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Incline Colony Ship RELEASE THREAD

jackofshadows

Arcane
Joined
Oct 21, 2019
Messages
5,004
Therefore, there exists no playthrough in which I'd ever NOT help the spy unless I was heavily LARPing, since killing him is clearly the inferior option by a wide margin.
Didn't he have something valuable, like an anti-shield grenade, plus a decent weapon and some augmentation on top meaning if tiny biotech lp (may misremember some of this)? And not like that computer/electronics check is mandatory for beating the highest checks in the game. Probably not the best example for your point.
 

thesecret1

Arcane
Joined
Jun 30, 2019
Messages
6,634
I was mainly referring to combat/diplomacy/stealth. Biotech and electronics are fairly easy to increase, so I'm surprised you ran into problems there. Can you post your character screen for feedback purposes?
Sure thing. This is what I ended the game with.
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Yes, you can dump all points into crafting in AoD to beat a check, but I don't see it as a good example of player's involvement. Tag and focus on the skill and you won't have any issues.
Why do you think tagging a skill and then mindlessly clicking anything tagged with the skill's name is "more involvement" than carefully considering which skill to put your precious skill points into?

Didn't he have something valuable, like an anti-shield grenade, plus a decent weapon and some augmentation on top meaning if tiny biotech lp (may misremember some of this)?
Implants are a dime a dozen by that stage of the game – every other mook has one. And the equip wasn't anything special either from what I remember (then again, I did have like 6 anti-shield grenades on my by then, so I wouldn't have necessarily noticed it as anything out of the ordinary either way)

And not like that computer/electronics check is mandatory for beating the highest checks in the game. Probably not the best example for your point.
A check... is not mandatory for beating the checks in the game? I think you miswrote, lol. If you mean that you needn't beat them to finish the game, you're right, but I think that's beside the point. As a player, I might not NEED to pass a check, but I WANT to pass it, meaning I will make these considerations as I play.
EDIT: oh, you mean the XP from that particular check. I kind of disagree. It was a quite significant bonus, and the sooner you get either of those to a high level, the sooner you get to the end-game gear in mission control. Definitely more useful than some trinkets the spy may have had. And I recall really fighting to get Electronics to 9 – it took fucking forever and I only managed it sometime during the last two Hydroponics zones, IIRC. The tenth level was then easy – just pass all the level 9 checks you were waiting on, lol.
 
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thesecret1

Arcane
Joined
Jun 30, 2019
Messages
6,634
As an aside, if General Reputation/Faction Standing/Beliefs have any in-game effect at all, I haven't seen it. An occassional, completely irrelevant check here and there, maybe, when it comes to combat rep, a discount with faction vendor in late game with high faction standing, but other than that ???.
 

lukaszek

the determinator
Patron
Joined
Jan 15, 2015
Messages
13,157
As an aside, if General Reputation/Faction Standing/Beliefs have any in-game effect at all, I haven't seen it. An occassional, completely irrelevant check here and there, maybe, when it comes to combat rep, a discount with faction vendor in late game with high faction standing, but other than that ???.
afaik there are 2 places: when picking faction and for specific jonas ending
 

thesecret1

Arcane
Joined
Jun 30, 2019
Messages
6,634
8BC186EEA184B916EBEFD16883BE063AA37AC8B9

^ random player-submitted build
By the way, this player has Electronics tagged, Skill monkey feat, AND Mental fortitude (which is, I think, the best science skill-gain combo possible, and one that I used myself), and he still failed to raise it to 10 :lol: Probably missed a single check somewhere (on repairing Romeo, maybe?).
 

lukaszek

the determinator
Patron
Joined
Jan 15, 2015
Messages
13,157
By the way, this player has Electronics tagged, Skill monkey feat, AND Mental fortitude (which is, I think, the best science skill-gain combo possible, and one that I used myself), and he still failed to raise it to 10 :lol: Probably missed a single check somewhere (on repairing Romeo, maybe?).
sneak is high so its not because of missing sneakery gated electronics checks. Looking at high combat skills - its likely culprit. Went too strong into combat, perhaps at the cost of token here and there.
speech levels are likely due to persuading mercy in a1 and then failing to make a dent further ahead.
Biotech is interesting one as its character who was likely able to extract every implant out there with every boost possible(save for tag and 10con).

In my many playthroughs ive learnt that its incredibly easy to miss lvl10 electronics, its tight one. Mental fortitude 3 makes it even more annoying in here.

I much prefered AoD approach. Mind you it was not free skill points placement as it was divided into combat/civil. Could be more complicated as needed, for example award skill points in each category already present in colonoscopy. Likely implementation would be easy if you were awarded xp into category and then were to manually pipe it inside as needed.
 
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Alpharius

Scholar
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Messages
595
8BC186EEA184B916EBEFD16883BE063AA37AC8B9

^ random player-submitted build
By the way, this player has Electronics tagged, Skill monkey feat, AND Mental fortitude (which is, I think, the best science skill-gain combo possible, and one that I used myself), and he still failed to raise it to 10 :lol: Probably missed a single check somewhere (on repairing Romeo, maybe?).
Imo its better this way than being able to raise electronics to say 15 if you invest everything into it and then having the hardest skill check in the game require 10, like "normal" crpgs do.

As an aside independent on the points raised, is this sort of design ("reinforcing your playstyle") really something you want, even if it worked as intended? I keep remembering the mission where you found the spy in the Habitat – I wanted to blow his brains out, but helping him escape carried virtually no penalties, while giving you lots more skill XP in computers and electronics because there was some dumb computer terminal in the way. Therefore, there exists no playthrough in which I'd ever NOT help the spy unless I was heavily LARPing, since killing him is clearly the inferior option by a wide margin. Is this really something you want the player to think about? It was like that with speech skills too – I wanted to fight an enemy, but knew I was falling behind on my speech XP, so I talked it out instead. I don't think I've ever had to make such considerations in AoD (and if yes, then they must've been very minor as I don't recall any significant instance of it). I cannot say such considerations were fun to make – they just made me feel annoyed over being cucked out of a combat encounter, if anything – yet from what you're saying, it sounds as if you think that this is the intended way it should work.
But that's not very different compared to choosing a particular quest resolution to maximize xp in other games, no? Like "i'll kill both of you to get more loot and xp".

I guess it would have been better if the game was longer so that it had more skill checks so that missing on xp from a single check wouldn't be such a big of a deal. Perhaps AOD system is better for smaller scale games because of this.
 

thesecret1

Arcane
Joined
Jun 30, 2019
Messages
6,634
Looking through the steam reviews, people are again crying about the difficulty... Please don't humor them, not now nor in future titles. CS is already easier than AoD, and the fights therein are fun BECAUSE they're challenging. Easy encounters (fortunately not very numerous) are snorefests. Keep casuals contained to baby mode (sorry, I mean "hero" mode) and ignore them.

Imo its better this way than being able to raise electronics to say 15 if you invest everything into it and then having the hardest skill check in the game require 10, like "normal" crpgs do.
It was meant to showcase how little control the player has over it rather than it being hard to raise - the dude clearly made a build designed to maximize skill XP gains, and it's not a stretch to assume he very much wanted to raise electronics to 10 like his other tagged skills, yet he couldn't. Missed some check somewhere, maybe (training tokens drop off quite severely on higher levels in terms of usefulness), and that was that. As a player, I'd find such a situation to be incredibly frustrating, because there's nothing I can do to remedy it, nor is it clear what I've done "wrong".

But that's not very different compared to choosing a particular quest resolution to maximize xp in other games, no? Like "i'll kill both of you to get more loot and xp".
Very, very few games are so tight on loot and XP to make that a real consideration. And in games like AoD, you usually (not always, but most of the time) get fairly similar rewards in terms of value whichever path you pick. More importantly, I don't really recall an instance where skipping a fight would be the optimal play.
 

BlackPlate

Novice
Joined
Jan 6, 2020
Messages
29
I found sneaking to be at best tedious for a negligible reward, or downright bullshit. I understand a character not focused on sneak is not supposed to infiltrate a heavily defended area like it's an action game with 'hold Ctrl to stealth', but for the sake of content I edited the values on my solo character to see how it goes, and some areas(the building with multiple levels and guards walking around) feel like ass even if you are supposedly a sneak God.
I understand wanting certain things to be locked to specific builds, it's a decline to just leave it as a dump stat/skill, but with so little content it doesn't feel worth it to replay the whole game with a new build just to have something like three things be different. Exploration autism compels me to do it, but still.
I liked AoD way more, but hope the company doesn't go under :love:
 
Joined
Dec 18, 2022
Messages
2,473
Location
Vareš
I always saw the sneak option when going guns blazing to kill someone, what is the reward for that anyways? Taking down one enemy to make the fight easier?

Atill appreciate that it was there though, the Elder Creeper fight in the Red Zone of Hydrophonics was pissing me off and I was too lazy to backtrack and find some energy cells.
 

thesecret1

Arcane
Joined
Jun 30, 2019
Messages
6,634
I always saw the sneak option when going guns blazing to kill someone, what is the reward for that anyways? Taking down one enemy to make the fight easier?
You enter sneak mode. Oftentimes, if you have a stealthy character, you can quietly murder like half the enemies in an encounter, turning it into a cakewalk.
 

BlackPlate

Novice
Joined
Jan 6, 2020
Messages
29
I always saw the sneak option when going guns blazing to kill someone, what is the reward for that anyways? Taking down one enemy to make the fight easier?
You enter sneak mode. Oftentimes, if you have a stealthy character, you can quietly murder like half the enemies in an encounter, turning it into a cakewalk.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't killing in stealth give you XP for critical strike and nothing else, making it worse to soften the encounter considering you lose XP for guns/melee.
 

thesecret1

Arcane
Joined
Jun 30, 2019
Messages
6,634
I always saw the sneak option when going guns blazing to kill someone, what is the reward for that anyways? Taking down one enemy to make the fight easier?
You enter sneak mode. Oftentimes, if you have a stealthy character, you can quietly murder like half the enemies in an encounter, turning it into a cakewalk.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't killing in stealth give you XP for critical strike and nothing else, making it worse to soften the encounter considering you lose XP for guns/melee.
It gives you sneak XP too, and I don't think it's a serious consideration to make. First of all, critical strike is pretty good (possibly better than guns/melee – the farther into the game you get, the less of an issue accuracy becomes, while critically hitting someone is always great), second of all, you earn fairly little XP from combat encounters anyway, and only a few even have a sneak option.
 

Berekän

A life wasted
Patron
Joined
Sep 2, 2009
Messages
3,112
Nobody posting this:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/648410/view/6356337676021418960
First Companions Update

The first update of 2024 is focused on the party members (we expanded the existing conversations where appropriate and added new ones). We'll continue adding more conversations throughout this year, but we don't want to overdo, so we'll go step by step and evaluate your feedback after each update.

Other notable changes:

- improved visuals in several areas
- improved journal entries
- minor balance changes (Controlled and Focused Bursts, Annihilator, energy SMG magazine size)
- new implant upgrade (Stress Response: when HP drop to 13 or less, Action Points +4, Evasion +12)
- bug and typo fixes
- engine optimization

if you're an existing player we'd like to thank you for your support and assure that we'll keep improving the game throughout 2024 and pay close attention to your feedback. If you're just discovering the game and wondering if it's for you, try the demo first or watch one of the impression videos.
 

AdolfSatan

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2017
Messages
2,027
From that link:
So is a sequel looking likely, or you still don't know yet?
At the moment it's looking, um, less likely than before but still too early to say. Before I thought (hoped?) that we'd know by March, now I'd say by the end of the year.
 

CRD

Cipher
Patron
Joined
Dec 23, 2014
Messages
297
Divinity: Original Sin 2
From that link:
So is a sequel looking likely, or you still don't know yet?
At the moment it's looking, um, less likely than before but still too early to say. Before I thought (hoped?) that we'd know by March, now I'd say by the end of the year.
do that means the studio is under dire conditions because the sales of colony ship, or that a colony ship sequel is out of the question because it didn't sell decently but the studio will continue with new games?

fuck me if the first.
 

Nikanuur

Arbiter
Patron
Joined
Mar 1, 2021
Messages
1,747
Location
Ngranek
In the unlikely event that we survive as a studio, we'll make a sequel set on Proxima, which will have the mechanics of the first game plus psionics. If we make a prequel to AoD after that, it will have the mechanics of AoD.
How dare you not to survive! You are the (almost) only no-nonsense TB RPG developer in 10 years, for frickin' sake! I forbid you from failing!
I'm gonna advertise the heck out of this game to any non-gamer friends from now on!
I will keep their children hostage, if they don't buy it and recommend to others!
I will... I will... pour chilli in their sugar if they fail to comply!
 

thesecret1

Arcane
Joined
Jun 30, 2019
Messages
6,634
What are you working on right now anyway? Preproduction of CS sequel? AoD Sequel? New title?
 

thesecret1

Arcane
Joined
Jun 30, 2019
Messages
6,634
What are you working on right now anyway? Preproduction of CS sequel? AoD Sequel? New title?
Most likely CS is our last game so none of the above. We'll continue improving CS throughout 2024.
Why, if I may ask? It's unlikely that post-release support of a niche poduct would generate significant sales. Wouldn't it make more sense to start working on the next project and hope you'll make do?
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,044
Why, if I may ask? It's unlikely that post-release support of a niche poduct would generate significant sales.
We aren't doing it to generate more sales but to improve the game and make it more enjoyable for people who like it.

Wouldn't it make more sense to start working on the next project and hope you'll make do?
Definitely not.
 

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