The 42 Top Tips for FTL: Faster Than Light
1. Develop a boarding team as soon as it is safe to do so. This is critical for the additional scrap recovery you get from capturing ships (rather than blowing them up) as well as for the final boss, where you can use two man teams of boarders to disable the big ship's gun pods.
2. Time your shots. It is often better to wait for all your guns to charge up and then chain them rapidly together (in the new version you can fire as one big salvo... in the older versions it was often better to chain shots). That way you can hammer down shields before they can regen.
3. Ideal pilots: Slugs and Rockmen. Ideal Engines, Shields, Weapons: Zoltan and Engi. Humans are the least desirable for anything. Mantis should always be boarders unless you really need someone to man a pod. Avoid Zoltan or Engi for pilot as they are terrible at fighting.
4. Grind jump points. It's not a race to get to the exit - plot a course that lets you get exposed to as many open points as possible.
5. Level 2 shields are good up to sector 4 on normal, sector 5 on easy. Level 3 is good until the end of the game on all levels. In the same way, Engines at 25% and then at 45% to the end of the game.
6. For most ships and situations, level 1 cloak is better than 2 or 3 as it rapidly recharges. Use it only when missiles are incoming (or you really need a recharge break).
7. Use a defense drone for stage 2 of the final boss to take out boarding drones.
8. Try to kill all crew but the guy manning the heavy laser pod in the very first fight with the final boss. In the second fight, dump all your crew into the enemy drone room right away. Priority to disable on the boss is always 1) missile pod 2) ion pod 3) beam pod. Exception is if you are having a very slow time disabling the drone room, then take out the beam pod before ion.
9. Fighting the first battle is too complex to detail here. But suffice to say it goes like this: 1) disable missile pod. 2) with your transporter at level 2, send another 2 man team to the ion pod while your first team is still dismantling the missile pod. 3) wreck shield room 4) return all boarders and heal them 5) switch to medbay, destroy it 6) transport boarders to door control room; if you have the four man transporters, send them all into the medbay, shield, or cloak rooms.
10. Upgrade doors to level 2 by the end of sector 2, level 3 by sector 5. with level 2 doors you can kill off most boarders by simply venting rooms (and forcing them to break through doors only to go into more vented rooms).
11. Having an AP or boarding drone will kill all the pesky spiders.
12. Have medbay at level 2 and a transporter when visiting the mantis sector.
13. Don't be afraid to send EVERYBODY over if you have those 4-man transporters. I do it even with 2 man transporter rooms - just be aware of the risk of having a burning ship that you can't come back to.
14. Always destroy medbays! sometimes even before you disable their guns.
15. killing engines or the bridge will prevent a ship from fleeing. if you board their ship and they send their pilot to help fight, that will also disable the ship (no pilot).
16. The best gun in the game is burst laser mark 2. buy them at every opportunity. two BLM2s will beat a glaive beam (the most powerful single weapon) any day.
17. the best augments are: weapon pre igniter, drone recovery arm, scrap recovery arm. note that the drone arm can't retrieve boarding drones or hull repair drones.
18. level 2 transporters will be able to send two men over to automated sentry ships and get them back before they asphyxiate. I often send two mantis over to knock their shields over, then pull them back right before they gasp out.
19. crystals are incredibly powerful as boarders. Pop all three of them (two if you don't have the carnelian ship / type b yet) into the enemy weapon room, freeze it, bam bam bam... freeze again.... bam bam bam... freeze again... disabled ship. you can also use it to trap enemy crew in a room with your boarders - no trip to the medbay for you!
20. don't every buy repair past where the drone bracket ends on your hull health bar. IOW, leave 5-6 units unrepaired. that way, if you rescue a benevlonent ship you can benefit from the free repair they're reward you with.
21. also, try to keep your hull right about there in terms of health.
22. rockmen + fire bomb in enemy medbay ... hahahaahhhaahhaa come get some. fire beam rather sucks, though.
23. the antibio beam is a novelty only unless you really are good at this game. it takes an obscene amount of timing and planning to use well.
24. hull and pike beam suck but can be used to decent effect. just don't buy those things unless you really need a 2nd weapon and there' snothing better. halberd beam, on the other hand, is an incredibly useful little beast.
25.You can hit 4 rooms at a time with the halberd beam against most ships.
26. If you have a great crew, don't take stupid risks - especially ones like giant spiders and the great zoltan eye. If your crew is middling and the game is early, why not... but still avoid spiders. it is the absolute worst in terms of always failing miserably.
27. burning space station? don't send your guys in. just dock. you can't lose a man if you dock, only get a few points of hull damage. now if you have a rockman or repair drone..
28. Engi and Rockmen have the most blue options. try to have one or both on yoru ship.
29. Slugs are nice, too. no point having more than one of them, though.
30. mantis has only 1 that I know of (and it's in the slug sector)... zoltan and humans have none. nor do crystal men.
31. the best missile weapon is the humble artemis. the rest kind of suck when compared to bombs.
32. with that said, ANY weapon in the game can be used to good effect with some thoughtful planning.
33. don't be greedy! greedy captains soon find themselves in empty ships. take good, calculated risks... and if a ship starts looking bad, get your crew out of there!
34. you better know what you're doing if you decide to board in asteroid belts or fire novas.
35. defense drone II - you don't need it if you have defense I.
36. beam and anti ship drones are of very limited use.
37. no need to fly around with the hull repair drone equipped. only use it between jumps. keep soemthing better in the slot.
38. don't bother going to the store if you have less than 45 scrap unless you want to sell or repair.
39. if you meet a ship with puny guns that can't ever hurt you, stick a man in the shield room, one in the engine room, one in the pilot room.... then go make a sandwich. they'll be experts at evading / recharging in no time.
40. nothing wrong with dismissing crew in favor of zoltans. but weight the benefits carefully...
41. always hire zoltans if you see them in the store if you can afford it at all.
42. My favorite ship in the game is the Carnelian, followed shortly by the Basalisk.
okay... that's enough for now :o whew...
One last thing. Play Easy mode. Normal wasn't fully manageable for me until I'd already put about 100 hours in. Normal is very difficult to survive in the first 3 sectors - but after that you should be able to stabilize.
2. Time your shots. It is often better to wait for all your guns to charge up and then chain them rapidly together (in the new version you can fire as one big salvo... in the older versions it was often better to chain shots). That way you can hammer down shields before they can regen.
3. Ideal pilots: Slugs and Rockmen. Ideal Engines, Shields, Weapons: Zoltan and Engi. Humans are the least desirable for anything. Mantis should always be boarders unless you really need someone to man a pod. Avoid Zoltan or Engi for pilot as they are terrible at fighting.
4. Grind jump points. It's not a race to get to the exit - plot a course that lets you get exposed to as many open points as possible.
5. Level 2 shields are good up to sector 4 on normal, sector 5 on easy. Level 3 is good until the end of the game on all levels. In the same way, Engines at 25% and then at 45% to the end of the game.
6. For most ships and situations, level 1 cloak is better than 2 or 3 as it rapidly recharges. Use it only when missiles are incoming (or you really need a recharge break).
7. Use a defense drone for stage 2 of the final boss to take out boarding drones.
8. Try to kill all crew but the guy manning the heavy laser pod in the very first fight with the final boss. In the second fight, dump all your crew into the enemy drone room right away. Priority to disable on the boss is always 1) missile pod 2) ion pod 3) beam pod. Exception is if you are having a very slow time disabling the drone room, then take out the beam pod before ion.
9. Fighting the first battle is too complex to detail here. But suffice to say it goes like this: 1) disable missile pod. 2) with your transporter at level 2, send another 2 man team to the ion pod while your first team is still dismantling the missile pod. 3) wreck shield room 4) return all boarders and heal them 5) switch to medbay, destroy it 6) transport boarders to door control room; if you have the four man transporters, send them all into the medbay, shield, or cloak rooms.
10. Upgrade doors to level 2 by the end of sector 2, level 3 by sector 5. with level 2 doors you can kill off most boarders by simply venting rooms (and forcing them to break through doors only to go into more vented rooms).
11. Having an AP or boarding drone will kill all the pesky spiders.
12. Have medbay at level 2 and a transporter when visiting the mantis sector.
13. Don't be afraid to send EVERYBODY over if you have those 4-man transporters. I do it even with 2 man transporter rooms - just be aware of the risk of having a burning ship that you can't come back to.
14. Always destroy medbays! sometimes even before you disable their guns.
15. killing engines or the bridge will prevent a ship from fleeing. if you board their ship and they send their pilot to help fight, that will also disable the ship (no pilot).
16. The best gun in the game is burst laser mark 2. buy them at every opportunity. two BLM2s will beat a glaive beam (the most powerful single weapon) any day.
17. the best augments are: weapon pre igniter, drone recovery arm, scrap recovery arm. note that the drone arm can't retrieve boarding drones or hull repair drones.
18. level 2 transporters will be able to send two men over to automated sentry ships and get them back before they asphyxiate. I often send two mantis over to knock their shields over, then pull them back right before they gasp out.
19. crystals are incredibly powerful as boarders. Pop all three of them (two if you don't have the carnelian ship / type b yet) into the enemy weapon room, freeze it, bam bam bam... freeze again.... bam bam bam... freeze again... disabled ship. you can also use it to trap enemy crew in a room with your boarders - no trip to the medbay for you!
20. don't every buy repair past where the drone bracket ends on your hull health bar. IOW, leave 5-6 units unrepaired. that way, if you rescue a benevlonent ship you can benefit from the free repair they're reward you with.
21. also, try to keep your hull right about there in terms of health.
22. rockmen + fire bomb in enemy medbay ... hahahaahhhaahhaa come get some. fire beam rather sucks, though.
23. the antibio beam is a novelty only unless you really are good at this game. it takes an obscene amount of timing and planning to use well.
24. hull and pike beam suck but can be used to decent effect. just don't buy those things unless you really need a 2nd weapon and there' snothing better. halberd beam, on the other hand, is an incredibly useful little beast.
25.You can hit 4 rooms at a time with the halberd beam against most ships.
26. If you have a great crew, don't take stupid risks - especially ones like giant spiders and the great zoltan eye. If your crew is middling and the game is early, why not... but still avoid spiders. it is the absolute worst in terms of always failing miserably.
27. burning space station? don't send your guys in. just dock. you can't lose a man if you dock, only get a few points of hull damage. now if you have a rockman or repair drone..
28. Engi and Rockmen have the most blue options. try to have one or both on yoru ship.
29. Slugs are nice, too. no point having more than one of them, though.
30. mantis has only 1 that I know of (and it's in the slug sector)... zoltan and humans have none. nor do crystal men.
31. the best missile weapon is the humble artemis. the rest kind of suck when compared to bombs.
32. with that said, ANY weapon in the game can be used to good effect with some thoughtful planning.
33. don't be greedy! greedy captains soon find themselves in empty ships. take good, calculated risks... and if a ship starts looking bad, get your crew out of there!
34. you better know what you're doing if you decide to board in asteroid belts or fire novas.
35. defense drone II - you don't need it if you have defense I.
36. beam and anti ship drones are of very limited use.
37. no need to fly around with the hull repair drone equipped. only use it between jumps. keep soemthing better in the slot.
38. don't bother going to the store if you have less than 45 scrap unless you want to sell or repair.
39. if you meet a ship with puny guns that can't ever hurt you, stick a man in the shield room, one in the engine room, one in the pilot room.... then go make a sandwich. they'll be experts at evading / recharging in no time.
40. nothing wrong with dismissing crew in favor of zoltans. but weight the benefits carefully...
41. always hire zoltans if you see them in the store if you can afford it at all.
42. My favorite ship in the game is the Carnelian, followed shortly by the Basalisk.
okay... that's enough for now :o whew...
One last thing. Play Easy mode. Normal wasn't fully manageable for me until I'd already put about 100 hours in. Normal is very difficult to survive in the first 3 sectors - but after that you should be able to stabilize.
Addenum A: Feb. 15th, 2013
- Defense drone II is indeed in many ways only a small benefit over DD1. Personally, I always sell them unless I have to use them - as we know, FTL is a game where you really have to be very fluid and constantly make the most of what you get. this is not the kind of game where you can do a set order of steps and then achieve an easy victory.
Why do I not use DD2? Because often it will waste its shot on a laser that my shields can block, and then let the fat 4-point missile through. Doesn't always happen, but it does happen enough that it just isn't worth 4 power to me.
- Yes, I do like boarding a lot. It's not so much about powergaming for me as I really like the feeling of sending an elite death squad over to wipe out the enemy. But FTL has TONS of playstyles, not just Boarding / Weapons / Disabling. Some examples:
-- Fed Cruiser: Fed Beam build
-- Zoltan: Glaive / BLIII build (taking advantage of extra shield time)
-- Crystal A: Ion + Heavy Crystal build (ie., 2 ion blasts and a heavy crystal)
I enjoy them all, and one of the best parts about FTL is that you really don't know which strategy you'll eventually wind up with.
- mantises... yes, they make nice boarders, but they are not the only ones nor are they the best. In order of best to good:
#1: the crew that you have. be flexible! I have done well with a single Engi boarder. How? I just make him run all over the enemy ship, disrupting their crew and kiting their defenders until I can get them into a single room. Then, fire all shots into that room while simultaneously warping my engi out.
-- crystal men
-- mantis
-- rockmen (these move up one notch if you have firebomb)
-- regular humans. why? because no one ever cries when they lose a human....
- Breach Bomb II is a very high quality weapon. Not only will it severely disable any system (with at least one shield guaranteed), it prevents crew from easily repairing that room. It cannot be blocked, cannot be put out, and mantis ships find it incredibly difficult to handle them.
- Board ships with upgraded doors only very cautiously. You do NOT want to get trapped in a room. With unupgraded door ships, you can easily kite the entire enemy crew all over the ship, dodging most shots until your transporter is ready to beam you back. This is another reason to buy upgraded sensors. The same is true of ships with cloaks as you cannot teleport while the enemy is cloaked.
- Double boarding with lvl2 transporters is a very strong strategy. Send a first team into the O2 room (which will almost always be undefended and containing only two spaces). Follow up the first team with a second team to either bridge or weapon room. If your first team is badly damaged, send all four into a 4-man room. with some kiting you can get the defenders to attack the new team in melee, allowing your injured first team to shoot at them without retaliation.
- If your team is doomed, with no way to get them back in time, try to draw as many enemy as you can into a single room. Then bombard that room.
- The federation beam is not to be relied upon, ever. it is nice to have around but doesn't become a real threat until fully upgraded. even then, you cannot count on it - and you must be careful that you don't kill your own boarders or destroy a ship prematurely. that said, it is a very good bonus support weapon that can go through even super shields.
Why do I not use DD2? Because often it will waste its shot on a laser that my shields can block, and then let the fat 4-point missile through. Doesn't always happen, but it does happen enough that it just isn't worth 4 power to me.
- Yes, I do like boarding a lot. It's not so much about powergaming for me as I really like the feeling of sending an elite death squad over to wipe out the enemy. But FTL has TONS of playstyles, not just Boarding / Weapons / Disabling. Some examples:
-- Fed Cruiser: Fed Beam build
-- Zoltan: Glaive / BLIII build (taking advantage of extra shield time)
-- Crystal A: Ion + Heavy Crystal build (ie., 2 ion blasts and a heavy crystal)
I enjoy them all, and one of the best parts about FTL is that you really don't know which strategy you'll eventually wind up with.
- mantises... yes, they make nice boarders, but they are not the only ones nor are they the best. In order of best to good:
#1: the crew that you have. be flexible! I have done well with a single Engi boarder. How? I just make him run all over the enemy ship, disrupting their crew and kiting their defenders until I can get them into a single room. Then, fire all shots into that room while simultaneously warping my engi out.
-- crystal men
-- mantis
-- rockmen (these move up one notch if you have firebomb)
-- regular humans. why? because no one ever cries when they lose a human....
- Breach Bomb II is a very high quality weapon. Not only will it severely disable any system (with at least one shield guaranteed), it prevents crew from easily repairing that room. It cannot be blocked, cannot be put out, and mantis ships find it incredibly difficult to handle them.
- Board ships with upgraded doors only very cautiously. You do NOT want to get trapped in a room. With unupgraded door ships, you can easily kite the entire enemy crew all over the ship, dodging most shots until your transporter is ready to beam you back. This is another reason to buy upgraded sensors. The same is true of ships with cloaks as you cannot teleport while the enemy is cloaked.
- Double boarding with lvl2 transporters is a very strong strategy. Send a first team into the O2 room (which will almost always be undefended and containing only two spaces). Follow up the first team with a second team to either bridge or weapon room. If your first team is badly damaged, send all four into a 4-man room. with some kiting you can get the defenders to attack the new team in melee, allowing your injured first team to shoot at them without retaliation.
- If your team is doomed, with no way to get them back in time, try to draw as many enemy as you can into a single room. Then bombard that room.
- The federation beam is not to be relied upon, ever. it is nice to have around but doesn't become a real threat until fully upgraded. even then, you cannot count on it - and you must be careful that you don't kill your own boarders or destroy a ship prematurely. that said, it is a very good bonus support weapon that can go through even super shields.
The Mantis Ships
The Mantis ships are both ideal for boarding-happy players.
Gila M has just enough firepower to be a highly versatile ship that can easily run any strategy from the start, with a crew transporter built in.
- single shot laser
- small bomb
- lvl 1 shield, transporter
- no sensors.
1 engi, 3 mantis.
Mantis Pheremones (+25% speed for all crew, on your ship or theirs)
It is best to use the Engi for a pilot, and two mantises for boarding. The third mantis can have engine room duty until new crew show up. Use the bomb to disable enemy weapons, giving your mantises time to kill off the crew. You will also need to use the bomb to take out med bays - then move your mantises into the med bay to make their stand there.
The Basalisk.... ahh, yes. Severely underpowered out the gate, but with some TLC can become an absolute terror by sector 4.
- boarding drone
- defense drone
- no weapons!!!
- teleporter, lvl 2 shields.
2 mantis.
Mantis Pheremones.
You will be going "all-in" for each fight, at least in the beginnng. As soon as you warp into a fight, send both mantis to the transporter. What follows will then be a desperate race to kill the crew before your ship takes on too much damage.
Hope these help! Remember that being flexible is most important...
Gila M has just enough firepower to be a highly versatile ship that can easily run any strategy from the start, with a crew transporter built in.
- single shot laser
- small bomb
- lvl 1 shield, transporter
- no sensors.
1 engi, 3 mantis.
Mantis Pheremones (+25% speed for all crew, on your ship or theirs)
It is best to use the Engi for a pilot, and two mantises for boarding. The third mantis can have engine room duty until new crew show up. Use the bomb to disable enemy weapons, giving your mantises time to kill off the crew. You will also need to use the bomb to take out med bays - then move your mantises into the med bay to make their stand there.
- Conserve your bombs! You will need to rely on them until you can get better weapons.
- Upgrade the shield to lvl 2 as soon as you can. If you're good at the game you can get away with putting this off a little longer, but weak shields + weak weapons = taking lots of hull damage = unable to afford good buys at stores.
- The engine also needs to be upgraded, at least to lvl3. It's cheap up to lvl3 and you will need it if you run into heavy sentry bots or zoltans. Your puny single shot laser and bomb will take FOREVER to take down a zoltan shield. It's probably better to flee.
- Mantis Pheremones are nice (esp with rock men) but they are also 40 scrap and don't hesitate to sell it if you need money to buy decent laser gun. If I see a heavy laser 1 at the store in sector 1, I would not hesitate at all to sell MP for it. Basic Laser is a godawful weapon and is akin to going to war armed with a single-shot .22LR squirrel gun. It's pretty much only good for kicking the enemy when they are already down.
- don't bother buying sensors too early. you ARE going to board that ship, regardless of what might be on board. besides, you're mantis. who's there to be afraid of?
The Basalisk.... ahh, yes. Severely underpowered out the gate, but with some TLC can become an absolute terror by sector 4.
- boarding drone
- defense drone
- no weapons!!!
- teleporter, lvl 2 shields.
2 mantis.
Mantis Pheremones.
You will be going "all-in" for each fight, at least in the beginnng. As soon as you warp into a fight, send both mantis to the transporter. What follows will then be a desperate race to kill the crew before your ship takes on too much damage.
- You need a 3rd crew member, STAT. Rockmen or Engi are ideal, but any joe will do as anything is preferable to being a sitting duck.
- You desperately need a gun. Any gun. Unfortunately, the Basalisk tends to run into gun-free stores more often than most (the same is true of Crystal B). If you are lucky, you'll find a store selling Heavy Laser I in sector one. Buy it - even if you have to sell Mantis Pheremones or even the boarding drone. Otherwise, the only thing you'll be able to do against bots and zoltans is run away.
- If you get another mantis as your first crew member find, consider staying with the "all-in" strategy. 3 mantis boarders all at once in the weapon room is a deadly thing.... and your shields can take quite a beating at least early on.
- If you have no crew staying on board, consider venting the whole ship when boarded. Be aware that this is a very risky strategy as you may wind up unable to return to your ship. Then again, if you wanted a low-risk, average return investment you wouldn't be playing the Basalisk, would you?
- 4 Elite mantises are a true terror. However, 2 rockmen and 2 mantis are also very good. If a fire breaks out in the enemy ship, send the rockmen over....
Hope these help! Remember that being flexible is most important...
