How to win an FTL run! Mantis B, no pause, hard mode edition!

Mantis B, my favorite ship! 4 man Mantis boarding is always super fun...pro tip: don't kill your own crew, though...that can lead to table flipping and desk punching! Even with a big misplay like that, the infinite number of Flak 2's we got, as well as the weapon pre-igniter, helped to pull us through. GG, cookie time! -- Watch live at / rand118

[@paran0ia7]

That pivot from absolute obliteration is truly a masterclass in adaptability. "No run is dead until every room is on fire" is I think the most important lesson to learn in FTL; some of the cleanest wins I've had have come from pushing through atrocious early sectors, or mid-run near-TPKs.

[@Landbeforetime1992]

57:16 to see a part of Rand's soul leave his body. 1:13:50 to see it return!

[@rand118]

Every time a Mantis boarder dies, a random puppy dies, it's just science.

[@wedmoke1580]

And every time a mantis boarder is killed mid-teleport, ten die

[@patrickdwyer3511]

When you lost those mantis, it reminded me of when I accidentally left auto fire on and killed the last of my crew in sector 7 while boarding.

[@taide1]

so satisfying to watch FTL actually giving you some good RNG

[@taide1]

oh man I gotta get me some gg cookies for FTL later today

[@rand118]

I agree, getting good RNG feels SO good when you're dealing with so much bad RNG so often in this game! And yes, gg cookies are always important!

[@sergioamador2671]

Overshooting is real risk with boarding, the problem with big weapons systems and boarding is that you forget that you did too much damage while your crew is still fighting. At least those Mantis died as they lived (though it was crispy for them... no it was terrible fate) Don't worry though, the good thing about boarding is that usually you get a lot of good stuff that you can compensate if infantry dies. Triple Flack II hacks man haha!!!

[@rand118]

Yeah, you can see the salt when I lose the crew because I just LOVE 4 man mantis boarding! But you're right, we got a lot of good stuff with our boarding, so our Mantii's sacrifice was not in vain!

[@libeidi7138]

Kind of getting the sadistic satisfaction when you lost that boarding crew. But then, a good measure will always be: refrain from boarding in harmful hazardous environment, like asteroid field and M-Class Sun. Ion storm, ion pulsar are okay since they do no damage to crew. It's good to bear in mind that we can't calculate the precise flak damage. Of course having said that, there's no way to calculate any other damage since there will be misses. Then again, 2 flak II means 14 dmg (21 if artillery hits), the error of margin is always greater.

[@rand118]

Yeah, it was a mistake to fire on them when their hp was as low as it was with a sun doing added damage in order to kill the medbay. When boarding, I often lose track of ship health as I'm solely focused on crew health. It was definitely a misplay!

[@libeidi7138]

rand118 yes it wasn't easy anyway.

[@LeftIsBest]

lol it's pretty cathartic starting a FTL video and the salty man is literally saying "It's bullshit!" lol I know those feels bro

[@rand118]

That sounds about right, and also how most of my runs go, even when it's a win. You gotta drop those F-bombs and let the salt flow to combat the bad RNG!

[@AUS_Palladium]

Last time air killed my own borders, it was my whole crew!

[@alamandrax]

You killed your own 4 man mantis crew! WTF!!

[@rand118]

Yup, huge misplay. But, sadly, not the first time, lol!

[@stevenjeffries7951]

Oof, killing your boarding crew. I know how that feels. 💜

[@Sablemike38]

This ship looks like fun, but Mantis A is so hard to use. Is there any playable ship that has 4-man medbay?

[@rand118]

4 Man Medbay? Not in vanilla FTL, it's always 2 or 3 crew per medbay max. You can run crew back and forth through the medbay to heal more than 3 at a time, though.

[@Thrawst]

Every time I start with this ship I run into a zoltan or scout on third jump and have to restart, such a painful ship.

[@S4LtyTrIcKs]

Oh man I wish I didn’t read the comments first lol, I’m supervised there wasn’t more rage, I guess you’re used to it in hard mode

[@Phenom98]

What happens if you teleport to the enemy vessel and then they destroy the teleporter?

[@rand118]

If you have no crew left on your ship to repair the teleporter, then a window will pop up saying your crew used a small shuttle to return back to your ship, and your crew will appear back on your main ship.

[@dkittell11]

Why does he do no pause on all his runs. Is pause too easy?

[@rand118]

For this series, I was playing No Pause on every ship as a challenge. I don't always play no pause, but sometimes I will attempt to do streaks or FTL challenges with or without pause. I have played FTL with pause for so long that lately, I've been focusing on the challenge of playing Vanilla FTL on hard difficulty with no pausing, since that's the highest level of difficulty most people attempt in FTL.

[@dkittell11]

@@rand118 you make this game look so simple. Especially when you play no pause. Theres a lot going on. Especially when you are getting borded and fighting a ship.

[@unusualnametag1375]

[*] for the mantis

[@TheNewYokodzuna]

Is this guy german?

[@rand118]

Hah, no, I am very American. I know a few phrases in French, German, Spanish, but I am certainly not fluent in any language but English.