Forum Overview :: Reviews
 
Here's a beginner's guide I wrote for gog by Mischief Maker 09/24/2012, 12:29pm PDT
*Minimal Spoilers*

If you're wondering what movie mindset you should be in for this game: Star Trek 2. This is a game where every individual shot can change the course of the battle. Instead of trading blows until your enemy is worn out, you should plan to fire all your weapons in one quick surgical strike that leaves your enemy crippled and helpless. To help with all the micromanagement this entails, you can pause the game with the spacebar and issue orders at any time.

The opening text is misleading. Your immediate goal is to reach the Federation fleet, but to win your goal is to take down the Rebel Flagship. At all times throughout this game you should be accumulating scrap and upgrading your ship to be able to take this dreadnought down.

Every system you want to try to explore as many beacons as possible to maximize the amount of scrap you pick up and new components you can buy. Every time you leave a beacon, the rebel fleet advances down the system from left to right. If you engage a rebel ship and it escapes, the rebel fleet will advance further this turn. If you jump to a beacon in a nebule (blue circle around the beacon) the fleet will advance slower. Don't exit the system until the rebel fleet prevents you from being able to explore any more beacons.

One thing the game doesn't let on about is that you can unlock a whole armada of different ships and variants to choose from. They could be considered different "classes" in the Fantasy RPG sense; the Kestrel could be considered a "Fighter," the Torus could be considered a "Mage," etc. You could install a drone system on a Kestrel, like you can teach a fighter spells in Diablo, but unless you have an oddball strategy in mind, it's better not to. Drones, cloaking devices, and boarding party transporters are best in the hands of specialists.

In the Kestrel, before you make your first jump, put one crewman in weapons, and one in engines. De-power your medmay and put that energy into the engines. This will give your ship a 20% chance to dodge any attack. NEVER leave the helm without a pilot or your evasion rate will drop to 0%.

An excellent tactic for the Kestrel in System 1 is to launch a missile at the enemy's shields, and once it connects, follow with a volley of burst lasers at their weapon systems. Then just keep firing burst lasers at their weapon systems until they surrender or blow up. The enemy will be unable to fight back and you will minimize the damage you take.

Don't spend any scrap in System 1 unless you come across a store selling items you seriously need in a Kestrel. Priority 1 is a weapon pre-ignition augmentation. Priority 2 is additional weapons, Priority 3 is a weapon recharge augmentation. If you don't find any of thse by the time you enter System 2, and there are no stores in the near vicinity, spend 90 scrap on 2 shield upgrades and 2 energy upgrades. Don't forget to transfer energy to your new shield layer! After this, if you can't find priority items, spend scrap on engine upgrades and energy upgrades to increase your evasion rate.

The best long-term strategy for the Kestrel is to get all 4 weapons slots filled and your weapon subsystem maxxed out in time for the Flagship. The ideal weapon loadout is an ion weapon (to hit the enemy bridge and knock their evade rate to 0%), a missile (to bypass shields and knock out a crucial system), a burst laser (to batter down their shields) and a beam weapon (for wreaking havok once their shields are down). Remember that the damage beams deal increases with every room the beam touches, so try to position your bean to pass through as many rooms as possible, there's no difference between sweeping down the center of a room and brushing the corner with one pixel.

Remember, you're outnumbered, but you're smarter than the enemy. Make use of that advantage!
PREVIOUS NEXT REPLY QUOTE
 
FTL by fabio 09/15/2012, 2:01pm PDT NEW
    The big problem with this game though by fabio 09/15/2012, 2:48pm PDT NEW
        Re: The big problem with this game though by Cannibal Dave 09/16/2012, 10:08pm PDT NEW
            The Engi ship? by fabio 09/17/2012, 9:18am PDT NEW
                Re: The Engi ship? by Cannibal Dave 09/17/2012, 11:25am PDT NEW
    decent Stone Soup players have a 40% win ratio by Mysterio 09/15/2012, 4:24pm PDT NEW
        There's just too much randomness by fabio 09/16/2012, 4:40pm PDT NEW
    LK apparently has this. Will wait for him to spill the secret. by fabio 09/16/2012, 9:12pm PDT NEW
        Re: LK apparently has this. Will wait for him to spill the secret. by Lizard_King 10/23/2012, 8:51pm PDT NEW
    Roguelikes are akin to counting cards in Blackjack by Mischief Maker 09/17/2012, 8:03am PDT NEW
    Here's what I hate about FTL by Mischief Maker 09/17/2012, 2:57pm PDT NEW
        I could've sworn sometimes the stopped charging when you were cloaked by fabio 09/17/2012, 3:19pm PDT NEW
            The better I get at this, the more this is the game I wanted Weird Worlds to be. by Mischief Maker 09/18/2012, 9:34am PDT NEW
                Re: The better I get at this, the more this is the game I wanted Weird by fabio 09/18/2012, 11:28am PDT NEW
                    Re: The better I get at this, the more this is the game I wanted Weird by Mischief Maker 09/18/2012, 1:18pm PDT NEW
                        Re: The better I get at this, the more this is the game I wanted Weird by fabio 09/18/2012, 2:19pm PDT NEW
                            I figured out what ion weapons are good for... by Mischief Maker 09/23/2012, 7:09pm PDT NEW
    This game is pretty good by Arbit 09/21/2012, 11:21am PDT NEW
        Yeah the max system power is always the bottleneck, never total power available NT by fabio 09/22/2012, 5:01pm PDT NEW
        Nerd Interlude by Mischief Maker 09/25/2012, 6:25am PDT NEW
            The Next Generation movies dont count by fabio 09/25/2012, 12:48pm PDT NEW
                Re: The Next Generation movies dont count by Mischief Maker 09/25/2012, 2:18pm PDT NEW
                    Look by Arbit 09/25/2012, 2:56pm PDT NEW
    Here's a beginner's guide I wrote for gog by Mischief Maker 09/24/2012, 12:29pm PDT NEW
        Never found beam weapons terribly useful by fabio 09/24/2012, 1:40pm PDT NEW
            I found the halberd beam useful by Arbit 09/24/2012, 7:45pm PDT NEW
    Unlocked some ships, beat it once by fabio 09/29/2012, 3:34pm PDT NEW
        I dunno how people take out the flagship without beams by Mischief Maker 09/30/2012, 9:27am PDT NEW
            I dunno how people get anywhere with beams by fabio 09/30/2012, 11:32am PDT NEW
                Ion the bridge, man. by Macho Maker 09/30/2012, 1:02pm PDT NEW
                    Re: Ion the bridge, man. by fabio 09/30/2012, 1:29pm PDT NEW
                        and holy shit how does anyone beat this on normal NT by fabio 09/30/2012, 1:49pm PDT NEW
                Oh yeah, also: by Macho Maker 09/30/2012, 2:35pm PDT NEW
                Re: I dunno how people get anywhere with beams by Arbit 10/03/2012, 11:27am PDT NEW
                    Just won with flaming invasions by fabio 10/03/2012, 12:29pm PDT NEW
    Speaking of useless components... by Magic Underwear Maker 10/03/2012, 3:14pm PDT NEW
        Re: Speaking of useless components... by motherfuckerfoodeater 10/03/2012, 3:26pm PDT NEW
        Re: Speaking of useless components... by Arbit 10/03/2012, 5:05pm PDT NEW
            Slow firing ion guns, one shot lasers, mini beams by fabio 10/03/2012, 8:24pm PDT NEW
    The hidden flaw of indie games by WITTGENSTEIN 12/30/2012, 9:55pm PST NEW
        Is any game still fun after the gamefaqqots get done with it? by Mischief Maker 12/30/2012, 10:40pm PST NEW
            ACTUAL PUNCHLINE: Few people are interested and the frog dies of it. by E.B. White 12/30/2012, 11:01pm PST NEW
        This is a great point by Ice Cream Jonsey 01/05/2013, 2:16pm PST NEW
 
powered by pointy