Colony Ship Early Access Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Sòren]

yeah, i know. the synergies between steal-sneak-lockpick are quite clear, you created multiple areas for that. it's fine and sensible.

it just didn't fit my own party design (usually i tag computers-sneak-steal for one to get the eye and bridge chip and leave lockpick for another companion/PC).

 

[Zariusz]

I didnt expect that Azrael fight would basically be the final boss for me, few dialogue choices later and im seeing end game slides. I hoped that lower level armory would be some end game dungeon, maybe with a secret ending but that was just a single corridor ehh... Also does the game have those skillchecks that require you to have skills over lvl 10? I think i read once that something like this was planned. Shame that there are no companion ending slides.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I didnt expect that Azrael fight would basically be the final boss for me, few dialogue choices later and im seeing end game slides. I hoped that lower level armory would be some end game dungeon, maybe with a secret ending but that was just a single corridor ehh... Also does the game have those skillchecks that require you to have skills over lvl 10? I think i read once that something like this was planned. Shame that there are no companion ending slides.

If you accept the monks' plan, there's no combat. If you don't...

 

[Zariusz]

I didnt expect that Azrael fight would basically be the final boss for me, few dialogue choices later and im seeing end game slides. I hoped that lower level armory would be some end game dungeon, maybe with a secret ending but that was just a single corridor ehh... Also does the game have those skillchecks that require you to have skills over lvl 10? I think i read once that something like this was planned. Shame that there are no companion ending slides.

If you accept the monks' plan, there's no combat. If you don't...

I found about this after checking that returning to earth option but i was too lazy to fight today, maybe i will check that later, though this time with a lot more pulse grenades.

Besides that this door in Factory stopped working while it worked in the previous versions that i played, you cant interact with it (this is just before Armory defence) and i wanted to check if you added something to that toxic area (something like that toxic ladder in maintenance tunnels). Also i got both achievments for finishing the game on underdog and on easy mode at the same time, bug or just everyone who finishes the game on underdog automatically gets easy mode achievment?

I wonder, was there something planned for this area in Heart? This elevator looks interactable but it doesnt highlight with TAB and you cant do anything with it.

 

[Agesilaus]

Shadowbros... I gave him a medkit, he's going to make it and we'll get drinks and laugh about the whole turret thing, right?

 

[Abu Antar]

How much changes in full release? Only polish? If so, I might star in a couple of days.

 

[Agesilaus]

A Bug report:

I got the matter converter whatever thing from the red zone. The slide auto-teleported me to Carlos back in the green zone and he congratulated me. When the conversation ended... I was back in the red zone.

A question:

I saw the gear on the dead scavs by the fungus boss fight. Amazing stuff. My only question is, if I win the fight is there any special interaction with the fungus? Is it like Tchort, can we be friends, or is it just going to be a descriptive paragraph about how I'm awesome at fighting?

I assume it's the latter, in which case I am not going to try that fight anymore. Too tough for my current character/party unless the RNG gods decide to 100% back me with crit after crit.


EDIT: Just passed the high level comp check in Mission Control. I think my desire for loot is satisfied.



EDIT2: Decided to go back with my new toys to get the other toys. Lost a couple of party members, but at least I know the answer to my question.

 

[Elhoim]

Also does the game have those skillchecks that require you to have skills over lvl 10? I think i read once that something like this was planned.

No, never planned, and not something we want to do (having checks for 10 levels is already way too much, IMO). After 10 is more of soft cap territory. Combat skills can get a bit extra if you get to 11, but non-combat is built with 10 in mind.

 

[Elhoim]

I got the matter converter whatever thing from the red zone. The slide auto-teleported me to Carlos back in the green zone and he congratulated me. When the conversation ended... I was back in the red zone.

He goes to the red zone, the level doesn't change.

Also i got both achievments for finishing the game on underdog and on easy mode at the same time, bug or just everyone who finishes the game on underdog automatically gets easy mode achievment?

Intended, if you beat the game in Underdog there's no need to beat it on Hero. All game with several difficulties give lower ones on win.

 

[Elhoim]

How much changes in full release? Only polish? If so, I might star in a couple of days.

Gameplay wise, some loot placement (in particular gadget upgrades), added a way to avoid combat in Jia's quest, a tweak to Gifted. We are adding more music, sounds and polishing visuals.

 

[Technomancer]

Iirc there are no stat checks for int/cha.

There are some. INT was abandoned pretty early during dev though. Only recall one in the Pit.

 

[Agesilaus]

Finished it, GOTY, will play again after the official release. Need to try a combat build so I can survive playing that hilarious joke on everyone at the end.

Edit: jumped back in right away. Here's my plan: 12 constitution melee with pistoleer gigabrain lady fight to get Romeo online, and then the trio can finally turn this ship around for no apparent reason.

Working quite well so far. The lady can clearly handle all science and stealth checks, and pistols are great for leg and hand shots. The 12 con guy is flattening people with a pry bar. Was a toss up with 10 strength and juggernaut, but the implants, regen, absurd 12 con stat, and biomed skill won me over. Just need to get all 7 implants and some better gear, but so far so good.

 

[Jinn]

The music is so nice in this.

 

[Konjad]

3 days left

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

3 days left

Yep.

Next Thursday!

LMAO

 

[motherfucker]

Well honestly that was a bit disappointing. I was hoping for one more area at least.

 

[Agesilaus]

Well honestly that was a bit disappointing. I was hoping for one more area at least.

The ending imo was great, but I have to echo the request for ending slides that relate to party members and other significant characters we met. There are a lot of loose ends with people we spent a lot of time with and, presumably, would meet again after the ending scene. It would involve a lot of writing and thought, so maybe it can't be done or can only be achieved for a handful of characters, but presumably doesn't require new art assets.

 

[Agesilaus]

In Act 1, second floor of Armory, if you want to use your teammate to do the sneak section it will say "maybe faythe should do this" but then it won't let you use faythe. You can only approach the group openly, sneak with your main character, or leave.

In my brain-dead mace-man run I just approached them openly and clubbed them all to death, but still. It would be nice to let Faythe do something other than hide in a smoke grenade cloud with her shield on.



EDIT: I believe "the king is dead, long lives the king." should be "long live the king", unless you had some other reason for changing the phrase. It's when Jonas has a dirt nap.

 

[lycanwarrior]

Well honestly that was a bit disappointing. I was hoping for one more area at least.

The ending imo was great, but I have to echo the request for ending slides that relate to party members and other significant characters we met. There are a lot of loose ends with people we spent a lot of time with and, presumably, would meet again after the ending scene. It would involve a lot of writing and thought, so maybe it can't be done or can only be achieved for a handful of characters, but presumably doesn't require new art assets.

Yeah, the ending was short and evidenty rushed. Act 3 does still need some more polish in general.

Oops this is for Colony Ship not BG3 haha.

 

[Agesilaus]

Maceman build is going well. The combat is very tactical, as long as you have enough grenades and can survive a few turns you can probably win most, if not all, fights. Of course, grenades (especially the good ones) are expensive and in short supply, and you need to know how to deploy them correctly. There are things to look out for, too, like not throwing gas at the guy in the gas mask, or hide in smoke from the guy with night vision goggles. The armour skill and penalties could be made clear; maybe just explicitly state in the description what the armour penalty does, and that the armour skill reduces the penalty. I feel similarly about Critical Strike. Evasion is more intuitive.

I'm going to finish my maceman run, but after seeing what Smiles can do I want to make a submachine gun character next. I don't know Smiles stats, but she just rips everyone apart, absolute MVP. In all my playthroughs I stay and fight during the ambush, but now I also went and killed the detroit and the black hand gangs. It would be nice to access her inventory between fights, because she ran out of grenades and was less helpful than she might of been. I also began to appreciate the deflector shield, although tbh I think the energy field is superior, no? When is the correct time to deploy a deflector shield, do I just do it on high evasion characters when they become the target of choice for the enemy? I feel the energy field is almost certainly the superior choice, although I guess damage always gets through so it won't save low constitution characters.

Grenade supply in act 1 is exactly right. I did all the side mission battles besides the frog one and the creeper one (I intended to come back later but forgot about it), and I spent the last available gas grenade on the battle at Mercy's fort. I'm not sure how much money is available in game, but I'm wondering how I will ever afford to buy all the grenades and the implant upgrades (7, so $14k) during the late game.

 

[Twiglard]

Honestly, I don't like the way AoD and CSRPG's character systems are balanced using THC and not damage output. It doesn't fit the game's setting all.

Games like JA2 worked because you've had to constantly outplay your enemies, especially in the beginning. In a game with rifles like CSRPG, the 'Courtroom' arena has the player unable to position the characters sufficiently away from the enemy NPCs as to avoid getting hit in melee during the first turn. This notion of brawling with guns is dumb compared to the alternative of less-outlandish small-unit tactics.

Without extensive optimizing, firing a burst of 5 bullets at point blank range at about 80% human enemy types will only scratch them. Where's the fun in that?

Just don't mistake this for any official Codex position or anything like that. My RPG opinions are generally less prestigious than GRPG regulars. Anyway, Still, I bought the game and don't regret it.

 

[Sòren]

infiltrating the warehouse in Brotherhoods admin district (sneak 6, western side of the map) is bugged. for some reason the battle is initiated after you are caught by the cameras.

 

[jackofshadows]

Without extensive optimizing, firing a burst of 5 bullets at point blank range at about 80% human enemy types will only scratch them. Where's the fun in that?

If you hit, and there's no armor, pretty much any enemy here is dead by 5 bullets. Hell, one shots are very much possible with rifles or shotguns. Don't forget that turn based = abstraction and it's hard for you character to hit someone at point blank range when the opponent(s) is mashing them with a club. Also yeah, optimizing is required here in order to play on default difficulty, that's a given. That's why most of us here for, in fact.

 

[Twiglard]

Also yeah, optimizing is required here in order to play on default difficulty, that's a given. That's why most of us here for, in fact.

Except there's not enough tactical depth. Cover is simplistic and combat area design is atrociously bad. Positioning is more of a puzzle and a case of trial and error than anything else. What you have is build depth and story/quest depth but that's wasted in a party-based and ranged-weapons-based system.

The story is disappointing compared to AoD. The old-world locations were fascinating with their mysteries and it was really satisfying to get through them despite (or maybe because of) metagaming. What we have instead is shitty journal in the lander (though it's a low point, others are somewhat more interesting). Without a historical setting, the authors are out of their depth.

When the subjects were history and the Mythos, ITS' games worked just fine. The hard scifi setting is appropriately designed but they haven't done anything interesting with it. Aliens are almost-human bipedals, aka the dreaded 'rubber forehead aliens' (semi-spoiler, Vince talked about it a long while ago around the time the game was released in EA). Rocketry and orbital mechanics and even life support are a very interesting and complex subject, just play KSP RP-1+Kerbalism or even plain KSP or SimpleRockets/Juno, or watch a video by the Pressure-Fed Astronaut.

Edit: if you want to see a good approach at writing a first contact with alien species story, read S. Lem's Eden.

Honestly in terms of colony ship settings and stories that can be told even the visual novel by the proto-SJW woman had more interesting writing (as long as you can stomach weeb-SJW shit) and exploration of the human condition. The Golden Age of Science-Fiction had too many stories that could be adapted/synthesized especially by writers underappreciated in mass culture. Could've made the factions, locations and side quests borrow from Cordwainer Smith or even PKD's (still underappreciated!) paranoid Cold War style with a large dose of delusions of reference that was his specialty. Instead they've done nothing at all of the sort, and the story is almost perfunctory.
Still worth buying twice over.

 

[motherfucker]

it won't let you use faythe

My complaint of entire game really...