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Having described the races and spaceship systems, the next step is adventuring between star systems.

Each star system contains approximately 20 planets available for exploration, where you might encounter space pirates engaging in interstellar robbery, or discover a planet experiencing an epidemic requiring your assistance. Alternatively, you might find shops where you can purchase ammunition, supplies, and repair or upgrade your ship.

While the player's ship explores, it will be pursued by a rebel fleet. Each turn represents the expansion of the rebel's red territory, and the player must reach the exit and warp to the next star system before the rebel fleet catches up.

Different planets may have unique environments that can damage the ship. For example, a scorching star might occasionally erupt with solar flares, causing burning damage to the ship. Asteroid belts are filled with meteoroids, requiring the ship to raise its shields for defense.

Besides these direct environmental hazards, some special environments can indirectly affect the ship. For example, pulse planets can emit ionic pulses, temporarily disabling affected systems. Thundercloud regions can destabilize the ship's energy supply, locking half of the power and rendering it unusable.

Nebula regions can limit the ship's monitoring systems. Aside from the compartments where the crew is located, the remaining compartments will be obscured. If combat occurs in such regions, the ship might sustain unseen damage or fires in obscured compartments, which can be very troublesome if not detected in time.

When the ship is in a nebula region, it also makes it harder for enemy ships to detect, slowing down the expansion of the red territory and giving the player more turns to explore.

Different star systems also vary. Green, civilian star systems have a higher chance of events and shops appearing, while red pirate or rebel systems have a higher frequency of combat encounters, requiring players to judge and choose their path forward.

If you play aggressively and consistently choose red star systems, the ship may not be able to repair and resupply in time due to frequent battles, and you may end up destroyed halfway. If you play conservatively and consistently choose green star systems, you will encounter fewer battles and may not acquire enough resources to upgrade the ship, making it difficult to avoid defeat against the rebel flagship in the final battle.

To successfully complete the game, you need to test your strategy and luck.

That's pretty much the content of 'Faster Than Light.' In Wang Jian's opinion, while it's good, there's still a lot of room for improvement.

For example, the graphics are rough, and the events only have options without illustrations.

Therefore, he added some new content on top of the game's basic framework.

The first addition is character perks. Some perks are obtained through events.

【Well-Known】: You have been through countless adventures, and interstellar mercenaries are familiar with your name. Reputation +1.

Reputation is also a new element added by Wang Jian. Some events require reputation. For example, an interstellar merchant might want you to transport goods to a certain location, but if the player's reputation is not high enough, the interstellar merchant will not issue the mission.

【Penny-Pincher】: You are even more stingy than a grocery-shopping grandma, and the most cunning interstellar merchants will get a headache when haggling with you. When shopping in stores, all item prices -1.

For example, this perk can be obtained by purchasing items with a price less than 10 at three stores.

Some perks must be honed through long-term combat.

【Experienced Driver】: Long-term piloting of ships through hails of bullets has made ships under your control as agile as fish. When the character is in the cockpit, the ship's evasion rate increases by 10%.

【Weapon Expert】: You are as familiar with these weapons as you are with your own right hand. When the character is in the weapons room, weapon reload cooldown is reduced by 10%.

【Brutal】: Scenes of splashing blood and the desperate eyes of those about to die excite you. When the character kills an enemy, attack speed +20% for 2 seconds.

Another change is the character customization system.

In the original game, although there were several different colors of clothing or skins to choose from for the characters, players didn't really care about the minor differences in appearance, as it wasn't the main focus of the game.

"Players choosing to customize their characters with dozens of face shapes, hairstyles, accessories, and clothing combinations, and even choosing background stories and perks, will definitely have a greater emotional connection to the characters and be more invested in the game."

Wang Jian used Luo Shuai as an example: "For example, you name a human crew member 'Luo Shuai,' then adjust his appearance to look like a battle-hardened space captain with a thick cigar in his mouth or a terrifying scar on his face, and choose the perk 【Well-Known】—while playing, wouldn't you feel like you are a space captain adventuring between star systems, dodging the pursuit of rebels?"

Luo Shuai seemed to have already imagined the scene: "It's quite immersive."

The spaceship is viewed from a top-down perspective, and the little people in the compartments are active in their respective positions. By clicking on the little person, you can see their specific appearance and attributes.

The character's attributes are no longer fixed, and there will be some fluctuation on top of the race's base attributes.

Imagine when a player encounters an interstellar bar where the three members available for hire are all Rockmen.

If the attributes of the same race are identical, and the player doesn't lack manpower, he definitely wouldn't even glance at them. However, if the attributes fluctuate randomly, he would carefully look at each one: "This one has 140 health, so weak. Wow, this one has 170 health and a perk of 'Tenacity,' he's practically a war god! Kick out the weakest one and hire this one! I'm going to name him Steelheart!"

Randomness is the fun of roguelikes, and Wang Jian wants to bring out that fun even more.

In addition, there are various changes and adjustments to environments, weapons, and events.

Wang Jian roughly explained everything and looked around at the people at the conference table: "Does anyone have any questions?"

Luo Shuai asked: "Boss, according to your description, the game has to be restarted once you fail, isn't it a bit too hardcore?

The game's randomness is too high, and a little carelessness in the middle can lead to the ship being destroyed and everyone dying, and the efforts of one or two hours may be wasted. If you include repeated failures, it may take seven or eight hours to reach the final battle, and if you fail at this point, wouldn't players be very frustrated? Should we add two save/load opportunities?"

Wang Jian felt a little thirsty, took a sip of water, and prepared to answer.

Seeing Wang Jian's calm appearance while drinking water, Bai Li'ao immediately began to think nervously: "It seems that the boss already has an answer to this question, but why is that?"

He suddenly had a flash of inspiration and said excitedly: "I understand. 'Faster Than Light' is originally a relatively hardcore game, and we need to carefully consider the game's audience. Maintaining a certain level of difficulty will certainly discourage some players, but it can also attract players who like challenges.

If we add save/load opportunities, players can easily complete the game and will not be able to experience the fun of failure and repeated challenges in roguelike games, nor will they have the interest to continue challenging, and will soon feel bored.

The result of doing so is that we will please neither side."

Wang Jian: "...Yes, you really understand."