Can I pause during combat?

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Yes. The store page lists pausing mid-combat to evaluate your strategy and give orders among its key features. Steam store page The developers' original FAQ describes combat as real-time management of crew, power distribution and weapons, and notes that although it can be frantic, you can pause the game at any time to give orders to your crew. Original official FAQ

Is it a campaign with permanent ship upgrades?

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Each run takes your ship and crew through a randomly generated galaxy, and with permadeath, when you die there is no coming back. Steam store page During a run, you upgrade the ship with weaponry and equipment bought with collected scrap, and the crew improves with experience. Original official FAQ

Unlocked ships and achievements are kept in your profile: if power loss or a PC crash corrupts the profile data, the developer's FAQ points to a profile editor tool for restoring them. Developer FAQ

What difficulty levels are there?

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FTL has Easy and Normal difficulty levels, each with a victory achievement on Steam's list Steam achievement list, and Advanced Edition added Hard. Developer blog, 18 February 2014 Patch notes 1.5.10, 10 April 2014 The rates in the table are Steam's global unlock rates on 18 October 2026. Steam achievement list

DifficultyVictory achievementOfficial descriptionGlobal unlock rate
EasyFederation Victory (Easy)Beat the boss on Easy.26.3%
NormalFederation Victory (Normal)Beat the boss on Normal.10.3%

Before the expansion came out, the developers described Hard as having more challenging enemy generation, lower scrap rewards and other small tweaks, for players who might be bored of Normal. Developer blog, 18 February 2014 Steam's list has no victory achievement for Hard. Steam achievement list

Does Advanced Edition require a separate purchase?

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No. Advanced Edition came out on 3 April 2014 as a large, free expansion, and the developer's FAQ says it is now built into every version of FTL. The same answer says there are no plans for a sequel or any additional updates. Developer FAQ

The expansion added a new alien race along with new events, weapons, playable ships and drones. Advanced Edition launch post, Steam news, 3 April 2014 The developers' February 2014 preview named its new systems and subsystems: the Clone Bay, Hacking, Mind Control and the Backup Battery. Developer blog, 18 February 2014

When they announced Advanced Edition in November 2013, the developers said all of the new content could be disabled in the hangar before starting a new game, so the original version would stay available. Developer blog, 12 November 2013 Patch notes 1.5.10, 10 April 2014

Is multiplayer available?

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No. The developer's FAQ says FTL was designed as a focused, single-player experience and that there are no plans to add multiplayer. The same FAQ says that FTL has mods and points to the FTL Mods Page. Developer FAQ

What should I learn before chasing achievements?

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Of the 51 achievements on Steam, 24 name a specific cruiser in their descriptions. Steam achievement list FTL's achievements were integrated with the Steam client on 30 January 2020, and the developers said that achievements already completed in the game would be awarded automatically when the game was launched. Achievements post, Steam news, 30 January 2020

Tips for Beginners covers how a run works, pausing in combat, weapon targets, crew care and when to escape a fight. Power and Shields covers distributing power, extra power sources and what can take down shields. For a concrete crew goal, The United Federation covers a Kestrel Cruiser achievement and what its official description requires.