How To Survive FTL: Engi Ship

Faster Than Light, also known as FTL, came out in 2012.  It puts the player in control of a single spaceship.  The story pits the player as a member of the Federation trying to escape from the rebel fleets.  After journeying through multiple systems, while staying ahead of the pursuing rebel fleets, you make a stand at the Federation base.

The story doesn’t particularly make sense, but the game shouldn’t be played for the story.  It is a lot of fun to find scrap, weapons, etc. and use them to upgrade your ship into a truly formidable warship.  While there is only a single story mode, and each playthrough is quick, taking about 30 minutes, everything is random, so there is a lot of replayability.

The Engi ship is by far the easiest to unlock.  You get it for simply reaching the fifth sector.  It plays much differently from the Kestrel though, so it could give new players a lot of trouble.  Unlike the Kestrel, which relies on simple brute force, the Engi ship uses ion weaponry and drones to take down enemy ships.  Ion weapons doesn’t cause any damage to the enemy’s hull.  It does, however, cause temporarily disable enemy systems.  The Engi ship starts with the best ion weapon in the game, the ion blast 2.  It takes 3 power, which is a lot, but it has a charge time of 4 seconds, allowing it to fire faster than any other weapon.  This way you can make enemy shields or weapons useless fairly quickly, especially early on.  Then your anti-ship drone can rip apart the enemy ships once its shields are down.

Just like the Kestrel, it is best to stick with the already present formula.  Getting more ion weapons is a very good idea, as is getting more anti ship drones.  By combining two ion blast 2’s and a pike or fire beam, you can annihilate enemy systems while your drones do the rest.  After all, with only three weapon slots, the Engi ship doesn’t have as much versatility as the Kestrel.  I has three drone slots though, which means a heavier reliance on drones offensively.

The Engi ship is much more difficult to use than the Kestrel, especially the second layout, whose armament is incredibly lacking in potency.  Overall, the Engi ship isn’t as effective as the Kestrel, and will require lucky finds in shops, like another ion blast 2 to really stand a chance in the later sectors.  However, it can be a lot of fun to play, especially for players looking for a challenge.

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