Favorite way to win a battle?

[Dirka]

Taking out shields & helm in an asteroid field.

And Glaive Beam to the face. Always a hoot

[beefinator]

Just unlocked the Zoltan C the other day.
man, if you can get teleporter on that thing... Quad Zoltan suicide bombers


Though my favorite would have to be Fire Beam, of course with manned or upgraded shelters.

[shadowcrust]

When I first played FTL (Classic), I usually opted for taking the offer of surrender if presented, because I was playing the good guy back then. Later, I realised that destroying ships usually yields higher rewards, and at last I found that slaughtering the enemy crew gives you the best rewards, hands down. Thus, FTL has turned me into a mass-murdering merciless psychopath, and I blame the evil developers for that

The game narrative makes some effort to not reveal if you're playing the good or the bad guys (although we get some hints that the Rebels are a bit ruthless and possibly racist; however, the Zoltan ship quest is most enlightening about what's going on between Rebels and Federation, and it seems, quite realistically, that both sides want to be good, by different means, however). Sometimes there are some dry statements about the tragic results of your decisions, still without openly judging your behaviour.

Behind the curtain, however, FTL really encourages you to play as dirty as possible. The more ruthless you are, the more scrap you get, the better you are able to win. It would be interesting to check how many games can be won by consistently being the nice guy (saving everyone from danger (I still do that almost always, as I like to gamble, I mean, to help), accepting all offers of surrender, and maybe even trying to jump out of fights where there is no offer of surrender). For an actual neutral stance, the game should reward accepted surrenders with the same amount of scrap and items as killing the crew - in this case, I would hide the surrender offerings and only reveal them if you agreed to surrender, just as you only see what shiny piece of weaponry you get after having killed the last crew or exploded the ship. Then it would be really your choice if you want to play the good, the bad or the ugly captain. As it is, you are virtually forced into the role of a monster.

tldr; my favorite way of winning would be accepting surrenders, if it would enable me to win the game consistently

[shadowcrust]

I was just thinking about a loophole in my nice guy quest, and that is the boarding ships. While being the most blood-thirsty bunch, it would be easy to never turn down any offer of surrender flying a boarding ship, as you'll simply never get any offer of surrender if you're going for crew kills.

Why is that? Why is the enemy crew pleading for mercy if their ship's hull is at a critical level, but not if they are getting shot or hacked to pieces? This doesn't make any sense. I think I've suggested it before, but I think it would add a touch of realism if also seriously hurt or decimated (maybe the last man standing?) crew could offer to surrender. Maybe Zoltan ships ask for surrender if two of their crew go below 30, as they are wimps, while Mantis would never surrender at all (disregarding Kazaaak).

[itg]

It's probably because they're too busy getting hacked to pieces to operate the com.

[stvip]

It's probably because they're too busy getting hacked to pieces to operate the com.

I love that that Piloting is considered manned as long as someone is in the room. It implies the captain is grabbing on to the controls with one hand, desperately dodging away incoming missiels and lasers, while fending off two hungry Mantises with the other (probably involving some acrobatic kicking). Now I imagine him also panting "Ah, guys? Let's talk this over. C'mon, we're reasonable people".

Maybe Zoltan ships ask for surrender if two of their crew go below 30, as they are wimps, while Mantis would never surrender at all (disregarding Kazaaak).

The Zoltans seems to have two hats - the bureaucratic officiators, and the space hippies/mystics. I could imagine the former never surrendering if it's against regulations. Conversely, pirates would probably have traditions involving surrenders and their acceptance ("Parlay!").

Anyway, I forgot to mention that I like igniting stuff. Also, pyrogenesis, setting blazes and other incendiary fun. Arsony, too.

P.S: Incineration is fine.

[shadowcrust]

Anyway, I forgot to mention that I like igniting stuff. Also, pyrogenesis, setting blazes and other incendiary fun. Arsony, too.

P.S: Incineration is fine.

And what about settings things aflame in a fiery inferno?

It's probably because they're too busy getting hacked to pieces to operate the com.

No need to even operate the com, they can just fall down on their knees and beg for mercy right in front of their attackers... I find it curious that this still is not happening in FTL.

As only ships can ask for surrender, this strengthens the viewpoint that you're actually role-playing a ship in FTL, and the crew members are just some fancy (and quite replaceable) items equipped on the ship character.

[Riversub]

I love boarding ships...lanius, mantis and crystal. My favorite is the mantis B with 4 maxed out mantis. There is nothing like 4 angry Mantis. Just awesome how quickly you can end a battle. I was fortunate enough during one run to obtain a clone bay, backup dna bank and reconstructive teleport. Talk about fun! Boarding without consequences and I didn't have to send wounded warriors to their "quite place" for a quick death after battles in order to clone with full health. I wish I had this loadout on every run

[Tesseract]

I like pretty much everything about fighting in FTL, since for me the fun comes from adapting to every little change as much as I can (although, I'm still working on doing that well), but I still have favorites. In no particular order...

Boarding is always fun, especially if it's in tandem with Hacking and/or Mind Control. The fact that I really have to micromanage my crew in certain situations - like boarding over five Slugs against six Rockmen, or sending my entire crew over for a four on four or four on five - is something that heavily appeals to me. With Mind Control you can weaken the crew while you focus on critical systems, and take a load off your shoulders; or you can have a ship's crew kill their own ally. Hacking allows you to focus on only one or two enemies, while also neutralizing an enemy system (or systems in some cases, like early Mantis Fighter ships). This gets more complicated, or arguably more easy, when you throw in favorable combinations, like Lanius when the O2 is hacked, or Rockmen on a burning ship. The increased rewards are incredibly nice as well, naturally.

Putting all of my eggs in one basket (more or less), is also pretty nice. Am I not getting any weapons at all? Well, heck, let's turn ourselves into a tank and see how far we go. Level two Shields and four Engines in Sectors 4 or 5 or 6, but still basically killing everything in one volley? Shields can wait! Not finding any weapons (or any especially helpful ones), but have good boarders? Let's force a boarding setup for now.

Hacking in and of itself is also fun, but only truly shines in my eyes when paired up with interesting setups. Hacking O2 and getting an easy victory is just silly; hacking Shields and letting my drones cause fires, or my Fire Beam wreck havoc, is just evil; hacking Weapons while I neutralize the crew leaves for a clean ship, for the most part.

Perhaps one of my favorite setups of all time, however, is going heavy on Drone Control. Setting up the Ions, and/or neutralizing a critical system, while my Attack or Fire Drones wreck havoc, is one of the best feelings I get from this game. I thoroughly enjoy the aspect of auto-piloting a ship while I cause destruction, or "controlling" weaponry that can only be harmed by stray weapon shots - and not even that, if I micromanage everything correctly. Unfortunately it doesn't pair well with boarding for obvious reasons, Hacking is either "just nice" or a waste, Mind Control is the same but less so, setting fires cause hull damage. This is essentially a constant across all of my runs in this vein, unless I encounter choice ships or am fighting the Rebel Flagship, of course. All of this gets even better if I've turned my ship into a certifiable tank. Powerful offenses that I don't even need to focus on, and near-impenetrable defenses are both great in my book. In fact, drones are one of the few reasons why I have considered installing Captain's Edition, but I'd rather not tamper with my current save file. Perhaps on a new one, later on.

[META_mahn]

Let the map/fire-op kill them.