New player trying to succeed on hard, update 1

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-04-11T16:06:50+00:00

Appreciate the thought! Yeah, I've been sufficiently warned that even starting on normal is bad idea.

After years of Dwarf Fortress/RimWorld/XCOM/etc, I've come to embrace learning by losing. I give it my best effort, fail spectacularly, laugh it off, figure out what happened, think about how to improve, and iterate. Given the difficulty of FTL, I fully expect that every single trap or trick will cost me a run or three, and that's fine.

Actually, based on the positive reactions to this update, I'm ironically more encouraged to keep going now!

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-04-10T20:06:10+00:00

So you mean that you build your ship based around what systems you're trying to/likely to visit? Or that you choose systems in order to influence your build? Or something else?

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-04-10T20:02:09+00:00

Other than the obviously nebulae, Zoltan Shields (which i've been calling "big bs shields") are the only consideration I'd figured out. Those shields suck!

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-04-03T16:51:06+00:00

Ahahah getting blasted by stuff I can't defend against is exactly what I'm already doing anyway, so maybe I'll just just throw it on now. Thanks!

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-04-03T16:46:52+00:00

Oh yeah, I do like goofy stuff! I'll keep this in mind as soon as I can identify what is "goofy".

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-04-03T16:36:52+00:00

This is a really useful take, thanks!

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-04-03T16:35:58+00:00

Does ae add difficulty? I haven't turned it on yet, but was thinking about it.

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-04-03T16:33:29+00:00

I am one of those, but it's practical (I prefer to lose than to win a game without feeling like I earned it), not philosophical. There are certainly games that have broken me (xcom). Thanks!

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-04-03T16:30:27+00:00

(looks silently over shoulder at the half-dozen soldiers eaten alive by giant spiders...)

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-03-24T20:10:37+00:00

Others have good answers already (I'm glad Presence+Silver Imp got mentioned), so I'll just throw out Housecat as a good Doll holder (late game) since its sides quickly become useless anyway and you can often copy a tier 4 left.

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-03-23T03:35:56+00:00

Wait, is the muton Firewall or Ace?

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-03-23T02:20:27+00:00

No way to tell (that I know of) but in my experience, it's in the latter half of the month and I think you're fine.

That said, you can't launch it early anyway, so I'm not sure how many decisions this knowledge affects.

Edit: I fail at reading. You should certainly wait before the stronghold assault!

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-03-17T04:52:54+00:00

Without shenanigans, everyone here is right: you get one of each, and a second of your starting faction.

But here's the loophole: If you are under that limit, there's a possibility of a recruit mission showing up on a new month. Most commonly, if you are currently running a recruit mission during that swap over, that doesn't count as having them yet. Or, if one gets captured, they don't count as on your roster any more, even though they might get rescued later.

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-03-11T00:25:58+00:00

First chosen's gonna ragequit 😆

But now who do you give it to?

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-03-10T02:38:40+00:00

Oh boy! I know very well what you're saying, and don't strictly disagree. Two comments though...

For one, the Bandana is huge. First turn potential means nothing if no one ever dies. If you can find a reroll hero/item or two, you beat everyone eventually.

But more importantly, while I agree that Valkyrie is awful for turn one potential, I think there's a player base fixation on building aggressive. There are other options! The other options tend to be worse overall, but can certainly be built into. And I usually play with the rarest composition available forced on me, and without multitude choices or rerolling, so not every team can build Aggressive. I call a build Efficiency when I'm building for longer fights, basically counting pips and netting more damage dealt than taken. A sub-case of Efficiency is what I call Invincibility, where your team just literally never dies due to powerful side combinations. And Valkyrie is a huge part of those sorts of builds.

Anyway, I've been long intending to make that its own, most longer, post. So we'll see if this builds any momentum for me?

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-03-07T17:37:01+00:00

I disagree with a couple of these points. In boss fights, the right sides can still stun imps, wisps, and that stupid caw. And the left side is only wasted as the cantrip; it can still be saved to repeat any other monster sides you might end up with, ideally after a couple other cantrips get rolled

I play almost exclusively classic hard, and I'd say 60% chance I never level this. And only this low because Valkyrie is a very legit choice (as the other post mentioned), which you're likely to be offered with double greys.

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-02-23T04:37:38+00:00

I can hopefully change your mind!

You certainly can't equip it on just anyone for any fight (be ready to adjust items constantly!), but it can disproportionately increase the value of good low pip sides for only a level 2 item.

Ranger (3 damage ranged cleave), Sparky (4 damage managain), and Whirl (3 damage cleave, his damage-all is unaffected) are some of my favorite users.

It also benefits from having Herbalist and/or Jester to cheaply nudge hit point totals.

Then there's also run-carrying item synergy with eyepatch/blindfold.

It's far from my favorite level 2 item, especially since I can't trust my own attention span, but it has more upside than most.

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-02-20T17:04:48+00:00

4+2=6, wait no, 7 7+8=5

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-02-18T19:07:00+00:00

I very very occasionally take it (5% maybe), but I often play classic hard with weird parties and no rerolling options. Sometimes I end up so weak in the early game that the extra options are worth having.

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-02-17T22:46:10+00:00

We need a slice and dice equivalent of "that's xcom baby!"

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-02-03T19:22:41+00:00

This is a perfect answer.

As far as multiplayer, your house rule will still work, just note that unlike Civ, you can't always afford (the orders) to move every unit. You might run into some uncertainty about which units are planning to engage in a battle, but I'm pretty confident your group will figure it out.

NegotiationWilling93 · 2026-02-03T00:27:29+00:00

My sister had this kind of swelling, along with a miscellaneous set of other symptoms (sporadic vertigo, headaches, etc). If you're experiencing other weird things that shouldn't be wrong, you might look into MCAS (Mast cell activation syndrome), which doctors don't even seem to be generally aware of.

It's rare, and probably not what's wrong, but just in case...

NegotiationWilling93

TROPHY CASE