New game 'Faster than light'

[datalink7]

Game is a fun time waster. I'd say I got a good 8 hours of fun before getting bored, which isn't bad for the price. I might revisit it sometime in the future as well.

 

[Elcs]

Played some more, unlocked a few more Hulls and Layouts.

Loving the whole crew mechanic thing, although I wish I could have multiple computer points for certain aspects (use 2 crew members on engines etc.) or more places to use crew, other than a standard 3-4 places on most ships.

Boarding is so much fun with 2 Mantis crew members. Use missiles to slam into their Weapons whilst your Mantis buddies cause havoc in their Shield room, teleporting them back if they're likely to die, heal them up then jump them back over.

Dislike the whole Boss mechanic at the end.

Also, there's a modded Data.dat file going around which disables the Rebel Chase mechanic. Feels strange, not recommended unless you've done everything you want to do with the challenge of the game TWIMTBP.

I like space and I've recently discovered that I like rougelikes. I bought dungeons of dredmor and it was fun! I bought this at gog and played a few rounds. It's pretty neat what you can do. I hope in the future that they add more options. granted, I've only been to sector 5 on easy and unlocked the first ship which is very peace oriented.

I found DoD quite short, shallow and "easy" as a Roguelike.

I've been playing ADOM (Ancient Domains of Mystery) off and on for around 18 years now and it's just a fantastic challenge. I have managed to complete it just once in all that time. It makes Baldur's Gate 2 look like a short game, it's incredibly deep and the original developer has recently mounted a successful fundraising campaign through indiegogo (like Kickstarter) and raised $90k to further develop the game.

 

[lupi]

there was a couple page beta playthrough in a recent pcgamer.

 

[acheron]

Got to the boss for the second time yesterday, but lost again. The first time I met the boss I at least got to the second stage; yesterday I had an arguably better ship than before but I ran out of time and I couldn't even get past the first stage. Oh well. Need to get better at boarding I think.

Unlocked two other ships so far and got a couple of ship achievements and general achievements.

 

[Ganeedi]

Finally beat the end game boss after 10 tries on normal. Maybe i suck but that feels about right. After a few playthroughs you figure out which combination of weapons work the best. Woooo - now i have a couple new hulls to try out.

 

[gladiatorua]

Beaten the last boss on Engi scout with one default anti-ship drone, Ion blast II(default), Ion Blast I(charges twice as long) and Laser Burst I. Fully upgraded shields, almost full engine upgrade. No boarding crew.
Had 1 hull hp left. Wanted more drones, but haven't found any when I had scrap.
Second phase was brutal.

 

[SMOGZINN]

I've been playing ADOM (Ancient Domains of Mystery) off and on for around 18 years now and it's just a fantastic challenge. I have managed to complete it just once in all that time. It makes Baldur's Gate 2 look like a short game, it's incredibly deep and the original developer has recently mounted a successful fundraising campaign through indiegogo (like Kickstarter) and raised $90k to further develop the game.

It is great to hear that Thomas Biskup managed to get some startup money to continue ADOM. Really one of the best games I've ever played, and I've been playing it since Alpha, and have sent him a few postcards. I've finished it about a dozen times, although some of those were because of broken mechanics in early builds. Although I haven't played the game in like a year, I still keep a copy of the game on a flashdrive I keep on me. I think I'll check out what the most recent build is and install it on my dropbox.

 

[acheron]

Finally beat the boss, on my first run with the Red-tail (the alternate Kestrel).

Still having a great time with the game.

 

[Craig234]

Playing the first game... got to a store, I can buy crew, one says 'combat damage inflicted is halved' - does that mean, bad, damage my ship does, or good, damage to my ship?

 

[datalink7]

Playing the first game... got to a store, I can buy crew, one says 'combat damage inflicted is halved' - does that mean, bad, damage my ship does, or good, damage to my ship?

That means he does half damage in hand to hand combat, so don't use him to fight boarding crews unless you have to.

 

[BladeVenom]

I just got a couple of Crystal crew members. Lockdown comes in handy for destroying enemy systems.

 

[Craig234]

I'm expecting this is not going to be a game for me so far. On easy with the first couple battles, I get past them but in no time there are rebel cruisers, game over.

There are just too many unclear variables. Where should I keep crew while waiting? Which weapons should I equip and which should I use? Which enemy ship sections should I shoot at? Of course that's just touching on the sort of things to answer, and there are many more to come.

I know, part of the fun is having those variables, but it's just a good amount of guessing for who knows how long.

 

[BladeVenom]

Where should I keep crew while waiting?

With the full eight crewmen:
1x helm
1x engines
1x shields
1x weapons
You get a bonus with a crewman stationed in those sections. Keep the same guy there and the bonus gets better.

2x transporter (ready to beam over if needed)
2x medical bay (safe place for them)
You could also stack your extra guys in important systems so they are already there for repairs. The downside is they will take some injuries when those systems are hit.

Which weapons should I equip and which should I use?

Whatever you can get. Store selection is random, and you usually won't get everything you want when you want it.

I like one weapon that can go through shields and disable systems ion, missile, or bombs. I wouldn't go with more than one weapon that uses ammo.
Then the rest I usually try to use lasers.

For drones with a 2 drone ship, I typically go one defense drone and one anti-ship or beam drone. You want a drone recovery arm as soon as you can so you don't have to keep buying more drones.

Even with a 2 drone ship, I also get a System Repair Drone. You can swap it out after the battle, and use it to fix you hull before you jump. It's really helpful in the final boss battle. Just have extra drones. It fixes 3-5 hull points per drone expended.

Which enemy ship sections should I shoot at?

I usually hit shields first. Take them down, and the rest of your shots get through. Fire ion/missiles/bombs first, then lasers, then beam weapons.

If I'm going to send over boarders, I take out the medical bay if they have one.

Of course that's just touching on the sort of things to answer, and there are many more to come.

There are online wiki's and forums dedicated to the game with more in depth guides.
http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/
http://ftlwiki.com/wiki/Home

 

[Craig234]

Thanks, bladevenom.

 

[acheron]

Yeah, I agree with Bladevenom on most of that.

Take note of what the different races' special abilities are. You'll want to use Mantis-men as your boarders (if you have any) since they do extra damage in personal combat. The Rockmen aren't bad either because they have extra hitpoints. If you're going to station guys around to perform repairs, the Engi have a bonus to repair.

In addition to targeting shields, if you hit their navigation/helm, they won't be able to dodge, so if your shots keep missing then that's another worthwhile target. I believe if their helm is damaged they can't do a jump either, so that will also work if they're trying to retreat.

 

[Craig234]

What should I do when I see the rebels starting to take over the screen and it says planets in their area are dangerous? If I go, there are cruisers, game over.

 

[BladeVenom]

Take note of what the different races' special abilities are. You'll want to use Mantis-men as your boarders (if you have any) since they do extra damage in personal combat. The Rockmen aren't bad either because they have extra hitpoints.

Rockmen are immune to fire, so if you have a weapon that causes fire, Rockmen are the best. It's a killer combo to have when you board enemy ships. Just be careful of the damage you cause, if the fire or boarders reduces the hull down to 0, the ship will blow up with your boarders. System damage from boarders and fire cause hull damage.

 

[acheron]

Rockmen are immune to fire, so if you have a weapon that causes fire, Rockmen are the best. It's a killer combo to have when you board enemy ships. Just be careful of the damage you cause, if the fire or boarders reduces the hull down to 0, the ship will blow up with your boarders. System damage from boarders and fire cause hull damage.

Yeah, that one just happened to me earlier today. Was in a nebula, so I didn't realize there was a fire on the enemy ship. I boarded it and was killin their d00dz, and then the ship blew up.

 

[Kalmah]

The only thing I haven't really done is send a boarding party. Do you lose those crewmen if the enemy ship is destroyed while they are on it? How do get scotty to beam them back?

 

[acheron]

What should I do when I see the rebels starting to take over the screen and it says planets in their area are dangerous? If I go, there are cruisers, game over.

Once the rebels get to a system you can't go back there. Well you can, but you just fight a rebel ship and can't salvage anything more than 1 fuel from it. You have to get to the point marked "exit" on the map and stay ahead of the rebels.

If the rebels get to the exit point, you can still go there and get to the next sector, but you'll have to fight a rebel ship first. You can jump out once your FTL drive charges without actually destroying the enemy though.

 

[festa_freak]

I have a question. When you use the teleporter, at the end of the battle or when the ship is destroyed, does your crew come back?

I played this too late last night. It has that 'one more turn' feeling to it.

 

[BladeVenom]

If the enemy ship blows up while your crew is on board, you lose them.

Once you kill all the enemy crew, your transporter is immediately ready to beam them back. Don't delay, if there's fire on the ship, or you are in an asteroid field, they are still in danger.

Up arrow is to send them over, down arrow is to bring them back.

 

[festa_freak]

If the enemy ship blows up while your crew is on board, you lose them.

Once you kill all the enemy crew, your transporter is immediately ready to beam them back. Don't delay, if there's fire on the ship, or you are in an asteroid field, they are still in danger.

Up arrow is to send them over, down arrow is to bring them back.

Thanks bud. Sounds like a good strat once I get the mantis ship.

 

[datalink7]

One advantage about boarding is if you wipe out the crew as opposed to blowing up the ship, you get more scrap.

 

[Karsten]

The last few minutes of last nights play throu. Meeting the Mothership:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77oV5TM7KRA&feature=share&list=UUAf7rhDHb5F7RFXpxMerw4A