OS X FTL ruined my life

[keysofanxiety]

Well, it's official now. All of my free time has been sorely sunk into this game. I really think it should come with a disclaimer that you'll happily abandon sleep and food when playing this game.

Anybody else lost their life to FTL?

 

[PatrickCocoa]

It was Skyrim, now it's . . .

Crusader Kings II.

Looked at FTL but it didn't seem that interesting - enlighten me.

 

[Asuriyan]

Crusader Kings II.

Looked at FTL but it didn't seem that interesting - enlighten me.

It's a combination of real-time space battles and Choose Your Own Adventure style branching exploration. Each node on the path through a sector is randomized - it could be a battle, a shop with supplies, a friendly in need of help, or any number of other possibilities - and you have a limited amount of time to progress through a sector before the pursuing enemy fleet catches you. It's a balance of hitting as many nodes as possible for loot and upgrades while not getting caught.

You can also upgrade your ship and crew (think MechWarrior style of upgrading) and micromanage your crew to effect repairs and repel boarders.

Did I mention it's one of the most difficult and frustrating games in existence? If you lose your ship you start over, and there are no checkpoints or autosaves. The random nature of it means you can get in over your head very quickly, especially if you've been unable to repair your ship.

 

[Kissaragi]

I found it really dull to be honest, stopped playing after a few days.

 

[Confusius]

It's a little reminiscent of Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, but deeper and with just a tad of Escape Velocity mixed in. The game it most reminds me if, though, is an ancient Mac freeware called "The Creature", if I remember correctly.

 

[allfunandgames]

Well, it's official now. All of my free time has been sorely sunk into this game. I really think it should come with a disclaimer that you'll happily abandon sleep and food when playing this game.

Anybody else lost their life to FTL?

Ah, someone else who is suffering in the same way I am. The game is super-addictive and the unlockables, Steam cards, and random nature of the game keep me going back. Still haven't passed the game, either. About to try using the teleporter to board the enemy ship.

How many hours are you up to? The Binding of Isaac is another cheap indie 'Rogue' style game with such fun randomness.

 

[Solomani]

FTL ruined my life

FTL ruined your life? Wow you must have an easy life.

A leaky condom ruined mine.

 

[Washac]

FTL ruined your life? Wow you must have an easy life.

A leaky condom ruined mine.

That made me laugh

 

[keysofanxiety]

Ah, someone else who is suffering in the same way I am. The game is super-addictive and the unlockables, Steam cards, and random nature of the game keep me going back. Still haven't passed the game, either. About to try using the teleporter to board the enemy ship.

How many hours are you up to? The Binding of Isaac is another cheap indie 'Rogue' style game with such fun randomness.

I'm up to about 50+ hours. The best thing I could recommend to you is to constantly pause. Best to upgrade blast doors as well, and when people board you, open them up to suffocate them.

Also, beam weapons (fire weapons and the like): They only work when the shields are down, so make sure you don't fire them until your main weapon fires. Once the shields are down, pause the game, and draw the line to destroy them.

Also remember that the more rooms beam weapons go through, the more damage they do. So try to get as many adjacent rooms as you can.

And finally, check the enemy weapons. See how many shots they can fire so you can adjust your shields accordingly. Put a man on the engines & always have one on the cockpit. Remember that the higher the engines, the greater your dodge chance (see it towards the top-left). This will help you to avoid missiles and the like.

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FTL ruined your life? Wow you must have an easy life.

A leaky condom ruined mine.

lol'd hard

+1

 

[Elmzeh]

This sounds like a really great game from what you're all saying!

I purchased it during the Steam Sales but havent had the chance to give it a go yet - will be sure to get a video of it up ASAP!

 

[keysofanxiety]

This sounds like a really great game from what you're all saying!

I purchased it during the Steam Sales but havent had the chance to give it a go yet - will be sure to get a video of it up ASAP!

Excellent! Be sure to do the tutorial first

And also, although it seems easy to pick up there are a lot of game mechanics you need to take into account. There's shield recharge rate, cloaking, dodge rate, weapons reload ... then you've got the different type of crew members you can get. Some are good at repairing, others are good at killing enemy crew members.

Just remember that although this is technically an RTS, it's not really; it's definitely encouraged that you should pause as often as you can by pressing Space, so don't feel like you're cheating.

Hope you enjoy it!

EDIT: Oh, and don't play it on Easy mode. Normal all the way!

 

[Huntn]

FTL- I've messed with it and found it to be mildly interesting. No where near the pull of a WoW, WoT, or TL2.

For the OP, have you played Plants vs Zombies? If not, better stay away.

 

[PatrickCocoa]

Please call . . .

FTL ruined your life? Wow you must have an easy life.

A leaky condom ruined mine.

Dad? Is that you?

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It's a combination of real-time space battles and Choose Your Own Adventure style branching exploration. Each node on the path through a sector is randomized - it could be a battle, a shop with supplies, a friendly in need of help, or any number of other possibilities - and you have a limited amount of time to progress through a sector before the pursuing enemy fleet catches you. It's a balance of hitting as many nodes as possible for loot and upgrades while not getting caught.

You can also upgrade your ship and crew (think MechWarrior style of upgrading) and micromanage your crew to effect repairs and repel boarders.

Did I mention it's one of the most difficult and frustrating games in existence? If you lose your ship you start over, and there are no checkpoints or autosaves. The random nature of it means you can get in over your head very quickly, especially if you've been unable to repair your ship.

Thanks, I may check this out.

 

[keysofanxiety]

For the OP, have you played Plants vs Zombies? If not, better stay away.

I certainly have. Luckily it didn't quite have the grip on me as other games have; but that's more to do with my iPhone 4 lagging like anything whenever I tried to play it.

My sister, on the other hand, got PvZ on her iMac after I suggested she might like it; and she was completely hooked on it. From what I hear, my mother sought out medical attention to help her deal with her PvZ addiction. The doctor prescribed heroin (a less dependant substance) to help ween her off PvZ.

I hope she hasn't relapsed, as it might mean getting PvZ 2 and giving money to EA