13 ms·

FTL: Advanced Edition

311 points by nuriaion 13y ago

codezero 13y ago
This is a great rogue-like indie game. I highly recommend it. You should know, my recommendation is essentially a guarantee.
- hobs 13y ago
  Yeah, if you havent played it already it is definitely worth a spin. However every time I play it I just want to launch dwarf fortress again.
  - fragsworth 13y ago
    Wow, Dwarf Fortress. In case anyone doesn't know, it's supported exclusively by donations and the developer apparently refuses to do it any other way. It's really incredible, because (especially during updates) he makes upwards of $15k/month off donations. Evidently, that's enough, so he keeps chugging along....
    - vacri 13y ago
      Closer to $3-4k/month, which is higher than it used to be, odd given that there hasn't been a release for 18 months. Monthly announcements include donations: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?board=8.0 http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?board=8.0
    - Semaphor 13y ago
      Here are some Stories about the game / devs that were on HN before: https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=Dwarf+Fortress&start=0 https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=Dwarf+...
  - dangayle 13y ago
    I simply can't wrap my head around the ascii interface. I wish it had even the most basic of sprites.
    - PeterisP 13y ago
      It supports sprites and I also wouldn't play without them - try, for example, the 'lazy newb pack'[1] which includes the popular sprite packs in the installer. There seems to be a newer kit [2] but I haven't tried that. [1] http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/?topic=59026.0 http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/?topic=59026.0 [2] http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=126076.msg4250423#msg4250423 http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=126076.msg425...
      - dangayle 13y ago
        Thanks! That's useful
- simias 13y ago
  To offer a counterpoint I on the other hand was pretty disappointed with the game. I found there was not enough variety with the encounters (you keep seeing the same "abandoned space station"/"rogue drone" events very regularly). It's hard to forgive because all events are text-based, so it's not really difficult to add variety. That being said, maybe this extension solves this issue by adding a lot more events. Others point out the extreme randomness of the game but I think it's only an issue because the game forces you to push forward (backtracking is almost never possible or very costly) which reduces your margin of error and makes you very dependent on the clemency of the "Random Number God". It's of course a very explicit design choice and the game wouldn't be the same without it but it does make for some very frustrating moments. But I think the main problem I've had with the game is that it's sold as a roguelike (or rather, a roguelike-like) and in my opinion in doesn't come close to DCSS, nethack, angband and others in terms of depth of gameplay and "replayability". For me a roguelike is a game where you can end up in a seemingly desperate situation and still succeed by thinking out of the box and use an unexpected strategy. I've never had one of those moments in FTL. You can't take over other people's ships for instance, which would open a lot of new strategies. Of course the definition of "roguelike" is a bit loose so maybe I'm just too narrow minded. All that being said for it's price it's definitely worth trying and see for yourself, I know some people have sunk hundreds of hours in this game so I guess they found something in it that eluded me...
  - lobotryas 13y ago
    >so it's not really difficult to add variety This strikes me as a "how hard can it be to code?" line of thinking. Writing can be incredibly challenging, not to mention the code that drives the event and the testing involved. What I really wish the creators had done is made it much easier to mod the game with player-created content. >depth of gameplay Just putting it out there: this game was created by two guys and it's unknown if they were even able to devote their full attention to it. In my personal opinion, given this context, the result is impressive. >I've never had one of those moments in FTL They do exist. One time I destroyed the enemy but the boarders were absolutely destroying my Engie crew. Thankfully my doors were upgraded, but my Medbay was down. In the end I used a Fire Bomb weapon against my own ship multiple times to kill the boarders.
- Grue3 13y ago
  Stop calling it roguelike. You're doing a disservice to people who know what a roguelike is, because this game is nothing like Rogue. Also I got bored with it after 3 play throughs, there's just not enough variety.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - itsybitsycoder 13y ago
    It's also a disservice to people who don't know what a roguelike is. I love FTL but after playing it I blew way too much money on actual roguelikes hoping I'd find something with a similar feel. :( (If you got bored with it within 3 playthroughs, you probably didn't get to try the rock, slug, or stealth ships, all of which have very different strategies from the starter ship and change the gameplay/strategy up quite a bit. I find rock & slug a lot more fun than the Kestrel. Or maybe it's just not your kind of game, that's OK too. :))
  - mden 13y ago
    So should we call it a roguelikelike? It exhibits many features of a roguelike game including randomized maps/battles, permadeath, and essentially turn based combat. I think it's fair to say that the roguelike genre has evolved passed just being narrowly Rogue-like.
    - itsameta4 13y ago
      I've heard it referred to as a "Rogue-lite".
  - codezero 13y ago
    I'm happy to edit my comment, sorry for doing a disservice. Can you explain to me what makes it not roguelike? You might want to edit the Wikipedia article for it, as it's described as roguelike and part of the roguelike genre. My understanding was that randomized maps with permadeath was sufficient to consider something roguelike, this isn't to say it is a direct descendant of Rogue, but maybe I need to learn the lingo, so I'd appreciate your clarification. Your getting bored with it isn't by itself a convincing argument that it's not roguelike :P
mercurial 13y ago
I didn't know they had Chris Avellone (main writer on Planescape Torment) on board.
- Danieru 13y ago
  Chris appears to be working on everything at present. Planescape, Wasteland, this small FTL gig, plus no doubt Fallout 4 in some capacity. Either indie game writing pays too little or Chris does not know how to say no.
boksiora 13y ago
This is one of the best games ever
devindotcom 13y ago
One of the very first things I thought when I played this, right when it came out, was "god damn why don't I have this on my iPad?" I knew in my heart they would come through. Really great game, can't wait to play it again.
Spittie 13y ago
FTL is great, I loved playing it on my computer, and I still love opening it for a game or two from time to time. Too bad that they aren't releasing it for Android (for now). I would loved to play it on-the-go, and would easily pay again for it. Still, it's great to see a free expansion. Thanks FTL Team!
- cturner 13y ago
  I'll be surprised if it works out well for tablet, becaue of power consumption issues. It chews through battery on my laptop.
  - keenerd 13y ago
    You are probably still playing the original Humble Bundle (or launch) version. Update that. A while ago they added a frame rate limit and power use is reasonable.
bstar77 13y ago
This is one of the most perfectly balanced games I've ever played. I've come one shot from beating the end boss, but that final kill still evades me. The great part about the game is that the beginning portion is actually quite strategic despite the battles being very easy. You really need to maximize your wins by either getting in as many battles as possible per sector or by killing opposing crews without destroying their ship. Your first 5 or so sectors really set the pace for the later game.
- cstuder 13y ago
  I love it too. The only weird thing I've found: There's an option to show the reachable systems on the map, so you can plan your route through a sector in advance. This is quite a gameplay change from the route guessing game you encounter with the default settings, making the game easier. I feel a little bit like cheating when enabling this...
  - Semaphor 13y ago
    I always turn it on. I feel it removes a bit of the element of luck from the game as being close doesn't mean two points are connected.
  - KVFinn 13y ago
    >The only weird thing I've found: There's an option to show the reachable systems on the map, so you can plan your route through a sector in advance. >This is quite a gameplay change from the route guessing game you encounter with the default settings, making the game easier. >I feel a little bit like cheating when enabling this... They patched this in and it feels weird, yeah. I wish they would tie the upgrade into the sensor systems: see one level of nodes at level 2, and the whole map at level 3. I like feeling of jumping into the uknown but i can't turn off the minmax part of my brain enough to turn off a free option.
- Strilanc 13y ago
  The trick to beating the final boss is to have maxed teleport and cloaking. This lets you avoid all missile volleys, by cloaking just before the first few would hit and boarding the missile weapon system to disable it. Also you should murder all but one of the crew during the first battle (this is tricky, but you can take your time), so you can disable systems quickly in the second and third battles without them being repaired. Cloaking and teleporters are great early investments, too. Cloaking saves tons of resources that would have been spent on repairs, and killing the enemy crew gives better rewards compared to blowing up the ship.
austinz 13y ago
I love FTL. I can beat it semi-reliably on Easy with a few of the ships, and occasionally on Normal. And that's part of the game's genius - there are quite a few practical ways you can build your ship and crew in preparation for the final boss, and each of the ships (and even layouts) is tailored towards facilitating a particular strategy. So even if you master one strategy, there are plenty more waiting to destroy you through your inexperience or ineptitude.
titraxx 13y ago
And the best part : it's a free expansion !
- john2x 13y ago
  It wasn't mentioned in the page, but I'm assuming the iPad version will need to be re-purchased even if I've already purchased for the PC?
  - cstuder 13y ago
    I think so too. The App store has only limited functionality to give out licences outside the normal purchasing process (100 free keys, if this information is still correct.) This is a constant problem for all Kickstarters which produces iOS apps. (But seeing how I got the original game for 5$ and how much time I've spend with it, I am willing to pay again for it.)
failrate 13y ago
Not to whine (because this game is pure liquid gold straight into my brain meat), but the one thing I was hoping for was a new endgame as an alternative to the final boss.
- rcthompson 13y ago
  Yeah, I saw an article somewhere that pointed out what I believe is the problem with the endgame. In the last sector, the feel of the game changes completely. You've just spent seven sectors fleeing before the might of the unstoppable rebel fleet, and you finally get to the Federation base, and they say "OK, now find the biggest, baddest rebel ship and kill it." This jarring shift, combined with the flagship breaking all the rules (e.g. having drones after you've killed their drone systems) and yet still being trivial to defeat using specific gimmicks, really breaks the endgame for experienced players. Like the author of the aforementioned article that I can't seem to find, I only play the first seven sectors now. The final sector is so unenjoyable that I just quit when I get to the final sector and start a new game so I can go back to having fun.
  - vacri 13y ago
    "OK, now find the biggest, baddest rebel ship and kill it. We'll give you fuel and repair your ship, but won't give you any missiles, drone schemas, extra crew, drone parts, or extra weapons". I get the gameplay reasons for most of that, but they could at least restock your consumables.
  - failrate 13y ago
    I even tried to fly through the sector in reverse to see if I could do something weird like assaulting the rebel homeworld. Not a thing you can actually do.
    - saraid216 13y ago
      Honestly, an Ender Wiggin moment would actually have been pretty good here. Instead of fighting any of the rebel ships, your goal is to survive until you can jump past each, and when you get to the flagship, survive until you can fire the Super Secret Win Button weapon.
anonymous 13y ago
Too bad the unfair, uncontrollable, unmitigateable randomness turns this otherwise excellent game in a poor joke. There is no planning you can do, since every shop is random and there is nothing you can do if the game just decides to spawn precisely the kind of enemy that can kill you right then and there. All the different combat systems and options are good, but given that you have no idea what weapon drops you'll get, you can't do any planning ahead. Additionally, if you start having to run away from battles you fall behind the curve and there's no going back. You can't just scout the sector to find easy enemies to beat, because you have a very tight limit on how much exploring you can do. Once you fall behind the resource curve and have to run away from more and more encounters you're already dead. I spent 15 hours with this game, did close to 40 attempts and only once got to sector 7. Usually I'd die around sector 4 or 5. If you already have the game and like it, good for you. I just want to warn other people. My final opinion is: the devs don't understand statistics and randomness; go play nethack, it's easier.
- lnanek2 13y ago
  If you can't beat the game easily on easy, you are just missing something. Maybe you should read a forum or something? You can give yourself an easy bonus just by training against the first enemy you encounter that can't penetrate your shields. Make sure you have helm, engines, shields, and weapons manned and you aren't auto-firing enough to damage the enemy then just let the game sit for an hour or two while your crew levels up. Early on your shields are plenty vs. the non-missiles of the enemies you encounter so all that matters is upping your engines enough to dodge missiles and saving enough spare money for stores. A nice bonus is that you can run away faster too. Once you hit a store with enough money and a teleporter, bio beam, cloaking device, or drone system and defense drone, you win basically. Teleporter/bio beam lets you capture enemy ships intact for massive resource gains (and disable weapons on the end boss) and it is easy to micromanage your guys and beam them back and forth to take any ship. Cloaking lets you dodge full enemy salvos. Defense drone takes care of the pesky missile problem, the only really effective weapon in the game as long as you keep your shields upgraded properly. I can win reliably on easy with any ship, and often on normal. If you can't win on easy you are just missing some technique. You can't scout but you can easily pick the right nodes to see the maximum number of nearby nodes, picking the optimal path, etc.. If there's anything I hate about the game it's the fact that there are so many auto-win scenarios. If I run into a teleporter in a store in a ship that doesn't start with one and I can afford it selling anything non-critical, I pretty much win, so it isn't fun.
losethos 13y ago
I played a board game in 1982 based on Aliens and Space 1999. I always wanted to redo that game. FTL looks exactly what mine would be, except mine might not be as good. God says... well_golly adultery Varoom Mars earnest don't_have_a_cow what_a_nightmare begs_the_question failure_is_not_an_option special_case really I_was_sleeping heaven fool thats_just_wrong who_are_you_to_judge yuck clever so_he_sess astrophysics okay Isn't_that_special do_you_want_another whatcha_talkin'_'bout driving employee praying you_see_the_light atheist harder_than_it_looks just_between_us piety pardon_the_french close_your_eyes whoo_whoo Greece delightful but_of_course beep_beep hooah CIA youre_lucky scum Shakespeare don't_push_it well_obviously the you_talkin'_to_me I_just_might I_just_might don't_count_on_it I_give_up basically hi failure_to_communicate didn't_I_say_that tiffanies how_about_those_yankees Tomorrow WooHoo is_it_just_me_or really hard_working little_buddy by_the_way you_should_be_so_lucky charity mission_from_God hate have_fun couldn't_be_better peace how's_the_weather hello special_case You_get_what_you_pray_for Jedi_mind_trick place exorbitant I'm_done huh listen_buddy as_a_matter_of_fact
Kiro 13y ago
Is this like Star Command? I like the idea but Star Command was a disappointment. Just the same thing over and over again without any real depth. Unfortunately this looks just as battle focused so I'm skeptical.
- nirnira 13y ago
  I've never played Star Command but I can say that FTL is superb. There's something about it that is incredibly satisfying, it's very challenging but always in a good way (getting your ass kicked just makes you want to hit back harder next time). It also has great atmosphere - it feels very measured and serious. I find it almost meditative to play. It's absorbing and requires real focus.
- liquid_x 13y ago
  There's a lot more depth to it than star command and higher replay value
  - psionski 13y ago
    IMHO the replay value is way higher than many supposedly-AAA titles. I'm looking at my game time stats from Steam, so I'm not making it up :)
- C0d3r 13y ago
  I played both and I do prefer FTL, it definitely has more depth but it's different because since FTL is a roguelike, when you die, you lose everything, where in Star Command you just got to your last save point. I was disappointed with Star Command, I was looking for something similar to FTL, but FTL is better IMHO.
- achompas 13y ago
  FTL is so much better. The story is better, the writing is actually professional, and you have much more autonomy (which leads to very interesting scenarios). The pace is frenetic, and your ship can actually explode (biiiiiiiiiig game-breaking problem with Star Command). I don't know what happened to Star Command, but it felt like the final product wanted to be this. It was such a tedious game.
dshep 13y ago
Brilliant game. Super excited for this. If you haven't played FTL before, don't heed the complaints about the randomness, it's not as difficult or random as it may at first seem. And frankly failing in this game while you are learning the ropes is half the fun.
- dshep 13y ago
  If you have been playing for a while and are still having difficulty check out DarkTwinge's video tutorial for some good tips: http://www.twitch.tv/darktwinge/c/2609597 http://www.twitch.tv/darktwinge/c/2609597
Keyframe 13y ago
Friends, consider this a warning. If you are working on something important and/or have a deadline - AVOID this game at all costs.
otikik 13y ago
+1 for FTL. A challenging game, expect to die a lot at the beginning.
alexmchale 13y ago
Advanced edition? This game kicks my ass already!
danso 13y ago
Thank god this hasn't come out yet. Easily the most addictive game I've played in years...I've lost whole weekends to it. I don't think my social life can take an upgrade to this game right now
tinco 13y ago
So eh, what's interesting about this? Did they get funding? Are they using an interesting business model? Are they using a cool new technology? Is there something we can learn from them? All I see is the announcement of a sequel to a modern popular game, what's going on?
- outworlder 13y ago
  "Modern popular game", which so happens to be developed by two guys, who got their funding on kickstarter. There are lots of interesting things going on, pick one.
officemonkey 13y ago
I think FTL captures the spirit of "Star Fleet Battles" and "Traveller" ship-boarding combat without the extreme crunchiness that the pen-and-paper RPGs were known for. However nothing beats the Escape Velocity series. The writing, the "asteroids-like" space combat, the trading missions. It's what I wished EVE Online was. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_Velocity_%28video_game%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_Velocity_%28video_game%...
- darasen 13y ago
  I remember Escape Velocity very fondly, not only was it fun it was the first mac application I dug into. I made it so my ship could launch cows.
- tarice 13y ago
  You should consider checking out the game "Space, Pirates, And Zombies" (aka SPAZ), which is a more recent iteration on the top-down space shooter. Plus, it's also made by a two-man team.
  - AceJohnny2 13y ago
    I played SPAZ a bit shortly after it came out. But then I found myself having to grind only a few hours in to make progress, and I just don't have time for that. Have I missed the point?
- tekromancr 13y ago
  I loved EV. Especially EV:Override. So many hours invested. I have long thought an online MMO version would be pretty boss.
  - bashinator 13y ago
    EVE Online is basically that MMO.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- 13y ago
Kiro 13y ago
So should I play this or the vanilla version?
- PhasmaFelis 13y ago
  I haven't played the new version yet, but you might consider playing the vanilla version 'til you start to get bored, then upgrading for some new experiences.
- awj 13y ago
  The vanilla version is already really good. Play it on easy first, pause often in battles to think, expect to die a lot, read some guides when you feel stuck. The changes listed here will add a lot to the game, but they mostly take the form of freshening things up with new strategic options and fixing some interface annoyances. I think the game will be a little harder to learn after this update.
deaconblues 13y ago
Great news. I'm absolutely abysmal at FTL, but I have fun every time I start it up.
presidentender 13y ago
I enjoyed (and highly recommend) FTL, but I don't think that a few new weapons gives me a reason to play it again.
- phenol 13y ago
  New events? New sectors? New systems and subsystems? New content from Chris Avellone?
  - presidentender 13y ago
    Based on my reading of the announcement, the content and story are still largely unchanged. I'm sure the content is worthwhile, but since I already know in broad strokes what's going to happen to my crew, I think I'd enjoy spending the time elsewhere.
asciimo 13y ago
I command-F'd for "music" but I see no hits. I think that the music in FTL is great, especially for coding. Here's a link to the FTL soundtrack and other great stuff by the artist, Ben Prunty: http://benprunty.bandcamp.com/ http://benprunty.bandcamp.com/
- Perseids 13y ago
  See the video on 0:43 > New music by Ben Prunty > New content by Tom Jubert > and guest writer Chris Avellone
  - daned 13y ago
    Awesome. I love me some Space Disco.
deleted 13y ago
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dangayle 13y ago
I've played this game a thousand times, and I've still never beat it. That's one of the reasons I like some of these games like that. I remember the first Final Fantasy where, sure, maybe you could sneak your way through to the boss. But he's going to kick your butt. Same thing with FTL. The journey is only half of the battle. Being prepared after making it through in another game entirely.

311 points by nuriaion 13y ago

This is a great rogue-like indie game. I highly recommend it. You should know, my recommendation is essentially a guarantee.

hobs 13y ago
Yeah, if you havent played it already it is definitely worth a spin. However every time I play it I just want to launch dwarf fortress again.
- fragsworth 13y ago
  Wow, Dwarf Fortress. In case anyone doesn't know, it's supported exclusively by donations and the developer apparently refuses to do it any other way. It's really incredible, because (especially during updates) he makes upwards of $15k/month off donations. Evidently, that's enough, so he keeps chugging along....
  - vacri 13y ago
    Closer to $3-4k/month, which is higher than it used to be, odd given that there hasn't been a release for 18 months. Monthly announcements include donations: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?board=8.0 http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?board=8.0
  - Semaphor 13y ago
    Here are some Stories about the game / devs that were on HN before: https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=Dwarf+Fortress&start=0 https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=Dwarf+...
- dangayle 13y ago
  I simply can't wrap my head around the ascii interface. I wish it had even the most basic of sprites.
  - PeterisP 13y ago
    It supports sprites and I also wouldn't play without them - try, for example, the 'lazy newb pack'[1] which includes the popular sprite packs in the installer. There seems to be a newer kit [2] but I haven't tried that. [1] http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/?topic=59026.0 http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/?topic=59026.0 [2] http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=126076.msg4250423#msg4250423 http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=126076.msg425...
    - dangayle 13y ago
      Thanks! That's useful
simias 13y ago
To offer a counterpoint I on the other hand was pretty disappointed with the game. I found there was not enough variety with the encounters (you keep seeing the same "abandoned space station"/"rogue drone" events very regularly). It's hard to forgive because all events are text-based, so it's not really difficult to add variety. That being said, maybe this extension solves this issue by adding a lot more events. Others point out the extreme randomness of the game but I think it's only an issue because the game forces you to push forward (backtracking is almost never possible or very costly) which reduces your margin of error and makes you very dependent on the clemency of the "Random Number God". It's of course a very explicit design choice and the game wouldn't be the same without it but it does make for some very frustrating moments. But I think the main problem I've had with the game is that it's sold as a roguelike (or rather, a roguelike-like) and in my opinion in doesn't come close to DCSS, nethack, angband and others in terms of depth of gameplay and "replayability". For me a roguelike is a game where you can end up in a seemingly desperate situation and still succeed by thinking out of the box and use an unexpected strategy. I've never had one of those moments in FTL. You can't take over other people's ships for instance, which would open a lot of new strategies. Of course the definition of "roguelike" is a bit loose so maybe I'm just too narrow minded. All that being said for it's price it's definitely worth trying and see for yourself, I know some people have sunk hundreds of hours in this game so I guess they found something in it that eluded me...
- lobotryas 13y ago
  >so it's not really difficult to add variety This strikes me as a "how hard can it be to code?" line of thinking. Writing can be incredibly challenging, not to mention the code that drives the event and the testing involved. What I really wish the creators had done is made it much easier to mod the game with player-created content. >depth of gameplay Just putting it out there: this game was created by two guys and it's unknown if they were even able to devote their full attention to it. In my personal opinion, given this context, the result is impressive. >I've never had one of those moments in FTL They do exist. One time I destroyed the enemy but the boarders were absolutely destroying my Engie crew. Thankfully my doors were upgraded, but my Medbay was down. In the end I used a Fire Bomb weapon against my own ship multiple times to kill the boarders.
Grue3 13y ago
Stop calling it roguelike. You're doing a disservice to people who know what a roguelike is, because this game is nothing like Rogue. Also I got bored with it after 3 play throughs, there's just not enough variety.
- deleted 13y ago
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- itsybitsycoder 13y ago
  It's also a disservice to people who don't know what a roguelike is. I love FTL but after playing it I blew way too much money on actual roguelikes hoping I'd find something with a similar feel. :( (If you got bored with it within 3 playthroughs, you probably didn't get to try the rock, slug, or stealth ships, all of which have very different strategies from the starter ship and change the gameplay/strategy up quite a bit. I find rock & slug a lot more fun than the Kestrel. Or maybe it's just not your kind of game, that's OK too. :))
- mden 13y ago
  So should we call it a roguelikelike? It exhibits many features of a roguelike game including randomized maps/battles, permadeath, and essentially turn based combat. I think it's fair to say that the roguelike genre has evolved passed just being narrowly Rogue-like.
  - itsameta4 13y ago
    I've heard it referred to as a "Rogue-lite".
- codezero 13y ago
  I'm happy to edit my comment, sorry for doing a disservice. Can you explain to me what makes it not roguelike? You might want to edit the Wikipedia article for it, as it's described as roguelike and part of the roguelike genre. My understanding was that randomized maps with permadeath was sufficient to consider something roguelike, this isn't to say it is a direct descendant of Rogue, but maybe I need to learn the lingo, so I'd appreciate your clarification. Your getting bored with it isn't by itself a convincing argument that it's not roguelike :P

mercurial 13y ago

I didn't know they had Chris Avellone (main writer on Planescape Torment) on board.

Danieru 13y ago
Chris appears to be working on everything at present. Planescape, Wasteland, this small FTL gig, plus no doubt Fallout 4 in some capacity. Either indie game writing pays too little or Chris does not know how to say no.

boksiora 13y ago

This is one of the best games ever

devindotcom 13y ago

One of the very first things I thought when I played this, right when it came out, was "god damn why don't I have this on my iPad?" I knew in my heart they would come through. Really great game, can't wait to play it again.

Spittie 13y ago

FTL is great, I loved playing it on my computer, and I still love opening it for a game or two from time to time. Too bad that they aren't releasing it for Android (for now). I would loved to play it on-the-go, and would easily pay again for it. Still, it's great to see a free expansion. Thanks FTL Team!

cturner 13y ago
I'll be surprised if it works out well for tablet, becaue of power consumption issues. It chews through battery on my laptop.
- keenerd 13y ago
  You are probably still playing the original Humble Bundle (or launch) version. Update that. A while ago they added a frame rate limit and power use is reasonable.

bstar77 13y ago

This is one of the most perfectly balanced games I've ever played. I've come one shot from beating the end boss, but that final kill still evades me. The great part about the game is that the beginning portion is actually quite strategic despite the battles being very easy. You really need to maximize your wins by either getting in as many battles as possible per sector or by killing opposing crews without destroying their ship. Your first 5 or so sectors really set the pace for the later game.

cstuder 13y ago
I love it too. The only weird thing I've found: There's an option to show the reachable systems on the map, so you can plan your route through a sector in advance. This is quite a gameplay change from the route guessing game you encounter with the default settings, making the game easier. I feel a little bit like cheating when enabling this...
- Semaphor 13y ago
  I always turn it on. I feel it removes a bit of the element of luck from the game as being close doesn't mean two points are connected.
- KVFinn 13y ago
  >The only weird thing I've found: There's an option to show the reachable systems on the map, so you can plan your route through a sector in advance. >This is quite a gameplay change from the route guessing game you encounter with the default settings, making the game easier. >I feel a little bit like cheating when enabling this... They patched this in and it feels weird, yeah. I wish they would tie the upgrade into the sensor systems: see one level of nodes at level 2, and the whole map at level 3. I like feeling of jumping into the uknown but i can't turn off the minmax part of my brain enough to turn off a free option.
Strilanc 13y ago
The trick to beating the final boss is to have maxed teleport and cloaking. This lets you avoid all missile volleys, by cloaking just before the first few would hit and boarding the missile weapon system to disable it. Also you should murder all but one of the crew during the first battle (this is tricky, but you can take your time), so you can disable systems quickly in the second and third battles without them being repaired. Cloaking and teleporters are great early investments, too. Cloaking saves tons of resources that would have been spent on repairs, and killing the enemy crew gives better rewards compared to blowing up the ship.

austinz 13y ago

I love FTL. I can beat it semi-reliably on Easy with a few of the ships, and occasionally on Normal. And that's part of the game's genius - there are quite a few practical ways you can build your ship and crew in preparation for the final boss, and each of the ships (and even layouts) is tailored towards facilitating a particular strategy. So even if you master one strategy, there are plenty more waiting to destroy you through your inexperience or ineptitude.

titraxx 13y ago

And the best part : it's a free expansion !

john2x 13y ago
It wasn't mentioned in the page, but I'm assuming the iPad version will need to be re-purchased even if I've already purchased for the PC?
- cstuder 13y ago
  I think so too. The App store has only limited functionality to give out licences outside the normal purchasing process (100 free keys, if this information is still correct.) This is a constant problem for all Kickstarters which produces iOS apps. (But seeing how I got the original game for 5$ and how much time I've spend with it, I am willing to pay again for it.)

failrate 13y ago

Not to whine (because this game is pure liquid gold straight into my brain meat), but the one thing I was hoping for was a new endgame as an alternative to the final boss.

rcthompson 13y ago
Yeah, I saw an article somewhere that pointed out what I believe is the problem with the endgame. In the last sector, the feel of the game changes completely. You've just spent seven sectors fleeing before the might of the unstoppable rebel fleet, and you finally get to the Federation base, and they say "OK, now find the biggest, baddest rebel ship and kill it." This jarring shift, combined with the flagship breaking all the rules (e.g. having drones after you've killed their drone systems) and yet still being trivial to defeat using specific gimmicks, really breaks the endgame for experienced players. Like the author of the aforementioned article that I can't seem to find, I only play the first seven sectors now. The final sector is so unenjoyable that I just quit when I get to the final sector and start a new game so I can go back to having fun.
- vacri 13y ago
  "OK, now find the biggest, baddest rebel ship and kill it. We'll give you fuel and repair your ship, but won't give you any missiles, drone schemas, extra crew, drone parts, or extra weapons". I get the gameplay reasons for most of that, but they could at least restock your consumables.
- failrate 13y ago
  I even tried to fly through the sector in reverse to see if I could do something weird like assaulting the rebel homeworld. Not a thing you can actually do.
  - saraid216 13y ago
    Honestly, an Ender Wiggin moment would actually have been pretty good here. Instead of fighting any of the rebel ships, your goal is to survive until you can jump past each, and when you get to the flagship, survive until you can fire the Super Secret Win Button weapon.

anonymous 13y ago

Too bad the unfair, uncontrollable, unmitigateable randomness turns this otherwise excellent game in a poor joke. There is no planning you can do, since every shop is random and there is nothing you can do if the game just decides to spawn precisely the kind of enemy that can kill you right then and there. All the different combat systems and options are good, but given that you have no idea what weapon drops you'll get, you can't do any planning ahead. Additionally, if you start having to run away from battles you fall behind the curve and there's no going back. You can't just scout the sector to find easy enemies to beat, because you have a very tight limit on how much exploring you can do. Once you fall behind the resource curve and have to run away from more and more encounters you're already dead. I spent 15 hours with this game, did close to 40 attempts and only once got to sector 7. Usually I'd die around sector 4 or 5. If you already have the game and like it, good for you. I just want to warn other people. My final opinion is: the devs don't understand statistics and randomness; go play nethack, it's easier.

lnanek2 13y ago
If you can't beat the game easily on easy, you are just missing something. Maybe you should read a forum or something? You can give yourself an easy bonus just by training against the first enemy you encounter that can't penetrate your shields. Make sure you have helm, engines, shields, and weapons manned and you aren't auto-firing enough to damage the enemy then just let the game sit for an hour or two while your crew levels up. Early on your shields are plenty vs. the non-missiles of the enemies you encounter so all that matters is upping your engines enough to dodge missiles and saving enough spare money for stores. A nice bonus is that you can run away faster too. Once you hit a store with enough money and a teleporter, bio beam, cloaking device, or drone system and defense drone, you win basically. Teleporter/bio beam lets you capture enemy ships intact for massive resource gains (and disable weapons on the end boss) and it is easy to micromanage your guys and beam them back and forth to take any ship. Cloaking lets you dodge full enemy salvos. Defense drone takes care of the pesky missile problem, the only really effective weapon in the game as long as you keep your shields upgraded properly. I can win reliably on easy with any ship, and often on normal. If you can't win on easy you are just missing some technique. You can't scout but you can easily pick the right nodes to see the maximum number of nearby nodes, picking the optimal path, etc.. If there's anything I hate about the game it's the fact that there are so many auto-win scenarios. If I run into a teleporter in a store in a ship that doesn't start with one and I can afford it selling anything non-critical, I pretty much win, so it isn't fun.

losethos 13y ago

I played a board game in 1982 based on Aliens and Space 1999. I always wanted to redo that game. FTL looks exactly what mine would be, except mine might not be as good. God says... well_golly adultery Varoom Mars earnest don't_have_a_cow what_a_nightmare begs_the_question failure_is_not_an_option special_case really I_was_sleeping heaven fool thats_just_wrong who_are_you_to_judge yuck clever so_he_sess astrophysics okay Isn't_that_special do_you_want_another whatcha_talkin'_'bout driving employee praying you_see_the_light atheist harder_than_it_looks just_between_us piety pardon_the_french close_your_eyes whoo_whoo Greece delightful but_of_course beep_beep hooah CIA youre_lucky scum Shakespeare don't_push_it well_obviously the you_talkin'_to_me I_just_might I_just_might don't_count_on_it I_give_up basically hi failure_to_communicate didn't_I_say_that tiffanies how_about_those_yankees Tomorrow WooHoo is_it_just_me_or really hard_working little_buddy by_the_way you_should_be_so_lucky charity mission_from_God hate have_fun couldn't_be_better peace how's_the_weather hello special_case You_get_what_you_pray_for Jedi_mind_trick place exorbitant I'm_done huh listen_buddy as_a_matter_of_fact

Kiro 13y ago

Is this like Star Command? I like the idea but Star Command was a disappointment. Just the same thing over and over again without any real depth. Unfortunately this looks just as battle focused so I'm skeptical.

nirnira 13y ago
I've never played Star Command but I can say that FTL is superb. There's something about it that is incredibly satisfying, it's very challenging but always in a good way (getting your ass kicked just makes you want to hit back harder next time). It also has great atmosphere - it feels very measured and serious. I find it almost meditative to play. It's absorbing and requires real focus.
liquid_x 13y ago
There's a lot more depth to it than star command and higher replay value
- psionski 13y ago
  IMHO the replay value is way higher than many supposedly-AAA titles. I'm looking at my game time stats from Steam, so I'm not making it up :)
C0d3r 13y ago
I played both and I do prefer FTL, it definitely has more depth but it's different because since FTL is a roguelike, when you die, you lose everything, where in Star Command you just got to your last save point. I was disappointed with Star Command, I was looking for something similar to FTL, but FTL is better IMHO.
achompas 13y ago
FTL is so much better. The story is better, the writing is actually professional, and you have much more autonomy (which leads to very interesting scenarios). The pace is frenetic, and your ship can actually explode (biiiiiiiiiig game-breaking problem with Star Command). I don't know what happened to Star Command, but it felt like the final product wanted to be this. It was such a tedious game.

dshep 13y ago

Brilliant game. Super excited for this. If you haven't played FTL before, don't heed the complaints about the randomness, it's not as difficult or random as it may at first seem. And frankly failing in this game while you are learning the ropes is half the fun.

dshep 13y ago
If you have been playing for a while and are still having difficulty check out DarkTwinge's video tutorial for some good tips: http://www.twitch.tv/darktwinge/c/2609597 http://www.twitch.tv/darktwinge/c/2609597

Keyframe 13y ago

Friends, consider this a warning. If you are working on something important and/or have a deadline - AVOID this game at all costs.

otikik 13y ago

+1 for FTL. A challenging game, expect to die a lot at the beginning.

alexmchale 13y ago

Advanced edition? This game kicks my ass already!

danso 13y ago

Thank god this hasn't come out yet. Easily the most addictive game I've played in years...I've lost whole weekends to it. I don't think my social life can take an upgrade to this game right now

tinco 13y ago

So eh, what's interesting about this? Did they get funding? Are they using an interesting business model? Are they using a cool new technology? Is there something we can learn from them? All I see is the announcement of a sequel to a modern popular game, what's going on?

outworlder 13y ago
"Modern popular game", which so happens to be developed by two guys, who got their funding on kickstarter. There are lots of interesting things going on, pick one.

officemonkey 13y ago

I think FTL captures the spirit of "Star Fleet Battles" and "Traveller" ship-boarding combat without the extreme crunchiness that the pen-and-paper RPGs were known for. However nothing beats the Escape Velocity series. The writing, the "asteroids-like" space combat, the trading missions. It's what I wished EVE Online was. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_Velocity_%28video_game%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_Velocity_%28video_game%...

darasen 13y ago
I remember Escape Velocity very fondly, not only was it fun it was the first mac application I dug into. I made it so my ship could launch cows.
tarice 13y ago
You should consider checking out the game "Space, Pirates, And Zombies" (aka SPAZ), which is a more recent iteration on the top-down space shooter. Plus, it's also made by a two-man team.
- AceJohnny2 13y ago
  I played SPAZ a bit shortly after it came out. But then I found myself having to grind only a few hours in to make progress, and I just don't have time for that. Have I missed the point?
tekromancr 13y ago
I loved EV. Especially EV:Override. So many hours invested. I have long thought an online MMO version would be pretty boss.
- bashinator 13y ago
  EVE Online is basically that MMO.
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Kiro 13y ago

So should I play this or the vanilla version?

PhasmaFelis 13y ago
I haven't played the new version yet, but you might consider playing the vanilla version 'til you start to get bored, then upgrading for some new experiences.
awj 13y ago
The vanilla version is already really good. Play it on easy first, pause often in battles to think, expect to die a lot, read some guides when you feel stuck. The changes listed here will add a lot to the game, but they mostly take the form of freshening things up with new strategic options and fixing some interface annoyances. I think the game will be a little harder to learn after this update.

deaconblues 13y ago

Great news. I'm absolutely abysmal at FTL, but I have fun every time I start it up.

presidentender 13y ago

I enjoyed (and highly recommend) FTL, but I don't think that a few new weapons gives me a reason to play it again.

phenol 13y ago
New events? New sectors? New systems and subsystems? New content from Chris Avellone?
- presidentender 13y ago
  Based on my reading of the announcement, the content and story are still largely unchanged. I'm sure the content is worthwhile, but since I already know in broad strokes what's going to happen to my crew, I think I'd enjoy spending the time elsewhere.

asciimo 13y ago

I command-F'd for "music" but I see no hits. I think that the music in FTL is great, especially for coding. Here's a link to the FTL soundtrack and other great stuff by the artist, Ben Prunty: http://benprunty.bandcamp.com/ http://benprunty.bandcamp.com/

Perseids 13y ago
See the video on 0:43 > New music by Ben Prunty > New content by Tom Jubert > and guest writer Chris Avellone
- daned 13y ago
  Awesome. I love me some Space Disco.

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dangayle 13y ago

I've played this game a thousand times, and I've still never beat it. That's one of the reasons I like some of these games like that. I remember the first Final Fantasy where, sure, maybe you could sneak your way through to the boss. But he's going to kick your butt. Same thing with FTL. The journey is only half of the battle. Being prepared after making it through in another game entirely.