Spoiler: Context So FTL is this Sci-Fi rogue-like game, where you try to live long enough to fight against the Rebel Flagship. And subsequently get violently turned into space debris by said Rebel Flagship. I started a run with the Engi's B ship, The Vortex, with the goal of simply reaching sector 8 (That would unlock me a new spaceship, even if I was subsequently turned into space debris by the Rebel's Flagship). To put it into context, the Rebel Flagship has a solid defense (shields, cloaking, defense drones), and unparalleled offensive capabilities. And, once you defeat it... it turns out it has phases. For the first time, I managed to defeat it! But it was just as they had destroyed my ship! That inspired me to write my crewmember's adventures in The Vortex. It was 3am so I probably wasn't in the best of states of mind. Year 43XX. The Rebels are overthrowing the Federation. They seem unstoppable, conquering sector after sector unimpeded. Alas, a lone Engi of the Federation has discovered its weakness! So the lone engineer takes her trusty ship, picks up a few drones, loads some heavy weapons, and departs towards the Federation headquarters! At first, she travels in an empty ship through pirate lands and Mantis homeworlds. Leaving the rooms without oxygen helps her preventing fires, and fight off those pesky boarders! Throughout her journey, she finds powerful weapons and valiant souls willing to join her in her quest. She manages to stay just one step before the Rebels, untill she finally reaches the Federation's Headquarters! "The Rebel's weakness is the Rebel flagship!" she said, "We're willing to fight it!" And so they waited at the Federation's Base. Station after station fell in the Rebel's hands as the Rebel flagship made their way to the Base. Until the final fight began! "Shred their shields!" she commanded as they aimed their Lethal weapon at the Flagship. However it would take some time until the weapon reached its maximum output, capable of disabling any shields. But, while the weapon got up to speed, they managed to dodge missiles aimed at them, and their shield managed to withhold their lasers. Her drones also came in defence of her ship, reducing the amount of projectiles they had to deal with. Then the weapon was ready. And destroyed their shields! As the hull kept taking damage, the Rebels had to flee! But, she knew it was not over yet... And the Flagship returned. This time, however, it brought an army of drones with it! The Engi and her crew started loading their weapon immediately... But as it was preparing, the Rebel's drones managed to stress their defences! Repair drones dashed around the ship, trying to repair shields, oxygen generators, cameras! But the weapon finally reached full capacity, and begun disabling the Flagship's shields, then damaging their Hull. But then, fire appeared in the pilot's command center! The Mantis pilot began frantically trying to put it out, and a dron came to help... But the Rebels had hacked the doors! As Mantis are much better suited at fighting than putting out fires, the pilotwas looing every second more hopeless... But then, finally, the weapon damaged the Flagship enough for it to retreat. The pilot scrambled out of the room through the just unhacked doors, into a room with just enough oxygen so that he would live... They took the opportunity to repair what could be repaired, and prepared themselves mentally for what would certainly be the final showdown. And then, the Flagship returned. It was looking like a ghost ship, as if it were debris barely holding together. But its shields were up and stronger... "Let's throw everything we've got at those damn shields!" she commanded. The Rebels also threw everything they had... and were desperate enough to try to send their crewmembers to board them! Thankfully, this was futile as the Engi's drones attacked them as they asphyxiated in the rooms fulled of vacuum. But, suddenly, she detected a power surge! "Dammit, they've got a nasty surprise for us!" she muttered as the Flagship threw a massive amount of pulses and lasers. She managed to activate the cloaking just in time dodge most of them, but some managed to hit their shields. Unfortunately, even though their weapon was starting to pick up steam, so did the Rebel's weapons... They managed to penetrate their shields and start damaging systems here and there. As the repair drone was restlessly moving around the ship, the Engi detected another power surge. "Oh... no..." She said when se came with the realisation that the cloaking was still loading, having been damaged by the Rebel's onslaught. And the volley of Pulses and Lasers came. The pilot managed to valiantly dodge some of them, the shields managed to stop a couple of them. But the rest fell onto the ship, damaging some of the core systems! "Dammit they hit the Pilot's Command Center pretty badly!" said the Mantis pilot "I'm ok, but I won't be able to repair it alone, and we won't be able to dodge anything until it's repaired!". But the Engi was more concerned about something else: The weapons stack had been hit and set on fire! "No! If our superweapon is destroyed, there's no hope of defeating them!" she said. But! The Rockman manning the engines came to her help. His innate skills helped them control the fires quickly. "I'm not an engineer for nothing!" she said, as she quickly repaired the weapon's control center. The superweapon was secured, and had finally reached full capacity! She even managed to activate the missiles. The Federation's hull was being ravaged. Most of their crew was now dead. But, unfortunately, they still could fire their superweapon! The Lasers hit the Engi's ship mercilessly, with no pilot to dodge them, no cloaking to misdirect them, and no shields to stop them. But the ship managed to barely hold itself together. "We won't sruvive the next one... I'm sorry everyone for making you join this suicide mission." she said to her crew. "Hahaha, don't worry! I'd much rather be remembered as a hero than forgotten as someone who was stranded on a rock in space!" said the Mantis pilot "I, was a slave. You, gave me freedom. I, choose to help you." said the Rockman, still in the weapon's control center. It was pointless to control the engines now, anyway. "The Rebels... They'd keep on bringing war to the Universe if no one stopped them. I'm glad I was of a little help" said the Shield's controller. "Thanks everyone! Let's show them the mettle of the Federation!" she said. "Yeah!" And so she fired her missiles! But! The Flagship managed to dodge them, as they fired their superweapon one last time. As the lasers loomed, the crew made their last prayers. They bombarded the ship relentlessly. The hull could no longer hold itself together, as the Engi's ship slowly came apapart. It would soon be nothing other than debris in a past battlefield. But! Just before the end, her superweapon managed to fire one last time! The laser flew towards the Flagship. It shields were long gone, its crew in their last breaths. It was barely holding itself together... Bam! The laser hit right in the cornerstone! The Flagship's parts began their slow demisely dance, as they were free from the hull holding them together. From afar, two bunches of scrap slowly spread in the inmense cosmos. It was the result of the clash of two crews holding the last hopes of their nations. With the Flagship gone, the Rebel's fleet came into disarray, enough to let the Federation take the upper hand. They eventually managed to push them beyond the outer reaches of the known universe. ~~~ In the Federation's Base, a monument stands in the main plaza. "In honor to the crew of The Vortex, that valiantly fought in the defence of the Federation, and the friendship between spicies it supports. May they be remembered as the heroes they are, for eons to come."
soooo, this is the last chapter, right? there is so much more to that game than this, it needs moar, MOAR. sorry, i jsut love that game
Btw, gratz now to try and defeat it on the harder difficulties xD I remember being so happy beating it on easy... that last boss is a bitch -.- To this day I am the only one among my gaming buddies (just 6 people) who has successfully beat FTL even once xD All my dice rolls for the subsequent playthroughs though had me fucked by the 3 sector lol as if taking revenge for that one loss...
You forgot the part where you open the air locks to extinguish the fire :^) Grats on beating the game... They say that Dark Souls is hard, but that is actually less rng than this. FTL is merciless and one mistake can lead to consequent suffering trough several sectors or even leading you instantly to your demise. God, I still haven't beaten the game
Yeah it's a pretty hard game... The easiest time I beat the flagship was with a strong rock boardin crew, an array of rapid fire ion guns, good cloaking and a fire bomb teleporter... When they tried to board me I ripped their crew appart I tried quite a few times but never managed to beat it without the cloaking system tho...
Oh no I just beat it again... It feels like all the struggle was a lie... Ospray + 20-second-cooldown shield-ignoring beam + 4 shields + 48% evade + cloaking + 4 shields + Mantis-Crystal boarding party to pick 'em off one by one. Kudo's to the pilot and engine for dodging the powersurge almost completely once. It really helps not having to invest on weapons/drones. I'm still open to the idea of writing the tale of another ship... But that'll probably have to wait: I've got my exams coming in two weeks : ( Just getting to sector 8 is hard. The first time I arrived, the flagship just went and destroyed me. Oh how I hate those tri-missiles. The second time I had cloaking, but was still new to how to use it. I got destroyed as well. And then I finally beat it... But it comes back with "That's not even my final form!". I felt so mad! I got done in by drones. One time I was doing pretty well, but the Rebel's superweapon is its third phase is sooo scary. I had given up pretty much all hope of defeating it, which is why I was so surprised. I even died before the flagship, but thankfully the game still counted it as a victory... If your ship is already empty of oxygen, you don't need to open your airlocks to put down fires! That's the advantage of Engi B. Which is why when the room is on fire, and the only room your crewmember can escape to is empty of air... And the doors are hacked... It was really a miracle he survived. Now that you mention RNG, I think the first time I used Engi B literally the first encounter was a drone in autopilot sending laser and misiles... While my shields were busted from the very beginning due to some environmental hazard shenanigan. It suffices to say that run did not go well : /