Combat & XP Tips

Combat and experience tips for FTL: Faster Than Light.

1.Basic Combat

Destroy the enemy's weapons first to save your own health; take down their shields when ready. Fire at their engines to stop them escaping.

2.Easy Experience (Crew XP Farming)

• If you have a low-level weapon that can't damage the hull and you're safe, keep firing; your crew gain experience with every shot. Disable the enemy's engines first so they can't flee.
• If the enemy can't penetrate your shield, don't destroy them — sit tight; your engine, pilot and shield crew gain experience.
• With a cloaking device, enable it when the enemy fires (even if they can't hurt you); you gain skill from dodging.
• Cycle your shields during combat; with good timing you take no damage but the shield operator gets a small boost.
• In an asteroid field, after destroying the enemy ship, don't jump! Remove your pilot to drop evasion to 0%; every asteroid hitting your shield gives the shield operator 1 XP (max in ~10 minutes).

3.Avoid Ion Shield Damage

If attacked by an ion weapon, consider dropping your shields; a hit while shields are up reduces their power for a few seconds, but through the shield it may hit a less crucial system (or empty room), leaving your shields undamaged.

4.Infinite Ships (file trick)

Normally the game deletes your autosave when your ship is destroyed. To get around it, copy the continue.sav file from the game folder in Windows to somewhere safe. If you lose your ship, copy the spare back into the game folder and try again. Repeat as often as you like; be careful manipulating such files.