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[Azih]

This game has sank it's claws deep.. two minor helpful additions that would allow me to remain further immersed in it's context are: A displaying the mission text on the pause screen. The game is already UI heavy it has no place on the gameplay-active screen, but its appearance upon hitting SPACE would be most welcome. I would also appreciate (B) an option to have the soundtrack just play continuosly, as if streaming off a cloud service. The interactive nature of the tempo/track change/whatever are great.. but I've found myself as deeply invested in the current soundscape as I am the mechanics. Its a true drag to have it fade in and out so often.e

Can't you just turn the music off and run the music in a player in the background?

Assuming of course you have the soundtrack.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

a) What do you mean by "mission text"?

The story prompt for the encounter like when you pause during a battle it should remind you that blah blah its a pirate ship hassling an outpost or whatever.

 

[LuffyZoro]

The story prompt for the encounter like when you pause during a battle it should remind you that blah blah its a pirate ship hassling an outpost or whatever.

But that would block you from being able to micromanage all your people and power.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

But that would block you from being able to micromanage all your people and power.

Well, ok. True. But it would still be nice. Anyway, about to continue my game I started last night! Its so gratifying, i've seen the length of my games steadily grow from minutes to hours.

 

[Weltall Zero]

Well, ok. True. But it would still be nice.

Eh? It would be nice if (by your admission) it blocked your gameplay? The pause screen is not a "I've got to pee" screen, it's an integral part of the micromanagement gameplay. Why would you want to have text obscuring your screen when the only relevant part is always going to be "kill the ship in front of you" (exception made of the two quests or so in the entire game that ask you to recover a ship intact). Battles take minutes, I don't understand what need would be for this...

Edit: Sorry if my tone sounds (er, reads) antagonistic, it's not my intention at all. I just literally don't get it.

 

[bunbun777]

How come no one told me how great this game is? Okay, how come I did not listen?

I finally made it to the last sector and past the

Spoiler

2nd stage of the boss

I audibly said "yesssss" after the first part, but ran out of missiles and did not have the time. What seems amazing to me is that it always seems so possible, so attainable and then something happens and boom. But generally every game is an improvement, sometimes the randomness bites me but it goes both ways.

I like to roleplay a bit while I play, imagining crew interactions. When a member dies, it hits hard.

 

[Weltall Zero]

How come no one told me how great this game is? Okay, how come I did not listen?

I finally made it to the last sector and past the

Spoiler

2nd stage of the boss

I audibly said "yesssss" after the first part, but ran out of missiles and did not have the time. What seems amazing to me is that it always seems so possible, so attainable and then something happens and boom. But generally every game is an improvement, sometimes the randomness bites me but it goes both ways.

I like to roleplay a bit while I play, imagining crew interactions. When a member dies, it hits hard.

Welcome aboard! It's always great to see new people dragged into the game, particularly since I myself missed the "launch party". I hope this game still has a lot of life in in for the next months or even years.

You're virtually there by the way;

Spoiler

stage 2

is the hardest,

Spoiler

stage 3

is much easier after that, especially if you have a cloak or good enough engines. As for missiles, try using them as sparingly as possible, if at all; they are a crutch that tends to leave you hanging at the worst of times. I typically use zero missiles during the game itself and 5-10 or less during the flagship battle (on Normal). In fact, I sell them whenever that event pops up!

 

[Nakayumi]

Just saw this fan art linked on Twitter, pretty cool.

I'm so ready for a content update.

That's some damn nice artwork, any more where that came from?

Hello, and welcome aboard!

Whoa, beating the flagship with those weapons must not have been easy at all. Congratulations!

I doubt they can go the same direction as with Normal for that. Normal already reduces scrap drops to the bare minimum needed to beat the game; I think that any less than that, and it would only be beatable by restarting over and over until you got a lucky run.

I'm all for them patching in more missions/end bosses/races/ships/whatever, or even offering them as DLC.

I guess that's up to personal preference, but I found the Kestrel, the Zoltan and the secret ships to be the stronger/easiest to play with, then the Federation Cruiser, Engi and Stealth. I hate playing the Rock Cruiser (I don't like missiles at all), and I've got by far the worst results with the Mantis ship (though it might just be bad luck).

I'm used to do most things by teleporting in and killing off all the enemy crew, but I guess that won't be so easy on Normal.

It's every bit as easy (or hard) on Normal, and in fact it's even more preferred than on Easy; since Normal's prime difference is how little scrap you get, the boost you get from boarding ships goes from really nice to almost mandatory.

As for tips, here are mine.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=45775649&postcount=1191

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=45834724&postcount=1221

Thank you! Haven't played much since I beat it, and normal is destroying me after a few sectors so far. I think I'll just try to unlock a few ships on easy first. I read something about a teleporter that is able to transport 4 crewmembers at once, does this exist and if so what ship is that?

I am addicted to the soundtrack of this game now, truly one of the best I heard in recent years. The Cosmos Battle, Zoltan and Rockmen themes are my absolutes favorites, but they're really all just great!

 

[Weltall Zero]

Thank you! Haven't played much since I beat it, and normal is destroying me after a few sectors so far. I think I'll just try to unlock a few ships on easy first. I read something about a teleporter that is able to transport 4 crewmembers at once, does this exist and if so what ship is that?

Heh, the 4-way teleporter is a sort of "be careful what you wish for". It's on the Mantis B ship... which starts with no weapons and three mantis crew. Considering I regularly get murdered on the Mantis A (which DOES have weapons), it's safe to assume the Mantis B is actually a ship for advanced players.
Ship balance with the is a bit over the place, with the Kestrel being very good, topped perhaps by the Zoltan and secret ship, and most of the rest actually quite worse (which I'm OK with, as I see them more as different experiences... and they truly are). My ranking would be:
Secret > Zoltan > Kestrel > Federation > Engi > Stealth > Rock > Mantis
These are all A variants; I haven't played enough with most B versions to rank them yet. And of course I've yet to unlock the Slug ship >_>.

I am addicted to the soundtrack of this game now, truly one of the best I heard in recent years. The Cosmos Battle, Zoltan and Rockmen themes are my absolutes favorites, but they're really all just great!

The soundtrack is awesome alright, and the fade in/out of the battle/explore music is really neat. One of my favorite tracks is Last Stand, which has some similarities with the also great Rock theme, but it's probably because I associate it with my adrenaline flowing like crazy.

EDIT: TO EVERYONE INTERESTED IN MAKING THEIR OWN SHIPS: An amazing, easy to use, robust editor has been released about a month ago, and by now it's pretty much everything you could want. It's light-years ahead (no pun intended) than anything we had before. I've already made a few ships that I'll share when I polish them a bit more (I've noticed this editor just a week ago, and only because of a comment on another, rather inferior, editor I was following).
http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=11251

 

[gdt]

This game is freaking amazing. Got my ass kicked by the final boss, but I reach him on the 3 or 4th go. Gonna try again with the Kestral....need more missle systems. I struggled hard in the last sector cause of lack of missiles to pierce shields. It sucks cause I picked up the lazer system which doesn't affect shields at all, so I was stuck waiting for the starting lazer to take down shields and quickly use the beam to do damage....not a good strategy.

 

[Azih]

This game is freaking amazing. Got my ass kicked by the final boss, but I reach him on the 3 or 4th go. Gonna try again with the Kestral....need more missle systems. I struggled hard in the last sector cause of lack of missiles to pierce shields. It sucks cause I picked up the lazer system which doesn't affect shields at all, so I was stuck waiting for the starting lazer to take down shields and quickly use the beam to do damage....not a good strategy.

Missiles are useful but don't rely on them too much. They become a crutch.

 

[j_k_redtail]

Feature article on FTL. I'd make a new thread, but I figure we can decide that based on the response here:

The Opposite of Fail: The Story of FTL

Some highlights:

Davis says that in most video games, the player is always the pilot, never the commander, whereas in science fiction like Star Trek or Firefly, the fiction focuses on the commander. "It seemed strange that when people want to bring that world to life, they put you in the pilot's shoes. We thought it would be fun to put players in the commander’s shoes for once."

Davis and Ma wrote up a long list of one-paragraph game pitches to prototype. They would be small, manageable games that two people could complete on their own. The game they chose to go with would have to be finished within a year, because that was all they had budgeted for. Among the pitches inspired by board games, roguelikes and all the genres that excited them was a 2D, top-down management game called FTL.
...

Justin Ma's older brother, Bryan, is also a game developer. He helped playtest FTL. He appreciates how elegantly the developers captured the special essence of complex board games, and brought it to life in such a simple video game.

"It's pretty exceptional, actually," he says. "Six months into development, I remember playing through and watching the little guys run around on the enemy ship. I was doing pretty well, and the enemy said, 'I surrender! Please spare our lives!' And I was like, 'Man, I really need that scrap!' So we go into the last stage of the battle and I'm about to destroy them — I see them frantically running around trying to put out fires and fix their ship, and I felt bad for them.

"I felt bad for those 32 by 32 pixel dudes running around, and it was a legitimate emotion. That was a big moment where I was like, 'OK, something in here is really working.'"

 

[Mindlog]

Feature article on FTL. I'd make a new thread, but I figure we can decide that based on the response here:

The Opposite of Fail: The Story of FTL

Some highlights:

"All we cared about was making the player feel like they were Captain Picard yelling at engineers to get the shields back online," Ma says.

Picard vs Adama thread. That will get them riled up!

Thanks for linking that article. Great read.

Another highlight for me

Or playing XCOM!

Brings a smile to my face.

Kickstarter success didn't lead to a sense of relief or achievement. As the number on their fundraiser website ticked up, so did their sense of panic: How they would handle the thousand beta testers? How they would answer to the thousands of people that were now investors in their game?

I'm going to end up quoting the whole article.
Thanks again.

 

[Oxnard Montalvo]

Finally picked this game up on sale and all I can say is I'm an idiot for not buying it sooner.

 

[Enco]

I want to start a new game with 6 crew members and custom names.

Any way to do this? I can start a game with 6 crew but the renaming box sucks and only lets me rename 4.

 

[flowsnake]

I want to start a new game with 6 crew members and custom names.

Any way to do this? I can start a game with 6 crew but the renaming box sucks and only lets me rename 4.

How do you start with 6?

 

[Enco]

How do you start with 6?

It's an annoying process.

1. I downloaded this ship editor, loaded the Kestrel, went into properties and chose 6 humans
2. I then exported it as an FTL file
3. I downloaded the mod manager and when set up, I put my FTL file into the mods folder.

Modding this game kinda sucks. Took me a while to set this up but now I'm stuck. Don't want their crappy NPC names.

 

[Weltall Zero]

Feature article on FTL. I'd make a new thread, but I figure we can decide that based on the response here:

The Opposite of Fail: The Story of FTL

Awesome read, thanks a lot! Quite heartwarming, and makes you all the more happy for them that FTL has been such an amazing success, both quality-wise and financially. Really looking forward to their next games, be them FTL sequels or not.

Modding this game kinda sucks. Took me a while to set this up but now I'm stuck. Don't want their crappy NPC names.

The game was not meant to be modded in the first place, they just didn't encrypt any of their assets and were kind enough to host a modding section on their forums. That said, people are working on an entire rewrite that is more mod-friendly (and surprisingly, Subset Games seems not only to be OK with it but to allow a thread about it on their forums as well).
In any case, I would guess that since no ships in the game have more than four crew, there is no working interface to rename them (it's lucky enough it doesn't crash the game to begin with). There's a couple of savegame editors; I don't have a clue if they can edit a midgame save and in that case if they allow for crew renaming, but here they are:
http://ftlwiki.com/wiki/Cheats#Save_Game_Editor
If all else fails, you might want to hex edit the save and see if the names are in plain text, then edit them.

 

[Enco]

There's a couple of savegame editors; I don't have a clue if they can edit a midgame save and in that case if they allow for crew renaming, but here they are:
http://ftlwiki.com/wiki/Cheats#Save_Game_Editor
If all else fails, you might want to hex edit the save and see if the names are in plain text, then edit them.

Holy crap the second editor worked!

6 custom crew members named after friends. Dis gun be good.

So if anyone wants the same:

1. Download this ship editor, load the Kestrel, go into properties and set 6 humans or whatever you want (8 max)
2. Export the ship as an FTL file
3. Download the mod manager and when set up, put the FTL file into the mods folder. Select it and click patch in the mod loader
4. Download this save file editor and follow the simple options. Set the location to wherever your save file is (probably my docs > my games > ftl > continues.sav)

 

[yogloo]

So I bought this game on a whim when I saw that it was on sale on steam remembering that some gaf members raved about it. One thing that really got stuck in my mind was the funny 3 panel comic with the golden retriever and the exploding ship. With that in mind, this game exceeds all of my expectations including that comic. Thanks gaf.
I feel that this game is the perfected version of gamedev story with the randomness working extremely in favor of this game.

 

[Mengy]

So I bought this game on a whim when I saw that it was on sale on steam remembering that some gaf members raved about it. One thing that really got stuck in my mind was the funny 3 panel comic with the golden retriever and the exploding ship. With that in mind, this game exceeds all of my expectations including that comic. Thanks gaf.
I feel that this game is the perfected version of gamedev story with the randomness working extremely in favor of this game.

It's the most truthful ad for a game I've ever seen. Playing FTL truly is just like this...

 

[Weltall Zero]

The latest revision of the awesome ship editor by kartoFlane went up a couple of days ago:
http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=11251
At this point the editor is pretty much perfect and a true joy to use.

 

[zer0das]

I've been trying to beat normal with the Osprey/Engi Cruiser after beating the game with the Kestrel. On one Osprey run I had 2 Mantises, and 3 lasers (2/2/3 shots respectively), a teleporter, automated reloader, and a scrap recovery arm, all of it for free (save the teleporter). I completely botched one of my boarding attempts half way through, leading to an early demise.

Next attempt I get a second 3 shot laser (in addition to the Osprey default one), an automated reloader, a scrap recovery arm, 2 Mantises, and 4 rockmen. I've never had two runs in a row be so incredibly close in terms of loot- everything save the rockmen was just from the first sector. I even got an ion bomb for free in sector 7 or so. I managed to not make any major boarding mistakes the second time around, and rode it to an Osprey victory just in time for Easter!

Also, I didn't have a single defensive drone because by the time I had the scarp to get a drone module, I could not find a station that had a defensive drone. Got down to 2 hull in the final stage before blowing the flagship skyhigh.

 

[Weltall Zero]

I've been trying to beat normal with the Osprey/Engi Cruiser after beating the game with the Kestrel. On one Osprey run I had 2 Mantises, and 3 lasers (2/2/3 shots respectively), a teleporter, automated reloader, and a scrap recovery arm, all of it for free (save the teleporter). I completely botched one of my boarding attempts half way through, leading to an early demise.

Next attempt I get a second 3 shot laser (in addition to the Osprey default one), an automated reloader, a scrap recovery arm, 2 Mantises, and 4 rockmen. I've never had two runs in a row be so incredibly close in terms of loot- everything save the rockmen was just from the first sector. I even got an ion bomb for free in sector 7 or so. I managed to not make any major boarding mistakes the second time around, and rode it to an Osprey victory just in time for Easter!

Also, I didn't have a single defensive drone because by the time I had the scarp to get a drone module, I could not find a station that had a defensive drone. Got down to 2 hull in the final stage before blowing the flagship skyhigh.

Congratulations! Beating the game (on Normal, to boot!) with the Osprey and no drones is no small feat, since the Osprey can't equip Cloaking either and that leaves you quite exposed, defense-wise. I can imagine the flagship's missile surges not being any fun.

 

[The Awesomest]

Played this at a friend's house today. Enjoyed it. Though I was a little disappointed that it was more of an arcadey type of game, where you die a lot and are expected to restart often, rather than something that will take a while. That or I was just really bad at the game.

Is there a way to save the game? I didn't see any saving option anywhere. How do I put out fires by opening the doors? The doors all closed when the ship was on fire.

 

[super-famicom]

Played this at a friend's house today. Enjoyed it. Though I was a little disappointed that it was more of an arcadey type of game, where you die a lot and are expected to restart often, rather than something that will take a while. That or I was just really bad at the game.

Is there a way to save the game? I didn't see any saving option anywhere. How do I put out fires by opening the doors? The doors all closed when the ship was on fire.

You can bring up the main menu at anytime and choose to save and quit, which is the only option the game gives you. Some people make a copy of the save file (and save it to Dropbox, I think), but I haven't messed with that. I think someone may have posted instructions on this some pages back.

You put out fires by opening the airlock(s) (doors leading outside) and the doors of rooms where the fires are. The oxygen gets sucked out of the airlock, which kills the fires. If I ever jump into a star going nova, I always consolidate my crew into one room and open all the other doors to guard against the solar flares.

Draining oxygen from areas of your ship is a good way to deal with boarders as well, but make sure you have your doors upgraded to at least level 2. Boarders will have to do a bit of damage to the doors to open them, so by the time they get to your crew, they will already be weak enough to kill easily. Level 2 doors also helps fire from spreading. For only 20 scrap, this is one of the most important (and probably first) upgrade to get.

But if you can't open/close doors, your door control system may be damaged and in need of repair. I've lost many crew members because I had my doors and airlock open and then a fire destroyed my door controls.

Edit: For quick door control, use the hotkeys. Defaults are Z and X. Pressing Z once opens all doors minus airlock, a double tap will open all doors plus the airlock. Press X once to close all doors, including airlock.

 

[Parallacs]

I've beat the game on normal for every ship, many many times with the Engi and Kestrel ships....

but I can not do Slug B (Stormwalker). It is impossible.

Pretty much after every battle, I need to gather everyone together and waste another healing bomb. If I don't get a couple laser weapons and Mantis fighters in the first sector I am toast. Curious if anyone has been able to do it on normal.

 

[BogartandMinerva]

So FTL is a Steam deal today for $5? Does it ever go cheaper than this? Wait for Summer Sale? Possible add-on to Humble Bundle 8?

16 hours to decide...

 

[ncsuDuncan]

So FTL is a Steam deal today for $5? Does it ever go cheaper than this? Wait for Summer Sale? Possible add-on to Humble Bundle 8?

16 hours to decide...

$5 is too cheap. Better buy three copies just to be safe.

If you haven't played this game, waiting for a possible Summer Sale or Humble Bundle when it's already only $5 is ludicrous.

 

[oipic]

So FTL is a Steam deal today for $5? Does it ever go cheaper than this? Wait for Summer Sale? Possible add-on to Humble Bundle 8?

16 hours to decide...

I suspect that if/when FTL first makes its way into a bundle, it'll be the headline act, and not an add-on. Beat-the-average or whatever, at the very least, I'd say... although I could be wrong.

 

[BogartandMinerva]

$5 is too cheap. Better buy three copies just to be safe.

If you haven't played this game, waiting for a possible Summer Sale or Humble Bundle when it's already only $5 is ludicrous.

I suspect that if/when FTL first makes its way into a bundle, it'll be the headline act, and not an add-on. Beat-the-average or whatever, at the very least, I'd say... although I could be wrong.

Thanks. I'm aware $5 is crazy cheap. Thank you for the reinforcement. Shall purchase soon.

 

[Weltall Zero]

Thanks. I'm aware $5 is crazy cheap. Thank you for the reinforcement. Shall purchase soon.

I cannot blame you, because before I bought the game, I thought 10$ would be too much, so I waited for a sale when it was at 5$.

After playing it for several hours, I realized my terrible, terrible mistake, and in compensation, bought three more copies, which I gifted to friends. This is the first time ever (in over 30 years of gaming) I've done something like that. FTL is simply my favorite indie game ever; I've spent over 100 hours on it yet and I still love it.

 

[MrPing1000]

70 hours still never completed the game.

I suck.

 

[Azih]

70 hours still never completed the game.

I suck.

Whoah man, tell us stories about when you got close.

 

[MrPing1000]

Whoah man, tell us stories about when you got close.

I've only ever got past the drone stage once on normal. I've probably been doing something terribly wrong all this time, never looked at strategy guides or anything. Maybe I should try easy.

I've had a few incidents of forgetting my weapons are on auto and blown up a craft with a bunch of my dudes on it.

 

[Purkake4]

There's also a new patch also.

 

[Weltall Zero]

I've only ever got past the drone stage once on normal. I've probably been doing something terribly wrong all this time, never looked at strategy guides or anything. Maybe I should try easy.

You should indeed. Focus on finishing it on Easy first.
If you need help/guidance, I made a couple of posts that might be useful:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=45775649&postcount=1191
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=45834724&postcount=1221

There's also a new patch also.

Might be because FTL is apparently getting these new "Steam trading cards"; I just signed up for the trading card beta upon hearing of this.

Edit: Actually, there seems to have been a patch on May 30th:

Change Log v. 1.03.3

Tuning:

-You can now retrieve crew from a room when teleporting even if they are shooting at a door or walking, limit of 4 per teleport
-If you're carrying the Crystal alien from the stasis pod, the Rock Homeworld map will start with the appropriate quest marker to for the beacon that leads to the Crystal sector
-The Crystal Lockdown bomb is now available as a drop (from enemies or in Stores) in Rock sectors
-Shield Skill will level up when the shields absorb a hit, not when they recharge. This prevents turning the shields on/off to level up.

Major Bugs:

-Fixed: Bug that would sometimes cause an enemy ship not to get hit by asteroids in an asteroid field
-Fixed: Bug gave double rewards after victory when player teleporter was broken and crew 'used the shuttle'
-Jumping will now immediately provide invulnerability to solar flares, incoming boarding drones, and beams
-Can no longer open the ship upgrades screen in hostile situations using the hot key
-If the boss is destroyed, at that point game over will be blocked and your victory is assured even if your ship is exploding.
-Blast Door health will properly regenerate on safe (no current boarders) jumps
-Boarding Drones will no longer be hit by projectiles after they've successfully landed
-Boarding Drones will no longer be destroyed upon Boss Ship Super Shield regeneration
-Waiting in a nebula will no longer remove the sensor dampening effect
-Fixed: Sometimes enemy boarders wouldn't pursue any targets and just stand around.

Minor Bugs:

-Drones should no longer fly "into" the shields and fire past them.
-Dying crewmembers will stay dead if you Save & Quit + Continue. They will also remain unselectable and unmovable as soon as dying animation starts.
-Will no longer open the store / allow repair in the rare situation that you have 0 hull and should be dead
-Credits + Victory screen won't close if you accidentally tap a key - only escape will close it
-Missiles/lasers/asteroids/etc. will no longer collide with bombs since they are technically 'interior' objects
-The event where your crewmember goes crazy will have the correct race/name after going crazy
-You won't be able to waste your money choosing pointless repair choices at the repair station event
-Beam Weapons can now correctly cause breaches, but that will not come standard to current weapons to preserve balance so it's just for modders.
-Interior console glow fixed to display correct colors for crew levels
-Combat/Defense drones will properly trigger blue event options
-Drone / missile counts can no longer go negative
-Modding to have more than 4 shield bars will no longer make asteroids ridiculously terrifying
-Crew will no longer continue repairing a breach if the room is on fire, the fire will take the correct priority (as the animation shows)
-More grammar/typo fixes and minor animation/image polish

 

[Parallacs]

I haven't played it in months but it would be fun to start again if others are new to playing it.

I have missed this patch but wow at these:

Major Bugs:

-Jumping will now immediately provide invulnerability to solar flares, incoming boarding drones, and beams

Thank God. This one was so annoying.

-Boarding Drones will no longer be destroyed upon Boss Ship Super Shield regeneration

Boarding drones may now be the most overpowered endgame weapon.

-Missiles/lasers/asteroids/etc. will no longer collide with bombs since they are technically 'interior' objects

Interesting. I never realized this was happening.

 

[Soule]

I've only ever got past the drone stage once on normal. I've probably been doing something terribly wrong all this time, never looked at strategy guides or anything. Maybe I should try easy.

I've had a few incidents of forgetting my weapons are on auto and blown up a craft with a bunch of my dudes on it.

Started playing again tonight, I've put in a solid 15 hours and still haven't completed it. Decided that it was time to try easy instead of normal lol... was making huuuuuge strides, absolutely killing it... and then I did this like 2 or 3 times on my best run. Just suicided my entire team.

Hate life.

 

[Weltall Zero]

Started playing again tonight, I've put in a solid 15 hours and still haven't completed it. Decided that it was time to try easy instead of normal lol... was making huuuuuge strides, absolutely killing it... and then I did this like 2 or 3 times on my best run. Just suicided my entire team.

Hate life.

The true FTL starts here.

Sale price is insane. A shame I already gifted it to pretty much all my friends with Steam that didn't yet have it.

 

[Dawg]

Been playing for about ten hours on easy, still haven't got past sector 5 or so.

My main problem is when my ship is low on hp or when the enemy start firing at critical rooms like my weapon room or shields. They catch fire and I try to open space rooms so it goes out faster, but it's not fast enough and meanwhile the enemy keeps firing and there's more fire and... I get destroyed.

I also notice I don't have currency for shop(s) most of the time so I often feel like I'm missing on upgrades or so. I love the game though, especially the retro art style.

 

[Divius]

Put a couple of hours into the game and am loving it. I actually have had only a single decent run so far where I had some luck at the start and could pick up some easy scraps, upgrade my ship and made it to sector 5 before getting totally annihilated.

Sometimes I just get overwhelmed (mostly while also dealing with solar flares or nebula, and not being able to see whats going on in my ship) and fucking panic when people board my ship and cause a ruckus, shit is on fire (yo) and the enemy ship relentlessly keeps hitting me with missiles and lasers.

 

[Dawg]

Put a couple of hours into the game and am loving it. I actually have had only a single decent run so far where I had some luck at the start and could pick up some easy scraps, upgrade my ship and made it to sector 5 before getting totally annihilated.

Sometimes I just get overwhelmed (mostly while also dealing with solar flares or nebula, and not being able to see whats going on in my ship) and fucking panic when people board my ship and cause a ruckus, shit is on fire (yo) and the enemy ship relentlessly keeps hitting me with missiles and lasers.

Sounds very familiar. Been trying Weltall Zero's tips and not using any rockets all, just focussing my lasers on their weapon room so they can't return shots and it worked for quite a few sectors.

I'm still a boarding noob though. I guess I shouldn't send in only one crewie, but the enemy destroys my units on their ship very fast and I just can't take the risk of losing crew members. I was also fighting a battle in sector 5/6 with three shields and a burst laser II + heavy laser I against an enemy ship with three shields. He couldn't get past my shields and I couldn't get past his lol. And boarding wasn't an option, I only had two people on my ship left.

I keep thinking I spend my scraps wrong. I only have 2-3 crew members most of the time, so I have no idea if I'm spending scraps on the right upgrades etc.

10+ hours played and not even close to the final boss.

 

[Sushigod7]

I wasn't prepared for how addicting this game is I can't believe I didn't pick up till now. The music is perfect, the management is addictive as hell and I've only unlocked one ship. Not even close to beating it. The first few rounds I couldn't figure out where all my stuff went I had bought before, then I remembered ahh yes roguelike damnit!

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

wait, just how many fases does that boss have exactly?

three? FOUR?


I can't seem to get the crystal dude home though. I've had him released, but then there was no rock sector ahead. :\

and last run I made it to the last stand with the stasis pod still in tow...

What should I look for to decide if it's worth taking him along?

 

[Weltall Zero]

I'm still a boarding noob though. I guess I shouldn't send in only one crewie, but the enemy destroys my units on their ship very fast and I just can't take the risk of losing crew members.

Ah, damn! I should have put something about that as well. One of the disadvantages of playing so much is that stuff seems completely obvious to you, when it's not necessarily so at all.

So: Never board with less than two crew members, and at the very least one of them should be a mantis, preferably either two mantises or one mantis/one rockman. Boarding with humans is a waste of time. Boarding with zoltans/engis is suicide, obviously.

This means that you're best putting off boarding until you have at least 5-6 crew. I usually disable the enemy ship first if I can, possibly killing or heavily injuring some crew members in the meantime.

Also, don't board until you have a level 2 teleporter, as the cooldown at level 1 is way too big and your guys will probably die. I think this is in the megapost. I should update it with the rest...

I was also fighting a battle in sector 5/6 with three shields and a burst laser II + heavy laser I against an enemy ship with three shields. He couldn't get past my shields and I couldn't get past his lol. And boarding wasn't an option, I only had two people on my ship left.

Burst Laser II isn't three shots? You should be able to bring his shields down with it, then hit the shields with the heavy laser. Of course, for this you should a) have all hits connect (a matter of patience) and b) fire in a salvo (Burst Laser II then Heavy Laser as soon as the third shot leaves your ship).

I keep thinking I spend my scraps wrong. I only have 2-3 crew members most of the time, so I have no idea if I'm spending scraps on the right upgrades etc.

Usually the current cheapest thing is the one you should spend scrap on. The game kind of enforces a balanced build, with room to lean over a specific stat if you so want.

10+ hours played and not even close to the final boss.

On Easy? Hmmm... If you want to upload a walkthrough anywhere I can give it a look, otherwise it's hard to know what you're doing wrong specifically.

wait, just how many fases does that boss have exactly?

three? FOUR?

Three. The second one is the toughest. Once you know what you're doing, beating the second stage pretty much means beating the game unless it's one jump away from the starbase.

I can't seem to get the crystal dude home though. I've had him released, but then there was no rock sector ahead. :\
and last run I made it to the last stand with the stasis pod still in tow...

That quest line's the game's super duper secret, you need a few happy coincidences to complete it (and yeah, actually having a rock sector is one). I got them earlish out of pure luck.

What should I look for to decide if it's worth taking him along?

If you've not unlocked the crystal ship yet, it's probably worth taking the pod every time unless you're so late in the game that it's impossible to get it. Not sure exactly what sector that would be. Six?

 

[jtb]

I just have to chime in and say I am so glad I picked this up when it was on sale (2.50).

Holy shit.

This game has everything I never knew I wanted in a video game. Charming, incredibly addictive, brutal learning curve, lots of strategic options and depth, and fucking PERMADEATH! Every single decision you make in this game is one of risk vs. reward and I love that there are fucking consequences for every action you take. that is what videogames should be about, imo.

if I have one complaint, it's that the crew member RPG management could be a bit more in depth (I feel like I max out crew members pretty quickly) and it's a bit too random (getting crew members seems to be a bit of a crapshoot atm... getting far with just three members seems like an impossible task)

still, wow.

I can't express how much I fucking love this game.

 

[Somax]

Bought it from the sale.

So good... I'm going to die miserably lots of times, but it does not matter.
As a roguelike fan, this is one of the most fun game I played recently...

 

[Divius]

10+ hours played and not even close to the final boss.

After 9 hours I reached the final sector yesterday! Then was destroyed by the first ship I ran into

edit: I have never boarded a ship, what exactly are the benefits of doing so?

 

[Azih]

Disabling a ship by boarding gets you more scrap than destroying it. If you have a good boarding team then you have another option by which to take out enemy ships. Some builds you come up against might be hard to take out by conventional fire but have a squishy crew that'll be easy fodder for your mantis/rockmen.

It's a good way to make use of extra crew if you go on a run where you have lots of extra mens.