Seriously. I've gotten over 130 hours for my $10 purchase. I can't recommend the game enough. I didn't realize it was available when I bought it, but if you buy directly from their website, you get a DRM free version with a steam key, so that's probably your best option.
1. The Light of the Astronomicon has vanished, and we travel a barren strand of space in our quest for Holy Terra. Fuel is nearly gone, and crustacean-like creatures of the Empyrian close in from all sides on our weakened Gellar field. The Remembrancers on board tell me to have faith in The Emperor, but, travelling through this wasteland of Chaos, I begin to lose myself, not just my faith. In a last, desperate gamble, I have instructed Magos Ohm to overload the warp engines. Not only will this propel us a vast distance through the warp before we become becalmed, but it may clear the warp storms that have hidden the Emperor's radiance from us.
2. The titanic explosion of our warp drive left us stranded for weeks. We near the end of our food and oxygen as our power systems fail. May the Emperor see our plight and rescue His loyal sons.
3. Salvation! A flotilla of ships saw the warp explosion and tracked us down. It is none other than Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Iron Fists, VII Legion. He nearly killed me to speak of treason by his brother Primarchs, but, in the end, he believed me. The Eisenstein was towed back to Earth, where we waited on Luna, quarantined due to the rot that had infested Grulgor and his men. We were told that our role in the war was over, that Malacdor the Sigilite had other plans for us. Upon seeing that the Eisenstein was under repair at Terra's Sky Fortress, I had to disagree... but I kept my council.
4. The moment we were freed from quarantine on Luna, all Chaos broke loose in the Sol system. The heretics had launched their attack! Not only did the rebel fleet charge through the system, destroying defenses laid over hundreds of years, but the Jovian shipyards controlled by the Mechanicum betrayed their loyalty to Horus, and a great ship piloted by treasonous Word Bearers of the XVII Legion, larger than anything I had ever seen, launched forth. The reports said that it was called the Furious Abyss, and I knew that the defenders were not ready for this behemoth. The crew of the Eisenstein commandeered her once again, and we set off to face this beast. The Imperium had no ship quite like the Eisenstein after so many travels, so if anyone could stop this blasphemous creation, it's us (with the help of the Emperor).
5. We only had to execute a few security guards before the rest retreated onto the Sky Fortress. Magos Ohm found that the reactor was in better condition than ever after the stay at the Sky Fortress, but otherwise the systems were as we left them. It likely would have taken months for them to find all the xenos systems installed on the ship, and we have no time to explain them. We also found that the fuel supplies had been re-filled.
6. We launched into space and soon came upon a rebel vanguard of the heretics. It was good to stretch my arms and legs again, as we set them aflame and boarded their vessel. Iacton Qruze and Matthias dealt with some boarders in the meantime. We collected 6 fuel and 74 scrap, and Magos Ohm consulted with Stick and tweaked the engines before continuing our headlong trip towards the Furious Abyss.
7. Another renegade frigate falls to our purifying flames. We reap a torpedo launcher and 54 scrap and I order reinforcement of our servitor control systems before continuing our trek. That should allow us to run two flak servitors at once, and shoot down more enemy torpedoes.
8. I have to admit, I am enjoying tearing through the line ships of Horus's fleet. “Soaked in promethium” is a lovely garb for these traitors. While my battle brothers Solun and Voyen shepherded the fire through their ship, the venerable Luna Wolf Iacton Qruze precisely aimed lance battery shots to take out pockets of fleeing enemy crew members. The latest burned-out hulk brought us 1 fuel, 1 missile, & 44 scrap. Magos Ohm cackled with binary glee when he upgraded the xenos stealth system, and upgraded the power generator to its maximum potential.
9. The Furious Abyss is huge; I can see it even without the auspex through our viewing dome. We crushed the next ship in the line, garnering 2 missiles, 1 drone, and 46 scrap. Magos Ohm increased the power to the teleporters, allowing them to charge more quickly, and installed a servitor to the cockpit, which can drive... clumsily... if manual control has to be abandoned for some reason.
10. The Battle-Captain, Nathaniel “Straight-Arrow” Garro, has been killed. I am Iacton Qruze, Luna Wolf and possibly the last of my kind, the other true sons of the XVI Legion such as Garviel Loken and Tarik Torgaddon having been left to their dooms on Isstvan III, much to my lament and regret. Garro was supervising the battle with the latest enemy ship when two squads of boarders appeared at the helm. He was dealing with them most brutally, as befitting the fate of traitors, when the enemy teleported a bomb into our bridge. The enemy soldiers were also killed by the blast. Truly there is no depths that these heretics won't go to. As the last remaining commanding officer, I have taken control of the Eisenstein. Nikola the astropath has knowledge of piloting ships, and has agreed to take the helm while I remain commanding the weapon batteries, as I am comfortable with. I am too old to change my ways, but my ways are good enough to kill many heretics. May the Emperor protect Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro's soul. Along with the 57 scrap we recovered from the heretic ship, Apothecary Voyen encountered an exotic trained killer named Ma Fan that was working her way through the enemy ship even before we got there. She was skeptical of our mission, but decided that joining us was better than staying on a burning ship. Magos Ohm and the Navigator Stick upgraded the engines to compensate for the loss of Garro's sure hand, and we flew to meet the Furious Abyss. Meanwhile, Apothecary Voyen and Brother Solun Decius deal with the loss of their commander and friend in their own ways. Voyen laments that he once betrayed Garro's command by joining the warrior fraternity that was at the heart of this rebellion, and Decius tends to the infected wound inflicted upon him by the animated corpse of Ignatius Grulgor, early in our ill-fated journey.
11. Finally we are face to face with our enemy and the Battle for the Abyss has begun. We must buy time for the defenders of Terrra, the White Scars, Blood Angels, and Iron Fists, to organize their defense. The first thing we do is set their torpedo bay aflame. Apothecary Voyen and Brother Solun Decius teleport to the bay and kill the heretic Word Bearer marines they find guarding it, allowing the flames to do their work. Then the same treatment is given to their internal security room. It appears that Horus has found the same sort of xenos stealth system that we have; while Voyen and Decius handle their bulkhead control, Ma Fan and Matthias board at the stealth system and make to damage it. What they are actually doing, however, is buying the marines time to finish their work disabling the bulkheads. When the enemy goes to their apothecarium to heal their injuries, I launch a promethium bomb in, dousing them in sticky flames.
The Death Guard teleports back to the Eisenstein to reload their bolters and obtain brief medical treatment. Meanwhile, the assassins stray to their servitor control to wreak havoc. By the time the Astartes were ready to return, their ship is still in flames and the assassins have cut their way through dozens of enemies with their energized weapons and augmetic musculature. The servitor control and sensorium of the Abyss are both ruined and offline.
Voyen and Decius return to the Abyss as I continue to expend promethium bombs to keep their apothicarium in flames. They fight a daunting battle against hundreds of foes, but they prevent the flame of righteousness from being extinguished. As Magos Ohm retrieves them with the teleporter, I launch another bomb into the room and simultaniously fire our lance battery at that location, sending the enemy Word Bearers scattering. A lucky shot from their lance battery cuts through our shields and damages our void shield generators and life support; Magos Ohm directs the crews to repair them.
By now, however, their medical stations are in flames and the surviving Word Bearers of Lorgar have scattered through the ship. Using our advanced auspex, I seek out life signs and target those sections with the lance batteries. Their bridge is struck, killing most of their command crew, then when other crew members go to repair the damage we wrought, I shoot them as well. Such is the fate of all blackguards who turn their backs on the Emperor.
Finally, Fa Fan and Matthies board their vessel one last time to kill the crews manning their particle lance batteries. When they return, I divert all power to the weapons and fire the hull-breaching particle lance across its length. We managed to sever the entire port side of the monstrosity, but somehow it managed to engage its warp drive and escape. What sorcery is this? Decius's infected wound grows more severe as we collect 1 missile, 1 drone, and 19 scrap from the wreckage it left, and check the auspex to determine where it went.
12. Following the Abyss's warp signature, we tracked them to just beyond the geological oven that is Venus. The only crew member left was Fleet Captain Zadkiel of the Word Bearers, stuck in a bay overseeing their plasma cannons. He had activated their vast range of servitors. Activating our own servitor flak drones, we were able to shoot down their boarding servitors. Ma Fan and Matthias boarded their newly repaired torpedo bays, laying bombs that shredded their capacity to fire upon us. In desperation, Zadkiel launched a flurry of servitor-crewed fighter craft, which we evaded with our stealth system. I launched volley after volley of fire from our batteries, setting the Furious Abyss ablaze.
Driven insane from the pain of his injury, Decius boarded their vessel and faced Zadkiel in personal combat. Upon slaying the Word Bearer captain, he was overcome by his injuries, and a great evil spirit that had been incubating in Brother Solun Deciu's festering wound emerged. The Abyss was covered in horrid insects, and Nikola retched as the psychic voice of an entity known as the “Lord of the Flies” took control of the vessel.
My last volley sheared off the starboard side of the enemy ship, but it seemed to grow wings and escape into the warp once again.
13. We finally caught up with the Abyss at Mars, just a short distance from the Sky Fortress and Earth. The entire ship had become infested by Chaos, its systems repairing themselves even without a crew, and a psychic barrier protected the entire ruinous hulk of the ship. Gritting my teeth, I fired everything we had at them while Nikola and Stick sought ways around the barrier. The ancient ion cannon was our path to redemption, its inscrutable technology anathema to the psychic veil. Once we had taken it down, the assassins teleported aboard to bomb the weapons, reporting horrid growths along the length of the hull, as if the ship were a living, yet diseased creature that was healing itself. I had them drawn back and concentrated fire on the heart of the ship.
Not even the burning heart of the daemoncraft, when exposed, could sway us, for our cloaking ability let us escape the notice of the burning pulses of putrid energy. The purity of our faith in the Emperor prevailed, and the enemy vessel exploded in a burst of warp energy that wracked the Eisenstein and killed both Nikola and Stick, their skulls imploding and their eyes bursting from their sockets. The vessel burning, our engines fused and useless, we looked out over the Solar system, and beheld that the fleet of Horus covered the entire astral horizon. Behind us, the might of three loyal Marine Legions had congregated at the Sky Fortress. They still were vastly outnumbered by the heretic. The work of the Eisenstein was not quite done yet.
Apothecary Voyen, Magos Ohm, Matthias and Ma Fan, the assassins, and I conferred. Our life support was fading, but we would still live by the time the enemy fleet arrived. When they boarded us to discover what technology could defeat the Furious Abyss, we would detonate the vessel. Our deaths will take many of the foe with us. I eject this log of our journey in orbit around Mars in hopes that it will be found and entered into the record. For the Emperor!
Now I really wish there was a detonate your ship in one final sacrifice option when you enter into those weird stalemates.
Well, that would also be useful if they ever implement comandeering an enemy vessel. They teleport aboard your messed-up ship, you teleport aboard their new ship, and push the big red candy-like button. Then flying away in their ship. Also known as "Pulling a Star Trek III."
Now I really wish there was a detonate your ship in one final sacrifice option when you enter into those weird stalemates.
Well, that would also be useful if they ever implement comandeering an enemy vessel. They teleport aboard your messed-up ship, you teleport aboard their new ship, and push the big red candy-like button. Then flying away in their ship. Also known as "Pulling a Star Trek III."
Or a "screwing yourself because you got that one slug ship with five rooms, no transporters and two of the rooms are critical systems that have no door access."
Now I really wish there was a detonate your ship in one final sacrifice option when you enter into those weird stalemates.
Well, that would also be useful if they ever implement comandeering an enemy vessel. They teleport aboard your messed-up ship, you teleport aboard their new ship, and push the big red candy-like button. Then flying away in their ship. Also known as "Pulling a Star Trek III."
Or a "screwing yourself because you got that one slug ship with five rooms, no transporters and two of the rooms are critical systems that have no door access."
Yes, sir. That would be a risk, and you wouldn't want to have to do that, but it would be great if it were an option. If my choices were "Osprey with 1 health and on fire" or "Shitty Slug Ship," I'm pretty confident on my stand regarding the issue.
It would allow for a "shipyard" encounter where you can trade in your ship for any ship that you've unlocked. You unlock the main racial ships the same way you do in base game FTL. You unlock enemy ships by commandeering them and taking them to a Shipyard.
The best roguelikes take into account any number of unique circumstances. FTL had a good start by making your upgrades give you blue options in encounters, but they can do more.
Finished my first successful Nesasio run last night! Even with multiple crew deaths along the way and a Rebel drone-heavy ship (while I had no shields!) I managed to come within a few points of my highscore. AND I unlocked the Mantis ship, and the Stealth variant! Truly a glorious victory.
On the subject of played:won ratios, I am now at 36:6. After I dabbled a tiny bit with Easy in the beginning, I quickly realized Normal was the only way for me. I couldn't imagine trying to re-earn all the extremely situational achievements.
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38thDoelets never be stupid againwait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered Userregular
@Dracomicron nicely done sir. Your valient story telling is worthy of the most decorated remembrancers. I do love me some W40K flavor.
Thanks!
I overloaded my own personal warp engines telling the FTL of the Eisenstein and the FTL Effect. Think I'm going to play a few games to keep to myself for awhile.
Though, I just started watching the old show Lexx, which includes 3-4 crew members and a ship with a super weapon on the run from an evil government... And I have never seriously played with the Osprey B...
On the subject of played:won ratios, I am now at 36:6.
That seems absurdly high. Nice work!
Yeah, I failed and flailed around for the first 15-20 times or so, and played Easy after getting tired of only having the Kestrel and Torus. I did a little reading about the game after I beat stage 1 of the flagship. I didn't even know there were stages! But now I think it is fairly straightforward to win, or come really close. At least, there are things you can do to greatly reduce the chance of failure. (Early Crew Teleporter, Drones + Defense 1, Cloaking, etc)
My goal is a Victory with every ship and variant, and all Achievements. (Kinda like saying my goal is to complete the game, but hey, what other goal is there?)
Even with my experience I still routinely screw things up, like getting my boarders killed (by blowing up the last hull point) or forgetting to watch crew members repairing hull breaches. Space is merciless.
Made it to the flagship for the first time. Got cut to shreds - I was extremely unprepared and I'm not even sure I took their hull down more than a point or two.
I always forget that I can just jump out of a battle that's going to be rough and painful. Another time I had my shield room get hit with their alpha strike and took a bunch of hull damage when I should have just jumped away.
Got my first teleporter. Paid too much attention to running around killing the enemy and not enough attention to the rest of the battle.
Had one game where my first jump was into a solar flare, second jump lost crew. Needless to say, that was a restart.
Did have one game where I had two mantis cut the shit out of my ship, finally managing to take them down in the med bay. Almost every system was red by then, and I had to begin the long process of repairing and healing to keep my battle alive. Managed to recover pretty well too, made it to the final sector on that run.
I'm really enjoying this game but wondering one thing...assuming I'm not in a solar flare / asteroid jump point where I'm taking damage, is there any reason to ever jump before I've repaired every system and healed up my entire crew? The Rebel Fleet advances based on each jump, not how long I'm sitting around in a particular system, right? Same thing with killing other ships - no reason to rush unless I can't keep them from hitting my hull?
Ugh. Just lost three mantis crack combatants. I need to be less cocky when I'm doing well.
I lost mine in an interesting way the other day. They were mopping up on the enemy ship that was low on O2. The ship fires a breach missile. The mantis boarders finish off the last crew member and I collect my rewards. I pause because I know O2 is low on the other ship and I want to get my crew back on board so they don't die. I enter the command for the to transport back and unpause. As soon as I do so, I notice that missile flying towards my ship and quickly pause again. The mantises are in mid-transport. The missile is past my shield perimeter but hasn't hit the ship yet. I activate stealth and unpause. The (gold veteran) mantises materialize on the teleporter pads and are welcomed back by the breach missile, killing them instantly. I guess I activated stealth too late. I almost quit right then and there, but I didn't. I eventually got another boarding crew of rockman & mantis going instead. Game still in progress but looking good in sector 7.
Did have one game where I had two mantis cut the shit out of my ship, finally managing to take them down in the med bay. Almost every system was red by then, and I had to begin the long process of repairing and healing to keep my battle alive. Managed to recover pretty well too, made it to the final sector on that run.
Boarders should almost never do a lot of damage to your ship. If they're not something you can handle with your own crew, you need to retreat to the medbay (if you have more than 3 crew, the rest should either hide in an out-of-the-way room without a system in it, or in a room the boarding party can't get to without going through the medbay) and vent the rest of the ship to space. Most of the time, the boarders won't be able to destroy any systems if the air is in the process of vacating the area. They'll run to the one place where there's O2... the medbay, where you have a massive tactical advantage.
My favorite ploy is getting the Door Control upgrade and locking enemy boarders in airless rooms. I'll make sure that the door just past where they're attacking is also open to space, so even if they break through, they are still suffocating. I feel like a supervillain when I do this. "No, Mr. Mantis, I expect you to die..."
Of course, there are situations where these tactics aren't viable, but, most of the time, if you're facing a situation like that, you're on your way to being fucked anyway.
You know what sucks? Finally getting the Slug Cruiser unlock event and accidentally selecting the wrong option... ARG. In other news, I conversed with my friends at length about FTL over the weekend. One of them is only playing on Normal and already beat the game! Jeez, makes me feel inadequate.
Got my fifth victory on normal yesterday and finally won with the Red-Tail (I have seriously bad luck with finding weapons).
Starting to reconsider my blanket hatred of beam weapons, 3 basic lasers and a halberd beam actually puts out fairly high reliable damage to multiple systems. Still have no idea how people have sucess with the fire and anti-bio beams however.
It's only after you've played the game a lot that you can turn around to people and tell them to STFU about RNG. If you can beat the game 50% of the time (or more) on normal, without any real micromanagement, then it's not a game governed by RNG. The biggest RNG factor is the possibility of getting a run with no weapon / system upgrades suited to the final boss.
It's only after you've played the game a lot that you can turn around to people and tell them to STFU about RNG. If you can beat the game 50% of the time (or more) on normal, without any real micromanagement, then it's not a game governed by RNG. The biggest RNG factor is the possibility of getting a run with no weapon / system upgrades suited to the final boss.
That's simply not true. Does the RNG pick your starting ship for you from the unlocks? Yes, getting some unlocks does come down to a % chance, not going to deny that but when you start the game that's on the player. Does it pick what upgrades you use your scrap on? There is a lot to this game right there that has nothing to do with the RNG that will give you blue options in special situations that will not have any % chance to win, they just win. If you haven't yet learned to work the strengths a ship has right from sector 1 and boost those, you're leaving your chances up to the RNG because you, the player, do not have a plan.
This game is a lot less about the RNG than many make it out to be because they do not understand their options so they think things are random when they are not.
I dunno. I can make most any ship "unkillable" by just upgrading to 3 Shields, Engines up to 40% evade, and at least 2 in doors. If the RNG never decided to populate a store with some weapons, or a teleporter, then I can sit there against the end boss with no way to damage it, but also tanking it like a boss. It's possible. The RNG can still be a bitch, but yeah, there are steps you can take to mitigate it's negative outcomes.
I don't know, facing off against a drone with a mk 2 burst laser and missile spam on my second jump in sector 1 with the first volley taking out my weapons and shields seems pretty RNG to me.
I never lose to the rebel flagship. Random encounters, if you can't put out damage quickly enough in sectors before you can get your maxed out engines and shields can kill you very easily, especially if you go for a long while without finding a shop.
I don't know, facing off against a drone with a mk 2 burst laser and missile spam on my second jump in sector 1 with the first volley taking out my weapons and shields seems pretty RNG to me.
Bonus points if it's over a solar flare.
Its called FTL for a reason, you don't have to just sit there and take the abuse most of the time, you can recognize you're out classed and jump the hell out of there to minimize your losses.
Besides, winning isn't everything in games like this, hell, the trademark phrase is "Dying is FUN(tm)". I personally find the Bad Luck FTL Express hilarious, its like winning the lottery to find the game has dumped triple solar flare nodes in your path or something equally rare.
I can beat the game reasonably often, but the RNG DOES screw you with regularity. I can't tell you how many times I've had a promising run, with all the correct upgrades made as soon as possible, completely borked by running into a ship that just counters everything I have, or can slice through my defenses with ease. I've run into ships with an Anti-Ship Drone II in Sector 1, before I can upgrade my shields. If it happens to hit your shield room, that's all she wrote.
My favorite is when a Breach Missile just flies right past a Defense Drone I that is fully charged. Like, it doesn't even start tracking.
Some ships are more victim to RNG than others. The Crystal B and Mantis B, all it takes to screw them is to never give them a weapon, or have them fight a lot of drones. The Engi B only has one crew member, which makes it insanely vulnerable to events. The Osprey is, on the other hand, very surviable no matter what the RNG throws at you, since the Artillary Beam always works on anything. The Rock cruisers negate 15% of damaging hull hits, off the top, which gives them a huge advantage.
I'm not bad at this game... heck, my two narrated adventures, the Normandy and the Eisenstein runs, were both wins. But the RNG screws me with regularity. I mean, just saying that the win rate is 50% if you're skilled is proof enough that the result is random.
My favorite is when a Breach Missile just flies right past a Defense Drone I that is fully charged. Like, it doesn't even start tracking.
If you have the bigger ships, sometimes if a missile comes from the edge of the screen and decides to land on the closest room to that edge of the screen, there's not a damn thing the defense drone is going to do about it. I've had that happen with the front two rooms on the Mantis B a couple of times.
My favorite is when a Breach Missile just flies right past a Defense Drone I that is fully charged. Like, it doesn't even start tracking.
If you have the bigger ships, sometimes if a missile comes from the edge of the screen and decides to land on the closest room to that edge of the screen, there's not a damn thing the defense drone is going to do about it. I've had that happen with the front two rooms on the Mantis B a couple of times.
Yeah, that makes sense, and is essentially proof that the RNG can screw you even if you have the established counter for a move the computer can make.
Beam: Never misses. Countered 33% - 100% by shields, if the shield is at full strength.
Missile: Pierces shields. Countered by Cloaking (+60% evade, not automatic) and Defense Drones (aforementioned shot placement chance for failure, also can't always handle missile spam)
Bomb: Pierces shields and immune to defense drones, but only does system damage/status effects. Only countered by Evade chance.
Ion: Shuts down whatever it hits, including shields, making player ships vulnerable to Beams or Lasers. Essentially only countered by Evade/Cloaking and Defense Drone II (and who the #*%^ uses THAT?).
Laser: Easiest to defend against, but the Burst Laser III can chew through any player shield and damage the ship except the Zoltan. Also serves to weaken shields so other things can get through, like...
Drones: As their weapon type, but with practically zero charge time, meaning that any weakness will be immediately exploited.
Run into a ship with two (or three or four!) of these, or use that FTL button to escape a bad situation and run into something with even one option ready to take advantage of your weakened condition, and you're boned.
Yeah, you can play the game carefully and minimize the risks, but that doesn't change the fact that the RNG can bone you something fierce if it wants to. Never forget the automated ship early in Sector 2 that had two missile launchers and a Weapon Pre-Igniter. I started off the battle with my engines burning and my weapons offline and breached. Hard to escape when your car won't start.
It's only after you've played the game a lot that you can turn around to people and tell them to STFU about RNG. If you can beat the game 50% of the time (or more) on normal, without any real micromanagement, then it's not a game governed by RNG. The biggest RNG factor is the possibility of getting a run with no weapon / system upgrades suited to the final boss.
That's simply not true. Does the RNG pick your starting ship for you from the unlocks? Yes, getting some unlocks does come down to a % chance, not going to deny that but when you start the game that's on the player. Does it pick what upgrades you use your scrap on? There is a lot to this game right there that has nothing to do with the RNG that will give you blue options in special situations that will not have any % chance to win, they just win. If you haven't yet learned to work the strengths a ship has right from sector 1 and boost those, you're leaving your chances up to the RNG because you, the player, do not have a plan.
This game is a lot less about the RNG than many make it out to be because they do not understand their options so they think things are random when they are not.
Think you might have read his post wrong. Since you just agreed to everything he said.
I don't know, facing off against a drone with a mk 2 burst laser and missile spam on my second jump in sector 1 with the first volley taking out my weapons and shields seems pretty RNG to me.
Bonus points if it's over a solar flare.
Its called FTL for a reason, you don't have to just sit there and take the abuse most of the time, you can recognize you're out classed and jump the hell out of there to minimize your losses.
Besides, winning isn't everything in games like this, hell, the trademark phrase is "Dying is FUN(tm)". I personally find the Bad Luck FTL Express hilarious, its like winning the lottery to find the game has dumped triple solar flare nodes in your path or something equally rare.
I have no problem with this, I started playing on normal till I couldn't stand it anymore and went to easy. Now I find easy too easy so jumping back into normal and it presents me with this situation on my second jump without any upgrades, takes out my crucial systems before I can fire a shot (hey, turnabout is fair play!) and presents me with a situation I usually witness at my usual failure point of sector 3/4 I can rightfully call RNG bullshit. It doesn't help that I've been almost only been playing the type A kestrel, having only unlocked the osprey (which I find gimmicky) and the engi A/B (which I just hate).
Which bring me to why I finally beat it on normal (obligatory victory screenshot):
Why did I win? In part because the RNG dropped two mk 2 burst lasers, a heavy laser, and a bunch of drone systems to sell in my lap. All I bought were the long range scanners, scrap recovery arm, a cloaking system and a mk 1 burst laser to replace the mk2 I foolishly sold hoping to have something fun in my fourth slot, making it a pretty boring playthrough.
Not every situation can be remedied by laser barrages but it certainly helps with most of them--which I got thanks to the RNG.
Posts
Well I did it to unlock ships at first. Then it spoiled me.
1. The Light of the Astronomicon has vanished, and we travel a barren strand of space in our quest for Holy Terra. Fuel is nearly gone, and crustacean-like creatures of the Empyrian close in from all sides on our weakened Gellar field. The Remembrancers on board tell me to have faith in The Emperor, but, travelling through this wasteland of Chaos, I begin to lose myself, not just my faith. In a last, desperate gamble, I have instructed Magos Ohm to overload the warp engines. Not only will this propel us a vast distance through the warp before we become becalmed, but it may clear the warp storms that have hidden the Emperor's radiance from us.
2. The titanic explosion of our warp drive left us stranded for weeks. We near the end of our food and oxygen as our power systems fail. May the Emperor see our plight and rescue His loyal sons.
3. Salvation! A flotilla of ships saw the warp explosion and tracked us down. It is none other than Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Iron Fists, VII Legion. He nearly killed me to speak of treason by his brother Primarchs, but, in the end, he believed me. The Eisenstein was towed back to Earth, where we waited on Luna, quarantined due to the rot that had infested Grulgor and his men. We were told that our role in the war was over, that Malacdor the Sigilite had other plans for us. Upon seeing that the Eisenstein was under repair at Terra's Sky Fortress, I had to disagree... but I kept my council.
4. The moment we were freed from quarantine on Luna, all Chaos broke loose in the Sol system. The heretics had launched their attack! Not only did the rebel fleet charge through the system, destroying defenses laid over hundreds of years, but the Jovian shipyards controlled by the Mechanicum betrayed their loyalty to Horus, and a great ship piloted by treasonous Word Bearers of the XVII Legion, larger than anything I had ever seen, launched forth. The reports said that it was called the Furious Abyss, and I knew that the defenders were not ready for this behemoth. The crew of the Eisenstein commandeered her once again, and we set off to face this beast. The Imperium had no ship quite like the Eisenstein after so many travels, so if anyone could stop this blasphemous creation, it's us (with the help of the Emperor).
5. We only had to execute a few security guards before the rest retreated onto the Sky Fortress. Magos Ohm found that the reactor was in better condition than ever after the stay at the Sky Fortress, but otherwise the systems were as we left them. It likely would have taken months for them to find all the xenos systems installed on the ship, and we have no time to explain them. We also found that the fuel supplies had been re-filled.
6. We launched into space and soon came upon a rebel vanguard of the heretics. It was good to stretch my arms and legs again, as we set them aflame and boarded their vessel. Iacton Qruze and Matthias dealt with some boarders in the meantime. We collected 6 fuel and 74 scrap, and Magos Ohm consulted with Stick and tweaked the engines before continuing our headlong trip towards the Furious Abyss.
7. Another renegade frigate falls to our purifying flames. We reap a torpedo launcher and 54 scrap and I order reinforcement of our servitor control systems before continuing our trek. That should allow us to run two flak servitors at once, and shoot down more enemy torpedoes.
8. I have to admit, I am enjoying tearing through the line ships of Horus's fleet. “Soaked in promethium” is a lovely garb for these traitors. While my battle brothers Solun and Voyen shepherded the fire through their ship, the venerable Luna Wolf Iacton Qruze precisely aimed lance battery shots to take out pockets of fleeing enemy crew members. The latest burned-out hulk brought us 1 fuel, 1 missile, & 44 scrap. Magos Ohm cackled with binary glee when he upgraded the xenos stealth system, and upgraded the power generator to its maximum potential.
9. The Furious Abyss is huge; I can see it even without the auspex through our viewing dome. We crushed the next ship in the line, garnering 2 missiles, 1 drone, and 46 scrap. Magos Ohm increased the power to the teleporters, allowing them to charge more quickly, and installed a servitor to the cockpit, which can drive... clumsily... if manual control has to be abandoned for some reason.
10. The Battle-Captain, Nathaniel “Straight-Arrow” Garro, has been killed. I am Iacton Qruze, Luna Wolf and possibly the last of my kind, the other true sons of the XVI Legion such as Garviel Loken and Tarik Torgaddon having been left to their dooms on Isstvan III, much to my lament and regret. Garro was supervising the battle with the latest enemy ship when two squads of boarders appeared at the helm. He was dealing with them most brutally, as befitting the fate of traitors, when the enemy teleported a bomb into our bridge. The enemy soldiers were also killed by the blast. Truly there is no depths that these heretics won't go to. As the last remaining commanding officer, I have taken control of the Eisenstein. Nikola the astropath has knowledge of piloting ships, and has agreed to take the helm while I remain commanding the weapon batteries, as I am comfortable with. I am too old to change my ways, but my ways are good enough to kill many heretics. May the Emperor protect Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro's soul. Along with the 57 scrap we recovered from the heretic ship, Apothecary Voyen encountered an exotic trained killer named Ma Fan that was working her way through the enemy ship even before we got there. She was skeptical of our mission, but decided that joining us was better than staying on a burning ship. Magos Ohm and the Navigator Stick upgraded the engines to compensate for the loss of Garro's sure hand, and we flew to meet the Furious Abyss. Meanwhile, Apothecary Voyen and Brother Solun Decius deal with the loss of their commander and friend in their own ways. Voyen laments that he once betrayed Garro's command by joining the warrior fraternity that was at the heart of this rebellion, and Decius tends to the infected wound inflicted upon him by the animated corpse of Ignatius Grulgor, early in our ill-fated journey.
11. Finally we are face to face with our enemy and the Battle for the Abyss has begun. We must buy time for the defenders of Terrra, the White Scars, Blood Angels, and Iron Fists, to organize their defense. The first thing we do is set their torpedo bay aflame. Apothecary Voyen and Brother Solun Decius teleport to the bay and kill the heretic Word Bearer marines they find guarding it, allowing the flames to do their work. Then the same treatment is given to their internal security room. It appears that Horus has found the same sort of xenos stealth system that we have; while Voyen and Decius handle their bulkhead control, Ma Fan and Matthias board at the stealth system and make to damage it. What they are actually doing, however, is buying the marines time to finish their work disabling the bulkheads. When the enemy goes to their apothecarium to heal their injuries, I launch a promethium bomb in, dousing them in sticky flames.
The Death Guard teleports back to the Eisenstein to reload their bolters and obtain brief medical treatment. Meanwhile, the assassins stray to their servitor control to wreak havoc. By the time the Astartes were ready to return, their ship is still in flames and the assassins have cut their way through dozens of enemies with their energized weapons and augmetic musculature. The servitor control and sensorium of the Abyss are both ruined and offline.
Voyen and Decius return to the Abyss as I continue to expend promethium bombs to keep their apothicarium in flames. They fight a daunting battle against hundreds of foes, but they prevent the flame of righteousness from being extinguished. As Magos Ohm retrieves them with the teleporter, I launch another bomb into the room and simultaniously fire our lance battery at that location, sending the enemy Word Bearers scattering. A lucky shot from their lance battery cuts through our shields and damages our void shield generators and life support; Magos Ohm directs the crews to repair them.
By now, however, their medical stations are in flames and the surviving Word Bearers of Lorgar have scattered through the ship. Using our advanced auspex, I seek out life signs and target those sections with the lance batteries. Their bridge is struck, killing most of their command crew, then when other crew members go to repair the damage we wrought, I shoot them as well. Such is the fate of all blackguards who turn their backs on the Emperor.
Finally, Fa Fan and Matthies board their vessel one last time to kill the crews manning their particle lance batteries. When they return, I divert all power to the weapons and fire the hull-breaching particle lance across its length. We managed to sever the entire port side of the monstrosity, but somehow it managed to engage its warp drive and escape. What sorcery is this? Decius's infected wound grows more severe as we collect 1 missile, 1 drone, and 19 scrap from the wreckage it left, and check the auspex to determine where it went.
12. Following the Abyss's warp signature, we tracked them to just beyond the geological oven that is Venus. The only crew member left was Fleet Captain Zadkiel of the Word Bearers, stuck in a bay overseeing their plasma cannons. He had activated their vast range of servitors. Activating our own servitor flak drones, we were able to shoot down their boarding servitors. Ma Fan and Matthias boarded their newly repaired torpedo bays, laying bombs that shredded their capacity to fire upon us. In desperation, Zadkiel launched a flurry of servitor-crewed fighter craft, which we evaded with our stealth system. I launched volley after volley of fire from our batteries, setting the Furious Abyss ablaze.
Driven insane from the pain of his injury, Decius boarded their vessel and faced Zadkiel in personal combat. Upon slaying the Word Bearer captain, he was overcome by his injuries, and a great evil spirit that had been incubating in Brother Solun Deciu's festering wound emerged. The Abyss was covered in horrid insects, and Nikola retched as the psychic voice of an entity known as the “Lord of the Flies” took control of the vessel.
My last volley sheared off the starboard side of the enemy ship, but it seemed to grow wings and escape into the warp once again.
13. We finally caught up with the Abyss at Mars, just a short distance from the Sky Fortress and Earth. The entire ship had become infested by Chaos, its systems repairing themselves even without a crew, and a psychic barrier protected the entire ruinous hulk of the ship. Gritting my teeth, I fired everything we had at them while Nikola and Stick sought ways around the barrier. The ancient ion cannon was our path to redemption, its inscrutable technology anathema to the psychic veil. Once we had taken it down, the assassins teleported aboard to bomb the weapons, reporting horrid growths along the length of the hull, as if the ship were a living, yet diseased creature that was healing itself. I had them drawn back and concentrated fire on the heart of the ship.
Not even the burning heart of the daemoncraft, when exposed, could sway us, for our cloaking ability let us escape the notice of the burning pulses of putrid energy. The purity of our faith in the Emperor prevailed, and the enemy vessel exploded in a burst of warp energy that wracked the Eisenstein and killed both Nikola and Stick, their skulls imploding and their eyes bursting from their sockets. The vessel burning, our engines fused and useless, we looked out over the Solar system, and beheld that the fleet of Horus covered the entire astral horizon. Behind us, the might of three loyal Marine Legions had congregated at the Sky Fortress. They still were vastly outnumbered by the heretic. The work of the Eisenstein was not quite done yet.
Apothecary Voyen, Magos Ohm, Matthias and Ma Fan, the assassins, and I conferred. Our life support was fading, but we would still live by the time the enemy fleet arrived. When they boarded us to discover what technology could defeat the Furious Abyss, we would detonate the vessel. Our deaths will take many of the foe with us. I eject this log of our journey in orbit around Mars in hopes that it will be found and entered into the record. For the Emperor!
Well, that would also be useful if they ever implement comandeering an enemy vessel. They teleport aboard your messed-up ship, you teleport aboard their new ship, and push the big red candy-like button. Then flying away in their ship. Also known as "Pulling a Star Trek III."
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You shouldn't feed them crack. They're already hyperactive.
I am sorry for your loss, though.
Or a "screwing yourself because you got that one slug ship with five rooms, no transporters and two of the rooms are critical systems that have no door access."
Yes, sir. That would be a risk, and you wouldn't want to have to do that, but it would be great if it were an option. If my choices were "Osprey with 1 health and on fire" or "Shitty Slug Ship," I'm pretty confident on my stand regarding the issue.
It would allow for a "shipyard" encounter where you can trade in your ship for any ship that you've unlocked. You unlock the main racial ships the same way you do in base game FTL. You unlock enemy ships by commandeering them and taking them to a Shipyard.
The best roguelikes take into account any number of unique circumstances. FTL had a good start by making your upgrades give you blue options in encounters, but they can do more.
is there like expansion or sequel talk at all?
On the subject of played:won ratios, I am now at 36:6. After I dabbled a tiny bit with Easy in the beginning, I quickly realized Normal was the only way for me. I couldn't imagine trying to re-earn all the extremely situational achievements.
That seems absurdly high. Nice work!
38thDoE on steam
Thanks!
I overloaded my own personal warp engines telling the FTL of the Eisenstein and the FTL Effect. Think I'm going to play a few games to keep to myself for awhile.
Though, I just started watching the old show Lexx, which includes 3-4 crew members and a ship with a super weapon on the run from an evil government... And I have never seriously played with the Osprey B...
Nah. Someone else should entertain us now.
Yeah, I failed and flailed around for the first 15-20 times or so, and played Easy after getting tired of only having the Kestrel and Torus. I did a little reading about the game after I beat stage 1 of the flagship. I didn't even know there were stages! But now I think it is fairly straightforward to win, or come really close. At least, there are things you can do to greatly reduce the chance of failure. (Early Crew Teleporter, Drones + Defense 1, Cloaking, etc)
My goal is a Victory with every ship and variant, and all Achievements. (Kinda like saying my goal is to complete the game, but hey, what other goal is there?)
Even with my experience I still routinely screw things up, like getting my boarders killed (by blowing up the last hull point) or forgetting to watch crew members repairing hull breaches. Space is merciless.
Made it to the flagship for the first time. Got cut to shreds - I was extremely unprepared and I'm not even sure I took their hull down more than a point or two.
I always forget that I can just jump out of a battle that's going to be rough and painful. Another time I had my shield room get hit with their alpha strike and took a bunch of hull damage when I should have just jumped away.
Got my first teleporter. Paid too much attention to running around killing the enemy and not enough attention to the rest of the battle.
Had one game where my first jump was into a solar flare, second jump lost crew. Needless to say, that was a restart.
Did have one game where I had two mantis cut the shit out of my ship, finally managing to take them down in the med bay. Almost every system was red by then, and I had to begin the long process of repairing and healing to keep my battle alive. Managed to recover pretty well too, made it to the final sector on that run.
I'm really enjoying this game but wondering one thing...assuming I'm not in a solar flare / asteroid jump point where I'm taking damage, is there any reason to ever jump before I've repaired every system and healed up my entire crew? The Rebel Fleet advances based on each jump, not how long I'm sitting around in a particular system, right? Same thing with killing other ships - no reason to rush unless I can't keep them from hitting my hull?
I lost mine in an interesting way the other day. They were mopping up on the enemy ship that was low on O2. The ship fires a breach missile. The mantis boarders finish off the last crew member and I collect my rewards. I pause because I know O2 is low on the other ship and I want to get my crew back on board so they don't die. I enter the command for the to transport back and unpause. As soon as I do so, I notice that missile flying towards my ship and quickly pause again. The mantises are in mid-transport. The missile is past my shield perimeter but hasn't hit the ship yet. I activate stealth and unpause. The (gold veteran) mantises materialize on the teleporter pads and are welcomed back by the breach missile, killing them instantly. I guess I activated stealth too late. I almost quit right then and there, but I didn't. I eventually got another boarding crew of rockman & mantis going instead. Game still in progress but looking good in sector 7.
Boarders should almost never do a lot of damage to your ship. If they're not something you can handle with your own crew, you need to retreat to the medbay (if you have more than 3 crew, the rest should either hide in an out-of-the-way room without a system in it, or in a room the boarding party can't get to without going through the medbay) and vent the rest of the ship to space. Most of the time, the boarders won't be able to destroy any systems if the air is in the process of vacating the area. They'll run to the one place where there's O2... the medbay, where you have a massive tactical advantage.
My favorite ploy is getting the Door Control upgrade and locking enemy boarders in airless rooms. I'll make sure that the door just past where they're attacking is also open to space, so even if they break through, they are still suffocating. I feel like a supervillain when I do this. "No, Mr. Mantis, I expect you to die..."
Of course, there are situations where these tactics aren't viable, but, most of the time, if you're facing a situation like that, you're on your way to being fucked anyway.
I think I bought it the first time?
But, after that, I've probably beaten the final stand about 8 more times with that ship, and never bought the door controls once.
Yeah, when you have a ship full of space marines rockmen, you really don't need door control.
Starting to reconsider my blanket hatred of beam weapons, 3 basic lasers and a halberd beam actually puts out fairly high reliable damage to multiple systems. Still have no idea how people have sucess with the fire and anti-bio beams however.
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That's simply not true. Does the RNG pick your starting ship for you from the unlocks? Yes, getting some unlocks does come down to a % chance, not going to deny that but when you start the game that's on the player. Does it pick what upgrades you use your scrap on? There is a lot to this game right there that has nothing to do with the RNG that will give you blue options in special situations that will not have any % chance to win, they just win. If you haven't yet learned to work the strengths a ship has right from sector 1 and boost those, you're leaving your chances up to the RNG because you, the player, do not have a plan.
This game is a lot less about the RNG than many make it out to be because they do not understand their options so they think things are random when they are not.
That's FTL, baby!
Bonus points if it's over a solar flare.
Its called FTL for a reason, you don't have to just sit there and take the abuse most of the time, you can recognize you're out classed and jump the hell out of there to minimize your losses.
Besides, winning isn't everything in games like this, hell, the trademark phrase is "Dying is FUN(tm)". I personally find the Bad Luck FTL Express hilarious, its like winning the lottery to find the game has dumped triple solar flare nodes in your path or something equally rare.
My favorite is when a Breach Missile just flies right past a Defense Drone I that is fully charged. Like, it doesn't even start tracking.
Some ships are more victim to RNG than others. The Crystal B and Mantis B, all it takes to screw them is to never give them a weapon, or have them fight a lot of drones. The Engi B only has one crew member, which makes it insanely vulnerable to events. The Osprey is, on the other hand, very surviable no matter what the RNG throws at you, since the Artillary Beam always works on anything. The Rock cruisers negate 15% of damaging hull hits, off the top, which gives them a huge advantage.
I'm not bad at this game... heck, my two narrated adventures, the Normandy and the Eisenstein runs, were both wins. But the RNG screws me with regularity. I mean, just saying that the win rate is 50% if you're skilled is proof enough that the result is random.
If you have the bigger ships, sometimes if a missile comes from the edge of the screen and decides to land on the closest room to that edge of the screen, there's not a damn thing the defense drone is going to do about it. I've had that happen with the front two rooms on the Mantis B a couple of times.
Yeah, that makes sense, and is essentially proof that the RNG can screw you even if you have the established counter for a move the computer can make.
Beam: Never misses. Countered 33% - 100% by shields, if the shield is at full strength.
Missile: Pierces shields. Countered by Cloaking (+60% evade, not automatic) and Defense Drones (aforementioned shot placement chance for failure, also can't always handle missile spam)
Bomb: Pierces shields and immune to defense drones, but only does system damage/status effects. Only countered by Evade chance.
Ion: Shuts down whatever it hits, including shields, making player ships vulnerable to Beams or Lasers. Essentially only countered by Evade/Cloaking and Defense Drone II (and who the #*%^ uses THAT?).
Laser: Easiest to defend against, but the Burst Laser III can chew through any player shield and damage the ship except the Zoltan. Also serves to weaken shields so other things can get through, like...
Drones: As their weapon type, but with practically zero charge time, meaning that any weakness will be immediately exploited.
Run into a ship with two (or three or four!) of these, or use that FTL button to escape a bad situation and run into something with even one option ready to take advantage of your weakened condition, and you're boned.
Yeah, you can play the game carefully and minimize the risks, but that doesn't change the fact that the RNG can bone you something fierce if it wants to. Never forget the automated ship early in Sector 2 that had two missile launchers and a Weapon Pre-Igniter. I started off the battle with my engines burning and my weapons offline and breached. Hard to escape when your car won't start.
Think you might have read his post wrong. Since you just agreed to everything he said.
I have no problem with this, I started playing on normal till I couldn't stand it anymore and went to easy. Now I find easy too easy so jumping back into normal and it presents me with this situation on my second jump without any upgrades, takes out my crucial systems before I can fire a shot (hey, turnabout is fair play!) and presents me with a situation I usually witness at my usual failure point of sector 3/4 I can rightfully call RNG bullshit. It doesn't help that I've been almost only been playing the type A kestrel, having only unlocked the osprey (which I find gimmicky) and the engi A/B (which I just hate).
Which bring me to why I finally beat it on normal (obligatory victory screenshot):
Not every situation can be remedied by laser barrages but it certainly helps with most of them--which I got thanks to the RNG.