Incline Colony Ship RELEASE THREAD

[kangaxx]

Spoiler

Not sure I'd ever want to side with the monks voluntarily

Why? They seemed to be the most reasonable faction all things considered. Gameplay-wise though siding with them means autoplay, pretty much.

The autoplay thing (game is already a bit "light" on gameplay), and I'd rather side with fallible humans who are at least interesting than whatever they are.

 

[jackofshadows]

solo armory fight head on is ridiculous, especially since enemies can throw grenades over the walls

It was tough, reloaded many times (while usually that wasn't the case at all at that stage) until I've found a good spot in the lower part of the room where I made my stand with high grade smoke (after opening and killing the most dangerous enemmies with cloak including the robot).

Interesting, all my characters found this fight easier than the fight you have in A2 (if you defect to Monks and immediately fight your faction handler) or the Monk Mutant Ninja Team during GECK delivery sequence. Sometimes because I have enough stealth to take out most of them (a reasonably stealthy character can take down 3/6 humanoids), and if not I'm probably a combatfag.

BTW a combatfag can get a lot of use out of evasion - my last guy was on 120+ Ev by this point and with cloaking field and one smoke grenade, could essentially ignore every gun user for 5-6 turns and bank on 90% of shots missing.

My mistake was not to check the stealth approach (I assumed it was a way to skip the fight entirely or something and I didn't want that). Because I'm sure my char could be able to take down all humanoids. And yeah 100% on point with evasion, did the same - like I said made my stand with a high grade smoke. It even helped me against 2 turrels + robot fight - there were misses instead of grazes sometimes.

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

"(don't make the mistake of taking Captain on protag then getting Sarge on Jed, the two don't stack)."
Oops.

All that come to mind from 'steal' are a keycard in the spy quest and a level 2 gadget battery from someone in a bar (if you haven't killed him earlier).

 

[FreshCorpse]

As I said before I think this is fucking great.

Some UI feedback because I'm sure the relevant people are lurking in this thread:

The above equipment comparison confused me. It's not that clear which of the two alternatives is the one you have equipped currently (though looking now the yellow word "Helmet" is above what I'm currently wearing) but worse the order is wrong. In this screen, your paper doll is on the left and your inventory is on the right but in the comparison that order is reversed. I would flip it back so they match.

The pre-battle arrange-your-lads screen is great, I love that this is included, but it's really hard to tell who you have selected and anyway from some of the angles all your lads look visually quite similar so it's easy to click the wrong one, move him, realise your mistake, try to move him back (but you haven't selected him so nothing happens). There is probably a way to make it clearer. Maybe drag + drop would be better?

Finally I realise the codex gave negative feedback on the old font but I do feel that this font is excessively basic looking and could be cooler and more sci-fi...

But overall (and to complete the shit sandwich) I love it. I especially like that whoever wrote this understands the interelationship of plants and fungi, meaning that the big space greenhouse's backstory actually makes some sense. The median video game writing would just assume you put plants in soil and "job done" which is ignorant and moronic.

PS anyone else interested in that subject might enjoy this old Attenborough documentary episode from back when the BBC Natural History Unit docs were actually expository (a crazy idea, I know) instead of splicing together clips of unrelated animals and voicing over a faked "narrative" because they think viewers require a three act storyline in order to watch a nature doc.

 

[FreshCorpse]

One question I have not explained by the game: armour handling. Is there any benefit to having a positive, non-zero value? Or is that just spare?

 

[kangaxx]

Having got one of the endings yesterday, I retried the monk fight in the tunnel with liberal use of all of the pulse/stasis grenades I collected to allow me to focus on one of them (I hadn't had to use even one of those grenades up until the endgame). It just ain't gonna happen. I get that the game is punishing me for not building four hardened warriors, but I don't think it's particularly well done.

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

There are other fights like that. The Mother fight, if chosen ( An option to hack the turrets would be nice). First daughter does nothing but get you in.

The Briggs fight, if chosen as a straight up fight, or Jed's partner. Detroit without Smiles. Pretty much anything where the choice is 'just kill em'.


Choice A: talk it all out and avoid all, B: stealth run, C: fight, outnumbered and outgunned.

 

[kangaxx]

There are other fights like that. The Mother fight, if chosen ( An option to hack the turrets would be nice). First daughter does nothing but get you in.

The Briggs fight, if chosen as a straight up fight, or Jed's partner. Detroit without Smiles. Pretty much anything where the choice is 'just kill em'.

I guess the difference is that with those ones you aren't railroaded too hard down a single path/ending if you only have a middle-tier fighting squad. Either you can diplomacy your way out or the outcome isn't quite as fundamental. The exceptions are the obviously walled off fights that you have to 'peek through a door' to trigger, and even with a couple of those encounters you can clear the room in other ways.

Another thing.. if the monks are that all-powerful (in multiple ways, not just combat) why have they waited hundreds of years to sort the damned situation out? All the while wasting precious oxygen etc... when come endgame one of them suggests something that will extend the supply by a few decades here or there.

 

[Modron]

One question I have not explained by the game: armour handling. Is there any benefit to having a positive, non-zero value? Or is that just spare?

I don't believe there are any bonuses associated with it being above zero besides the capacity to replace whatever you are wearing with more demanding gear in the future.

 

[lukaszek]

speaking of UI, why does auto-sort work on merchant screen, but in inventory screen it just removes empty space?

 

[Nikanuur]

How much of a financial success has the game been?

 

[flushfire]

Another thing.. if the monks are that all-powerful (in multiple ways, not just combat) why have they waited hundreds of years to sort the damned situation out? All the while wasting precious oxygen etc... when come endgame one of them suggests something that will extend the supply by a few decades here or there.

This has been brought up a few times in Steam discussions too, along with "why didn't anyone bother to check if the ship has arrived?" and VD's answer IIRC is "they were going with the flow". It could've been written better to be honest.

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

Is permadeth the only way to recruit new later game companions? I'm not seeing a way to dismiss older ones or even talk to new ones at the Armory.

 

[agris]

Is permadeth the only way to recruit new later game companions? I'm not seeing a way to dismiss older ones or even talk to new ones at the Armory.

character screen, click x in top right-hand corner of their selection box

 

[Saduj]

Another thing.. if the monks are that all-powerful (in multiple ways, not just combat) why have they waited hundreds of years to sort the damned situation out? All the while wasting precious oxygen etc... when come endgame one of them suggests something that will extend the supply by a few decades here or there.

In the game, Zeta says that the monks suspected that the ship had reached Proxima but couldn't know for sure without getting to the bridge. And they couldn't get to the bridge until the security system in the Armory was disabled, which required the "Holy Grail" card Tanner found. So I took it that the monks thought that getting to the bridge and figuring out how far the ship is from Proxima was so important that they didn't want to act without knowing they had a way to accomplish that.

 

[flushfire]

Anyone tried a Cult Leader without speech tags? Is the disposition enough to offset?

 

[lukaszek]

Anyone tried a Cult Leader without speech tags? Is the disposition enough to offset?

cult leader doesnt give disposition/speech xp though? so its more about +3 disp from charisma?

 

[kangaxx]

Another thing.. if the monks are that all-powerful (in multiple ways, not just combat) why have they waited hundreds of years to sort the damned situation out? All the while wasting precious oxygen etc... when come endgame one of them suggests something that will extend the supply by a few decades here or there.

In the game, Zeta says that the monks suspected that the ship had reached Proxima but couldn't know for sure without getting to the bridge. And they couldn't get to the bridge until the security system in the Armory was disabled, which required the "Holy Grail" card Tanner found. So I took it that the monks thought that getting to the bridge and figuring out how far the ship is from Proxima was so important that they didn't want to act without knowing they had a way to accomplish that.

You may be right, I guess my problem with it is that their plan was basically "do nothing" until someone turned up an access card that may or may not have even existed at that point. Given how proactive they suddenly become when using you to subjugate the factions it's a bit jarring.

 

[flushfire]

And it's not like it's a situation where they could try once and be locked out of it forever or something. I didn't get the impression the monks thought it was so important. They could at least mention their failed attempts if they did. I mean the game spends paragraphs describing random NPC portraits or elevators activating, what's wrong with a block of text clarifying all attempts were made to find out if the ship's arrived? What I got was that the monks just did not care enough before, and that's the official explanation anyway. I don't think ITS themselves cared too much about that detail (or ran out of time), the ship and it's mission was just background for the politics.

 

[Tavar]

I'm still in my first run, but I already plan to do a "Master negotiator" run next. Has anyone done one of these already? You're not allowed to fight anyone to get the achievement (apparently this includes critters like Frogs). Allegedly, stealth kills don't count so stealth is probably a good idea. I wonder which build is best for this build and whether it even makes sense to recruit party members.

 

[lukaszek]

I'm still in my first run, but I already plan to do a "Master negotiator" run next. Has anyone done of these already? You're not allowed to fight anyone to get the achievement (apparently this includes critters like Frogs). Allegedly, stealth kills don't count so stealth is probably a good idea. I wonder which build is best for this build and whether it even makes sense to recruit party members.

you cant get into combat at all, for example turret in factory is out of the question.
Goral mentioned that you cant get exposed to toxic gas in mission control either(if you cant disable it).

No need for companions, just run stealthy talker solo.

In yellow/red zone you will need to stealth few sections, either solo or you will need whole party to be stealthy

Important part is how you handle end game

Spoiler

You must not side with monks at first. Although with talking skills you might be able to avoid fight there if siding with monks? cant remember

Then you must switch sides. Cant resolve this in stealthy way, even if you stab everyone - you will engage combat with robot. Unless you sided with monks first, I might recall there was a talking resolution available?

Then you will have to switch to monks

 

[Saduj]

You may be right, I guess my problem with it is that their plan was basically "do nothing" until someone turned up an access card that may or may not have even existed at that point. Given how proactive they suddenly become when using you to subjugate the factions it's a bit jarring.

I don't think it is a perfect explanation, just what the game was trying to convey. If the developer is saying otherwise, then I'm wrong anyway. I think the monks are supposed to be seen as something other than human so their actions being inscrutable makes sense. They keep the PC on a need to know basis so not explaining their thinking thoroughly fits with how they interact with humans. They also live much longer than humans on the ship so they would perceive time differently. The flaw in all that is that the ship is failing and all the humans are trying to wipe each other out and if either of those things happen, the monks are just as screwed as everyone else. So there is a clock ticking against them too and they would know that.

 

[Tavar]

I'm still in my first run, but I already plan to do a "Master negotiator" run next. Has anyone done of these already? You're not allowed to fight anyone to get the achievement (apparently this includes critters like Frogs). Allegedly, stealth kills don't count so stealth is probably a good idea. I wonder which build is best for this build and whether it even makes sense to recruit party members.

you cant get into combat at all, for example turret in factory is out of the question.
Goral mentioned that you cant get exposed to toxic gas in mission control either(if you cant disable it).

No need for companions, just run stealthy talker solo.

In yellow/red zone you will need to stealth few sections, either solo or you will need whole party to be stealthy

Important part is how you handle end game

Spoiler

You must not side with monks at first. Although with talking skills you might be able to avoid fight there if siding with monks? cant remember

Then you must switch sides. Cant resolve this in stealthy way, even if you stab everyone - you will engage combat with robot. Unless you sided with monks first, I might recall there was a talking resolution available?

Then you will have to switch to monks

Thanks, given that the "Lone Wolf" benefits don't really matter if you don't fight, I think I'll at least recruit Evans for his computer skills. Which starting feats and tags do you recommend?

 

[Tavar]

Is permadeth the only way to recruit new later game companions? I'm not seeing a way to dismiss older ones or even talk to new ones at the Armory.

character screen, click x in top right-hand corner of their selection box

Just to add: This doesn't work in certain areas, e.g., The Factory.

 

[Tigranes]

Tavar Comp/Elec/Lockpick are the golden trio for gaining access to loot/areas/content + some notable encounter resolution options. I would prioritise those.

You can sneak pretty well with no investment; a character may choose a feat or two to become Sneak Master, especially for your planned run. Faythe is probably the ideal Skill Monkey Companion.

Never invest anything into steal. Steal is not a skill. It is an illusion.