Overview
Simply a list of all of the possible crew members and their special traits in detail. This will include the basic details it gives you when you look in the descriptions of these characters, along with possible strategies. This will be mostly a compilation and if you have a strategy that you find personally, I would love to put it in, and I will give credit.
Contents of this guide.
This guide is made as a tool to find and create strategies using the crew member’s stats in FTL individualy.
This will include:
Basic crew member stats; Easily found in game by mousing over them. Gives you a quick idea.
The following won’t be completed untill I get some idea of feedback and people’s opinions about what I have so far. Make sure to comment!
Individual stats; This will go into depth about each crew member’s stats, such as price when buying, speed, combat strength, and other. Each crew member will each have their own section.
Individual strategies; This will give you an idea of what to expect when your crew member is in action, and how to use their abilities to the best possible effect. This will be a compilation, so if you find something is useful (and I can test it) I would love to add it in and give you credit. Each crew member will have their own section.
I would like to thank you for reading this ahead of time, and I’d love it if you would comment and give feedback, and perhaps contribute by adding your own ideas. Again, thanks.
Character Basics
Each character has it’s own unique traits that it shows quickly when you mouse over a species.
This is each of the species respective abilities;
Humans; Neutral, all added traits are based off of human.
+ Are the only ones who speak normally. Lols.
Engi;
+ Double the repair speed.
– Half the combat damage.
Mantis;
+ Double the combat damage.
+ x1.2 speed (20% faster.)
– Half the repair speed.
Zoltan;
+ Provides power to manned system.
– x0.7 health (70 health, 30% less health)
Rockmen;
+ x1.5 health (150 health, 50% more health.)
+ Fire retardant.
– x0.5 speed (Half speed)
Slugs;
+ Telepathy (Can see enemy crew even when sensors are down as red dots.)
+ Are telepathic slugs. TELEPATHIC. SLUGS. GENIOUS!
Crystal;
+ x1.25 health (125 health, 25% more health.)
+ Reduced suffocation damage.
+ Lockdown (Room is invincible, no one can leave or enter the room untill wears off))
– x0.8 speed (20% slower.)
– Rare.
Human Characteristics / Strategy
MYSTERYomg-
An important thing about humans is that they have no characteristics, and are therefore neutral.
They are also very common, especially in stores and missions. They will always be purchaseable at 40 scrap when they are available at stores.
All of the traits of the other species are based off of the human. These traits make the other species good at one thing but bad at another.
Humans however, don’t have any flaws.
Knowing this, you can easily have a single human that can take care of multiple tasks if need be, and can easily switch from one job to a more important job on hand. Let’s say, your human on weapons is right next to your engine, and your engine takes damage. You can then prioritize, say “I’ll fire my weapons / delay my attack and quickly fix this,” and you’ve avoided a crisis.
The idea is to quickly switch from one action to another, without any problems. If you had a mantis, you might get there faster, but it’ll take twice the time.
But let’s say you had an engi, and he can easily take care of the repair without any problems. Then suddenly; intruder alert! You’ve got enemies on board. Your engie can’t protect itself, but your human can. Simply prioritize.
The only problem with this is if you have a good balanced crew, you eventually only need the humans as back-up for if too many things are happening at once and the entire crew has been dispersed to some other part of the ship. Then they simply take over for a while. If you have a REALLY good crew, then you will hardly need that at all, then humans are back to being the stupid boring sacks of meat. IN THE GAME, NOT YOU! You’re a wonderful person…
Engi Characteristics / Strategy
MYSTERYomg-
Engies are the repair crew of FTL, they will get stuff done quickly and are a valuable team member.
They seem to be part robot and part organism, either that or completely robot, but either way they can be used to fix repairs at twice the speed, so they are definately worth having in an emergency.
Also, just because they are robots does NOT mean that they suffocate slower or take fire damage slower, and you should note this in your future travels as it may seem like this at some points.
Their importance to the team results in them costing 50 scrap at all stores.
Because of their quick repair speed, having an engi on hand is very important, especially when it comes to dangerous situations, such as fires or breaches with low oxygen or the oxygen is down and theres no oxygen in the oxygen room or there’s a fire and a breach and no oxygen in the oxygen room. You get the point. But remember, he may repair faster, but he will still take damage. Having someone there to help you repair even faster is also a good idea.
The main strategy that I use when I have an Engi on board, is have one located at opposite ends of the ship, where lots of ship functions are located. Next to these rooms I will have either a mantis or a human beside them, so that way if one of those goes down, I can move an engi in to fix it quickly, and then move it back, and the human or mantis can fill in for him / protect him in case of an attack. Using this tactic, I only really need two engies on the ship at one time.
Mantis Characteristics / Strategy
MYSTERYomg-
In all seriousness, you will encounter these guys A LOT, and they tend to screw you over. They run quicker than anyone, do more damage than anyone, and still have the same health as everyone except for rockmen. If these guys are onboard and attacking you and you’re not ready, you’re not gonna have a good day. But for the same reason, they make amazing crew members.
If you have a mantis, the best job for them is defense in the ship and boarding.
I highly doubt that you will find that a mantis is best for manning an important system. Because of their speed and strength, you will definately use them first in the case of a breach. Also, if you want to board the ship and kill the enemy crew that way (I reccomend this, you get more loot this way, and you can end the battle sooner in some cases.) then they will always be the first you go to.
The best place for a mantis to be if you get it early on is probably the sheilds, if you have no one else to be on it. Sheilds aren’t usually that important early on in the game since most of the enemies’ weapons will only pass through one or simply go through with rockets, and you can kill them before they do much damage. You can easily abandon them if you get any intruders on board, and not have to deal with too much of a setback. They also can’t be depended on to do any repairs, so be aware of that. It’s always good to have an engi nearby, so that the mantis can cover the engi’s back and the engi can repair quickly.
Later in the game, you should ALWAYS get a crew teleporter. If you do have one, always try to kill the other ship’s crew rather than destroying it. You get more loot this way. The mantis is the best for this, as it can easily run from it’s station to the teleporter, quickly do some damage, and hopefully kill the crew without any problems. It’s best to always send at least two people in the teleporter, and any combination of races with mantis should work except for with engi, who is weak, with slug, who you really don’t want to lose, and with zoltan, who has lower health.
It’s also good to invest in a team that remains in the crew teleporter, specifically of Rockmen and Mantis, so that you can quickly teleport them and do a ton of damage to the enemy.
Zoltan Characteristics / Strategy
Zoltan~
In my opinion, Zoltans are pretty cool. They are green, they look like the glow, and they seem to be the only race that doesn’t have a black outline. They are unique! Haters try to copy the zoltons. Haters gonna hate. If Zoltans had a theme song, it’d probably be Radioactive by Imagine Dragons. Enough about how strangly hipster they are, let’s talk about how they are helpful on your journey.
Zoltans are litteraly an extra, moveable energy slot.
Yep, whatever room the Zoltans are in, they add energy to. So if you want energy in the pilot’s room, then move the Zoltan there. Want energy in the weapons bay? Zoltan, go to the weapon’s bay! Want energy in the scanner room? Zoltan, bringeth us to victory!
Zoltans are useful in the manner. But, it does take some thinking ahead, because Zoltans still need to walk to get there, unlike the actual power that you buy that you can just swtich. Zoltans have a lot of strategy involved with them.
Sadly, though, Zoltans are rather wimpy, and only have 70 health, thus would die to any other race.
So in conclusion, Zoltans bring you power when you are in need! But with great power comes great yada yada yada.
Strategies:
You should assign a Zoltan to a room such as the weapons bay, pilot, shields or engines, so that he can level up in whatever room that you put him in, and also bring power to that room.
Whenever you take a Zoltan out of a room and into another room, exchange the power you already have in that room to make it equal. Also take all power out of the health room if you have a Zolton in the health room, because the Zoltan will just bring power to it anyway.
Try healing as many crewmates as possible when there is a Zoltan in the healing room.
Keep Zoltans out of Danger, and never board with a Zoltan.
Rockmen Characteristics / Strategy
Eamojoe-
Rockmen are the third rarest race among those in the universe of FTL, but once you have one, those who teleport onto your ship will have a tough opponent who meets them.
This guy can run into a fire-engulfed room, and return unharmed after the fire is but a trickle of ashes, due to his fire-retardent rocky flesh. His health is multiplied by 1.5x, so he’s tough, too. Why wouldn’t you want a whole crew of Rockmen?
They’re friggin’ slow.
Their speed is cut in half, so getting anywhere takes twice the normal amount of time. Compared to a Mantis, these guys are left in the dust. But, that said, the Rockmen make a great offense and defense, so if you want to take over an enemy ship, a group of these guys can take down the whole crew in record time.
These heavy-hitting badasses are tough to come by and quite expensive, costing 65 scrap in all stores.
The best place to put these guys is probably the room where your enemies teleport on to your ship, because, again, these guys are slow, so it’s good to keep them near the enemy. Having these guys on your crew wouldn’t hurt, but I wouldn’t really suggest more than 2, or you’ll end up slowing your whole ship down.
WARNING: They don’t really talk. Their social interactions consist of wayward glances. Do not take this as a lustful gaze.
Haithas-
Where to start…. They’ve got some tough skin; making them hard to take down. Send these guys onto and enemy ship and that thing will be empty within a few seconds. Although, you may want to be careful. DO NOT forget about them when they’ve finished killing everybody onboard the enemy ship. I did that right before a boss fight once and I had a whole plan, but I forgot to bring the two (did I mention that they were FREAKING ROCKMEN!?) that I sent to kill everybody back before it was too late.
Another thing to remember: Careful when fighting other Rockmen. If your health gets too low and you try to run away, the enemy Rockmen may have a good chance of killing him before you get him out of there. This is because of their speed. They are incredibly slow, about half as fast as most of the other races.
They are, however, half over (.5) as tough as the other races. With their health maxing out at a whopping 150. This is one out of the two reasons they are so tough. Tis ability makes them useful to tank. If you have a mix-and-matched attacking party, send Rockmen in ahead of the others so they can start taking the beating before your little, pathetic human does.
The second reason is that they are highly fire resistent. They take no damage from fire, meaning they should always be sent in to put out the fire, along with your Repair Drone, if you have one. If I’m not mistaken (I haven’t played this game in a few weeks, because of school, so I’m a little rusty on a couple of the details, such as this one), they don’t breath oxygen either, making them also useful for reparing hull-holes. They have very slow repair, so unless you have a Repair Drone, use these guys.
Slug Characteristics / Strategy
Slimy and sticky and gooey and fun, slugs are freaking awesome. At least, in FTL they are. In fact, they ARE my favorite race.
Sadly for any slug-lover, though, this race is the second rarest species, next to the crystal species.
If this was not true, then they would be overpowered.
This is because all of their stats are the same as the humans, but they can telepathically see the other crew as red dots in the darkness when sensors are down, along with being able to see adjacent rooms instead of just the room they are in.
Because of this fact, having just one will really help, and will make those nebulas a bit less annoying when you want to board the other ship (+Protip, always try to kill the other crew instead of just blowing up their ship if you can, you get more loot and potentially more team members this way). Sadly, you won’t be able to see species, but it still gives you more of an idea than being completely blind.
I usually do this but now it’s second nature for me because I’ve been playing for a while now, but thanks to Ranith Firebrand for pointing this out to me, because I did some stupid things with the slug before I realized that it was a hard species to get. Because it is a rare species, you don’t wanna lose it. Using the slug in a place where it isn’t in much danger and you can easily protect it or move it if it is (such as the pilot seat) is a very important thing, because loosing that slug means you aren’t likely to get it back, but you only need just one, having any more is like having another human, and then the human strategy applies. Putting the slug somewhere that is mostly safe (Kestral type-b cockpit is good, because if anyone trys to go in you can suffocate them and they will run in the opposite direction) and have them do a job there is a very very good idea. Also, keeping them alive is a good idea. That too. Don’t risk your slugs.
Also don’t invite them to supper and over-salt the food.
Haithas-
MYS makes some good points, but he doesn’t seem to see the full potential with these creatures. He said having more than one is like having another human, but that’s not true. If you have more than one and you put them on opposite sides of the ship, or in rooms with at least two rooms between them (such as in the game, “Settlers of Catan”, if you have ever played it), then you will be able to see more fires and/or hull breaks if your cameras are offline.
These creatures are my favorite race, too, because of their telepathy and sluginess/adorableness. Sadly, they are not very good for combat because of their speed and attack. They are good, however, for spotting raiders when the lights go out. Careful, though. Don’t have too much “fun” with a crew member on a ship with a slug on board.
An excellent strategy to use for these creatures is put them in your Shield Room (on the Kestrel). That way, they have a good range of sight and they can easily run to the Med-Bay. If you plan on boarding an enemy ship with one of these critters, don’t. You will most likely lose them. Leave them back on your ship to scout out the situation from afar.
MYS and I have pretty much said it all, now. That’s pretty much it. Thanks and good luck.
Crystal Characteristics / Strategy
~MYSTERYomg:
NO BOOOOODY KNOOOWS THE TROUBLE I’VE NOT YET ENCOUNTERED!
I really want to wait until I have gotten one of these to write about it. It hasn’t happened yet… sorry.
Strategies against the Flagship
Haithas-
Attacking the Flagship
Stage 1
I’ve got several good strategies for you:
1. Boarding:
If you are going to board this ship, good luck. There are several ways to go about this. But with all of these, be VERY careful, because you have a good chance of losing some good crew members to a jump. One strategy is to send a couple of your stronger fighters (ex: Rockmen, Mantis) into one of the weapons’ rooms. Seeing as the weapons’ systems rooms on the Flagship are cut off from the rest of the ship, the Rebels cannot repair them. Watch your own weapons fire on the Flagship, because you could lose your fighters that way. You won’t destroy the ship the first time you meet it, because it will make a jump and run away. You lose your men for good, no matter how strong of a fighter they are, if you leave them on the ship. Bring your men back home ASAP after you destroy the system.
2. Shields:
As you can tell from the picture, this guy has four layers of shields. Focus all of your weapons’ fire on their shield room and you should be okay. After you taked out the shields, focus one of your weaker weapons on it while using the other weapons to take out more valuable systems.
3. Cloaking:
(ties in with the Shields strategy)
Watch out for their cloaking. If they cloak, all charging on your weapons stop, but they have a special agumentation that allows them to still attack you when they are cloaked. To avoid this as much as possible, after you take out their shields, focus your weapons (except one, as described in Shields) on their Cloaking Room. After you take them out, focus another of your weakest weapons on the Cloaking Room, then you’re free to fire at other things.
4. Weapons:
I wouldn’t suggest this one because of their shields. But the strategy is to focus all of your own weapons on one of their’s and do that until that weapon is down, then move onto the next one.
5. Drones:
Drones such as the Anti-Ship wouldn’t be all that useful, but the Boarding Drone would. You may want to get that.
For all of the above strategies (except for Boarding), I would suggest waiting until all of your weapons are charged and then using the pause feature to focus all of them on their targets, then unleashing hell on their online shields.
Attacking the Flagship
Stage 2
Attacking the Flagship
Stage 3
Defending from the Flagship
There aren’t really too many strategies for defending from the Flagship, but here are a few:
1. Shields:
From sector one, you should start building up your shields. By the end of sector one, you should have at least two shield walls. By the time you get to the Flagship, you should have three or four shield walls. GET SUPER SHIELDS! Your fight will be SO much easier!
2. Boarding:
You don’t have to worry about the enemy boarding until Stage 2 of the battle. When they do board, you can’t use the suffocation method because they’ll send boarding drones. These will get very annoying and will eventually be the death of you if you don’t do anything sbout their Drone Control Center. Take this out and your going will be much easier.
3. Cloaking:
If you have a cloak, use it as much as possible. Unless you have a certain Augmentation, you can’t shoot your weapons, but you can still charge them. The enemy, however, can’t charge or fire their weapons.
4. Drones:
Drones would be very useful in this boss battle. I don’t mean go out of your way to get them, but they would be useful. I mean specifically the Repair Drones and Anti-Missile Drones.
Those are all pretty much all the strategies I’ve got for you. If you’ve got any more strats for me, put them in the comments.
Thank you and good luck.