Why is this game so hard?

[Maniac]

I mean it has a good gameplay but its way too hard. enemys can do everything and you are just a worthless piece of ♥♥♥♥.
too much luck stuff too less freedom.

[lPaladinl]

It is very luck based but once you find a ship you like, honestly you can almost guarantee wins.

Just make sure you play on Easy for a while and do your best to try and unlock ships. The game isn't that hard if you know what you're doing.

[verarticus]

Originally posted by Maniac:

I mean it has a good gameplay but its way too hard. enemys can do everything and you are just a worthless piece of ♥♥♥♥.
too much luck stuff too less freedom.

Not every game needs to have hand holding / super easy / free win that has no challange gameplay. There is luck involved but honestly when you know what to do in a situation you can win consistently even with the odds stacked against you.

[Maniac]

why i lost 3 times in the second stage?
When i can win a fight the enemy start his engines and jump away before i can destroy him or stop his jump drive.
So i get no scrap and just lose it (for repairs and rockets)

[ShatteredMirror]

The problem with this game is that it has random spikes of extremely hard difficulties. If they would have ever played Dungeons of Dredmor (game is stacked against you but at same time you have a chance to win.) the game would be so much better. They need to have set difficulties. "Dying is part of the fun" is not when they kill you out of spite and not out of skill.

[Dash]

I think you should read some guides out there if you're having trouble with the game. It's not THAT hard once you know what to do and how to survive.

[verarticus]

Originally posted by Maniac:

why i lost 3 times in the second stage?
When i can win a fight the enemy start his engines and jump away before i can destroy him or stop his jump drive.
So i get no scrap and just lose it (for repairs and rockets)

Seconnd Jump (as in second or thrid event), or second sectar (as in getting to the exit of the starting place and going to another place)? Because honestly that's rather bad, since it's still REALLY easy at that point. Maybe tell me what you're doing/what ship and equipment you are using. It sounds to me like you are either new and don't know a lot about the game yet, or are just really bad.

Originally posted by ShatteredMirror:

The problem with this game is that it has random spikes of extremely hard difficulties. If they would have ever played Dungeons of Dredmor (game is stacked against you but at same time you have a chance to win.) the game would be so much better. They need to have set difficulties. "Dying is part of the fun" is not when they kill you out of spite and not out of skill.

Honestly the only "spikes" are occational challenge ships that are a few sectars higher then they should be, and are marked as such if you run from them. (I don't think radar will tell you ahead of time, but getting a map data from somewhere might) but even then it's STILL possible to defeat them or get away 99% of the time. Once you figure out how BEST to react to situations the random isn't so random.

It's like playing a Rhythm game for the first time, you don't know what to expect or how to react to certain things but over time you start being able to react a lot better to them and even predict what could happen.

[mechalynx]

Guys this game is neither luck-based nor too random. It takes practice and analyzing to learn how to play it. For me, thats the fun I look for in games.

The idea is to make the right decisions strategically and tactically so the effect of randomization isn't as intense. By the way, the different ships and layouts carry with them different levels of difficulty. If you're having trouble, just start with the Kestrel on Easy. I've never played on Easy but thats why it's there, for people who, unlike me, are not used to how these games work. Once you reach sector 5 you automatically unlock the engi ship which is one of the best in the game.

Use whatever ship works for you and keep in mind that it will take a few runs until you get the hang of it and a lot more until you know how to play it in order to win. Losing is fun but only if you're playing with the proper mindset.

Trust me, this game is incredibly rewarding once you figure out the basics.

edit- don't forget leaving a fight is always an option and often the proper one. also, try to visit as many nodes as you can; don't rush to the exit unless you're in no shape to fight.

[rkkn]

there is a luck factor, but bad luck only makes things harder, not impossible. so it's fine. It's not like "oh bad dice roll. you lose." but more like "bad dice roll. you have temporarily activated hard mode."

[grarrmcgrarr]

Originally posted by Maniac:

why i lost 3 times in the second stage?
When i can win a fight the enemy start his engines and jump away before i can destroy him or stop his jump drive.
So i get no scrap and just lose it (for repairs and rockets)

Remember that a ship needs both engines and navigation to jump, and the cockpit has much fewer power upgrades - meaning they are easier to break.

Even the basic starting set up of the The Kestrel has the capacity to disable the pilot console. If you get an FTL charging notice, direct your fire there either just your missiles or both.

I've completed this game three times on normal difficulty (never played easy) and I've had the game for quite a while. It IS difficult, but that is what makes getting further and further so much fun.

My basic starting tactics for the Kestrel are to man the pilot, weapons and shields stations, with the shield operator as primary running repair dude if stuff starts to break. Put the lasers on the opponents weapons. Three shots should cut through starting shields and disable weapons quickly. Then use missiles to knock out troublesome systems such as shields, drone controls, cloaking devices or the pilot station.

In the beginning, two or three missiles should be more than enough to destroy any ship (in conjunction with the laser). Try to conserve them. I personally try to replace missiles with multishot lasers as quickly as possible. But there are other tactics out there with their own merits.

Boarding parties - Send your crew to the medical station (make sure it is powered) then open the entire ship to space closing only the doors of the medical bay. Not only will the hard vacuum drive the boarders towards you, ignoring key systems, but it will hurt them on the way. With the med bay running, you will be healed as you beat them slowly to death or until they retreat.

what else...

Pay attention to enemy drones. Don't waste missiles on ships with defense drones. Disable drone controls before committing missile weapons to an attack. If you have shields up, beam drones are just pretty lights. So long as you take out the shield damaging weapons, you can ignore them. Pulse laser drones are a pain in the butt. But a single drone should only be able to negate one level of shields on it's own. That is to say, by the time it fires a second shot, the shield it disabled should have just popped back up. So long as nothing else has gone wrong.

The more exotic drones... boarding drones. Are a pain. Vacuum doesn't hurt them and they can stand toe to toe with multiple defending crew dishing out massive damage. What is worse is that, because they are drones, if you kill one, chances are the enemy ship will fire another at you very quickly. Kill the drone control as fast as you can on the enemy vessel. Boarding drones punch holes in your hull. Never good.

Repair drones. Often easy to ignore, but if you pay attention, they are a real problem. If you plan on knocking out core systems, then they get them back up far too quickly. Again - blast the drone controls to hell.

Upgrading systems. I tend to upgrade shields first (50 scrap for the second shield layer plus 40 to power it). Weapons are a close second, though there is little point expanding it massively unless you win new weapons to use them.

Remember - You will still die more than win. You are a lone ship being chased by an entire fleet through many hostile systems. You are the last ditch, hail mary of the doomed Federation. If you die, that's expected. When you get to the end and kill the big bad... You are a big gorram hero. It's worth it.

I hope atleast some of this helps. Good luck.

[Wasted]

if you suck at gaming, ftl might not be for you

I'm sick and tired of dumbed down overly easy games

[DarkTwinge]

Originally posted by ShatteredMirror:

The problem with this game is that it has random spikes of extremely hard difficulties. If they would have ever played Dungeons of Dredmor the game would be so much better.

Wait, what? While I agree there are some definite flaws in the FTL difficulty curve, Dredmor is practically the poster child for a terrible curve. In my experience, Dredmor is a bit hard early on, trivial for *10 full hours* (and that's assuming 'no time to grind' mode!), and then finally a fairly difficult boss fight.


As for the original comment - it has been proven time and time again that FTL is primarily skill based. Top level players will consistently win about 90% of the time on Normal difficulty. If you want to learn the game better, consider reading guides or watching my detailed tutorial here: http://www.twitch.tv/darktwinge/c/2609597. This is quite long, but information packed.

[Lane]

Dunno, I got through just fine on my very first playthrough. Almost beat the boss but got blown to swiss cheese instead. Tottally raked him on the second playthrough. You have to simply adapt your strategy to what is readily available at the time. Sometimes you just have to run away. Sometimes you have to disable systems and board them. Sometimes you need lots of lasers. Sometimes you need missiles. One thing I always do now is upgrade sensors to see their ship interiors and men, for instance, while typically in most games I would opt for straight firepower to murdalize them with.

There's a very strategic element to FTL, if you can't even get to zone 5 then you probably don't need to be playing strategy games... Or maybe you do.. Either way, this isn't a game that you gain undisputed strength over time in.

[Maniac]

Now i made it to zone 8 with some luck. (good weapon drops multi shot laser)
But the boss ship ist just too strong.
I dont have enough time to visit all beacons to get enough scrap for all upgrades.
The first fight wasnt too hard. Beamed my crew in and destroyed the weapons.
The seconds was way harder. I destroyed the Drone control thing but they didnt stop.
But with my 3 lasers i could destroy the ship again.
But i have to fight it again (maybe a forth time too?)
and this hyper shield + hyper laser shots just killed me instantly. didnt even had a chance to shoot.

[lPaladinl]

Originally posted by Maniac:

When i can win a fight the enemy start his engines and jump away before i can destroy him or stop his jump drive.

Son, I believe we need to sit down and watch something called Star Trek.

"Target their Engines!"

"Engines Targeted Captain! Firing Photon Torpedos! Direct hit sir, we've shut down their Warp Drive capabilities!"

"Good job crew. Now beam us aboard and kick their ass. I'll be busy saving the beautiful Damsel from their slave pens!"

"Sir.. you might not like what you fi-"

"AGHH!! NO ONE TOLD ME IT WAS A SLUG WOMAN!"

[Grib]

Originally posted by lPaladinl:

"Target their Engines!"

I'd say it would be more effective to target their piloting room. You can destroy it way faster than the engines and thus prevent them from charging their FTL jump completely.