FTL: Ship and Layout Unlocking Guide

This is a guide for unlocking the ships and their layouts!

Kestrel Cruiser

Unlocking -

You start with this one!



Achievements -

The United Federation - Have 6 different races for crewmembers.

Full Arsenal - Have every system and subsystem installed

Tough Little Ship - Get down to 1 hull point and then fully repair the ship

My personal recommendation is to go with the second 2 for this ship. Full arsenal is easy enough, just gather a lot of scrap and buy the teleporter, cloaking, and drones. That’s roughly 250 scrap or so.

As for tough little ship, this is easier than it might sound. Try and find an asteroid field in the first sector or two. Defeat whatever ship is there, and then turn off your shields. That's right. Turn them off. Just let the asteroids hit you. As soon as your hull is down to 1 point, turn your shields back on and run as fast as you can to the nearest shop and repair up! As a note, make sure you have about 60 scrap or so, as that’s about how much it will take to full repair from 1.

Stealth Cruiser

Stealth Cruiser -

Requirements - Engi Crewmember (before you get the quest)

To acquire this ship it requires you to get a random quest in the Engi Homeworlds. Note this is the homeworlds and not just an Engi controlled sector. The quest starts on a beacon that has no features. So no distress and for those with long range scanners no environmental hazards or ships. When you receive the quest you will be given 2 quest markers either in the current or next sector. One of the quest marker is a fake, however if you stumble upon the fake first, you can still complete the quest if you get to the real one. When you get to the quest marker the ship there will try and escape, prevent it from doing so and damage it enough and they will eventually cough up the information you are looking for. This will lead you to the final quest marker. Get to the marker, destroy the ship there and it's yours!



Achievements -

Bird of Prey - Destroy a ship within a single cloak (the Destroy animation must complete to get credit!)
Phase Shift - Cloak through 9 points of damage
Tactical Approach - Get to sector 8 without going into a beacon with environmental danger

If you are looking to just blaze through these, do the first one on easy mode. Easy mode you start with enough scrap to level up the cloaking to level 2. Do that, and find a drone with no shields. Wait to fire your weapons till they are both ready, then fire and immediately hit cloak. Assuming both hit, the ship should blow up and you're good to go.
The next I would go for is Tactical Approach. You have Long Range Scanners to start. use that to your advantage and avoid every ship possible as well as every environmental hazard. Put some extra energy into the engines so your FTL charges faster in a fight and just run. Run all the way to sector 8.
Phase shift, I personally had to do it on the mother ship phase 3. I haven’t had another enemy that fired enough to cloak through to get it.

Mantis Cruiser

Mantis Cruiser -

Requirements - Teleporter, Rank 2 Medbay, Mantis Crewmember (Some say Mantis is not needed, better to be safe than sorry)

This ship can be acquired through the Mantis homeworlds. Again, homeworlds not controlled sector. You will run into the pirate KazaaakplethKilik (god what a name...) if you have a Mantis crewmember they will hail him and do some dance, either way you will fight. Do not, I repeat, do NOT destroy the ship. Your goal is to kill off the crew. At that point a blue option should come up for you to transport Mr. K back to your ship, followed by a second blue option to heal him in your fancy level 2 Medbay. After that he tells you where the ship is held and ta daa! It's yours!


Achievements -

Kill the crew of 20 ships by sector 6 in the Mantis Cruiser.
Kill 5 enemy crew in a fight without taking hull damage or losing a crew member while using the Mantis Cruiser.
While using the Mantis Cruiser, kill the last enemy with your last crew member on their ship.

Alright I’ve gone and gotten this one now. Personally found the first and last to be the easiest. First one you just have to go after every ship you can find, hopefully not to many drones. The last one, I got a ships crew down to 1, killed off all of my crew except one mantis, sent him over and got the achievement. I wouldn’t recommend continuing the game if you follow that strategy however.

Engi Cruiser

Engi Cruiser -

Simple, just get to sector 5



Achievements -

Robotic Warfare - Have 3 drones active at one time
I hardly lifted a finger - Destroy a ship with only drones (no guns)
The guns...they've stopped - Have 4 enemy systems or subsystems ioned at the same time

First 2 are by far the easiest to complete. Robotic warfare, buy some drones to fill the slots, and give the drone section of the ship enough power to run them all. Get in a fight, start them up and you’re good to go. The second is easiest in the first sector. Find a drone ship with no shield and just send the single drone out. Easy as pie.

Federation Cruiser

Federation Cruiser -

Not simple...but defeat the boss in the final sector!

In addition thanks to Aura we have a second method:

If you come across the Rebel Stronghold sector, you have a chance to find the Rebel Shipyard on a regular non-distress/enemy beacon. You're prompted to either explore or flee, and upon choosing explore, you will engage a 2nd Rebel Flagship in its 3rd phase, that's also somewhat weaker overall.

Beating it gives you a heap of fuel, scrap etc, occasionally a weapon or augment, and unlocks the Federation Cruiser Quest achievement in-game, and the ship itself if it hasn't been unlocked already.



Achievements -

Master of Patience - use only the artillery beam to destroy an enemy
Diplomatic Immunity - Use your crew in 4 special blue events by sector 5
Artillery Mastery - Get to sector 5 without upgrading your weapon systems

The second one is all luck driven. You got a diverse crew but still gotta get lucky. The first is quite easy against....you guessed it, a drone in sector 1! The beam bypasses all shields so shield or no shield, doesn’t matter. Artillery mastery is a bit of a pain, but you can always try the running strategy (lots of power to engines/shields and run from every fight).

Slug Cruiser

Slug Cruiser -

Requirements - Slug Crewmember OR Sensors level 2

Slug Homeworlds. Full of slugs who like to pick fights and then chicken out when you beat them to a pulp. Well many of these slugs will offer up what’s in their stores at this point. One of them will offer up a weapon, the Anti-Bio beam. However, at this point there is an option to ask for data instead. Pick that option and you get a quest marker. Head there and select the option to tail the ship then you should have a blue option if you meet the requirements listed above. Fight and destroy the ship and the slug cruiser is yours! As a note: Some have said that you cannot destroy the ship to unlock it, however all times I have seen this ship unlocked (Once myself 2 from friends) the player destroyed the ship, so up to you, but I'd say it’s safe to destroy it.

daniu -TLG- pointed out one thing about getting the quest for the slug cruiser. You CANNOT kill the crew. If you kill the crew there is no one to give you information, you must wittle down the hull of the ship!


Achievements -

We're in position - Have vision of every room of the enemy ship without functioning sensors (you can have sensors...they just have to be broken)
Home Sweet Home - Jump to 30 Nebula beacons before sector 8
Disintegration Ray - Kill 3 enemy crewmembers from 1 shot of the bio beam

First one you need to have enough slugs teleported to the enemy ship that you can see all adjacent rooms. Second, self explanatory, try to get to as many purple sectors as possible. Final one, they do not have to be at full hp when they get hit, they just have to die from the same beam, so try and lower them all down a bit and then blast em!

Rock Cruiser

Rock Cruiser -

Head to the rock homeworlds and find a rock assault ship (There will be a ship marker for those with Long Range Scanners). This ship will give you a couple options when it hails you. The option you wish to pick is: We will save the federation or die trying. This will give you a quest marker, head there and you will be facing a ship next to a sun. Don't even attack the other ship, you want the ship to jump away, so the less you attack it, the more likely the pilot is to leave to repair something. Obviously, do what you need to survive. If you need to take out the weapons so they stop hitting you, do so. Just don’t hit anything that would cause it to not jump away or blow up entirely. When the ship does jump you will have a new quest marker. Head to the quest marker and you will be given the ship as well as an Augmentation for this run!


Achievements -

Is it Warm in here? - Kill a burning enemy on their ship
Defense Drones Don't Do D'anything - Destroy an enemy ship that has a defense drone active using only missiles
Ancestry - Find the secret sector

I personally used the rock cruiser to get the Crystal ship, so the last one was done for me that way. The defense drone was is fairly simple, all you need to do is time your shots so 2 missile fire at the same time. Have them both aimed at the drone control of the enemy ship to hopefully take out the defense drone. As far as the first one, a fire beam or other weapon with high fire chance is your friend. Set it on fire, send over some rockmen and kill someone in that room!

Another note as Kuhaa pointed out, for the fire achievement your CREW has to kill the enemy crewmember in a burning room, not the fire itself. The Rebel Flagship does give a perfect opportunity with it's sealed weapons rooms to get this achievment.

Zoltan Cruiser

Zoltan Cruiser -

You guessed it, start off in the Zoltan homeworlds! You will come across a beacon (nothing special about it again for those with LRS) with some Zoltan there (no ship) who wish to talk about peace. You have 2 options; the one you want is to hear them out. You will then have a quest marker for either this or the next sector. When you get there you will encounter a rebel ship. Your first course of action should be to hail the other ship. Then choose "Perhaps there could be a reconciliation of our ideals without war?", and finally "True progress can only be achieved without bloodshed".



Achievements -

Shields Holding - Destroy a ship before it gets through your Zoltan shield
Givin' her all she's got, Captain! - Have 29 power in systems at the same time
Manpower - Get to sector 5 without upgrading the reactor

The first is by far the simplest, find a drone in sector 1 take out its weapon first and then destroy it. As long as the wep goes out fairly quick you're in the clear. The second isn't quite as easy, the last one is the other I did. Getting to sector 5 without upgrading really anything isn't so bad as most of our enemies don't go above 2 shields. The 2 shields enemies can be though, but if you can’t beat em...run!

To make the last achievment a bit easier to understand - You cannot upgrade the reactor. However, you CAN upgrade your weapon systems, shield systems, doors, anything else. You just cannot upgrade your total amount of power for the ship. Good thing you got Zoltans cause you're gonna need 'em!

Crystal Cruiser (??? Ship)

Crystal Cruiser (??? Ship) -

Requirements - Not really required but highly recommended...Long Range Scanners and the Rock Cruiser

Have fun with this. This is by far the most annoying ship to unlock. It will require 3 random events to happen. One of those random events happens in a sector that may not even show up for you. So let's get started:

Random Event 1 - The stasis pod

This will come from a distress beacon in the Engi, Zoltan, Rock, or Pirate sectors. The beacon itself will not show an asteroid field (for LRS) however there is one in the event dialogue. If you are in the rock ship, you are guaranteed success for retrieving the stasis pod. Everyone else, there is a chance that the asteroid field and ship just start breaking all around you and you get nothing. But get the pod and we move to the next random event! (As a note the pod does take up an augmentation slot)

Random Event 2 - Opening the pod

This event can be done in the Engi and Zoltan sectors. There is a beacon (nothing special about it for LRS) that some Zoltan will wish to study you, however with the pod you can ask if they can open it. Do so and you will now have a Crystal crew member! Don't lose him! He's required for part 3!

Random Event 3 - Rock Homeworlds

Finally. You got the pod, you opened it. Now hope and pray rock homeworlds are still on your map. As that's where this ends. The final beacon has nothing special about it for those with LRS. So do yourself a favor and try and cover as much ground as possible. Try to get close enough to every beacon that you can see what's there, go to everything that isn't a distress beacon, or doesn't have a ship, or doesn't have an environmental hazard. The beacon should have a quest marker on it due to a recent patch! If and When you find the beacon you are looking for your Crystal crew member will give you a blue option and you will get transported to the secret Crystal zone! This is the end. You're good now. There's a quest beacon here so just survive. Survive and then congrats you got it!


Achievements -

Sweet Revenge - Destroy an enemy with a shard from the Crystal Vengeance augment
No Escape - Trap 4 enemy crew in a single room using the Crystal being power or a lock-down bomb
Clash of the Titans - Destroy 15 Rock ships (Pirates count)

1st and 3rd are the 2 I got. First one I found a drone (the crystal pierces 1 shield so in sector 1 doesn't matter if it has them or not) got it to 1 hp and then turned off my shields and got my pilot out of the room so the drone couldn't miss. 3rd one, find as many rock sectors as you can and fight all the ships you find. Most will be rock. The second achievement can be received as long as you lock-down 4 enemies in a single room, this can be a room on your ship or an enemy ship.

Lanius Cruiser

Lanius Cruiser -

Unlocked by having unlocked 4 ships other than the Kestrel. In other words, have 5 ships available for use. Layouts do not count for this.



Achievments -

Advanced Mastery - Have Hacking, Mind Control, and the battery active at once

Scrap Hoarder - Have 600 Scrap in storage

Loss of Cabin Pressure - Get to sector 8 without your ship's net oxygen levels exceeding 20 percent, this starts after your first jump

Sorry everyone! I have finally stopped slacking off and have unlocked layout B for this ship. Personally I find doing the second 2 to be the easiest way to get layout B. Once you start your run, and before you warp to any sectors, open all of your doors except the ones to your pilot (where the human should be). Leave it this way all the way to sector 8. That will get you the "Loss of Cabin Pressure" achievment.

The scrap hoarder achievment is fairly easy to get as well. While you are in the first few sectors (I finished it once I got into sector 5) go to as many of the beacons as you can. Collect as much scrap as possible and don't spend any of it unless absolutely required (i.e. hull repairs when low). THe early sectors ships normally only have 1 shield (sometimes none!) which makes it easiest while farming those sectors.

Advanced Edition Addendum

Unlocking ships -

You are no longer required to complete the quests above to unlock ships. Now you can instead beat the game with the previous ship and it will unlock a ship for you. Now I haven't wiped save data to test this out at all, but I believe the Crystal and Lanuis cruisers to be excluded from this rule. If anyone finds out information on this one way or the other please let me know in the comments so I can update this.

Type C Layouts -

All ships except the Crystal and Lanius have been given a third, Type C layout. Unlocking this layout is the same for all ships, simply get to sector 8 with layout B, while Advanced Content is enabled (Thanks Gunsmack!). This Layout unlock is not retro-active.

[Leadlegs]

For the Federation Cruiser, I expected to get it from beating the final boss. Unlike in the original though, this doesn't work anymore and you need to get it from A: Beating the final boss SPECIFICALLY with the Engi Cruiser or B: The method stated in the guide, finding the Rebel Stronghold sector and beating the Flagship Construction. Need a note added stating this.

[Jeharo]

You can't find the crystal cruiser stasis pod in zoltan systems, that should be corrected.

[Chrozayis]

I also achieved the mantis ship with none of the recommended equipment. I had a level 3 clone bay and killed the crew using hull laser + breach bomb targeting shield + O2 rooms. No teleporter, medbay or mantis crew.

[kolorado]

For the Engi cruser mission : I hardly lifted a finger - Destroy a ship with only drones (no guns). I recommand doiing it when there's ionic hazard zone. The disabled system by the environment will count toward the achievement

[rezi 808 = crashout]

is it worth buying this game?

[whomper]

@Danodan, thanks for the info!

[Danodan]

Important to note:
For achievements that say "Without upgrading [Insert Component Here]" there is a small loophole.
You can't upgrade them and get the achievement, however... If an NPC from an event upgrades your component for a small fee or as a reward, you can still get the achievement.

I found this out when I got two event related Reactor upgrades and still got the Manpower achievement when I got to sector 5.

[powerhungry4]

Crystal ship alt unlock is win with all other type a's and B's (excluding lanius)

[MicrowavedIceCream]

@Monkey Magic You have to beat it with the Engi cruiser. Should say that in the hangar.

[MicrowavedIceCream]

It works with a level 2 medbay or a level 1 clonebay. You don't need a mantis crewmember btw, the blue option it gives you leads to the same thing as the normal fight option.