Subset Games Forum

FTL makes lots of sense.

1. When you kill the enemy ships, all enemy drones stop moving. Even though they're in space.
2. An engi is better than 3 Mantis and a rock man vs alien spiders.

TheDreadedPirateTuco wrote:1. When you kill the enemy ships, all enemy drones stop moving. Even though they're in space

Emergency shutdown procedure perhaps? Or your ship generates a gravity field that keeps the enemy drones around.

2. An engi is better than 3 Mantis and a rock man vs alien spiders

3. A Rockman/Crystal/Lanius can be killed in one swipe of a Mantis claws as soon as they pry open a pod.
4. All clones are kept on a real-time database and are immediately defective if they get sick.
4a. Backup DNA banks don't revert back to the previous save for some reason yet they'll preserve a person until you can get the Clone Bay fixed or powered up again.

TheDreadedPirateTuco wrote:FTL makes lots of sense
2. An engi is better than 3 Mantis and a rock man vs alien spiders.

Not all research stations invaded by Ailen spiders are invaded in the same way. The one that your engi beat probably had a few smol ones that were running around that the scientists were scared of because they had played too much half-life. The one that your beef squad got trumped in had an army of them led by death himself.

"Our mission: to destroy all cybugs. Quarter Alert. This is not a drill."

TheDreadedPirateTuco wrote:FTL makes lots of sense.

1. When you kill the enemy ships, all enemy drones stop moving. Even though they're in space.

That's because the enemy drones are powered from the ship's reactor. If the ship is destroyed, the reactor and the drone system will cease operation.

If anything, it is the notion that the drones can be powered direct from the ship that is illogical. But who knows. Maybe in the future there is some kind of technology to transport power wirelessly over more than just half an inch of distance.

2. An engi is better than 3 Mantis and a rock man vs alien spiders.

Is he? My impression was always that the outcome of the alien spider incident has nothing to do with your crew, that it is decided by pure chance whether or not you lose a crew member.

That's because the enemy drones are powered from the ship's reactor. If the ship is destroyed, the reactor and the drone system will cease operation.

Yes but shouldn't the drones start drifting far away, because space and no gravity?

If anything, it is the notion that the drones can be powered direct from the ship that is illogical. But who knows. Maybe in the future there is some kind of technology to transport power wirelessly over more than just half an inch of distance.

Maybe the Drones quickly go back to the Drone Control for a recharge every few shots. Considering how quickly they can get to the enemy ship, might make sense (or its own FTL logic)
Or Drone Control is just a wireless transmitter of power as well.

Is he? My impression was always that the outcome of the alien spider incident has nothing to do with your crew, that it is decided by pure chance whether or not you lose a crew member.

The idea is that it doesn't matter what your crew is, you could have a single Engi in your crew or 8 Mantis but the Giant Alien Spiders are defeated by either. So that's the logic... a single Engi is just as powerful as a full crew against Giant Alien Spiders. No joke.

Arthur Dent wrote:If anything, it is the notion that the drones can be powered direct from the ship that is illogical. But who knows. Maybe in the future there is some kind of technology to transport power wirelessly over more than just half an inch of distance.

Yes, perhaps in the distant future of 1890.

Wireless power transfers have existed in modern electronics for about as long as modern electronics have been around. The weird thing about the drones is that they are somehow able to stop themselves when unpowered. But I would like to point out that the animation of a powered attack drone does show it drifting realistically through space until it decides to alter its heading and it thrusts in almost the correct direction to do so. It's a nice touch and far more realism than I've learned to expect in space opera.



FTL Logic:

Rock Hull Plating (which has a measly 15% chance to protect only your hull from asteroids) makes you completely safe in an asteroid field, but 4 shield bubbles doesn't do you any good and neither does Titanium System Casing.

If offered a blue option to send your Engi or Rockman into the quarantined riot and you accidentally click the white option, you might still send your Engi or Rockman but now they aren't immune to the disease.

Attempt to outrun the scrap hauler (AKA Auto-Assault) is a blue option.

Rockmen think their hull plating protects them while too close to a star, even though their only real defense is shields and crew immunity to fire.

When I fire a burst laser, every shot must hit the same room. But the enemy ship's Burst Laser Mk II can take out three different systems on my ship in one shot. (I actually once had my Stealth B lose its Weapon, Piloting, and Cloak in one volley of only 4 shots.)

Before Advanced Edition, the Rebel Flagship could wander in circles and never venture near the Federation Base, and still win. I once needed more than 6 jumps to reach the flagship, and so I lost without a chance to win.

Enemy ships can sometimes have more than 8 power bars in weapons, shields, drones, or apparently engines (sometimes they charge FTL drive way faster than player ships can). Wouldn't surprise me if it were the big opponents but often it's some medium or smaller ship nowhere near your ship's size.

When an enemy ship has more of one thing than usual for your sector, it has more of everything. That random enemy in sector 1 that just happens to have 2 shield bubbles also has three weapons, a couple of attack drones, and high evasion. NPC Artemis also fires 1 second faster than player Artemis.

Before AE, Zoltan Shield never stopped anyone from boarding your ship through a text event. All it did was trigger "oh they got past it somehow!" text. In AE, all they did to change it was equip EVERY station with a Zoltan Shield Bypass. Also, ZSB doesn't work against Rebel Flagship's super shield.



Basically I get the impression that FTL logic goes something like this:
"X event is supposed to randomly have Y outcome. If player tries to use skill to make Y not happen, thwart player skill and make Y happen anyway."

Rock Hull Plating (which has a measly 15% chance to protect only your hull from asteroids) makes you completely safe in an asteroid field, but 4 shield bubbles doesn't do you any good and neither does Titanium System Casing.

Actually 4 shield bubbles does give you a blue option and it prevents all damage too. Unlike your Defense Drone or Repair Drone because you somehow have to enter the field to send them over rather than say throw them out an airlock or fly them over.
System Casing, not a chance. That doesn't save you from asteroids at all unlike the plating's 15% chance.

If offered a blue option to send your Engi or Rockman into the quarantined riot and you accidentally click the white option, you might still send your Engi or Rockman but now they aren't immune to the disease.

They forgot they were immune and their minds made it real. The idiots.

Rockmen think their hull plating protects them while too close to a star, even though their only real defense is shields and crew immunity to fire.

Some pirates are ignorant of the star that the beacon is so darned close to.
So why wouldn't the Rocks think they can take a little heat?

When I fire a burst laser, every shot must hit the same room. But the enemy ship's Burst Laser Mk II can take out three different systems on my ship in one shot. (I actually once had my Stealth B lose its Weapon, Piloting, and Cloak in one volley of only 4 shots.)

Erratic targeting vs precision. You've got the skills, they don't.

Before AE, Zoltan Shield never stopped anyone from boarding your ship through a text event. All it did was trigger "oh they got past it somehow!" text. In AE, all they did to change it was equip EVERY station with a Zoltan Shield Bypass. Also, ZSB doesn't work against Rebel Flagship's super shield.

The funny thing is that it tells you they had a shield bypass even though the event text might tell you that they got onboard when you docked.
Also, it totally does work on the Flagship's Super Shield.

stylesrj wrote:Actually 4 shield bubbles does give you a blue option and it prevents all damage too.

I've never seen that one before, but even 2 shield bubbles should make me safe, and 1 should do a lot more than that rock hull plating.

stylesrj wrote:Also, it totally does work on the Flagship's Super Shield.

I've read on the wiki that it doesn't, but I never tried it.



More FTL logic: if you find an automated ship that was stationed in the asteroid field long-term, it will not have shields. Somehow that was never a problem until you showed up, then suddenly the asteroids take it out before your weapons finish charging.

thereaverofdarkness wrote:I've read on the wiki that it doesn't, but I never tried it.

Don't rely on the wiki for info.

More FTL logic: if you find an automated ship that was stationed in the asteroid field long-term, it will not have shields. Somehow that was never a problem until you showed up, then suddenly the asteroids take it out before your weapons finish charging.

That makes sense.
It was spending all its time avoiding asteroids and then someone on the wanted list shows up and now it has to dodge asteroids and gunfire from the hostile vessel.
It can't do all that at once so it takes hits from those rocks.

The battles are not static, two ships firing at each other. They're dodging, weaving and trying to find a good angle. You're probably going to disturb a few asteroids in the process.