My 2 cents as a KS backer and fan of the game

[BlueDagger]

I wanted to pop in and express my opinion on a few things, but a response from me is unlikely as this is the only reason I registered.

#1 I hear some people complaining of the difficulty in the game. DO NOT CHANGE THIS. The difficulty of the game gives it it's replayablity, it's charm, and it's challenge. Every time it is something new and even reaching that end boss is a glorious moment! You nailed the difficulty, don't make it any harder or easier.

#2 People complaining about ships being too difficult to attain because they have no control over the events. Once again DO NOT CHANGE THIS. This is what replays are for and I understand there is completionist out there, but the random chance of unlocking a new ship is great fun to us that are just playing the game for the fun of it. Stumbling upon a new ship when you weren't even looking for it is awesome! It keeps you replaying. You nailed the difficulty of unlocking ships, don't make it easier or harder.

#3 Expansions: DO WANT. Please oh please do not just keep the game as is. Expansion ideas for this are endless with the options of new races, ships, enemies, weapons, sector types, etc etc. There is a plethora of ideas in this "Not Startrek" universe. Take a month breather, pat yourself on the back, and then announce that an expansion is underway. I will friggin throw money at the screen in a heartbeat.

Thanks for taking the time to read this if you did, and see you in the Kickstarter for the expansion *nudge nudge*

- BlueDagger

[icepick]

Hear hear. though I don't think they'll be needed kickstarter to raise money now.

[Nihy]

Take my money for an expansion.

What I would like to see in it:

- An Electronic Warfare System (replaces the drone system) which lets us do things like hacking doors (opening them for my crew or for spreading fires, locking them for the enemy to prevent them from doing things when they want to), venting oxygen (to asphyxiate the enemy crew) or increasing oxygen (to fuel fires). Things which the Slugs like to do.

- Some love for tactics based on killing the enemy crew via fires and oxygen deprivation and the less useful weapons. Using fire beams/fire bombs/anti-bio beams to end a battle usually takes significantly longer than just shooting the shield generator and weapons with conventional weapons. Things like hull lasers and beams are also not particularly useful because doing damage to systems is much more useful. If hull hitpoints of enemy ships were increased substantially (by 25-50%) then these underused weapons would become more attractive.

- Choices in ship systems: currently every ship can have drones, teleporter, cloak (except the Osprey which gets the artillery beam instead). How about making the artillery beam available to all ships but mutually exclusive with the cloak? How about adding the aforementioned Electronic Warfare System that is mutually exclusive with drones?

- A "Hard" mode that is a real nightmare to beat.

- Expanded shop inventories. I think shops should sell more items.

- A different story.

- A miniboss or two at some points during the game which serve as item check and milestone. After the fight you get fully repaired. The idea is to make people who won't be able to beat the boss lose early, while the repair helps people who were strong enough to pass the check but struggled in the process.

[zabbo2]

Ya totally concur to all of this!

There are more than enough games that offer no challenge, no randomness, and the ability to save anywhere. FTL is precisely as fun as it is because of these characteristics, not in spite of them.

I'm really glad that the dev's had the vision of the game as they did and did it.

I also would love a hard mode. I sincerely wonder if the easiest of most games have prevented some gamers from actually getting any good at gaming. So many games now a days (and certainly most casual ones) just seem to be based on a simple psychological grind-for-carrots design paradigm.

[Eji1700]

On difficulty-
I want the game to be hard. I like hard. I enjoy hard, but sometimes it feels a little too random.

I'll accept "your crew member was eaten by spiders" on my first jump because I chose to push the button that said "lets go look at the spiders" and if need be I'll try and make a 2 person ship work. There's some other randomness though that feels waaaay too harsh(poor shops is a huge one for some ships). It feels silly to get all the way to the boss and know you probably can't break his shields. Scrap prices could probably use a rebalance as well to make certain items more useful or promote more variety in play.

I mean that said the games still great, and I still want to lose most of my games, but I do feel that a little too often I'm stuck wondering how the hell i was supposed to do anything else.

[Flair]

I concurr, however with some addititions/changes.

Rather then mutually exclusive systems, I'd rather have them added as extra but without any expansion of the ship size. Hense you couldnt have everything as there wouldnt be any room.

I think the campain we currently run should not be changed in difficulty as you say. I agree that the complaints regarding difficulty and randomness are what makes it so good. And I would also like to see some extra content to expand it.

However, I do feel that a second mode that was slightly more free and more predictable would be a good addition too. Much as I love the short, hit and hope style of play we currently have I would love to have the option on long days and holiday period to sit in and really invest some time into a longer version of the game. I feel theres a whole array of skills, systems and upgrades that could be added, changing ship within the length of a game, etc.

[PirateCat]

On difficulty-
I'll accept "your crew member was eaten by spiders" on my first jump because I chose to push the button that said "lets go look at the spiders" and if need be I'll try and make a 2 person ship work.

I would like the ability to choose who gets to go off on the away team, though.

Rather then mutually exclusive systems, I'd rather have them added as extra but without any expansion of the ship size. Hense you couldnt have everything as there wouldnt be any room.

And the ability to get multiples of rooms. Give up on cloak, drones, EW, whatever to squeeze 3 transporter rooms in and do 6 man boarding parties at once. Have 2 drone rooms so you can launch a swarm of drone about the size of the boss's power surge drone wave, but have no other way to damage the enemy, etc.

[themensch]

Not a KS backer here, but I stumbled onto FTL yesterday and have been playing the crap out of it, and I agree, keep it difficult! Nothing makes a game a toss-away like being able to beat it in a few tries, like so many other games these days.

That said, I'm all for expansions; make it so we can explore space stations with away parties, explore planets, make the rebel fleet an option, make an endless run...etc. Lots of good ideas from folks around here, and I'd love to see them come to light. Just don't make it too easy....

[thenightgaunt]

I'd support an expansion kickstarter. I missed the window on supporting the core game.

[Maze1125]

I doubt they'll need to do another Kickstarter for an expansion. They got far more than they needed the first time around, not to mention the massive sales on release.