At 200 Hours In: An FTL Master's 42 Top Tips

At 200 hours played, a set of tips for you to thrive in FTL!
I just hit 200 hours played (combined over three computers) in FTL. At this point, Easy mode is a breeze and Normal quite manageable even with the more difficult ships. And of course, I've unlocked all the ships and types.

But I remember a time when Easy mode provoked me to say things like "DANG THIS IS ONE HARD GAME!!!". So... with that in mind... and knowing that there's probably plenty of folks who feel this game is way too hard... here's some tips to help you along. Like all knowledge, it's one thing to know and another thing to be able to do... but at least I hope to point you in some right directions. These are in no particular order. Feel free to add to them if you also feel you are an FTL master and want to contribute (or disagree).

The 42 Top Tips

Revised 12.25.2015 to reflect changes, better information... it's about time!

1. Develop a boarding team as soon as it is safe to do so. This is critical for the additional scrap & fuel 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 (less applicable on hard mode, where only two of the mothership's gun pods are isolated).

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 Positions:
Pilot: Slug (vision) Rock (fireproof, tough), Lanius (o2 proof, deadly o2-less aura), Crystal (o2 resist, tough, lockout boarders)
Engine: zoltan (if he needs to leave in hurry it won't uncharge weapons or drop shields), rock, engi
weapons, shield: engi
door, sensor: mantis
*zoltans are good for other positions too, just be careful when pulling them out to avoid discharge

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. (or anti-drone, but unreliable)

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 bang-for-buck 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. after that, it's the flak I cannon.

17. the best augments are: weapon pre igniter, drone recovery arm, scrap recovery arm. note that the drone arm can't retrieve boarding drones. you can also recover hull repair drones but ONLY if you warp out before it gets to "finish" the repair job.

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 .. unless you have a way to take out their shields easily.

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. but it IS very deadly. problem is, it deals no damage and cant get through shields. ps: it kills spiders in blue text - thanks titanphallus!

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. (unless you have clone bay, which protects against EVERYTHING except for the rare Zoltan death or Plague death).

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 have a few, mantis has one against slugs, zoltan gets you a boarding pass to a store in zoltan worlds (but you usually want to fight your way in anyway), humans have one to help you rescue a confused mantis, crystal can open the wormhole to crystal world. lanius has two (one in engi, one lanius)

31. the best bang-for-buck missile weapon is the humble artemis. the rest kind of suck when compared to bombs. swarm isn't bad but slow, pegasus great but also very slow. either of those + missle replicator = missles all day

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 good only if you have ion III or multiple lesser ion guns.

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 weigh the benefits carefully...

41. to get mantis ship, you need teleporter + level 2 medbay or clone. in mantis world

42. be mean to the engi for more $$

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.

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.

• 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...

(Contributor Notes) Eegxeta's Boarding Tips

Eegxeta 55 minutes ago
Unless you catch the fire immeditely before it has spread a single crew member can put it out, but once it has spread only a single Engi or Rockman can put it out the rest you need two and Mantis three.

Eegxeta 1 hour ago
So to put out a fire you need send a minimum of one of the following to the room 1 Engi, 1 Rockman, 2 humans, 3 Mantis, ? Zoltan. As soon as I find out the minimum for Zoltan crew I'll post it.

Comments must be less than 1000 characters?!? That is just, ah I don't even know what to say.

Eegxeta 1 hour ago
NEVER EVER not have at least level 2 sensors and doors those are quite litterly the two most important things on the ships besides the engines and cockpit. sensors so you can see what the bloody hell your shooting at and doors so fires don't consume your ship.

Fire is one of the most lethal things in the game because to put it out your crew uses their repair skill. It is practically impossible for a single non-Rockman or Engi crew to put out a fire, it spreads slightly faster than they can put it out so they will burn to death before they can put it out. I have tried this serveral times. You need at least 1.5 repair speed(like having three mantis crew) to put a fire out before the crew burns to death, Zoltan's have less health so I am not sure what they need to put the fire out before they burn.

Eegxeta 1 hour ago
I have done plenty of boarding now and I can say I have pretty much lost crew because I did something stupid like fireing a boarding drone after I beamed my team in on a ship with upgraded doors or forgot to turn off auto-fire and beamed the team in then shoot them lighting the room on fire. Hear it a nice tid bit level 2 transporters are fast enough to beam and team in and beam them out before they die from fighting, as much as I like to send my team running around in circles on the enemy ship and watch as the crew hopelessly chases them while playing circus music(note have not actually played circus music, but it would make a great youtube video).

Having two sheild blocks in sector 1 and 2 literlly makes you invincible, unless the guy has missles or bombs, making it easy to train crew.

Neoviper's guide to the Red-Tail

The Red-Tail is the B variant of the game's starting ship, the Kestrel. It can be unlocked without too much trouble compared to some of the other ships in the game, and is quite a bit better than most of them in my opinion. It's main strengths are superb early game firepower, a diverse crew, and a great room layout. With upgraded doors and good use of venting there are very few situations where you will be anything more than annoyed by fires or boarders. In terms of weaknesses, the initial weapons lose a lot of their effectiveness once enemies start getting more shields, so finding new weapons is very high priority.

So, here is my early game list of priorities, in order:

1. Get two shield bars and level two doors.
2. Stockpile a bit of scrap to use on stores in sector two and three.
3. Buy a crew teleporter, as soon after upgrading shields as possible.

The thinking behind that first one is that the majority of early deaths come from lasers or beams, both of which are heavily mitigated or outright negated by shields. Engines are very good later on, but in the beginning shields are the best defensive upgrade you can buy. Don't wait to get the necessary power before upgrading shields, that can always be pulled from engines or o2 should the need arise. Put some points into the reactor after you get the second shield layer. Get level two doors after that, I can't overstate how valuable they are; this goes for essentially every ship in the game.

Once you've got two shield layers there is next to nothing that will do more than scratch your hull. At this point, the focus shifts to getting a crew teleporter and/or additional weapons. If something like a burst laser two shows up then grab that, but if no good weapons present themselves buy the teleporter. Your initial mantis crewmember can be sent along with one of the humans to board quite successfully. A useful tactic that can be used for battles your crew couldn't win normally is to lure enemy crew into a room, and then shoot it with your lasers. Shortly after the lasers are fired, move your crew out of the room; if you timed it right the enemies will still be in the room when the lasers hit, damaging them heavily. This is a somewhat risky maneuver so only use it when you would otherwise lose the fight, and be especially wary if your crew are low on health. It's also a good idea to upgrade sensors when you get the spare scrap, it lets you spot an easy fight, or avoid a particularly tough one. Doors are very important as well, since you'll be leaving only two crew on your ship while boarding theirs, so fires and enemy boarders can cause a lot of trouble if left unchecked.

If you've gotten the teleporter and a few defensive upgrades, you're in a very strong position to complete the run. Continue to save a decent amount of scrap, ideally 80+, and keep an eye out for stores. Everything might be going well right now, but starting around sectors four and five ships will start getting more shielding than the basic lasers can handle. If you haven't gotten any additions to your boarding crew or weapons, things can get pretty rough, but it is still possible to continue on. Try to use your boarding crew to get the pilot of the enemy ship to leave his station, usually forcing a couple enemies to retreat to the medbay can lure him into trying to attack your crew. Avoid auto-ships as much as possible if you get to this point, as boarding is very dangerous given the lack of oxygen, and their elevated rate of dodging negates your lasers almost entirely. Most of the time this won't happen though, most weapons found either at random or bought at a store can be used to keep you going for a long time. But until you do get one, always be on the lookout for stores while keeping enough scrap on hand to buy a weapon from them.

There's a ton of information out there on how to beat the flagship, but the quick version is board the weapons systems, kill as many crew in the main compartment as you can, and hope the drones don't tear you a new one in stage two. If you do go for killing the crew of the ship, try to leave one alive, specifically the one triple laser room. If you kill all of the crew then the flagship switches to AI mode, and begins automatically repairing systems. Not a good situation to be in, avoid it if you can.

Hopefully this guide has helped you to understand the Red-Tail some more, and allow you to use it to better effect. I really enjoy having the power to kill any ship in the first couple sectors without breaking a sweat, and then putting together a nice little boarding team to go raiding with. I've found this ship to be very reliable for beating the game, so if you're having trouble give it a few tries and see how you like it. Good luck and happy hunting!

The Stealth Ships

The Stealth ships are notoriously difficult to use as they suffer from both narrow layouts and a complete lack of shields. However, they also pack some of the most potent weapons available in the game. To master the Stealth ships, you need to learn timing - much more so than the other ships. Perhaps these tips may help you on your way.

• The Zoltan belongs in the Engine room. You do not want your glaive beam dependent on whether the zoltan stays in the room or not.
  
• 
  
• Do not cloak right away when you are in combat. Rather, save it for -just- before the first shot impacts your ship. This gives you maximum cloak benefit.
  
• 
  
• If you are facing an enemy with missles, especially large missles, take the initial laser hits. A hit from a laser or ion cannot is far better than a hit from a Breach missle which can potentially lead to catastrophic ship failure. Right before the big missle hits, cloak.
  
• 
  
• As you are depending heavily on the cloak for defense, the first priority using either ship is to upgrade the cloak. For Stealth A, level 2 is sufficient (though not ideal). For Stealth B, level 3 is necessary. This is so you can cloak right before a major hit, stay cloaked (and thus preventing enemy weapon recharging), then pop out of cloak with a glaive strike right away.
  
• 
  
• For this same reason, the next order of business is NOT to buy a shield. Rather, invest in your engine. You want that cloak to be near foolproof and the engine will still help protect you even when not in cloak.
  
• 
  
• Caveat: if you happen to be going into a nebula, it is likely worthwhile to buy Pilot level 2.
  

[/i]

The Stealth ships are lousy boarding craft, but you can still make it work for you. Use the hints in the addenum and main article to best use your two boarders (and tiny med bay). Essentially, use your boarders to prevent enemy repair; run your guys into empty rooms so you can get alpha strikes on the first guy who walks into the room and then run again to keep repeating alpha strikes with little retribution; and run your guys back and forth through the med bay to heal more than 2 at a time.

The glaive beam should always hit at least 3 rooms. In most ships, you can do 4. Remember, all you need is a tiny bit of the beam to reach the room. Use auto-fire so you don't have to keep finding the perfect beam line-up.

Don't sell long-range scanners until late in the game. You need that badly to avoid asteroid belts. If you do happen to get into an asteroid belt, don't fire your weapons (esp the glaive beam) until the enemy ship gets at least one hit from an asteroid. Remember fire order: Ion, Laser, then lastly Beam.

Contrary to popular belief, the Stealth ships do not come with Stealth Weapons. That makes it a very good choice to buy if you get the opportunity.

You don't really need Titanium Hull. It's better to not get hit, period. But if you have money to burn, it's nice to keep.

[/list]

[PINGAS]

200 hrs is nowhere near a “masters”

[stargrowth]

godly666 you only have 257! *flexes 730*

[godly666]

200 hours and thinks he's a master at this game lmaoooo

[Larry]

A master would know that with a well-planned sector scout, long-range scanners quickly go from top tier to occasionaly useful. Something you can absolutely sell for a earlier power spike. But this is overall a well written and good guide so cheers.

[SlyderX]

cool guide...wish this game had a star trek mod where you can be the defiant in the gamma quandrant or voyager or enterprise or even other races like klingons...that would be a cool mod

[FedEx]

Great Guide! I my self have hit the 200ish hour mark & I still feel like I have a lot to experiment with, I have yet to try boarding party's but I certainly plan to.

I cant stress enough to FTL players how IMPORTANT weapon timing is!

Auto fire seems very appealing as a new player but it can be a huge trap!

Now let us dream of FTL 2...

Side note ~ Ignore that guide haters in your comments...

[Slasher]

@Calcous
"I didnt read this but"

You bitch about something you did not read? How can you have so many hours lived and still be that stupid?

[Calcous]

I didnt read this but just so you know 200 hours aint that much. Youre not a "master" you may be experienced and have seen most if not all of what the game has to offer. 200 hours is a mere fraction. I mean i have that on my offline account and im still not done beating it.

[Traeba]

@Lyric, The chain vulcan is another one of those guns that you kind of take a huge gamble on. Once it's spun up, it's unstoppable, but you need to find a way to keep from getting beat up until it does. Thick shields and a cloak is what usually works - or zoltan, or lockdown drone, etc. Anything to just muck up the enemies until you can spin up.

@Cloud - I'd love to hear about some of the speedrunning tricks. I don't get to play this as much as I used to but I've had it installed on my laptops for the past decade and a half, lol.

@Capatat - yup. Average age of us gamers is like 35 probably, I'm 42. good grief I was in my 20s when I first wrote this ... yipes

@all the dudes with the "only 200" ... remember I hit 200 when the game first game out, it's been a little while since then :) besides, I'm glad you all enjoy the game as much as I do! Yeah, I probably could have been less proclamatory, but hey, I was like 28

[⫸Lyric Drake 591⫷]

what is your opinion on the chain vulcan?