FTL, space rogue-like

Their plan is to get the game by August or September, if I recall correctly, so it’s not a long wait for those that didn’t get the beta. With that said, I sure am glad I kicked in for it.

My one complaint so far is that you can’t save. I am fine with the hardcore aspect, but why not just delete the save on load?

Other than that: Awesome. I have unlocked one new ship and I just got drones on my current one. Crew members however keep dropping like flies, usually because I fail to pause often enough and then I miss stuff like oxygen.

Apparently that gas be important yo.

the irony is thick here, i would figure you of all people would have made sure to get into the beta of a promising space game…

breathing is overrated.

I could only kick what I could spare, which wasn’t $25.

understandable. at least you only have 2 months to wait for full release.

Don’t worry Brian, you can still get a small fix by watching the footage I uploaded to Youtube of the FTL Kickstarter beta. The guys at Subset let me in a few days early, so I was able to get something up right at launch.

Clips / Summary (with a few details left out): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj7FueQjiWg
Longplay w/the Engi ship: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVR7dk9Ie2A

I am going to be giving one key away on Youtube, although I may have overestimated the interest in FTL videos when coming up with the view count goal. I’ll adjust that soon to probably 1k views.

note to self: pirate sectors can be quite nasty.

I was so excited when I got my crew teleporter and a nice strike team assembled that I ported them right over to the shield room on an enemy auto scout.

Yes, an auto scout. As in unmanned reconnaissance vehicle. As in lacking life support systems of any kind.

Just to quote myself from earlier on the matter of Oxygen:

Wow, this has boarding parties too? Sweet.

Wish I would have noticed the Kickstarter so I could try it, but I’m definitely looking forward to this getting released now.

Justin (one of the devs) was nice enough to hook me up with a beta key and so far I’ve only managed to play through the tutorial. Eager to get home and play more though, it seems pretty awesome :) Got a handful of friends salivating to see it too, so I may just have to plug the laptop into the TV for some FTL Theatre this evening ;)

doh. thats a pretty kool scenario actually, it would work well as a humorous plot device to explain a ship captain’s sacking in a sci-fi series. “Yeah the captain was fired because he made his away team teleport into a vacuum.”

So how much control over your crew loadout do you have? I think I’d probably be wary of sending anyone off ship without some sort of pressure suit if I could help it.

Thanks for this. I only got to play it for a while last night and this will fill in the lunch break nicely. :)

Not much. No pressure suits or equipment for them at all, and as far as crew members go it’s very much beggars can’t be choosers.

Some alien species might not need oxygen but I haven’t found them yet. I do keep discovering new ones though, the latest being telepathic space slugs.

Interesting. Too bad there’s no crew equipment… seems like that could make for a fun addition, but very cool they have different races at least.

some of the core game mechanics rely on the crew needing oxygen*, so i doubt you will see pressure suits added. other stuff maybe.

*balancing system repair priorities, hull breach missiles, etc.

My current struggle is finding a way to ramp up my ships power while staying ahead of the rebel wave. I’ve played 5 or 6 games and by the time I get to sector 6, I am no match for any ship there. I can’t seem to acquire enough salvage to afford both shields and a more damaging weapon…

The rebel wave is very similar to the hunger mechanic in nethack, forcing you forward when what you really want to do is grab every last bit of treasure as you prepare for the next level. It makes for some tough choices.

Oh god does it ever.

I was in sector 5 doing extremely well, everything was peaches and creme. And then I found a ship that almost destroyed me… I had to run to the nearest store to repair because I wasn’t going to be able to fight my way through multiple stars without taking some damage, and then the rebel wave overtook me on my way back… and that was that.

How far has everyone gotten in this? Any good strategies?

I’ve gotten to the 6th system and unlocked the drone boat. I’ll Ion cannon the weapons to keep them down and then drone them to death and what I try to do is get the laser that fires multiple shots so I can take down multiple shield bubbles later. I also go for 2 shield bubbles but only when I can afford it all at once, in case I need repairs or something really nice comes up for sale. With 2 shield bubbles I find that I spend alot less on repairs. I also tend to take the medbay and oxygen power off because usually I won’t need them during a battle. When I upgrade weapons I always like to leave 1 ion cannon because of its short reload speed and its ability to take down a component.

The boarding drone is nice but unreliable when the enemy starts to get defense drones. Venting the oxygen on boarders also seems to be nigh on useless, even with upgraded blast doors. It only ever seems to rermove a tick or two of health before they break into a compartment with my men, so I tend to bunch them into a patrol for repelling boarders.

Edit: Blarg! Was doing really well, loaded to the gills with weapon and scrap, made it to sector 6 and then as I travel along the south of the map there is no route to the exit, I need to travel all the way to the first layer of stars and then up. I make it through 3/4 of the map rebel controlled and they finally take me down. So frustrating that the map geometry screwed me like that.

I’ve lost several times to the enemy flagship. It’s a monstrous bastard of an enemy and I’m still trying to work out the best plan for dealing with. I suspect a large surplus of crew to handle in-fight repairs is something I need to add.