# Ftl



## nubins (Oct 3, 2012)

I cant see this game mentioned anywhere on here. It's a fairly new indie game, available on Steam (and direct fromt he developer i think). It's very "sci-fi story" in it's nature whch is why i mention it here. 

It costs about £7 and it's very simple in premise.

There is a war between the federation and the rebels. The feds are losing. You are a federation ship that has important information that could save your fleet, so you are trying to get back to the homebase. The rebels are on your tail.

The galaxy is randomly generated each game and each play through takes about an hour. Which sounds a bit.. short. But really it isn't. Besides the randomised encounters, there are tons of different ships and layouts to unlock, lots of different ways to try and beat the game, achievements to get for unlocks and different difficulty levels. And you will fail, lots. I still haven't "won" after 7 or 8 attempts. Got close last night, but got soundly beaten in round 2 of the big final boss battle.

The game plays from one screen - your ship view, which is top down map of the ship. You have crew who can be moved around the ship and who have traits and skills that improve over time. You have equipment on your ship - weapons, defences, utlities. All can be changed or upgraded via resources earned in game.

You have fuel, missiles and drone parts as your expendable supplies and scrap as the game currency.

You have 8 sectors to cross, each sector has about 15 systems in it. You cannot visit every system, each time you move, the rebel fleet moves closer and cuts off part of the map, pushing you towards the sector exit.

Every time you jump to a new system you are presented with something - occasionally its empty, but thats rare. Usually there are things to get involved in - so there may be a trader to buy and sell stuff, more commonly though there will be a ship to fight, avoid or communicate with. Or scenario's .. for example a space station that is on fire and needs rescuing - do you leave it and move on, try to rescue those on board or loot it for scrap. There are tons of different scenarios and no right or wrong answers, the game doesnt judge your decisions. You just do what you think is best for completing your mission.

The interface is extremely simple and easy to get to grips with, yet incredibly versatile and detailed at the same time. The game is principally about the journey, not the outcome or the reasons why. Everyone's journey will be different, everyone will have a different story and no other game, as far as I can remember, has ever created this feeling. 

If you can get over the basic graphics (which i initially sneered at) then its a very rich and rewarding gaming experience. Especially for those interested in sci-fi


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## Karn Maeshalanadae (Oct 3, 2012)

Actually, a Let's Player on Youtube I'm subscribed to had done this. If you get as lucky as he had gotten with things, he finished it in 1.5 hours. Basic graphics, to be sure, but it looked alright.


I've never actually been one for roguelikes, though, as I tend to either have bad luck or slip up somewhere down the line.


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## James Coote (Dec 17, 2012)

Just saw this recommended by gamasutra's year in games roundup The way you describe it, it sounds a lot like a board game (space alert or galaxy truckers). Might have to give it a try


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