Of Space Slugs and Broken Drones: Let's Play Faster Than Light (FTL)

Faster Than Light is a space-based roguelike that involves exploration, combat, teleporting bombs, and sentient slugs. It's an ironman system, which of course means you have one "life" (in this case, our ship) and if you die, the game's over. FTL somewhat compensates for this emotional anguish by being very brief - you can finish a playthrough in a matter of hours. This LP may encompass several playthroughs, because it's entirely possible we will burn to death / asphyxiate / become tasty snacks for roving space-mantises within the first 10 minutes of the game.

I'm going to assume people are generally familiar with the game and won't do as much explanation as Ben Sones did in his excellent LP, but we're all about audience participation up in this star-cruiser, so speak up with questions, comments, and snarky derisive remarks about our boarding party dying horribly.

Except here's the thing: you are the boarding party. Thus, I need volunteers! At least three lucky winners will become the starting characters on our fresh-baked starship. I'm also looking for suggestions for ship names. Holla!

I'll go! What do I have to do, sir! And a ship name.... uh... The Enterprise....? I'm terrible with names, ignore that suggetion.

Does Sangry Grognards sound too crusty for a new ship?

I volunteer for the suicide mission sir.

Shipname should be "Elyscape likes this"

The Expendable.

Hell, draft me up for this suicide run. I'll explore the emptiness of space in the name of those who want me dead and will want me dead in the future.

Heart of Gold. If not then I vote for Enterprise.

We'll probably die so many times, we'll be able to cycle through each ship name suggested. :D

If that is the case we will need an appropriate name that can exist in every continuity such as Kenny or Red Shirt.

I WOULD LIKE A SHIP NAMED OTP PLEASE HURRHURR

*brick'd* OHAY so this what you meant in the random thoughts and questions thread! Hello! I am looking forward to the guts and glory!

I raise you BFS Grogaboo.

Alright, intrepid spacefaring explorers: please secure your cocktails, make sure your seat is in a fully relaxed position, and buckle in. We are armored, sharpened, and raring to go.




We start at the Hangar. We have just a couple ships unlocked at the moment, and the Kestrel is the default. The other two are more specialized and would probably involve us dying even more quickly.

So let's take the keys to a Type A Kestrel, the Fisher-Price "My First Spaceship" model. While not exactly the luxury sports car of interstellar travel, she's a solid, reliable ship that will undoubtedly keep our hardy crew safe from any and all external threats.



Speaking of the crew, Kalle Soli-chan and Syncronicity please report to the hangar for departure! :)


All three crew members distinguish themselves in standard fashion at the celebratory christening and there's nary a wine bottle left to smash over the hull, which is just as well given the condition of the outer plating. The dashing, stalwart members of the crew are undeterred, and the BFS Grogaboo prepares to fly.

Yaaaay! We're all gonna die!

OHSHIT WHAT DO
*runs around amok yaaaaaay!*

The voyage begins, and we have a bit of stage-setting to get out of the way.
(BTW, click the screenshots to expand if you aren't already.)



A noble mission, clearly. But do we really give a crap about the Rebels and the Federation? Time will tell. Mechanically, the "Rebel fleet" is an effective time-limit for the player that prevents lingering in a given sector while flying around drunkenly and annoying the locals, because the fleet advances a certain amount during each FTL jump.

Thus, the more jumps you make, the further the fleet progresses through the sector. There are eight sectors in all, the final one being the boss encounter. If Soli, Kalle, and Sync manage to survive long enough to reach sector 8, it will be a minor miracle. We won't talk about what happens in sector 8, it's almost too wretched to contemplate yet. So: a new day dawns (but not really) and we have the vastness of space before us and an angry Rebel fleet behind. This calls for a drink!


(Note that this image isn't exact; Sync is a girl in our actual game - I did a quick restart to correct spelling and gender.)

Behold, the Grogaboo in all her splendour. She's a fine vessel. As you can see, the ship's interior is composed of several rooms separated by bulkheads, and some rooms (with the grey icons) contain Systems, such as the Medical Bay, the Engine Room, and the Cockpit. Most of the UI is probably self-explanatory, but the bottom row is where most of the action happens - those green icons are your Systems and the Power Meter is on the far left. Right now our Weapons panel is offline.

The crew assembles in the cockpit for cocktails, which have proven instrumental in preparing against the imminent Rebel threat. But they're all business after a drink or six and it's time to report to their stations for the first FTL jump.

Syncronicity Kalle Soli-chan - time to decide your roles! We kind of need a Pilot at the very least, and an Engineer and Gunner would probably be the other high priorities. Four of our Systems gain extra benefits from a crew member actively running them - the Cockpit, Weapons, Shields, and Engine. While FTL doesn't have strict classes, your crew does gain XP for working these stations, and they'll level up at those jobs and provide extra benefits when they're performing them.

Everyone else is welcome to make suggestions, as well. We don't necessarily have to give these three doomed fools heroic crusaders the roles they actually want. :)

I'm good with complex technology and medicine. Engineer and/or Medic?

Ah, ah, Syncronicity.


Thanks to advances in modern technology, Medbays are fully automated with Real People Personalities to serve your every need. They're happy to heal your horrible wounds. In fact, it's what they live for.

In response to the original topic, I nominate Soli-chan as the ship's pilot, since everything I've seen her post makes it clear she knows how to keep her focus and get where she's going!

(Or possibly I want to see everyone end up drifting lost and helpless in space.)

Unfortunately there isn't really a tangible Medic role, because the Medbay just automatically heals whomever is in it. Unlike the Cockpit, Engines, Shields and Weapons, it doesn't gain an extra bonus from someone actively working at the station. There are a couple unofficial roles - some crew may have be especially good at repairing equipment, or be particularly suited to tasks like putting out fires or repelling boarders - but at the start of the game you generally want to assign a specific crew member to each of the four main Battle Stations so they start developing the skill at that job early on.

BATTLE STATIONS

Just kidding, the Spacefaring Adventures of the BFS Grogaboo will continue tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Oh oh! I will quite happily throw my lot in with Synchronity being the Engineer yes'm!

As for Pilot or Gunner...I'm not sure where the most harm will come to, in me manning either station really. So I'll take the last bit.
Ah JohnStargazer you are so sassy and sweet I could just bite you m'dear~<3 I miss running into you on threads actually. Hmm.

*knows absolutely nothing about this game* Oh... ok... then just engineer... *shrinks into a corner*

Good choice, Sync. You're now in charge of the single most important job in this game!

Enabling the ship to run the hell away from certain doom!

Good jobbu!

I'm sure you would be equally effective in both roles! >_>

And in game terms it's just a matter of keeping the person who has spent the most time on a role (flying the ship / shoveling coal into the firebox / etc) doing that same thing, especially once they rank up. Like a Pilot who has two stars will grant you extra Evasion during combat, which is huge.

Aw, hey :) I'm just explaining how things work so you guys understand / have some investment in your characters. No pressure! (Seriously when things go flaming and explodey - and they will - it's going to be on me, not on any of you.)

Only in the worst way, hohoho~

Pre'sure it's simple enough but the gold for narrative is just so shiny. I await tomorrow with glee. Also SPAAAAAACE

I'm the best at space! I'll spell it! S. P. A-Ace! Space! SPAAAAAAAAAACE!!!

Okay, crew assignments for the Grogaboo are in! We have First Lieutenant Syncronicity in the Engine Room making sure the dilithium crystals can take the strain, Gunnery Sergeant Kalle manning the forward cannons and missile battery, and the maverick and unpredictable Flight Officer Soli-chan at the helm. Note that there is no captain, per se; in the mad dash to escape the rebel fleet, rank hierarchy has broken down and the Grogaboo is run along more-or-less democratic lines. What could possibly go wrong?

Before we start in earnest, let's take a quick look at the ship's Systems.



The Upgrades tab on the Ship screen enables you to (surprise!) buy upgrades for the ship. Some Systems are more important than others; if only we knew which systems those were. For now, we'll spend some of our Scrap and upgrade the ship's Power Core, which permits us to power both our starting weapons and permit Lt. Syncronicity to push the Engine up to full power, which increases our Evade chance in combat.

Here's the Crew tab, where we see our intrepid explorers being rather boring.



Now it's not just Soli - nobody has any skills yet. As I mentioned above, crew members develop skills in different areas by performing those duties. (From L to R in descending order, those skills are Piloting, Engines, Shields, Weapons, Repair, and Combat. Increased skill in Piloting and Engines increases Evasion, while skill in Weapons and Shields make those systems recharge faster during combat. Repair skill increases repair speed, and Combat helps us cause more damage to enemies during boarding actions.)

So! Without further ado, let's get this party started. We pull up the Sector Map to plot our course:



You can see our ship orbiting the first beacon in the upper-left. The green dotted lines show possible courses; the red line shows the selected course, and the yellow lines from our selected destination show the ways we can proceed from that beacon. We'll see why this matters later.

All crew to your stations, prepare for faster than light jump!

Syncronicity: "Engines online at full power, FTL drive charged and ready!"
Kalle: "Weapons prepped for power-up when necessary."
Soli: "MRBLRAAGRAAUGH!"

Sync and Kalle exchange a worried glance - madness already? - as the FTL drive fires, taking the Grogaboo into hyperspace. The journey begins!

Sir, I salute your daring in LPing a game notorious for making things pear-shaped in an instant. Let us hope fate does not cut short your voyage (though with a name like the BFS Grogaboo, you're almost certain to have interesting times ahead of you).

Our ship comes out of hyperspace and everyone's body parts seem to remain attached to the correct places on the expected persons. Yay! But what's this? Sensors are picking up some notable energy signatures - there's a conflict raging nearby.



It's time to choose your own adventure, folks.

So what say you, crew members and viewers at home - do we help the civilians, or stay out of it and leave them to their fate?

The Federation Fleet's finest are still inebriated from the earlier celebration, are they not? And lo, there is a veritable laser light show nearby.

Surely there can only be one choice!

What good is an empire if it cannot defend its citizenry?

Indeed! Flight Officer Soli-chan does seem especially intrigued by the flashing of pretty lights; there's some speculation among the crew that her pre-launch celebrations involved something a bit more powerful than standard issue space-booze.

I've been meaning to test the missile launcher. Let's make things go BOOM!

I don't see any problem with going. Who know what might happen if we don't help? This could come back and bite us in the ass later.

With selfless determination and a pilot that's potentially hallucinating, the Grogaboo enters the fray.


A challenger appears!

Our first opponent is a Rebel Rigger model (flown by pirates) with one layer of shields, what looks like a beam weapon, and a combat drone. That drone isn't much danger by itself, but it'll plink away at our shields and potentially open us up to a beam attack.

Notice that our unused power bars are now directed toward weapons systems - the Weapons panel is lit up, indicating that Gunnery Sergeant Kalle is chargin' his fireball. Our Artemis missile battery has the shortest charge time, so it'll be ready to fire first.


After le nap, Kalle is ready to FIRE ZE MISSILES

You may notice a bit of pew-pew here; the pirates' beam weapon bounces harmlessly off our shields.

Alright ladies, missiles are hot! Targeting enemy Shield Generator...



A HIT! As the missile penetrates the pirates' shields (shields cannot stop missiles) and slams into their hull, our Burst Laser cannon comes online and Kalle fires a follow-up volley that targets the same area of their ship. The combination of the lasers and the missile damages the pirates Shield Generator (note the red icon in the center room of the ship, noting severe damage) taking their shields offline completely. Meanwhile, that pesky drone has caused some minor damage to our Engine Room, so Lt. Syncronicity quickly begins repairs. See that half-yellow bar in the Engine's power readout on the lower left? That means we can't run at full throttle because the Engines literally cannot take the strain. Until Sync finishes repairs, our Evade is reduced to 10% - we're relying on Soli's piloting skills to avoid any incoming fire.

With the enemy shields offline, they're especially vulnerable until they can repair their Shield Generator. While Soli-chan sings along with her favorite Pink Floyd mix tape, Kalle is busy recharging weapons and decides to target the enemy weapon systems. He decides to conserve our missiles (which are finite, unlike lasers) and fire only the Burst Laser cannon.



Score another hit for the Gunny! All three laser blasts strike the enemy's unprotected hull, seriously damaging the pirates' Weapon Systems. Notice that they're busily repairing their Shield Gen - the icon is now orange instead of red - but we've given them something else to think about: impotence.

Not to be outdone, that damned drone got another shot under our shields and inflicted some minor damage to our own Weapons Systems. While you can't give them many points for originality, these scurvy dogs are indeed persistent. Sgt. Kalle goes to work on repairs to bring the Artemis missiles back online, while Lt. Sync returns to the Engine controls after finishing her own fix-it job. (Note that our Evade is back up to 20%.)

This pirate scoundrel is on the ropes, though - he's only got two Health left and we're sitting pretty with a fully-charged laser cannon ready to end them. We hold their lives in our hands. Mercy? Never.

Kalle fires the Burst Lasers and lands another hit, ripping through the enemy hull and destroying the ship entirely. Through the oxygen filters, our crew detects a mild aroma of ozone and charred metal. It smells like victory.

Combing through the wreckage, our crew finds some handy supplies, and then remembers the whole 'civilian ship' thing; in the throes of bloodthirst martial fervor, they seem to have temporarily forgotten their more altruistic motivations.



We contact the civilians and bask in the glow of their gratitude and adoration.



What's this? One of the foolhardy and naive bravest of the civilians wants to join up with the crew of the Grogaboo for a life of high adventure, plunder, and free booze! As additional crew is decidedly useful this early on, the three crewmates welcome him aboard.



Ladies and gentleman, please do your utmost to make RyanMM feel at home aboard our intrepid vessel! He knows not what he's getting into, as sudden fiery death may lurk mere light-years away.

This is gonna be like Oregon Trail, but with space-dysentery, isn't it?

Yep, pretty much. (I did actually lose a crew member to disease on the last playthrough.)

Incidentally, you cannot name your new crew members that you find along the way - the fact that we ended up with a human named Ryan was purely a happy coincidence. While I'm sure the general protocol is to ask if people want to be involved in LPs, in this case it's just too serendipitous to ignore, so you're drafted. I apologize in advance for your sudden and inevitable demise.

Welcome aboard Ryan! *waves wrench*

Tech Specialist RyanMM takes over the Shield Generator, so all major Systems are now covered. We've got a little money in the bank, a capable crew newly-tested by the fires of battle, and entire galaxies filled with violent death endless possibility awaiting us.

After a welcoming party (featuring rare and delicious varieties of space-booze brought aboard by the discerning new shipmate), the crew of the Grogaboo prepares for their next FTL jump.



A quick word about sector navigation and beacon arrangements: we don't want to beeline directly toward the Exit beacon right yet, as the Rebel fleet isn't even in the sector and you generally want to hit as many beacons as you can to find supplies, weapons, equipment, and crew. We're going to meander a bit while we have some breathing room, so Flight Officer Soli-chan sets a course for the closest beacon (just above our current coordinates on the sector map).

She enters the coordinates, drops another tab, and rests her hands on the controls. "FTL drive primed and ready to jump!" calls Lt. Syncronicity over the ship's intercom. Ofc. Soli punches the flashing button and the Grogaboo leaps into hyperspace.

Undaunted by the shimmering patterns singing to her from the ceiling of the cockpit, our bold pilot guides the Grogaboo smoothly out of hyperspace - nobody even spills a drink this time - and we settle back as standard thrusters take over. The clinking of glass bottles can be heard from behind the Shield Generator.

As Soli surveys the nearby ships via short-range sensors, a pinging chime sounds -- the Grogaboo is being hailed over the Comm Array!



It appears our reputation (such as it is) precedes us, and we've got an offer on the table. This could mean any number of things - from additional supplies or a new weapon to a trap resulting in a dead crewmember - so I leave it to you, friends: Do we take on the mercenary contract, or decline the merchant's offer and continue on?