Just open some doors and flush the air out. No air, no fire.

These kind of posts are the reason for my follow ip question in my first post. You simply don't know the basic tactics of the game, die half way through it because you handle common situations the wrong way and blame the game or speculate that the game is bugged.

This is the equivalent of a newbie in a first person shooter standing still in the open trying to shoot the bad guys and he can not understand why his health is going down and he dies all the time. I mean, how is a man supposed to kill the bad guys if you get killed trying to aim, right? Totally unfair!

Here is how you deal with fires in the game: First, pay attention to what is going on with your ship. The moment you notice a fire, PAUSE THE GAME. Assess the situation. Would it be possible to open an airlock and drain the oxygen in sequence all the way to the fire? Good, this is one way of doing it without taking crewmen off their normal duties. If you can not drain the oxygen without also asphyxiating one or more of your crewmen, then you better use these crewmen to put the fire out. Engi crewmen are the fastest at putting out fires though any crewmen except for Mantis are good enough.

Always pay attention to what is going on. The situation changes constantly and you are the one in charge. Anything can happen. Pause the game mid combat just to check on your power levels and adjust them if necessary. Look for damaged systems. Pause the game every time your enemy fires upon you to see what he is using and how it will affect you. Pause the game when you are about to fire too, because around the midpoint of the game you need to coordinate your attacks to break enemy defences, you can not just auto-fire and wait for them to die. When it is time to jump, pause the game and look around your ship to make sure you don't have powered down systems or raging fires.

There really is no excuse for not noticing that your oxygen has powered down during a fight or from power fluctuations in a nebula. Normally oxygen is not that important because it drains very slowly, but if you leave it for a couple of minutes without fixing it your crew will die. There is no excuse, that is your fault entirely, your job is to oversee the ship and issue orders. Failure to allocate power to the oxygen system is gross incompetence.

You say that Engi crew members put out fires the fastest, does that mean that your "repair" skill affects the amount of time that it takes to put out a fire?

Yes, it is solely dependent on the repair skill. Engis are faster, Mantises are slower, everyone else starts out the same. Two engis can put out a single flame in about a second or two so you often waste less time sending them to deal with a fire and run back to their stations. Rockmen are deceptively bad at fighting fires because they move so slow. Their bonus (immune to fire damage) is very situational, a small perk should the fire start in the very room they are in or if you are being torched by a fire starting weapon.and you don't have an engi fire fighting crew.

It can be a real help on boarding parties, though. Just teleport a couple of rockmen into the room where everyone is trying to put out fires, then slaughter them as they burn.

That is true, never thought of that actually. That might be because I don't usually plan to use rockmen for boarding or anti-boarding as they move too slow to chase the enemy. In the end, your example is very situational, though still something to keep in mind during these ever changing battles.

Oh oh, you should though! Aside from being immune to fire, Rockmen have 50% more health than everyone else, so, one-on-one, they can take on nearly anyone except, I think, a Mantis with upgraded fighting.

In fact, my ideal boarding parties start with a Mantis and a Rockman: jump into a 2-square room, beat up everyone there, and send the Mantis out to chase down stragglers while the Rockman stays behind to wail on the system!

+1 to Rockmen as boarders! Although I personally prefer Mantis since firstly two of their ships have 4-man teleporters, and secondly they move faster and damage faster than anyone else. Having said that Rockmen are up there with Mantis and Lanius for boarding. I think one-on-one versus a Mantis, a Rockman and a Mantis are about even (I think).

Rockmen plus a fire bomb (or fire beam or other fire-creating weapon) are really awesome - burn the room, then teleport in the same room. While the enemy is fighting the rockmen, they can't fight the fire. Meanwhile the fire is damaging both the system in the room as well as any enemies in there, while the Rockies only take the damage from the enemy. Their extra health is just icing on the cake. Typically the enemy will run out of the room rather than burn to death, leaving the fire + rockies to trash the system - really useful in weapons room for example.

The fact that they move really slowly is more a nuisance than anything else. Generally if the enemy's medbay is down (or they don't have one) and you're attacking certain important rooms, the enemy will eventually come to the Rockmen since they figure they've got no choice. If you start with the room that's potentially the most damaging to your ship (typically weapons, but could be drone, mind control or hacking depending on circumstances), then the slow movement speed isn't that relevant since the enemy can't do much to you anymore.

Really? I'm pretty sure there are lots of games without manuals around these days. There has also been a substantial improvement in user interfaces, in-game hints/help (tooltips in FTL for example can be very helpful), and in-game tutorials. So the "lazy coders" have actually spent more effort on those things instead.

Speaking of which, did you try the in-game tutorial BTW? It might well explain what your issue is, and how to get around it...


I do agree with you with respect to massively detailed manuals, although IMO it doesn't need to be printed these days since if you want the printed version you can print it out yourself. Also a printed manual is a tad difficult to ship via digital distribution methods... ;) If a fight is too difficult, just power up your engines to the max so your FTL recharges as fast as possible, then when it's charged get the fuck out of there! You will encounter battles where it's better to flee than to fight - even if in most of those cases it is possible to win the fight, the damage you take might not make the scrap rewards worth it.

I've had cases where I was starting OK, but then my weapons got hammered, my shields were down, and the enemy had a beam drone on me as well as boarders trashing my rooms! I jumped the hell out, only to end up in another fight. Thankfully this fight was much easier, so I was able to kill the boarders, repair the damage and destroy the enemy without taking too much damage during the second fight. Was pretty hairy though!