electricpirate
Member
Followed by rockmen?
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FTL |OT| Stories of the Space Oregon Trail
- Thread starter Toma
- Start date
Followed by rockmen?
In my experience that doesn't always work well - the fires get dispatched quite quickly (much quicker than if I was trying to get rid of them manually).
What works, though, is setting fire to it then shooting lasers into it while the crew are repairing. You can kill them and then it's bye bye crew!
electricpirate
Member
I need to stop saying "I'll play for 30 minutes before bed" Then it was 2:00 AM again
I'm a zombie today.
On the plus side, I finally have the stealth ship, and I notched another normal victory. I would have unlocked Zoltan form B if I'd hadn't had two zoltans die in a single missile shot . Saw the rock homeworld, but I couldn't find the rockman ship mission.
I'm a zombie today.
On the plus side, I finally have the stealth ship, and I notched another normal victory
. I would have unlocked Zoltan form B if I'd hadn't had two zoltans die in a single missile shot . Saw the rock homeworld, but I couldn't find the rockman ship mission.Fragamemnon
Member
I've got 50 hours into this game and disagree strongly with the complaints of luck and randomness. I can get to the last boss in normal most of the time now and luck and randomness don't have much to do with it, since it's not hard to mitigate the various "gambles" through purely qualitative risk/benefit analysis and always developing my ship with a strong foundation such that I can turn on the dime if I get some crazy weapon drop combo like the Major Lazer (burst laser mk. 3) with a Halberd or Glaive beam, Ion Bombs, a pair of Ion 2s, etc.
People slamming random event choices hoping for the best of many outcomes in situations where they can't afford the risk or where the expected value is too low are making mistakes, not losing to "randomness".
People slamming random event choices hoping for the best of many outcomes in situations where they can't afford the risk or where the expected value is too low are making mistakes, not losing to "randomness".
Pretty much.
Agreed. People commonly have a hard time managing risk vs. reward in games. This is why Civ games lie about the odds of winning a battle (or at least, CivRev did). The question you need to ask yourself is: "Is it worth losing X to potentially get Y?" In most cases, if you're in a good position, the answer is no. The more desperate you are, the more the answer leans toward yes.
If they allowed this, you would just see a reduction in scrap rewarded to balance it out.
electricpirate
Member
Beyond that, people tend to stay stuck in fairly rigid play styles and they hope that the RNG can give them the right stuff to make it to the end. If you like to rely heavily on missiles, but the game gives you mantis and crystal crew, go buy a teleporter and wreck shit all the way home. That's another part of what the events and the super scarce, uncontrollable resources do, they force you out of your comfort zone, and into trying new playstyles.
Fragamemnon
Member
I also think that people get into a trap , especially on normal, where they feel they need to push early risks in order to "get ahead", worried that they might fall too far behind by the third sector in upgrades and start taking too much damage in fights. This really isn't usually the case, even if you have a couple of bumpy fights, you will have the capacity to KO shields then weapons even if you take a couple of hits along the way. You still come out ahead because of the way that scrap drops increase as you progress through sectors.
Getting hit for 6-8 damage in one fight in sector 1 is real rough. It's only a minor nit later on when you pull 60 or more scrap out of a fight.
I see a lot of this from people "stuck" on lower-level difficulties in Civ games, and I agree that players in general with these kind of games need to learn to "live off the land" more and try to force specific strategies less.
Getting hit for 6-8 damage in one fight in sector 1 is real rough. It's only a minor nit later on when you pull 60 or more scrap out of a fight.
I see a lot of this from people "stuck" on lower-level difficulties in Civ games, and I agree that players in general with these kind of games need to learn to "live off the land" more and try to force specific strategies less.
Ok, so to those who don't usually have a problem usually getting to the final sector.
Is the general strategy to hit as many nodes as possible, in the first two sectors anyway hoard scrap and play conservatively (don't go chasing giant spiders or helping plague planets god damn) and then spend your scrap and base your offense on what your situation is in the third or fourth? Meaning A good crew means you should have a teleporter, a bunch of powerful drone schematics mean you should go droid heavy, laser/ion spam if you have the opportunity to get good burst lasers etc?
I think I've got Defense figured out. High evade protects against EVERYTHING so engines are better than than shields. The cost of Level 4 shields both in terms of scrap and power doesn't seem worth it. I think my issue is that I spend my scrap on defense right away in the early sectors and while that makes the early going a cakewalk it leaves me without scrap to spend at stores and I don't have the offense to actually get through three layers of shields reliably which is murder by the mid game let alone the end game
Is the general strategy to hit as many nodes as possible, in the first two sectors anyway hoard scrap and play conservatively (don't go chasing giant spiders or helping plague planets god damn) and then spend your scrap and base your offense on what your situation is in the third or fourth? Meaning A good crew means you should have a teleporter, a bunch of powerful drone schematics mean you should go droid heavy, laser/ion spam if you have the opportunity to get good burst lasers etc?
I think I've got Defense figured out. High evade protects against EVERYTHING so engines are better than than shields. The cost of Level 4 shields both in terms of scrap and power doesn't seem worth it. I think my issue is that I spend my scrap on defense right away in the early sectors and while that makes the early going a cakewalk it leaves me without scrap to spend at stores and I don't have the offense to actually get through three layers of shields reliably which is murder by the mid game let alone the end game
After a couple of consecutive normal victories I dropped back to easy. Just trying to unlock the last ship I don't have. The Shivan (Rock B) is aptly named.
The following win still didn't break my Top 5 scores.
Still don't have the last ship.
You definitely need a means to subvert shields. This could be a lot of lasers, bombs or boarding crews. Whatever method you choose should influence what sectors you wander into. Taking a boarding heavy ship into a Zoltan sector can get you into trouble. Random events are tricky. You just have to get a feel for when you can take that risk.
Above all else the key is to adapt. A pre-igniter is neat, but there are a lot of instances where it's an unnecessary investment.
Still, I don't use drones very often.
Would have been well over 1000 if I had been trying to save earlier.
The following win still didn't break my Top 5 scores.
Still don't have the last ship.
I definitely try to hit every node I can within reason. If I'm in a fragile ship I play it a little safer. With the Shivan I was overrun by rebels for at least 5 node.
You definitely need a means to subvert shields. This could be a lot of lasers, bombs or boarding crews. Whatever method you choose should influence what sectors you wander into. Taking a boarding heavy ship into a Zoltan sector can get you into trouble. Random events are tricky. You just have to get a feel for when you can take that risk.
Above all else the key is to adapt. A pre-igniter is neat, but there are a lot of instances where it's an unnecessary investment.
Still, I don't use drones very often.
The battles/random events are one thing. Most times if you are conservative (especially with "should you send someone to check it out?") you will be okay.
What IS annoying is when I visit a half dozen stores and never get offered good weapons for sale, or they don't offer any crew members and don't get any via random events while other games I get a Burst Laser II in zone one via "HEY! there's a weapon floating in space!" then find another one in a store soon after and then get the breach missile or end up with a full crew by zone 4 because all I seem to get is crew member events. It's that randomness that makes the game either a breeze (until last boss argh) or a pain in the ass.
I know it's part of the game, and I should love it and blah blah but it's getting to that "okay I'm getting annoyed-not-in-a-good-way" stage.
Mengy
wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
I hit as many beacons as I can, always. And I also choose nebulas if I can, as much as possible. That slows down the rebel fleet which in turn allows me to hit even more beacons.
electricpirate
Member
I get to the boss about 1/2 the time, here's my basic strategy.
First two zones, hit every node if I can. So much so that if I See a nebula I Beeline for it so I can hit more nodes. Hit every distress signal, and in the start, I like to be agressive unless it's an event that's burned multiple times (spiders, zoltan eye etc). I avoid buying anything, and by the end of the second I normally have 100-150 scrap. If I hit stores, I look for some kind of weapon that I'll need past zone 3. I generally try to plug whatever hole is missing in the initial loadout.
Most ships start with 2 weapons, out of three broad categories. Weapons that are good against shields, weapons that bypass shields, and weapons that are good when shields are down. Most ships will be deficiant in one of these categories, so I'll try to plug the hole, or create a synergy in the weapons selection (IE, Ion Blast 2 and a beam weapon are a devastating combo, or a large burst laser to drop hull and a breach rocket launcher can turn off all piloting functions). If I find a cool weapon, I don't even worry about powering it, I just buy it.
If weapons are hard to come by, it's very likely that I've amassed a ton of crew at this point. So now I invest in a teleporter, and start pumping defense. By zone 3, there's a good chance my weapons will still work, but instead of rolling guys fights are now slugfests, so I start working on energy, engines and shields, and maybe powering up any new weapons.
After this, scrap starts rolling in, so I save up for cloaking device, and if I still need a new weapon, I'm going everywhere looking for one (Note, I've never had a game where I got past sector 4 without at least seeing weapons in stores).
Sectors 5-6-7 I continue trying to rack up scrap, do quests, and power up systems, mainly defensive. I think near the end, I focus really heavily on defense, because the boss ship can dish out a ton of damage, so I like to make him miss/go through 4 layers of shielding to get there.
Doesn't work in nebula sectors but works in others.
Ah ok, thanks for the clarification.
electricpirate
Member
It still happens in nebula sectors, but it isn't as strong. But nebula sectors have fewer events, so it kind of evens out in the end.
Here's some motivation:
http://kdr_11k.from-hell.net/2012-09-25_00001.jpg (Unknown B)
Needs a gun to deal with Zoltan or AI ships (outside of asteroid fields at least) but guns are easy to come by.
http://kdr_11k.from-hell.net/2012-09-25_00001.jpg (Unknown B)
Needs a gun to deal with Zoltan or AI ships (outside of asteroid fields at least) but guns are easy to come by.
Haunted
Member
I think I'm in a stalemate with the flagship's second form right now. I don't have the firepower to punch through their shields (no missiles left) or the manpower to whittle down their 7 crewmembers +medbay, in turn their drones can't hurt me because my evade is too high (weapons are already taken out).
What happens if I jump away? I just lose a turn with the time limit? Does the flagship regen? Not that it matters, I don't see a store on the map either. >_>
If any starship captains have ideas, I'm open for suggestions.
What happens if I jump away? I just lose a turn with the time limit? Does the flagship regen? Not that it matters, I don't see a store on the map either. >_>
If any starship captains have ideas, I'm open for suggestions.
Haunted
Member
Even in the final sector? Never had that happen before. It's a better shot than sending my away team to their doom or flat out restarting, though. >_>
Yes.
Yes.
You could also fight one of the smaller ships to pick up a few missiles. It would still take a few lucky breaks to win. Also, you probably know, but when fighting the first form it's a lot easier to let the 3 burst laser guy to the left of the cockpit live. That laser rarely hits and keeping him alive prevents the ship from going full AI. Full AI ships can repair their own systems in combat.
My own demotivator. (My Rock B stats.)
Ingueferroque
Banned
I'm afraid the developers won't update FTL beyond release, they made some murky statements on the forums which make me think they have moved on.
Meanwhile I have a resolution issue in Mac OS where my screen isn't centered, and that causes input glitches. (Retina)
I also want to see Steam Cloud support and Steam Achievements, they have addressed these last two issues and said they encountered issues and "weren't sure they will have time to fix it post release" (paraphrased as I'm on my phone)
Will the success of FTL change their mind?
Meanwhile I have a resolution issue in Mac OS where my screen isn't centered, and that causes input glitches. (Retina)
I also want to see Steam Cloud support and Steam Achievements, they have addressed these last two issues and said they encountered issues and "weren't sure they will have time to fix it post release" (paraphrased as I'm on my phone)
Will the success of FTL change their mind?
Haunted
Member
I didn't even know the ship can go full AI in the first/second form, I never managed to kill everyone on board.
I went around and defeated two rebel ships but didn't get any missiles. By the time I went around and defeated a third which had 4 missiles, the flagship was in range of the base.
So close! New highscore, though.
Ingueferroque
Banned
That's good to hear.. I got spoiled by Minecraft's update schedule and it is hard to go back.
Haunted
Member
Well, for a small two-person team, it's always tough. Do you invest your time and effort into updating an already successful game post-release? Or is your time better spent on your next idea, the next project?
As someone who bought FTL, I'd obviously love it if they keep working on it and do some more balancing as well as adding new stuff like more events or another mode... but realistically speaking, the game is finished, it's polished (as in, I've encountered basically no bugs or glitches) and "complete", so I totally won't begrudge those two for moving on to their next project instead.
That's taking the new version that's in beta into account.
I didn't even know the ship can go full AI in the first/second form, I never managed to kill everyone on board.
I went around and defeated two rebel ships but didn't get any missiles. By the time I went around and defeated a third which had 4 missiles, the flagship was in range of the base.
So close! New highscore, though.
So I see it's already over, but what you could have done is send the two rockmen into the cockpit, let them hit the guys there.
They will then retreat to medbay when they are lowHP.
In the meantime teleport ANOTHER batch of your crew into the corridor right before or INTO the medbay. Maybe you could have gotten a kill on the LowHP crew walking through that corridor...
Ingueferroque
Banned
Agreed, though I am experiencing a game-breaking problem on the Mac-side, which I hope will be addressed.
Shame there is no Steam-cloud support, since bite-sized games like this are perfect for this feature when using Steam on multiple computers.
Vyse The Legend
Member
For anyone following both games, how does this compare to Star Command, which is supposed to come out next month? From the previews, they sound like different takes on the same exact ideas.
RealDeadOne
Member
If they're not going to add content post-release, then they really need to release the source code or something when they're done with the game. Modders could have an absolute field day adding new stuff to this.
Haunted
Member
That's a good strategy, could've worked if I used the mantis in that corridor because he deals more damage.
I tried to board them three or four times, with rockmen into the cockpit, then mantis/slug as backup into the shield room so it's 4v4 or maybe I could overwhelm them, but they microed their guys well enough to keep them in a healthy rotation and I didn't want to lose one (so when the first of mine was about to die I teleported them all back).
Thanks for alerting me to that game, looks awesome. PC version coming to Steam, good stuff.
j_k_redtail
Member
I didn't even know the ship can go full AI in the first/second form, I never managed to kill everyone on board.
I went around and defeated two rebel ships but didn't get any missiles. By the time I went around and defeated a third which had 4 missiles, the flagship was in range of the base.
So close! New highscore, though.
Made it to the last sector with just the two original weapons plus a defense drone and a repair drone :lol but I didn't realize that I was supposed to go chase down the flagship - so I jumped around looking for pickups. Whoops. Getting better though.
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
Seriously.
Can someone please quote the comment in question by the devs regarding the"non update" issue? I read a different statement like 2 weeks ago, so I am curious.
Mengy
wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Yeah, I remember them saying like a week or two ago that they had lots of updated content planned for FTL, but that it just wouldn't be "Minecraft style" in it's frequency. Everything I've heard suggested they still had lots they wanted to do with the game?
Darkflight
Member
Game updated for me at lunch - seems it's this patch http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2707.
Fullscreen - Stretch fits my 11'' Macbook Air correctly now
Fullscreen - Stretch fits my 11'' Macbook Air correctly now
Phanatic8390
Member
Now to wait until they update the DRM free versions on the humble store. They've stated that it's going to take longer to update those
I want someone to lift this combat and slap it in an open ended, space exploration sim like Star Control 2.
Are there any other spaceship games in existence that use tactical combat like this? Seems like all the good space sims have arcade combat, which I'm kind of over.
Are there any other spaceship games in existence that use tactical combat like this? Seems like all the good space sims have arcade combat, which I'm kind of over.
YianGaruga
Banned
I'm getting somewhat bored/frustrated with this game. I pretty much beat it every time on easy without much problems but get slaughtered on normal. But the worst part is that I'm just not unlocking any ships. I KNOW the requirements, but I never get the required encounters. It sucks.
I need to stop saying "I'll play for 30 minutes before bed" Then it was 2:00 AM again
I'm a zombie today.
On the plus side, I finally have the stealth ship, and I notched another normal victory
Brought this game last night about 9.30pm ended going to bed around 4am, so fucking shattered right now, glad i have tomorrow and friday off. this game is seriously addictive.
Wait, what. Again, please. Not all choices pop up immediately? Did I understand that correctly? Every choice or only blue choices, and... wha...
Or do you mean there is simply a small delay between them showing up every time?
The first thing I mentioned would be REALLY mean. Like blue options that only appear after 5 seconds of waiting,lol.
Shorty11857
Member
Did the new update break the game for anyone else? Text is all broken for me now
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/578968432124639237/C9DAD96790AC871BB805B047D8421A3BD15206F8/
How the game looks
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/578968432124639237/C9DAD96790AC871BB805B047D8421A3BD15206F8/
How the game looks
Phanatic8390
Member
I read the change as all options delay to prevent accidentally clicking one.
In particular it's the choices that pop up mid-battle such as when a ship surrenders.