Advanced Edition: First impressions thread

[shadowcrust]

First impression: too many new weapons, too many new systems, too many fancy interface changes, don't like it.
Second impression: woah, new shiny things all around!
Third impression: feels a bit like playing Captain's Edition (which I've actually never played)
Fourth impression: still too easy (on Hard), but it's much more of a resource management than before, and less forgiving if you are careless about crew members (as I often am)

only played it twice so far, so no fifth impression yet

and I'd have sold it as FTL 2, it's easily different enough from first edition FTL to warrant a new release

[Tom2Toes]

Before AE I was getting fairly good at beating the game on Normal with a few ships, like both Kestrels, so foolishly I was looking forward to trying Hard mode out.

I decided to have a run through on Normal a couple of times first to try out the new systems and unlock some C layouts. I very quickly discovered that I was a fool to think it would be so simple. AE seems much harder on Normal mode to me. I don't know where I'm going wrong exactly, I think it must be my resource management. The furthest I've got so far was to the boss with Engi A but I didn't have anywhere near good enough weapoons to take him out.

I actually really like the new UI, the green and red reward/cost icons in the events makes it a lot easier to see what the deal is at a glance. The crew stations button is amazing.

[Reptile]

Zoltans go to enemy ship, explode, pop back in clone bay, rinse and repeat.

Woah wait, Zoltans EXPLODE when they die? Omg I had no idea that's a thing. I might give it another try then but still I don't think that makes it a good ship.

Also I was experimenting with the new augments so I might as well give you my OPINIONS on them. So far I only tried these:

Explosive Replicator: This is very usefull when you are dependant on missiles or bombs. You don't have to care about ammunition at all because I almost never used more missiles then I gained in the fight.

Defense Scrambler: I only had it for a moment ad never got to use it much. This is probably really usefull against boss but I dont know.

Emergency Respirator: A lot of ships have this now and it's really good against Lanius or ehen you get your O2 destroyed and have to repair something in area without oxygen. So I never switched it for something else.

Fire Suppression: THIS, I thought it's gonna suck, but I got it during my boarding run with Mantis and you just don't have to care about fire at all. It's also pretty fast at putting it out. This thing is gonna be extremely usefull in the Rock B ship.

Backup DNA Bank: This means that you can switch the clone bay off during lack of power and don't care about getting your crew killed. But it's not that usefull I think.

Distracion Buoys: Useless.

Zoltan Shield Bypass: Inredible with a boarding crew when fighting the boss. Third stage is then much easier.

Reconstructive Teleporter: This is insanely good when you are boarding. If you only have cloning bay you can still heal your crew. Also works both ways so when your crew gets damaged in ship just teleport to the enemy and boom it's healed.

[hybridfive]

My first impression of the new game came from beating the game with Lanius A.

As for the specific weapons and systems, I'm not 100% sold on anything. Mind Control and Hacking both seem like cheaper ways to do previously difficult things. Backup Battery seems like a flat out cost savings.

I don't like the way the AI responses to Mind Control by fighting their own crew with 2 guys, rather than 1. It basically guarantees that if you can damage the room they're in, you're going to kill someone in the opposing crew, probably the MC target. And the cost is almost non-existent, due to the scanner station upgrade. Maybe it's just the way that the Ion Stunner interacts with it, but it seemed really easy to crew enemy ships.

Hacking seems like a more flexible, more reliable, but slower ion cannon. I don't like that it never misses. I wish the hacking drone was targetable by defense drones, but had a higher dodge rate or something. In the early sectors, I just used it as an ion 2 shot to disable a shield, to get damage in first. In later sectors, I could choose whether to use it as a second cloaking device by targeting weapons, or to guarantee hits from my weapons by targeting piloting. It seems too versatile to be balanced.

Cloning also seems strong. I'll need to see it with a teleporter, but it seems like the two together would be pretty absurd.

I really like the chain lasers. I think the dynamic of a weapon spinning up to fire is really cool. I'm lukewarm on flak guns, multi-charge weapons, and the advanced ion options.

Combining all those things together, the Lanius achievements felt really easy compared to some of the previous ships. Rock achievements were incredibly hard. These ones basically felt like "get to sector 8 with this ship."



But broader-scale, I like all the game-wide changes. I'm one of these people that meticulously pauses to micromanage. It's to the point where I essentially double-click pause to advance the game the tiniest bit, in order to maximize the timer on things like Cloak. So the green box that shows where a character is walking to is fantastic to me. The crew stations memory is also great. Anything that makes movement easier is solid.

The changes to the symbology and payout structures are decent. I like that the visual health warning, although I think it's funny that the experience tracker is in the same place. I also like that sometimes you get crew with experience.

I really enjoy the manned doors and sensors. Oh man. That's basically like a free 60 scrap. Having the engineer start in the sensor bay, then run to the engineer room, is hilarious. Being able to lock doors without paying for it is a big bonus as well.

I love all the new events. My favorite so far was a Slug ship and a Rock ship arguing about the Slugs doing shoddy repair work and demanding exorbitant payment. Sound familiar? I've been there, Rockman, and I know your pain. I also liked the multiple times I received a reactor upgrade as a reward. I like that someone shares their expertise, rather that just flat out handing you money.

All in all, I think there's a lot to like. Game balance has certainly changed, but that's not necessarily bad.

[5thHorseman]

Distraction buoys are not useless. They give you one extra jump in every sector. Assuming there are 10 jumps in a sector without nebulas, you get a 10% boost to your explored jumps.

It's less useful when exploring lots of nebulas and every time you misjudge (or the map screws you over) and end up ahead of the fleet at the exit beacon with nowhere to go, but it's still a good thing to have. It's sort of like a poor-man's scrap recovery arm, with the bonus that as soon as you enter sector 7 you can sell it and replace it with something else without losing out on its benefit.

[Twinge]

Backup DNA Bank: This means that you can switch the clone bay off during lack of power and don't care about getting your crew killed. But it's not that usefull I think.

Distracion Buoys: Useless.

Backup DNA is a protective luxury item. It's not about not needed to power your Cloning Bay all the time - you already have no reason to do that. Instead, it's about keeping your crew alive if they were trying to revive when the enemy dropped a missile right on top of it. I think you can also safely use your suicidal boarders even if your Clone Bay is hacked with it, but I'm not certain. I still wouldn't generally get it as I consider it a luxury that's hard to afford on Hard, but it can be nice extra layer of protection.

The Distraction Buoys are basically just like the Scrap Arm - you get more scrap from more hops. You also get a little more flexibility in your jumps, but you also net less total scrap compared to an Arm (and costs you more fuel). I think this should cost 50 (maybe 45?) and S Arm should be 55.

[Tweevle]

Is it just me or are the Lanius ridiculously adorable? I usually don't accept surrender but when they do it I just can't bear to refuse. Those desperate little white flags ...

Backup DNA is a protective luxury item. It's not about not needed to power your Cloning Bay all the time - you already have no reason to do that. Instead, it's about keeping your crew alive if they were trying to revive when the enemy dropped a missile right on top of it.

Just don't let all your crew die when that happens. I learned that the hard way.

[itg]

Hacking seems like a more flexible, more reliable, but slower ion cannon. I don't like that it never misses. I wish the hacking drone was targetable by defense drones, but had a higher dodge rate or something. In the early sectors, I just used it as an ion 2 shot to disable a shield, to get damage in first. In later sectors, I could choose whether to use it as a second cloaking device by targeting weapons, or to guarantee hits from my weapons by targeting piloting. It seems too versatile to be balanced.

It's already targetable by defense drones, with no dodge bonus. Anti-drone drones, too.

[gamjuven]

So far I really like the expansion. It's free so that's awesome. I really like the new music and the new race as well. The main thing I don't like is how you pretty much have to have mind control to beat the final boss. You need it simply to negate their use of it on you. I think that's a little dumb. It's fairly easy to counteract I just don't like it. Other than that though, I'm loving it.

My first run I got an event where I had to fight a partially built final federation cruiser! It was epic. I haven't seen someone post about it yet. I beat it and got tons of stuff for it. It was just really cool. I'm looking forward to unlocking everything and seeing some of the new weapons.

[5thHorseman]

The Rebel Shipyard is one of my favorites, I also stumbled upon it without hearing about it and it was epic Lots of goodies from that one. It's like a mini-boss. I also will be fighting it on video in one of my upcoming episodes, no spoilers so I won't even tell you which ship...