[Ships] [AE] A fourth fleet

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flamingo
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Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 4:29 pm

[Ships] [AE] A fourth fleet

Postby flamingo » Sat Aug 27, 2016 12:02 pm

Some time ago I made this, but I had not posted it yet. It is a set of ten ships for FTL AE, one new layout for each of the original cruisers.

After finding about the Superluminal 2 ship editor, my initial reaction was to tinker with the equipment of the ships. Having access to certain weapons and augmentations from the beginning of the game had always been an attractive option the original game lacked. Often you just wanted to try a certain strategy but had to invest a lot of time to build the necessary ship in-game, not to mention the luck required to just find the equipment you wanted. The Superluminal editor provides just that, and this set of ships is simply the result of this experimentation with the possibilities.

A few remarks:

- I am no actual modder. There are no new weapons or augmentations in this mod, nor any changes in the game mechanics. Just a rearrangement of elements already existing in the original game. Modifying the game significantly was never something I intended, and this little mod simply is not about this.

- I am no artist either. As you can see below, the images of the ships are simple recolors of the originals. As much as I’d like to make entirely new hulls, or even some simple alterations of the existing ones, I lack the skill and the software to do so. I barely managed to recolor the ships into something close to what I intended (it proved to be harder than I expected). I actually ‘stole’ two of the hulls from The Randtrel mod, as they were pretty much what I was looking for (if there is any problem with that, just let me know and I’ll change them). Despite all that, I have to say I really like the character the new ships have, and I am very happy with the images as they are now. I don’t feel any need to modify them.

- So no modding to speak of and no actual new ship images. Why bother with this set of ships at all? It’s mostly about the gameplay. I think the original game already offers a lot of possibilities but not all of them are fully explored. This set of ships is an attempt to go a little beyond and offer some more variety in the strategies available from the start of a game. It is by no means an exhaustive exploration of the potential options. I made it for my own enjoyment and I offer it because I think it has some value, nothing else.

- By far most of the time invested in those ships was in playtesting, but a proper testing would probably need even more time. Right now I can’t guarantee the ships are fully balanced but I really think they are to a reasonable level. I was the only playtester and I might have lost the perspective a little bit in the process, but hopefully not too much. Just be aware that some of the ships require the use of rather specific tactics in order to function, at least until you get some upgrades.

- Consistency with the original versions of each cruiser, in terms of racial use of technology, has been respected… to an extent. Sometimes I simply chose to favor some interesting combination of equipment, and occasionally I just threw any consistency out of the window. Some of the ships are mostly on character but a bit more extreme than their counterparts (i.e. four drone slots and no initial weapon system for the Engi ship). A few of them, though, are totally nuts (i.e. what is the bare minimum amount of systems required to make a functional ship?)

- Any feedback is appreciated but don’t expect me to make any changes beyond minor adjustments.


As a little tease, these are some of the ships.

THE MANTICORE

The limitations of this Mantis Cruiser are offset by a great potential as a boarding vehicle.

Image


SILENCE

This Stealth Cruiser relies entirely in drones for defense.

Image


THE KING IN YELLOW

There is something twisted in the way this Slug Cruiser fights enemy crew without risking its own.

Image


Known bugs:

Two of the ships start without the weapons system. This misplaces the drone slots, which overlay with other systems. This is not really a problem when it comes to play, but it can be a little awkward.

Download:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uc0frvkh62nxggl/fourth%20fleet.ftl?dl=0

Credits:

FTL Team, for the game.
rannl, for the two hulls I took from The Randtrel mod.
kartoFlane, for the Superluminal 2 ship creation tool I used.
Vhati for the Slipstream Mod Manager.
CAKE, for the ‘How To Combine 2 Ships Into 1 File’ guide.
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stylesrj
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Re: [Ships] [AE] A fourth fleet

Postby stylesrj » Sun Aug 28, 2016 10:01 am

Sounds like some interesting ships to test out indeed.
The Manticore in particular piques my interest whereas the Silence looks like a better version of the Stealth C.
flamingo
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Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 4:29 pm

Re: [Ships] [AE] A fourth fleet

Postby flamingo » Sun Aug 28, 2016 5:40 pm

Yes, the Silence is pretty close to the Stealth C. I just wanted to make a ship protected only by a Defense II drone and eventually that's how the pieces fit together. You can see it as a more balanced version of the same idea, as the Stealth C is considerably underpowered.
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stylesrj
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Re: [Ships] [AE] A fourth fleet

Postby stylesrj » Mon Aug 29, 2016 9:18 am

Well, I flew the Leviathan. Not a bad ship to fly - it got me to the Flagship at least and I didn't feel like it was overpowered or underpowered. Someone else might say otherwise but eh, I got lucky with my weapons.

Image

So yeah it's an hour-long video of me flying the ship.
flamingo
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Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 4:29 pm

Re: [Ships] [AE] A fourth fleet

Postby flamingo » Mon Aug 29, 2016 5:14 pm

Wow, thanks for sharing this! I'm glad you enjoyed the ride, so to speak.

Haven't tried Captain's Edition with those ships myself, but I suspect a few things could go wrong. For instance, The King in Yellow (slug ship) can't destroy AI ships with isolated rooms, as it needs to keep destroying systems with a boarding drone in order to do the damage (it also requires some patience from the player, but that's another issue).
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stylesrj
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Re: [Ships] [AE] A fourth fleet

Postby stylesrj » Mon Aug 29, 2016 9:45 pm

It's why I favour the Shrike over the Carnelian. Because of AI ships. You might think you've got the best vessel out there with a team of 4 boarders and a reconstructive teleport, but the fact of the matter is that it doesn't mean anything to a ship with no crew or a crew that doesn't need to breathe.

Also, your Federation Cruiser... you may want to change it so I'm not forced to use Drone Control. Honestly, there's no point to having such a system if it can only hold one drone and it's a Repair Drone to supplement the one crew. I don't like having to be torn between cloaking and a teleporter while that smug asshole Drone Control laughs it up with its buddy, Artillery (but I can give Artillery a pass as it's a Federation Cruiser).
Either that or I really need to fly with Limited Time Offer enabled.
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Auron1
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Re: [Ships] [AE] A fourth fleet

Postby Auron1 » Fri Sep 02, 2016 1:01 pm

This mod should definitely fit inside the game as "Type D". You offer a different way to start the game up to 8 times, which is great for FTL.
Does it work with CE too?
Has anyone ever considered a Warhammer 40,000 Mod for this game? It would be awesome!
flamingo
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 4:29 pm

Re: [Ships] [AE] A fourth fleet

Postby flamingo » Fri Sep 02, 2016 7:49 pm

It does work with CE, but I can't say I recommend using it. The ships have been made with the original game in mind, and there are some differences in CE which may imbalance them.

For example, as I mentioned before, one of these ships kills AI enemies by sending a boarding drone which repeatedly breaks the enemy ship systems causing 1 damage each time. By entering the ship, the drone breaches the room and that prevents the system in it to be automatically repaired. AI ships in CE have separated rooms, and that means once the drone has breached into the room and destroyed the system, it is unable to cause any more damage because it can't enter any other room and the system in its room can not be repaired.

There may be other differences with similar unintended effects affecting other ships. That said, the fact that I can't recommend combining both mods doesn't mean one shouldn't try it, as it is very likely that most ships are still balanced.