How To
A visual first-run FTL guide to the pause key, hull and shields, power bars, enemy rooms, crew orders and event choices.
Guide details
A visual first-run FTL guide to the pause key, hull and shields, power bars, enemy rooms, crew orders and event choices.
FTL gives you time to think. Press Space during play to pause; the screenshot shows PAUSED above “Press SPACE to resume.” You can still give crew orders and adjust system power while the game is paused. Press Space again when you are ready to watch those orders play out.
This is an event from one particular run, not the first event everyone receives. Use the pause habit whenever a fight, warning or choice presents more information than you can read at once.
In the combat image, your HULL bar runs across the upper left and the blue SHIELDS pips sit beneath it. The smaller counters alongside show supplies such as fuel, missiles and drone parts; crew portraits and health bars descend down the left edge. Look at your ship in the center, the hostile target panel on the right and the WEAPONS and system-power bars along the bottom.
The captured ship has six crew and several weapons; a new run may look much simpler. The red INTRUDERS DETECTED warning belongs to this image, not every encounter. Do not mistake its numbers for starting resources.
The EQUIPMENT view shows four installed weapons. Hovering Heavy Ion reveals Required Power: 2. Before a battle, compare that requirement with the power bars beside your own weapons. An installed weapon that is not powered will not charge and fire.
For the desktop interface, left-click a system bar to assign available reactor power and right-click to remove it. If the reactor is fully used, decide what you can temporarily depower before powering another system. Keep essential defenses in mind; moving all power away from shields just to start another weapon can leave your ship exposed. This screenshot is a later loadout, so use its labels to learn where to look, not as a build to copy.
In combat, the WEAPONS strip is at the bottom and the hostile ship is in the TARGET panel on the right. After a weapon is powered, click its slot, then click the enemy room you want it to target. The targeting view below shows a room marked on the enemy ship. You can pause while choosing so the situation does not run away from you.
Different weapons interact with shields differently. A laser can be blocked by active shield layers; missiles ignore those shields but spend ammunition. Do not fire simply because a weapon has charged. Check the enemy shield pips and your remaining missiles before committing a target.
This image shows hostile boarders inside the player ship and a red INTRUDERS DETECTED warning. Pause, find the affected rooms and look at your crew health bars on the left. On desktop, select a crew member, then right-click a destination room to send them there. A crew member in a damaged system room will work on repairs when it is safe to do so; in a room with intruders, they may have to fight first.
The pictured warning is a boarding problem, not proof that every system is damaged. If a room is on fire, breached or low on oxygen, do not leave a wounded crew member there unattended. Unpause briefly to let the order progress, then pause again and reassess.
The mining-colony event offers numbered responses, including blue options linked to an Engi crew member and Advanced Medbay. Those blue lines are available because of that captured ship’s crew and equipment; they are not universal choices or guaranteed outcomes. Read the full event, compare each option with what your ship actually has and then select deliberately.
When the event is resolved and the FTL drive is ready, use JUMP to choose another reachable beacon. In the next combat screenshot, the drive is still charging while a DANGER warning is active. A jump is a route decision, not a substitute for checking the ship. Before leaving, check hull, crew health, oxygen and whether anyone is still in danger.
