FTL - Faster Than Light... is HARD!

[Starwhip]

God, I've died so many times I can't even count.

I will beat this game!

[Bill Phil]

On one of my tries, with a non-updraged Kestrel except for shields and power, I made it to the boss. But I died pretty quick.

It's good to scrap-mine the sector if you can, and get lots of missiles. But it's mainly so hard because of how random it is.You might miss, you might hit, you might get a crew member killed by giant spiders, etc...

[Superfluous J]

FTL is one of my very favorite games. I can win almost 100% of the time with the ships I like, and 50/50 or so with the ships I don't like so much. On Hard mode.

[RainDreamer]

Welcome to roguelike in space

[Deutherius]

FTL is one of my very favorite games. I can win almost 100% of the time with the ships I like, and 50/50 or so with the ships I don't like so much. On Hard mode.

Same here

It's all about knowing what is a trap and when you can risk it And while the game's RNG can mess you up bad, there's always something you can do to win not die as quickly.

EDIT: Alright, I just checked my stats in FTL... 189 runs, 40 victories. Not all that impressive (But I think at least 60 of those were Rock B runs to unlock Crystal A, most of them just manually restarted)

Good luck Starwhip and anyone struggling, that first victory will feel so good

Edited March 14, 2015 by Deutherius

[Bill Phil]

I remember having such a good playthrough, a little while ago...

But in one of the later sectors, a crew of 6 teleported onto my ship and started killing everything... I jumped ONCE, but I still died.

[dryer_lint]

The really annoying part is when you get an awesome ship, upgrade the heck out of it, head into the final sector feeling like you're going to blast the boss to pieces... and then you die on the first stage of the Flagship.

And once, the final sector had all the repair bases in a perfect line, as far as possible as they could be from the main base.

Gotta love RNGs!

[Starwhip]

On one of my tries, with a non-updraged Kestrel except for shields and power, I made it to the boss. But I died pretty quick.

It's good to scrap-mine the sector if you can, and get lots of missiles. But it's mainly so hard because of how random it is.You might miss, you might hit, you might get a crew member killed by giant spiders, etc...

Yeah, on the first few, I've been going to as many places as possible because it's easy at that point. I think I made it to the second-to-last sector on my last run with the Torus ship.

I've got a pattern now. Target shields, blow 'em up. Loose everything on the weapons subsystem. Then go nuts. (Unless they have drones, blow up that one too).

I think that a good strategy is having a lot of low-energy, low-recharge time weapons to just lay down a constant barrage.

Or a lot of missiles.

[Deutherius]

Yeah, on the first few, I've been going to as many places as possible because it's easy at that point. I think I made it to the second-to-last sector on my last run with the Torus ship.

I've got a pattern now. Target shields, blow 'em up. Loose everything on the weapons subsystem. Then go nuts. (Unless they have drones, blow up that one too).

I think that a good strategy is having a lot of low-energy, low-recharge time weapons to just lay down a constant barrage.

Or a lot of missiles.

Actually you should go for as long route as possible through ALL the sectors (just mind the fuel). More beacons = more encounters = more stuff = better chances. And you will need those.

[Kryten]

The devs said they balanced it so that it would feel like a suicide mission. They did a pretty good job of it.

[John FX]

This thread makes me want to try the game. Is there a demo?

[Starwhip]

This thread makes me want to try the game. Is there a demo?

Unfortunately, no. But it's planned.

[UmbralRaptor]

I see no reason to recommend the game.

Blurry and distorted graphics.

Where I was when I gave up. Have fun trying to progress. (Chances are people who say "it's easy, just use x ship" are referring to one that's difficult to unlock)

[sal_vager]

Umbral, what is wrong with your monitor? FTL looks fine for me.

[Superfluous J]

This thread makes me want to try the game. Is there a demo?

No, but a youtuber I'm pretty familiar with

. If you just watch the first video (or maybe the first three, which would complete my first "Kestrel" run) you should know whether or not you want to drop the bones on it.

[UmbralRaptor]

Umbral, what is wrong with your monitor? FTL looks fine for me.

The problem is that I don't own a 1280x720 (or more generally a 16:9) monitor. Initially I was running it on an old CRT at 1280x960, and it somehow got distorted despite the letterboxing! The last two pics are windowed mode on a 1920x1200 LCD, so...

[Superfluous J]

I see no reason to recommend the game.

Blurry and distorted graphics.

It looks like you somehow forced it into a resolution the game doesn't support. It's 720p only. If you fullscreen it, it just blows up the 720p to the full screen. I just play it in a window.

Chances are people who say "it's easy, just use x ship" are referring to one that's difficult to unlock

Even with the most OP ships (which are hard to unlock, yes) the game is hard. It punishes you at every step. If that does not appeal to you as a game mechanic then yes, I would not recommend this game to you. But if you want to actually feel like you EARNED the win (instead of just reloaded a save 50 times until you got the win, or worse yet found the game so easy that you just won it on the first try) then FTL is all that and a bag of space chips.

[UmbralRaptor]

It looks like you somehow forced it into a resolution the game doesn't support. It's 720p only. If you fullscreen it, it just blows up the 720p to the full screen. I just play it in a window.

Still getting the uneven text weirdness in windowed.

Even with the most OP ships (which are hard to unlock, yes) the game is hard. It punishes you at every step. If that does not appeal to you as a game mechanic then yes, I would not recommend this game to you. But if you want to actually feel like you EARNED the win (instead of just reloaded a save 50 times until you got the win, or worse yet found the game so easy that you just won it on the first try) then FTL is all that and a bag of space chips.

While strategy does exist, it's still about spamming restarts until the RNG has mercy, though. How is that satisfying?

[Bill Phil]

I have found that the secret to winning is to know what to do for many situations. Make a mistake and BOOM!, you're dead.

For example, one time I was boarded and I vented the whole ship, which, when left with only one guy and a destroyed Oxygen room, left me with no chance to win. If I did something else, maybe I wouldn't have died...

[Superfluous J]

While strategy does exist, it's still about spamming restarts until the RNG has mercy, though. How is that satisfying?

It's not. And once you get really good at the game you don't need to rely on the RNG to have mercy. You will face those "impossible" situations and scrape by. Then you'll dominate. Finally, you'll flourish.

I am dead serious here. 99% of the "oh the RNG screwed me" moments ARE surmountable. If not at the time they happen, then because your ship should have been better prepared and your choices prior to that event were not the best. And I'm not talking that you need prescience to avoid the situation. I'm saying that if you build your ship up in a good way you will just naturally be better able to face those events.

For example, with the exception of missiles most ships in the first 2 sectors can't get through 2 shields. So you should spend your *first* 50 scrap on shields. Don't bother with the power, just get those shields. Every time you face a ship with 2 shots, or a single shot and a beam, power down your engines (who cares about dodging when you're invincible?) and put on your shields. Then, take your time tearing the enemy apart. That alone can net you HUNDREDS of risk-free scrap to use to upgrade your engines, buy a nice new weapon, or take advantage of something you find floating in space.

[Deutherius]

While strategy does exist, it's still about spamming restarts until the RNG has mercy, though. How is that satisfying?

<opinion>

What? I respectfuly disagree. It's a roguelike. It's about doing with what little you have against bad odds. It's about learning the game through dying. It's about the feeling you get when you beat the game, even when the game is trying hard to beat you. And beating the game through strategy alone is very much possible, even consistently.

Spamming restarts until you get a carry run is not satisfying. It's also not how the game is meant to be played.

</opinion>

[Starwhip]

If strategy isn't your cup of tea, don't waste your money on a strategy game.

I've been playing Emperor: Battle for Dune for about ten years and I still haven't won, but I still play it, because I like strategy games.

As for FTL, I started last night and have died about twenty times. I think I'm learning, though.

[Bill Phil]

Now I want to play it again.....

[maltesh]

I haven't played the game in awhile, but when I did, I'd have to say I found it generally enjoyable. The Lanius Boarding team is pretty terrifying.

Just had to keep hacking the piloting, and guarding the 02. Didn't win on that run, though.

[sal_vager]

Gotta love the music too