Subset Games Forum

Hi all,

I recently picked up FTL (off the back of the zeropunctuation review in fact) and am thoroughly hooked!

Playing only on medium, the furthest I've got so far in the game is sector 6 using the kestrel/torus (all else still locked), but I recently got the Zoltan A through the quest and the first run in it is going well...

I registered today as I'm not sure what to do at the start of sector 7. I just picked up the BL2 to increase my offensive capability, but then I noticed the WPI for sale, which I've read can give a serious advantage with slow charge weapons, although the only one I have of those is the starting beam weapon. I'm not sure though about blowing 120 on it as I now need to throw 190 + power at the weapons to support the BL2, and/or would like to get a defense drone. Or would it be better to go for (even) more engines/shields?

I made some screenshots but they're a bit wide to show inline: http://files.upit.me/1400872696.jpg

Thanks!

You don't have a good weapons loadout for the pre-igniter, because you really need to ion down the shields a bit before you can do anything to the flagship, so I'd pass on it. I'd actually buy the combat I drone, if I were you. Two of those going at once will wear down the enemy shields pretty effectively, and once the shields are totally down, they'll shred the flagship. At this point, you probably don't need the drone recovery arm, provided you're a bit stingy with them in the remaining pre-flagship fights.

The shield charge booster might be a good buy for you to hold off the phase 2 drone swarm, since you don't have cloaking. I haven't really tried it, but if the shield charge booster is ever useful, that would be the time.

My course of action:

Buy mantis, your guys are weak vs boarders plus you don't have a large crew, really. A mantis can really help you fend off the boarding drones in the 2nd flagship stage.

Save the rest. Alternatively, don't buy the mantis and just save it all. Your goal should be level 4 shields and/or stealth, and level 8 weapons (defense is higher priority, as even with level 6 weapons and drone you can take down flagship, but level 8 weapons will speed it up). Don't upgrade the shields yet in case you do find Stealth. You can get a ton of scrap in sectors 7 and 8 so I think you can buy the Mantis also. I'm inclined towards the mantis because you are in for a long battle vs the flagship. Basically a 0 power anti-personnel defense drone.

I'd eschew the WPI in this instance for the same reason that itg would. I'd consider the defense drone strongly, and also consider dropping the combat drone for the 25 scrap if it would help me.

Your main problem that I see isn't your weapons or drones, it's that that's all you have. I'd be much more comfortable with that ship if you had mind control or hacking, and I'd be even more comfortable with both. Or a cloak. Yeah, I want more systems

But yeah, ion ion ion until the beam's ready, then BL2 and beam until he's dead. That's your strategy. Buy things that either make that better (WPI does NOT) or keep you alive because that strategy takes a while to build.

Buy the defense drone, then your next 300 scrap upgrade to max weapons, and drone to 4 to run the combat and defense drones. The weapons are great. I love all of those. The defense drone will help slow down hacking and compulsory hull damage from the missiles.

I actually like the combat 1 drone. You can actually run it simultaneously with the defense drone for 2 system/2 power, but it involves a lot of fiddling. Just power it up as the missile fires, it should drop it (if it would at all). Then when the threat is passed, switch back to the combat drone.

Combat drone is nice for dropping zoltan shields.

I'd probably tag O2 to 2 just to deal with cases where it gets hacked.

Thanks everyone, pretty much every strategy covered there! I suppose that's the nice thing about this game - so many ways to play.

I think I'll go with the defense drone and the mantis crewmember (who has +20% shield skill in fact) and hope for another system (cloak etc.) along the way, or max shields/weapons if that doesn't work.

The shield booster and recovery arm are quite cheap. Decisions!!!

Edit: Also separate question: where should I be repairing my hull to? I've been aiming for 15 at every store.

Ahh! So I bought the mantis, defense drone, and recovery arm, then in the middle of the sector I find a cloak for sale and can't afford it! (It's 150, only got 108.) Thinking might sell the arm and a drone which will make enough money, but which drone...?

On top of that, the next node is another store! What if it has hacking/mind control?

Beat the first round on the flagship, but the boarding drones got me in the second The cloak was pretty essential in the end for avoiding missiles as I was dealing so little damage. I couldn't afford the scrap in the end for level 8 weapons so hardly used the beam at all - just the ion and bl2.

1523 scrap and 104 beacons sound low compared to what I've read on here, yet that's by far my best from 25 plays



Oh well!

Good try! Pretty much everyone loses on phase 2 the first time they get there. It's much easier the second time, when you know what to expect.

1523 scrap and 104 beacons sound low compared to what I've read on here, yet that's by far my best from 25 plays

104 beacons is fine, but your scrap total is low because you only defeated 24 ships. You should be defeating twice that many on a typical run. You want to seek out every possible fight, because more fights means more scrap. For example, if you're buying a slave from the slavers, that's nearly always a mistake. Instead of a fight where you gain scrap and a significant chance of a free crewman, you're losing scrap. If you're using a blue option to bypass an auto-scout encounter to access a storage cache, that's probably a mistake, too. If you bypass the fight, you bypass half the reward.

In the same vein, avoid visiting too many shops--even if you don't buy anything, you're effectively paying scrap every time you go to one, because you're missing out on a beacon which could earn you money. Obviously it's worth that "payment" to go to shops now and then, but since there is a big opportunity cost, make each visit count. E.g, hold off on repairs until you also have the scrap to buy some equipment, and skip sector 1 shops, because your scrap is better spent upgrading your shields and engines first.

If you're accepting a lot of surrender offers, that could be part of the problem, too. Surrender offers are typically much worse than the rewards you get for destroying the ship. When in doubt, turn it down. If a surrender offer is worth taking, you'll know it.