After finding about the Superluminal 2 ship editor, my initial reaction was to tinker with the equipment of the ships. Having access to certain weapons and augmentations from the beginning of the game had always been an attractive option the original game lacked. Often you just wanted to try a certain strategy but had to invest a lot of time to build the necessary ship in-game, not to mention the luck required to just find the equipment you wanted. The Superluminal editor provides just that, and this set of ships is simply the result of this experimentation with the possibilities.
A few remarks:
- I am no actual modder. There are no new weapons or augmentations in this mod, nor any changes in the game mechanics. Just a rearrangement of elements already existing in the original game. Modifying the game significantly was never something I intended, and this little mod simply is not about this.
- I am no artist either. As you can see below, the images of the ships are simple recolors of the originals. As much as I’d like to make entirely new hulls, or even some simple alterations of the existing ones, I lack the skill and the software to do so. I barely managed to recolor the ships into something close to what I intended (it proved to be harder than I expected). I actually ‘stole’ two of the hulls from The Randtrel mod, as they were pretty much what I was looking for (if there is any problem with that, just let me know and I’ll change them). Despite all that, I have to say I really like the character the new ships have, and I am very happy with the images as they are now. I don’t feel any need to modify them.
- So no modding to speak of and no actual new ship images. Why bother with this set of ships at all? It’s mostly about the gameplay. I think the original game already offers a lot of possibilities but not all of them are fully explored. This set of ships is an attempt to go a little beyond and offer some more variety in the strategies available from the start of a game. It is by no means an exhaustive exploration of the potential options. I made it for my own enjoyment and I offer it because I think it has some value, nothing else.
- By far most of the time invested in those ships was in playtesting, but a proper testing would probably need even more time. Right now I can’t guarantee the ships are fully balanced but I really think they are to a reasonable level. I was the only playtester and I might have lost the perspective a little bit in the process, but hopefully not too much. Just be aware that some of the ships require the use of rather specific tactics in order to function, at least until you get some upgrades.
- Consistency with the original versions of each cruiser, in terms of racial use of technology, has been respected… to an extent. Sometimes I simply chose to favor some interesting combination of equipment, and occasionally I just threw any consistency out of the window. Some of the ships are mostly on character but a bit more extreme than their counterparts (i.e. four drone slots and no initial weapon system for the Engi ship). A few of them, though, are totally nuts (i.e. what is the bare minimum amount of systems required to make a functional ship?)
- Any feedback is appreciated but don’t expect me to make any changes beyond minor adjustments.
As a little tease, these are some of the ships.
THE MANTICORE
The limitations of this Mantis Cruiser are offset by a great potential as a boarding vehicle.
SILENCE
This Stealth Cruiser relies entirely in drones for defense.
THE KING IN YELLOW
There is something twisted in the way this Slug Cruiser fights enemy crew without risking its own.
Known bugs:
Two of the ships start without the weapons system. This misplaces the drone slots, which overlay with other systems. This is not really a problem when it comes to play, but it can be a little awkward.
Download:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uc0frvkh62nxggl/fourth%20fleet.ftl?dl=0
Credits:
FTL Team, for the game.
rannl, for the two hulls I took from The Randtrel mod.
kartoFlane, for the Superluminal 2 ship creation tool I used.
Vhati for the Slipstream Mod Manager.
CAKE, for the ‘How To Combine 2 Ships Into 1 File’ guide.
