How to win an FTL run! Engi A, no pause, hard mode edition!

After many failed attempts in our previous FTL stream, we finally get the Engi A win! The successful run uses a highly unusual offense, with 2 Ion blast Mk II's and a pike beam! With our highly defensive setup, we were able to out-tank the boss! GG cookie time! -- Watch live at / rand118

[@EdgarCorona]

"Now we can disable their ship AND slowly kill them... unless he's got like two Defense II drones..." >has two Defense drones "Whaddaya know"

[@acarinae]

01:10:38

[@MrNightpwner]

I'm here to say I beat this game yesterday with engi A, for the first time I beat it! How I did it was even more insane. Engi A, Normal. Drones:attack 1, defense 1, laser 1. 3 shields, level 2 stealth, level 7 engines (or whatever is 3 below max), level 2 doors, and weapons maxed. Everything else 1. I had a rock boy on defense and fix, an ant boy on shields, 2 humans, 1 on patrol and fix with rocky and 1 on engines, 2 engi on weapons and pilot. They all had max stats in their respective fields except fixing. Augments was the drone recovery, the scrap recovery, and the nano bot heals. I ditched the recovery drone with 38 drones in stock thinking it was enough for endgame, and got long range scanner to avoid bullshit fields. I never got to level 8 so I didn't know about no stores to fix, so I went in half hull. Beat the end boss with 2 hull left, 2 drone parts left so I didn't take out defense drone, and ion blast 1, ion blast 2, and ion bomb 1. I shit you not I had no offensive weapons, and I still did it. It was amazing and stressful and I was a fucking hero. No crew ever died, it was pure luck and a shit ton of micro managing and pausing. My little drone 1 and laser 1 did all the damage the whole time. I also juggled ion blast 2 a lot between weapons and shields cus the cooldown is 4 sec. Normal was still fucking hard for me.

[@rand118]

That sounds like an epic first win!

[@admirallazuli]

I like watching you videos and playing FTL. It’s just so oddly calming and satisfying.

[@rand118]

Thanks, Gavin, I love to hear people say that (although it can be surprising to hear that with how ragey I can be in FTL, lol)

[@Jonesy781]

I love these videos and I don't even know why. just so calming.

[@rand118]

Glad to hear it Thomas! Not sure how my raging at FTL can be calming, but I can understand with the amazing music by Ben Prunty in the background!

[@aegisrvir9472]

That defense drone is MVP and you cannot deny it at all.

[@mikeshivak]

Rand: I call this dual ions, let me show you its features MWAHAHA!

[@jesss1561]

A fire drone could have fit perfectly into your layout as it wouldn't have taken a weapon slot. You had enemy shields constantly down due to those ion weapons and thus fire drone would have been very effective. Mind control could also have stopped them from extinguishing fires in important systems. You could also have got crew kills much more easily.

[@Tpachal]

0:07 I am on normal difficulty and that is exactly how and why I found your videos.

[@chrisegg7936]

rand is definitely talking about @joergsprave's slingshot channel when he's talking about the rapid fire crossbow. Joerg is the best and also completely insane.

[@rand118]

Yes, you are exactly right, that's the guy's name, super cool KZbin channel and inventor!

[@boris8515]

My first victory was with this ship. I combined dual ions II and a pike beam. Also 2 attack drones. I had only 3 shield barriers. And to make it even more impossible, my boarders died on phase 1 when a drone blew it up with my crew on it. So I won my worst run yet.

[@rand118]

Nice, grats on that! Engi A can be a very fun ship if you can stack ions with offensive drones.

[@libeidi7138]

Awesome! Engi ship can be quite powerful too!

[@quarteratom]

Not using Combat Drones on Engi ship is illegal. Please go to jail.

[@Valduria]

25:26 As they always say: When in Engi, ion as the Engi ion.

[@Daniel-oy4gu]

Wow. That boarding party at the end was wild. Ain't no party like engi party?

[@rand118]

'cause an Engi party don't stop!

[@idaboi8378]

1, this is before I've seen the video 2, 3 years old so I doubt anyone will see this But how I NEARLY won (got to the last stage of the FS) was with 2 ions, a beam and 3 lvl 1 offensive drones I only failed on crew, bc they were almost all engi which bit more hard on the final stage

[@bootnoot8696]

Hello

[@DimensionalityGalaxyFoxFilms]

wow, 5 years ago,

[@benejeneb]

Goooooooo ENGIIIIs! Is there a way for you to boost the audio levels? I'm in a train station and i want to hear all the things! You're ma boy blue/rand

[@rand118]

I might be able to make things a bit louder, but I don't know how much that's going to help if you're always listening in crowded, loud stations. You might need to get some really good head phones or noise-cancelling ear buds or something if you're going to watch/listen in places like that, hah!

[@benejeneb]

Yeeeeeaaahh i could use an upgrade...

[@Tensownik]

Not sure if you're still reading this, but is there a mod of some sort for marked rebel fleet jumps on the map? (And also these beautiful landscapes youv have - I feel like that's moddes too but maybe I'm too hooked in when I play myself:)) )

[@rand118]

Yeah, those two mods are "Extended Pursuit Indicator" and "Better Planets and Backgrounds." Just google those FTL mods and you'll find them!

[@Tensownik]

@@rand118 cool. Thanka a lot!

[@quarteratom]

Should have got more ion weapons and combat drones.

[@ridiqulos]

Damn, that was impressive!

[@NikolasExAguirre]

I like this videos :)

[@davyl92]

how is it that i cant see how many more jumps i have before the rebels appear? my map screen is just blank nodes and i cant properly plan my jumps like that :(

[@rand118]

I use a mod called "extended pursuit indicator" that shows the lines. It's the one mod I use that I feel somebody might consider an "unfair advantage." My justification for using it, though, is that some people draw lines on a piece of paper and hold it over their screen to get the same information.

[@minorikushieda2733]

116h，finished normal only once……tough gameLOL

[@rand118]

Yup, FTL is definitely punishing! I would suggest my "FTL guide for beginners" video if you have trouble getting consistent wins. Also...play easy if you're still not sure of the best strats! Even easy is tough if you're still learning certain mechanics and events.

[@quarteratom]

Sells Combat Drone, then complains about double Ion Blast being bad.

[@quarteratom]

It's called "Rockman". Stop being sexist.