I think FTL should be easier

[Tarlok]

They should add 2 more difficulties. An actual easy for us people that have lives outside of playing with little 8 bit spaceships all day, and insanity just shoot yourself now as you will never ever ever win for those that do have all day to sit around and play with little 8 bit space ships.

There everyone is happy.

[Mr_Crac]

Are you serious? If it were easier, would not have any fun. The difficulty levels are well balanced, play it in easy!!

Are you not listening? FTL could have more difficulty settings to choose from, so that everyone could play it as they see fit.

Nothing is taken away from anybody if there are more options to choose from. (and the currently existing options stay as they are)

I think the game needs to be harder and more lengthy, not easier.

There could be an option for that, too. That is, if the developers actually cared about it. I am kind of getting the impression that they neither want to add easier options, nor more difficult ones. And I honestly don't understand why.

[zabbo2]

Wow first time back in the forum in ages and I see my thread still going, right on

Now that I've put a ridiculous amount of hours in the game my win ratio is prob like 40%-50%. I don't think the randomness is as such a limiting factor in the game as just skill is, as some people feel, but ya it's arguable I suppose.

I don't play much anymore, but when I do, I play in the undocumented hard mode. What's that? Hard mode = no pause mode. Takes a while to get used to but is tons of fun and not as impossible as you might imagine after a few tries. I recommend and talented &/bored FTL players try it that out.

[postman]

I think it would be fun if they patched the game to made "Hard" a selectable difficulty that forces no pause. Have a high score bonus, too.

On a side note, I think Rubik's Cubes should be easier. Why can't they be the same color on every side? What kind of sick mind designed these things?! I just bought one for $10 and it has RUINED MY LIFE. I'm never going to get my time or money back. Instead, I'm going to spent hours posting on Cube forums about how this incredibly difficult puzzle should be made easier for the masses because I just hate challenges.

[Skull]

I`m not sure if easier is quite the word I`d use. Challenges with micro management, timing and building the ship up is all good and should be hard. I`m more concerned with how random it is, since there are plenty of situations that are impossible just based on the ship you start with, RNG with stores not appearing when you need them etc.
I recently ported to zone 2 with the stealth ship and could choose between two different environment hazards for my first jump, which is really impossibleish to survive without shields. The same goes for early drones, or for that matter early missiles with for instance the engi unlock.
It all adds replayability I guess, but it is jolly frustrating.

[UltraMantis]

It's much more frustrating when you're new to FTL, but even if you're a veteran you're still slightly deader then is desirable if you run into extremly difficult scenarios. FTL features enemies that are much more difficult to deafeat than then th boss, and some that are seriously impossible. Such instances are rare, but there is really no safety in the game unless you get extremly lucky. Any weapon loadout or upgrade combination can be defeated if the RNG rolls the dice a certain way.

Yes it's true there's a lot of randomness, but trying to overcome random obstacles is much more down to skill and experience then it seems at first.

Concerning the Stealth cruiser or other, more challenging ships. Not all ships are equal. Some are designed to be more challenging, either throughout the game or in the early stages. The Basilisk is a shining example of this. It's one of the strongest ships in FTL yet it can be squashed after a single jump. Them's the breaks.
Generally the B types are more challenging and difficult ships to play, with the Red Tail and Shivan being notable exceptions. Regardless of type, every ship is different and some have terrible weaknesses, esp. at start. It's not unusuall to die very quickly in them. I don't think that's bad design, as they are certainly fun to play.

[ruler]

On a side note, I think Rubik's Cubes should be easier. Why can't they be the same color on every side? What kind of sick mind designed these things?! I just bought one for $10 and it has RUINED MY LIFE. I'm never going to get my time or money back. Instead, I'm going to spent hours posting on Cube forums about how this incredibly difficult puzzle should be made easier for the masses because I just hate challenges.

I honestly don't understand why people even argue against an ADDITIONAL mode. It's like saying "NOOOOO! Stop having fun! Everyone must have fun the way I have fun!!!!".

The ADDITION of an easier mode will do nothing bad. ALL IT DOES IS ALLOWS MORE PEOPLE TO ENJOY THE GAME. Why don't you want more people to enjoy the game? Did you even consider that if more people buy the game, the developers might have more reason to expand on it?

I agree that the game is too easy (on normal mode), so if an easier option is added, I wouldn't even look at it. So why do you guys even care?

[BKT]

I agree that the game is too easy (on normal mode), so if an easier option is added, I wouldn't even look at it. So why do you guys even care?

Same goes to you— if you think the game at normal is too easy for you, why do you even care for an easier mode than the current easy mode?  

I kinda wonder what kind of changes the supporters of this mode have in mind in order to make an easier mode than the current easy one.

And I can't wait to see what sort of amusing name for this said easier mode anyone have in mind— there's the standard 'Rubik's Cube', the easier version 'Pocket Cube', and for the 'anyone can solve' version ... 'Junior Cube'

[ruler]

Same goes to you— if you think the game at normal is too easy for you, why do you even care for an easier mode than the current easy mode?  

I kinda wonder what kind of changes the supporters of this mode have in mind in order to make an easier mode than the current easy one.

And I can't wait to see what sort of amusing name for this said easier mode anyone have in mind— there's the standard 'Rubik's Cube', the easier version 'Pocket Cube', and for the 'anyone can solve' version ... 'Junior Cube'

Many people complain that the game is too difficult, and someone that gets frustrated with a game isn't likely to recommend it, let alone continue playing it or purchase additional content. Easy mode -> larger playerbase -> more money -> more development resources -> more content and stuff other players will benefit from. I care because I find it silly that people reject the idea of adding an easy mode.

As for implementation:
Each encounter will be classified by its difficulty, range from say -3 to 3.
New encounters won't be completely random; rather it will give preference based on the current trend. With -3 being the easiest, if you encounter 3 easiest encounters in a row,this will add up to -9, and the system will have a better chance of rolling a more difficult encounter. That is, before each encounter, the system first looks at the current average difficulty, and adjusts the chance accordingly.
Outliers in difficulty will be omitted, like one of those insanely difficult ships that are tougher than the boss.
Crew members could have additional health to make boardings easier to defend. Before you learn that you just need to open up all the airlocks, 4-mantis boards are extremely deadly.
Starting scrap bonus and/or scrap bonus could be increased.

[UltraMantis]

The game would only benefit from having Easy, Normal and Hard modes. I'm not really in favor of alreting balance, just renaming Easy to Normal, Normal to Hard and adding an easier mode would suffice. If you want a harder game on current Normal, pick a more challenging ship, or limit yourself in some way. It's easier then inventing an Extreme mode.