FTL: Faster Than Light

[Ptangmatik]

An excellent, roguelike, spaceship sim made by indie studio 'subset games'.

You're on the run across the galaxy from the rebel fleet who're seriously HOT on your tail because you have an attack plan McGuffin that you have to get to the Federation fleet.

On the way you pick up weapons, extra crew members, new ship systems and augmentations, missions and scrap metal which works as currency and also lets you upgrade your ship.

I bloody love this game, it's smooth, pretty and easy to get into but hard as BALLS to win.

The hanger where you chose your ship.


The result of me getting practically floored in the first fight,the red rooms are ones that have been totally knocked out, that's my medbay and life support rooms, all the rooms are a bit pink because the oxygen's starting to run out


Anyone else picked this up?

[Metcarfre]

What does 'roguelike' mean?

[Ptangmatik]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roguelike

Basically: Procedurally generated content and perma-death (ie. no checkpoints) normally means turn-based too, but this isn't. You can pause at any point though and that's bloody useful.

You unlock things in a playthrough and get achievements and they persist

[Keab42]

So much dying. Usually due to crew mismanagement.

[elvor]

I am really really enjoying this game. So addictive.

[Ptangmatik]

My worst habit is to focus so much on timing the lasers carefully so they get through the shields, that I don't notice that my life support's on fire.

[Keab42]

That's my problem. I think I need to use the pause function more often.

[Volafortis]

I bought this the moment it came out on Steam, and it's fantastic.

[Jopoho]

I really need to stop using my teleportation module in asteroid fields. I have lost so many crew members to stupid boarding raids.

Also fun is when the other ship makes a jump with your guys still on it.

[Volafortis]

I've learned to either use boarding drones or just not to board. (Unless I have a bunch of extra Mantis crew just sitting around.)

[RedNightmare]

Boarding is nice as you get massive amounts of loot if you just kill the crew, but your own ship has to weather the storm until then. The teleporter is great during the boss fight though, makes taking out it's weapons a breeze.

[Ptangmatik]

Yeah, always buff up your shield and engines before getting serious with the boarding parties.

I beat the end boss with a Glaive beam, 2 x burst mark 2s, an s bomb and an anti personnel and an anti ship drone mark 2. I took down the shields with the 6 bursts then carved across the pilot, shields and teleporter with the glaive, let the anti ship drone go nuts until the final battle when I kept the anti personnel one cover me. I kept 2 crew in each major system except for the pilot who was on his todd.

Oh, I also cloaked every time the boss fired his missiles. I did this on easy, though I boarded everyone I possibly could up to the boss to get as much scrap as possible.

[markste]

Very interesting. I like to play all time..

[Jopoho]

I will say that, upon more horrendous boarding failures and lost Mantis crew, some tooltips should be a bit more clear. The anti-bio beam clearly indicates it damages enemy crew. It should just say that it greatly damages all crew members. I'm not the smartest FTL player, but I like to think the developer shoulders some of the blame on that one.

[Keab42]

Look who I couldn't afford to recruit:

[Ptangmatik]

Ah, the Osprey has an artillery beam, I've on occasion had 2 crew over on the enemy ship and forgotten to take it offline with the other weapons, meaning the enemy blows up with my crew on board. I facepalmed so hard I think I made a dent....

[Lyinginbedmon]

I've seen a couple videos of this game and I might have to reconsider my previous opinion on it. Originally I thought it'd require too much micro-management but I might have to give it a try myself.

[empath]

It's pretty cruel and remorseless, to be honest. But, hey - roguelike.


I'm finding that, while everyone seems to be avoiding the drones, I'm really embracing them.

There's something else I noted about the game this morning...but being the old fart I am, I've forgotten it.

[Jopoho]

I found a guy named Dengler in an escape pod once, but it didn't also show the name Steven, so I was a bit unsure. Then I found a guy named Steven and figured that having both in my crew was close enough.

[the_lone_bard]

I've found Mike Western repeatedly.

[Ptangmatik]

I've seen a couple videos of this game and I might have to reconsider my previous opinion on it. Originally I thought it'd require too much micro-management but I might have to give it a try myself.

It sort of does, but you can issue orders while its paused, so it works well.

[empath]

OH! I remembered what it was:

In the spirit of Roguelikes, it'd be kinda nice to have the chance of your later ships coming across the wreckage of one of your earlier attempts. Not get any benefit or anything from it (maybe a couple pieces of scrap), but more for a feeling of continuity.

Heck, maybe they already have it coded into the game, and I just haven't triggered it yet...

[Jopoho]

OH! I remembered what it was:

In the spirit of Roguelikes, it'd be kinda nice to have the chance of your later ships coming across the wreckage of one of your earlier attempts. Not get any benefit or anything from it (maybe a couple pieces of scrap), but more for a feeling of continuity.

Heck, maybe they already have it coded into the game, and I just haven't triggered it yet...

Ooh! That would be fun!

If it is coded into the game, it isn't coded in as often as I'd like. Lord knows I've perished enough times that I should have triggered something by now if that were the case. It would also be cool if people you custom-named could be the survivor in the escape pod scenario.

[Mowinckel]

It is The Binding of Isaac but with added strategy.
EVERYTHING becomes better with more strategy.

[Ptangmatik]

OH! I remembered what it was:

In the spirit of Roguelikes, it'd be kinda nice to have the chance of your later ships coming across the wreckage of one of your earlier attempts. Not get any benefit or anything from it (maybe a couple pieces of scrap), but more for a feeling of continuity.

Heck, maybe they already have it coded into the game, and I just haven't triggered it yet...

Ooh! That would be fun!

If it is coded into the game, it isn't coded in as often as I'd like. Lord knows I've perished enough times that I should have triggered something by now if that were the case. It would also be cool if people you custom-named could be the survivor in the escape pod scenario.

Genius, both suggestions! I haven't seen it in so I don't think it is, but that would indeed be awesome.

I wish at least when it says you find a wreck or a planet or whatever it'd at least put up a picture to accompany the text. Show, don't tell.