Randomness seems...Too Random?

[cuthawolf]

Long term player of FTL, and I love both the base game and what's been done with the Advanced Edition...with one exception I've begun to notice.

Now FTL has always been at least partially random (duh) and so I'm pretty accustomed to dealing with that. AE seems to have pushed the game over that delicate line it was straddling into too random and that's not a statement I make lightly.

With the sheer number of augs, drones and weapons the chances of finding the things you need in stores is astronomically low, and all of the new C variants seems to fall very firmly into the 'Gimmick' category, where they have a gimmick they rely on (Usually one that uses drone parts) and are almost completely pointless when forced to fight without it. I cannot count the number of times I've attempted the game now and been doing okay only to be completely slaughtered (sometimes from full health) by a single ship with a just bewildering array of weapons and ROCK SOLID defenses. Having the hacking drone has really opening my eyes as to just how much faster NPC ships get their shields back than you do, it's kind of brutal.

Anyway, I still love the concept of FTL but I'm finding I have less and less time in my gaming schedule to deal with this kind of heightened randomness. Does anyone else feel like it got more random with AE? Do you find it actually got LESS random? Do you like Pizza?

Regards.

[5thHorseman]

I find it's more random in that you can't rely on any single strategy. Everything is now in the "4 Burst Lasers!" category. You'd like it, but can't really expect to get it, so you'd better have a Plan B and and Plan C. And at least some ideas of what Plan D should be.

I do agree that you occasionally stumble upon some Ubership that probably COULD be toned down a bit. However, I'm not 100% sure yet if that's a bad thing or a good thing.

Everything else you think is bad, I like. If anything else I'd like more options and more randomness. The game was getting a little stale.

[shadowcrust]

I also think that if at all, there should be more randomness in FTL AE. It's much more fun to play when you can expect the Bird Rok around the corner instead of yet another sparrow that you could squash with your left hand. And sometimes, but not often, you find a goose that lays golden eggs. The randomness (and the occasional tough opponents) very much add to the replay value, as does the high number of playable ships.

[Twinge]

I feel AE can still be won very consistently even in Hard difficulty, so I would say that no, the randomness isn't excessive.

[Ruinsage]

I think the store selection is too random. I once found a vulcan in sector one, which was a bit overkill. The selection of weapons should either scale with what the enemy has (if all your customers have top grade weapons, you are not going to be selling a burst laser I, you are going to have better equipment for sale.), or devide the available weapons into tiers and then have a selection from several tiers available. Because getting to sector eight with fully upgraded shields, zoltan shields, stealth weapons and almost full upgraded weapons is great, but it kinda blows when you also have no weapons capable of getting through their shields.

[obliviondoll]

if all your customers have top grade weapons, you are not going to be selling a burst laser I, you are going to have better equipment for sale.

I would. Who knows when a guy's going to come along with only barely enough reactor power to spare for a small weapon alongside his Glaive Beam?

There are valid reasons to bring "weak" weapons even to the Flagship battle.

[project_mercy]

There are valid reasons to bring "weak" weapons even to the Flagship battle.

Seconded. I've won a ton more games with Burst Laser Is and small bombs than Burst Laser IIIs or Glaive Beams.

[cuthawolf]

Cool, I'm actually kind of glad to see I'm the only one who thinks that. Means that I'm looking at it from a bad angle and that if I move around a bit then I might find I'm less frustrated. Thanks much for the feedback guys

[Ruinsage]

I wasn't talking in a gameplay sense, I was talking commercially. These sectors are at the center of federal space, security is (or in this case, was) top notch. When your customers are packing top notch military hardware, you don't show them your collection of the cheapest lasers used by people who made a freighter into a pirate ship, you show them the best hardware available, or they go to someone who have the best available.

[5thHorseman]

I wasn't talking in a gameplay sense, I was talking commercially. These sectors are at the center of federal space, security is (or in this case, was) top notch. When your customers are packing top notch military hardware, you don't show them your collection of the cheapest lasers used by people who made a freighter into a pirate ship, you show them the best hardware available, or they go to someone who have the best available.

And after a galaxy-wide war, BL1s and Small Bombs ARE the best available.