Beta Poll Part B: For the expert FTL players

[duhsveti]

Well i got to the end boss just once (playing on normal) and managed to get to stage 2 of the encounter. Now i only played about 12 games so far (and it was awesome), but i feel that, if i manage to get the right equipment, i could beat him. It will be a hell of a fight tho.

[Jintor]

The main problem is unpredictability, stuff like me being unable to tell if I should hold out for weapons, hoping for a random pickup that will make or break my journey, things like that. In other roguelikes I feel like I have a good sense of being able to at least control how my character will enter the mid-game, but that's not really present in FTL, since all the shops are randomised both in location and inventory - not to mention the random chance of picking up enough scrap to actually outfit the ship out!

[constablebrew]

I have logged about 42 hours, all of that playing on Normal. Got to the boss about 8 times, the second stage of the boss about 6 times, and never beat it. I am about ready to stop playing Normal mode as not having been able to beat the boss so many times is just disheartening. I haven't been to the boss with a teleporter yet, but I think that is the only way to survive.

I have had four lasers firing 9 shots in a volley. I kicked ass in every stage right up until the end sector - everything was upgraded to max and I approached the boss with full health and gold crew members. With about half of the laser shots missing entirely and the rest being absorbed by shields, I would land 1 hit every two or three volleys. Surviving the first stage isn't too difficult once I can disable the missile launcher, but surviving the second stage just isn't possible with the low hit rate of lasers.

In my experience, the last sector is significantly more difficult than the one just before it, to the point that I won't be lucky enough 50% of the time to be able to survive it and move on the the boss sector. So often I have kicked butt all through the game, gotten to that sector and was destroyed in two or three jumps.

[chanman]

I feel that the end boss invites a direct approach (maybe the same criticism leveled at Deus Ex: Human Revolution).

Every time I've beaten the final boss, I've had cloaking and lots of firepower - the ability to put out 8+ laser shots in a salvo with a fairly quick charge time or, lots of attack drones (which amount to the same thing). Those who've made it to the 3rd evolution of the boss know why that is.

Each playthrough for me is a very specific scavenger hunt - I need to accumulate enough scrap to upgrade shields, cloaking, weapons/drone, ship power, doors, and acquire system augmentations (stealth weapons is exceptionally helpful as well, and pre-ignition can resolve fights very quickliy). I then need to acquire: As many Burst Laser I/II or Hull Laser IIs as I can power and not die.

The difficulty tends to plateau when you hit the right amount of firepower - it's getting to that point that is difficult.

[BuckRodgers]

It seems to me as though being able to get a teleporter and 2 crewmen for a boarding party can easily be the diffrence between having enough scrap to afford necessary upgrades/weapons and having to spend everything on repairs/fuel. Being able to clear out the enemy crew while your weapons keep the shields and weapons offline can usually keep you in the positive fuel values without spending all your scrap which was one of the problems with the game, at least before the increased rate of trade events.

[Dan Forever]

I've been playing purely on normal since I got the game and haven't managed to even reach the end boss (I still only have the 2nd ship unlocked).

Upon seeing this thread, I thought I'd try easy, and I made it all the way through to the end boss (but didn't quite manage to kill him as I was unprepared and had no idea how to fight him).

[Lambchops]

Still haven't beaten it on normal (best has been second stage of boss, but that was before I knew the best tactics against it). Reckon if I get there I might be able to beat it, but it would require a healthy dose of luck as due to the lower quantities of scrap available in normal I tend to have to compromise somewhere and either leave a weakness or be over reliant on a certain strategy that leaving no plan B if damage falls in the wrong places.

One day I'll get there! That's why I'm still playing.