FTL - Faster than light

[Naysonymous]

You made that sound awfully complicated. If you get boarded send as many of your crew to the medi bay as possible, then open all the doors and vent the oxygen. The boarders will come to the medi bay so they dont suffocate, and they will get their asses kicked in the resulting fight because your crew get healed and they dont.

[hoot]

You see, I don't always favour that. If I know I can handle the boarders with just a couple of guys, sending them to the med bay as required, that way I keep as many other people at their stations as possible for the crew bonuses. I guess you could lead them to the med bay by venting and then return a coule of your guys, but presumably the oxygen would still be replenishing at that point... If you've only got Engys and a couple of Mantis board, then sure, head to the med bay, but more often than not, you can often keep the ship running business as normal. Also depends on which ship you're using, some I find are better configured to vent than others.

[LaParka]

I tend to do the send equal men to fight, pause when the teams need to switch due to health. If they end up in the med-bay fighting = bonus.

Boarding doesn't seem as terrifying anymore

[BeeJay]

I tend to do the send equal men to fight, pause when the teams need to switch due to health. If they end up in the med-bay fighting = bonus.

Boarding doesn't seem as terrifying anymore

Agreed, I like to have one dedicated fighter ready and then call in replacements as needed, swaping in and out. This means you can keep the manning at about 75% for the duration.

On the topic of manning, I tend to now go with:

Pilot

Engine

Weapons

Shield (if got)

Fighter/repairer

Boarder

If I get boarded, as above, sending fighter and boarder first. If I don't get boarded, I teleport in the fighter and boarder and call them back when needed or when they are running out of health.

Does anyone know if you get more salvage for taking over ship rather than destroying it?

[daveodeth]

Yes it's a percentage increase rather than a massive boost but it adds up quite a bit if you do it from the get go.

[Vulgar Monkey]

Controlling boarders in a calm manner is easy enough normally, it just gets a bit awkward when their ship also outclasses you and managed to score a couple of early hits. Repair/fight/control fires....choose two.

Venting is usually a fine response just so long as you don't isolate your crew, because if you do and they need to rush off for healing, or worse if the o2 or doors get knackered, you can't handle that and boarders at once.

If you can score a fire beam boarding becomes a piece of piss for exactly the same reason. Frazzle them (ideally shields or weps), then when they rush off to deal with it 'port a team in to bugger their o2/door systems. Then they've got two critical problems at opposite ends of the ship.

[Andy_Why]

Just unlocked the Stealth Ship and was pretty delighted. Then died in the first sector EVERY time I used it...

[Vulgar Monkey]

Yeah, it's a sod getting as far as buying shields.

Especially in the type b, since the glaive takes ages to charge.

Just beef the cloak to maximum to start with I think. That should give you enough time to disable enemy weps.

[Masu]

Goddammit.

I got as far as

the fucking THIRD time you engage the boss

and got spattered, with my luckiest run yet (pre igniter, cloak and some fucked up armour augment.

I only had three weaps, all low powered unfortunately.

[BeeJay]

Yeah, it's a sod getting as far as buying shields.

Especially in the type b, since the glaive takes ages to charge.

Just beef the cloak to maximum to start with I think. That should give you enough time to disable enemy weps.

I like the stealth ship but it is very all or nothing. If you can get in early and bring their shield down, things can be over very quick.

As said above, first priority is to get the stealth upgraded. Get the weapon stealth mod too and you essentially give yourself 2 unanswered attacks at the enemy. Wait for the enemy to launch its first attack before engaging the stealth. You can end fights very quickly.

The stealth ship is probably the most fun ship that I have but does fall down a bit towards the end unless you get the shield kit.

I might try a stealth and boarding build to see how that goes. Focus the boarders on taking out the weapons before the stealth window ends.

[marillion Col]

How long does a run through of this take (if you get to the end)?

[Naysonymous]

Hard to say because it depends on what you do en route. 40 minutes or so at a guess, certainly less than an hour even if you absolutely dawdle. You can save and exit any time you are not in combat, and brilliantly the game supports cloud saves.

[Vulgar Monkey]

I was gonna say a couple of hours, but maybe not.

Also, is it just me or do enemy crew dudes repair a hell of a lot quicker on normal?

I remember the other day they seemed to be restoring weapons almost as soon as I took them down.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Anything between 90 minutes and a full 2 hours for the average run to completion, I found.

[BeeJay]

I replied earlier but it didn't come through. I would agree with 90 minutes to 2 hours for the full thing. It depends how you play but you would be rushing in most situations to finish it in 40 minutes.

[marillion Col]

Cheers guys. Didn't realise you could save your game either. Actually thought it was a case of playing either to the end or until you get killed.

[SqueakyG]

40 minutes or so at a guess, certainly less than an hour even if you absolutely dawdle. You can save and exit any time you are not in combat, and brilliantly the game supports cloud saves.

I think you're having so much fun that you lose track of time! It usually takes more than an hour to reach sector 8. I try to hit as many beacons as possible before that red line of rebels takes over the sector... the more resources the better.

[LaParka]

Just played hour and a half to get to level 8. Was blown up before I even made it to the big boss.

Was pleased thought because it was with the stealth ship. First couple of runs with the stealth I didn't even get out of the first sector!

[Naysonymous]

Yeah, I think I might have misjudged how long it takes.

In other news:

I finally decided to stop pissing about trying to unlock other ships (still really want Crystal & Mantis) and just have a proper tilt at beating the Rebel Flagship. Like I said earlier, I have been having a ton of fun in the game just trying weird strategies and seeing what happens because I dont really feel like it is game over if I lose a ship. But bored of the ships I have in my hanger, I thought it was time to go for the Federation ship so I just focussed on shields and raw firepower. It was surprisingly effective, even if I sadly lost my boarding party in phase 2 because the Flagship destroyed my teleporter by breaching the hull of the room it was in so my lads were stuck on board when he went down.

Burst laser II is the best weapon in the game though.

[LaParka]

Not sure if the game is taking pity on me, but i've just saved it mid-game with this set up:

Nearly every stop someone gave me a weapon, after three stops I had three Burst Laser II's....

I've had that much credit chucked at me i've got all four shields up

I've got a crew member in every system for damage.

Even the drone I was given was the MKII version.

I've got 289 credits and now i'm saving and looking for the cloaking device.

[Sledge]

It's giving you a false sense of hope.

[hoot]

Remember to turn your o2 back on.

[Naysonymous]

Level 2 O2 is never a bad upgrade if you have the spare cash. That way even if your O2 gets hit in combat it doesnt go out.

[Vulgar Monkey]

Yeah, and as with any system that goes for just having the upgrade, you dont necessarily have to divert additional reactor power to it if you dont want.

[Andy_Why]

Argh! I was having a wonderful run there. My ship was slowly but steadily getting upgraded and a combination of a burst laser mk 2 and a pike beam by the end of sector one meant that I was carving up any ships I came across. Then, all of a sudden, I get attacked by a mantis ship and 5(!) of the buggers beam over, two of them in my 02. I've got my boarder strategies down nicely, but there's not much you can do about 5 sodding Mantis troopers .

[Soo Denim]

I had 7 mantis board last night!

Game over man, game over!

[Andy_Why]

Ouch... I had two men on the enemy ship at that point too. They should have let me kill the pilot and nick their ship. That's what I'd like to see in FTL 2!

[LaParka]

So, just finished my go and....

[Jonster]

Finally reached the last boss tonight. It was a perfect run, Blast Laser Mark 3, teleporting ion bombs, cloaking device and weapons precharge made me invincible during the preceding two sectors. Then just before the exit to the final sector I had a moment of madness and sold all my missiles for scrap (really wasn't thinking), and it was downhill from there. With limited missiles (from repair nodes), I couldn't really keep the boss' shield down to do any significant damage, and eventually lost the war of attrition. I don't think I'll see a better run

[Naysonymous]

Absolute monster of a ship.

Immense firepower, Muhammad Ali and Bruce Lee as my boarding party, more money than I knew what to do with (see the subsystem upgrades) and full shields. Torn to shreds by the drone overload in phase 2 of the flagship fight because you cant equip this ship with a cloak. Took the phase 2 flagship down with me, but he lived to fight another day.