Subset Games Forum

i want to be clear, im not "requesting" or expecting anything. this is feedback for the whoever it may concern of what I personally would like to see in FTL future in case it had one.

I really liked this idea from Kestral B
http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3553

I myself posted this
http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3522


I think the 2 together could make for a more intersting sandbox version of the game.

the way this would work is as Kestral suggested. You would have to unlock hero's in the campaign mode (the present version of the game) and you would have to beat the boss to make veteran crew and captains (as explained in kestral's thread). You would then be able to use such crew, in the sandbox version: no bosses, (maybe minibosses) and infinite lvls. Ideas on regards mentioned so far suggest that the only way to finish such mode would be death (a sort of survival mode) however, if hero's and special crew were to have permadeath (meaning you would have to go unlock/make them again) might require for the possiblity to exit the sandbox game/version/whatever so you can save your crew. Alternatively a Crew rooster, similar to the existing ship ranking, could be used to show special crew highscore.

As the game currently is, I see a sandbox or endless mode largely pointless, even with your posted suggestions. Main reason, the ships have a pretty low upper-limit on upgrading. I would figure, comparitively, that 1-2 sectors after the Last Stand you would have enough scrap to max out all systems. What then do you do? I'm honestly asking, I see so many of these ideas popping up I might be missing some element. Cherry-picking your crew/weapons/drones is the only thing I can come up with.

Thats pretty easy to solve.
After you beat the Boss, the Endless Mode starts. Something like:
"With the Rebelfleet scattered the Journey of THE-SHIP has barely started."

Im actually dreaming of an Endless Mode where you equip your ship with a second weaponroom, 2x4 Weaponslots,
a second shieldroom for 2x5 Layers, or two Teleporters, let alone 20 Crew as Max.

Or Quests that come up every dozen sectors as long as you don't have it, that give something like:
"You have earned the trust of the Slugs, they install a new subsystem on your ship."
A system which makes your ship somewhat like the Slug ones. The system can be upgraded 5 times and for every level it autorepairs one breach just like the Slugs. And if you got the Medibots it gets upgraded once more so that it repairs one Hulldamage per Level after every jump.

Of course your ship is no longer limited to 3 Augments, you can install as many slots as you want, for the right price.
The energy would no longer be shown as bars, thats a grave limit due to the UI. Its numbers, with one bar per system for showing repair progress. You can refit your ship to move rooms around, in case you want to change rooms from 2 to 4 squares. And empty rooms can be outfittet as storagerooms, 3 more items in your ships inventory per square storage.


Their are so many things you could do with this game, for Endlessmode.
All those things would unlock after you beat the Boss, yes, that means you need to do that every time you want to play a ship in endless. Until then most things are as they are right now.
And of course the enemys would scale up to be real hard aswell.

Thanks for liking my suggestion, OP.
Agreed, that a simple "sandbox" mode would hit up against the upper limit of ship development quickly - it would have to be a very complex and involved effort, like Vulkandrache describes, requiring an enormous amount of dev work to create and re-balance a whole new power curve.

I think the best way forward for FTL lies in a slightly different direction:
1 - More of what we already love: achievements and things to unlock. These are the permanent things that you earn in one mission that carry over to subsequent missions - they form the core of "progression" in the current game. "Hero" crew units are a totally valid idea in this category.

2 - Additional resources that transcend a single mission, but are perishable or expendable i.e. veteran crew, or other ideas that involve "carrying over" something (anything!) *other than* your ship...lots of fun possibilities in my head!

3 - Additional mission types / modes of play that still involve a similar scope to the existing mission, and thus don't break the power curve that ships currently follow as they move through a mission. The most original idea I've seen in this category is "Space Station Mode", which I think has huge potential and could even be done as a mod to the game as-is. Of course there could be tons more types of missions for federation captains to undertake in addition to "delivering the plans". The real challenge would be making sure each mission type was sufficiently unique in what it required of the player.

Edit: Fixed link. Thanks for pointing that out.

The most original idea I've seen in this category is "Space Station Mode",

That's a link to reply to this thread, not the Space Station Mode thread.