FTL: Faster Than Light is a tactical spaceship combat simulator, however rather than commanding a ship directly, the player manages and commands the crew of a ship in addition to several ship systems (power, weapons, shields, etc). Navigating the ship across a sector of space is turn-based, but ship-to-ship combat plays out in real-time. The game can be paused to make it easier to order the crew about in the heat of battle. Crew members can be sent to different stations (ship rooms) by selecting a crew member and clicking on his destination inside the ship. The ship layout is presented in a simple top down layout consisting of various rooms and corridors. There are more things the crew can do, such as fight fires, seal hull breaches and defend against invaders who beam aboard. Crew experience plays a vital role in the long run, as only a highly skilled crew can survive the later more difficult levels.

The game begins with a rather basic ship (several other models can be unlocked by completing achievements) and several crew members with no skills. The mission is to escape the pursuing Rebel forces by navigating eight sectors and reach the Federation Base in order to deliver vital information concerning the Rebels. The game is quite difficult and just reaching sector 5 unlocks an achievement. Along the way, you may encounters friendly or hostile forces consisting of Rebel patrols, Federation allies, distress beacons and traders who can supply improved weapons or special ship augmentations. For a price of course. Eventually the Rebels will advance far enough into a sector to make escape almost impossible, so while it is useful to explore as much as possible, making sure you can escape intact is vital.

The entire universe is randomly generated each time so no two attempts will be alike. The player also won't know exactly what sectors they will have to navigate until they get closer. Most encounters are randomly generated as well though the game steadily becomes more and more difficult with each passing sector.

Unlocking achievements allows the game to be played with a different starting ship and crew. Some require a completely different approach. For example the Engi cruiser has weak offensive weaponry but can often disable enemy weapons and keep the enemy harmless while it either uses remote drones to attack or powers up it's engine and escapes.

Faster Than Light is all about tactics and planing ahead. Though it features many different weapons and ship systems, it's up to the player to come up with tactics that will use such upgrades effectively rather than just get bigger guns and fight bigger enemies. To win the game it is necessary to learn which tactics work and survive long enough to reach the Federation forces and help them defeat the Rebels.

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Crowd funding

Merchant	Title
	FTL: Faster Than Light
	FTL: Faster Than Light
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User Reviews

Not quite fast enough.

Pixelspeech (889)

[review game]

The Press Says

Eurogamer.dk	Sep 28, 2012	9 out of 10	90
PC Gamer	Oct 09, 2012	89 out of 100	89
GameAspect.com	Oct 03, 2012	8.5 out of 10	85
Indius	Oct 20, 2012	17 out of 20	85
GameTrailers	Sep 20, 2012	8.5 out of 10	85
Inside Gaming	Sep 21, 2012	8.5 out of 10	85
Hooked Gamers	Oct 02, 2012	8.1 out of 10	81
GameSpot	Sep 17, 2012	8 out of 10	80
Gry OnLine	Sep 17, 2012	8 out of 10	80
Gamereactor International	Oct 05, 2012	8 out of 10	80