Download version 1.0 here: http://pulpaudio.com/ftl/Rigger.ftl
(if you have trouble downloading, try right clicking and selecting "save link as..." in the menu)
This ship replaces the Kestrel.
The Black Opal is a pretty unique ship, though you will recognize similarities in basic strategy to Jonfon's Robotic Cruiser. Unlike that ship, though, if you lose your crew you lose the game.
Themes:
- You've died plenty of times while fighting the rebels. Now it's time to return from the grave and exact your revenge!
- This ship can do no direct damage. You must send your ghost crew members to the enemy ships to kill crew and take out systems.
- The beam you're given is designed to slice hulls in half for easier salvage. It simply shreds rooms and causes breaches. Good thing ghosts don't need air!
- There may be even more powerful versions of these beams available in stores.
- You cannot get ghost crew from stores or normal events, but they say when it's dark and quiet, a new ghost will sometimes emerge from the pod to help you. The pod will also heal your crew no matter where they are on the ship, so long as the medbay is powered.
- You probably don't want to take on any non-ghost crew. It's extremely difficult to keep them alive, not to mention terribly non-thematic.
- I removed the oxygen warnings (though the alarm still sounds) and "no-air" lines from the floor. It's kinda hard to see the ghosts with the lines there.
This ship is complete, playable, and I find it quite fun. However it may not be totally balanced and many story elements in the game don't work well with it. No matter what you do, people will insist on joining your crew and then choking to death before you can even make 2 jumps.
I'm strongly considering modifying ALL events to not give crew, and maybe even modifying their reactions to you, however I want to make sure the mod is worth that much effort first. Let me know!
Story:
Your ship was destroyed. Your crew was killed. You made it to a stasis pod but as you sealed it, you felt you deserved to join them in death. You had killed them. Your decisions. Your drive. Your bad, terrible luck.
Your soul was in torment.
You were almost happy when the girder broke loose from the ceiling and smashed in the glass of the stasis pod, letting the air escape from the last oxygenated place on the ship: your lungs. You faded from this world, mind body and soul wrapped and warped with pain, torment, and a thirst for revenge.
Later, The Opal, a rigger scouring battle zones for scrap, came across your wreckage and your stasis pod. They made the worst and last mistake of their lives bringing it aboard. You and your undead crew sprung from the cursed pod and overcame their crew quickly. You ripped the oxygen system from the ship and tossed it into space. You wouldn't need it. Unholy energy emanated from the pod, healing you and your ghastly crew as they got to work.
Somewhere deep back in your mind you knew you still had a mission. You still had information to deliver to the Federation. They had to get it, and if you had to kill every rebel between here and there... so much the better!