Questions [I suck at FTL]

[namenonames]

Hi, I'd like to start off by saying FTL is amazing and I really enjoy playing it until I get buttblasted by the flagship or more often then not, by seemingly ordinary ship encounters in sectors 4-7.

30+ hours in and I still keep failing nonstop. You can call me an idiot but I've only gotten to the flagship 3 times and got past first stage once - and that one was on easy. I've somehow unlocked all of the Kestrel layouts, Federation and Engi A types, but I don't think I've been using any of them optimally. I have 9 questions:

1. I can never get enough scrap to buy all of the needed upgrades, systems, augments, etc. The Rebel fleet advance really quickly. I can never figure out the best route to take to explore more. Is it worth losing out on x amount of beacons to go to shops or distress signals?

2. Do any valuable events even occur in nebulas?

3. What's the difference between "homeworlds" and "controlled" sectors, which are preferable?

4. Are all sector types equally viable (civilian, hostile, nebula) and what should be considered when choosing?

5. What are the best common weapons/weapon combinations and how to use them, what should I avoid?

6. What goes well with the standard artemis and blaster mk2?

7. I often don't know which systems to target. On the first few sectors I just hammer down the enemy weapons. Later on I try taking down the shields first and then go for the weapons (or drones), but that doesn't always work or is really, really slow. What should I target and when?

8. What are some good strategies for the final boss?

9. Lastly, could anyone suggest any in-depth video guides or a competent let's player?

Thanks

[itg]

1. If you're low on scrap, a common cause is repairing too much. Every scrap you spend repairing is scrap that didn't go to a useful upgrade, and because you didn't get that upgrade, you're probably going to take more damage. It can really snowball if you can't stay ahead of the power curve.

2. There's one event where you can get a free weapon or crewman, but there's a chance you'll lose a guy. If you have upgraded piloting, there's a blue option which eliminates that chance. If you've got long range scanners, look for an ion storm with no ship identified.

Generally, though, nebulae are worth it because the rebel fleet slows down while you're in them, not because of lucrative events.

3. I think the only difference is that homeworld sectors contain ship unlock quests.

4. They're all viable. Green sectors have more shops and non-combat events, including events which give you free stuff. Red sectors will mainly give you a lot of fights, which is a more consistent source of scrap than random events. Nebula sectors give you more jumps, since the rebel fleet moves at about 80% of normal speed, but there are a lot of empty beacons in these sectors. If you have long range scanners, though, you can maximize your profitable encounters here.

5. Generally avoid missile weapons except the Artemis. They may be more viable with the new explosive replicator augment, but otherwise, ammo is too expensive, and most of these weapons are too slow and use too much power for what they do. Note that bomb weapons, on the other hand, are generally good.

As for weapon combos, you basically need something to take down shields and something to do damage. Burst Lasers, flak, bombs, or ion weapons are good at taking down shields. Burst lasers, heavy lasers, flak, or beams are good at doing damage. Take a look at that "best weapon combos" thread for some ideas.

6. More lasers is an easy and strong path. Flak guns serve pretty much the same function and also go really well with lasers.

7. Early on, it's generally best to just hammer the weapons. Later on, it depends. When enemies start to evade lots of shots, you might want to target the helm (or mind control the pilot, or hack the engines, you get the idea). When you can cut the enemy's evasion to zero, you should be able to do consistent damage to whatever system needs it.

8. A few suggestions: Teleport some guys into the missile room and destroy it (This tactic doesn't work on hard mode, by the way). Any crew killed stay dead in the next 2 phases, so it's a strong tactic to kill everyone but the guy in the laser room (if they all die, an AI takes over). Generally, focus your damage on shields and engines (it takes less to destroy this than piloting). Get cloaking level 1 and use it to dodge the power surges. If you have hacking, wait to see what the flagship chooses to hack on your ship. If it's something painful, like weapons, hack the hacking room to nullify it. Otherwise, hack the shields.

9. There are a lot of links in the Videos section of the forum. You can probably gauge the player's competence to a degree by skipping to the end to see how they did.

[5thHorseman]

If the below sounds boilerplate, that's because it is. However the advice is just so good I can't rewrite it better

Here is my personal checklist of things to do. I try to follow it with most every ship:

Before the end of sector 1, 2 shields (4 bars)
Before the end of sector 2, 4 engines.
Before the end of sector 3, 5 engines.
Before the end of sector 4, 3 shields (6 bars)

Note: This is for NORMAL mode. For HARD mode, I try to shift everything up one sector though it's pretty much impossible.

Also, you need to have a way to get through:
Before the end of Sector 2: 2 shields (Most ships can do this)
Before the end of Sector 4: 3 shields (This usually means you need to buy weapons or a teleporter in sector 3)
Before the end of Sector 7: 4 shields (or the Boss is gonna suck)

Note: to get through 2 shields, you need to do 3 laser shots. Or have 2 ions and a laser/beam/whatever. Or have a teleporter. Or a bomb. Doesn't matter what.

After I have the above, I start thinking about upgrading other things, like doors and O2 and medbay and stuff.

Most of the time I don't reach these milestones, and I end up not getting my 4th engine until midway through sector 3 or something. No biggie, as long as you keep trying.

Never, ever, ever, EVER buy missiles. Unless you simply must because you've not found a way to get rid of your missile weapon. They are the single biggest resource drain in the game if you buy a lot. The next big resource drain is repairs. Any time you show up at a store needing a ton of repairs, that's a weapon you can't buy, or drone control or a cloak or long range scanners or who knows what else. I never repair over 20 hull points (2/3 full) and sometimes I forego repairs to buy or upgrade something.

Ions are great in groups, but not so great by themselves. 2 Ions will eventually take down ANY shield so long as your opponent doesn't dodge too many of them. An Ion and an Ion 2 will reliably take down ANY shield eventually. Once those are down, you can use your other weapons to actually damage the ship.

If I may humbly suggest, I've beaten the game on camera with every ship in the game (and a few mods) on Normal and while I get into (and out of) some sticky situations, for the most part I walk over the bad guys because I stick to what I've said above. Granted, most of my videos are in the previous version but most of the strategies still work. Check out my thread here.

[Smauler]

One thing to realise is not to buy everything you can. I've had wonderful ship loadouts that could beat the whole game if only I had a little more scrap to build up my basic defenses.

I almost always focus on what will do me damage, or cause me problems first. Take that out, and they're a sitting duck. Most of the time, this is the weapon bay. However, sometimes when they have weak weapons, it makes sense to straight for the shields, then everything else to take them down.

Best weapons depend on situation... but burst lasers II are always good. A single burst laser 2 and halberd beam can take down anything in theory (save 5 shielders... are they still about?). 2 burst laser IIs with anything else should take anything out pretty quick. Large recharge high cost weapons are generally awful. The Vulcan, for example, is diabolical early on because all damage you take will be early in a battle when it's not effective.

[namenonames]

Thanks a lot guys, keep the tips coming if you can. I'll report if I finally beat the game on any difficulty

[LostAlone]

Assuming that you aren't a masochist I would recommend at least watching someone else beat the Flagship or reading up on the fight. That's the single biggest thing that'll make the game feel fun on easy, and challenging on normal, as opposed to crushingly unfair. Knowing what to expect means that you won't walk away from a failed run feeling like the game cheated you.

How much research you want to do, both on the boss and wider game, is basically going to be determined by your personal style and your tolerance for pain.

A lot of the difficulty to begin with comes from knowing what weapons and subsystems do, how they work and what combinations go well together. The game can be extremely unforgiving when you don't know that stuff. Almost every run when you start out will get wrecked because you sold a reasonable weapon to try something new and exciting that turned out to be junk, or at least that needs a very specific set up to see a reasonable benefit from.

On top of that you need to get used to the enemies and be planning ahead. You start out just needing to punch through one shield, but that will become two quickly, then three. Sometimes you will just have to buy a boring but safe choice to ensure you'll be able to keep fighting.

Next up there are the random events - Again these can feel extremely unfair before you know them well. They have a strong tendency to be 'rich get richer'. If you have superfluous crew members then it's normally fine to have a 1 in 3 chance of losing one at a random event to get a nice haul of scrap, but when you really need to fight just to keep your head above water losing a crew member can be a massive sucker punch. The wiki is your friend here. If you want to explore by yourself then no problem, but especially when you have the feeling of 'This is THE run' then you may want to at least check that you don't stand to lose too much. The wiki can also help you unlock a few new ships through event lines that'll keep the game feeling fresh and interesting, and give you the chance to try out different weapons and systems you otherwise wouldn't, instead of just ramming the kestral face first into things over and over.

In no particular order there are some general things to keep in mind:

You can always jump away from a fight if it is going badly. Don't wait until you are at 3 hull points left to do it. If you are taking damage and can't find a way to hurt them back then just leave. If you run into a 3 shield enemy and you can't punch through the shields then don't wait. Just go.

Teleporting is an incredibly powerful weapon. More so than almost anything else in the game. However, learning how to do boarding attacks such that you don't randomly murder all your crew members is tough, and at times heartbreaking. I've rage quit out of many a run in sector 8 because my kick-ass boarding Mantises went down with an enemy ship, or were lost as the enemy jumped out. Practice.

Dodge and cloak are often better defenses than shields. Having all three is awesome and I personally never miss the opportunity to get them.

Hacking and mind control are brutally unfair at times. They genuinely can wreck your run from nowhere and there is no hard counter. Being able to defeat enemies without depending on any one thing can help, as can having something in your bag of tricks that ignores shields (missiles, boarding) to neutralize them before before too long is a wise idea.

If you do happen to be masochist, then of course disregard all (although maybe we could get a drink some time?) this but making the jump from consistently getting to sector 8 and beating the boss will be long and frustrating unless you go and find help, especially since you'll only have two ships to play with. I'd advise that if nothing else you look up the quest line to unlock the Zoltan cruiser and go out of your way to find it. The Zoltan's super shield makes it very forgiving for new players, giving you more latitude to try stuff out without immediately dying.