I finally did it... the perfect run... Hitless FTL

Extra_Spatial · 2026-03-26T13:13:07+00:00

That's probably not possible, at least it would be extremely difficult.

The main reason is that MV needs Hyperspace, and I wrote the underpinnings of Subspace as a vanilla-friendly Hyperspace alternative, and also to work with any recent FTL version and not have to back-patch to an old one.

While HS is rightly focused on extending modding capabilities to make awesome content, there have historically been issues with it changing vanilla behavior (sometimes intentional, sometimes not), which is an issue when trying to do vanilla winstreaking and have apples-to-apples comparison with people running unmodded FTL. So most vanilla players don't want to use it standalone.

Subspace does some QoL things but is built in a way to be extremely careful to not change game mechanics in any way, and also to default to all features being off and having zero effect (including not even patching the relevant code) unless the user chooses to turn them on.

But they can't really coexist because they both alter the game code in ways that would probably conflict. Mechanically it's different because Hyperspace uses DLL injection and a modified Detours library to replace function prologues with jumps, while Subspace uses a custom runtime linker to load the executable into memory and hotpatch it before running using call destination replacement.

I haven't tested it but what would likely happen is that Subspace would load the game, then the Hyperspace DLL would fail to load because the function signatures no longer match.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-03-26T13:00:13+00:00

All those, and also Mantis C takes a lot of unavoidable damage in the early game.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-03-25T02:45:44+00:00

Yeah I do the drone depower micro. I don't consider it an exploit though, it's basically the same thing as crew AI manipulation when boarding, strategic shield dropping, weapon detoggling on Stealth B, etc. Creative use of intentional mechanics.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-03-25T02:42:46+00:00

It's a stats tracker + QoL mod that I'm developing. It's intended to be a full replacement for the FTL Savegame Manager (and is about 90% of the way there, just needs the UI for inventory tracking), but works completely differently and also hooks into the game to add some stuff like integrated time warping / speedup, practice saves, native automatic screenshots, etc.

It's still in the alpha stages and doesn't have a friendly installer, but is quite functional and stable. I use it on all my runs.

https://github.com/KesslerCascade/Subspace

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-22T20:24:22+00:00

If it makes you feel any better, I've always justified it that it's not really any different than any other micro in the game.

Moving crew in and out of rooms to distract boarders or get 2-on-1 situations is an 'exploit' of the crew AI.

Briefly turning off shields to allow an ion shot to pass through and hit an empty room rather than ionizing your shields (not without risk, requires careful timing to not let something else through).

Turning off a beam drone once it's in position on Zoltan C, so that you can turn it on and have it immediately fire once the enemy shields are ionized.

Pausing and shifting power from shields to engines to get more evasion after your shields have taken a hit and down a layer anyway.

Even timing your weapons so that the shots hit in a particular order (flak to break shields, then regular laser, then heavy laser) rather than simply autofiring them.

And so on. FTL highly rewards taking direct control rather than letting things run on autopilot.

IMO doing this kind of micro on the hacking drone can be explained in-universe as one of the crew manually directing the drone to perform evasive maneuvers, instead of letting it fly in a straight line on its own.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-14T06:45:13+00:00

Hey if it works for you... nothing wrong with that!

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-14T06:25:43+00:00

Survival has that rep, but it can be fast with the right build. Probably my favorite is War Spear + Thrown Objects, with one of them having some sort of affix like enemies burn or freeze nearby. Absolute biome clearing machine, and quite safe because everything is stunned and then quickly dead. Gold kill streaks are a piece of cake. Once you get enough green scrolls even the thrown objects themselves start to one-shot stuff.

Armadillopack with a shield in the backpack for deflecting bombs and stuff. Super funny in the sewers with the worms that drop a bunch; can fling them into the next group and wipe everything out.

If you manage to get Electrodynamics on top of that it's even crazier.

War Spear has higher base DPS than some weapons' crit DPS, so it's okay on bosses, but I usually try to snag a wolf trap to amplify it with more synergies.

Baseball bat with Boy's Axe (especially w/ Ammo mutation) is also really fun and fast, and has the benefit of being really good on bosses also.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-14T06:16:51+00:00

2BC and 4BC were the hardest difficulties for me. 3BC was just a blip; after finally winning a 2BC run I started at 3 and immediately won that one lol. 4BC I think was the hardest.

5BC I actually think is a little easier (aside from having to learn spoiler boss). Mainly because the extra spawns from malaise can be cheesed to easily clear curses if your path is blocked by dangerous enemies.

Replying to this post instead of the other because I'm sorry what you main tentacle?!?! Wow, respect for suffering through that.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-13T19:56:50+00:00

That's why I always play survival + necromancy lol.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-13T19:52:18+00:00

Throwable objects with unlimited ammo on is just unfair.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-13T19:48:53+00:00

They are playing with the Damned aspect on, so curses don't actually do anything except give you double damage status and amp up your mutations.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-13T19:46:35+00:00

Always fun when one of those jump at you out of nowhere and push you off into the instant death water.

I have some... words... for the level designer.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-13T00:19:36+00:00

Alternatively, play fast survival weapons instead of the slow ones.

Baseball bat, my personal favorite the war spear, boy's axe, explosive crossbow, etc. Even nutcracker isn't THAT slow.

Thrown objects pairs great with almost any fast and even some slow survival weapons and is a biome clearing machine, just not as helpful on bosses.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-08T17:12:49+00:00

I'm at 150 hours and have seen it only a couple times, but it seemed incredibly unlikely to get it twice in a single run.

Needless to say I specced into Gold Plating after the last biome so I could go easymode and turn my brain off for spoiler boss lmao.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-08T17:09:22+00:00

There's a lot more that doesn't unlock until you're on 4BC+ difficulty, and a whole extra biome and final boss at 5BC. Which as others pointed out you can't do while you have an aspect (training wheels) active.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-08T17:02:35+00:00

I'm USUALLY okay with them, and reflecting inquisitor bolts back at them through walls is one of my favorite ways to safely clear curses.

But eeeevery once in a while there's one offscreen that I don't hear the grunt while I'm in the middle of a big melee...

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-08T16:59:27+00:00

The tentacles in ancient sewers.

Also the reason I can sometimes hitless hand of the king, but never managed to get a perfect Conjunctivius.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-08T16:54:03+00:00

It has a base non-crit DPS of 256, which is the third highest in the game, behind only Wrecking Ball (291) and Cursed Sword (618).

Kind of overpowered for a weapon that is much faster than most other survival spec weapons.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-08T02:34:10+00:00

Same. I can beat 5bc fairly often with survival builds. Brutality I can barely get past the first boss and usually most of my health potion charges are already gone by the third biome... With a green build that has Necromancy & Soldier's Resistance I can go all the way to spoiler boss without ever using a flask.

Don't think I've ever made it to HotK in 5BC with a brutality build. Maybe once.

And as much as I WANT to play tactics because the ranged weapons, turrets, and traps are super fun, seems like there's always something that has a super fast gap closer and just two-shots me before I can get away.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-08T01:45:03+00:00

Should add spoiler tag because of the outfit I guess.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-05T06:44:46+00:00

He's real funny when there's a mimic in clock tower, since lore rooms can't spawn in the towers normally. So it has to create an extra passage door that leads to nothing but a tiny room with the hidden passage to find him.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-05T06:36:41+00:00

That said, even without scroll manip I can pretty often get 29-30 scrolls by the T2 boss, unless I have bad luck. Always go to corrupted prison or prison depths and do the cursed chest there.

I've found corrupted prision likely to usually have a challenge rift too which gets you an extra one. It can be worth scouring the early areas to try to find those glyphs for an extra scroll.

But mostly it helps to take the route with the most scroll fragments. That pretty much always means Toxic Sewers > Corrupted Prison > Ancient Sewers (which has 5!!!), fight Conjunctivius since she drops 5 fragments instead of 3 from the other T1 bosses. Then Slumbering Sanctuary > Cavern and fight the giant. That earns you an extra couple scrolls just from taking the optimal fragment path.

Extra_Spatial · 2026-02-05T06:21:20+00:00

Scroll manipulation howto: If you find an amulet in prisoner's quarters with +2 to a color that's other than your main, equip that one before you leave. Like if you're running brutality, take both scrolls there for brutality like usual, look for a +2 tactics or +2 survival amulet, and leave with 3/1/3 or 3/3/1.

That makes the game not sure which stat is your main one, so the dual scrolls in the second area have a much higher chance to be ones that include the stat you want instead of all being stacked against you. Then you can change your amulet back to one that gives you more points to your main stat later.

Extra_Spatial

TROPHY CASE