Unlocking new ships is way too difficult

[icepick]

It's not purely luck. It's not like sometimes the events are there and sometimes they aren't. The unlock events are ALWAYS there (with the exception of maybe the secret ship). You just have to find and complete them. Luck is involved, but there's lots you can do to help your chances.

[buzzyrecky]

I have 5-6 ships unlocked, but I don't think I've really played any but the Kestrel (both layouts) and the Engi (first layout only, don't like the second one).

The only thing I'd really like out of the other ships is their augments, but since I can just edit my data.dat to allow me to buy them in shops, it's all good.

[Vind]

Well - the real hard to get ship is crystal as it needs tons of luck and mantis cruiser as you need to buy teleporter ASAP to get it. Others not too hard actually - just play and the will come eventually. Its a game, not ship hunt.

[vontasben]

I was finding it way too hard to unlock new ships. I'd unlocked the Kestrel and Torus variants but no other hulls in my first 51 playthroughs.

Then on no. 52 I unlocked the Slug and Zoltan ships as well as my first win, unlocking the Federation Cruiser.

Was getting really fed up that I hadn't got any new ships and then 3 fall in my lap!

[ftl_raptor]

I played for nearly 9 hours now and I only unlocked the Torus on my first run. I suppose I would have had a third if I had managed to defeat the boss yesterday night but I accidentally suffocated more than half my crew a few jumps before the fight. I have no idea how to get any of the other ships. (Don't want to look it up and spoil it, I suppose)

I do think that the ships need to unlock sooner, the problem that might occur is that players get bored of the game by the time you get a new room lay-out or ship. Maybe you should be able to both unlock the ships by grinding and by the random encounters now present?

[Incendax]

Ships should definitely be easier to get. Not because the game should be easier, but because they add a lot of variety and replay value. Right now, by the time you get a few you are already getting burned out on the game.

[BlackAlpha]

The problem is that each ships requires a whole bunch of pieces to fall into place, and there's too many pieces. Like get X component and upgrade it to level X, while having a crewmember of a specific race, and you have to be in a specific system and be lucky enough to find a specific event, and then you must still make the right choice during the event. Without a guide, it's virtually impossible to unlock a ship. But even with a guide it's all so random that it's still very hard.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that this part of the game is not designed well at all.

[hydro123456]

The problem is that each ships requires a whole bunch of pieces to fall into place, and there's too many pieces. Like get X component and upgrade it to level X, while having a crewmember of a specific race, and you have to be in a specific system and be lucky enough to find a specific event, and then you must still make the right choice during the event. Without a guide, it's virtually impossible to unlock a ship. But even with a guide it's all so random that it's still very hard.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that this part of the game is not designed well at all.

This is my complaint exactly. The achievements to unlock layouts on the other hand rely much less and randomness and are pretty obtainable. Ship unlocking should be more like the achievements. I can see having 1 really random, hard to unlock ship like the Crystal, but there's too many of them.

After my first couple play throughs I started working just to unlock ships, and it wasn't fun at all. Generally I'd make it through about 3 sectors, things didn't work out, and I'd restart. Some of those games I probably could have finished and won, but that would have taken 5 times longer and I'd risk being sick of the game by the time I got the ships. As is, I'm pretty sure I would have been sick of the game if I was still working on unlocking ships. I ended up downloading someone elses profile and I'm having a blast now trying out different ships and layouts.

[Kolkko]

After 39 games and 1 win (535 ships destroyed, 1723 beacons explored), I have only Kestrel, Engi and Zoltan. I haven't read any spoilers on how to get more, but it feels like a lot of luck is required.

A few people in this thread compared FTL to roguelikes. I have played Nethack and Crawl Stone Soup and both had all classes and species available without any unlocks. I don't see how this is a detriment to either of those great games.

Are some of the ships much easier to win with than the Kestrel?

[Kestral B]

"Savescumming" FTW! I don't want to download someone else's profile, but I have no qualms about restoring an earlier version of my own.
I also have 2 kids and can only play games 4-5 hours a week, so spending 40+ hours is not an option for me - I need a faster pacing, and allowing myself to save and reload gives me that perfectly. I seriously am having a blast, and don't find it too slow or too hard.
Remember - It's your game, you bought it, and you don't have to play it the same way other people do. Some will have more fun by unlocking all the ships over 40+ hours, some by spending those hours experimenting with already unlocked ships, some by using save/load to unlock them in 10+ hours instead. Don't be constrained by others ideas of the "right way" or "real man/hardcore way" or other nonsense. It's a game, not a moral exercise.