FTL: Advanced Edition introduces Clone Bay, Hacking, Mind Control and more

FTL: Advanced Edition will bring a number of new features and improvements, a handful of which have been detailed by developer Subset Games.

The latest blog update on the new version of the sci-fi rogue like explains the Clone Bay, an alternative to the ore familiar Med Bay. You can't have both systems installed. Rather than healing injured crew, the Clone Bay instantly replaces dead members with a near-identical copy; the replacement will; have slightly reduced skills.

Hacking, which had been announced in the past but not detailed, is performed via drones. The hacking drone attaches to an enemy vessel and targets a specific system. The system's doors will be locked, and once active, the hacking drone will disrupt in various ways such as interrupting weapons or stunning enemy drones.

Mind Control allows you to take control of enemy characters - except Slugs - as long as your crew can se them - so boarders, or those encountered by your own boarding party. Once controlled, the enemy unit can attack its former allies, man your ships systems temporarily, or be teleported - perhaps into an empty, airless room.

The Backup Battery is a need add on - it provides four extra reactor bars for 30 seconds at a time, but has a 25 second cooldown - pretty sueful for those high-powered weapons you can't afford to keep running all the time, or for switching on your Med Bay in emergencies.

For some reason, Subset has decided to implement a Hard Mode. Why, Subset. Why.

FTL: Advanced Edition will be released both as a new game for iPad and as a free update to the original game - an update that can be disabled by purists, no less.

Thanks, Polygon.