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Colony Ship update #32 - The Skills & Learn By Using

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
If you go full postal and all the quests are broken, too bad.
Too bad for the developer once the negative reviews start piling up. We've already accepted that challenging combat and skills determining (or the way 20% of players see it, restricting) what you can do will generate negative reviews but that's as much as we can carry without sinking.

With the aod/cs design, the only thing that matters is that the game gives me an option to shoot some dude where it makes sense to shoot the dude. I mostly felt that was the case in aod.
We'll do our very best to let you kill anyone who asks for it and then some.
 

Efe

Erudite
Joined
Dec 27, 2015
Messages
2,597
when is the expected release date or time to a playable build?
that picture has elevation, does elevation effect hit chance / throw range etc?
is there a cover system or destructible environment?
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
when is the expected release date or time to a playable build?
Early Access 2019, release 2020.

that picture has elevation, does elevation effect hit chance / throw range etc?
There's no vertical element in combat at the moment (no plans to introduce it later either).

is there a cover system or destructible environment?
There's a cover system but no destructible environment.
 

Efe

Erudite
Joined
Dec 27, 2015
Messages
2,597
good dates.. let us hope it doesn't end up like aod though.
 

Forest Dweller

Smoking Dicks
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
12,196
If you go full postal and all the quests are broken, too bad.
Too bad for the developer once the negative reviews start piling up. We've already accepted that challenging combat and skills determining (or the way 20% of players see it, restricting) what you can do will generate negative reviews but that's as much as we can carry without sinking.

With the aod/cs design, the only thing that matters is that the game gives me an option to shoot some dude where it makes sense to shoot the dude. I mostly felt that was the case in aod.
We'll do our very best to let you kill anyone who asks for it and then some.
Can you at least rape everyone?
 

Deleted Member 22431

Guest
Vault Dweller, don't you think that the negative reviews DR has been receiving lately is an indication that the Colony Ship cRPG should have a pure talker playtrough for players that don't care about the combat?
 

Big Wrangle

Guest
That has been a common misperception with DR for a while. It's an AoD spin-off, therefore it's basically that with a party and in underground. When those lads find out it's pure tactical combat and not much in plot, they're disappointed.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
Vault Dweller, don't you think that the negative reviews DR has been receiving lately is an indication that the Colony Ship cRPG should have a pure talker playtrough for players that don't care about the combat?
Well, Colony Ship will have pure fighter, talker, 'infiltrator' paths, so we've got it covered.
 

Whisper

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Feb 29, 2012
Messages
4,357
A bit off-topic, but i would be grateful for answer.


Would game have big, dangeous, dark "dungeons"? AoD had (not large, sadly!) dungeon-like areas which were best.


I am playing Pathfinder Kingmaker and awed at dungeons, with many traps, different situations, notes, books, body, story behind them, mystery.


Exploring tomb of long-dead civilization is probably best experience in crpg.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
A bit off-topic, but i would be grateful for answer.

Would game have big, dangeous, dark "dungeons"? AoD had (not large, sadly!) dungeon-like areas which were best.

I am playing Pathfinder Kingmaker and awed at dungeons, with many traps, different situations, notes, books, body, story behind them, mystery.

Exploring tomb of long-dead civilization is probably best experience in crpg.
Yes. The Mission Control ruins formerly known as the Wasteland:

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/topic,7540.0.html

With the Wasteland our goal is to create a proper, thematically-fitting 'dungeon' with the following features:

1. The focus is on exploration not combat. Navigating the dungeon, finding a way past the obstacles and into the deeper levels is more important than killing monsters and clearing levels.

2. Non-linear with multiple directions and goals. While the Admin Center is the top prize, there are lesser 'prizes' located in different parts of the complex. None of these locations will be easy to get to, because the lore says that many prospectors tried to find these places for years, so you can’t just waltz in, but unlike AoD’s Abyss which had a single path to the central chamber and required a very specific build, there will be multiple ways supporting different stats and skillsets.

3. You’ll be frequently stopped by some obstacles (such as a retinal scanner, for example, or poisonous gas, or tough enemies, humans or otherwise) and would have to leave and return later when you acquire what you need. In other words, you won’t blast though the entire 'dungeon' in one go.

4. Every dungeon needs some enemies and they will come in two varieties: humans (rival prospectors, thugs looking for easy money, the Regulators if you piss them off) and creatures. While every RPG and every dungeon need some 'monsters' we believe that in this setting less is more, so the entire game will have 5-6 mutated creatures and we won’t throw them at you the way we did in Dungeon Rats but handle it very differently and hopefully more memorably.​
 

Major_Blackhart

Codexia Lord Sodom
Patron
Joined
Dec 5, 2002
Messages
18,300
Location
Jersey for now
That's fucking awesome.

Is that still the case with the few mutated monsters that you'll have in the game? I really like that concept. Too frequently I think some games of this type have too many alien monsters that everywhere.
 

Major_Blackhart

Codexia Lord Sodom
Patron
Joined
Dec 5, 2002
Messages
18,300
Location
Jersey for now
As a heads up. I'm going to buy early access the moment it comes out.

Will you guys do GoG & Steam? That way I can buy it twice at the least like I did with Underrail.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
That's fucking awesome.

Is that still the case with the few mutated monsters that you'll have in the game? I really like that concept. Too frequently I think some games of this type have too many alien monsters that everywhere.
Yes, the creatures are listed here:

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/topic,7615.0.html

Early Access 2019, release 2020.
We still getting a combat demo at some point ?
Yes, of course.

As a heads up. I'm going to buy early access the moment it comes out.

Will you guys do GoG & Steam? That way I can buy it twice at the least like I did with Underrail.
Yes, GOG & Steam. Thanks for always supporting us, Major.
 

Black Angel

Arcane
Joined
Jun 23, 2016
Messages
2,910
Location
Wonderland
Vault Dweller, don't you think that the negative reviews DR has been receiving lately is an indication that the Colony Ship cRPG should have a pure talker playtrough for players that don't care about the combat?
Well, Colony Ship will have pure fighter, talker, 'infiltrator' paths, so we've got it covered.
What about characters specialized in tasteful rape
 

Black Angel

Arcane
Joined
Jun 23, 2016
Messages
2,910
Location
Wonderland
You’ll gain LPs every time you pick a lock, hack a terminal, or infiltrate a place. Needless to say each lock and terminal pays LPs only once and sneaking is a special event, kind of like decking in the new Shadowrun games – you can’t do it at will but only during quests and special encounters while exploring.
Too bad we can't use sneaking at will, but just to make it clear; since I don't know how decking in the new Shadowrun games works, will sneaking in CS act like it was in AoD, via dialogue-esque windows, or will we be able to click around like when sneaking in a room at an inn?
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
We'll have a proper stealth system this time around. From an older update:

You know what to expect (more or less) from the character, combat, and dialogue systems. A proper stealth system is something new, which means there are many exciting ways to screw it up. So let's take a look at the rough "on paper" concept and get some feedback. Keep in mind that The New World isn't a stealth-focused game like Thief and we can't allocate all our limited resources to the stealth system alone. Having said that, we do want to offer an interesting and well-designed alternative solution to many side quests and a well-supported path through the game (like the talker's way in AoD - you couldn't talk your way in and out of every situation but you could talk your way through the game).

Let's start by giving you a specific example from one of the early quests and then go over the features. You need some energy cores, one of the scavenger crews has them, so you can either talk to them (pay a lot of money or con them like a pro), kill 'em all (always popular), or sneak around and do some breaking and entering.

There’s a built-in air purifier out back, you can use your Mechanics skill to open the hatch, making some noise in the process. If nobody comes to investigate, you enter the premises and TB stealth mode. The crew's leader is in the room next door, drunk after celebrating a successful run (if you come back later, he will be more alert). We check if he heard the noise. If he didn’t, he stays where he is. You need to make your way to a locked strongbox. Each step generates some noise, if he hears it, he goes to investigate. Finally, lockpicking the stronghold generates some noise too. So again, if he hears it, he goes to investigate. If not, he remains where he is and you get away clean.

If he does hear the noise, he goes to investigate, heading for the place where the noise originated from, meaning you should get as far away from that place as possible (as far as your AP allow, which means that sneaking will require high Dex and proper feats) or ambush him.

If he sees you (i.e. you're caught in his cone of vision), he goes for his gun, otherwise he starts searching. During the searching phase, if he comes close to you but doesn’t see you, you get an optional interrupt allowing you to insta-kill him using your trusted Critical Strike skill. Failing the attempt starts combat. You can also attempt to sneak up on him and kill him during your turn. If he sees you, he gets an interrupt attack and shoots you in the face.

Details:

1) Each action (movement, lockpicking, hacking, etc) is assigned noise points. The points, modified by your gear and Stealth) will add up with each action and will determine whether or not an NPC acting as 'guard' is alerted and goes to investigate.

So in this case you open up the hatch, the guard hears a light click but ignores it. You step inside, he hears something but ignores it too. You take several steps and finally get the guard's attention, raising his alert level. You success depends not a dice roll but on your skills and gear (either you can stay below the guard's radar or you can't). You can trigger his alert level the moment you step inside or when you make it to the strongbox and open it. Each subsequent action increases the alert level. A good thief can clean up the entire room, a not-so-good thief would have to stick to his objective and consider himself lucky if he isn't caught.

2) The movement’s noise points start at 1 and go up with every step (i.e. with every tile). It’s not that the third step makes more noise than the first two but the act of walking produces more noise than taking a single step (i.e. a single footstep may not be enough to trigger a guard’s attention but 3 footsteps might, plus it takes more skill to silently cross a hallway than to take a step or two). Thus more challenging tasks will require much higher skill levels and better gear. Same goes for optional objectives.

3) Your skills and gear will modify the noise points. For gear, we won’t go with % penalty but with +1, +2, etc. So if you wearing army boots with +2 and metal armor with +3, but your Stealth is 5, you generate 1+2+3-5 =1 points plus 1 with each step. Remove the armor and it will take a lot longer to make enough noise to alert the guards but if you’re caught, you’ll be wearing nothing but your jumpsuit.

4) Each guard's alert level is determined by his PER, something like 15-PER. So a guard with PER 8 will be alerted when you generate more noise points than 7. Thus the goal for the player is to have the right gear (not just the armor but the tools of the trade like jammers and electronic lockpicks) to reduce noise (if it takes you 5 min to open a lock, odds are you'll make more noise than someone who can open it in 30 sec). Overall, longer infiltration missions are much harder to pull off than shorter/simpler ones, which makes sense (without relying on higher checks, I mean).

5) In more open areas you can move freely during your turn. As long as the guards won't see you or won't become alert, you'll be able to get in and out without any problems. Getting caught doesn't always mean combat and painful, vividly described death. The exact outcome will differ based on each situation. Maybe your designated thief (can be you or any member of your crew) can talk his/her way out. Maybe the guards rob the thief and throw him/her out. Maybe they kill him or maybe they yell "we have your guy, come out!" and then you either come out and talk or leave him to his fate (to be killed).
 

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