FTL: Faster Than Light is one of the most comprehensive strategy games that you can play. Not only does it let you decide where to go and how your ship should be loaded, but it will also let you choose your crew and how they would work inside your vessel. It’s very exciting yet very mentally stimulating, allowing players to really use their brains in finding the combination and strategy that works. Make the Federation proud and avoid the Rebel forces for as long as possible, and here’s our guide in order for you to be able to do just that.
Gameplay
FTL: Faster Than Light is a strategy game and rogue-like wherein players can get to control their ship as well as the crew within. By instructing which systems to build up and which items within your vessel to man, players must travel different areas in space with the goal of traveling through sectors until they are able to reach their goal. Getting destroyed by enemies, completely losing fuel, or getting caught by the rebels will end the game, and players will lose all progress. All in all, FTL focuses more on how to manage whatever resources you can acquire or purchase, and being able to make the most out of these requisitions in order to last for as long as you possibly can.
Currency
Scraps are the game’s main currency. This can be earned by defeating enemies and collecting loot from them, and sometimes even as rewards based on decisions that you have made. Scraps may also be acquired by selling off things that you don’t want like weapons. Scraps are used mainly for upgrading your ship such as buying new weapons and improving ship systems and subsystems. These may also be used to hire new crew for your ship. In addition, spending s crap is also required for some decisions when traveling.
Fuel
Fuel is also a required resource within the game as traveling from area to area will require this. Fuel can be gathered from destroyed ships, bought at the store, or gained as rewards. Make sure that you always have enough especially if there are decisions where in you can spend fuel in exchange for more precious items.
Ships
Your ship carries your crew and allows players to travel through space. Each ship is made up of rooms that houses different systems that you will use in both travel and combat. During battles, ships may incur damage on their hull, and players must repair it using scraps in order to stay in tip top condition. New ships may be unlocked further on, with different orientations and attributes at the initial stages of the game.
Systems
Each ship contains different systems and subsystems that would help players along during the game. There are different systems that are initially provided to players, with more unlockable using scraps. Examples of systems are weapons that may or may not require missiles and can be used to damage ships, teleporters that will allow you to transport your crew to attack enemy’s from inside their vessels, to doors, engines that will allow you to evade attacks from enemies, shields that will defend your hull from damage, to the medbay where in injured crew members may be healed.
Subsystems, on the other hand, are another set of systems that include doors that can be manipulated within the ship in order to hinder the movement of enemies within your vessel if you have been boarded, sensors that will allow you to better see your enemies’ statistics, and piloting which would further increase evade attributes. There are other systems that may be unlocked further on once they are bought in the store.
Your ship’s main systems are powered by by energy bars provided by your reactor, and players must spend scraps in order to increase the maximum energy that can be stored. This energy can then be allocated to your different systems, but each system’s maximum levels must be paid for using scraps as well. Subsystems may also be upgraded and have their effectiveness improved as well, although they do not use up energy from the reactor.
Eventually, players will be able to unlock drones and augmentations that would further improve how your ship performs in combat. Make sure that you are properly equipped weapons and systems wise by regularly spending for upgrades and switching around energy allocations to systems that you need the most.
Crew
Your crew are a very important aspect of your ship, as they are the ones that will help keep your ship in flying and fighting form. Crewmen can be placed in rooms in order to fix any damaged systems, and will also try and fight off any invaders that board your vessel. Crew have limited health, however, and they must be healed or you would risk losing them.
Crews may be hired using scraps or won as rewards, but they may also be lost via the latter method. It is also important to note that some crew have special attributes such as the ability to power up systems or can halve the time for repairs, although sometimes they also have disadvantages such as lower health or slower speed. Make sure to properly guide your crew within the ship, especially during battle, in order to make the most out of them.
Sectors
The goal behind FTL is to travel to the goal by travelling through different sectors, which are in turn divided into different locations. Traveling to each location will require fuel, and players will get the chance to choose which paths they would take. Some locations would provide some information as to the nature of the place that you would want to jump, while some will have stores where in players can buy or sell items.
As players jump to a different location, they will often be provided with a situation where in they would have to make a choice. Depending on their decision, the game would either reward or penalize players in the form of lost or gained items or crew. Sometimes, there would simply be an exchange of goods that would happen. Sometimes, decisions made would also cause combat.
During traveling, players will also be chased down by rebels. This is indicated by a red wave on the map. Avoid this at all costs by constantly moving forward and escaping to the next sector. All events and maps within the game are random, which means that playing the game will be a different experience every time.
Battles
In battle, remember that you can target your enemy’s systems using your weapons. Disabling a certain system will mean that they will not be able to use it until they can have it repaired. For example, destroying a weapons system will mean that they cannot attack you, while destroying their engines means that they will not be able to escape. Eventually, players will be able to damage their hull enough so that the vessel would be destroyed. Of course, that same logic applies to your own ships, so it is best to use your crew to always repair damaged systems before they get destroyed completely.
It is also important to note that some weapons work better than others. For example, weapons that deal fire damage are not effective against ships that have no crew and hence have no oxygen to burn. Missiles are also not very effective especially if you have limited ammunition or if charge times are too long. Make sure that your weapons are always up to the task and to allocate energy to those weapons that you will actually be using.
Once you are boarded by enemies, a very good strategy is to, rather than have your crew face them head on, have them locked in an area where in there are none of your crew present, and you can open external hatches until rooms run out of oxygen. This will damage enemies until they die or at least weaken them enough so that you can easily dispatch them with your crew. In order to do this, you must have upgraded doors so that they will be tougher to destroy, Keep in mind also that this strategy will not work for non-life forms and if your door systems get damaged.
After the fight, make sure to make the necessary repairs and to have your hull fixed and your crewmen healed at the soonest possible time so that you will be at prime condition for when you will have to engage in combat again.
