Intheflorsh
Banned
Thanks, the damn thing blew up a ship I managed to get to the last stand.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
FTL: Advanced Edition |OT|: Now on iPad (and free update on PC!)
- Thread starter chickdigger802
- Start date
Thanks, the damn thing blew up a ship I managed to get to the last stand.
Its 2D game that is turn based, so even if it runs at 10-15 fps (it shouldnt), You do not lose much in terms of gameplay.
Alright! Finished it for the first time (easy mode...). Four lasers, 7 shots per barrage and max shields, max doors and almost max engine. It was almost too easy to just fire away on the missile launcher and shields. Oh, and three weapon charge boosts.
.
Oh, and is it a bug that my weapons doesn't charge at all when the enemy is cloaked? I get that I can't fire at him but the weapons not charging seems stupid.
Turn based? 90% of the game is in frantic real time ship on ship combat.
Most of the enemy crew had already died so when two little guys beamed over they weren't much of a match for my crew, the last form of the battle was the only one remotely challenging. Good to know that the flagship doesn't magically regenerate crew between the fights
Oh, and is it a bug that my weapons doesn't charge at all when the enemy is cloaked? I get that I can't fire at him but the weapons not charging seems stupid.
Turn based? 90% of the game is in frantic real time ship on ship combat.
The artilliry beam is so good, cuts through the enemy like nothing and shields don't so shit to it. Just survive long enough by deploying drones, upping your shields and engines and the enemy will die.
Nope, that's normal. Weapons can't lock on to anything they can't see.
It may not be a bug, but it's dumb. Why does a weapon need to lock on to charge? If a ship isn't cloaked, and you haven't selected a target, the weapon still charges even though it's not locked onto anything.
I'm guessing the real reason has something more to do with gameplay mechanics and making sure cloaking is somewhat useful for the AI? But that's just a guess.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Started playing this again yesterday.
So good.
So good.
With pause? Its as much real-time as KOTOR.
Velcro Fly
Member
Watching people play hard mode with a Clone Bay
You can pretty much zerg anything as long as you have a DNA Bank too as long as you don't get RNG fucked with no crew.
I actually like how the game is designed now where things that may not have been as useful before are now useful in certain situations now. Instead of loading up with Mantis for boarding or trying to get burst lasers for pew pew, there are different setups and things that work and that different systems are more or less useful in certain situations.
Also apparent that unless you hit the lottery with weapons and things there is no one size fits all for all three phases of the flagship. You might be strong on one part but it leaves you vulnerable for others. I can't believe how well designed the flagship fight is for testing you with just about everything now.
Hull Repair Drone is still OP though
You can pretty much zerg anything as long as you have a DNA Bank too as long as you don't get RNG fucked with no crew.
I actually like how the game is designed now where things that may not have been as useful before are now useful in certain situations now. Instead of loading up with Mantis for boarding or trying to get burst lasers for pew pew, there are different setups and things that work and that different systems are more or less useful in certain situations.
Also apparent that unless you hit the lottery with weapons and things there is no one size fits all for all three phases of the flagship. You might be strong on one part but it leaves you vulnerable for others. I can't believe how well designed the flagship fight is for testing you with just about everything now.
Hull Repair Drone is still OP though
Final boss is HAX with the haack weapon. Starts fight hacking my shields or weapons grr.
Like the cloning bay. Can just send crew over without worrying about them dieting or the ship jumping.
I usually send someone to take out the missile launcher on the mothership because that's what seems to cause me the most damage.
Like the cloning bay. Can just send crew over without worrying about them dieting or the ship jumping.
I usually send someone to take out the missile launcher on the mothership because that's what seems to cause me the most damage.
Haunted
Member
It was the FTL panel at Indiecade 2012. I don't actually think there's a video of it available online, at least I haven't found anything.
And yes, this is a pretty good summary. The balance between having a hard-as-nails fight that feels like a real triumph when overcome and the final boss being so overwhelming that it overshadows all of your decision making during the game and can seriously inhibit your willingness to experiment with weapons and strategies... it's tough.
Wait, I'm pretty sure you lose crew members when the other ship jumps with them onboard if you don't have that DNA bank upgrade.
It's the only way I lost any crew members during my first run with the new ship.
Finally beat a run with the Advanced Content, just went back to the default ship so I started with a burst laser II and wrecked shit all the way through.
But fuck that was annoying as hell. They made the final boss even more of a pain in the ass than it already was with mind control bullshit. Gotta say while the AE content is well done, I don't really like it. Mind control is cute to use but I can't see myself giving up more weapons, cloaking or essentials (shields/engine) to have enough power to use it reliably. Hacking is good I guess but not something I find that fun to use as it's easier to knock out systems with weapons. Cloning bay is cool but when I'm boarding all the time not having a med-bay is annoying, I need dudes at 100% health to win melee fights. And the new weapons are kind of crappy, save the flak but that misses a lot in my experience.
I still find that brute forcing bomb + burst lasers + boarding crew and long cloaks to miss enemy missiles gets me through almost every encounter.
But fuck that was annoying as hell. They made the final boss even more of a pain in the ass than it already was with mind control bullshit. Gotta say while the AE content is well done, I don't really like it. Mind control is cute to use but I can't see myself giving up more weapons, cloaking or essentials (shields/engine) to have enough power to use it reliably. Hacking is good I guess but not something I find that fun to use as it's easier to knock out systems with weapons. Cloning bay is cool but when I'm boarding all the time not having a med-bay is annoying, I need dudes at 100% health to win melee fights. And the new weapons are kind of crappy, save the flak but that misses a lot in my experience.
I still find that brute forcing bomb + burst lasers + boarding crew and long cloaks to miss enemy missiles gets me through almost every encounter.
Mind Control is damn near OP. I got through Sector 8 with 2 Ion Is, 1 firebeam, and a small bomb as my only weapons. No drones. I didn't even get a crew teleporter until Sector 7. Mind Control is ridiculously unfair at times.
I basically cruised through the majority of the game throwing Ions around until shields dropped. Then ran a fire beam across Oxygen + as many other connecting rooms as possible and as soon as guys started running off to control the fire I hit whichever was in a 2 man room with MC.
It was not fair.
Fully upgraded, it takes 3 crew members to stop 1 mind controlled crew depending on the race. Once I got my boarding parties going in conjunction with it... lol. Doesn't matter who you are - you're not stopping two Manti and a hulked out crew member at the same time. Definitely not while your ship is ablaze. Game was a breeze. I'd say its almost essential to any run.
I basically cruised through the majority of the game throwing Ions around until shields dropped. Then ran a fire beam across Oxygen + as many other connecting rooms as possible and as soon as guys started running off to control the fire I hit whichever was in a 2 man room with MC.
It was not fair.
Fully upgraded, it takes 3 crew members to stop 1 mind controlled crew depending on the race. Once I got my boarding parties going in conjunction with it... lol. Doesn't matter who you are - you're not stopping two Manti and a hulked out crew member at the same time. Definitely not while your ship is ablaze. Game was a breeze. I'd say its almost essential to any run.
It's that there are three phases to the end boss, each targeting different playstyle weaknesses, making victory fairly difficult. Not to mention the boss has so, so many chances to cripple you (even worse in AE, hacking is a bitch), and when you do it's very hard to come back from unless you jump out because the damage cascades taking out your systems at an accelerating rate.
You're missing out. Brute force is nice when its available but when the run just isn't giving you much you're screwed. It takes a lot of things going right to get a stash of missiles, dual burst lasers, and the scrap necessary to upgrade weapons, engines, shields, and a reactor.
Mind Control is the perfect counter to boarding parties and stops enemy mind control attempts. Hacking is godlike - people don't realize that it only needs to be attached to an enemy ship *not activated* to seal a room completely. This doesn't seem like much at first, but it can completely prevent enemy crew from reacting to fires, hull breaches, and boarding taking place across their ship. You can force a 'dam' on the enemy ship. They have to breach the door to pass which gives you all sorts of time and options for fuckery. Stun Ion is lol. You ever stun 3 guys in the middle of putting out an engine room fire? Its never not hilarious.
I've yet to try the cloning bay though. I typically don't lose crew unless my ship is being ripped apart. Charge weapons open a lot of new ways to keep pressure on too if you can time your charges and spread damage in a good way (use a full 3-charge on shields, 1 hit to drones, 1 hit to weapons, repeat, etc).
MacGurcules
Member
Okay, so one thing I'm a little disappointed by is that the damned "intruders on board" encounter in open space still has no reward. I mean, usually those aren't that dangerous, but I think you should get something for it.
All that sounds nice, but I haven't really found the occasion to use it. I'll have to try mind control more I guess and give up other stuff.
And regarding burst lasers, I don't know if they rebalanced the game but in both AE and Vanilla I get them (I and II especially) a LOT more than I used to, whether a random"Holy crap! A weapon in space!" or a prize or in a store. In the last 4 out of 5 games I've had at least 2 which means adding a chain/charge laser so I have a volley of 8-9 lasers, enough to take out any level of shield in one go, no bombs/drones/whatever needed. I guess I should pair it with hacking to lock people out of the room to keep them from repairing it? But again it comes down to not having enough power to spread across the 8 I need for shields, 6 minimum for weapons, O2, Engines, Stealth, teleport.
Can you spoil it for those of us who KNOW they will never beat hard mode?? lol easy is enough of a challenge most of the time.
It's pretty simple, but dastardly. It's a beautiful thing to experience blind, but if you just want to know what happens, here you go:
The missile and laser control rooms of the flagship are no longer individual compartments. They're now connected to the shield room by small corridor rooms on either side. So it's no longer possible to wipe out the missile launcher with a pair of boarders then never worry about it again, because the full crew can access it to defend, and they'll cycle a pair of fighters out between the weapon room and the medical bay endlessly. If you manage to destroy it they'll immediately start repairing it the minute your boarding team leaves.
For all practical purposes this means that you can't disable the missile launcher without annihilating the entire crew in the main section of the ship. It also means that all surviving crew can reach the teleporter on the third phase to raid your ship, and so you can no longer pull the trick where you leave the laser bay crewman alive. The AI control is guaranteed to kick in on the third phase, which means that automated repairs of all systems are possible as soon as the last crewman is dead.
You basically need to just suck it up and deal with the missile barrage spamming you, because it's next to impossible to stop.
For all practical purposes this means that you can't disable the missile launcher without annihilating the entire crew in the main section of the ship. It also means that all surviving crew can reach the teleporter on the third phase to raid your ship, and so you can no longer pull the trick where you leave the laser bay crewman alive. The AI control is guaranteed to kick in on the third phase, which means that automated repairs of all systems are possible as soon as the last crewman is dead.
You basically need to just suck it up and deal with the missile barrage spamming you, because it's next to impossible to stop.
Viciously cunning, really.
BlackBanditSho
Member
So I've got this game on the iPAD and loving it. I rarely make it far into the 2nd set of planets, but that's okay. I'm learning. Its giving me the Star Trek vibe that I really wanted from Star Command.
However, why does this game have a CONTINUE button? Everytime i die, the game starts over. It doesn't appear that I get to save anything I've accumulated. Am I missing something? Being able to continue with any of my swag would be a HUGE help...
That button is always greyed out when I start over...
However, why does this game have a CONTINUE button? Everytime i die, the game starts over. It doesn't appear that I get to save anything I've accumulated. Am I missing something? Being able to continue with any of my swag would be a HUGE help...
That button is always greyed out when I start over...
Intheflorsh
Banned
The Vulcan gun is craaaazy. At its peak it can fire almost a round per second making enemy shields useless.
nhlducks35
Member
It's so you can continue your current game if you return to the main menu or quit the game.
Haunted
Member
There's a suspend save when you choose Save & Quit from the options.
Blegh. Yah. I don't think I can enjoy this game. As much as I love science fiction being a space commander man, this game doesn't play "right" for me.
I tried to get into it again with the new update but I can't do it. I can't. And it's because I hate dice roll combat. Absolutely hate it. I know the game is effectively just about mitigating damage/death, but even then the core combat and the overall experience just doesn't work for me at all.
A run can be going just normally and you're all stocked up and have good armaments but then lose to a silly little random drone ship cause RNG decided it's time to die. Have fun missing every shot!
It's not even the randomized loot and location and all that jazz. That's fine. I dumped so many hours into Spelunky. But Spelunky is still, in the moment, just down to how skill you are in making a bad situation turn out well. The mechanics are entirely about your skill. There is just too much RNG in FTL's mechanics for me to enjoy it.
This is a bit strange but I love XCOM and Fire Emblem and the like which are all about that "oh shit can I make this shot?". It's weird. Something about the pace of those games makes it okay for me while FTL it doesn't feel rewarding to succeed. It just feels like the dice rolled my way that time.
I tried to get into it again with the new update but I can't do it. I can't. And it's because I hate dice roll combat. Absolutely hate it. I know the game is effectively just about mitigating damage/death, but even then the core combat and the overall experience just doesn't work for me at all.
A run can be going just normally and you're all stocked up and have good armaments but then lose to a silly little random drone ship cause RNG decided it's time to die. Have fun missing every shot!
It's not even the randomized loot and location and all that jazz. That's fine. I dumped so many hours into Spelunky. But Spelunky is still, in the moment, just down to how skill you are in making a bad situation turn out well. The mechanics are entirely about your skill. There is just too much RNG in FTL's mechanics for me to enjoy it.
This is a bit strange but I love XCOM and Fire Emblem and the like which are all about that "oh shit can I make this shot?". It's weird. Something about the pace of those games makes it okay for me while FTL it doesn't feel rewarding to succeed. It just feels like the dice rolled my way that time.
BlackBanditSho
Member
Touché.
Well aren't you in for a treat.
Granted it's not every encounter but it seems like a 50/50 split from the few hours I played today.
archnemesis
Member
I just unlocked the Victory Through Asphyxiation achievement and that got me thinking. Do you get more/better loot if you kill the crew without blowing up the ship?
Velcro Fly
Member
You used to get a decent amount of scrap more for just killing the crew. You still get more now but it's been nerfed.
archnemesis
Member
Cool, thanks!
I feel like I also noticed on the third stage that
they use the teleporter way more aggressively. I had like 6 boarders jump over in short succession, it was just the pilot left on the ship I think. Needless to say, between that and the missiles I was toast.
I experienced that on easy mode, I believe the AI teleports all available crew except the pilot on the third stage.
Yes
MacGurcules
Member
Huh? When I made that post, I'd just gotten three rewardless boarding encounters in five jumps. And I don't think I've seen that particular one, yet. I guess I'm just unlucky.Well aren't you in for a treat.
Granted it's not every encounter but it seems like a 50/50 split from the few hours I played today.
MacGurcules
Member
Or set fire to the whole place. Seems like the AI still doesn't have fire suppression.
The Mantis Cruiser A is conceptually fun but ridiculously luck-dependent, more so than any other ship i've tried so far. Get asteroid field or other environmental hazard early, or robotic ship, or even worse, both at same time and you might as well restart the game.
EDIT OMFG, i can't destroy an Auto-Scout, sold my basic laser...
EDIT Wait, FUCK, WHAT? I can't clone someone who was in enemy ship when it jumps away? FUCK!
EDIT OMFG, i can't destroy an Auto-Scout, sold my basic laser...
EDIT Wait, FUCK, WHAT? I can't clone someone who was in enemy ship when it jumps away? FUCK!
Mind Control is awesome, but doesn't work in nebula (you have to see the rooms to use it - and no, getting a Slug doesn't work either). Also maybe slug are immune? There are certainly times I tried to use it, and it didn't work, for whatever reason - there's no indication why it wasn't working. This occured even against non-slug - like on the flagship, early in the fight it didn't work, later it did.
Only immune while the green shield is up though...and there's an augment to bypass it. I remember mind controlling the enemy in the missle bay immediately when I had that augment...helped a lot!
KojiKnight
Member
Slugs are immune to mind control. There is an augment (life form scanner I believe) that allows you to use it even in nebula.
Hmm. The Wiki says slugs can't be mind controlled.