FTL: Faster Than Light — Achievement Walkthrough
51 achievement guides · Full game page →
A lot of this list is single-run conditions that don’t conflict with each other, so you can earn several at once instead of replaying for each. Each plan below is one run. Achievements in a plan are marked with a ⛓ badge further down.
Reaching sector 8 grants both sector milestones, and four more achievements are sector-8 runs with a single restriction each. Take the Kestrel (lasers, no drones), never deploy a drone, never fire a missile or bomb, and keep every crewmember alive with an early Medbay upgrade.
- ✓▢Just Getting Started — Get to sector 5.
- ✓▢Federation Base in Range — Get to sector 8.
- ✓▢Technophobia — Get to sector 8 without using drones.
- ✓▢Ballistophobia — Get to sector 8 without using missiles/bombs.
- ✓▢No Redshirts Here — Get to sector 8 without losing a crewmember.
Nesting: Federation Base in Range awards Just Getting Started on the way. Ballistophobia is about USING missiles, so a ship that carries a launcher is fine as long as you never fire it. No Redshirts Here is the hard one; if you lose someone, carry on - the other four still land.
Three sector-5 challenges can share a run: no system or reactor upgrades, no store repairs, and no shots, offensive drones or teleporting. Flee every fight, take non-combat event choices, and spend scrap only on things that are not upgrades or repairs.
- ✓▢I don't need no stinkin' upgrades! — Get to sector 5 with no system/reactor upgrades.
- ✓▢On a Wing and a Prayer — Get to sector 5 without repairing at a store.
- ✓▢Coming in for my Pacifism run! — Get to sector 5 without firing a shot, using an offensive drone, or teleporting.
Tension: fleeing depends on engines and piloting, which you are not allowed to upgrade here. If the pacifist part keeps killing the run, drop it and do it separately - the other two agree with each other.
All three Kestrel achievements fit in one run: buy every system you see until 11 are installed, recruit a different alien race at each store until six are aboard, and once you are rich enough to repair fully, let a fight you are winning take you down to 1 HP and repair to full.
- ✓▢Full Arsenal — Have 11 systems installed on the Kestrel Cruiser at one time.
- ✓▢The United Federation — Have six unique aliens on the Kestrel Cruiser simultaneously.
- ✓▢Tough Little Ship — As the Kestrel Cruiser, repair back to full health when it only has 1 HP remaining.
Tough Little Ship is the risky one - do it late, after the other two are banked.
The Engi set is all drones and ions. Early on, let the starting combat drone finish a weak ship with no weapon fire; then upgrade Drone Control to run three drones at once; then stack ion weapons and hit four enemy systems in one fight.
- ✓▢I hardly lifted a finger — With the Engi Cruiser, destroy an enemy ship using only drones (no weapons).
- ✓▢Robotic Warfare — With the Engi Cruiser, have 3 drones functioning at the same time.
- ✓▢The guns... They've stopped — Have 4 enemy systems or subsystems ioned at the same time while using the Engi Cruiser.
Conflict: this run cannot also be your Technophobia run, which forbids drones entirely.
Board everything. Wipe crews rather than hulls to reach 20 crew kills by sector 6, pick a fight against a big crew with weak weapons for Avast, and leave Battle Royale for the end of the run.
- ✓▢Take no prisoners! — Kill the crew of 20 ships by sector 6 in the Mantis Cruiser.
- ✓▢Avast, ye scurvy dogs! — Kill 5 enemy crew in a fight without taking hull damage or losing a crewmember while using the Mantis Cruiser.
- ✓▢Battle Royale — While using the Mantis Cruiser, kill the last enemy with your last crewmember on their ship.
Conflict: Battle Royale needs you down to your last crewmember, so it can never share a run with No Redshirts Here. Do it last, once the other two have popped.
Get to sector 5.
A run is eight sectors ending at the Federation flagship. Play on Easy, jump toward the exit each sector while visiting enough beacons to collect scrap, and spend scrap on shields and weapons first. Reaching sector 8 later grants this on the way.
Get to sector 8.
Same as above, three sectors further. Two shield layers and a weapon setup that can break two enemy shields are the usual baseline for surviving to sector 8 on Easy.
Get to sector 8 without using drones.
Pick a ship that does not rely on drones (the Kestrel works) and never power or deploy one. Buy weapons and shields instead of a Drone Control system.
Get to sector 8 without losing a crewmember.
Avoid risky boarding, send crew to the Medbay early, and decline event choices that put a crewmember in danger. A Medbay upgrade and a Clone Bay (if your ship has one) help; note that a clone bay revive may or may not count as losing a crewmember, which we have not verified.
Collect 10,000 scrap across all games.
A running total across every run. It arrives by playing.
Get to sector 8 without using missiles/bombs.
Never fire a missile or bomb. Build around lasers, beams or ion weapons. Ships that start with a missile launcher can still do this if you simply never fire it, but a missile-free loadout removes the temptation.
With the Engi Cruiser, destroy an enemy ship using only drones (no weapons).
The Engi Cruiser starts with a combat drone. Pick an early, lightly shielded enemy and let the drone finish it without firing any weapon.
Beat the boss on Easy.
The Federation flagship has three phases. Bring enough shields to survive its missile and laser volleys and a weapon setup that can break its shields repeatedly. Cloaking and defense drones help against the missile and drone phases.
With the Engi Cruiser, have 3 drones functioning at the same time.
Upgrade Drone Control enough to power three drones and buy drone schematics at stores. Deploy all three in the same fight.
Have 11 systems installed on the Kestrel Cruiser at one time.
Systems (not upgrades) such as Drone Control, Teleporter, Cloaking, Hacking and Mind Control are bought at stores. Keep buying new systems on a Kestrel run until you have 11 installed.
Get to sector 5 without repairing at a store.
Repairs gained from events are fine as far as the description goes; only store hull repair is ruled out. Play defensively and invest in shields.
Destroy a ship before it gets through the Zoltan Shield.
The Zoltan Cruiser starts with the Zoltan Shield, a layer that must be broken before normal shields. Kill an early enemy fast with a strong opening volley.
Empty the oxygen (Net level less than 5 percent) of a non-automated, hostile enemy ship.
Knock out the enemy Oxygen system and keep it down (breach bombs and fire both help) while avoiding killing the ship until its oxygen falls below 5 percent.
Have 4 enemy systems or subsystems ioned at the same time while using the Engi Cruiser.
The Engi Cruiser starts with an Ion Blast. Add more ion weapons or an ion drone and spread the hits across four different enemy systems.
Hit every room of a ship with at least one beam in under 5 seconds.
The easiest target is a small ship with few rooms and no shields up (a ship whose shields you have knocked out). Fire several beams across the whole layout in one volley.
As the Kestrel Cruiser, repair back to full health when it only has 1 HP remaining.
The risky part is getting to 1 HP and surviving. Save enough scrap to repair fully at a store and take the hit in a fight you are otherwise winning.
Use only the Artillery Beam to destroy an enemy ship while taking no hull damage.
The Federation Cruiser's Artillery Beam fires slowly and ignores shields. Pick a weak enemy early and hold your other weapons, relying on shields and evasion to take no hull damage.
Get to sector 5 in the Federation Cruiser without upgrading your Weapons system.
The Artillery Beam can carry the early sectors. Spend scrap on shields, engines and the artillery system itself instead of the Weapons system.
Have six unique aliens on the Kestrel Cruiser simultaneously.
Recruit different species from stores and events. You need six different races at the same time, so avoid losing your rarer crew.
Fail to evade 5 shots in a row with a fully powered and upgraded engine.
Pure luck once your engines are maxed and fully powered. It tends to come on its own over long runs; being hit by five shots in a row is common against fast weapons.
Use the Weapon Pre-Igniter augmentation to destroy an enemy ship in one volley before the enemy can get a single shot off.
The Pre-Igniter starts every fight with your weapons charged. Pair it with enough burst damage to kill a small ship in the opening volley.
Kill 5 enemy crew in a fight without taking hull damage or losing a crewmember while using the Mantis Cruiser.
The Mantis Cruiser boards with its teleporter. Board a ship with a large crew and weak weapons, or disable its weapons first.
Defeat an enemy ship with all of your crew aboard it.
Your own ship needs to fly itself while every crewmember is over there, so you need a teleporter large enough (or multiple trips) and an enemy that cannot hurt your empty ship quickly.
Defeat 1000 ships across all playthroughs.
A long cumulative counter. It comes with time.
Get to sector 5 without upgrading your reactor in the Zoltan Cruiser.
Zoltan crew power the systems they man, which is what makes this possible. Keep them in key systems and spend scrap on everything but the reactor.
Kill the crew of 20 ships by sector 6 in the Mantis Cruiser.
Board and wipe the crew instead of destroying ships. Visit many beacons each sector to find enough fights.
Get to sector 5 with no system/reactor upgrades.
Spend scrap only on weapons, drones, crew, augments and repairs. The starting power levels have to carry four sectors.
Beat the boss on Normal.
Same fight as Easy, with less scrap along the way and tougher enemies. Visit as many beacons as the rebel fleet allows each sector.
With the Zoltan Cruiser, have 29 power in systems at the same time.
Reactor power plus the power Zoltan crew add. Upgrade the reactor and buy systems until you can power 29 at once.
While using the Federation Cruiser, use your crew in 4 special blue event choices by sector 5.
Blue options appear when you have a specific crew race or equipment. A mixed crew makes them more likely.
While using the Rock Cruiser, destroy an enemy ship which has a defense drone deployed using only missiles.
The Rock Cruiser starts missile-heavy. Against a ship with a defense drone, fire several missiles at once so the drone cannot stop them all.
Destroy a ship at full health during a single cloak in the Stealth Cruiser.
Line up all weapons to fire during one cloak window on a small ship.
Have Hacking, Mind Control and the Battery active at once.
These are Advanced Edition systems bought at stores. Install all three and activate them in the same fight.
With the Stealth Cruiser, get to sector 8 without jumping to a beacon with an environmental danger.
The map marks hazards such as asteroids, sun flares, nebulae and ion storms. Route around them every sector.
Have every square of an enemy ship on fire simultaneously.
Fire bombs and fire beams on a small ship with no fire suppression, and do not kill it too early.
Jump to 30 nebula locations before sector 8.
Choose nebula sectors on the sector map and favour nebula beacons within them.
Have at least 600 scrap in your ship storage.
Stop spending in the late sectors and collect. A scrap recovery augment helps.
With the Stealth Cruiser, avoid 9 points of damage during a single cloak.
Cloak just before the enemy's big volley lands, against a ship with heavy weapons.
While using the Slug Cruiser, kill 3 enemy crewmembers with one shot from the Anti-Bio Beam.
The beam only hurts crew. Sweep it across rooms where crew are clustered, ideally after weakening them.
Have your crew kill a burning enemy on their ship while using the Rock Cruiser.
Rockmen are immune to fire. Board with them into a burning room and fight the enemy crew there.
While using the Mantis Cruiser, kill the last enemy with your last crewmember on their ship.
You need only one crewmember left alive, so this is dangerous. Attempt it with a small boarding fight late in a run you do not mind losing.
While using the Slug Cruiser, have vision of every room of the enemy ship without functioning sensors.
Slugs grant vision of rooms with crew. With your sensors down, board or scout until every room is visible.
Unlock the Type A layout for every playable ship.
Each ship is unlocked differently, usually through events or by reaching certain sectors. Use a community guide for the unlock conditions of each ship.
Hidden achievement.
Steam hides this achievement's description, and we have not verified the trigger. It is widely reported to be one of the secret Crystal Cruiser's ship achievements; check a community guide before planning a run around it.
Get to sector 8 without your ship's net oxygen levels exceeding 20 percent (starts after the first jump).
Leave the Oxygen system unpowered, and crew who do not breathe (Lanius) make this far easier.
Hidden achievement.
Steam hides this achievement's description, and we have not verified the trigger. It is widely reported to be one of the secret Crystal Cruiser's ship achievements; check a community guide before planning a run around it.
Find the secret sector with the Rock Cruiser.
The secret sector requires a specific event chain. Use a community guide for the steps, and do it on a Rock Cruiser run.
Get to sector 5 without firing a shot, using an offensive drone, or teleporting.
Flee fights and pick non-combat event choices. Strong engines and a fast FTL drive let you escape.
Have a single boarding drone kill 4 crewmembers on one ship.
Send a boarding drone into a room with weak crew and keep the enemy busy so they fight it one at a time.
Get to sector 8 without buying at a store (Repairs are ok).
Events are your only source of equipment. Visit as many beacons as possible.
Hidden achievement.
Steam hides this achievement's description, and we have not verified the trigger. It is widely reported to be one of the secret Crystal Cruiser's ship achievements; check a community guide before planning a run around it.
