I feel like this game has too much correct play.

[TheKillerNacho]

I do agree that some events lack any real choice so long as you have encountered it before.

I actually changed the event you speak of via modding so that the latter choice does have a chance of reward (a high one), but is still less than the first one (high risk, high reward)

[TheKillerNacho]

Mantis escape pod can give you either mantis or human crew member!

But yes unfortunately some game events have bad and good choices, which means that you always know what to chosoe after you did it once. For example, its always the blue wire. Also, its always better to communicate to the unknown species. I'm not against risking (like, 50% get crew 50% lose crew) but when option is only-negative, you ask yourself why is it there.

Btw, blue choice isnt always good. With cloak you get a lot of "stay hidden" blue choices which mean you will skip a battle, which means less loot!

That's the only blue choice I can remember that ISN'T automatic, to be honest.

[lordrahvin]

I always rescue the crazy guy alone on the planet. More often then not, I get Charlie!

[SlowerThanLight]

Another example: There is never a reason to destroy a ship as opposed to boarding it. It's the correct play to get a teleporter as soon as you can, as it'll more than pay for itself. It's the correct play to board every ship and win via boarding action in every situation. You get more scrap, you get more misc stuff, you sometimes even get items or crew. It's even easier than just straight ship to ship combat. An indicator of a good run is going to be an early teleporter. How... lame, really. Now, this I don't have quite as much of a suggested fix for that works with balance, but more scrap and less misc items from destroying a ship and then more misc items and less scrap from boarded ships seems sensible.

I agree with this. The best combat option is almost always to disable enemy weapons. Things like attacking shields or the helm are just things you do when enemy defense are so high that it is quicker strip defenses first rather than go straight for the guns. Once the guns are down, there is really almost no reason not to board. Even two humans can take a mantis ship with decent micro a good med bay. You can even do this if those two humans are your ONLY crew. It's just not that hard; once you've gotten their guns, you may as well board instead of going for the kill.

More generally, FTL suffers from having very obvious best choices in combat. Once you've figured it out, the gameplay becomes shallow and repetitive. You're given variety by having different ships and random equipment, but for any configuration there is almost always a clear best choice, leading to you just doing the same thing over and over again. I lose interest long before reaching the final star.

I got my money's worth, but I'm pretty much done.

[jamotide]

Really always the blue wire?? I would have thought its 50:50.

I just lost a game because I found this event with 4 hull left and cut the wrong wire.

[Sacrificial Toast]

I'd say the mantis escape pod is actually one of the best examples of a real choice. You could lose a crew member, you could get a mantis, you could get a human...If you're low on crew, it's a tough choice between risking one to get another.

[Gorlom]

Really always the blue wire?? I would have thought its 50:50.

I just lost a game because I found this event with 4 hull left and cut the wrong wire.

I think it's a reference to the blue event options

[Misery]

I can sorta agree with some of this, to a point. At least as far as the combat goes.

More specifically, for MOST of the game, I find there are ALOT of different tactics that can work to defeat enemy ships (with me taking little damage), and gain me a powerful, upgraded ship with a big crew and lotsa weapons/drones/augments/whatever.

.....and then the boss happens. All of these strategies that can do very, very well against every other situation in the game just fall apart completely once the flagship shows up. The boss is a very interesting fight, but it also tends to feel like there's only a couple of VERY specific strategies and setups that actually work on it, while most anything else.... just kills you. The second form being the worst for this.

I dont want to, for example, JUST focus on boarding tactics each time simply because it's one of the things that actually works on the boss... it makes the rest of the game much less interesting. Almost wonder if the boss needs a bit of rebalancing in some ways?

Other than that though.... I dont see too much trouble with this idea, in all of my playthroughs so far. Boarding seems to be a little OP, but that's my only real problem with the game. And yes, some event types do need to be changed as the OP mentions. Though, I still think there's plenty of choice in other ways during the non-combat parts of the game (and of course, not ALL events are "always always pick this option" like that).

[Smichal]

I killed the boss on normal, with 4 point shields, maxed engines and Burst laser mark 2 , 2 basic lasers, Glaive beam and a Defense drone.
No cloaking, no boarding. Was kinda interesting and i took swome heavy damage, but it proves that you do not have to use the boarding tactic everytime.