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FTL: Advanced Edition |OT|: Now on iPad (and free update on PC!)
- Thread starter chickdigger802
- Start date
Man I've played so many hours of this game...still no rock ship.
Want an easy win?
Engi Cruiser Type A
Try and find one more Ion weapon and one random weapon and/or attack bot and you're sorted.
Having 2 heavy ions is just insane. They charge so quick you can disable what ever you want in 4/5 seconds even with 3 shields on the enemy.
I spam the shields till it's disabled, then shoot the engines out or disable any missiles.
Boss was like butter with this build.
Anyone got a preferred tactic for the federation ship?
Engi Cruiser Type A
Try and find one more Ion weapon and one random weapon and/or attack bot and you're sorted.
Having 2 heavy ions is just insane. They charge so quick you can disable what ever you want in 4/5 seconds even with 3 shields on the enemy.
I spam the shields till it's disabled, then shoot the engines out or disable any missiles.
Boss was like butter with this build.
Anyone got a preferred tactic for the federation ship?
Nikodemos
Member
You mean the Cruiser?
Artillery beam, artillery beam, and artillery beam.
Anything else is support. Mind control, hacking, cloak (you can get it for the Cruiser in AE), ions that sort of thing. Don't bother with teleport. You're likely to mess up and stupidly kill your boarding team as the (yep, you guessed it) artillery beam tears the enemy ship apart. Happened to pretty much everyone playing the Cruiser at least twice.
Since you're going to blast ships rather than ransack them, a Scrap Recovery Arm is quite necessary (SRA is generally useful since it gives more scrap even if you ransack ships).
Cool. I kind of thought as it penetrates shields if it's worth having a purely defensive build and let the artillery beam do all the work? no point having ion beams, lazers etc if you can just sit back and watch count down timer
Finally got to the final stand on hard mode, stealth cruiser type b (my favorite ship)
Got a Vulcan cannon early on, picked up a second and got rid of the glaive. Was really fucking powerful going into the final battle...
But... Asshole hacked my weapons system and that was that. With cloak and hacking combined I could barely get the charges going. I even had the weapon pre igniter and still was essentially powerless. Hacking is fucking OP, no way I should have lost on the first stage. Tore any other ship up in seconds.
Edit: also had stealth weapons. That was a ship I would have wanted in infinite space mode.
Got a Vulcan cannon early on, picked up a second and got rid of the glaive. Was really fucking powerful going into the final battle...
But... Asshole hacked my weapons system and that was that. With cloak and hacking combined I could barely get the charges going. I even had the weapon pre igniter and still was essentially powerless. Hacking is fucking OP, no way I should have lost on the first stage. Tore any other ship up in seconds.
Edit: also had stealth weapons. That was a ship I would have wanted in infinite space mode.
PastorOfMuppets
Banned
If you play the Engi A ship ever, max the drones. Get two Defense II drones and a Defense 1 drones. Four bars of engines. Level 3 shields. Level 3 hacking will help for the third phase when the boss boards your ship and mind controls your crew. The defense drones will minimize damage from the triple missiles. Hacking will is especially useful in phase 3, in the earlier phases I tend to use it to kill the shields. Whatever beast weapon you have at this stage can handle the rest.
So a guy at a company I work for started playing this again. I thought I'd get in on the action.
First jump in the Kestrel A? Meteor field with an AI drone. Took a ton of damage due to their cloak and ion beam.
Finally blow them up, jump out, straight into a rebel fighter that proceeds to crack open my hull like an eggshell.
End of the run. All crew members dead due to fires. Two jumps.
I'm going to go cry.
First jump in the Kestrel A? Meteor field with an AI drone. Took a ton of damage due to their cloak and ion beam.
Finally blow them up, jump out, straight into a rebel fighter that proceeds to crack open my hull like an eggshell.
End of the run. All crew members dead due to fires. Two jumps.
I'm going to go cry.
In the continued adventures of lol firebeam, we meet the dreaded Flagship.
...oh. Well that's that. Probably the most fun run I've had, and also (I think) the first victory I've had without a teleporter. Instead I relied on engine hacking, burst fire on the shields, then spreading fires around coupled with mind control for extra chaos. Worked surprisingly well.
I actually just discovered how damn useful even a level 1 mind control is just to get rid of it being used on you. Saved a lot of headaches as it replenishes in time to keep blocking it, though hacking would have worked in its place. But man, hard to not kill off their evasion.
...oh. Well that's that. Probably the most fun run I've had, and also (I think) the first victory I've had without a teleporter. Instead I relied on engine hacking, burst fire on the shields, then spreading fires around coupled with mind control for extra chaos. Worked surprisingly well.
I actually just discovered how damn useful even a level 1 mind control is just to get rid of it being used on you. Saved a lot of headaches as it replenishes in time to keep blocking it, though hacking would have worked in its place. But man, hard to not kill off their evasion.
Weltall Zero
Member
I feel your pain, bro. I unlocked Rock B after all the other B ships... including Lanius AND Crystal.
When that happens, you can try jumping out, recovering, and jumping back. With the new Flagship and base gameover conditions you should always be able to do so during your first battle with it (which is the only one with hacking anyway). With any luck, the next fight will have it hacking a less useful system like sensors.
Welcome to FTL!
GunslingerVit
Banned
The firebeam is illegal amounts of fun. This guy just stood at the helm, knowing there was nothing that could be done, and died when the oxygen ran out.
Later, these guys boarded and had no ship to return to.
Haha, I love setting things on fire, too, and then watch how the world burns.
KojiKnight
Member
For some reason Steam isn't syncing my cloud saves anymore... was working fine for the longest time, but now my saves aren't transferring and it's scaring me a little (on one PC I have Rock B unlocked, the other I don't. I don't want it to finally kick in and sync the less advanced save... especially since getting a teleporter and something that sets the enemy on fire has been a bitch to get.
BrassDragon
Member
I have much love for this game but the boss fight difficulty spike still hurts like hell.
I never reach the endzone by the skin of my teeth... at the higher difficulties, the first few zones can be tough but at 75% mark I'm usually fully decked out and in a groove. By then, I can merrily skip over the husks of countless enemy ships only to slam face-first into the flagship.
Meh, I know failing is part of the fun but I would prefer a steady incline of difficulty instead of a sudden cliff face.
I never reach the endzone by the skin of my teeth... at the higher difficulties, the first few zones can be tough but at 75% mark I'm usually fully decked out and in a groove. By then, I can merrily skip over the husks of countless enemy ships only to slam face-first into the flagship.
Meh, I know failing is part of the fun but I would prefer a steady incline of difficulty instead of a sudden cliff face.
Weltall Zero
Member
Backup your most recent game saves for ease of mind, you can simply replace them later on. You can also manually copy the more advanced save on the PC with the older save. Save location is at Users\[you]\Documents\my games\FasterThanLight.
(Excuse the discolouration, it's f.lux)
Had the most Bush league fight with the flagship. As you can see, I was Mantis A. Unfortunately I got quite unlucky at stores and I couldn't get a good weapon. So I was stuck with a shitty hull laser that couldn't even penetrate the enemy's shield. After getting the Supershield down, I sent 2 mantises to the enemy's triple missile launcher to disable it, went off without a hitch. Recalled them and sent them back to the triple laser weapon.
This is where shit hit the fan. The Supershield came back online, and the flagship mind-controlled one of my boarding mantises. I couldn't recall because of the Supershield so the mind-controlled one killed the other due to its buffs. Worse still, because the flagship detected that it had two crewmembers on its ship (one my own), it teleported the rebel pilot to my ship and started shooting the place up and I was forced to kill him. However, after the mind-control wore off the flagship detected it had no more living crewmembers and its AI kicked in. Its triple missile started self-repairing, I was pretty much fucked. So I made the call, I pulled off my weapons rock and ported him to the flagship, targeting their shields so I can get a clear shot with my hull laser. It didn't really work though, my rock dealt too little damage and the flagship's dodge kept me from landing a direct hit, all the while my mantis whom I teleported in to the triple missile to keep it down kept getting mind-controlled and repairing it instead. I could only deal damage by blowing up the systems with my boarders, and the flagship could only deal damage by getting lucky with missile shots. This battle of attrition continued for 20 minutes, and I finally landed a hull laser to finish the job. I won, by at the cost of two crewmembers who made the ultimate sacrifice going down with the flagship. rip in peace mantis and rock.
KojiKnight
Member
Early game I prioritize shields, late game I prioritize evasion.
I agree with that. Shields 2 over anything on Evasion imo.
Sometimes it depends on your build, too. For example, with a Defense Drone, I would probably invest in shields first, since the drone can handle missile onslaughts when needed. With a stealth system I would always want to get atleast 40% evasion pretty soon to get the reliable 100% dodge when cloaking. Zoltan shield benefits quite a bit from evasion, too.
My favorite strat, hands down. Runner ups include oxygen manipulation and med bay hacking.
Sounds like LethalFrag's hard mode run with the Mantis B. He was able to micro his crew members to avoid losing any to the mind control, but ended up in a similar stalemate until he teleported six crew members over there to keep every important system down for as long as possible. And then couldn't teleport any of them back in time before the ship went down. Still, you made it through with less. Good job.
Chrono Helix
Member
Damnit I was so close to beating the last boss with the Rock B on hard! In my first fight with him my strategy was to hack the missile turret, then teleport my Rockmen in there to kill the crew. Their crew would die before they could break through the hacked doors. Eventually I had whittled them down to two, but I myself had taken significant damage. I had no way to pierce his shields because my weapons sucked, so I had the bright idea of jumping away to a nearby repair beacon, and then re-engaging him with his reduced crew and hacking his shield instead. Turns out his crew replenishes if you escaped from him!
I finally beat the first form and ended with critical health, then I was reminded that his second form had a defence drone... With my Rockmen unable to overpower his crew, and no way to drop his shields, all I could do was admit defeat.
I finally beat the first form and ended with critical health, then I was reminded that his second form had a defence drone... With my Rockmen unable to overpower his crew, and no way to drop his shields, all I could do was admit defeat.
See that was my plan when I accidentally killed the whole enemy crew in Phase 3 of a Captain's Edition mod run.
I didn't expect what happened next. Made me laugh as my cruiser burned down. The entire Federation was undone to electronic ghosts and two health bars on the Rebel flagship.
DiscoShark
Banned
Did you sell your firebomb in that run? You could have firebombed the enemy shield room and teleported your crew in there, eventually the AI would have given up the room as the fire spread and your rock crew could sit and chill while attacking the shield room uncontested.
Chrono Helix
Member
My final weapons were a chain laser, the initial heavy pierce laser and a hull smasher laser 2 (which I wasn't able to use because I foolishly decided to overlook weapons upgrading as boarding had served me well in the second half of the game). I think I had already sold the firebomb when I got the teleporter. I'll be sure to try it next time!
Intheflorsh
Banned
79 hours in (yes, really) and I have finally blown up the flagship.
Feels damn good.
Feels damn good.
Intheflorsh
Banned
It's fantastic. It and the artillery beam led me to victory.
Thanks for mentioning this. It had never occured to me that FTL would have mods. Captain's Edition with infinite is great!
KojiKnight
Member
Infinite drags on a little too long (hurhurhur).
Seriously, infinite is mostly busy work. At least with the additional weapon mods it keeps it fairly interesting (modified versions of every weapon with both being stronger and weaker to give it a diablo-esque loot system
I do like the weapons mod, but I like infinite because my only complaint about FTL has been that I felt it was too short. With infinite it can be just about as long as I want it to be since you can always jump back onto the rebel fleet path.
Phantast2k
Member
This game needs a PvP mode. Or at least do a sequel with one. The devs are sitting on a goldmine here, could also include clans and whatnot..
PAULINK
I microwave steaks.
I was thinking this as well. I dunno how i'd fare without pausing though ._.
also, this happened to me last week
I normally air out any intruders, but this time it really bit me in the ass when they hit my door system. Felt helpless. Then I got a rock man in the next area and upgraded my health systems and everything was good.
lol how the hell did that happen?
Ragnorok64
Member
How would that work exactly? Forced no pausing or would it have predetermined turns?
Five sector map.
Forced no pausing.
Standard creeps and shops.
One friendly ship per system.
Can send fleet groups at the enemy.
I'm starting to think it could make it a pretty rad take on MOBA.
Weltall Zero
Member
For the versus mode, I was thinking more of a duel mode, where you get either predetermined ships, or ships in the state you have beaten the game with. No pausing is pretty obvious. I would seriously pay good money for that. If FTL is such an intense experience when playing alone, imagine the amperage of versus matches. Worse, imagine playing against someone that can and will mercilessly target your most vital systems rather than random ones. I'm getting shivers just thinking about it.
Edit: Not to say I don't like Mindlog's suggestion as well, in fact it sounds even better. It could be like a crazy version of the original Star Control's versus strategy mode.
Edit: Not to say I don't like Mindlog's suggestion as well, in fact it sounds even better. It could be like a crazy version of the original Star Control's versus strategy mode.
PAULINK
I microwave steaks.
I let all the doors open like a dingus and the damn ship knocks out my door and health system. Now I know the dangers of airing out enemies like that. I lost a good zoltan because I thought I could miraculously fix the health system to sustain their life while they try and fix the doors.
brianmcdoogle
Member
I've been playing the game on the iPad, and while I played it on the computer quite a bit, I'd forgotten how much I hate the last boss. I hate hate hate hate hate it. I can get through the entire game without losing a crew member, without repairing my ship, but when I get to the last boss, I fall apart. I can get past the first form OK, but the second one stomps me. It wouldn't bother me that much if the game was progressive in its difficulty, but it is a cakewalk until those final battles.
I hope someone gets the save hacking up and running for the iPad
I hope someone gets the save hacking up and running for the iPad