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

[Pink Eye]

So have not tested this game in a while but want to take another look this week. How complete is it at this point?

Uh, I think we're halfway there. Here's the content road map of what's currently in and what's missing:

Jun - Factory - released
Aug - Mission Control - released
Oct - Shuttle Bay - released
Dec - Improvements, tutorial, difficulty modes - released
Jun - Habitat; the end of chapter 2 - released
End of Jul - ECLSS (the House of Ecclesiastes)
End of Oct - The Pit (chapter 3 content)
End of Dec - Heart (the mutant town)
End of Feb - Hydroponics (Yellow and Red Zones), Mission Control (lower levels)
End of Apr - The Armory (level 3), Bridge and the end of chapter 3, all locations are done.
End of Jun - Endgame (chapter 4)”

 

[Tsubutai]

There's a new update coming at the end of the month; once that's released, the game will be a bit over half-way finished I'd say.

 

[Pink Eye]

There's going to be an upcoming second systems update. So that's something to look forward too as well.

 

[1ttffsse]

I am a fan of Iron Tower since playing AoD, and really feel they are closest to something like old Troika (Arcanum etc all that good old stuff). Now that this game - Colony Ship is about 1/2 done I jumped in and went through the pre-release as I am very much looking forward to the finished game.

-Overall I think the best developed thing about the game right now (through it has many promising and strong points) is the overall balance and the combat - tough but fair I would say. Some would say that the feats selection and building character options are kinda minimalistic and reduced to generic +% accuracy/ APs etc - while variety is always welcomed keep in mind this is a game where I feel the devs are actually minimizing and reducing unneeded bloat to get to balanced and challenging combat. (There is that running joke of course why second wind can be infinite wind though, but overall it's fun and engaging).

-Music tracks are a bit too dry mixed and generic sounding/synth of not particularly high quality samples in the starting areas and just don;t sound engaging enough and feel pre-generated - once you get to Factory and Habitat I think the tracks do improve. Still would wish for them to bring a bit more tension in the starting areas because cheap music = "flatter" perception of environment.

-Speaking of which I think as pointed out in a previous review here, Hydrophonics for an area of it's scale is somewhat underused currently (and most of it is "set dressing"). I had the same feeling about the Factory area tbh, because in an area like that, I imagined there would be more secrets/ hard to get to areas to be discovered using ropes, pathfinding etc in the ships hull - and finally I think skill check wise - the Pit areas has ample amount of skill checks, but there are way too few in the Factory which just plainly feels too linear at the moment as an area. The quest choice branching is great and a lot of work, I wish the same dynamic feel could be applied to pathfinding and multiple routes through some areas - with emphasis on the exploration bit - like the Factory and Hydrophonics. I thing because The Pit was out the longest now - it feels like the most complete area well rounded area- music notwithstanding.

-Yes there are running jokes that you can tragically "brick" your game in AoD and your character be sent to an early rip, if you happen to make a wrong choice at the wrong time,- but I encourage you to still have moments and events be part of this game because stuff like that paints a more dynamic world outside the player's frame of reference is can actually be hilarious and comical at the same time.

-A narrator at some points to "read/recite" some of the onscreen text would be welcome. - Yes we all can read, but again I think it's more immersive to have a narrator sometimes, oddly enough.

-I played through with MM sniper/talker hybrid. 4/6/9/5/10/6 starting spread with tags in rifling, critical strike, evasion, and streetwise.

 

[1ttffsse]

Also please make a poll to expand Smiles role in the game .... she clearly has the makings to be a fan favorite.

 

[Eyestabber]

Also please make a poll to expand Smiles role in the game .... she clearly has the makings to be a fan favorite.

Yep, I said that a couple pages back. Honestly, I played the EA game like a couple times already and I never betrayed the Keepers. I mean...

Can she be any more perfect? How did she know that walking up to a camp full of thugs and killing them all was my favorite thing in life? And don't forget the little details: you can't negotiate with Bart if you bring Smiles, her "I'm gonna murder your entire family" vibe is simply too obvious. Moreover, Smiles tells you "everyone lost someone" and expresses frustration towards Stanton, but never even suggests the possibility of betraying him. The girl is loyal to her folks, 11/10 perfect waifu, needs to be a companion ASAP.

 

[Parabalus]

Temporary allies still sometimes steal kill XP.

 

[deuxhero]

If they're still looking for options when contracting VA, a new one opened up. As a bonus there's a chance of free advertisement from cancel culture predittors whining about them getting work.
https://nicchiban.nichegamer.com/anime-matsuri-dubbing-vic-mignogna/

 

[Twiglard]

Being treated as a spy by the Protectors is fine up until locating the real spy in the same building, and suddenly being able to turn him in to the entrance's guards despite killing their buddies just two rooms earlier. What the fuck?

A society built on pathological paranoia where anyone is alarmingly ready to accept the demise of a rival at the most improbable of elucidations, should it further their own political goals. I wonder at whom is this crude jab pointed...

I know you took me for a spy but look, you've had the real spy all along all by yourselves! Now let me give the spy to you even though he was already yours and mark this quest as complete.

They didn't have the spy though? He was on the lam, in hiding and ready to bolt, far from being securely in their hands.

It's too neat of a solution, and for that reason breaks the suspension of disbelief.

The party gets detained on an underground prison level. The spy just happens to be there so that the PC/party/player can be saved from his own ineptitude (working for both factions, not passing skill checks while becoming detained). He doesn't even have to come up with a convincing story for the prison's guards. That's a deus ex machina to tie up the loose ends and progress the quest.

 

[Vault Dweller]

The party gets detained on an underground prison level.

It's a residential complex, not a prison level.

so that the PC/party/player can be saved from his own ineptitude (working for both factions, not passing skill checks while becoming detained).

You can convince the guards to let you go.

 

[luj1]

I love it how Vault Dweller refuses to adopt the basics of UI design and instead just copies Disco Shitlysium

 

[agris]

To the conversation UI, I do wish the area that the NPC dialogue took up was a fixed height, i.e. the reply options always started at a fixed pixel height from the bottom of the screen. The way it bounces around (or did, in Spring '21) made for uncomfortable reading.

 

[Vault Dweller]

To the conversation UI, I do wish the area that the NPC dialogue took up was a fixed height, i.e. the reply options always started at a fixed pixel height from the bottom of the screen. The way it bounces around (or did, in Spring '21) made for uncomfortable reading.

Since the length of the NPC text varies greatly (from a short line to several paragraphs), it wouldn't look good either.

 

[agris]

To the conversation UI, I do wish the area that the NPC dialogue took up was a fixed height, i.e. the reply options always started at a fixed pixel height from the bottom of the screen. The way it bounces around (or did, in Spring '21) made for uncomfortable reading.

Since the length of the NPC text varies greatly (from a short line to several paragraphs), it wouldn't look good either.

Why not set it at some comfortable and arbitrary height, and implement a "click to continue reading" functionality? Think Baldur's Gate 1, or Fallout 1 to a lesser extent. Fallout's click-to-scroll was kinda clunky, but the fixed height of where the dialogue was written kept that part of it very readable.

 

[Marat]

Really, it's fine the way it is.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Why not set it at some comfortable and arbitrary height, and implement a "click to continue reading" functionality? Think Baldur's Gate 1, or Fallout 1 to a lesser extent. Fallout's click-to-scroll was kinda clunky, but the fixed height of where the dialogue was written kept that part of it very readable.

I don't think forcing people to click to keep reading in a dialogue heavy game is a good solution.

 

[agris]

Why not set it at some comfortable and arbitrary height, and implement a "click to continue reading" functionality? Think Baldur's Gate 1, or Fallout 1 to a lesser extent. Fallout's click-to-scroll was kinda clunky, but the fixed height of where the dialogue was written kept that part of it very readable.

I don't think forcing people to click to keep reading in a dialogue heavy game is a good solution.

If I'm the only one bothered by it, my suggestion is 100% irrelevant. From the sounds of it, it seems that I am.

 

[S.torch]

Lol saying that Age of Decadence is "edge". If anything the game was very tame for something inspired in Classic Antiquity.

Edge is the matter of MC's story, rather than a quality of the setting itself. As someone pointed out recently, ME1's plot, as seen by some npcs, can be classified as sci-fi horror. But from the players perspective it is not, because they have a prestigious and rewarding journey.

So you could likely have a heroic pleasant story set in antiquity, that would stay true to antiquity. Same goes for most settings, fictional or not.

I don't consider the story and the setting like separated things. I enjoy (refined) edgyness so I wouldn't be bothered at all if it was like that. But is isn't, it has a very sober style.

 

[Sòren]

Also please make a poll to expand Smiles role in the game .... she clearly has the makings to be a fan favorite.

it looks to me like she was originally designed to be another companion, but that she didn't fit in with the rest of the gameplay concept somehow. for now.

 

[Elhoim]

Also please make a poll to expand Smiles role in the game .... she clearly has the makings to be a fan favorite.

it looks to me like she was originally designed to be another companion, but that she didn't fit in with the rest of the gameplay concept somehow. for now.

Nope, we never thought of her as a companion.

 

[Sòren]

Also please make a poll to expand Smiles role in the game .... she clearly has the makings to be a fan favorite.

it looks to me like she was originally designed to be another companion, but that she didn't fit in with the rest of the gameplay concept somehow. for now.

Nope, we never thought of her as a companion.

well maybe u should have. it's not my fault that i was wrong here IMO.

 

[1ttffsse]

Also please make a poll to expand Smiles role in the game .... she clearly has the makings to be a fan favorite.

it looks to me like she was originally designed to be another companion, but that she didn't fit in with the rest of the gameplay concept somehow. for now.

Nope, we never thought of her as a companion.

well maybe u should have. it's not my fault that i was wrong here IMO.

Don't care if she is a companion or not ... but we all like her personality and I think it would be great in a sense you cross paths with her again later and have story missions with her in addition to what there is now and that she plays a role in one of the possible endings. That be awesome.

 

[Mauman]

Finally picked this bad boy up.

It's good....it's damn good. Interesting setting, pretty good writing, serviceable combat.

Anyways, something funny happened that I rather appreciated

Spoiler

Faythe made me promise not to kill some guy named Morgan, and then she accidently ended up killing him. And she acknowledged this and didn't leave my party. Though, uh, she was obviously unhappy with herself

Oh and before Pink Eye gets upset, I reloaded and did it right. No killing. I'm not going to make Faythe miserable.

 

[Pink Eye]

I'm not going to make Faythe miserable.

I like her lots. She's a pretty cool companion.

 

[Mauman]

Out of curiosity, what's the general thoughts on Energy shield vs disruption field?

I can't wrap my mind around which one is actually better.