Food for thought...

[Braxbro]

I have some things that I have been thinking about that I would like to share with you.

1. Why do Engi do so little damage to enemy systems? They repair yours at 150% speed; if they are good at fixing things, surely they could be good at unfixing things...

2. Why can your ship be lit on fire? It is made out of metal... what do you have, gasoline on the floor?

3. Why are crew stunned by EMP's? Surely such shock would fry their fleshy meatsack organs and kill them...

4. How does the Anti-Bio beam work?

Feel free to discuss these and any other wierd things you notice about FTL.

[stylesrj]

1. Why do Engi do so little damage to enemy systems? They repair yours at 150% speed; if they are good at fixing things, surely they could be good at unfixing things...

Actually, they do as much damage as any other crew to systems. Apparently combat skill and speed doesn't factor into destroying a system. So Engies are just as good as Mantis.

2. Why can your ship be lit on fire? It is made out of metal... what do you have, gasoline on the floor?

How does an aircraft carrier or cruiser get lit on fire eh? They're usually made of metal and surrounded by water yet fires are a serious hazard.
Space stations also can be set on fire. No one really though wants to actually do that because air is limited.

3. Why are crew stunned by EMP's? Surely such shock would fry their fleshy meatsack organs and kill them...

Neural implant overload? After all, they do obey your orders regardless of it being "Holy crap! There's no air here!"

4. How does the Anti-Bio beam work?

Microwaves? Neural shock?

Feel free to discuss these and any other wierd things you notice about FTL.

Honestly though, what's the deal with replicator food? Why does everyone rip on it so much?

[Braxbro]

1. Why do Engi do so little damage to enemy systems? They repair yours at 150% speed; if they are good at fixing things, surely they could be good at unfixing things...

Actually, they do as much damage as any other crew to systems. Apparently combat skill and speed doesn't factor into destroying a system. So Engies are just as good as Mantis.

2. Why can your ship be lit on fire? It is made out of metal... what do you have, gasoline on the floor?

How does an aircraft carrier or cruiser get lit on fire eh? They're usually made of metal and surrounded by water yet fires are a serious hazard.
Space stations also can be set on fire. No one really though wants to actually do that because air is limited.

3. Why are crew stunned by EMP's? Surely such shock would fry their fleshy meatsack organs and kill them...

Neural implant overload? After all, they do obey your orders regardless of it being "Holy crap! There's no air here!"

4. How does the Anti-Bio beam work?

Microwaves? Neural shock?

Feel free to discuss these and any other wierd things you notice about FTL.

Honestly though, what's the deal with replicator food? Why does everyone rip on it so much?

Engi is both singular and plural.

I'd like to explain the second as you carelessly buying shag carpet for your ship... that would explain where my scrap has dissappeared...

Third, what about possibly having an implant in your crew's heads that give you almost telepathic communication?

Fourth, what about a focused beam of gamma waves...

These are my theories... and I don't think so... I put an Engi with my Mantis (just for kicks, wanted to test if effective damage was the same as two humans) and when I split them up to shred systems, my Engi went slower than my Mantis. Also, how come you can lvl your combat skill by trashing systems if effective damage stays the same?

[stylesrj]

Engi is both singular and plural.

From events_engi.xml

Code: Select all

<text>You arrive at one of the Rebel bases that the Engies told you about. It appears abandoned except for one scout ship. Perhaps you could extract information from them.</text>

I thin kthe game jumps back and forth about the singular and plural for the Engies

I'd like to explain the second as you carelessly buying shag carpet for your ship... that would explain where my scrap has dissappeared...

Either that or Combustium Alloy was cheap that day.

Third, what about possibly having an implant in your crew's heads that give you almost telepathic communication?

Hence why ion weapons can possibly stun your crew. Because sometimes it gets lucky and shorts it out and cuts your communications.

Fourth, what about a focused beam of gamma waves...

Possibly - after all the beam does affect machines as well.

I put an Engi with my Mantis (just for kicks, wanted to test if effective damage was the same as two humans) and when I split them up to shred systems, my Engi went slower than my Mantis. Also, how come you can lvl your combat skill by trashing systems if effective damage stays the same?[

Doesn't combat skill affect combat speed and not actual damage? It looks like you do more damage because you're getting more shots off.

[Braxbro]

Engi is both singular and plural.

From events_engi.xml

Code: Select all

<text>You arrive at one of the Rebel bases that the Engies told you about. It appears abandoned except for one scout ship. Perhaps you could extract information from them.</text>

I thin kthe game jumps back and forth about the singular and plural for the Engies

I'd like to explain the second as you carelessly buying shag carpet for your ship... that would explain where my scrap has dissappeared...

Either that or Combustium Alloy was cheap that day.

Third, what about possibly having an implant in your crew's heads that give you almost telepathic communication?

Hence why ion weapons can possibly stun your crew. Because sometimes it gets lucky and shorts it out and cuts your communications.

Fourth, what about a focused beam of gamma waves...

Possibly - after all the beam does affect machines as well.

I put an Engi with my Mantis (just for kicks, wanted to test if effective damage was the same as two humans) and when I split them up to shred systems, my Engi went slower than my Mantis. Also, how come you can lvl your combat skill by trashing systems if effective damage stays the same?[

Doesn't combat skill affect combat speed and not actual damage? It looks like you do more damage because you're getting more shots off.

No, you do more dps. Your attack rate may be faster, tho.

[Arthur Dent]

1. Why do Engi do so little damage to enemy systems? They repair yours at 150% speed; if they are good at fixing things, surely they could be good at unfixing things...

Actually, they do as much damage as any other crew to systems. Apparently combat skill and speed doesn't factor into destroying a system. So Engies are just as good as Mantis.

Are you sure about that? It has always been my impression that Mantis are fastest at destroying systems (never tried using Engis this way though, they're usually needed on my own ship, to do any necessary repairs) - even when the crew has already been killed in the first round of the boss fight, two Mantises will usually take out the missile launcher before it can fire its first barrage in the second round, whereas if you send two humans/slugs/rockmen, the boss will still get to fire his first 3 missiles on you. This would mean that the same bonuses (and probably penalties) that apply when attacking crew also apply when attacking systems.

Edit: Not sure how experience affects this, though. Might be that it really takes to mantises that are level 2 at melee combat.

[Braxbro]

1. Why do Engi do so little damage to enemy systems? They repair yours at 150% speed; if they are good at fixing things, surely they could be good at unfixing things...

Actually, they do as much damage as any other crew to systems. Apparently combat skill and speed doesn't factor into destroying a system. So Engies are just as good as Mantis.

Are you sure about that? It has always been my impression that Mantis are fastest at destroying systems (never tried using Engis this way though, they're usually needed on my own ship, to do any necessary repairs) - even when the crew has already been killed in the first round of the boss fight, two Mantises will usually take out the missile launcher before it can fire its first barrage in the second round, whereas if you send two humans/slugs/rockmen, the boss will still get to fire his first 3 missiles on you. This would mean that the same bonuses (and probably penalties) that apply when attacking crew also apply when attacking systems.

Edit: Not sure how experience affects this, though. Might be that it really takes to mantises that are level 2 at melee combat.

Yeah. Though I really wish Engi were as good at un-fixing machines as they were fixing them... it would make for some interesting boarding parties... "Hey Mantis, go run into their medbay; Engi, unscrew EVERY BOLT you can find in their engine, shields, and weapons rooms!"

[Some_Random_Noob]

I have some things that I have been thinking about that I would like to share with you.

1. Why do Engi do so little damage to enemy systems? They repair yours at 150% speed; if they are good at fixing things, surely they could be good at unfixing things...

2. Why can your ship be lit on fire? It is made out of metal... what do you have, gasoline on the floor?

3. Why are crew stunned by EMP's? Surely such shock would fry their fleshy meatsack organs and kill them...

4. How does the Anti-Bio beam work?

Feel free to discuss these and any other wierd things you notice about FTL.

1) Maybe the systems are protected by metal panels. On your ship, crewmembers have a key/ID device which allows them to open the system, but not on other ships. Engi have to break the system from the outside, which they do at lowered speed because they are not suited for combat.

2) The air in the ship is probably very dry because all moisture from sweat and your breathing must be recycled back into drinking water for your crew. This makes it highly combustible.

3) The shock from the ion weapons is only enough to cause temporary paralysis, but is enough to disable systems.

4) There are lasers which have special properties, such as hair follicle removing lasers. The Anti-Bio Beam could be a more advanced version of that configured to damage living tissue but not metal objects.

Some things I've noticed:

1) There appears to be a captain aboard your ship, but you can never see them. For example, in the event with the person stranded on the moon, your Slug crewmember says: "Sir, allow me to assess his mental state." This happens even if the only visible crewmember left on the ship is a single Slug. If that Slug was indeed the last crewmember left, they would not have to ask anybody. Additionally, during the event where the Slug captain offers you a drink, it is possible for the captain to be incapacitated by the drink even if the only crewmember is a Rockman (who should be immune). Therefore, there must be another person aboard the ship somewhere who is the captain. But if there is still a living captain on board the ship, why does your journey end when all crewmembers are dead? Can't the captain get to the piloting room and jump to a store to hire replacement crew members?

2) "Thanks for the help. That auto scout has been terrorizing us for weeks." But the autoscout only has ion weapons.

3) How do Crystal crew members know how to repair newly developed hacking and mind control when they have been living away from the rest of the galaxy for hundreds of years?

4) Attacking unarmed Zoltan ships and robbing civilian colonies are perfectly acceptable by Federation standards (in vanilla FTL anyway) but destroying Rebel scum who were terrorizing innocents after they surrender is not acceptable.

5) How do all the missiles you fired at the enemy ship all magically miss when you accept their surrender, even if their piloting and engines are destroyed?

[stylesrj]

1) There appears to be a captain aboard your ship, but you can never see them. For example, in the event with the person stranded on the moon, your Slug crewmember says: "Sir, allow me to assess his mental state." This happens even if the only visible crewmember left on the ship is a single Slug. If that Slug was indeed the last crewmember left, they would not have to ask anybody. Additionally, during the event where the Slug captain offers you a drink, it is possible for the captain to be incapacitated by the drink even if the only crewmember is a Rockman (who should be immune). Therefore, there must be another person aboard the ship somewhere who is the captain. But if there is still a living captain on board the ship, why does your journey end when all crewmembers are dead? Can't the captain get to the piloting room and jump to a store to hire replacement crew members?

Maybe the Slug is just insane and has to ask permission to do things.
And if you don't choose that blue option for the Rockman, you're roleplaying as a Rock with a weak stomach?

2) "Thanks for the help. That auto scout has been terrorizing us for weeks." But the autoscout only has ion weapons.

Maybe they haven't got shields and those ion weapons keep disabling everything important when they want to use them. Story of any FTL player's life.

3) How do Crystal crew members know how to repair newly developed hacking and mind control when they have been living away from the rest of the galaxy for hundreds of years?

The same reason as to how they can be fitted on the Crystal Cruisers or how they can fix a Stealth Cruiser. A ship's a ship mate.
Maybe the instructions are beamed into their heads via the Internet equivalent and that's why a Mantis warrior when not slaying foes can actually try to repair systems without breaking them further.

4) Attacking unarmed Zoltan ships and robbing civilian colonies are perfectly acceptable by Federation standards (in vanilla FTL anyway) but destroying Rebel scum who were terrorizing innocents after they surrender is not acceptable.

Because they surrendered. Fight's over. Move on.
Otherwise, you're making some tough calls with robbing Zoltan and stealing supplies

5) How do all the missiles you fired at the enemy ship all magically miss when you accept their surrender, even if their piloting and engines are destroyed?

That's easy. You quickly set the missiles to miss. Lasers ad beams on the other hand... no idea.
How is an enemy ship still capable of shooting at you even if they can't evade your shots? Are the guns on a swivel mount or something? Or are they just sitting across from each other, face-to-face and lobbing shots?