I just couldn't deal with the four layer shields and high evasion rate since all my bombs would just miss. Lost two guys teleporting in despite their medbay being down and that left me crippled for the boss which I didn't even bother with.

Game I just started as The Kestrel and the very first node I travel to is a Mantis ship with a teleporter who puts a Rockman in my shield room. Just fuck it all.

AJ

One Rockman? Kestrel's got a crew of four hasn't it? They could easily take him.

You can buy yourself some time and take his health down a bit by running everyone to one room at the opposite end of the ship, then opening the rest to space.

It is a bloody hard game, though, you die a great many more times than you win.

Mod74

Just fuck Normal full stop.

Bollockoff

Kestrel is 3 man at the start. Contemplated moving everyone in but 0 Evade chance meant I just went for the restart button.

AJ

Mod74 wrote:

Just fuck Normal full stop.

Oh, definitely this.

Bollockoff

Ugh, Sector 2. Three mantis borders as part of a pirate event and the attacking ship is also a mantis ship with a teleporter so two more tele on to make five and then a missile takes out my oxygen. Another trip to the restart button.

Don't think i've even had five boarders before.

AJ

You need to have upgraded your doors. Then you can just run about the ship, suffocating them to death.

That sounds pretty hardcore for sector 2, are you playing on normal?

Bollockoff

Yup. I'm guessing it's an accident of the game design. Pirate boarding event + mantis ship.

Think i'll switch to easy just to boost my confidence and actually get some ships.

AJ

Not an accident, that just happens. You could even say it's intended. Really, easy is normal and normal is really fucking hard.

Bollockoff

First attempt on easy and nailed it first time with the Engi ship. Got a teleporter, two mantis crew and a scrap arm. Was just shy of 2000 total scrap by the end and one Mantis had 30 combat kills on his own.

Shame I wasn't paying attention towards the end and blew up a ship while him and a Rockman mate were still onboard.

But yeah, easy is training mode.

Tempy

Y'all are forgetting Bollo's XCOM prestige here. He eats RNGs for brunch.

Mod74

Bollockoff wrote:

But yeah, easy is training mode.

Sort of. You can unlock ships more readily that actually give you a fighting chance on Normal. Think of it like Frank West keeping his skills across multiple attempts.

Paul the sparky

Fuck normal.

But that boarding situation was totally survivable wasn't it? Open all doors except those for the med bay and cockpit, get the two guys from shields and weapons into the med bay and leave the pilot where he is.

Rockman boarder attacks the shields a bit, starts to lose health so ends up heading to the nearest oxygen supply; in the med bay. Mistake!

Unless shit goes down differently in Normal? I thought it only affected how much scrap you got?

Mod74

Normal does seem to throw ridiculous boarding situations at you earlier.

Bollockoff

It was an instant restart because i'd end up taking a fair amount of hull damage right off the bat and pretty much every bit of scrap counts on normal. You can't waste too much repairing.

Tempy wrote:

Y'all are forgetting Bollo's XCOM prestige here. He eats RNGs for brunch.

Yes.

AJ

Bollockoff has all the strategy and makes me jealous.

Mod74

OHHHH MYYYY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Nina

Pfew, glad I don't have an ipad, this is still the only game I seem to play on pc every once in a while.

Still not got past sector 6, and have only two ships unlocked, but it's so damn good.

The Daddy

Mod74 wrote:

OHHHH MYYYY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Treeeeeemendous!

Paul the sparky

It's just an empty space to poor old safari.

AJ

Content update and iPad version, Paul.

The Daddy

Paul the sparky wrote:

It's just an empty space to poor old safari.

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