H-Holy shit... what the fuck are you supposed to do against this thing?

Sorry I usually do, but I forgot. It's FTL: Faster Than Light.

No one should play on hard until they've beaten the game a few times on easy/normal.

Thanks. My bad too I should probably know this game by now.

so i made the mistake of playing this shit until i got all the ships, but i want more

is there more content?

You know you can just click that little arrow next to the post number, then hover over "image search" and click "google" for the answer too, right?

> not using Fire Bombs

Fuck hacking. Use cloaking to dodge missiles and power up weapons/prepare salvo in safety. Aim for their shield generator and missile pod, you want them at 2 shields at most and broken missiles at all times. If you have telepathy use it on whoever's repairing the missile pod. Your shield should be max. You'll want them tanking pot shots so the laser won't get through. And use your laser too if that's the ship you're using.

>rock crew
>teleporter
>fire bombs
just beam my shit in, scotty

ya know, I never really appreciated fire until I used the Rock B and got a fire beam.
One of the most fun runs I've ever done

la get gud

>teleporter/fire build
>encounter nothing but scouts

Unfortunately the devs consider the game finished. Besides Advanced Edition, which came with new layouts for every ship + a new ship, there's nothing more. I hear there are a lot of custom ship mods in FTL forums, though.

Fire bombs damage rooms instantly and fires make oxygen go out in addition to screwing enemy crew AI. Those are simply amazing if you don't have troubles with resources. And since FB's are extremely easy to buy, you can have 4 of them on the ship for the last fight.

post high scores

Hacking is probably second best to cloaking, though.
If you get both, NOTHING can shoot you. Sometime I came to learn quite well when the flagship hacked my weapons.

Get advanced edition and grab the Captain's Edition mod for *tons* of new content.

> easy
> easy
> easy
> normal

>easy

that's pretty well done

on it, thanks guys!

aight

>82 FTL games played
>still havent unlocked the crystal ship

just be yourself

damn dude, any tips for beating on hard?
I beat it once on Stealth B but only got like 4300 score

nice work

I gave up, it's pure autism. Took me back into grindy MMO era for a bit, but i don't give a shit enough to try it. Even had an idea to import someone else's save.

Do you have Rock C?
If so you can skip the first 2 steps because you start out with a crystal guy. Just get to the rock homeworlds and find the beacon.

or savescum a lot once you find the pod

Adding to this, if you name the crystal crewmember "Ruwen", then you'll get a quest marker showing you where the beacon is so you don't have to hope to run into it once you find the Rock Homeworlds.

>what am I supposed to do

spam flak

I dunno, it's kind of a broad game to be giving tips.
Bare in mind, if you beat the game with a low score, that's actually kinda more impressive. Because you had less scrap to work with, and yet you did it.
High scores are kinda luck, really.

>I said 'kind of' three times
kill me

Makes sense, I figure if I play enough, I'll get obnoxiously lucky in at least a few games

Okay

Cheatcodes in FTL? How are players supposed to know that?

My favorite thing to do is mind-control one of their guys, and right before it runs out, beam them on your ship and kill him
rinse and repeat until no crew.
or if it's the flagship, until 1 dude left

Not actually an intended cheat code. It's just that when you get a crystal crew member from the stasis pod, he's always named Ruwen.
The game does a crew check for a crystal named Ruwen when you enter the Rock Homeworlds to see if it should give you the quest marker or not, instead of keeping track in some quest log. Because FTL doesn't have a quest log.

bigger emphasis on piloting/engines systems and defense drones

youll want to burst fire some lasers to drop shields to 0 temporarily, then immediately use a beam like Halberd to cross as many rooms as possible. hull damage and disabling weapons are all you care about. cloaking while massive barrages are incoming is another great defense but that shit can fail so having solid engines/pilot are important too

it's a dps race

Exploits are always nice.

This game is complete fucking bullshit.

...

Is this a teleporter only build? No weapons?

One of my favourite endgame weapons is the Glaive Beam.

Just drag that shit over multiple rooms. The flagship doesn't have enough HP to survive more than one or two volleys.

Definitely worth having less room for other weapons.

That was before the update with shit like mind control and flak cannons though. I should go replay FTL again.

>all that scrap
Jesus user

Yeah, that's about the only time I'd consider having more than a token rock on ship.

Beam builds are not too effective because of the retarded fast shield recharge. Most effective damage builds in the game:

1. Flak cannons
2. Breach missiles
3. Fire bombs

Lasers are classic, but require spamming a lot. Beams are fun but rely on your luck a lot. Drones are even more fun, but completely random and not effective.

>Beam builds are not too effective because of the retarded fast shield recharge.
Yeah, my usual strategy was having like a Laser I or II with the beam and just spamming them at the enemy until the shields are down then drop in some mantises. I just really like spamming the shit out of lasers or nuking ships in one shot. At least until I discovered that just killing off the crew gets you more scrap.

For the flagship, I take my time killing off the weapons rooms and crews first though so that I can have free run in the next two phases.

Mind control is fun, wish I could justify buying more than 1 power for it though.
In hard, basically the best use of it is mind controlling right before your volley hits, to dramatically drop their evade chance (if not removing it entirely if their piloting system is at level 1).
Having a counter to enemy mind control is great too.
>Flagship phase 3
>they have level 3 mind control
>it lasts 45 seconds
>they mind control a fully trained Mantis
>fucker takes like 30-40 hitpoints off your crew members with each hit

>ctrl+f "git"
>0 results
come on now

>No upgrades
>Still made it to the last level
Nigga tell me your fucking secrets

well there was obviously a save editor, 26k scrap is literally impossible even if you're upgrading shit

What was the mod called that added and changed shitload of stuff?

Captain's Edition, probably.

Well, that was the effectiveness side of question. In terms of pure fun:

1. Fire builds
2. Teleporters
3. Hacking + Drones
4. Beams
5. Ion builds

Flack cannons and Gatling guns

Thanks.

>beam weapons
no, never. they exist to be sold (same for attack drones). Flak is OK but ideally you want Flak II, Flak I is barely worth it.

>no cloaking
amazing you made it to the third stage at all. normally you can count on the drone surge to kill any ship without cloaking.

>no teleport
how did you even make it to the end? i'm really amazed at this ship. try again and keep cloaking and teleport in mind and I have no doubt you can win.

ideal course of play is to get second shield, teleport, and clone bay ASAP. Don't be afraid to get second shield first. if you're lucky you can get both second shield and telport by the second sector, and spend the rest of the game capturing ships for mad scrap, with no concern but finding the right weapons. which are Burst II and Flak II (and whatever burst laser or even heavy lasers you come across as event rewards, if that's all you've got). dual pegasus or swarm missiles can also work, if you end up with a ton of missiles going into Sector 8.

The RNG element is almost entirely in what weapons the game gives you the opportunity to obtain. Playing hard mode, you really should be willing to call it quits on an attempt after a certain point, if you're not properly equipped (it seems like often the game will assist in this by throwing you a 'kill ship', an insanely armed 80% dodge drone ship in a hazard beacon).

If any of you niggas haven't used a 4-man boarding party yet, you're missing out.

That was cute. Moar.

>beaming your entire 8-man mantis crew onto every ship you encounter
maximum erection

I never should have touched them since now I can't go back to normal ships.

tfw you beam your entire crew onto enemy ship while they shoot a missile which destroys your teleporter

well alright

>beaming everyone on board when their weapons are still online and can penetrate your defense
although your crew just takes a shuttle back to your ship after the battle is won and done

Happened to me once
>click on system repair drone
>no drone parts
>remember clone bay
>can't kill any of my dudes

Unless they changed something, they won't.

The crew is still sitting around in the enemy ship. If you jump before bringing them back, they won't even respawn from the clone bays because it doesn't register as a death and more of a dismissal.

>That missile which slips through your defence drone

I've played the latest version and had this happen with the Mantis B. Since you have 2 Mantis to start and you HAVE to use them both or get fucked, I've had this happen a few times.
You get a little text pop up telling you they took a shuttle back to the ship, and then they appear in your piloting room.

>encountering the half constructed Flagship

I think I've only ever successfully beat this goddamn game twice. Both were on Easy. Only one was in the Advanced Edition. In 36 hours of gameplay.

Ahh okay then. That's cool.

Sometimes you just have to keep trying, user.
Eventually, that half constructed flagship will look like easy scrap. No mind control? No power surges? No zoltan shield? Give me that +5 fuel/missiles/drone parts, scrap, and free weapon please and thank you.

man, fuck the defense II drone
It's as if it specifically targets everything but the missiles

Having both a Defense I and Defense II is god tier though. But opportunities like that are sparse, especially since you need plenty of drone parts.
>Defense I shoots down missiles
>Defense II shits on ions and lasers, effectively giving you an extra shield layer
>Become fucking untouchable

...

Your weapons are shit, your dodge is shit, your shields are shit.

Have better RNG and micro the fuck out of everything

Even the mark I can be a failure on the big ships, mantis and fed for example.
Just way too fucking slow.

Easy is fun, fuck you

What's your favorite ship, user?
Engi ships with a DD1 feel so fucking good. That tiny frame in impenetrable.

What's your playtime?

>no, never. they exist to be sold (same for attack drones). Flak is OK but ideally you want Flak II, Flak I is barely worth it.

This is wrong on several levels.

The Flak 1 is the second best weapon in the game, right behind the Burst Laser 2. Three points of shield damage for two power, with a ridiculously fast 10 second charge time. It has good synergy with almost any weapon loadout you can think of (especially beam weapons, which are good with the right setup).

The Flak 2s long ass charge time and huge impact area make it much more situational.

Flak II sucks man. Flak I is like a very slightly shittier Burst II.
I'm also definitely not going to drop 50 scrap for a clone bay on hard when a medbay does the job.
I'm always hesitant on teleport strats if I don't have rocks/mantises, something I should reconsider.

>Telling to get cloak on Fed cruisers

Advanced Edition nig nog, the artillery cannon can now be used with cloaking.

Huh, fancy that.

>What's your favorite ship, user?

The Man of War, as you can probably tell from the image. Its not the best ship, but I like the Slug race, and the design and layout is cool. And clearing ships of crew with the Bio-Beam is oddly satisfying.

Like 500 hours. I usually listen to podcasts and other digital media while playing, which this game is well suited to doing.

Yeah it's fun.
But you don't brag about a highscore from EASY

...

What is the best layout A ship and why is it the Adjudicator?

>easy
Kill yourself

I beat hard a few times on Stealth B but never got over 4300

Rate my current run Cred Forums

Does this mean naming an engi Virus will stop you from getting that quest?

>no cloaking
Doomed/10

If that's right before the Big Bad then 7/10 its ok.

Spend the last scrap on second piloting.

I know this is just a meme, but
>hack weapons
>delay enemy fire
>teleport lanius in
>oxygen fucking gone, any crew inside weapons dies in no time
>break the weapons
looks like a fun time tbqh

I don't think so, because I think you can get multiple Virus events regardless.

>4 levels of shields
unnecessary/10
weapons could be better, but if you're on easy/normal the flagship should be easy

Flak+Max Cloaking makes it EZ modo essentially. Boarding is just icing on the cake.

Odd I was thinking of transporting them into oxygen.

>4 levels of shields
>unnecessary/10
I wish this meme would die.

Think you're vastly overestimating lanius and their oxygen eating ability there.

Personally that's too slow of a killer for me, the enemy will shoot too much of their shit at me for me to considering choking them out.
I'm partial to the idea that the battle is won when their weapons are crippled.

Nope, still have some time.

This is what I've actually been doing. Works pretty well cause it's just normal so 4 shields plus def drone = invincible

Unless they have level 3 Oxygen, it's gonna drain quick as fuck. Each Lanius is a walking hull breach.
At the very least, by the time any crew breaks through the hacked doors, the oxygen is going to be gone and the enemy crew will take heavy DPS.

And wouldn't flagship have lv3 oxygen?

>just reinstalled
>won twice in a row

I'm just gonna stop now, it can only get worse

Oh well, then depending on your luck it'll be anywhere from somewhat difficult to a complete cakewalk.

You need to bypass those shields one way or another to get those turrets ASAP

Boarding them is the easiest method: they are separated from the main ship and help won't come for the gunner.

You can also use bombs, missiles or any combo of heavy weapons (laser, vulcan, ions...) that can breach four shields and still land a hit if you have an advanced weapon system and you've got nothing else.

Then there's staying alive.
Drones are an obvious choice, Defense Mk2 will be distracted by lasers so I suggest you pack 2 mark 1, or one mark 1 and one Shield.
Having 3 shields is the bare minimum.
Stealth can be used to completely avoid its super attack.
Hacking can disable the most problematic systems (MC, hacking, shields...).

NEVER KILL ALL ITS CREW. AI is much more efficient and will auto repair everything.

I was strategizing for the ships on the way to the Flagship, but okay.

Stealth cruiser is my shipfu.

Defence Mark 2 is actually really good because it does shoot down the lasers effectively acting as another shield layer. It also recharges quickly so if there's only missiles coming at you, it'll blap two out of the sky.

>no shields

no thanks

who needs shields when
>cloaks behind you
>cuts your ship in half with one Glaive beam stroke
psssh... nothing personnel.

>encounter shields
or
>miss with dual lasers
or
>enemy has weapons with sufficient differences in startup time

Stealth B is shit, but here's what you can do to help counter point no. 3
1. Don't save up for shields, buy level 3 cloaking right away.
2. Full power cloak right when the fight starts.
3. Glaive takes 22.5 seconds to charge with crew manning it with 10% faster recharge.
4. Cloaking saves you 15 seconds, so the enemy has 7.5 seconds to fire a shot. They often can't.
5. Cry when they have drones, especially beam drones.
6. Buy shields and win the game.

Can't you just try to chain repairs on the O2 room?

- Slug 1 starts work on O2
- Slug 2 comes by to help
- Slug 1 dies
- Slug 2 maintains repair progress
- Slug 1 comes by to help
- Slug 2 dies
- Slug 1 finishes repair

user that's an AI ship.

Normal is starting to get bit too familiar with me, might start doing hard runs.

Any tips for hard mode? Or can I get away with same tactics used in normal?

You could, yeah. But the AI crew is not that smart when there are broken shields.

>Kestrel
> 2 mk2 lasers (two of the starting ones)
>breach bombs or rockets
> full shields and if you want to get cloke
> GET HACKING AND MAX IT THEN DUMP INTO ITS SHIELDS

Then just breach the shield room, use your lasers to take its weapons out and boom, you're done.

Ahh, sorry, I saw a post a few months ago where a person blogged about the same problem on their own ship and I never got to ask it so it's been bugging me all this time and seeing the slugs do that just made me post without thinking.

Or a dude in there.
Guess you could call it an exploit, especially against rocks.

Same tactics generally work. Need shields 2 ASAP on early levels.

The biggest difference is that boarding the flagship is no longer as effective. The missile and laser rooms are attached to the main body now so even if you board and whack the system, the AI can now repair it. So a pure boarding strategy is that much harder.

the key here is primarily having proper weapons, followed by survivability. All the dodge in the world with cloaking means diddly if you can't penetrate the shields effectively.

Damn, teleporting one guy into the missile room was always my best strat. I guess I'll do a hacking run then.

if you get the crystal ship + boarding, you can still shut down entire rooms

>one guy
You mean two mantis

>the missile and laser rooms being attached makes boarding harder

Only if you have a shitty boarding game.

Send all your guys in, knock out their medbay and you can kill their entire crew.

The AI system is way easier now because you have complete access to the whole shit, no teleporting in and out.

We did it Cred Forums!

That actually sounds even better. Just unlocked the C variant of rock cruiser which starts with one crystal crew. I'll go with that.

Thank you for your insightful advice.

I always have cloners and teleporters. I send people over to kill all the crew, which in the vanilla version doesn't grant instant victory the way that it should.

It's still a good strategy though. You can have them attack the weapons exclusively, while your ship's meager armaments slowly but surely plink away at its health. I always go for crew wipes, so if you combine the above with slugs and mind control, or go with the guys that can survive in vacuum and focus solely on taking out the O2, you'll have a dead crew in no time.

And let the AI take control? No thanks.

I mean, if you have 8 mantis and they all go in, then sure go for it but a half assed boarding strategy is no longer an option in Hard while it would have been extremely useful on easy or normal.

This, the AI is not so bad when you consider a boarding party parked in the missile bay can just destroy the missiles again as it gets repaired.

...

Does the final boss layout change based on difficulty? I just play on normal and I could have sworn all four gunnery rooms were utterly isolated

The AI is only a problem on normal because of the compartmentalized weapon bays. On hard it's not an issue, you can just patrol the whole ship knocking out anything you want.

The Captain's Edition mod is a MUST play. It adds so much more content and still seems pretty balanced. Go with the bonus added music mod so you can have new music for your new encounters too.

How are you guys naming your crew members / ship?

I don't want to play any mods until I can master the game
And I'm barely finishing it on easy with 60 hours into the game, so..

>have a good run
>get fucked by RNG in sector 7
alternatively:
>having shit run
>get great item/event in stroke of luck
>still not enough, die anyway

Just do it, mate. Right now you're just wrestling with RNG, which means you never truly master it anyway. Try the mod out and enjoy the new weapons, tech, races, and scenarios.

But user, Rebel MS Phase 3 you use mind control and hacking to completely lock them out of teleporting to your ship.
>MW: Burst Laser 2 - Burst Laser 2 - Laser Vulcan

I always name my Lanius cremembers by stupid puns like
>Donnie Ohtu
Don't need O2
>Noe O'tu Forme
No O2 for me
>I'art Vac'oom
I heart vacuum

Neat, I like it

What's the best way to defend against missiles, besides hitting their guns room?

Defense Drone l

or a Cloaking subsystem

Fire bomb is great, 1 bomb auto kills any weapons room.
Do NOT underestimate fire, especially since the ship is crewed exclusively by humans with no repair or defense robots
If you want to play one easy mode in any difficulty use the basic Slug ship and farm the first 3 zones by killing crew with the bio beam, salvaging a complete ship get you at least 50% more resources so you can just straight up buy a glaive beam when you see one and do the burst beam strat, fire is best with a defensive setup but if you can just shoot lasers at it and then immediately do 4 damage per room fuck defense

Hows captains edition?

I got the event twice and reset my engi twice back to back.

git gud

Up to the flagship, yes Flak I is better for the tighter spread and faster charge, but I'm talking solely about the flagship fight, where IMO Flak II beats even multiple Flak Is just for the power save. Multiple Flak IIs and any other laser weapon (plus teleport plus cloak) is basically a guaranteed win against the flagship, as you can reliable wipe their shields in one volley and keep them down indefinitely, letting your other laser focus down the missiles or piloting. And you should always be playing the entire game focused on preparing for the flagship fight - you're probably not going to be able to have both multiple Flak Is and then also a Flak II (or two) in reserve.

If you're absolutely not going to be boarding Medbay will serve, especially upgraded and of course if you can get the engy medibots, but Clone Bay is still the better option overall. If you're boarding, there is no question, get the Clone Bay. It saves you so much grief from worrying too much about your boarding crew, enabling otherwise outrageously risky plays like boarding low-health burning ships, boarding lanius/drones, etc. And you really should be boarding.

>getting pounded in the ass hard
>"I-I swear to me mum I'll smash your fuckin' head in if you don't surrender"
>enemy surrenders
>you're still fucked
fuck

...

You can salvage that situation.

It's just such a pain to do so.

Immediately invest everything you have into oxygen systems. I think you have enough there to get to level 3. That should cover O2 loss form breach.

Exactly what I was thinking. I was on hard but losing like 75 scrap for that when I was already pushed for weapon power would've been fatal later on.

Instead I remembered one store station that had crew members for sale. Plan was to get there through unexplored route, since other route would've gotten me into rebel fleet. I was intercepted midway by a boarding party and that was it.

I've had WAY more "fuck, the Mk2 focused on a laser again" than "sweet, it got both"

Like 10:1 ratio

>beam drones