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View Full Version : Let's Play FTL Livestream!


Arcanum
10-01-2012, 09:32 AM
So remember a super long time ago when I said I was going to do a livestream? No? Good. Because the games I listed in that thread are all terrible when compared to FTL - Faster Than Light.


http://i.imgur.com/8xJ1H.jpg

What is FTL?

FTL is a roguelike space adventure. You take control of a Federation ship and crew in possession of crucial intel about the Rebel fleet. It will be up to the "elite" team of NPF-named officers to get that intel to the Federation fleet while dealing with pirates, aliens (slugs, bugs, rocks, and more), rebels, and whatever hazards space wants to throw in our faces.

When/where is the livestream?

This will probably happen Friday at around 9pm Eastern (the time we used to have regular Steam Nights). I say "probably" because this weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving but as far as I know Friday should be clear for shenanigans.

My livestream channel is http://www.livestream.com/arcanummbd

Why are you livestreaming this?

1) Because there is too much going on in any given encounter for this to work with the classic "post screenshots, add flavor text" method.
2) There are always lots of choices to be made (what system to explore, what to upgrade, what to buy, do I engage this pirate or try to hide, do I help this stranded ship or blast it and salvage the scrap, etc etc), and watching it live means you get to help make those choices in the moment.
3) I'm still rather new to the game, and will most likely die several horrible deaths. I say this because I know some of you enjoy watching people/me suffer, and I'm serving this up to you on a silver platter.

Some basic info on the game

This is just to give you an idea of what to expect on Friday. When you start a new game you pick a ship (and name it) and name your starting crew. Sadly you can't rename crew in-game, so only 3-4 NPFers can die terrible deaths be heroes at a time.

http://i.imgur.com/X7diq.jpg http://i.imgur.com/WD6h9.jpg

Once in the game proper you can get your crew to man certain stations (bridge, shield, weapons, engine) to improve their efficiency. You also manually control power flow to each of these stations. Putting more power into the engines will increase the ship's evasion, but unless the reactor is upgraded you will need to divert that power from somewhere else. You can also manually control the ship's doors, and vent atmosphere to stop fires or asphyxiate borders.

The combat is simplistic yet strategic. You wait X seconds for a weapon to charge before it fires, but you can choose what section of the enemy ship it shoots. Damaging a section also damages the systems within, so you can shut down the other ship's weapons, shields, or even oxygen supply. There are also a few different types of weapons but I'll go more into that on Friday.

If there's anything else you want to know about the game, feel free to ask. Otherwise, I will see you on Friday.

Episode List

Episode 1: The USS Osterbaum and Rocky IV (http://www.livestream.com/arcanummbd/video?clipId=pla_f0025fda-2470-4ea0-916b-1873a4bc7128)

Aldurin
10-01-2012, 10:28 AM
Pick the middle ship because it is the most dick-like.

A Zarkin' Frood
10-01-2012, 12:30 PM
Dick jokes are so last year. Pick the least phallic ship. The second one down in the first column.

Malek
10-01-2012, 12:39 PM
Pick the type B of that ship if you have it available for added hilarity.

Ramary
10-01-2012, 01:35 PM
Not having all the ships unlocked? pffff. What is this? Some Let's Play for peasants?

Unlock the Mantis boarder, name everyone after NPF members, and send them all on boarding parties.

Against Auto-Drones.

Arcanum
10-01-2012, 01:46 PM
Pick the type B of that ship if you have it available for added hilarity.

I do have it. My "vent the atmosphere in all the rooms except the bridge" plan worked perfectly until some pirates took out my drone bay and my oxygen recycler.

Not having all the ships unlocked? pffff. What is this? Some Let's Play for peasants?

Unlock the Mantis boarder, name everyone after NPF members, and send them all on boarding parties.

Against Auto-Drones.

I plan on having more unlocked by Friday, but some of these ship unlocks are a pain. And the game hates me. Three times I almost had the stealth ship only to be vaporized a few jumps before unlocking it. Missed out on the crystal ship twice because my galaxy didn't generate the Rock Homeworld sector. Encountered the Mantis ship four times but didn't have the right tools to save the pirate (was one upgrade away at one point). And I haven't even been near the slug or rock ship events yet.

The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk
10-01-2012, 01:59 PM
Dick ship is shit anyway, it only has 1 laser. Unlock the stealth ship and use that. Make me your weapons officer.

Ramary
10-01-2012, 02:03 PM
I agree with you that they are a pain. Needlessly so. I just found a save online and used that, you can to if you are not really married to your high scores.

mauve
10-01-2012, 03:02 PM
I approve of this idea and am excited to see how we all die horribly in space like losers I MEAN DESTROY ALL OUR ENEMIES AND BECOME THE BEST AT SPACE.

rpgdemon
10-01-2012, 03:13 PM
Second down in the first column. Big old hunk of metal is the best ship.

Solid Snake
10-01-2012, 04:49 PM
You need to unlock more of those ships, Arcanum.

Arcanum
10-01-2012, 04:51 PM
If I don't have more unlocked by Friday I will most likely download a save to unlock them all. The hoops they make you jump through are just ridiculous.

Ramary
10-01-2012, 05:03 PM
Remember that kid growing up who would tell you how to unlock something super secret awesome, but the way to unlock it was insane, and when you try it and finally pull it off it turns out he was spouting bullshit?

They hired that kid and he designed how to unlock the ships in FTL.

Azisien
10-02-2012, 10:03 PM
This is a good idea. I probably will never be free to tune in due to my hectic/random schedule, but if you keep this thread active with episodic embeds of the archives or AARs, that'd be cool.

Arcanum
10-05-2012, 02:07 PM
Just a reminder that the livestream will start tonight at 9pm Eastern (only 6 hours from now!).

What I want to try to do is get whoever wants to voice chat on the stream into the NPF group voice chat (this saves the trouble of getting people to download something like Mumble). In theory, as long as I can hear you your voice should be broadcasted on the stream (this is the one thing I haven't tested yet, so it might require some audio fiddling on my part at the start of the stream).

Oh and Azi I will definitely be posting links to recordings of each stream in the OP.

PyrosNine
10-05-2012, 03:11 PM
Recorded group chat sounds great! I will totally be there! Hell, email me at Pyrosnine@aol.com when it's time or something or whenever you're doing another stream and I will talky and ask questions about how this crazy FTL works.

And/or whenever you need a helping hand to Play/fail at Tribes.

The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk
10-05-2012, 04:13 PM
Oh, so it's gona be like, 2 in the morning. Guess I wont be joining you guys then.

Arcanum
10-05-2012, 04:47 PM
Sorry Hawk. I'm hoping this isn't just a one-time thing (we will see how tonight goes) so I'll try to make the next one more European friendly.

Arcanum
10-05-2012, 07:57 PM
We go live in 5 minutes! Feel free to show up in the NPF and/or livestream chat to get hyped.

PyrosNine
10-05-2012, 11:07 PM
Pyros was there and there was ships and explosions and AkaSM died an hero because Arc forgot to turn back on the air, and then we blew up.

Twice.

Arcanum
10-06-2012, 02:01 AM
Link to the first stream! (http://www.livestream.com/arcanummbd/video?clipId=pla_f0025fda-2470-4ea0-916b-1873a4bc7128)

I think it went rather well despite some faffing about at the start trying to get things sorted out.

Also next I'm going to make sure I turn off the stream delay.

akaSM
10-06-2012, 02:43 AM
I was there, it was pretty fun.

Then I died.

Then I had more fun.

At least Arc didn't kill my character by teleporting it into another ship and then, blowing said ship up.

Arcanum
10-06-2012, 02:52 AM
Umm I think you're all forgetting that Malek was the one piloting the ship.

Malek
10-06-2012, 07:09 AM
Avoiding the most weapons fire in the history of your play sure makes me an excellent scapegoat. :smug: