5 ms·

FTL: Advanced Edition introduces Clone Bay, Hacking, Mind Control and more

62 points by yiedyie 13y ago

yoha 13y ago
Great, I have finally beaten the game on Easy and now there will be one more version to play? This game game is horribly difficult (DF is more complicated, but not that difficult) but this is what make it great. Losing your well-crafted carefully designed ship in the seventh sector because of a complete freeze of the game can be quite unnerving though (save file is removed when you resume your game). tl;dr: FTL is horrible, play it!
- epaga 13y ago
  Wow, just to add an anecdotal data point in the other direction: this is the first I heard of the game freezing up, it has never happened to me, and I have played many, many hours. It's been completely stable and runs quite well even on an old 2007 MacBook Pro.
  - yoha 13y ago
    Well, to be fair, it happened only once, but just at the wrong time.
- benbou09 13y ago
  Normal difficulty is not much harder than easy. Also, using and abusing of crew teleporters is crucial, because against normal ships you get more scrap if you kill their crew than if you destroy the ship, and against the final boss, you can easily destroy its weapons.
  - yoha 13y ago
    > you get more scrap if you kill their crew I figure that too, but preferred to use suffocation to achieve this (having a boarding drone is a great help). For the final boss, I think it's just impossible to beat it without previously killing all its crew (in first fight).
    - puzzlingcaptcha 13y ago
      The key is neutralizing the triple-rocket launcher and optionally the ion weapon as fast as possible (i.e. by teleporting). With that taken care of and sufficient damage output the boss is not much of a challenge. Actually, killing off all crew turns over the control over the ship to the AI which is capable of making repairs in any room which is undesirable.
    - breischl 13y ago
      You can also do it by using fire bombs to kill the crewmembers handling the weapons and then destroy the weapons. Of course you still need to have enough other weapons to get through the shields & destroy the ship, but that's much easier when you're not being shot at.
    - rcxdude 13y ago
      The key is to kill off all crew except for one of the central gunners (the blaster is best because it's the weakest of the two). The prevents repair of all the systems (except one weapon) but without activating the AI which makes the fight more difficult again.
    - lmm 13y ago
      Not at all impossible. With the right mix of weapons (e.g. lots of burst lasers) and a high evade percentage it goes down easily.
  - mpartel 13y ago
    With some practice, it's possible to win with the default ship pretty consistently even without the teleporter.
  - Kiro 13y ago
    I started playing on Normal. Any reason I should switch to Easy?
    - yoha 13y ago
      If you are a true warrior from the old times, keep playing on Normal. But don't feel shame on switching to Easy, this is already a true challenge.
    - mikeash 13y ago
      FTL's Easy would be a regular game's Hard. FTL's Normal is a regular game's Impossible. The fact that they've added a Hard to this new addition is a little bit scary. Personally, I enjoyed the game a lot more on Easy. It's still really tough, but much more doable. Your mileage may, of course, vary.
epaga 13y ago
After countless hours of playing, I have pretty much "solved" the game on its hardest setting ("Normal"), so I am really, really looking forward to a massive, free add-on I'd easily pay $10 for. Definitely planning on getting the iPad version the second it arrives in the App Store. What makes the game so fascinating is how many different, exciting situations arise from a number of pretty simple game mechanics. One example to show how complex it gets: You are in an asteroid field and your medbay has a hull breach (so oxygen is low in that room), enemies which have beamed on to your ship are on their way to your engine room, but you see the enemy ship's shields are down to zero, what do you do with your crew of 3? Do you repair your weapons first, fix the hull break, or try and suck the oxygen out of the engine room to suffocate the enemies?
- yoha 13y ago
  > I have pretty much "solved" the game on its hardest setting ("Normal") I think FTL is one of the few games where this is actually an achievement. Well played! > What makes the game so fascinating is how many different, exciting situations arise from a number of pretty simple game mechanics. That's also what make it frustrating sometimes: let me relate some fictional situation that depicts this. I have my multi-shielded ship with my crew of 4 against a powerless enemy. Oh, they just teleported a boarding drone into my oxigen module, making a breach on the way. I can only send two of my men at the time and the heal module is far away. In the mean time, they have not been able to get through my shields and I have deactivated almost all their weapons. almost. A teleported bomb has started a fire in the shield module and destroyed it ; blaze is spreading to the heal module. Most of my crew is now half dead, I can only extinguish the fire by making vacuum, but cannot fill it back with air. In the mean time, the boarding drone has gotten to the weapon module. … Glad to have served with you on this ship. Open all doors. On the plus side, if it is frustrating, it is also very humbling and makes you paranoid. Alright, the plus side then: having to deal with so much random is what makes the challenge very interesting. The game is not about winning, it is really about learning from your mistakes (in most games, you just need to guess the scripted motion or the right path by trial-and-error).
- aidenn0 13y ago
  Share some tips? I never lose on Easy but have yet to win on Normal
Kiro 13y ago
I bought FTL through Steam. Am I playing the vanilla version or Advanced Edition?
- cstuder 13y ago
  The advanced edition is not out yet, there is no release date other than '2014' announced. The advanced edition is a free update to the vanilla FTL. Your Steam version will probably be automatically updated once it's out.
untothebreach 13y ago
Here is the actual blog post from the official blog: http://www.ftlgame.com/?p=647 http://www.ftlgame.com/?p=647
orenmazor 13y ago
Love FTL. I can't remember the last time I loved a video game this much.
scrumper 13y ago
I have fond memories of this game. I bought it around the time my daughter was born and it became a fun filler of those little bits of downtime you get at weird hours with a newborn. I'd sit on the floor playing it while my wife nursed her, keeping her company but not requiring either of us to talk or use our sleep-deprived brains. The soundtrack is now permanently associated with my daughter and that crazy time. I haven't really played it since she was a few months old, but now I'm very excited to try this new version - but I'll wait until my next kid is born in a few months!

62 points by yiedyie 13y ago

yoha 13y ago

Great, I have finally beaten the game on Easy and now there will be one more version to play? This game game is horribly difficult (DF is more complicated, but not that difficult) but this is what make it great. Losing your well-crafted carefully designed ship in the seventh sector because of a complete freeze of the game can be quite unnerving though (save file is removed when you resume your game). tl;dr: FTL is horrible, play it!

epaga 13y ago
Wow, just to add an anecdotal data point in the other direction: this is the first I heard of the game freezing up, it has never happened to me, and I have played many, many hours. It's been completely stable and runs quite well even on an old 2007 MacBook Pro.
- yoha 13y ago
  Well, to be fair, it happened only once, but just at the wrong time.
benbou09 13y ago
Normal difficulty is not much harder than easy. Also, using and abusing of crew teleporters is crucial, because against normal ships you get more scrap if you kill their crew than if you destroy the ship, and against the final boss, you can easily destroy its weapons.
- yoha 13y ago
  > you get more scrap if you kill their crew I figure that too, but preferred to use suffocation to achieve this (having a boarding drone is a great help). For the final boss, I think it's just impossible to beat it without previously killing all its crew (in first fight).
  - puzzlingcaptcha 13y ago
    The key is neutralizing the triple-rocket launcher and optionally the ion weapon as fast as possible (i.e. by teleporting). With that taken care of and sufficient damage output the boss is not much of a challenge. Actually, killing off all crew turns over the control over the ship to the AI which is capable of making repairs in any room which is undesirable.
  - breischl 13y ago
    You can also do it by using fire bombs to kill the crewmembers handling the weapons and then destroy the weapons. Of course you still need to have enough other weapons to get through the shields & destroy the ship, but that's much easier when you're not being shot at.
  - rcxdude 13y ago
    The key is to kill off all crew except for one of the central gunners (the blaster is best because it's the weakest of the two). The prevents repair of all the systems (except one weapon) but without activating the AI which makes the fight more difficult again.
  - lmm 13y ago
    Not at all impossible. With the right mix of weapons (e.g. lots of burst lasers) and a high evade percentage it goes down easily.
- mpartel 13y ago
  With some practice, it's possible to win with the default ship pretty consistently even without the teleporter.
- Kiro 13y ago
  I started playing on Normal. Any reason I should switch to Easy?
  - yoha 13y ago
    If you are a true warrior from the old times, keep playing on Normal. But don't feel shame on switching to Easy, this is already a true challenge.
  - mikeash 13y ago
    FTL's Easy would be a regular game's Hard. FTL's Normal is a regular game's Impossible. The fact that they've added a Hard to this new addition is a little bit scary. Personally, I enjoyed the game a lot more on Easy. It's still really tough, but much more doable. Your mileage may, of course, vary.

epaga 13y ago

After countless hours of playing, I have pretty much "solved" the game on its hardest setting ("Normal"), so I am really, really looking forward to a massive, free add-on I'd easily pay $10 for. Definitely planning on getting the iPad version the second it arrives in the App Store. What makes the game so fascinating is how many different, exciting situations arise from a number of pretty simple game mechanics. One example to show how complex it gets: You are in an asteroid field and your medbay has a hull breach (so oxygen is low in that room), enemies which have beamed on to your ship are on their way to your engine room, but you see the enemy ship's shields are down to zero, what do you do with your crew of 3? Do you repair your weapons first, fix the hull break, or try and suck the oxygen out of the engine room to suffocate the enemies?

yoha 13y ago
> I have pretty much "solved" the game on its hardest setting ("Normal") I think FTL is one of the few games where this is actually an achievement. Well played! > What makes the game so fascinating is how many different, exciting situations arise from a number of pretty simple game mechanics. That's also what make it frustrating sometimes: let me relate some fictional situation that depicts this. I have my multi-shielded ship with my crew of 4 against a powerless enemy. Oh, they just teleported a boarding drone into my oxigen module, making a breach on the way. I can only send two of my men at the time and the heal module is far away. In the mean time, they have not been able to get through my shields and I have deactivated almost all their weapons. almost. A teleported bomb has started a fire in the shield module and destroyed it ; blaze is spreading to the heal module. Most of my crew is now half dead, I can only extinguish the fire by making vacuum, but cannot fill it back with air. In the mean time, the boarding drone has gotten to the weapon module. … Glad to have served with you on this ship. Open all doors. On the plus side, if it is frustrating, it is also very humbling and makes you paranoid. Alright, the plus side then: having to deal with so much random is what makes the challenge very interesting. The game is not about winning, it is really about learning from your mistakes (in most games, you just need to guess the scripted motion or the right path by trial-and-error).
aidenn0 13y ago
Share some tips? I never lose on Easy but have yet to win on Normal

Kiro 13y ago

I bought FTL through Steam. Am I playing the vanilla version or Advanced Edition?

cstuder 13y ago
The advanced edition is not out yet, there is no release date other than '2014' announced. The advanced edition is a free update to the vanilla FTL. Your Steam version will probably be automatically updated once it's out.

untothebreach 13y ago

Here is the actual blog post from the official blog: http://www.ftlgame.com/?p=647 http://www.ftlgame.com/?p=647

orenmazor 13y ago

Love FTL. I can't remember the last time I loved a video game this much.

scrumper 13y ago

I have fond memories of this game. I bought it around the time my daughter was born and it became a fun filler of those little bits of downtime you get at weird hours with a newborn. I'd sit on the floor playing it while my wife nursed her, keeping her company but not requiring either of us to talk or use our sleep-deprived brains. The soundtrack is now permanently associated with my daughter and that crazy time. I haven't really played it since she was a few months old, but now I'm very excited to try this new version - but I'll wait until my next kid is born in a few months!