Subset Games Forum

Hi,
I'm rather exipierenced gamer but no matter what i do i cannot finish this game. I played a lot, lot of times since 3 days and my maximum sector was five. I have couple of question regarding Normal difficulty and gameplay:

1. I don't want to play on "Easy" but does "Normal" gameplay have the same follow as "Easy" in terms of achievements ? Does "Normal" mode require most/specific "Achievements" from "Easy" gameplay ?

2.No matter what i do i always die: If i try to balance weapons/defense i don't have money to repair hull. Trying to repair hull, no money to defense/rockets. Trying to use "drones" - it is easy at the beginning but as soon as I buy some more weapons/drones i face some very heavy ship and i die.

Once i have 14 powerbars, 7 Weapon Bars (Ion Blast II, Burst Laser III), 4 Drone Bars (2x Anti-Ship II), 4 Shield Bars and ... i was destroyed by 4 teleporting aliens with i cannot kill using my 4 crew members even with healing ?!?! WTF ?

Are you sure that "normal" don't require "perfect" gameplay ?

There isn't a 'perfect' strategy. Any type of upgrade path you follow, there is still some chance of facing a ship that will annihilate you. It's one of the reasons most players dont win more than 3/10 games...

FTL is easy to learn but hard to master. As you play more, you will learn more about your failures and how to try and prevent them and avoid them. There are some general basic suggestions such as invest in a shield early to avoid losing scrap to endless repairs. But beyond those basics it's really a matter of circumstances. If you try to adapt what you have to what you face, you will fare a little bit better than if you try to find the 'ideal' setup. For example, the Fire Beam and Fire Bomb are far from my favourite weapons, but using them helped me win the game. Not just using them well in combat, but adapting my ship to get the most out of these weapons.

Every time you start a new game the odds are immediatley against you. The game was designed this way. Until you get more experience as a player it will be extra hard, but it will allways be hard. Knowing this, i try to have fast engines when i can afford upgrading them. Not only does it help with evasion , but it really helps when running away from superior opponents. Sometimes you will have a hard game on your hands no matter what. But unless you are completey unhappy with the game and having no fun, you can allways try again.

1. Play on Easy if the game is killing your fun. Easy has tighter 'caps' on enemy ships in the early sectors so they are not as brutal and it gives a slight bonus to earned scrap. Normal gives 25% bonus to your score. I prefer the full challenge of the game, but if your fun is being ruined take it easy.

2. That is the balance we all must consider. Since earlier sectors pay lower rewards it would make sense to upgrade the ship gradually. There are no rights and wrongs here.

For example if you upgrade your systems more than the reactor can handle, you can allways reroute power from some systems to boost others. I often steal power from Life Support and even Shields to boost engines fully, just to handle an incoming missile. It can mean a 10% bonus to evasion. If i dodge the missile i power up the system i took power from. On the other hand i also like to buy up reactor upgrades even when i have no system to power. Reactor upgrades are cheap and ion storms sap your power making extras desirable. It's neither right nor wrong.

Eliminating damage is important, because it increases the amount you can spend on upgrades. In sectors 1-2 getting 2 shields and 4-5 engine levels will make it easier to look for weapon replacements if later sectors. Do take the time to explore the early sectors because getting as much out of them as humanly possible will make your chances better later on.

Finally, check out this topic, it's loaded with excellent tips.

And finally finally, welcome to the forum.

Many thanks for you reply. Will try to play on easy with some engine upgrades.

Forgot to confirm that Normal doesn't have any requirements or differences with regard to achievements. They can all be unlocked on either mode. The game will list wheter an achievement was unlocked on Easy or Normal, but there is no difference.

If you spend lots of scrap on repairs, something is going wrong. First goal always has to be to avoid damage. Always have enough shields to soak up any shots. Take out their weapons quickly. For missile defense either Def drone 1 or enough weapons to take out their launchers immediatly.
Boarding parties are easily dispatched if you use airlocks and medbay to your advantage. Theres no need to play on easy, I never tried it.

My friend something allways goes wrong.

I had a strange run in the Noether. Strange because after struggleing a bit in the early sectors, the ship became more powerfull and easily disposed of opposition in sectors 3-6. With 2 Ion Blasts 1 Heavy Laser, Pike Beam and later a Hull Smasher MkII there was very little opposition that could do much more than scratch the shields.

Unfortunately the damage sustained early kept the shield away for a looong time. I remember musing at the exit of secotr 1 how i had earned 120 scrap only to have 0 scrap and the same amount of fuel i had when i started. It all went to repairs.

Even when i was kicking ass with 3 shield bubbles and the Zoltan shield, every once in a while i would take horrendeous damage. Usually from missiles but sometimes solar flares or heavy beams. I could not shut down the enemie's offense quickly enough and the repair bills added up. Eventually it cause a lack of progress with upgrades, so once 4 shield enemies with high evasion showed up, i could do very little. I did make it to the end, but just opened up the airlocks and suffocated my crew to end the game. There was no way to win.

Point of it is, it's highly desirable to avoid excessive damage, but man oh man sometimes it's just gonna get through no matter what.

Well, I'm after another two days of playing on Easy. Was able to unlock Stealth Fighter(no shields ? AYFKM ?) ,meet boos and ofc i die. I follow guides about shields and engine, I learn how to train crew members, deal with boarding etc I know witch weapons/combos with drones give very nice results(Ion + Laser = no shieds>then Beam) but there is to much randomizes when going thought galaxy: one time i was able to get what i want where next time i endup with some shitty weapons and argumentation at the time of my death.

I don't know what else i can do to beat Boos when he fires 4 rockets at me and having 4 drones around my ship

Radek2212 wrote:I don't know what else i can do to beat Boos when he fires 4 rockets at me and having 4 drones around my ship

Of course the advice below is a [SPOILER] and my personal opinion. Your mileage may vary.


Boss stage 2 checklist:
- 3 shield bubbles (4 is even better but probably too expensive)
- MAX engines
- Master Helmsman & Engineer
- Cloaking device lvl1 (no more than lvl1)
- Defense Drone MkI
- Drone Control, Cloak and Helm should have more upgrade levels than you need. This will help them function even after being hit.
- Teleporter
- Blast Doors lvl 3 (optional)
- Any weapon combination capable of dealing with 4 shields and high evasion, without boarder assistance!

Boss fight order of attack:
- First order of business is to teleport 2 crew into the Tri-Missile bay to eliminate it from the rest of the fight.
- Next disable the Triple-Ion weapon to keep your shields. Use a second team for this is you have enough crew.
- Good weapons are Breach Bomb, Ion Bomb or Fire Bomb. Target the shields with bombs or missiles.
- With shields down target engines and shields to reduce enemy evasion and keep the shields down.
- If you have any hull weapons target empty rooms, if you have beams, hit multiple rooms.
boss dies.
- repair your ship, heal the crew and get ready.

Because the boss lives again in stage 2:
- DO NOT CLOAK!
- Engage Defense Drone MkI and be sure to have crew ready to repair it. Keep this Drone on at all costs!
- Again teleport into the Tri-Missile bay first.
- Keep targeting shields and engines until you destroy the boss. Ignore their Drone Control.
- When a power surge is detected, wait for the drone swarm to appear, THEN cloak! lvl1 only.
boss dies.

The above is some great advice and having beaten the game with 9 different ships on normal difficulty, I have picked up some great pointers in reading this to refine my game-play even further.

I'd like to add something about the "journey" aspect of the game. By "journey", I am referring to the "average expected randomization in events and enemies" that you tend to experience although there are typically always some extreme circumstances that really test your metal under fire (i.e being boarded by 4 Mantis' in an Ion-Storm).

First-off, you have a choice of the path you choose to reach the boss in Sector 8. But each sector type you choose has a risk-reward ratio. Green is low risk, but also low reward whereas Red and Purple (Nebula) are going to be high risk with high reward.....So, there is nothing wrong with going increasing and lowering the difficulty sector by sector based on how strong you feel you ship might be (inversely proportional to how much damage you take as well as the amount of money you spend on repairs). One caveat though.....If you don't take risks, you may not get lucky enough to get enough scrap to make your ship strong.

Secondly, it needs to be assumed that your "journey losses" (cost for replacement hull strength and lost crew) are not due to bad decisions (i.e exploring that dangerous asteroid field, sending crew to kill spiders), but purely as a result of "battle losses". Some positive/negative events are worth taking the risk, but it all depends on whether or not you have hull, crew (or sometimes scrap) to spare.

Finally, if you're having difficulty beating the game (or beating it with a certain ship), there is nothing wrong with watching someone with experience do it with high-quality instruction. One such set of videos (16 out of 18 ships beaten on Normal) can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... xR3spvV29E This particular author, Vanguard of Valor, explains during the "journey" what the priorities for that ship are as well as the reasoning behind decisions during events, battles and sector choices (all relative to how his ship is currently performing -or under-performing). You mentioned unlocking the steal cruiser featuring no starting shields.... These videos can be worth their weight in gold in showing you how to survive this adversity until shields can be acquired.

And welcome to the game and the forums! Feel free to chat with us at: http://webchat.quakenet.org/?channels=f ... ght&uio=d4, but please wait for a response before signing off as the room is not manned 24/7.
-Antony

P.S. "Autofire" is rarely your friend except for Ion weaponry and weapons (with identical charge times) that can be "synced". Otherwise, you'll want to very skillfully control the precise times, and order, which your weapons fire as well as know when to postpone and retire the use of certain weapons during a battle event.

I finally did it wihoout looking at spoilers or videos ! Have some powerful weapon and Boarding drones Challenging game Now i want to try other ships and continue to play. Thank you for initial help