Faster Than Light - Tips for New Players

All your guides, strategy discussions, request for help on how to play go here. Please use [SPOILER] if relevant.
Marak
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2012 2:33 am

Re: Faster Than Light - Tips for New Players

Postby Marak » Sat Oct 27, 2012 3:25 am

Back on topic, I'd like to add a few things:

In regards to 16) in original post, crippling the enemy Helm also prevents it from using it's FTL Drive to escape from combat (read: any time the game tells you an enemy ship is trying to flee). Like you, enemy ships have to have a working Engine AND Helm in order to Jump out of combat - and enemy Helms only require 1 point of damage to completely disable; enemy engines, on the other hand, can take 2 or 3 points of damage before "going down".

Also, 15) confuses me. What are you trying to say here? Do you mean, "don't replace your missile launcher with a bigger, better one until you're 100% sure that you have enough Scrap and Reactor power to swap your current one for the new one"? The wording is unclear, or at least, it is to me.

Regarding 14), things can still hit you while you're cloaked, especially if your engines are at low levels/unpowered/damaged or your Helm is damaged/unmanned. Combining Cloaking with a few Engine upgrades assures near-100% dodge chances while Cloaked.

To add to 9), remember that getting the "Type B" of any ship you've unlocked only requires 2 of the 3 listed achievement. If you feel that one getting one of those three is unrealistic for your play style, forget about it and focus on the other two.

Overall, a very helpful list. Nice work. :)
spacecadet13
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 2:10 pm

Re: Faster Than Light - Tips for New Players

Postby spacecadet13 » Sat Oct 27, 2012 5:44 am

Anytime I get a human or slug from an event or pirate, my reaction is "meh...they'll do till I can swap 'em for something useful". Put them on a system, they are no better than any other race, and they have downsides - can't repair like an engi, can't power like a zoltan, can't defend like a mantis/rock/crystal. Put any other race on the system in place of the human/slug, you get exactly the same manning "ability" plus an upside - better combat/repair/power. Good at nothing = good FOR nothing in my book.

Of all, Zoltans would have to be my favs - well worth the extra care and attention to keep them safe and alive to the end - I had seven at the end of one run - 4 shields plus 2 x D Drone MKII's, and solid firepower - it was like MC Hammer - "You Can't Touch This"...Repair Stations? We don't need no stinkin' Repair Stations!
Farlark
Posts: 28
Joined: Sun Sep 30, 2012 1:28 am

Re: Faster Than Light - Tips for New Players

Postby Farlark » Sun Oct 28, 2012 12:52 am

Marak wrote:In regards to 16) in original post, crippling the enemy Helm also prevents it from using it's FTL Drive to escape from combat (read: any time the game tells you an enemy ship is trying to flee). Like you, enemy ships have to have a working Engine AND Helm in order to Jump out of combat - and enemy Helms only require 1 point of damage to completely disable; enemy engines, on the other hand, can take 2 or 3 points of damage before "going down".


Clarification: Enemy ships can have upgraded helm, too.
Soln
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 4:41 am

Re: Faster Than Light - Tips for New Players

Postby Soln » Mon Oct 29, 2012 4:45 am

Should I even bother trying to start on Normal? Is Easy the only way to go when starting out?

I'm just having a hard time groking this game and can't get past 3-4 sectors on Normal.
Number43
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2012 11:40 pm

Re: Faster Than Light - Tips for New Players

Postby Number43 » Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:13 am

I once had 18 crew hired in a single game. I maxed them out by buying crew in stores early on, and events kept throwing them at me as rewards. Two factors contributing to that were that I beat most enemy ships with boarding (I was using the carnelian so I had a teleporter at the start), and I upgraded my medbay early on, and that gives a lot of blue options that give you crew or prevent you from losing them.
UltraMantis
Posts: 2141
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2012 3:17 pm

Re: Faster Than Light - Tips for New Players

Postby UltraMantis » Mon Oct 29, 2012 12:25 pm

Soln wrote:Should I even bother trying to start on Normal? Is Easy the only way to go when starting out?

I'm just having a hard time groking this game and can't get past 3-4 sectors on Normal.

A Stranger in a Strange Land indeed when first playing FTL. Despite what certain less credible members of the forums (welcome aboard btw) may say, UltraMantis suggests you play with either setting. Easy mode is only slightly easier than Normal and there are no penalties except to your highscore.

Best advice is to learn from your disasterous failures and try to figure out how to avoid being destroyed by such disasters in the future. Every ship you choose to play with starts out with some weaknesses and strengths, although they all start rather weak (except maybe the Rock crusier) In the Kestrel, i'd get the shields/reactor up and put a few points into engines as well. Man the helm/shields/engines and leave weapons for later. Explore a lot. While you are learning, prefer staying alive or running away to buying powerfull weapons, as you may not live long enough to put them to good use.

You are certainly going to make mistakes a lot when trying out things for the first time. As long as you figure out what went wrong and maybe what you should have tried, you'll be doing fine and hopefully enjoy the game.
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Madhax
Posts: 77
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2012 6:52 pm

Re: Faster Than Light - Tips for New Players

Postby Madhax » Mon Oct 29, 2012 12:33 pm

Soln wrote:Should I even bother trying to start on Normal? Is Easy the only way to go when starting out?

I'm just having a hard time groking this game and can't get past 3-4 sectors on Normal.


Easy isn't the only way to go, but I'd say go for it at first. This game is pretty unforgiving when you don't know what your'e doing, and easy mode will alleviate some of the difficulty so that you can learn mechanics better. I didn't swap to normal mode until I beat the game on easy first (Using the Red Tail, if you were wondering), then turned around and fired up normal.
Svankensen
Posts: 28
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2012 4:42 pm

Re: Faster Than Light - Tips for New Players

Postby Svankensen » Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:39 pm

UltraMantis wrote:
Soln wrote:Should I even bother trying to start on Normal? Is Easy the only way to go when starting out?

I'm just having a hard time groking this game and can't get past 3-4 sectors on Normal.

A Stranger in a Strange Land indeed when first playing FTL. Despite what certain less credible members of the forums (welcome aboard btw) may say, UltraMantis suggests you play with either setting. Easy mode is only slightly easier than Normal and there are no penalties except to your highscore.

Best advice is to learn from your disasterous failures and try to figure out how to avoid being destroyed by such disasters in the future. Every ship you choose to play with starts out with some weaknesses and strengths, although they all start rather weak (except maybe the Rock crusier) In the Kestrel, i'd get the shields/reactor up and put a few points into engines as well. Man the helm/shields/engines and leave weapons for later. Explore a lot. While you are learning, prefer staying alive or running away to buying powerfull weapons, as you may not live long enough to put them to good use.

You are certainly going to make mistakes a lot when trying out things for the first time. As long as you figure out what went wrong and maybe what you should have tried, you'll be doing fine and hopefully enjoy the game.


I would advice manning weapons instead of shields, having weapons up a 10% faster prevent a lot of damage by deactivating the enemy ship, while shield recharge rate rarely matters (mostly against beam weapons). Also, try the Engi as soon as you unlock it (by getting to sector 5), it is an excellent ship. The Red tail is also pretty good if you manage to unlock it, so give it a try.
Groudon12321
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:02 pm

Re: Faster Than Light - Tips for New Players

Postby Groudon12321 » Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:21 pm

I'm just got the DA-SR 12, what is the best strategy to beat the boss with this ship?
DA-SR 12
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2012 9:34 pm

Re: Faster Than Light - Tips for New Players

Postby DA-SR 12 » Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:49 pm

Groudon12321 wrote:I'm just got the DA-SR 12, what is the best strategy to beat the boss with this ship?


In Sector 1, Focus one getting cloaking to three. After that save up enough so if you come across shields you can grab them. Try to go into the boss fight with strong engines and and alot of firepower.