So, I've been playing FTL now for a year plus and I'm sure you'd all agree it's one of the best indie games ever produced. Just brilliant.
Recently, I've been toying around with the idea to use the FTL game as a backbone to creating a "Captain's Log" of sorts, telling the story of the play-through, staying 100% true to the decision making, events and story as it unfolds. I started writing up a couple of the logs and shared them with a couple of friends. They seemed to think it was kind of fun and interesting, so I thought what the hell, I'll fire up a blog and see if other people might enjoy it too.
I will update this thread as I create / post the updates and try to get involved in the discussion here. I just found these forums today when I was searching the internets trying to find out if other people were already doing something similar (doesn't appear so, but I didn't want to step on anyone's toes if such was the case).
Anyway, I will answer any questions that pop up and try not to be a lurker otherwise.
On with the show!
edit: oh, if anyone wants to follow along on the blog as well / instead, the address is:
This blog will be centered around a fictionalized recounting of play-through sessions of the game FTL (Faster Than Light). The game is a “rougelike” structure, meaning that at the beginning of each session, the entire “universe” is randomized. You might run into the same scenarios on multiple sessions but there is never a guarantee that the same set of circumstances or decisions will result in the same outcome. The result is a game that is infinitely replayable and ruthlessly challenging to the point where if you somehow manage to not get your ship destroyed or crew killed immediately, it seems like a victory just to have made it out of the starting gates. There are no shortage of moralistic decisions to make, some harder than others. Do you let the amateur pirates live after you give them a spanking and they admit they’ve made a grave error in trying to start up a life of piracy, or do you put them down like the scurvy dogs they are? Do you destroy the slaver ship, dooming all onboard, or do you let them live in exchange for letting one of their captives free (to join your crew)?
I have been playing FTL for some time now and had the idea that it would make a great vehicle for a fictional re-telling of the events, trials and tribulations. Everything you read in this blog’s format is more or less an exact replica of how the game has presented itself, the decisions that were made, and the end results.
This is my first blog and my first attempt at this. It has been fun thus far, and I hope you enjoy reading through it. I will do my best to edit and polish the entries as best I can, please bear with me if they are not 100% up to spec.
For the uninitiated: FTL is an indie-game developed in 2011 and it set the gaming world on fire in 2012, winning a number of awards and well deserved recognition along the way.
The basic structure is that we, the player, begins with a modest starter ship and by way of playing through the game, earn and unlock better ships and variants of those ships. Each ship comes with a widely variant set of crew, systems, advantages and disadvantages. The object of the game is to manage to survive your travels and encounters, evading the pursuing Rebel Fleet and upgrading your ship to offset growing threats to your ship. Your goal is to reach Federation Headquarters, where you must deliver critical data to the Federation regarding the Rebel Flagship. While the game creates upwards of 20-30 sectors in each randomly generated game, the player must only travel through 8 of them to reach “The Last Stand” where they must face the Rebel Flagship.
These are the Black Box recordings and Captain’s Logs taken from the voyages of the HMS Hardwood, on a mission to save the galaxy from the Rebel Fleet intent on destroying the Federation. She was tasked to deliver sensitive information and data on the Rebel flagship to Federation HQ. In order to complete the mission, they had to navigate through a series of jump points and Sectors to reach HQ, where they were to undoubtedly make their Last Stand.
Their home base was destroyed before they could properly outfit their ship. As an older Federation Cruiser, their immediate need was to find spare parts, salvage and upgrade materials along the way. With the Rebel Fleet at their heels, they had to move quickly. As the Rebel Fleet gives chase and scans for their location, they must move with great haste to the nearest exit beacon to secure their escape.
The following are the decoded logs taken from the HMS Hardwood’s encrypted Black Box. As the logs are decoded, they will be uploaded for review.
Thankfully the ‘Wood still has its military grade Artillery Beam intact, even if an older model without the modern upgrades to power modulation and accuracy. Even so, the old beast can slice through shields like a hot knife through butter. Though it takes some time for the weapon to charge, the result is devastating.
The only other weapon this ship is equipped with is a Burst Laser, good for peppering enemy shields and sending a quick volleys of laser fire to disrupt enemy systems.
The shields are thin and older tech, but functional.
The reactor is likewise not upgraded to modern standard and other sub-systems clearly are in need of attention.
We will have to do better than this if we intend to make our way deep into the battle, past enemy lines to deliver our critical data. We seem to have a slight head start on the Rebel fleet, hopefully we can put that to good use and salvage parts, equipment and upgrades for this old boat that will see us through to the end.
Scans show a remote settlement being blockaded by a pirate ship. While I was deciding how best to proceed, the pirate ship picks up the HMS ‘Wood and opens comms.
A strangely modulated voice screeches, “Stay out of this, or you’ll be next! … Concentrate fire on…” and the line goes dead.
Quickly, I snap, “We can’t leave these people to be slaughtered. Alright everyone, let’s do this. General Quarters!” and as they had done many times prior, the crew scrambled to their stations to prepare for battle.
The Pirate ship is small, which will mean one or two sure hits should bring her down. However, it also means that she is likely agile and hard to hit.
Seeing our ship come around and begin powering up systems, the pirate wheels his ship and presses the attack. He is extremely quick. Before our crew has even had a chance to reach their stations, a small bomb, designed for destroying and disrupting systems, rather than harming the hull of a vessel, has been teleported aboard our ship into the Shield Generator Bay. Just moments before the bomb detonates, Ensign Jill sprints through the shield room, hurdling bulkheads enroute to the forward compartments of the ship. Her destination is the Fire Control Center, from which she controls the weapon suite. This allows for more accurate weapons’ fire than the ship’s automated systems.
The entire Shield Bay is scorched by the little bomb and our shields have been knocked offline! This is not good. Engineer WaiShing, a lumbering Rockman, was not yet to his station in the Shield Bay when the bomb went off, thankfully. Although, his armored outer skin could have easily withstood the blast. Having now arrived and begun the task of assessing the damage and attempting to repair the Shield Generator, he sets to work with a grunt.
The ship’s emergency warning panel lights up like a Christmas tree as the damage report reaches the Bridge. I punch the comms button and order Lisa to double back to help with the repairs. Without shields, we will undoubtedly take a pounding that will produce costly repairs, or worse. The computer can handle targeting duties in the meanwhile.
A glance over to the Artillery Beam charge indicator shows 43% and climbing, slowly. Damn! No one set the Burst Laser to charge before Lisa went running forward to the Fire Control Center. From the Bridge, I tell the computer to begin charging the Burst Laser and auto-target the Pirate’s weapon control center. Hopefully a lucky burst will slow them down long enough for WaiShing and Lisa to repair our shields and for the Artillery Beam to fully charge. I need that bomb launcher to stop.
The Pirate ship has a small single shot laser and it charges quickly. Without shields, we are vulnerable and taking fire. An unmanned storage room is hit, followed by an aft airlock. We are not seriously hurt, but the chances of one of these shots scoring a lucky blow are increasing by the second. Just as WaiShing and Lisa report in on comms that the shields are back up, another explosion rocks the ship. The Pirate has teleported another bomb into the forward compartments. The system warning alarm is still lit up, indicating the forward Burst Laser battery has been taken down.
Before I can even key the comms and give the order, Lisa is already sprinting through the narrow bulkheads forward to save her weapons suite, through flames and smoke.
Systems check. Artillery Beam at 68% charge. If we don’t start returning fire soon, the Pirate ship will keep picking us apart.
Another laser shot strikes the ship, but Notch has maneuvered the ‘Wood just enough and it glances off our shields. A third explosion now, one compartment forward of the Fire Control Room where Lisa is feverishly repairing her weapons control suite. The forward airlock. It has been hit badly and is on fire. Almost automatically, I reach for the door control switch and vent the airlock to kill the fire. Just as I am reaching for the airlock control switch, the beautiful humming sound of our Artillery Beam coming to life begins from above and behind the bridge and then jolts the ship as the beam is unleashed on the Pirate ship, scoring a direct hit and cutting easily through their shield. The powerful beam slices through the hull and damages their Fire Control, Shield Generator and crew quarters. She is hurt badly and listing slightly. But, the Pirate is not yet out of the fight.
The good news: Surprisingly, despite being hit by the Pirate’s small bombs, we have taken relatively little damage. Lisa has repaired the weapons control suite, the fire in the airlock has been put out and the outer doors closed.
The bad news: The ‘Wood’s reactor has not been retrofitted for some time and lacks the power output to fully power all the systems simultaneously. With the weapons suite operational again, power must be diverted from the engines and the med bay to the Burst Lasers. This will give Notch less thruster power to maneuver, and any injured crew will need to tough it out until this is over, but it is time to put this Pirate down for good and we can’t wait for the Artillery Beam to slowly charge again.
Our shield, despite being composed of just one thin layer, is deflecting the Pirate’s small laser fire. They must have used all their bombs up, or the launcher was damaged by the Artillery Beam, because the explosions have stopped. The Burst Laser comes to life and with Lisa’s fine tuning, all three of the bolts strike home on the Pirate ship, the first shot disrupting the shield barrier, and the follow up lasers blowing chunks of metal and panels off of their Fire Control tower. Their guns have gone silent.
The Pirate vessel opens a comms channel and begins bartering for their lives, offering fuel, missiles, supplies in exchange for their release. The decision is instantaneous. No. They will not be allowed to threaten other innocents in this system. Piracy cannot be forgiven.
A quick scan of the instrument panel shows the Artillery Beam is recharging but is only at 50%. The Burst Laser will be recharged in a fraction of the time. The order is given to Lisa to fire at will. Seconds later the forward battery is powered and the next volley tears the Pirate ship apart. The battle is won.
Salvage operations recover twice as much fuel and supplies as were being offered by the Pirates for their lives. The greedy bastards deserved what they had coming. The settlers of the remote outpost offer their gratitude and some needed supplies. While we offer to take on additional crew, they all decide to test their fate and defend their homestead against the inevitable next wave of pirates, rebels and profiteers.
We move on to the next jump point, heading in the general direction of where the exit beacon is marked on our charts.
Sensors are picking up a Federation encrypted signal being broadcast from a nearby planet. Might be a trap, but then it might be genuine. It is worth the risk of an ambush to seek out assistance, especially so early in our voyage when we clearly are in need of extra supplies, upgrades and retrofit.
As we approach the signal, we receive a hail on a Rebel channel!
“I knew we’d catch some Federation fish with this signal! Prepare to be boarded, Federation scum!” A Rebel Fighter appears out from behind an asteroid and powers up.
Simultaneously, the intruder alert klaxxon begins blaring as three heavily armed human commandos transport into the Shield Bay and begin assaulting our Rockman. Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for them, WaiShing’s toughness deflects much of the damage and buys time for Mort to rush up from the aft engineering decks and Lisa to move in to assist in the hand to hand combat.
Mort, as a Mantis, not only moves at twice the speed of a normal biped, but is equipped with lightning fast, barbed arms that are capable of inflicting great damage to an opponent. In contrast, Lisa, an Engi, is part organic and part synthetic. She is exceptionally skilled at interfacing and repairing hardware, but ill-equipped for hand to hand combat. We will have to keep a close eye on her vital signs and sound the retreat for her to seek medical attention in the Med Bay as needed. Unfortunately, with our reactor problems, there is not enough power to keep the Med Bay active unless we sacrifice another system temporarily. If it comes to it, I will cut power to the engines and take our chances versus their weapons until we can repel the boarding party.
With no one manning the Shield Bay interface or the weapon control suite, our shield and our weapons will not operate at maximum efficiency, but all I need is a little luck. The Arty Beam is already coming online, 37% charge and climbing. Full power is sent to the forward Burst Laser battery, and set to be auto-targeted to their weapons systems. A little prayer that it will charge and fire before they can get their first volley off goes unanswered as both ships send their first exchange simultaneously.
Meanwhile, WaiShing, despite taking some early shots while outnumbered, has rallied and landed several crushing blows, bludgeoning the smaller human commando. Mort has his launched himself at the second commando and in short order, has him bleeding from a number of wounds. Lisa, however, is not doing as well. She has damaged her opponent, but has herself taken several direct hits and is badly wounded. The order is begrudgingly obeyed for her to fall back to the Med Bay. WaiShing and Mort will have to handle the three remaining boarders alone.
The ‘Wood’s forward Burst Laser reached full charge and fired three pulses at the same time the Rebel fighter opened fire with their double laser cannon.
MISSILE LAUNCH DETECTED!
The ‘Wood’s central computer screamed, in as much as a computerized “bitching Betty” voice was able. The flashing warning lights and BRACE FOR IMPACT instruction was driving the seriousness of the matter home, even if Betty’s slight British-monotone accent was unable to provide the proper level of concern.
Notch throws the ship into wild evasive maneuvers in a desperate attempt to jink the incoming cannon and missile fire. The first cannon shot goes wide, and the second absorbs into the ‘Woods flimsy shield, knocking it off-line temporarily. The incoming missile continues to track inbound.
The ‘Wood’s auto-targeted shots strike home. The Rebel ship feels the full impact of the laser burst, knocking down the shield and scoring direct penetrating hits to their weapons control center. The outdated sensors of the ‘Wood can’t see inside the enemy ship but that kind of brutally accurate hit was sure to have caused secondary fires and explosions. The Rebel Fighter’s cannons and missile battery slump visibly and go dark.
MISSILE LOCK DETECTED, 2 SECONDS TO IMPACT
Notch slams the controls back the opposite direction and nearly manages to avoid the incoming missile. Without any anti-ballistic defense, the ‘Wood’s only hope is to manually dodge the homing warhead. Notch’s effort was almost enough. The missile punches through the forward hull and detonates in the fore airlock. Expecting another secondary fire, I reach for the airlock controls but stop when I noticed no fire, and miraculously, not even a hull breach warning!
With the enemy ship unable to fire on ours, I give the order for Notch to set the ship to autopilot and join in the fighting in the Shield Bay. Once Lisa had extracted herself from the fight, WaiShing was dealing with 2 commandos by himself but still holding his own. To begin patching Lisa up, I transfer power from Engineering to the Med Bay. While WaiShing has been dealing out as much damage as he has been taking, the battle is beginning to wear on him and his retreat to the Med Bay becomes a necessity. Meanwhile, Mort has sliced his opponent cleanly in half and turned his attention to the remaining two commandos. Just as he began to close with them, Notch bursts through the door with his blaster at the ready and finishes off one of the remaining commandos. The last remaining commando was already in bad shape, having taken a beating from WaiShing and in a matter of seconds, lost an arm and was ripped open by Mort, left to die in a pile of his own meat.
The Burst Laser has charged once more and fires a new burst into the same damaged area of the enemy ship, ending any bid by the Rebel crew to repair their weapons systems and present a threat. The tide has swung and the Rebel ship is running out of options.
Arty Beam 85%
With Lisa at full health, she returns to her weapons control suite, freeing up the third available pod in the Med Bay for Notch to get cleaned up as well.
Another volley from the Burst Laser is sent over, this time into their Shielding Module, with an unexpected level of accuracy. The Rebel ship is now incredibly damaged and seemingly ready to explode at any moment.
A low hum starts from above and behind the bridge, followed by a slight jolt as the energy is focused and released through the beam rails towards the targeted enemy ship. The shot is slightly wide, but the sweeping arc of the beam cuts back into the enemy ship and slices through the starboard engine nacele, creating a fireball and chain-explosion that tears the ship completely apart.
Salvage operations recover 2 missiles, a drone component and a fair amount of scrap and other upgrade materials.
We now have enough scrap items and upgrades collected at this point to perform some much needed improvements to the ‘Wood, but scans are picking up a merchant vessel in the area and the decision is made to hold onto the salvage in case we might need to barter.
We made a jump and wound up in an asteroid field. To make matters worse, a Rebel scout is on our trail and closing to engage. I now wish I had used our available supplies and scrap modules to improve our shields instead of holding out for the nearby merchant. With only one layer of shields, we will be vulnerable for seconds at a time as the incoming asteroids are deflected by the shield. Or, worse, if we take fire from the scout and the shields are unable to deflect the asteroids, heavy damage is certain.
Full power given to the forward Burst Laser, targeting the enemy weapons bay. I shut down the Med Bay and give the underpowered engines a little more juice. Maybe Notch can pull some magic and dodge a few of the asteroids with this old tub.
More bad news. The enemy ship has drones! A beam-weapon drone has begun to orbit our ship. While the drone and its weapon are relatively small, it is capable of surgically attacking and destroying our systems quite rapidly if the shield goes down. This is not good.
Almost immediately, we are struck by a small asteroid, which is deflected by our shields. The temporary downtime to recharge the shield layer is enough time for the drone to get in two beam-weapon shots on our hull, taking out our sensors and life support. I punch the comms button and order Lisa aft to get on top of the life support module as I watch the Oxygen percentage begin to drop in our ship. With no sensors, we won’t be able to get reliable information on damage to the ‘Wood. Until they are back up, we will have to perform manual sweeps to look for fires and hull breaches.
Lisa’s synthetic hands have the Life Support module back up and running in just moments and she is off and running just as quickly through the bulkheads to get our sensors back on line. Just then, another asteroid gets through the shield layer. Our luck is running out. The Life Support module is hit again and the previous repairs have not held. Oxygen now at 74% and dropping. The enemy’s drone has scored another beam-weapon hit, taking out our door control module and slicing up an unoccupied room next to the engine compartment. If we have a fire, we will be unable to vent the exterior airlocks to put it out. The crew will have to fight it manually.
WARNING, HULL INTEGRITY AT 75%
I have been so wrapped up in our own struggles that I have not noticed the enemy ship is faring poorly as well in this asteroid belt environment. The Burst Laser has found its mark and scorched their weapon control center badly. Lisa is still running back and forth trying to keep life support up and running while she repairs the sensors and door control. Without her manning our weapons suite, I will have to rely on our auto-targeting. That drone must be silenced, or it will be the end of us. The drone control module on the enemy ship is selected as the next target, and we go back to focusing on damaged modules on our own boat. Thankfully, there haven’t been any fires. I almost don’t even want to think it, lest I jinx it. A fire without sensors or door control would likely spell the end of us at this point. Lisa is hurt, but still working at full speed. I can’t afford to send her to the Med Bay for medical attention.
All of a sudden, their drone goes dark and floats above our ship lifeless. It appears the asteroids have done considerable damage to their systems as well. Then, like an angel singing, I hear the low hum beginning above and behind the bridge. With a familiar jolt, the Artillery Beam reaches out and finishes off the Rebel scout, slicing it clean in half.
Thank God, WaiShing has kept our shield layer up and running. It has just enough juice to feebly deflect all of the incoming asteroids while we wait for the engines to power up so we can jump out of this area.
The damage is extensive. Nearly half our hull integrity is gone. Lisa is ordered to report to the Med Bay for medical attention. To add insult to injury, we have underestimated the Rebel Fleet. Sensors show that they have entered the system and are now in direct pursuit to our location. No time to stop at the merchant vessel now, we have to press onward as quickly as possible to the exit beacon.
I order the crew to use the salvaged parts we have collected so far to upgrade the shield, reinforce the doors, add some power to the reactor core and see about improving the recharge rate on the Arty Beam. With another shield layer, the close call we just had shouldn’t happen again until we are deeper into the battle and encounter bigger, stronger hostile ships. The reinforced doors will help keeping boarding parties isolated longer, and minimize the spread of any fires that may start.
Lisa reports in that the shield modifications have been completed, and the reactor core upgraded. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough scrap and supplies to get more juice out of this old reactor. While we have sufficient power for the new double-layered shield array, the Arty Beam’s improvements aren’t powered, unless we cut all power to the engines. Floating without being able to maneuver is a dead man’s game. I won’t be relying on the beam’s upgraded charge rate except in an absolutely dire set of circumstances. We will have to upgrade the reactor again at the first available opportunity. We are already only running on half power to the engines and the Med Bay is unpowered.
Looking at the system star chart, it appears there is a direct route to the exit beacon, but a second route is available that will provide opportunity to search for more scrap and upgrade equipment, albeit with more risk of being caught by the Rebel Fleet. We’ve already gambled once and lost with the merchant, but this seems like the right play to make. We need the upgrades badly before we get any deeper into enemy controlled territory. Course set, jump engines powered up and off we go.
