"I don't want to spoil your first experience of fighting the boss" - Translation: I want you to experience the sensation of every atom of hope you've ever had be instantly blinked out of existence without any chance of emotionally preparing yourself
Man, I watched the video without any prethought, it was excellent. And I come down to see how many millions of subscribers you have and- bro what. You, sire, are severely underrated.
fr tho this is without a doubt and by FAR the best channel for improving in ftl like way way way way better than any other ftl content i’ve found and i cannot believe how few subscribers he has
Solid advice through it all, can't think of anything obvious missing. Strongly recommended. Especially the "Learn from your mistakes" tip is excellent, it holds true all up to expert level.
One thing you forgot IMO - grit! Sometimes it feels like a situation is overwhelming you and you pretty much mentally give up even though you're "sort of" fighting it ; instead if you _really_ give it everything you have, you might get away with one or two fewer crewmembers for sure but your run could still be amazing, with free weapons and a cloaking waiting for you in the next system!
Totally agree, but I feel this is more of an intermediate or even high-level tip. At least as a new player, I had little grit and it didn't matter because losing games was okay. Sometimes I would restart because I got annoyed by a mistake or things going badly. Today, in win streak play I would be aiming for 99% long-term win rate as a goal, but I didn't get to that point overnight.
Also grit between runs: it took me ages upon ages to win with Stealth B, replaying over and over again for all the runs where I find a ship with beam weapons or a drone or somehow level 2 shields in the first ~10 jumps before I get another shield bubble, and also all the runs where I get established and still end up getting worn down or blasted apart. But in the end I won after about a month of off/on trying, and it was super exciting!
4:53 “do be the good guy there… because it gets you money.” Classic, just earned another subscriber (also great tips, I’m relatively new to the game, only fought the boss for the first time recently and this advice is helping a ton)
This is a fantastic guide. I have over 30 hours and still don't have a win. However, with the knowledge I gained from watching this I think my chances have increased dramatically. Thank you
I'm a beginner too and finally got the first achievement (getting to sector 5) which feels like a "win" with this game, thanks in large part to the tips given here. Even got to sector 6 in the very next try, so I feel like a real win is coming soon.
@@TimTim3000 Good job, and glad I could assist! Maybe you already got a win by now (I missed the comment before, sorry), but if not I'm sure it will come soon. =)
Cheers Mike. Finally got really into this game after being a big fan of Into the Breach for the past few years. FTL wasn’t as immediately accessible as ItB, so I put it off long ago. Your video helped peel this pearl open. Thanks, keep it up! High quality content!
I just discovered this game two days ago and put twelve hours into it in the two sessions I've played so far. I love it, and am furious I didn't discover it years ago. Anyways, this is one of the best tutorial videos I've ever seen. Great tips, very concise. Much appreciated... Now to swallow my pride and drop down to easy for a while. Damn it...... Thanks for the vid!
Amazing guide. Came back to FTL after a few years and these tips got me to the flagship for the first time ever. Whenever I engage an enemy ship I hear your voice telling me to "shoot them, in the weapons". Whenever I pillage vaccinations for a local plague, I think back to your advice about not being the good guys.
Damn, this guide helped me revisiting this game years after trying it out on a friend's account and disliking it because of difficulty and lack of meta progression. The real progression is the one that your video helped me make ! 🎉
Thank for the tips. I just got the game on the Steam fall sale and this really helped me get focused on where I can improve. I've seen the boss once now but man do I need to get better before I have a chance!
Thanks, glad I could help! The boss is tough but you can definitely beat it with some practice. I have a Flagship guide if you get stuck, but I'd suggest seeing how you get on first.
Great video, sent it to my newbie friends! My only criticism of this video is saying not to upgrade engines. Now you shouldn't upgrade too early, or past lvl 5 because it gives diminishing returns, but if you have lvl 5 engines and someone manning it, not only do you have around a 45% chance to dodge which is insanely powerful, but going invisible makes you have 100% evasion. This is how I managed to win my first runs, not having that evasion can be deadly when facing the flagship.
Glad it was helpful! Maybe watch the part about engines again though, I'm saying almost exactly what you just said. The only real difference is that I probably see level engines-5 as a lower priority than you do. I like engines-5 but it's a bit of a luxury, and I'm comfortable on engines-4 for the Flagship. That's still 100% evasion in cloaking too.
@@mikehopley Yeah I was typing that about halfway through the video and I lost my comment, my bad. I know it is 100% but that's with external factors. I am just much more of a ship oriented player than a crew one, in terms of skills specifically
@@TheJemShuffle Without trained crew, you'd need level 7 engines for 100% evasion during cloak. Or with partial training, you can get that with level 6 or even level 5 engines. 100% cloaked evasion isn't essential either. 95% evasion is also very reliable, although guarantees do help with tactics.
You can avoid buying fuel if you think you can make it to sector 8 with your last few fuel because after that, you get all the fuel you will ever need. If enemy surrender you with 3 or more fuel, you may consider take it for the fuel. Keep in mind that you likely get a bit less scrap than just win the battle. If they surrender with an argument or a weapon, usually it’s a good idea to accept. Keep in mind that if you already have 3 arguments, the extra that is not be equipped will be left behind.
Thank you for the video and tips! I was doing wrong some things I assumed. I arrived to the last boss 2 times and I died to his last phase. I play with all enabled but I think next time I'll finally beat it. Good video! Cheers
I started playing FTL a couple days ago on easy mode, with advanced mode off, and on my first run I got to sector 8 (literally first try somehow), but lost to the mothership on the first phase. After a bit of trying, I could not get back to sector 8 whatsoever, and it took me like 4 attempts to even get to sector 6. After watching your video though and following all the tips (especially the keep upgrading all the systems all the time one), I got to sector 8 again. Not only that, but I almost won the fight against the mothership. I got past phase 1 and 2 very easily, but ended up dying to phase 3 from bad luck where literally every shot that hit my ship caused a breach + not having the manpower to deal with the large amounts of invading crew that destroyed pretty much everything in my ship + the low oxygen in my ship from all breaches caused a pretty brutal death in the end. Either way, absolutely loved the guide you made, it's pretty amazing and it helped me quite a bit. I think if I hadn't had gotten so unlucky with the breaches, I probably would've held on for slightly longer, and maybe would've won the fight (but that's pretty outlandish tbh). Thanks for the guide (P.S. the guide was so helpful, that even with like probably 8 hours total of gameplay, I still almost won)!
@@mikehopley so. After that attempt that I mentioned, I tried to go for getting other ships or something for fun, and I had especially liked the Kestrel's B layout because of the 4 weapon slots, 4 starting crew and the quad basic laser setup (and also because it looks amazing). I ended up getting it after 2 runs each going for two separate achievements (those being United Federation and Tough Little Ship), and I started a run to test it out. Little did I know, that after a series of some pretty fortunate events (like finding a hull laser, burst laser II and 2 heavy laser I's, and having enough scrap to finally go for getting a stealth system), I was in a position to get an easy win. By the end of the game, I had 22 reactor slots, stealth 3, weapons up to level 6 and four shield bubbles. After like 5 minutes I had already beaten phase 1 and 2, and was waiting for the ship to come to me for phase 3, and I beat it after 3 minutes. The stealth system proved insanely useful, and I never understood why I had never bought it before in other runs, because using stealth (even at level 1) can just get you a free ticket through any of the power surge attacks the ship launches at you (including the horrifying one at phase 3, which I was only hit by once). I got around the crew attacks by simply targeting the teleporter and destroying it, and I had a mantis ready to handle the attacks if needed, and so I won the game, for the first time, with only a total of probably 15+ hours on the game. Anyways, thanks for the guide you made, it was pretty useful and informative (and helped a ton btw). Just wanted to share my first win here for some reason.
It's definitely beneficial. The only thing I'd say is that it's far from necessary, so it really depends a lot on whether it affects your enjoyment of the game. People have gotten very big win streaks without doing crew training, for example.
i've spent weeks and 30 hours playing FTL with no succesful runs - i watched your video last night and my first attempt the next day i beat it for the first time thanks to your advice. great video man
Thank you! I stream on www.twitch.tv/mikehopley , it's irregular and occasional but you can throw me a follow to be notified. Always happy to answer questions on stream from players at all levels.
Hitting their o2 usually gets them to stop repairing other systems. Most times they prioritize things as o2, weapons, then shields. So slap the o2 any time you can to slow their returning to the fight.
Door upgrades definitely make boarding defence a lot easier, which is why I recommend them to beginners. As you get more skilled, you may find you don't actually need them. Typically I won't upgrade doors until the Flagship, if at all.
I think the shield thing needs an asterisk: Upgrade shields early IF you don't have zoltan shields. Zoltan always goes first, and engine with zoltan can make it so you don't need the shields at all.
Yes, there are exceptions but I'm glossing over those in a beginners' guide. Other cases are Stealth cruisers, which don't have shields (weapons buffer for A & C, cloaking-3 for B) and Mantis B, which has two shields already (rush engines-3). I don't actually recommend engine upgrades on Zoltan ships before shield upgrades, that's not the most consistent play. Bad fights (drones, asteroids) will strip your ZS really fast and then you'll regret it. On Zoltan A I rush a weapons buffer then hoard, on Zoltan B I rush the *first* shield then hoard, and on Zoltan C I just hoard. I'll still make sure I have two shields for sector 3. Rock A is another example where I don't rush shields ASAP. On that ship I'm floating 18 scrap for stores, so I can buy a teleporter without selling Artemis. There's a lot of thought that goes into optimising early game strategy for different ships, and again that's not for a beginners' guide. I cover many ideas in more depth here: ftl-ships-guide.netlify.app/
this was super helpful theres a lot i needed to know. like i got to flagship once but i had two shields and 3 drones and no other weapon lol. i got super lucky. but ya had no idea i needed to get those extra systems. gonna try these out next run. thanks mate.
nice no pause skills :) jokes aside very well done video. tons of good information in here that a new player will surely benefit from. will definitely be directing people to this in the future
I was just curious what your tips would be, and I never knew you could auto-fire a specific weapon. I can think of countless weapons that would work well on
I got the game from a friend over christmas sales, I got him Colony Survival he got me this. Anyway.. I did not find boarding parties to be too much of a struggle, so I might stop upgrading doors like other guides suggest I should upgrade them asap. But they do indeed feel like a crutch. I generally just micro the fights and lead them to med bay, and I cleared sector 3 with basic doors once cuz I was really hoping for that cheap door upgrade from specialists. I often lack the funds for shields.. so I might prioritize them from now on. I really enjoy boarding the enemy.
Thank you for your tipps. Although I try to follow your advice, I always, always die, even on easy. 😞😖 I just don't have enough scrap to repair my ship and upgrade anything.
Thanks for this great video! I learned a lot and I feel like I can finally win a game on normal difficulty (I’ve won a couple times on easy already). Do you have any tips for sector selection?
Oh that's fantastic, really glad it helped! Sector selection is quite nuanced, but here are some basic ideas: I mostly prioritise sectors that have the most stores. So in general that means heading towards green sectors. The other main consideration is how dangerous the sector is, so for example you might need to avoid a Zoltan or Rebel sector -- depending on your ship. Abandoned sectors start becoming dangerous from sector 4 onwards, as that's when Lanius Bombers can spawn. Uncharted Nebula are generally the worst sector in the game, because they have the lowest scrap, lots of empty jumps burning up your fuel supplies, and the (joint) lowest store count. Civilian are generally the best, with the highest average scrap and (joint) highest store count.
@@mikehopley Thanks, so basically: Nebula sectors have more beacons you can explore but less stuff Hostile sectors have more enemies and less stores Green sectors have more stores and less enemies One more thing I’m wondering, are there more good events (free stuff) in green sectors or are the events generally the same. P.S. Those challenge runs are absolutely INSANE, good job!
@@zuggo In general that's right, but also the individual sectors are quite different from each other -- so it's not just "red vs. green", it's also "Zoltan vs. Abandoned", for example. For example, Slug Nebulas are VERY different from Uncharted Nebulas. Slug have maximum store count (2 -- 3), plenty of fights, and good scrap. Abandoned and Rock sectors have the same store count as a Zoltan sector. Zoltan sectors are kinda green-coloured hostile sectors. ;) It's not really true that green sectors have fewer fights either. Civilian and Zoltan have plenty of fights. Engi sectors, however, have by FAR the fewest fights and the most free stuff. In general I'm heading towards green, because Civilian and Engi are good sectors with the maximum store count (2 --3), and even though Zoltan is dangerous it still has 2 stores. Events definitely vary by sector, with many being specific to a sector type. So for example, in Zoltan sectors you have the scary Border Police event, or Rock sectors have Rock Live Mine. Thanks on the challenge runs! For some of them I think "insane" is literally correct -- I was questioning my sanity on stuff like Fed A shieldless, with plenty of deaths in sectors 1 and 2. ;)
@@mikehopley ok cool, I think I got it. Red and Green are a general guide but it’s good to learn what each sector is and contains. What would you classify the “secret” sector as?
@@zuggo Hard to say, as I think I've only been there twice. 2 -- 3 stores and easy fights (at that stage), so I guess it's green. The weapons you can find are probably not what you what, but equally ... you're not losing a sector.
With regards to the engine thing, I sort of agree and disagree. Yes, you should prioritise shields, then weapons to pierce 3 shields yourself, but once you have that, you should definitely not neglect engines either, especially with how cheap engine upgrades are early on. 15 scrap for an extra 5% dodge, but also a faster FTL charge can help on the off chance you ever get caught by the rebel fleet. That higher dodge chance also means your pilot and engine man gain exp easier. I think around sector 2-4 is good time to get level 3 engines. You should definitely have at least level 4 engines by the end of sector 7 going into sector 8, but any more than level 5 is diminishing returns.
I deliberately didn't over-specify when to upgrade engines as this is a beginners' guide. For really advanced play, then outside Mantis B there's little reason to upgrade engines before sector 3. Even then you might not, depending on your options. But engines-3 can be a good safety upgrade if your ship is a bit weak for the current sector.
I've never seen / heard anyone talk about this (correct me if I'm wrong), but if you're about to go through nebula beacons it is a good idea to have an odd number of power bars in the reactor. Since ion storms cut your power in half, rounding it up to the next integer, you would have the same power with an odd number of bars as the next even number. Say you enter an ion storm with 9 power bars. You'll still get the same 5 as you would if you had 10. Any thoughts on this?
10:11 How did you get those rings? I assume they show the rebel fleet steps in advance, is it just an overlay you can turn on or do you have to buy something in the shop for that?
wow, people have told you it took over 200 hours to beat the game for the first time in easy? makes me feel good it took me a 100 hours to beat in hard the first time, actually my greatest gaming accomplishment. but i bet those players didn't have the benefit of watching online instructionals since im late to this great game :)
You did great! And yes, that's part of the reason for making this video. It's a hard game and people can get completely stuck. If you watch good guides or really good players, it can make the game a lot easier.
My first victory against the boss was on easy as the type c mantis ship with lvl 4 shields, close to if not 50% dodge, and no weapons. I was able to teleport my lanius into their main ship, and took a few rounds of teleports to disable their flak and laser weapons. After that it was just a waiting game, I couldn't reposition my mantis crew out of the weapons system without them auto repairing. Eventually my lanius terminator'd his was through their ship and I was victorious
Highly disagree on the getting extta systems part, scrap should be spent on Sensors level 3 as it would prove crucial against the Rebel Flagship. But otherwise, super solid video. I wish I had friends to recommend this to
Advanced content is arguably easier, since you can just hack shields and easily destroy the rest. IMHO playing without advanced content is much harder (better).
I played this game 30 h on normal and didnt got any win. When i tried easy i woń on second on maybe third run. 20 h later i got my first win on normal. I think its almost imposible to win in this game without starting with easy. (Sorry for my bad english).
I would ignore grinding stats against ships that can’t hurt you. An increased 10% dodge chance won’t be the difference a new player needs to beat the game, and is tedious to do every run. When I started I tried doing that and would get bored of waiting for my crew to level up, only to die because I got caught by the rebel fleet or because I didn’t have a good load out. Learn the basics first, because newer players are likely to die because of poor decisions made outside of combat that veteran crew can’t solve.
I agree actually -- I almost didn't mention it in this guide. It's very much up to player preference, but I'd say training crew only really becomes relevant if you are doing win streaks, or otherwise looking to maximise your win rate. Even then, it's certainly possible to complete a 28-ship win streak without training.
@@mikehopley Sinking a lot of hours into it again for the first time in years. Trying to get all of the achievements. Last one I need is the ancestry achievement with the rock ship. Only did it once with the crystal ship. :/. I think I got the crystal ship from having all of the other ship.
@@Steelflight773 Ugh, the Crystal Cruiser quest unlock is ridiculous. Best chance is Rock C (or Crystal A/B of course!) and just reset if you don't see many red sector chances in sector 5 onwards. I've never done the full quest line.
Scrap recovery arm is overrated. It's proven that it's unefficient if it was bought in mid sectors and risky in early sectors. Also it does take 1 augment slot, so don't buy it.
Why are long-range scanners good value? I barely see the point in them; they just tell you whether stars next to you have ion storms, or a ship encounter. Big deal?
Ship encounters mean scrap, rather than an empty beacon; LRS will consistently make more scrap than Scrap Recovery Arm. They also have some good blue options. Sometimes you want to avoid hazards too.
I’ve played exclusively on hard… and I’ve had the game for a few days. I see… I just like difficult things, I haven’t been discouraged from the game yet, I fully know that if I find it too difficult I need to tone it down. But I’m kinda a “trial by fire” guy. I play with advanced edition content sometimes… I’ve played like 25 actual runs.
Nothing wrong with starting on Hard if you enjoy it! The difficulty also depends on how much you look up guides and playthroughs. I could imagine someone winning immediately on Hard, if they had already "learned" the game by watching how high-level players do it.
@@mikehopley I love watching skilled players do their thing and then implementing what I see into my own gameplay. I am considering stepping it down a bit for this game though, possibly dropping to normal or easy. I did manage to get kestrel layout b and the engie layout b (Vortex) on hard only so there’s that.
@@epicsandvich014 I'd say "follow the fun". It's all down to individual preference, but I started on Easy and stayed there quite a while, unlocking all the ships. I also feel playing on a lower difficulty helped me learn a lot about the game, because I wasn't getting punished hardcore for trying different things, and because I enjoyed making progress and winning games.
Super amazing tutorial and it helped me a ton. I recommend this vid to my friends every time I indoctrinate one of them into the cult of FTL I’ve beaten the game three times now and have 7 ships of the 10 available
Installed the game after a long time having beaten it on medium in the past... And I still think it's garbage to be honest. You can have the perfect setup, visit the wrong nebula, get 0 shields and just die instantly. Even on easy. I think they did a better job with "Into the Breach".
Your comment is so wrong I don't even know where to start. If you've "beaten it on medium in the past" that tells me you know almost nothing about it compared to really skilled players. There is no event in a nebula that takes away your shields, unless you're making a dumb choice in the "dangerous-looking ship" event. There is one rare event in Civilian sectors (not in a nebula) that halves your shield level. Even then, you should be fine the vast majority of the time. I've beaten the game with every ship without any shields at all (on Hard). Back when I was doing win streaks (on Hard), I had a 98% win rate, and that's years ago when I was "bad". In the last 5 years I haven't lost a single run, and I've been playing almost exclusively the bad or difficult ships. It's a difficult game for sure, but a huge part of the appeal is that winning is absolutely dominated by skill and you can *always* get better.
@@mikehopleyif you have beaten the game without shields, please upload a playthrough. I can't even get to the boss, trying to stick to your tipps but always die because I never have enough scrap to repair and upgrade.
@@patrick2307 Shieldless runs are a serious challenge, a beginners' guide isn't really going to cut it. I don't have any full runs uploaded, but I do have Flagship fights for all 28 ships without shields: th-cam.com/play/PLYGAjVZPcf_Ts6tR1LFk3LxEG040ly9EI.html
Disagree on additional systems. Strong primary systems and weapons is more reliable way to win, and there is totaly no need to get all slots filled. Having 8 shields, 8 weapons and 6 engines with just one system like cloaking or hacking is enough. Three systems is overkill and strain on the reactor.
You won't find any high-level players who agree with you there. Bear in mind I'm coming at this from the perspective of someone with a ~98% win rate on Hard. Looks like you could benefit from trying some of the advice in this guide! Systems aren't a strain on the reactor if you know how to move power around. You don't need to power everything at once. I will admit there are SOME occasions where it's not an error to have a system slot empty -- but those runs are quite rare. Remember the advice in the video has been simplified to make it more accessible to a beginner audience.
@@letir7561 Sure, but you should still have enough overall power if you play well. In more extreme cases you can share power between weapons and engines, for example. It's a psychological shift as much as anything else. You just need to get used to playing without everything fully powered all the time. How much scrap are you typically making? This could be related.
@@simonkim8646 Yeah, while that's a pretty bad overall choice of systems, it's still well worth buying them both as opposed to having no systems (for anyone wondering, artillery is not purchasable and only found on the Federation cruisers).
Running 8 shields, 8 weapons and 5-6 engines with 2 useful systems is alredy solid setup with great chances on victory. Trying to fit third system, with possible additional spendings (drones for drone system, boarders and bombs for teleporter) just for the sake of having everythin is wasteful.
"I don't want to spoil your first experience of fighting the boss" - Translation: I want you to experience the sensation of every atom of hope you've ever had be instantly blinked out of existence without any chance of emotionally preparing yourself
My guy thats brutal XD
@@KujiArgisia So's fighting the boss for the first time >_
@@mattmorgan-moriarty4445 equally gruesome, but oh so accurate.
BRUH i DIED EVERY TIME THERE
Man, I watched the video without any prethought, it was excellent. And I come down to see how many millions of subscribers you have and- bro what. You, sire, are severely underrated.
Thank you, most kind!
fr tho this is without a doubt and by FAR the best channel for improving in ftl like way way way way better than any other ftl content i’ve found and i cannot believe how few subscribers he has
That is the problem in yt
They are either extremely underrated or extremely overrated
Nowhere between
Solid advice through it all, can't think of anything obvious missing. Strongly recommended.
Especially the "Learn from your mistakes" tip is excellent, it holds true all up to expert level.
Thanks Thomas!
Reddit taught me not to undervalue engines but here you are, with your impressive win streak telling me to. I don't know what to do lol
One thing you forgot IMO - grit! Sometimes it feels like a situation is overwhelming you and you pretty much mentally give up even though you're "sort of" fighting it ; instead if you _really_ give it everything you have, you might get away with one or two fewer crewmembers for sure but your run could still be amazing, with free weapons and a cloaking waiting for you in the next system!
Totally agree, but I feel this is more of an intermediate or even high-level tip. At least as a new player, I had little grit and it didn't matter because losing games was okay. Sometimes I would restart because I got annoyed by a mistake or things going badly. Today, in win streak play I would be aiming for 99% long-term win rate as a goal, but I didn't get to that point overnight.
Also grit between runs: it took me ages upon ages to win with Stealth B, replaying over and over again for all the runs where I find a ship with beam weapons or a drone or somehow level 2 shields in the first ~10 jumps before I get another shield bubble, and also all the runs where I get established and still end up getting worn down or blasted apart. But in the end I won after about a month of off/on trying, and it was super exciting!
4:53 “do be the good guy there… because it gets you money.” Classic, just earned another subscriber (also great tips, I’m relatively new to the game, only fought the boss for the first time recently and this advice is helping a ton)
Thanks, glad it was helpful!
@@mikehopley and I just beat the flagship for the first time a few minutes ago, definitely in part because of this video, so thank you!
@@ciaranpatrick6859 Awesome, congrats on the first win!
This is a fantastic guide. I have over 30 hours and still don't have a win. However, with the knowledge I gained from watching this I think my chances have increased dramatically. Thank you
Thanks so much, and good luck! I bet you will get a win soon.
I'm a beginner too and finally got the first achievement (getting to sector 5) which feels like a "win" with this game, thanks in large part to the tips given here. Even got to sector 6 in the very next try, so I feel like a real win is coming soon.
@@TimTim3000 Good job, and glad I could assist! Maybe you already got a win by now (I missed the comment before, sorry), but if not I'm sure it will come soon. =)
About 20 hours in. After this I can see very glaring gameplay decisions I was making that were to my detriment. Great guide!
Thank you! Glad it was helpful.
Cheers Mike. Finally got really into this game after being a big fan of Into the Breach for the past few years. FTL wasn’t as immediately accessible as ItB, so I put it off long ago. Your video helped peel this pearl open. Thanks, keep it up! High quality content!
That's great, thanks for letting me know! Enjoy your runs =)
I just discovered this game two days ago and put twelve hours into it in the two sessions I've played so far. I love it, and am furious I didn't discover it years ago. Anyways, this is one of the best tutorial videos I've ever seen. Great tips, very concise. Much appreciated... Now to swallow my pride and drop down to easy for a while. Damn it...... Thanks for the vid!
Thank you so much! FTL is amazing, you've got an exciting journey ahead of you. Good luck with your runs!
Amazing guide. Came back to FTL after a few years and these tips got me to the flagship for the first time ever. Whenever I engage an enemy ship I hear your voice telling me to "shoot them, in the weapons". Whenever I pillage vaccinations for a local plague, I think back to your advice about not being the good guys.
Damn, this guide helped me revisiting this game years after trying it out on a friend's account and disliking it because of difficulty and lack of meta progression. The real progression is the one that your video helped me make ! 🎉
Sweet, glad it helped!
Thank for the tips. I just got the game on the Steam fall sale and this really helped me get focused on where I can improve. I've seen the boss once now but man do I need to get better before I have a chance!
Thanks, glad I could help! The boss is tough but you can definitely beat it with some practice. I have a Flagship guide if you get stuck, but I'd suggest seeing how you get on first.
I joined the ftl reddit and quickly learned you were a legend. This video confirmed god status
Too kind! Glad you liked the video =)
Great video, sent it to my newbie friends! My only criticism of this video is saying not to upgrade engines. Now you shouldn't upgrade too early, or past lvl 5 because it gives diminishing returns, but if you have lvl 5 engines and someone manning it, not only do you have around a 45% chance to dodge which is insanely powerful, but going invisible makes you have 100% evasion.
This is how I managed to win my first runs, not having that evasion can be deadly when facing the flagship.
Glad it was helpful! Maybe watch the part about engines again though, I'm saying almost exactly what you just said. The only real difference is that I probably see level engines-5 as a lower priority than you do. I like engines-5 but it's a bit of a luxury, and I'm comfortable on engines-4 for the Flagship. That's still 100% evasion in cloaking too.
@@mikehopley Yeah I was typing that about halfway through the video and I lost my comment, my bad. I know it is 100% but that's with external factors. I am just much more of a ship oriented player than a crew one, in terms of skills specifically
@@TheJemShuffle Without trained crew, you'd need level 7 engines for 100% evasion during cloak. Or with partial training, you can get that with level 6 or even level 5 engines. 100% cloaked evasion isn't essential either. 95% evasion is also very reliable, although guarantees do help with tactics.
You can avoid buying fuel if you think you can make it to sector 8 with your last few fuel because after that, you get all the fuel you will ever need.
If enemy surrender you with 3 or more fuel, you may consider take it for the fuel. Keep in mind that you likely get a bit less scrap than just win the battle. If they surrender with an argument or a weapon, usually it’s a good idea to accept. Keep in mind that if you already have 3 arguments, the extra that is not be equipped will be left behind.
Thank you for the video and tips! I was doing wrong some things I assumed. I arrived to the last boss 2 times and I died to his last phase. I play with all enabled but I think next time I'll finally beat it. Good video! Cheers
I started playing FTL a couple days ago on easy mode, with advanced mode off, and on my first run I got to sector 8 (literally first try somehow), but lost to the mothership on the first phase. After a bit of trying, I could not get back to sector 8 whatsoever, and it took me like 4 attempts to even get to sector 6. After watching your video though and following all the tips (especially the keep upgrading all the systems all the time one), I got to sector 8 again. Not only that, but I almost won the fight against the mothership. I got past phase 1 and 2 very easily, but ended up dying to phase 3 from bad luck where literally every shot that hit my ship caused a breach + not having the manpower to deal with the large amounts of invading crew that destroyed pretty much everything in my ship + the low oxygen in my ship from all breaches caused a pretty brutal death in the end. Either way, absolutely loved the guide you made, it's pretty amazing and it helped me quite a bit. I think if I hadn't had gotten so unlucky with the breaches, I probably would've held on for slightly longer, and maybe would've won the fight (but that's pretty outlandish tbh). Thanks for the guide (P.S. the guide was so helpful, that even with like probably 8 hours total of gameplay, I still almost won)!
Thanks for taking the time to comment, I really appreciate it! Glad I could help and good luck in your next runs!
@@mikehopley so. After that attempt that I mentioned, I tried to go for getting other ships or something for fun, and I had especially liked the Kestrel's B layout because of the 4 weapon slots, 4 starting crew and the quad basic laser setup (and also because it looks amazing). I ended up getting it after 2 runs each going for two separate achievements (those being United Federation and Tough Little Ship), and I started a run to test it out. Little did I know, that after a series of some pretty fortunate events (like finding a hull laser, burst laser II and 2 heavy laser I's, and having enough scrap to finally go for getting a stealth system), I was in a position to get an easy win. By the end of the game, I had 22 reactor slots, stealth 3, weapons up to level 6 and four shield bubbles. After like 5 minutes I had already beaten phase 1 and 2, and was waiting for the ship to come to me for phase 3, and I beat it after 3 minutes. The stealth system proved insanely useful, and I never understood why I had never bought it before in other runs, because using stealth (even at level 1) can just get you a free ticket through any of the power surge attacks the ship launches at you (including the horrifying one at phase 3, which I was only hit by once). I got around the crew attacks by simply targeting the teleporter and destroying it, and I had a mantis ready to handle the attacks if needed, and so I won the game, for the first time, with only a total of probably 15+ hours on the game.
Anyways, thanks for the guide you made, it was pretty useful and informative (and helped a ton btw). Just wanted to share my first win here for some reason.
@@timecubed Congrats on the win! ~15 hours is pretty fast. As you said, cloaking is really good.
Really awesome way to highlight the value of training crew! Guess it's time to afk the early game a lot more. At 10:50
It's definitely beneficial. The only thing I'd say is that it's far from necessary, so it really depends a lot on whether it affects your enjoyment of the game. People have gotten very big win streaks without doing crew training, for example.
i've spent weeks and 30 hours playing FTL with no succesful runs - i watched your video last night and my first attempt the next day i beat it for the first time thanks to your advice. great video man
Missed this comment before, sorry. That's great to hear, glad I could help out and well done!
Great video! Would gladly watch you play the game and explain your choices 👍🏻
Thank you! I stream on www.twitch.tv/mikehopley , it's irregular and occasional but you can throw me a follow to be notified. Always happy to answer questions on stream from players at all levels.
watched this video while farming engine and pilot exp, thank you!
Hitting their o2 usually gets them to stop repairing other systems. Most times they prioritize things as o2, weapons, then shields. So slap the o2 any time you can to slow their returning to the fight.
12:20
doors is my #1-3 priority
probably because of all the 6 mantis boarders in sector 2
Door upgrades definitely make boarding defence a lot easier, which is why I recommend them to beginners. As you get more skilled, you may find you don't actually need them. Typically I won't upgrade doors until the Flagship, if at all.
I think the shield thing needs an asterisk: Upgrade shields early IF you don't have zoltan shields. Zoltan always goes first, and engine with zoltan can make it so you don't need the shields at all.
Yes, there are exceptions but I'm glossing over those in a beginners' guide. Other cases are Stealth cruisers, which don't have shields (weapons buffer for A & C, cloaking-3 for B) and Mantis B, which has two shields already (rush engines-3).
I don't actually recommend engine upgrades on Zoltan ships before shield upgrades, that's not the most consistent play. Bad fights (drones, asteroids) will strip your ZS really fast and then you'll regret it. On Zoltan A I rush a weapons buffer then hoard, on Zoltan B I rush the *first* shield then hoard, and on Zoltan C I just hoard. I'll still make sure I have two shields for sector 3.
Rock A is another example where I don't rush shields ASAP. On that ship I'm floating 18 scrap for stores, so I can buy a teleporter without selling Artemis.
There's a lot of thought that goes into optimising early game strategy for different ships, and again that's not for a beginners' guide. I cover many ideas in more depth here: ftl-ships-guide.netlify.app/
this was super helpful theres a lot i needed to know. like i got to flagship once but i had two shields and 3 drones and no other weapon lol. i got super lucky. but ya had no idea i needed to get those extra systems. gonna try these out next run. thanks mate.
Thanks for letting me know, I'm glad it helped! Good luck with your runs.
Got the game 3 days ago, and so far the furthest I’ve gotten is getting the boss to 1 hp on easy with advanced. Thanks for the tips frfr
Well done, that's great progress! You'll get a win soon.
This is the best video about the topic hands down
Thank you!
nice no pause skills :)
jokes aside very well done video. tons of good information in here that a new player will surely benefit from. will definitely be directing people to this in the future
Thanks man! And yeah, no pause was especially helpful when I wanted to play badly, like "oops Mantis ate my crew" ;)
I was just curious what your tips would be, and I never knew you could auto-fire a specific weapon. I can think of countless weapons that would work well on
I got the game from a friend over christmas sales, I got him Colony Survival he got me this. Anyway.. I did not find boarding parties to be too much of a struggle, so I might stop upgrading doors like other guides suggest I should upgrade them asap. But they do indeed feel like a crutch. I generally just micro the fights and lead them to med bay, and I cleared sector 3 with basic doors once cuz I was really hoping for that cheap door upgrade from specialists. I often lack the funds for shields.. so I might prioritize them from now on. I really enjoy boarding the enemy.
Amazing tips all around, really helps. Thanks!
Great, glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know. =)
500 hrs in the game and I just learned about autofire for specific weapons. Wow
It's a very common thing to miss. I don't even know if the game signposts it at all.
Great guide, thanks for this. I’m going to go play now
Thank you for your tipps. Although I try to follow your advice, I always, always die, even on easy. 😞😖 I just don't have enough scrap to repair my ship and upgrade anything.
It's a tough game! Use this as a starting point, and you'll get better with time. Also you might want to join the Discord if you'd like more help.
This video is so helpful. I did not know you could starve intruders of oxygen by using the vents!
Thanks, glad it was helpful!
Good guide, appreciate the effort.
Thanks! Better late than never =)
Thank you thias seems like useful advice and I'll keep it in mind.
Thanks for this great video! I learned a lot and I feel like I can finally win a game on normal difficulty (I’ve won a couple times on easy already). Do you have any tips for sector selection?
Oh that's fantastic, really glad it helped! Sector selection is quite nuanced, but here are some basic ideas:
I mostly prioritise sectors that have the most stores. So in general that means heading towards green sectors. The other main consideration is how dangerous the sector is, so for example you might need to avoid a Zoltan or Rebel sector -- depending on your ship.
Abandoned sectors start becoming dangerous from sector 4 onwards, as that's when Lanius Bombers can spawn.
Uncharted Nebula are generally the worst sector in the game, because they have the lowest scrap, lots of empty jumps burning up your fuel supplies, and the (joint) lowest store count. Civilian are generally the best, with the highest average scrap and (joint) highest store count.
@@mikehopley Thanks, so basically:
Nebula sectors have more beacons you can explore but less stuff
Hostile sectors have more enemies and less stores
Green sectors have more stores and less enemies
One more thing I’m wondering, are there more good events (free stuff) in green sectors or are the events generally the same.
P.S. Those challenge runs are absolutely INSANE, good job!
@@zuggo In general that's right, but also the individual sectors are quite different from each other -- so it's not just "red vs. green", it's also "Zoltan vs. Abandoned", for example.
For example, Slug Nebulas are VERY different from Uncharted Nebulas. Slug have maximum store count (2 -- 3), plenty of fights, and good scrap.
Abandoned and Rock sectors have the same store count as a Zoltan sector. Zoltan sectors are kinda green-coloured hostile sectors. ;)
It's not really true that green sectors have fewer fights either. Civilian and Zoltan have plenty of fights. Engi sectors, however, have by FAR the fewest fights and the most free stuff.
In general I'm heading towards green, because Civilian and Engi are good sectors with the maximum store count (2 --3), and even though Zoltan is dangerous it still has 2 stores.
Events definitely vary by sector, with many being specific to a sector type. So for example, in Zoltan sectors you have the scary Border Police event, or Rock sectors have Rock Live Mine.
Thanks on the challenge runs! For some of them I think "insane" is literally correct -- I was questioning my sanity on stuff like Fed A shieldless, with plenty of deaths in sectors 1 and 2. ;)
@@mikehopley ok cool, I think I got it. Red and Green are a general guide but it’s good to learn what each sector is and contains. What would you classify the “secret” sector as?
@@zuggo Hard to say, as I think I've only been there twice. 2 -- 3 stores and easy fights (at that stage), so I guess it's green. The weapons you can find are probably not what you what, but equally ... you're not losing a sector.
With regards to the engine thing, I sort of agree and disagree. Yes, you should prioritise shields, then weapons to pierce 3 shields yourself, but once you have that, you should definitely not neglect engines either, especially with how cheap engine upgrades are early on. 15 scrap for an extra 5% dodge, but also a faster FTL charge can help on the off chance you ever get caught by the rebel fleet. That higher dodge chance also means your pilot and engine man gain exp easier. I think around sector 2-4 is good time to get level 3 engines. You should definitely have at least level 4 engines by the end of sector 7 going into sector 8, but any more than level 5 is diminishing returns.
I deliberately didn't over-specify when to upgrade engines as this is a beginners' guide. For really advanced play, then outside Mantis B there's little reason to upgrade engines before sector 3. Even then you might not, depending on your options. But engines-3 can be a good safety upgrade if your ship is a bit weak for the current sector.
You forgot to mention door training, always train on doors :)
Now I'm imagining a new player thinking, "how long does this door training take? Oh well, I trust Mike..."
wow, the "be a bitch and steal whatever you need" part was MY roleplay XDDDDDD
Kudos from 444 Gematria!
I've never seen / heard anyone talk about this (correct me if I'm wrong),
but if you're about to go through nebula beacons it is a good idea to have an odd number of power bars in the reactor.
Since ion storms cut your power in half, rounding it up to the next integer,
you would have the same power with an odd number of bars as the next even number.
Say you enter an ion storm with 9 power bars. You'll still get the same 5 as you would if you had 10.
Any thoughts on this?
What mod are you using that gives you all that scrap and missiles and stuff?
It's just a "template" mod I made for convenience when testing stuff or making some video content.
10:11 How did you get those rings? I assume they show the rebel fleet steps in advance, is it just an overlay you can turn on or do you have to buy something in the shop for that?
It's a mod: subsetgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=38228
@@mikehopley Thanks!
It's a perfect introduction video!
Thank you!
wow, people have told you it took over 200 hours to beat the game for the first time in easy? makes me feel good it took me a 100 hours to beat in hard the first time, actually my greatest gaming accomplishment. but i bet those players didn't have the benefit of watching online instructionals since im late to this great game :)
You did great! And yes, that's part of the reason for making this video. It's a hard game and people can get completely stuck. If you watch good guides or really good players, it can make the game a lot easier.
Nice thanks :-)
My first victory against the boss was on easy as the type c mantis ship with lvl 4 shields, close to if not 50% dodge, and no weapons. I was able to teleport my lanius into their main ship, and took a few rounds of teleports to disable their flak and laser weapons. After that it was just a waiting game, I couldn't reposition my mantis crew out of the weapons system without them auto repairing. Eventually my lanius terminator'd his was through their ship and I was victorious
Why does the author's in-game background look SO MUCH BETTER than mine? >.
Awesome video
Thank you!
Highly disagree on the getting extta systems part, scrap should be spent on Sensors level 3 as it would prove crucial against the Rebel Flagship.
But otherwise, super solid video. I wish I had friends to recommend this to
Damn you're right, that's absolutely the pro play. Thomas can confirm.
I concur. Top tier advice.
Advanced content is arguably easier, since you can just hack shields and easily destroy the rest. IMHO playing without advanced content is much harder (better).
also XDDD learn from your mistakes is engi B crew loss montage
Henry Cavill when did you start making FTL videos on your alt account!
I played this game 30 h on normal and didnt got any win. When i tried easy i woń on second on maybe third run. 20 h later i got my first win on normal. I think its almost imposible to win in this game without starting with easy. (Sorry for my bad english).
It is certainly much harder to start on Normal. People have done it, however.
Selling the burst2, is it legal ? And you've shown it twice. Pure evil.
It's intended to illustrate a very bad decision.
I would ignore grinding stats against ships that can’t hurt you. An increased 10% dodge chance won’t be the difference a new player needs to beat the game, and is tedious to do every run. When I started I tried doing that and would get bored of waiting for my crew to level up, only to die because I got caught by the rebel fleet or because I didn’t have a good load out.
Learn the basics first, because newer players are likely to die because of poor decisions made outside of combat that veteran crew can’t solve.
I agree actually -- I almost didn't mention it in this guide. It's very much up to player preference, but I'd say training crew only really becomes relevant if you are doing win streaks, or otherwise looking to maximise your win rate. Even then, it's certainly possible to complete a 28-ship win streak without training.
yo how i get my background of the game to look like that, it looks really good but i dunno how to get it to look that nice
That's "my" backgrounds mod: www.subsetgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=36291
I have 100 hrs in ftl and have won easy 4 times now. I still cant beat normal 😭
Jesus… I have 270 hours and many victories. About 5 of them are hard. I never knew about individual auto fires :/.
Glad to help! There's a LOT to learn in this game. I'm still learning.
@@mikehopley I do not use auto fire most of the time either but thought it would be nice to have it individually for the ion cannons.
@@Steelflight773 Yep, me too -- sometimes it's just a nice hassle-saving feature. =)
@@mikehopley Sinking a lot of hours into it again for the first time in years. Trying to get all of the achievements. Last one I need is the ancestry achievement with the rock ship. Only did it once with the crystal ship. :/. I think I got the crystal ship from having all of the other ship.
@@Steelflight773 Ugh, the Crystal Cruiser quest unlock is ridiculous. Best chance is Rock C (or Crystal A/B of course!) and just reset if you don't see many red sector chances in sector 5 onwards. I've never done the full quest line.
I had a buddy who thought the game sucked because he only ever played on easy mode
me with 1.1k hours with FTL: iNtEreStInG...
Yeah this one is a LITTLE outside my norm!
@@mikehopley i wish i found this when i was new, btw congrats on 265 subs
@@ArmageddonChess Thank you!
RAPTURE444:360=1.23*MONAD
8:56 How do you have so much scrap???
This isn't "real" gameplay, it's set up. For most tutorials, I mod the game to 3000 scrap. It makes things quicker.
@@mikehopley ah okay
Scrap recovery arm is overrated. It's proven that it's unefficient if it was bought in mid sectors and risky in early sectors. Also it does take 1 augment slot, so don't buy it.
Why are long-range scanners good value? I barely see the point in them; they just tell you whether stars next to you have ion storms, or a ship encounter. Big deal?
Ship encounters mean scrap, rather than an empty beacon; LRS will consistently make more scrap than Scrap Recovery Arm. They also have some good blue options. Sometimes you want to avoid hazards too.
Vulcan + glave beam Is good for the fight against the flagship
Not sure if serious, but that's one of the worst possible weapons setups.
I’ve played exclusively on hard… and I’ve had the game for a few days. I see…
I just like difficult things, I haven’t been discouraged from the game yet, I fully know that if I find it too difficult I need to tone it down. But I’m kinda a “trial by fire” guy. I play with advanced edition content sometimes… I’ve played like 25 actual runs.
Nothing wrong with starting on Hard if you enjoy it!
The difficulty also depends on how much you look up guides and playthroughs. I could imagine someone winning immediately on Hard, if they had already "learned" the game by watching how high-level players do it.
@@mikehopley I love watching skilled players do their thing and then implementing what I see into my own gameplay. I am considering stepping it down a bit for this game though, possibly dropping to normal or easy. I did manage to get kestrel layout b and the engie layout b (Vortex) on hard only so there’s that.
@@epicsandvich014 I'd say "follow the fun". It's all down to individual preference, but I started on Easy and stayed there quite a while, unlocking all the ships. I also feel playing on a lower difficulty helped me learn a lot about the game, because I wasn't getting punished hardcore for trying different things, and because I enjoyed making progress and winning games.
Super amazing tutorial and it helped me a ton.
I recommend this vid to my friends every time I indoctrinate one of them into the cult of FTL
I’ve beaten the game three times now and have 7 ships of the 10 available
@@epicsandvich014 Thank you, I'm delighted it's been helpful. Well done with your wins, may you have many more in the future!
Don't get angry is kinda hard when nothing is explained, and learning from mistakes requires you to know what the hell happened in the first place.
I never said it was easy!
Installed the game after a long time having beaten it on medium in the past... And I still think it's garbage to be honest. You can have the perfect setup, visit the wrong nebula, get 0 shields and just die instantly. Even on easy.
I think they did a better job with "Into the Breach".
Your comment is so wrong I don't even know where to start. If you've "beaten it on medium in the past" that tells me you know almost nothing about it compared to really skilled players.
There is no event in a nebula that takes away your shields, unless you're making a dumb choice in the "dangerous-looking ship" event. There is one rare event in Civilian sectors (not in a nebula) that halves your shield level.
Even then, you should be fine the vast majority of the time. I've beaten the game with every ship without any shields at all (on Hard).
Back when I was doing win streaks (on Hard), I had a 98% win rate, and that's years ago when I was "bad". In the last 5 years I haven't lost a single run, and I've been playing almost exclusively the bad or difficult ships.
It's a difficult game for sure, but a huge part of the appeal is that winning is absolutely dominated by skill and you can *always* get better.
@@mikehopleyif you have beaten the game without shields, please upload a playthrough. I can't even get to the boss, trying to stick to your tipps but always die because I never have enough scrap to repair and upgrade.
@@patrick2307 Shieldless runs are a serious challenge, a beginners' guide isn't really going to cut it. I don't have any full runs uploaded, but I do have Flagship fights for all 28 ships without shields: th-cam.com/play/PLYGAjVZPcf_Ts6tR1LFk3LxEG040ly9EI.html
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Disagree on additional systems. Strong primary systems and weapons is more reliable way to win, and there is totaly no need to get all slots filled. Having 8 shields, 8 weapons and 6 engines with just one system like cloaking or hacking is enough. Three systems is overkill and strain on the reactor.
You won't find any high-level players who agree with you there. Bear in mind I'm coming at this from the perspective of someone with a ~98% win rate on Hard.
Looks like you could benefit from trying some of the advice in this guide! Systems aren't a strain on the reactor if you know how to move power around. You don't need to power everything at once.
I will admit there are SOME occasions where it's not an error to have a system slot empty -- but those runs are quite rare. Remember the advice in the video has been simplified to make it more accessible to a beginner audience.
Moving power around from Cloack or Hacking require battery or Zoltan. Otherwhise you stuck with invested energy for the while.
@@letir7561 Sure, but you should still have enough overall power if you play well. In more extreme cases you can share power between weapons and engines, for example.
It's a psychological shift as much as anything else. You just need to get used to playing without everything fully powered all the time.
How much scrap are you typically making? This could be related.
@@simonkim8646 Yeah, while that's a pretty bad overall choice of systems, it's still well worth buying them both as opposed to having no systems (for anyone wondering, artillery is not purchasable and only found on the Federation cruisers).
Running 8 shields, 8 weapons and 5-6 engines with 2 useful systems is alredy solid setup with great chances on victory.
Trying to fit third system, with possible additional spendings (drones for drone system, boarders and bombs for teleporter) just for the sake of having everythin is wasteful.