Last Updated on by Samuel Franklin
Learn the FTL best systems and subsystems upgrade priority to maximise your chances of success. With a large number of options, costly Scrap investment and limited system slots available these permanent upgrade decisions can be difficult and have a notable impact on ship combat power.
Below I detail all system options and recommend players upgrade Shields, Medbay, Cloaking, Hacking, Piloting and Doors first as they provide increased chances of survival while adding tools to defeat the Rebel Flagship.
Table of Contents:
– FTL Systems & Subsystems Overview
– FTL Best Systems
– FTL Best Subsystems
FTL Systems & FTL Subsystems Overview
Systems and Subsystems in Faster Than Light cost Scrap to unlock, consume reactor power slots and impact your combat strategy given ships are limited to 8 slots and there are 11 possible systems available (subsystems are not counted in this cap). Some system upgrades are also used in random event encounters and often provide a rewarding or safe method to resolve these encounters.
The systems in Faster Than Light: Advanced Edition in order they appear on the UI bar when installed:
- Shields
- Engines
- Oxygen
- Medbay
- Clone Bay (Advanced Edition Only)
- Hacking (Advanced Edition Only)
- Mind Control (Advanced Edition Only)
- Teleporter
- Cloaking
- Weapons
- Drones
The subsystems in Faster Than Light: Advanced Edition in order when installed are:
- Piloting
- Sensors
- Doors
- Backup Battery (Advanced Edition Only)
FTL Best Systems
While systems priority in FTL can alter slightly based on your desired playstyle and starting ship selection the best FTL upgrade priority order I recommend is:
Shields > Medbay > Cloaking > Hacking > Teleporter > Mind Control > Drones > Clone Bay
The reasons for this path is:
- Shields: Shields are vital to survival in FTL as upgrades allow you to absorb additional enemy fire or environmental hazards while protecting your critical hull health points.
- Medbay: Without a Medbay to recover lost crew health players won’t survive long and you should never be without at least a basic Medbay or Clone Bay to keep your crew safe. Utilising both of these bays is not recommended as the overlapping utility is a waste of your limited system slots.
- Cloaking: This system is vital for sector progress and the final boss fight to dodge enemy weapon fire and prevents their weapons from charging. Level 1 of this system provides the most benefit with further upgrades to cloaking a lower priority.
- Hacking: A flexible system for attack and defence depending on which enemy system that you target with the hacking drone to disrupt for several seconds. This flexibility makes it one of the best FTL systems to disable shields, drain weapon charge, turn a Medbay toxic, reduce evasion or other utility to prevent damage to your own ship and crew. Hacking effectiveness can be impacted by enemy defence drones though so it requires some planning.
- Crew Teleporter: The teleporter can be used for a combat boarding party playstyle and there are a number of ships that start with it. If available to purchase this is a priority as boarding a ship and defeating the crew which rewards additional Scrap. A powerful boarding crew is also an easy tactic against the Rebel Flagship to disable weapons quickly although is not as effective on hard due to a different boss ship layout on this difficulty.
- Mind Control: Combined with the teleporter for a boarding focused ship this can provide an edge when fighting for control of a room. Given the limited number of system slots on a ship mind control can be difficult to fit into your standard layout but worthwhile for the effective playstyle combination.
- Drone Control: Drones create a unique FTL playstyle with a number of ships starting with drones as a core theme although is rarely worth adding to other ships as other systems can perform a similar role without needing expensive consumable drone parts. Drones are flexible with offensive, defensive and utility options as a fun unique playstyle option though.
- Clone Bay: Another niche choice the Clone Bay can actually be quite fun to use when paired with a teleporter as you send endless waves of crew to your enemy ship without a care. Most ships in FTL start with a Medbay already though which creates an unnecessary double up as the Medbay is more than enough to keep your crew alive from combat and other events.
When upgrading systems in Faster Than Light your upgrade priorities are:
- Shields: Shields should always be your first consideration with level two shields (4 power) being an early game staple to reduce damage and save on Scrap hull repair costs. You’ll want to gradually upgrade shields to their maximum as you progress through sectors to ensure you have the necessary defence for the Rebel Flagship battle.
- Engines: Engines provide evasion benefits to further increase your defence provided the piloting room has a crew member or the autopilot upgrade has been purchased. Level 5 is a good goal which provides 25% evasion before diminishing returns per power invested.
- Weapons: Weapons are your primary damage and gradually upgrading this system is important to ensure you have enough weapon power to destroy enemy ships quickly.
- Hacking: Hacking upgrades add 3 seconds to hacking duration improving the initial 4 seconds up to 10 seconds.
- Cloaking: While effective at level 1 to dodge immediate threats with careful timing the addition of extra levels increases the time you spend cloaked which means less weapon charge for your enemy.
FTL Best Subsystems
Subsystems are simple in comparison to the main systems of a FTL ship but should not be overlooked as they are cheap utility upgrades. The vast majority of ships start with subsystems excluding the backup battery which can be purchased from stores.
I recommend this upgrade and purchase priority for subsystems:
- Piloting: Max piloting to unlock 80% auto pilot evasion allows you to move your pilot if necessary without significant evasion impact in combat.
- Doors: Upgrade to level 2 doors as this gives you better control over fires and enemy boarders. You can also assign any extra crew to this system to gain an upgrade level at any point in the Advanced Edition.
- Backup Battery: Consider if the Backup Battery provides some worthwhile utility to your ship although this decision must be considered against other potential (and better) system upgrades.
- Sensors: Consider if you want to purchase sensors or upgrade them a single level. Sensors are really only useful for boarding focused ships so you can scout your enemy and if you don’t have enough spare crew to assign here to get the extra level without having to pay for the subsystem upgrade.
