Subset Games Forum

I was looking on GOG, and happened to see this game on sale for $2.50. Being a one-time Weird Worlds modder, and a space genre fan, and seeing the rave reviews, I figured it was too good a deal to pass up.

I'd say I've gotten my money's worth out of it. I've liked almost everything about it -- at first it was curiously difficult, but now I've gotten a bit better, and have racked up a few wins (although mostly with the more overpowered ships). The graphics have a nice retro feel to them, and the music is good (especially the Rock music -- I enjoyed it so much that I've flown into a Rock sector a few times just so I could hear it). The Flagship was tricky at first, but now that I'm pretty well acquainted with its quirks I can beat it as often as not.

I've unlocked most of the ships, though. The only one I haven't gotten any form of is the Slug Cruiser -- I'm missing that, the Stealth B, and the Mantis B. Other than that, I think I have everything. I haven't played much on Normal yet, and I would like to rack up some wins with non-Rock-family or Osprey ships, but I can foresee a time somewhat in the future when I will have gotten everything the mainline game has to offer.

In y'all's opinion, what's the best, most complete mod package available? The larger and the more professional quality, the better. I'd prefer to have something that I can assume won't crash on me, if that's at all convenient. Balance would be nice. What's especially important is that it preserve the game's atmosphere -- I don't have anything against Star Wars or any of that, but I'd prefer to stay strictly in FTL's reality. I've looked at the mod list and I have a few ideas what's likely to best fit this mold, but figured it'd help to get some input on this.

Thanks for your time!

I would suggest that instead of looking for a complete mod (though there are a couple in various states of completion) and instead go through and try ships. I would be remiss if I didn't suggest my own three (and I'm reworking one of them into a fourth), but there are hundreds of ships out there, and dozens of good ones.

First off, you'll want to take a look at the Master Mod List as it's much easier and faster to navigate then the cluttered forum. And you need Grognak's Mod Manager to instal mods. (There are a few really old mods buried in the archives that don't work with GMM, but they took a ton of work to install and most of them don't work with the newer versions of FTL anyways. Plus most of them suck.)

FTL Captain's Edition is exactly what you're asking for. It also has a mini-mod that changes the default ship's weapons. (Trying the alternate Zoltan B is a must especially for playing a ship that is still balanced but kicks all the ass.) All that said, it does crash occasionally as it is super extensive and still in development.

Descent into Darkness is a classic and one of the best FTL mods ever forever. It's not mentioned on the page, but besides adding the amazing player ship, enemies are switched up just enough to make the game more challenging. It doesn't change as much as Captain's Edition does in this regard, but it's one of the few mods that does change enemies and therefore makes for a few unique playthroughs.

FTL Infinite Space is exactly what it says on the tin, but it doesn't work with the most recent patch yet.

Twinge's Balance Mod is the most extensive rebalancing mod by far, and doesn't add any new content. I don't use it because I like using some of the more crazy stuff, but it's totally solid.

All that said, I think you'd be amazed at how much some of the more creative ship mods can change the game up without changing anything else. Give it all a look, because there's some really fun stuff to find.

I just checked and Descent into Darkness is listed. It's in the total conversion section. Iirc it was added as soon as it was released because DryEagle told me about it on IRC.

UltraMantis wrote:I just checked and Descent into Darkness is listed. It's in the total conversion section. Iirc it was added as soon as it was released because DryEagle told me about it on IRC.

Whoops, worded that wrong. I meant that the mod page doesn't mention that it changes enemies.