An excellent strategy game that manages to squeeze an incredible amount of depth from its relatively simple mechanics.

Many people think FTL is based on luck and not skill. I can understand why and even used to think that myself. FTL doesn't tell you why you failed. The may have played the fatal battle perfectly but a decision you made a few sectors ago prevented you from winning it. You need a lot of experience with the game to be able to identify those mistakes. Maybe you passed on a weapon at a store or upgraded a system you didn't need to. Knowing how and when to spend your scrap is a lesson you learn over time by analysing your failings to determine what you could have done better.

FTL's genius (and something I don't think the developers got quite right with their next game, Into the Breach) is how both the micro level and macro level are full of interesting strategic decisions to make. On the micro level, you have the obvious things like which systems to target and dealing with borders. But there are so many other options you have, many of which the developers never envisioned. Boarding the enemy ship in particular has the potential for a large amount of micromanagement tricks that go far beyond the "teleport your crew in and just let them fight" tactic that is the obvious thing to do at first. On the macro level you have things like plotting your route through sectors to maximise your chance of seeing stores and deciding what your scrap should be spent on. That latter doesn't always have a right answer and even very high level players will not always agree on the best thing to do.

It's easy to get used to using certain weapons and systems and become sceptical about using anything else. One of the best things you can do to win more is be more open minded about some of the "weaker" weapons and systems the game has to offer. You can't always get what you want so you have to be willing to make use of what you're given. One of my criticisms of FTL was always that a lot of runs are too similar and the ship that defeats the final boss didn't look too different from run to run. I still believe that criticism is valid to some extent, but being willing to try things I wouldn't usually in order to turn some of failed runs into successful ones has made me realise you can win in more ways than you would think.

There are some areas that could be improved, especially when it comes to balance. Hacking is far too strong and versatile for its low cost. Missiles are rarely worth using other than a last resort, although it would be difficult to buff those for the player without buffing them for the enemy, where they are already very dangerous. Some of the high power weapons take too long to fire given the investment they require. Still, FTL is a fairly well balanced game considering the high degree of randomness present.

If you're willing to ask yourself "how can I improve?" then FTL has a massive amount of replayability. You can always get better, you can always learn new things and managing to scrape a win from a run you would have failed in the past is one of the most satisfying feelings any game is ever going to give you. This is one game I don't see myself getting bored of for a long, long time.