FTL getting a free expansion, iPad version in early 2014

FTL: Faster than Light, the punishing indie spacefaring roguelike from Subset Games, will receive a slate of new features as part of a free expansion that will launch early next year, alongside a much-anticipated iPad port.

The expansion, FTL: Advanced Edition, will add "new weapons, drones, augments, systems, enemies, and more," according to the game's official site. Specific additions include a new mind control ability, which allows you to temporarily turn your enemies against each other, and a hacking system that lets you sabotage enemy ship components; for example, you can make an enemy med bay harm its inhabitants, rather than heal them.

The update will also add a new space sector for players to explore, featuring a new storyline penned by returning writer Tom Jubert and guest contributor Chris Avellone, who "managed to find some time for us between his work on Project Eternity and Wasteland 2."

The free expansion will launch alongside an iPad port of FTL: Faster than Light, which will include all the additions of the Advanced Edition. The developer hopes to bring it to other tablets, "but [does] not know for sure" whether that will be possible. The game won't be coming to phones, according to the developer's website.

Both the port and the expansion will launch in early 2014.