Star diaries

[shadowcrust]

Do you know The Star Diaries by Stanisław Lem? They are hilarious and you might want to read them.

My own star diaries deal with starting FTL from scratch with the aim to unlock all ships, possibly all achievements and win with all ships without losing a game, on normal difficulty and without mods. Also, no hopping around in the rebel fleet for wanton destruction, just to jump straight to the exit beacon if the fleet has caught up.

The first flight was with the Kestrel (rather obviously), and the flight was relatively uneventful, other than the computer shutting down twice in sector 4, likely due to overheating, so the Kestrel named The First was actually the third of its kind. Technically, it also means that I failed my aim to not lose a game, but on the other hand the shutdowns didn't record a loss. Other than in the first two heat runs (haha), I didn't pick up very special equipment in the third run, but extended the laser power with a Burst Laser I and a Hull Laser I, and a Fire Beam for occasional mayhem. Solid win with all systems installed, scored 5273 points.

I managed to unlock the Red-Tail, the Engi Cruiser, the Slug Cruiser and the Federation cruiser that run, so my second flight was with the Red-Tail, named The Second, my creative mind knows no boundaries. With The Second, I unlocked the Rock Cruiser and had the pleasure to ram a Mantis hunter with my ship. I didn't get or find in shops any weapons to replace the four Basic Lasers, but at least I had an Anti-Ship I drone installed. Without much offensive power, I concentrated on boarding, and needless to say that boarding of four-shield ships with medbay was a bit tricky. Eventually, in sector 8 I got a Glaive Beam for my relentlessness (and for killing off the crew of a rigger) and immediately installed the beauty. Two mantis and two rocks for boarding and I managed a flawless victory without hull damage against the flagship, score 5433.

Now for the Engi ships! The Torus (The Third, you may have guessed - wrong! I forgot to rename it) provided easily the best run since quite a long time. I picked up an Ion Blast and a Fire Beam, and other than for automated ships (for which I had Anti-Ship I and Beam drones) I burnt all enemies in a merry fire, mostly without boarding at all. Flagship was incinerated as well, two hull damage from the third stage, overall worth 5760 points. Oh, and I also unlocked the Zoltan cruiser that run, as well as all Engi cruiser achievements, so next was...

... the Vortex, which I (I hear some cries of agony) renamed as The Fourth. Strong ship, but I was a bit cautious with events at the beginning, and I was eventually swamped with crew as well as with lasers (Burst Lasers I, II and III) and had, just as with the previous ship, a Mantis/human boarding party, lacking more Mantis and Rocks as volunteers. No new ships unlocked that run, but the flagship went down under laser barrages. One hull damage received, 5645 points scored.

Having missed to unlock the Mantis and the Stealth cruiser so far - and I actually have forgotten what the unlocking event of the Stealth cruiser looked like - I proceeded with the Osprey, The Fifth. There I made a big mistake, as I forgot to read the ship achievements before the flight, so I ended up not unlocking the Nisos... I stumbled over the Mantis cruiser unlocking event, but didn't find a teleporter before sector 5... I even managed to kill Kazaaak's crew just with lasers (Burst Lasers I + II, Heavy Laser I and Fire Beam, you may notice I took a liking to infernos), but unsurprisingly Kazaaak didn't travel per shuttle to my ship to say thank you for murdering his crew. So no Mantis ship, and no boarding party after the first round against the flagship, as I mistimed my teleporting into the flagship medbay - the split second after I teleported there it was repaired, and four heavily damaged but constantly healed humans killed my boarders, only four Engi and two humans left for the other phases, and I received 10 hull damage and a score of 5553.

Next stop the Man of War, which I had unlocked with the Kestrel in the first flight. Awesome run, as the closest related living beings of eradicated crews I inherited an Ion Blast II, a Fire Beam, two (!) Glaive Beams and many more less useful weapons and drones. I bought two Zoltans for my crew and two more joined on their own account. It was too good, actually, since four Zoltans in the shield room meant that I had only a single Rock for boarding, although sometimes joined by a bored weapon room slug. Suppressing shields with the Ion Blast II and anti-bio-beaming anyone didn't require too much boarding effort, though. It went so well and the ship was so overpowered, that I decided to see how much scrap I could save (953 unspent scrap after phase 2 of the flagship). I had four shields, five engines, teleporter, cloak, drone control all before I spent that scrap, and boy was that a mistake. Flagship phase 2 would have totally crushed me, if it weren't for a Hull Repair drone. I smugly cloaked for the missiles, and the first drone wave was perfectly timed with the three-shot laser, which knocked down three shields, and in the blink of an eye the beam and anti-ship drones, who apparently aimed all at one guy, had sliced and diced my 2 star shield Zoltan and then punching off about 20 hull in the next 3 seconds. The ship was aflame, barely in one piece and cloakless (although that returned soon), and with the Hull Repair I managed to get about 15 hull back before the next drone wave came. Sadly, my cloak was out of tune because of the emergency cloak after the first wave, so the next wave took me down again. I managed to shoot phase 2 down, used my last drones to repair and only mourned the loss of the targetted first drone attack, my green hero. Now I spent all the scrap for upgrading, and fully upgraded everything but the drone system, which only had six upgrades, and I never got around to install the sensor system. With four shields, fully upgraded and powered engines (55% evasion) and 24 hull the last flagship round should be a breeze, I thought - but well, I took quite some damage from missiles (I cloaked the lasers) and was down to 12 hull points in the end, didn't have such a close and nervewrecking boss fight for a long time. I probably made some mistakes as well, it was late in the night. Still, The Sixth emerged victorious (and before losing that Zoltan in the boss fight, it also scored the No Red Shirts Here achievement, ironically), unlocking all ship achievements and the Stormwalker and scoring 5853 points, quite nice. However, to my greatest disappointment, I didn't encounter any alien spiders, they were probably scared by my big green Beam.

The seventh ship, which was not The Seventh, as I forgot to rename again, was thus The Stormwalker. I like the Slug ships, and type B is the best, as it seems to mock the player. Boarding ship without medbay, and healing competes with offensive firepower? Challenges are there to be overcome, that's what I think. The game mocked me alright: the warmly anticipated weapon from the quest where you don't kill, but scare a newly fangled pirate crew was - wait for it - a healing burst. Got no crew or weapon drops for some time, only upgraded my shields and saved scrap, and eventually I bumped into a good store selling Ion Blast II and a Hull Laser I and also a medbay. With a later drop of a Hull Beam, I was set for the boss fight, which went by without any nasty improbable hits of vital systems and scored 5183 points - a rather low score mostly due to refusing invitations to kill some autoships and rescue some burning labs when I limped along with very few (3-4) missiles and no other weapons and no medbay in the first two sectors.

The Eighth, the Bulwark! A very solid ship, only limitation is to either find a teleporter or a non-depleting weapon soonish. No problem, I've won with this ship a lot (while with the Slug ships, I only played them twice each type, and won as often). My three Rocks set off and meet a Zoltan ship, which scratches off 6 or 7 hull before exploding, next an autoship, then another autoship which reveals the map, then a rebel fighter with a Burst Laser II which shoots my weapon room, but soon repaired, still 19 hull left. Now I can decide between two ships at sun beacons, there's no way around if I want to reach the exit beacon. I choose the left one, a Zoltan ship with a Heavy Laser I and a Mini-Beam, which deactivates my engine, so I suffer three waves of fire from the sun before I can jump away, shields afflicted with three flames and burning down (eventhough a Rock is jumping madly), oxygen room breached, and two more breaches in systemless rooms. I jump into the next beacon, unfortunately both indicating enemy ship presence, and it is another Zoltan ship. I'm not very low on missiles yet, but having received no other weapons nor crew, and the only shop (I know, as the autoship revealed the map) is still two jumps away, and my shields are still burning. This Zoltan has a Burst Laser II and a Heavy Laser. While trying to fix the shields and oxygen, it shoots down my Hull Missile slot, the just repaired oxygen (was a priority, as I vented some parts of the ship to extinguish the sun's fires), breaches the shields (at least they are not burning anymore), but luckily misses my Artemis. Unfortunately, my Artemis misses also, the last hit evaporating the Zoltan shields. Now for his weapons, I can still make it, I got 8 hull left! Heavy Laser hits, 6 hull, Burst Laser II hits 3 times, 3 hull left, now Artemis goes for his weapons, misses! Heavy Laser hits again, 1 hull, now Artemis goes for his weapons, misses! Too bad I can't jump out, engines have been punctured by the Heavy Laser... maybe the Burst Laser II misses three times, just like my missiles? KABOOOOM! Nope, laser hits alright, Bulwark resisted not a single shot, received all incoming shots, while only three shots of the Artemis and none of the Hull Missile hit.

So that's it, the aim of not losing while unlocking and flying all ships to victory was missed, but one lesson was learned: there are unwinnable situations in FTL, at least that's my take from the last flight. I don't think anyone could have survived this series of events, not even if you had premonition and put two Rocks into the shield room to put out the three fires faster and recover them faster from the sun's damage. Winning consistently not only requires knowledge about the game and making the right decisions, but also some luck.

Thus ends the first chapter of the star diaries, and if I have some time and AE is not lurking around the corner, I may pick the journey up to unlock and fly with the rest of the ships.

[Dirka]

The game mocked me alright: the warmly anticipated weapon from the quest where you don't kill, but scare a newly fangled pirate crew was - wait for it - a healing burst.

*dies*

Nice writeup!

[shadowcrust]

You know the ancient proverb that says if you fall off a horse, you should throw rocks at it? So I continue my broken chain of victories with another attempt with the Bulwark, The Ninth, a majestic, albeit slightly bulky phoenix rising out of the ashes of The Eighth. And yes, I had to look up how to spell both the eighth and the ninth.

Off we go! We mastered the first and most undoable difficulty and actually named our ship, and we get some mellow encounters as a reward. Most rockets hit their target, only one Zoltan ship, no suns, so easy. Unbelievable how one could be crushed in sector 1! Shields upgraded, teleporter and long range scanner purchased, and soon after a Hull Laser II presents itself in an empty hull of a ship. 5 crew by sector 1, 3 of which will be gone by sector 8... but first things first. My Rock boarders pick fights with everyone, even autoships, and always prevail, sometimes with a finishing touch of an Artemis. With Fire Bomb and Fire Beam, the second ship achievement can be easily ah achieved, Shivan unlocked! Mantis homeworld, and first beacon we choose is Kazaaak, burning (haha) to join our crew, we gracefully accept and also take his Mantis cruiser.

Two Halberd Beams! Mantis ship after Mantis ship is cut apart, as the next sector is also controlled by Mantis. My crew has grown to 8 (my former human captain is replaced by a new Rock guy, he's got ample time to train still), but a miscalculated beam destroys a Mantis ship instead of only deactivating its rocket, goodbye my two Rock boarders of the first sector, and welcome two Mantis boarders! Two more crew are obtained in sector 7, one joined of its own accord, the other is lured with money from a shop. A very balanced crew of four Rocks, three Mantis, and one Slug. The final loadout is without the halberd and consists of Hull Laser II, Fire Beam and two Ion Bombs. Boss fight goes so smoothly that I become suspicious, but all systems are installed and all systems are maximised, we take not a single point of damage and don't even need the Hull Repair drone. Another flawless victory, we finished the flagship with an uppercut, two Ion Bombs are not to be underestimated. Victory, and we breached not only the flagship with our Hull Laser, but also the 6000 points barrier, 6365 points obtained. Now only Stealth and Crystal cruisers are missing in the collection, and while I remember how to get the latter, only the flight of the Kestrel got offered a stasis pod so far, which was politely refused, as it had happened already in sector 7.

More challenges await!

[shadowcrust]

Blitz update for the flight of the Tenth. The Shivan is another Rock solid ship and plows indifferently through friend and foe. Two times the ship arrived with no fuel left at a store, even though it was a boarding ship from sector 1 onwards. Got a stasis pod in sector 3 or 4, but even with a Long Range Scanner never chanced upon opening it. Final weapon loadout decent with Burst Lasers I and II, Heavy Pierce Laser and, of course, a Fire Beam. Got swamped with volunteers, new crew record is 16, scored 5432 points against a helpless flagship. Neither Crystal nor Stealth cruiser unlocked, but still got the Zoltan and the Mantis ships to play, and the Nisos to unlock as well.

Now we hold at nine victories of ten attempts with nine different ships, with the longest winning streak being seven, the current being two. No victory worth less than 5000 points.

[shadowcrust]

I bet you were itching to know which ship will be chosen as the Eleventh. Gila Monster, I choose you!

It was a hard run, I guess I should stop playing in the early morning hours. So many mistakes! I lost my first boarder by not paying attention and realising too late he was running low on health. Zooming around in the enemy ship did no good, as the two remaining enemy Mantis were fast enough to shoot the fleeing boarder down before the teleporter recharged.

My remaining two Mantis were lost on a cloaked Autoscout. They cleverly deactivated the cloak first, beamed back, healed, beamed forth to attack the shields (I wanted to save on those expensive missiles and take it out with Basic Laser only), just beamed back before the cloak was repaired, I'm so good. Healed, back to destroy the cloak, healed, back on the shields, but this time the cloak was repaired and activated a split second before they beamed back. I'm so bad. Now a boarding ship without boarding party should be fun, but a single Engi takes his time - still not as flimsy as a single Zoltan boarder, though. He got a human mate and cleared three slavers, but all slaves died during the assaults, three times in a row. Finally, a human and a Mantis could be purchased at a shop, easy boarding ahoy. I somehow managed to lose that boarding party as well, it was 4 or 5 am now and I only have a hazy recollection what had happened. Weapon-wise, I replaced the Small Bomb with a Breach II, and got a Burst Laser III and purchased a Burst Laser I, they don't pair so well, but well enough. Flagship went down according to plans, but the ship barely scraped by the 5k score delimiter with 5177 points, and, do I need to mention it, not the full crew complement.

The biggest challenge for the 12th are rumours of mutiny against the careless Fleet Admiral shadowcrust, and that I I'm not exactly sure how to spell the 12th in words. Unlocked the Basilisk, though, so that would be the next ship. If you don't hear back, the Fleet Admiral probably has been stealthily disassembled in his sleep by the Engi Ninja Brigade.

[engi]

If you don't hear back, the Fleet Admiral probably has been stealthily disassembled in his sleep by the Engi Ninja Brigade.

omfg! you are paying atention to the engi conspiracy!