FTL Captain's Edition 1.308/Inf 1.301b/EL 1.308

[stylesrj]

(And remember Zoltan's don't even have gender )

Where does it actually say the Zoltan have no gender (or it's implied via events) in the original game? It can't be the character icons - the Rocks have genders after all (and we know this from the Rock Bride event).

All I know about Zoltan being genderless is that's just a thing mentioned in a CE event.

[Estel]

...which makes it CE's in-lore. We're speaking about spell-checking for CE, not base game

BTW, the funniest thing is that Rockman is right in every thing he said - it's just that language is evolving, and things natural for one person might sound strange for other. Albeit, the more time I spent with the new way of handling sentences, the less it hurt my eyes And indeed, the "Wrong gender" wasn't better thing, anyway. I think I get convinced that reverting it would be wrong idea.

/Estel

[stylesrj]

...which makes it CE's in-lore. We're speaking about spell-checking for CE, not base game

I like CE and what it's done for the lore except for that one part(and others but that's touch and go). And it's mostly because it clashes with the fanfiction I've made using events and encounters from CE

I also have no issues with gender neutrality in the dialogue, because that Rockman might be a woman according to your headcanon of that run.

Then again, that same Zoltan says they'll enforce law and order or demand we follow the rules... then say they've broken one or two and are "rebellious."

Just like when I picked up Robert Smith the confused Mantis. He said he was exiled from his hive and that he enjoys killing things and enjoys the taste of Human flesh. Which is very Human but still... humorous.
And the Rockmen... "I hate my religion as it's an excuse to oppress the people but I still follow it and will oppose anyone who says it's false." Remind you of anyone?

So yeah, that's my two Scrap on the matter. That Zoltan could be lying about the genderless society, we only have their word against... whatever.

[Estel]

Hehe, the things against our head-canon always clash the most painfully Albeit, the "conflicting" things said by same crew-member are just modding limitation, I'm sure you realize it. At least, when the same crew member turns out to be a rebel spy in the end of sector 7, you get a good explanation on his "borderline" behavior

[stylesrj]

Hehe, the things against our head-canon always clash the most painfully Albeit, the "conflicting" things said by same crew-member are just modding limitation, I'm sure you realize it. At least, when the same crew member turns out to be a rebel spy in the end of sector 7, you get a good explanation on his "borderline" behavior

Especially when it was a Crystal I bought from a store. I knew they were rather shifty!

[stylesrj]

Sorry for the double-post but well, it's concerning the "Take Rebel Prisoners" event.

You know, you defeat a Rebel ship and you find some cadets onboard. I find no incentive on taking them prisoner though.

If I do that, I get a quest to drop them off. Chances are the Rebels will attack you anyway and you only get a standard reward. A prisoner might join you. But otherwise, probably nothing happens as the Rebels don't want them back. Sounds cool, except there's the other side of the coin.

I take the Rebels prisoner and somehow I decide to lock them in the armoury so they bust free and now I've got a bazillion boarders ruining my day. I mean, what the hell?

I see no reason to take prisoners when I can, moral-free just shoot them. Sure the text says "your crew won't do it so you do it yourself" but there's no consequences to shooting POWs. Shouldn't there be one of those "pirate moral choices" that Mantis/Slug/Rock crews don't care about the Laws and Customs of War?

Shouldn't it be like this:

2) Shoot the prisoners
Are you sure? The crew might not like this.
1. Shoot them already!
Your crew decides not to go through with it. You grab a pulse-rifle to do it yourself but they stop you. Reluctantly, you organise an exchange/drop them off at the nearest station.

Or you shoot them but one of your crew mutinies and leaves the ship.

Or you get a drone to shoot them and anyone who protests.
Mantis/Slug/Rock) Kill the foolish meatsacks!
Your crew happily kills the prisoners and spaces them. Job well done you think as you clean off the blood from the walls.
Mantis) Enslave the meatsacks!
You force one of the prisoners to work for you while you organise an exchange with a slave trader (You gain 1 Human crew and a quest).
Then you go to the Slave Trader for standard dialogue. Buy a slave, free them or sell the Rebel POWs.

Now I feel obligated to take prisoners rather than shoot them and not suffer the consequences of having intruders running about, ruining my systems and hurting my Clone Bay crew. I don't like it portrays me as incompetent enough to put my prisoners next to the guns (even if the event says they somehow break free... you'd think the room with the dangerous weapons would be locked enough for your crew to subdue the unarmed cadets.)

[Estel]

I take the Rebels prisoner and somehow I decide to lock them in the armoury so they bust free and now I've got a bazillion boarders ruining my day. I mean, what the hell?

It means that you're playing FTL and got worst possible outcome of the non-blue choice, courtesy of RNG. "It's FTL, baby!" - sometimes you find "holy crap weapon is floating in space!", and sometimes, *you* become that weapon floating in space, after rebel cadets trash whole ship, kill all your crew, then die due to lack of oxygen

. A prisoner might join you.

...which, generally, is good enough reason to try it, esp. that CE's crew is quite rare (mostly, thanks to other bazilion of events, so you get less chance to find free "charlies").

(Mantis) Enslave the meatsacks!
You force one of the prisoners to work for you while you organise an exchange with a slave trader (You gain 1 Human crew and a quest).

Then you go to the Slave Trader for standard dialogue. Buy a slave, free them or sell the Rebel POWs.

This is good idea (we have torturing, dismembering, enslaving , bombing settlements, buying slaves - why not some selling? ), except that I would allow to *either* force on of them as slave (in-lore, rest opposed and got executed by Mantis, only this one was terrified enough to agree) *or* organize selling the slaves. Otherwise, you could, sometimes, get 2 crew members as a result of that single event (one joining your party as slave, other from possible fight with slavers). Balance reasons.

I don't like it portrays me as incompetent enough to put my prisoners next to the guns (even if the event says they somehow break free... you'd think the room with the dangerous weapons would be locked enough for your crew to subdue the unarmed cadets.)

Hey, haven't you watched all those prison escapes in S-F movies (star wars and the rest)? Or played the RPGs or action games, where you get gun (or, pack with your whole equipment) just next to your cell? Somehow, they always manage to get weapon

Seriously though, it's not portraying you as the incompetent - it's rather the fact that rebels turned out to be very smart and crafty (managed to break free, overhelmed closest guard, used obtained equipment to break into armory through vents or maintenance deck... Use imagination!). After all, having to fight armed boarders is the sense of this outcome, don't be too picky.

/Estel

//Edit

And a little suggestions jar (found some typos, but for those, I'll try correcting myself thanks to git):

1. After playing with it for a few runs, I agree (with some opinions presented before) that autonomous ASB augment is really under-powered as it is. Costing what it costs, and shooting only so often, with a chance to still miss, it uses 4 missiles every time you deploy it, consumes one power bar, *and* many, many times malfunction (*after* eating those 4 missiles), resulting in either wasted ordnance, or fckin thing shooting both you and your enemy. Not to mention being useless in hazards. I think it got nerfed too much.

I would suggest either lowering missile cost (to 3, or even half), *or* getting rid of the power consumption. Apart from this, its chance to malfunction ("you got too close to enemy, or they got plating that confuses it, or...") could use some lowering, too. As it is, the augment is a total waste of scrap (and waste of missiles, if used), at least on Hard - I don't think "normal" is different here. Bought it on sector 1, using as far as in 8, the damn thing scored *three* hits on enemy ships. for whole game. (and consumed 32 rockets) While hitting my own ship twice And I was very careful about when to deploy it, mind you...

2. During the stealth-c unlock quest initial part, we get to check 2 rebel bases. After defeating the "fake" one, we can choose between letting them go, and finishing them. Sadly, after defeating the "correct" fighter, the only possible option is to let the rebel scums go (for absolutely free) Could use giving equivalent choice.

Bugs

...apart from typos, so far none detected!

[stylesrj]

It means that you're playing FTL and got worst possible outcome of the non-blue choice, courtesy of RNG. "It's FTL, baby!" - sometimes you find "holy crap weapon is floating in space!", and sometimes, *you* become that weapon floating in space, after rebel cadets trash whole ship, kill all your crew, then die due to lack of oxygen

Which means no quarter. Prisoners must die. Just like I avoid Zoltan sectors. It's either 6 boarders with explosive deaths and a problem with my weapons licensing or a space station with high shields, Mind Control and Hacking. And a problem with my weapons licensing.
Gunning the prisoners down doesn't have consequences when it most certainly should, on the same level as piracy and all that.

This is good idea (we have torturing, dismembering, enslaving , bombing settlements, buying slaves - why not some selling? ), except that I would allow to *either* force on of them as slave (in-lore, rest opposed and got executed by Mantis, only this one was terrified enough to agree) *or* organize selling the slaves. Otherwise, you could, sometimes, get 2 crew members as a result of that single event (one joining your party as slave, other from possible fight with slavers). Balance reasons.

This could be tweaked. Maybe you don't get a free slave and you can sell them at a quest beacon. Then the slavers say "Hand over your prisoners and you'll be rewarded."

Refuse and they'll say "We came all the way out here for a deal only for you to refuse? DIE!" or they leave without another word, angry at their time being wasted.

Of course this can be further twisted - you hand over the prisoners only to not get paid. Attack them if you want. Or you hand them over, the slavers decide you're also valuable and attack. Or they pay you only half of what you're owed because they don't like the slave quality.

You can threaten to get the other half or attack and get the other half and one of their slaves as payment.

Speaking of which, can a Rebel prisoner exchange for money/fleet delay net you more crew? I'd like to swap a bunch of Rebel POWs over and get say an Engi or a Zoltan in return (or another filthy Human officer).

Hey, haven't you watched all those prison escapes in S-F movies (star wars and the rest)? Or played the RPGs or action games, where you get gun (or, pack with your whole equipment) just next to your cell? Somehow, they always manage to get weapon

Yeah but that's because I'm the hero and it's a story about my characters.
Then again, in sci-fi and stuff, the villains always escape somehow and it's mentioned offhandedly that they "escaped offscreen and are gunning for you."

Seriously though, it's not portraying you as the incompetent - it's rather the fact that rebels turned out to be very smart and crafty (managed to break free, overhelmed closest guard, used obtained equipment to break into armory through vents or maintenance deck... Use imagination!). After all, having to fight armed boarders is the sense of this outcome, don't be too picky.

The Rebel Cadets must have just graduated from the Macguyver Academy. Yeah that explains it. They used a paperclip and some duct tape to disable the forcefield walls (because all sci-fi prisons must not use regular bars) or to hack the easily accessible control console and grab the guns.

2. During the stealth-c unlock quest initial part, we get to check 2 rebel bases. After defeating the "fake" one, we can choose between letting them go, and finishing them. Sadly, after defeating the "correct" fighter, the only possible option is to let the rebel scums go (for absolutely free) Could use giving equivalent choice.

I think I mentioned this earlier and I agree. I have Slug Gel, a pair of sunglasses and a problem with the Rebels. I'm no Elsa buddy, I will not let them go! I'm going to see them die!

[Sleeper Service]

Well, I can agree that the whole "Prisoners grab a rifle from a nearby rack as they are brought on board"-scenario portraits the player as somewhat incompetent, or rather the crew of the player ship I guess... But beyond that it sounds like stylesrj really got the bad end of the rng stick there. Taking Rebels prisoner has a 25% fail chance. After that the quest event outcomes all have some degree of positive bonus to them. The Rebels negotiators trying to free the prisoners is the worst outcome, but it still includes a guaranteed level="HIGH" reward if you win the battle, even when destroy the ship. Other outcomes involve getting a level="HIGH" amount of scrap in exchange, getting a crew member, or getting fleet delay, all of which have a 25% to happen each. I agree that getting crew other then a human would be nice though. I'll also consider increasing the fleet delay reward a further, cause you need a jump to get it... But overall executing the prisoners gives you nothing and fixing the exchange gives you a good chance on various rewards.

On the matter of adding a crew moral check in this situation: I aimed to display a gray area here. The cadets are technically "enemy combatants" or whatever you wanna call them, they are in similar position as enemies that have surrendered in combat, and are then killed regardless. Attacking non-Rebel civilians is perceived differently by your crew. They are opposed to executing prisoners, but they ultimately won't oppose this, because Rebels are the enemy. And civilians are the ones "you are fighting for." I absolutely agree that this distinction makes little sense from an ethical standpoint. Which is my point. And I can also agree that I don't get the point across very well, it might just look like inconsistency in the end. I'm very sorry, I wrote this entire event after watching a Gods Will Be Watching lets play and had to get this out of my system.

[stylesrj]

On the matter of adding a crew moral check in this situation: I aimed to display a gray area here. The cadets are technically "enemy combatants" or whatever you wanna call them, they are in similar position as enemies that have surrendered in combat, and are then killed regardless.

But then you could be flying a Mantis ship who doesn't care about killing prisoners. Having to do it yourself makes me feel like I'm the monster and I should be punished appropriately for violating the Space Geneva Convention or something.

After all, I get punished for breaking truces without the proper augment or for taking slaves.

Attacking non-Rebel civilians is perceived differently by your crew. They are opposed to executing prisoners, but they ultimately won't oppose this, because Rebels are the enemy.

Unless one of the crew is secretly a Rebel agent
There you go, you try to execute the prisoners and one of your crew reveals their true colours!
Unless you have a Slug who knows all about their allegiance...

* * *

By the way, could enslavement of the cadets or selling them off to a slave trader be an option for Mantis ships? Heck, that could be an entirely new way to play the game, without using augments. The slave trade! Take prisoners and sell them for a profit!

You could even get an augment that allows the trading of slaves, but not other acts of piracy, so it's not just a Mantis thing.