Is it warm in here?

Have your crew kill a burning enemy on their ship while using the Rock Cruiser.

To earn this achievement the enemy killed must be standing still and not running to another tile when they are killed. Because of that, this achievement is really hard because enemies crew tend to run away from the room with fire when they have low hp.

I personally gained this achievement by killing a Rockman in a burning room. It is much easier than the other races, since they do not flee from fire at low HP anymore as of the advanced edition. Note that all other races will flee from a burning room at low HP like mindless monkey, regardless of whether there’s pizza (or boarders) in it or not.

They are another way to achieve this achievement, one of the easiest one is when fighting the Rebel Flagship (aka the Boss), ignite one of the weapon room where they can’t run and teleport a Rockman there. They can’t neither run or extinguish the fire, this will cook them in rather good pizza.

Another option is by locking the doors via hacking or lockdown (via Crystal crew or lock bomb) Keep them inside and warp your crew (preferably a Rockman) there to unlock the achievement while they are cooking inside the room unable to flee. Be careful though crystal crew are NOT fire immune.

This achievement can also be earned by a mind controlled enemy crew member killing a burning crewmate on-board their own ship.

Defense Drones Don’t Do D’anything!

While using the Rock Cruiser, destroy an enemy ship which has a defense drone deployed using only missiles.

Another hard achievement, because you need to only use missiles during the whole battle, so hear me right on this NO OTHER WEAPON except for missiles can be used during the battle, regardless of whether or not they do damage.

If you fire Hacking or drone YOU WON’T get this achievement, ONLY MISSILES.

Note:

Crystal weapons count as missiles (they are considered projectiles and not lasers), and so they can be used to obtain the achievement.

Damage from asteroids and fire will not invalidate earning the achievement.

If you forgot what I said and fire a Hacking module or a laser weapon but the defense drone shoots them all down you can still get the achievement. (only if they don’t hit the ship shield or hull)

The enemy ship’s defense drone does not have to be active at when the ship is destroyed to earn the achievement, rather it just has to have one deployed at some point during the fight.

This achievement cannot be earned in the final boss fight, because the Rebel Flagship‘s because the second phase fight (where the drone is deployed) does not end in the ship’s destruction.

I don’t know if teleporting prevent this achievement, you can always try it and teleport on the ship to take out drone control and then let the missiles finish the job.

How to beat it:

Easy way, get the a Defense Scrambler augment and fire only missiles the whole fight and you’re good to go.

Hard way, you don’t have the Defense Scrambler augment, fire 2 missiles at the same time and aim for the drone system. The first missile will be taken down but the second one will probably go through taking down their drone allowing your next missiles volley to wreck havoc their ship. Not that swarm missile can be a great weapon to had to your arsenal to complete this achievement.

Ancestry

Find the secret sector with the Rock Cruiser.

Probably the hardest ship achievement in the game because it’s require you to complete 2 quest and be in the right sector (rock homeworld) to be able to go the the crystal homeworld.

Luckily, you can use the Rock Cruiser type C in the Advanced Edition which starts with a single Crystal aboard the ship. This allow you to skip the 2 first event.

This achievement is so hard that I haven’t been able to achieve it yet, but here some info I’ve got from the wiki and link to the wiki to succeed this achievement.

From the wiki:

To get to the secret sector (Hidden Crystal Worlds), the player must first encounter the Dense Asteroid Field Distress Call event and acquire the Damaged Stasis Pod. Then, arrival at a Zoltan Research Facility which will give a blue event option asking the Zoltan if they can fix it. Once the pod is fixed, a Crystal will be revitalized and join the ship’s crew. If they are kept alive and theAncient Device is encountered in the Rock Homeworlds, another blue event option will be shown where they can reactivate the device, thereby teleporting the ship into the secret sector.

A significant amount of luck is required to unlock this achievement.

Here a quick summary of how to obtain the Crystal ship

• Obtain the Damaged Stasis Pod augment – In Pirate Controlled Sector, Engi Controlled Sector/Homeworlds, and Rock Controlled Sector/Homeworlds
  • Occurs at a Normal Distress Beacon
  • Choose to
    1. Search for the Ship or (Rock Plating) Make a thorough search for the ship without fear of stray asteroids
    2. Then Grab the stasis chamber
• Talk to the Zoltans at the Zoltan Research Facility – In Engi Controlled Sector/Homeworlds and Zoltan Controlled Sector/Homeworlds
  • Occurs at a Normal Beacon
  • Choose to
    1. (Damaged Stasis Pod) Ask if they can fix this
• Find the Ancient Device – In Rock Homeworlds
  • Occurs at a Normal Beacon (NOTE: As of v.1.03.3, the Ancient Device event occurs at a Quest Beacon instead of a Normal Beacon).
  • Choose to
    1. (Crystal Crew) Reactivate it
• Go to the Hidden Crystal Worlds Marker
  • Occurs at a Quest Beacon

More at http://ftl.wikia.com/wiki/Ancestry

Space game are a hot commodity so I though bringing some space title

Cosmonautica

I’ve talked awhile ago about Cosmonautica, Pewpewchewchew made a nice video to show you the game play.

Related:

Let’s play Cosmonautica

Battlefront Mars

You want to feel like Elon Musk but don’t have the time nor the money to build spaceship to get to mars and colonize it. You’re in luck Battlefront Mars on Facebook let you build a Mars colony and harvest the planet resources. You need to defend your colonist from invaders and pirates to so you cannot just harvest the planet. Gameplay in Battlefront Mars focuses on the collection of to resources iron and water because you know that the only thing you need in a space colony. Harvesters gather water and iron continuously over time and with these resources are used to accomplish most tasks within the game. This includes everything from recruiting new military units to upgrading and building additional structures on the base. You can receive extra water and iron by finishing mission or destroying enemies base.

New unit can be build by building certain building (like in Starcraft) like the academy. Your military unit will help you defend against the invaders or attack and destroy their base. Has player level up the game unlock more mission and allow multiplayer (PvP) combat. The PvP look a bit likes clash of clan, spy the village then if you attack it you are warp there.

These facebook game are not my cup of tea, you have to wait to stuff to complete or use the premium currency (gold) there in app purchase, the units are hard to move but at least they can move automatically. With 10k monthly user you should be able to get some decent PvP action.

Battlefront Mars is available to play for free on Facebook.

Related:

Battlefront Mars: Build a Base and Command an Army on Facebook

Buzz Aldrin’s Space Program Manager

The game is coming out soon on iPad and Android tablets on October 31st. I didn’t had any luck with a early access but the folk at Pocket gamer gave a excellent review so you can get the full review there.

The game come with a Space Race plot set in the cold war you got to go to the moon before the Russian. There also a sandbox mode where you just play without the political pressure.

Related:

Official site

Buzz Aldrin’s Space Program Manager (Pocketgamer)

The rock cruiser is probably one of the hardest to get it’s achievement. However it’s a great ship and it’s actually the first ship I managed to beat the game with (in easy mode). Rock plating is pretty useful and the Rockman are pretty good at everything except running. The make the best pilot, they make great fighters due to their high health, they great at repairing stuff and clearing out fire thanks fire immunity.

Layout A

Unlock

See the Rock war vessel encounter.

Alternatively, defeat The Rebel Flagship with the Slug cruiser.

• Default name: Bulwark
• Starting Crew: 3 Rockmen
• Starting Augmentation:
  • Rock Plating
• Starting Weapons:
  • Artemis Missile
  • Hull Missile
• Starting Resources:
  • 16 Fuel
  • 28 Missiles
  • 0 Drone parts
• Slots: 4 Weapon, 2 Drone (requires system)

The main problem with this ship is that your weapon all use missiles, you will have no problem clearing ship in the initial since your missiles ignore shield, there’s rarely any defense drone and they all have low evasion. However your missiles supply will drain like crazy so try to take advantage of the 4 damage hull missile when firing on a empty system. Get a weapon that don’t require ammo has soon has possible or crew teleportation can be a good alternative, shoot down there weapon system then teleport to finish the job. This ship is probably the best to achieve the Defense Drones Don’t Do D’anything! achievement.

Layout B

Unlock : Earning two of the three Rock Cruiser achievements will unlock Layout B.

• Default name: Shivan
• Starting Crew: 4 Rockmen
• Starting Augmentation:
  • Rock Plating
• Starting Weapons:
  • Heavy Pierce Laser Mk. I
  • Fire Bomb
• Starting Resources:
  • 16 Fuel
  • 18 Missiles
  • 0 Drone Parts
• Slots: 4 Weapon, 2 Drone (requires system)

The Shivan (Rock Cruiser Layout B) starts without a door system, requiring 60 scrap to install. It is the only ship which does not have external doors, preventing any sections from being vented to space except via a hull breach. If in advanced edition, Lanius crew can be used to suck air out of rooms, even if they are not in that room, also the Fire Suppression augment works wonders as it helps put out fires.

This ship is a great boarding ship because it’s has firebomb and your crew (rockman) are immune to fire, it’s make it easy to blast a room then warp in your crew to finish the job in the fire. If your enemies aren’t rock man, they will take damage from the fire while you fight them, as well as the system in the room. Systems cannot be repaired if they are on fire, and fires cannot be put out if your crew is there. Medbay should be your first priority, weapon or piloting second depending if they are trying to flee.

The name "Shivan" combined with the color scheme of Layout B is a reference to an alien race of the same name in the game Descent: Freespace.

Layout C

Unlock

Reaching sector 8 with the Rock Cruiser B with Advanced Mode enabled will unlock layout C

• Default name: Tektite
• Starting Crew: 2 Rockmen, 1 Crystal
• Starting Augmentation:
  • Rock Plating
• Starting Weapons:
  • Swarm
  • Heavy Crystal Mark I
• Starting Resources:
  • 16 Fuel
  • 15 Missiles
  • 0 Drone Parts
• Clone Bay
• Slots: 4 Weapon, 2 Drone (requires system)

This layout start with great weapon and a Crystal crewmember. The Heavy Crystal and the Swarm missiles will make early sectors quite easy, as the crystal mark ignore level 1 shield and swarm will help you take out any extra shield. You should probably focus on your defense first before trying to get new weapon. The greatest asset of the ship is the crystal crewmember, it will help you unlock the crystal cruiser skipping the need to do 2 extra quest before finding the crystal sector. Crystal man are great at taking care of boarder and boarding other ship with it’s lockdown ability preventing enemy crew from leaving the room and other from entering it. I had paired him with a Mantis with great result, even on the final ship. Pairing him with a Lanius can make great synergy too.

Pier Solar

if you miss those old school 16-bit era RPG, Lufia and the one alike, well Pier Solar is a game for you.
The game is available on Playstation 3 & 4, steam and the ouya. If PC is your thing the game is available on Linux, window or Mac too. If you want to get an idea of the games visual and music check out this promotional trailer:

Related:

Pier Solar and the great Architects (indiegames)

8 Bits Fun

Oh 8 bit is more of your thing. Fear not the recent NES JAM gave birth to a dozen of nice 8-bit gem (and other not that much of a gem)

Super Cell Dungeon

One of the notable entry is Super Cell Dungeon, Super Cell Dungeon developed by a multi-talented team and a recent #NESJAM entry, is a NES inspired clone of Super Crate Box that can be played in a two player team.

Lognes Island

A actually really nice teaser of a game a developer is thinking about doing. You play a mega man like character lost on an island. You have to search the island for power up like a blaster and double jump. Once you found the boss for the first level the teaser is done. Check the dev on twitter and ask him to do more.

Gracie & Mike – Interstellar Mercenary Exterminators

A Co-op Contra but in split screen is probably the best way to describe this game. You can only play 2 players or 1 player control 2 players. The game can be played on xbox and ps3 controllers or with the keyboard.

Ouragan

This one is kind of weird there a bunch of guy hitting you but you don’t seem to lose health. You can hit them with Z and they get thrown into the sky with a single punch.

Related

NESJAM – Lots of great games in a NES flavour

Nes Jam (http://itch.io/jam/nesjam)

Archeomania  – A Tetris look alike where you save the princess

Another nice puzzle game in 8-bit greatly inspired by Tetris. You get the bloc similar to Tetris but instead of pilling them to make more point when you clear them out, you need to clear the line to save the green girl. Once you clear all the line under her you save her, they’re spike that slowly move toward you, if they manage to hit the princess before you clear all the block under her, she done and it’s game over for you.

Related

Brilliant Tetris Plus inspired ZX Spectrum remake (indieretronews)

Final Fantasy VI

Final Fantasy VI as probably some of the best music of the series (Final Fantasy VII is pretty Rad too) and has given countless beautiful interpretation. The opera scene sure come to mind has one of the iconic scene and music of the series.

Back in June, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra performed a symphonic poem arranged from the game’s music, entitled Born With The Gift Of Magic. It’s pretty amazing and the performance is available on their website.

Related:

Born With The Gift Of Magic by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

Watch Final Fantasy VI: Symphonic Poem Now!

Dragon quest I & Dragon quest II

Yes both of these originals games are out, while not has carefully done like Dragon Quest VIII . They stand has the beginning of the series, DQI is probably the first major RPG out on NES (in Japan) and DQII was the first with multi-member party, not just a lone hero try to find is way.

Dragon quest I

Contrary to popular lore, Dragon Quest was not the actual first JRPG. But it certainly the first major one. Yuji Horii wanted to simplify the complex systems found in RPG to make it easier and more playable on the NES limited input compare to PC RPG likeWizardry and Ultima. However, he wanted to still offer the player the satisfying feeling of following the narrative of a character who take on a journey to make the world a better place and becomes stronger in the process.

If you don’t know Dragon quest I what is you might be a little surprise with all the hype it gets for what it is compare to modern game you can get today. However, it you want to nostalgic feeling of the NES and educate yourself about a game that started a whole genre itself 25 year ago (yeah it’s that old) you should definitely give it a try.

Dragon quest II

Dragon Quest II is probably the game I had a hard time with when I was young. I’ve played it after DQI and Final fantasy so I was not stranger to RPG, but my god that game have too much stuff that you have to just guess and search everywhere for no (insert swear word here) reason. Don’t get me wrong I loved and still love the game but if I replay it, it will be with the walkthrough besides it. Most of my frustration come from finding the mirror of Ra (it’s hidden in a (more swearing)swamp) and find the crest which usually you have not much clue about where they were. However, Dragon quest should be look at what it is, a game perfect for your nostalgic or to get a sense from where all the game come from, it’s definitely a game worth playing (with the walkthrough).

Related :

Dragon Quest I Review

Dragon Quest II Review

Coming tonight Dragon Quest I

Coming tonight Dragon Quest II

The Slug Cruiser achievements are pretty easy to do compare to other ship. I’ve been lucky and managed to grab 2 of them in my first try and got the third one (Home sweet home) after because I wasn’t able to go to two nebula sector.

We’re in position!

While using the Slug Cruiser, have vision of every room on the enemy ship without functioning sensors.

To earn this achievement it’s probably better to have a teleporter, once you board with some of your (Slugs) crew you should manage to see the whole ship.

Earning this achievement requires a teleporter, as the player must have some of their crew (most likely Slugs) board an enemy ship to see the inside of it without functioning sensors.

A way to accomplish this is by upgrading to a level 2+ teleporter then teleport your two slug crew onto an automated scout ship. With the upgraded teleporter, there’s just enough time to teleport them out before they suffocate.

Note, many of the early-game pirate or rebel ships have layouts that can be completely viewed by only two carefully-placed slugs.

The achievement can still be earned if the sensor system is installed on the Slug Cruiser, but the system must be either destroyed, fully ionized, hacked, or incapacitated due to a nebula.

Note that hacking, boarding drone and mind controlled crew can help you achieve this achievement too.

Home Sweet Home

Jump to 30 nebula locations before sector 8.

This achievement is probably the easiest if the 3, it’s mostly require luck that you have 2 sector that are nebula and you should probably be fine. Since nebulas  (even a whole nebula sector) slow down the Rebel Fleet, you will be able to visit more beacon that in an usual sector. You just need your 30 jump before sector 8 and you’re golden.

Disintegration Ray

While using the Slug Cruiser, kill 3 enemy crew members with one shot from the Anti-Bio Beam.

I managed to earn this achievement by putting on fire some a room that and they were no rock crew. All the enemies crew went to the room to take the fire out, but once they start having low hp they leave the room, at this moment I fired my anti-bio beam and killed 3 of them.

Side Note from the wiki:

There is supposedly a bug that count your own crew when you killed them. The exploit is to send two of you crew to fight and when they are low in health fire the beam.

Note: Killing System Repair Drones or Anti-Personnel Drones also counts to the limit of enemy crew members killed. I don’t really understand why that work since they are robot not bio unit. Give it a try and if it work let me know.

At first I hated this ship but after a play through I actually liked it, I managed to get 2 achievements and kill the boss (easy difficulty) the first time I’ve played it. We will talk about the achievement in a next post but now let’s talk about how to play each layout.

Layout A

Unlock

See the Slug Home Nebula Surrender random event.

Alternatively, defeat The Rebel Flagship with the Mantis Cruiser.

• Default name: Man of War
• Starting Crew: 2 Slug
• Starting Augmentation:
  • Slug Repair Gel
• Starting Weapons:
  • Anti-Bio Beam
  • Breach Bomb I
  • Dual Lasers
• Starting Resources:
  • 16 Fuel
  • 15 Missiles
  • 0 Drone parts
• Slots: 4 Weapon, 2 Drone (requires system)

What I didn’t like about that ship was the starting weapon I had a hard time of making the Anti-Bio Beam work, I sometime ended up destroying the ship before killing the crew. But when it’s work you get extra scrap and sometime you might even receive a extra crew or weapon. The beam take 2 shot kill most crew member, 3 if the member is a Rockman or Crystal.

Note that there are no sensors aboard this ship. But since Slugs can see the rooms they are adjacent to, and the locations of enemies onboard their vessel it’s shouldn’t be a problem compare to the Mantis cruiser layout A.

As for the flagship: board the missiles, hack the shields, mind control the pilot, to nullify their dodge chance, and the crew members can’t do anything about it, since hacking disables their doors, thus it’ll take time for them to get another pilot. Be sure to also take down their shields with something like a breach bomb, which will their ship rendered useless ,(this also works for difficult mode, so you’ll slow them from repairing the missiles/lasers)

Layout B

Unlock

Earning two of the three Slug Cruiser achievements will unlock Layout B.

• Default name: The Stormwalker
• Starting Crew: 3 Slug
• Starting Augmentation:
  • Slug Repair Gel
• Starting Weapons:
  • Healing Bomb
  • Artemis Missile
• Starting Resources:
  • 16 Fuel
  • 25 Missiles
  • 0 Drone parts
• Slots: 4 Weapon, 2 Drone (requires system)

The Stormwalker (Slug Cruiser Layout B) starts with a teleporter but lacks a medbay, resulting in reliance on the Healing Burst to heal crew members at the beginning. Grabbing either reconstructive teleport [LINK] or a Med bay will help you save on those precious missile. (Considering that the starting weapon only use missile, no beam, no laser…)

Like the initial Slug Cruiser, the layout B still lack sensor. That shouldn’t be too much of a problem though because your slug crew will be able to see boarders and the life form on the ship.

Side note: the layout of this ship allows you to remove oxygen from most of it, making boarders less of a problem.

I’ve really hit the mark with this ship, I was lucky enough to get a med bay really quickly (saving on those missile) and I’ve went through an abandoned sector and managed to grab two Lanius. And the rest is history. Considering that on this ship it’s pretty easy to clear the O2 from it because there so many door, you asphyxiate boarders really quickly and your Lanius force them to fight instead of trying to go through the door. Boarding is a charm, two Lanius quickly drain a room of oxygen, forcing enemy crew to leave the room, combine with the healing burst, your Lanius shouldn’t have any problem. For the final boss I had installed cloaking and Drone (a defense drone to block the hacking and a combat drone). Hacking can be good too, you can hack the med bay and send your Lanius there.

Layout C

Unlock

Reaching sector 8 with the Slug Cruiser B on any difficulty with Advanced Edition Content enabled will unlock layout C.

• Starting crew: 3 Slug
• Starting Augmentation:
  • Slug Repair Gel
• Starting Weapons:
  • Chain Burst Laser
• Starting Resources:
  • 16 Fuel
  • 1 Missiles
  • 15 Drone parts
• Slots: 4 Weapon, 2 Drone (requires system)

The Ariolimax starts with Hacking and Mind Control, making it effective at disrupting an enemy ship. As a side note, be aware that its Medbay only has one space, should you choose to replace the Cloning bay with it (don’t do it it’s a bad idea…) It’s start with a great gun too, the Chain Burst Laser can be pretty efficient even early 2 shield should be a problem, hacking will help you there.

Using the combination of the hacking on the oxygen system and mind control on the crew trying to repair it. You can kill a whole ship by asphyxiation, and get better reward (you really need them in normal & hard).

Starting with a level 2 Doors subsystem and a Mind Control, this ship is quite strong against early boarding parties. Be careful, though, as Mind-controlled enemies can pass through your doors just as if they were friends!

You can upgrade this ship in many ways, Drones and Beam Weapons work really well with hacking, as Hacking help you remove enemy shields. Burst laser can go well too with hacking since you can hack the engine or shield and blast the ship with your laser.

Bombs have great synergy to help drain/deny Oxygen from your foes, drop a bomb on oxygen and lock it with hacking and they are done. Teleporting can be a great addition especially if you can get your hand on some Lanius, combine with mind control and hacking, teleporting a Lanius on the ship will accelerates the de-oxygenation process. Teleporting work with other race to because of mind control giving you an extra member on the enemy ship to fight with you and hacking can help you lock a room, preventing the enemy from escaping or entering.

The only problem is its  low shield & low engine at the beginning, everything will it you. Missile weapons are a pain, beam weapon with decent ion or laser can be a problem too. Drone can be very annoying too.