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[monk12]

It may be involved with the fact that home planets tend to be at the back.

Hm what?

Although in my experience, it's less about "getting what you need" and more about "using what you get." I never repair to full in the first sector because I need the cash for whatever is at the first shop- in the infrequent event the shop is selling things I can't buy/use, I dump the scrap into the shields and do the same thing next sector. I don't have much to offer other than what I've said earlier in the thread, so I'll just respectfully disagree with y'all on that particular debate.

Meanwhile, the Engi B... well, personally, I like it. It's still given me my highest point victory, after all.

It's actually my second-highest point victory as well, but the thing is that that run was so good because I got rid of basically everything the ship came with- IIRC I got a lucky Burst Mk II in the first sector and an Antiship drone in the first or second shop. Presumably, if I had been using the Torus I'd have had an even better run (and indeed, my personal high score is with that ship.) I just don't see a reason I'd choose the Engi B over the A other than artificial challenge.

Semirelated, just had a victory run with the Engi A- was a little hairy since I never had cash for the cloak, but I did have a good drone setup and an expert boarding crew. Failed to knock the non-victory run any further down the Top Score list, though, and I didn't get a shot at the Crystal Quest until Sector 6, so it was a failure in those regards.

[Tarran]

Oddly enough, I've never seen an ion storm where the enemy wasn't at full strength. When I mentioned four weapons, shields, and cloaks earlier, I wasn't exaggerating. That's something I've fought in an ion storm. They're never any weaker than ships outside the storm, and in some cases stronger.

Maybe they had high level engines, and/or other miscellaneous systems that they powered down?

Because I've definitely seen situations in ion storms where, as I knock out their weapons, they power up their shields. And vice-versa.

[Leafsnail]

If I don't, I die. Or if I buy a new weapon/system, I can't afford the power to use it. In bad runs, there's no good option.

This really isn't true, especially on easy.

Right, because repairs are instant and the enemy will sit tight and wait for me to recover. You've never had three vital rooms knocked out and on fire/breached at the same time, have you?

No, because you never have more than two vital rooms (engine and pilot if you're trying to run away).  Fire is trivial to deal with, breaches aren't that bad and if they're really giving you trouble upgrade your oxygen system by one.

Oddly enough, I've never seen an ion storm where the enemy wasn't at full strength. When I mentioned four weapons, shields, and cloaks earlier, I wasn't exaggerating. That's something I've fought in an ion storm. They're never any weaker than ships outside the storm, and in some cases stronger.

This isn't true also.  I presume you're talking about an automated ship there, it would have its engines and possibly drones powered right down.  In any case by the time you're fighting enemies that strong you should have enough power that you can juggle yourself to near full capacity.

[Sirus]

This really isn't true, especially on easy.

You clearly haven't seen how badly things can go on a bad run. If you're constantly repairing damage and upgrading what little you can, you aren't going to have scrap left over for better weapons or new systems.

No, because you never have more than two vital rooms (engine and pilot if you're trying to run away).  Fire is trivial to deal with, breaches aren't that bad and if they're really giving you trouble upgrade your oxygen system by one.

That makes no sense. If either piloting or engines go down, you can't run or evade, so losing the other just means more to repair. I'm talking lost engines/cockpit, lost shields/cloak, and lost weapons all at the same time. No engines, shields or cloak, you lose a massive part of your defense. Lose weapons, and you can't fight back or even try to slow the enemy down. If you also lose oxygen or doors, that's just additional fun. Lose everything more-or-less at the same time? You can't even open the airlocks to simply vent your crew and save time. This can and has happened to me at any point in the game.

This isn't true also.  I presume you're talking about an automated ship there, it would have its engines and possibly drones powered right down.  In any case by the time you're fighting enemies that strong you should have enough power that you can juggle yourself to near full capacity.

Honestly I'm starting to wonder if you're even playing the same version I am. Ion storms always mean a difficult fight for me, because I'm semi-crippled and usually losing oxygen while the enemy never seems to be.

[Tarran]

Ion storms always mean a difficult fight for me, because I'm semi-crippled and usually losing oxygen while the enemy never seems to be.

Like I said, maybe they just have high level systems that don't have a noticeable effect powered on or powered off. Like engines or medbays.

[MasterShizzle]

The game IS a subset of the Roguelikes. It's expected for you to fail more often than not. The game is designed so that sometimes you're in a situation where you're going to die, and there's nothing you can do about it.

But it's not all about luck. Those screwed-over situations are by far the exception, and not the rule. A good player can take bad odds and make things stretch out much more efficiently than a bad player. Running out of oxygen, for example: did you know that when you're repairing a breach in a room with oxygen failing, you can open adjacent doors into oxygenated rooms and the air will rush into the vacuum, buying your repairman another second or two of air to seal the breach? Did you know that when you've got boarders and you're trying to remove the air from a room, you can turn off your own oxygen systems and make the room airless in half the time? The whole game is filled with little things like that, and I learn new ones every time I play, just like in Dwarf Fortress. I just watched a VerbalProcessing video of FTL, and I learned that you can have some weapons on auto-fire and some on manual at the same time by using the Ctrl key.

To those who think that the game is "unfair": of course it is, so deal with it. That's a staple of the genre. The thrill of a Roguelike(like) is to take a completely unfair scenario and overcome it anyway. If I want something with unlimited save/reloads that I don't even need to use because the game is so piss easy anyway, I'll go play Skyrim. Then I'll go cry in my bathroom because I just wasted a night playing Skyrim.

[Mephansteras]

Finally got the Mantis cruiser! Took long enough to get the option for it. Glad I had a teleporter.

[EnigmaticHat]

I find it hard to believe that this game is all about luck because I win most of my games, and most that I lose I know what I did wrong.

First of all, the Kestrel has almost no luck involved with winning.  Your starting weapon systems could take out a four shield ship with a lot of luck, and most anything else without too much trouble.  On top of that you can transition into pretty much any strategy with the Kestrel, so you know you can use what you find in shops.

SOME of the unlockable ships have a strong element of luck, but with good strategy you should be able to get a decent ship together within a few sectors.  The main issue with these ships is that they start with a deficiency in some area (offense, defense, crew) that forces you to spend scrap and find equipment to overcome.  There are also some ways to get screwed easily with these ships: beam drones for sheildless ships, auto-ships for boarders, and certain shop setups for Engi B.  Within the first few sectors these problems should be gone, or at least you should have had an opportunity to deal with them.

There are two big rules to overcoming luck in FTL: work with what you have, and stay ahead of the power curve.  You aren't trying to build the best ship possible, you're trying to live to beat the flagship.  Forget making an optimal setup, if your weapon systems aren't good enough then a crappy gun now is better than an efficient gun later.  This means you need to figure out what specifically your ship needs, especially in the short term.  I could probably go on for pages about this but you're just going to have to learn through experience.

Learn how the power curve works, and learn where you sit on it.  If your ship is more powerful than the average enemy you'll rake in scrap, if it's weaker you'll have a harder time getting scrap and your disadvantage will grow.  If you find yourself constantly running that means you've fallen behind the curve and running in that situation is a terrible strategy.  Remember: if you can't beat the enemies now, you won't be able to beat the enemies in the next sector.  This means, oddly enough, switching to a high risk strategy.  You NEED to get to a point where you can beat the local enemies, and if that means running your fuel and your hull down to the red so that you have enough scrap to get vital upgrades, so be it.  You may want to take calculated risks like choosing events that could cause you to lose crew.  Don't avoid fights in this situation, you need the scrap.

If you're on top of the power curve, things are much different.  You have some leeway and should avoid events that could devastate your ship (such as crew loss or picking a fight with an enemy that you know will kick the shit out of you).  Focus on maintaining your advantage; "scrap multiplier" systems such as the teleporter and recovery arms are a good idea.  Make a wishlist of things you need to beat the flagship; for most ships its surprisingly short (for example, a Kestrel could likely win with no purchases besides an incendiary bomb and a cloak).  Be aware of any gaps in your ship's systems, such as missile defense or shield piercing, and deal with them.  Keep your temporary resources at decent levels but remember that if you're doing well repairs, supplies, and crew will mostly be maintained by events.

[Neonivek]

To those who think that the game is "unfair": of course it is, so deal with it.

I really dislike the term "deal with it" because it REALLY doesn't say good things about a product, in fact it always sounds exactly like this "It sucks deal with it!". Though I'll try to ignore that.

Those screwed-over situations are by far the exception, and not the rule

It really depends on the ship. Many ships are set up to be able to do the first sector but will lose on the second or the third... and thus if you don't get something that can elevate your ship then you are entirely messed over... and it will happen a lot.

As well how much you are allowed to make a mistake differs ship to ship.

I learned that you can have some weapons on auto-fire and some on manual at the same time by using the Ctrl key

I NEVER use Auto-fire. I have never been in a situation where it was even a good idea.

It's expected for you to fail more often than not

Ok GOOD a honest answer. This is using the Roguelike Crutch and now I know that I am not playing the game wrong it is just that the game is designed so that losing at no fault of your own is standard.

So official observation:

Faster then Light is a game where a lot of luck is involved. You need to be lucky to win.

At the same time however you need a lot of skill too. You need to be skillful to win.

You need to be a very good player and a very lucky person to do winning runs.

If I want something with unlimited save/reloads that I don't even need to use because the game is so piss easy anyway, I'll go play Skyrim.

I REALLY don't want to derail a thread in rants because FTL isn't a bad game and I didn't actually come here to insult it or rant against it as I was genuinly wondering, because I failed on several flawless runs, if luck was involved or if there was a secret strategy... BUT!

You are completely misunderstanding what people complain about when they do so against FTL. When people complain about the luck factor they are complaining that the game puts them into a situation that you cannot win. You ever play a Point and Click adventure game where the game is suddenly unwinnable at no fault of your own? You load your save but it turns out you lost an hour ago because you didn't do one thing. THAT is what people don't like. This feeling that no matter how good of a player they are, that they never had a chance the second they pushed "start".

Imagine ANY game that calculated a 5% chance you will lose no matter what as soon as you started the game... but didn't tell you.

Mind you I think a lot of these deaths can be curbed with experience. Boarding parties tend not to be too deadly unless you have little crew. As well what helps the FTL luck factor is the fact that games arn't particularly long. You can do an entire game in 15 minutes. So if you die you can just start again.

[Sirus]

I NEVER use Auto-fire. I have never been in a situation where it was even a good idea.

Well, if you have an Ion Blast II...

That thing fires off every four seconds by default. Best thing to do with it is point it towards a vital system (I mostly point it towards weapons) and let it do it's thing.

[Neonivek]

usually the reason I never autofire Ions is because the speed at which weapons fire is important for timing.

[Sirus]

Timing isn't as important when the enemy's shields are constantly disabled

[Neonivek]

Timing isn't as important when the enemy's shields are constantly disabled

It doesn't disable their shields unless they are down first. They won't be down unless I co-ordinate fire.

[Sirus]

Wut? If the ion blast hits the shields, the shields are weakened/go down for about eight seconds. However, in four seconds another blast is launched. This will either hit whatever you have targeted or continue wearing down the shields. If you keep the blast constantly hitting the shield room, they're defenseless (other than evasion).

[Jim Groovester]

Imagine ANY game that calculated a 5% chance you will lose no matter what as soon as you started the game... but didn't tell you.

If it told you ahead of time that would be boring.

You load your save but it turns out you lost an hour ago because you didn't do one thing.

Then why didn't you do that one thing an hour ago?

Maybe you didn't know you needed to do that one thing an hour ago. In which case, lesson learned, you'll do it next time. Maybe once you get an exhaustive list of all those one things you didn't know you needed to do you'll start feeling more and more in control.

It doesn't disable their shields unless they are down first. They won't be down unless I co-ordinate fire.

Yes it does.

Ion damage deflected by the shields counts as ion damage to the shield system. It's in the tutorial or it's a tip at the start of the game or something. You don't need to wait until their shields are down to start spamming ion weapons. (Not to say timing isn't useful with ion weapons as well.)