Consequences of being caught by Rebel Fleet

General discussion about the game.
evoblade
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Joined: Mon Dec 09, 2013 8:09 pm

Consequences of being caught by Rebel Fleet

Postby evoblade » Tue Dec 10, 2013 7:00 pm

I assume the rebels catching up to you means the scripted events are overwritten. Other than guaranteeing a fight at every beacon, does this change anything?
agigabyte
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Joined: Fri May 31, 2013 1:59 am

Re: Consequences of being caught by Rebel Fleet

Postby agigabyte » Tue Dec 10, 2013 7:44 pm

evoblade wrote:I assume the rebels catching up to you means the scripted events are overwritten. Other than guaranteeing a fight at every beacon, does this change anything?


No, nothing except fighting a rebel elite fighter, and making you only get 1 fuel as reward. (Neither of which are hardcoded.)
evoblade
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Joined: Mon Dec 09, 2013 8:09 pm

Re: Consequences of being caught by Rebel Fleet

Postby evoblade » Wed Dec 11, 2013 1:21 pm

Yeah I discovered the 1 scrap thing last night. That's a real kick in the junk. Not getting any scrap from pointless fights seems to be the primary motivation to not get caught by the rebel fleet.
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Kieve
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Re: Consequences of being caught by Rebel Fleet

Postby Kieve » Thu Dec 12, 2013 4:25 am

I'd attempted to up the ante a bit with "Turning the Tide," but some of my ideas proved impossible to implement - like spawning a much harder Destroyer or cruiser ship if you defeated the fighter. Other events simply ended up proving unbalanced, and I eventually called it quits on the project.

Captains Edition does tread some of the same waters, albeit differently, but however you slice it, the risk/reward factor of the rebel fleet is severely lacking in the default game.
spacecadet13
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Re: Consequences of being caught by Rebel Fleet

Postby spacecadet13 » Thu Dec 12, 2013 6:04 am

There can be no 'risk/reward' equation to fighting elites in vanilla FTL; being able to hang around sectors endlessly and gain scrap from fighting the rebel fleet over and over would completely unbalance the game, as players could max out a ships systems by the end of sector 1.

Making the best of the resources you get from a limited number of chances (beacons) is the essence of the game, though if it could be balanced, occasional opportunities to go up against an uber-powerful cruiser/battleship for some reward when the fleet catches you could be fun (or end your game in a hurry)
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Twinge
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Re: Consequences of being caught by Rebel Fleet

Postby Twinge » Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:08 am

The Rebel Fleet is the equivalent of a 'food clock' in oldschool roguelikes - a reason to push forward rather than sit back and farm.

It is definitely worth fighting them on occasion, though - there are many sector layouts which allow you to get 1 or even 2 extra beacons by fighting the elites once, and with a good setup (e.g., cloaking) you can often incur no damage before jumping away. (Keep in mind if you're doing this that the exit beacon itself is a good beacon you want to hit if possible, unless it's in a nebula. So generally look to hit the exit, hit the 1-2 extra beacons right of the exit, then go back to the exit to fight the Elites once.)
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