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LRS hazard beacon with ship
A beacon with
environmental hazard

Some beacons have environmental hazards, which have certain effects on the ships staying at the beacon.

Solar flares, asteroid fields, pulsars, and enemy ASBs will impose permanent IN DANGER status while staying at the beacon: it prevents opening the ship menu to perform ship and reactor upgrades, access the cargo bay to swap weapons and drone schematics, and crew management.

A beacon with an environmental hazard and no hostile ship, upon revisiting, will not have the hazard anymore (except for, a regular nebular environment or if the beacon is overtaken by the Rebels).

Class-M Red Giant Star[]

For red giant events, see Red Giant Events.

Planet sun1 300px Beacon coordinates appear to be very close to a nearby sun.Solar Flare danger Solar flares will light the ship on fire. Shields will reduce the effect.

Solar flares periodically light fires on your ship and any enemy ship, with a chance to also damage hull and systems in the affected rooms. The solar flare triggers randomly every 28--34 seconds, with a warning 5 seconds beforehand.

The effect is reduced when you have shields up, including a Zoltan Shield. Having additional layers of shield makes no difference.

With shield barrier: you can take 0 or 1 hull/system damage in 1-2 rooms each; minimum number of fires is 1, maximum number of fires is 2 (either 2 fires in 1 room, or 2 fires total in 2 rooms).

Without shield barrier: you can take 0 or 1 hull/system damage in 1-4 rooms each; minimum number of fires is 2 in 1 or 2 rooms, maximum number of fires is 6 in 5 rooms; rarely a 4-tile room can get 3 fires.

Solar Flare effects
Shield barrier Minimum Maximum
damage fires damage fires
+ 0 1 2 2
- 0 2 4 6
Note: a solar flare impact can cause a maximum of 1 hull/system damage in a single room (the system damage is applied to systems and subsystems along with the hull damage)


Solar Flare impact examples
with shield barrier without shield barrier
  • 1 fire in 1 room, no hull damage. (minimum fires, no hull damage)
  • 1 fire in 2 rooms or 2 fires in 1 room, no hull damage. (maximum fires, no hull damage)
  • 2 fires in 1 room, 1 hull damage.
  • 1 fire in 2 rooms, 2 hull damage in total. (max. fires and max. hull damage)
  • 1 fire in 2 rooms, no hull damage. (minimum fires, no hull damage)
  • 4 fires in total, no hull damage. (maximum fires, no hull damage)
  • 2 fires in 1 room or 1 fire in 2 rooms, 1 hull damage.
  • 6 fires in total, 4 hull damage in total. (max. fires and max. hull damage)

Asteroid Field[]

For asteroid field events, see Asteroid Field Events.

Low asteroid 1  Asteroid field detected in this location.Asteroid danger Periodically asteroids will strike your ship.

Asteroids will periodically fly towards your ship. Unless dodged, they will either knock down a single shield layer or deal 1 point of hull and system damage to a random room on the ship. They have a small chance to cause a fire or a breach. They have the same effect on enemy ships.

The interval between each asteroid is random, but scales according to your ship's shield system level: asteroids will come more frequently if your shields are highly upgraded. This potentially makes ion-heavy enemy weapons extremely dangerous in an asteroid field, since the asteroid frequency will not decrease when your shields are down. Nevertheless, shield upgrades generally make your ship much safer in asteroid fields.

Defense drones can shoot down asteroids, but will often fail to hit them before the asteroid takes down a shield layer.

Your crew can gain skill in shields and evasion from asteroids. Skill can only be gained while you are in combat with an enemy ship, even though the asteroids keep coming after the battle.

Pulsar[]

For pulsar events, see Pulsar Events.

Pulsar white A pulsar is flooding this area with dangerous electromagnetic forces.Pulsar danger Periodic waves of electromagnetic energy will disrupt your systems.

You can encounter a pulsar only if you play with Advanced Edition content on.

An ion pulse will occur every 11--18 seconds, with a warning 5 seconds beforehand. The ion pulse will randomly ionise 2 systems on your ship, and 2 systems on the enemy ship. The amount of ion damage depends on the amount of power in the system. The formula is: ion damage = 1 + 0.5(system power), rounded down.

Power 0-1 2-3 4-5 6-7   8  
Ion damage 1 Ion Damage timer 2 Ion Damage timer 3 Ion Damage timer 4 Ion Damage timer 5 Ion Damage timer

Subsystems will take ion damage according to their system level, including the temporary upgrade level from crew manning them. For example, level 3 doors will take 3 ion damage when crew are manning them.

If shields are powered, one of the two random systems ionized will always be shields. If shields are unpowered, they can still be ionised randomly as can any other system, but will only take 1 ion damage. Therefore it may be tactically useful to unpower your shields just before the pulse hits, reducing their downtime.

Zoltan Shield completely absorbs the ion pulse, taking 3 or 4 ion damage and protecting all systems. A single layer of Zoltan Shield is enough to block a pulse, making the Shield Overcharger drone very effective. However, a Zoltan Shield will not protect a ship that lacks a shield system (the ion pulse will ignore the Zoltan Shield); this is likely a bug.

Reverse Ion Field augmentation acts against the entire pulse: two or zero systems will be ionised, never 1. Zoltan Shields will not take damage if the pulse is resisted. Two or more stacks of the augmentation grant complete immunity from all sources of ion damage, including that from a pulsar, and also protect a Zoltan Shield.

Zoltans don't protect systems or subsystems from ion damage. However, they can supply their zoltan power to an ionized system (but not to a subsystem), and this power cannot be removed by anything, except for by moving Zoltans out of the room.

Tips on Pulsars: video (1).

Nebula[]

For nebula events, see Nebula Events.

Low storm 1 You're inside a nebula. Your sensors will not function, but the Rebel fleet will advance more slowly towards you. Danger nebula

Nebulas disable your Sensors. Slugs' telepathic abilities or Lifeform Scanner will allow you to see enemy crew regardless.

The speed with which the Rebels chase you is reduced while inside a nebula, by 50% in most sectors and by 20% inside nebula sectors. Nebulas do not count as environmental hazards for the purpose of the Tactical Approach achievement.

Plasma/ion Storm[]

For plasma/ion storm events, see Plasma Storm Events.

Low storm 2 This section of the nebula is experiencing a plasma storm. Your main reactor can only function at half capacity.Danger storm

Some nebula beacons contain ion storms (also called plasma storms), which make your reactor run at half-efficiency (rounded up). Zoltan power is not affected, nor is power from the Backup Battery. You will need to use your remaining power efficiently.

Power will be removed automatically from systems as you arrive, potentially causing you to lose shields and take damage from an enemy drone. You can prevent this by leaving enough spare power in the reactor before you jump.

Enemy ships' reactors are also halved, which can make the battle easier. They can re-allocate power when systems are ionised or damaged, potentially doubling their shields or deploying a new weapon or drone mid-battle. If the current enemy power usage is favourable to you, consider attacking only rooms that do not use power (such as piloting).

When the Rebel fleet overtakes a nebula beacon, it will always have an ion storm, even if it didn't have one beforehand. However, overtaken nebula exit beacons cannot have ion storms.

Anti-Ship Battery (ASB)[]

For events with hostile ASBs, see Anti-Ship Battery hazard risk events.
For events with friendly ASBs, see Anti-Ship Battery support events.

Planet-side anti-ship batteries are detected in this system. ASB danger The Fleet's Anti-Ship Batteries are targeting you.

ASBs periodically fire a shield-piercing 3-damage shot at your ship, hitting a random room, and always causing a hull breach. These shots can be evaded but cannot be shot down. ASB shots bypass Zoltan Shields: the Zoltan shield takes no damage, but the ship will take hull and system damage.

Although many shots will be animated firing at you during this hazard, most are harmless and purely for cosmetic effect. You receive a warning 15--20 seconds after the battle starts, and the "real" ASB shot appears 5--10 seconds later. This cycle continues indefinitely until you escape. The real ASB projectile appears following the fake ASB projectile that comes after the target lock-on signal; if the fake ASB shot appeared after the signal or simultaneously, another fake ASB shot will appear prior to the real one. The gap between the fake and the real shot can be long (few seconds) or very short (a fraction of a second), and may change with each ASB cycle.

If you are overtaken by the Rebel Fleet, an ASB will always be present, with two exceptions: they don't appear if you are at a nebula beacon, or at the exit beacon while playing on easy mode. However, if you are out of fuel and waiting at a nebula beacon when the Fleet overtakes it, the nebula environment will be removed, and you will face an ASB as well as the Rebel Elite. If you instead jump to the nebula beacon with your last fuel, there will be no ASB: it will be a Plasma Storm instead, or just a regular nebula environment at the exit beacon.

In addition, events with hostile ASBs can be encountered occasionally, as can events with friendly ASBs (which target the enemy ship).

ASBs are not considered an Environmental Hazard for the Stealth Cruiser achievement Tactical Approach.

Environmental hazard events (table)[]

Environmental Hazard Events, by sectors
Event name Type Civilian Engi Zoltan Mantis Pirate Rebel Rock Abandoned Slug
Nebulas
Uncharted
Nebula
 
Auto-ship fight near sun Sun +
Pirate fight near sun Sun + + +
Mantis fight near sun * Sun +
Rock pirate fight near sun Sun +
Human boarders near sun Sun + + +
Rock boarders near sun Sun +
Auto-ship fight in asteroid field * Asteroid field + + + +
Pirate fight in asteroid field * Asteroid field + + +
Zoltan fight in asteroid field Asteroid field +
Zoltan follows Mantis Asteroid field +
Rock fight in asteroid field Asteroid field +
Rock pirate fight in asteroid field Asteroid field +
Rock fight with boarders in asteroid field Asteroid field +
Lanius fight in asteroid field Asteroid field +
Large asteroid field ** Asteroid field + + + + + + + + + +
No fuel: explore the system * Asteroid field + + + + + + + + + +
Rebel fight near pulsar Pulsar + + + +
Pirate fight near pulsar Pulsar + + +
Lanius fight near pulsar Pulsar +
Auto-ship fight in plasma storm Plasma storm + + + + + +
Rebel fight in plasma storm Plasma storm + + + + + +
Slug fight in plasma storm * Plasma storm +
Plasma storm incapacitated ships Plasma storm + + + + + +
Two pirate ships in plasma storm Plasma storm +
Rock armoured transport Plasma storm +
Human boarders in plasma storm Plasma storm + + + + + +
*   event can occur multiple times per sector.
+  event can occur as a filler event.
** Large asteroid field can occur as a filler or as an exit beacon event.
Hidden Crystal Worlds and The Last Stand sectors can have Large asteroid field (as a filler or as an exit beacon event) and No fuel: explore the system events.

See also[]

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