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Colony Ship update #33 - State of the Game

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Why does Vince only put horrible sociopaths as NPCs in all his games? Seems like after sociopaths in Rome, now we get sociopaths in space.
 

deuxhero

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Is the "Rounder" a turret revolver? Not sure how you make one work with self contained cartridges which is all the ammo I see in the inventory shots (best I can think of effectively makes a harmonica gun with more complex parts and without the advantage of swapable harmonicas) or why anyone would make one in a world without patents on the rotating cylinder.
 

Lady_Error

█▓▒░ ░▒▓█
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Anyway, what's the best way to show the effective and max ranges without going overboard with colors? I was thinking something like a laser sight/beam that appears when you target someone and shows you both ranges.

Maybe a solid green circle for the effective range and a bigger dotted circle for the maximum range? Or just a line in whatever direction you are aiming, marking the effective range with a fat dot and the maximum range line beyond that being dotted or thinner.
 
Repressed Homosexual
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Why does Vince only put horrible sociopaths as NPCs in all his games? Seems like after sociopaths in Rome, now we get sociopaths in space.
I hope you aren't paying attention to business and politics, otherwise you might discover sociopaths in Washington and Silicon Valley.

That may be so, but I thought you once said that NPCs in AoD were sociopathic because it served the purported atmosphere for the game.

But based on these admittedly limited screenshots, it's still way, way closer in tone to AoD than Star Trek or Babylon 5.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
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Why does Vince only put horrible sociopaths as NPCs in all his games? Seems like after sociopaths in Rome, now we get sociopaths in space.
I hope you aren't paying attention to business and politics, otherwise you might discover sociopaths in Washington and Silicon Valley.

That may be so, but I thought you once said that NPCs in AoD were sociopathic because it served the purported atmosphere for the game.

But based on these admittedly limited screenshots, it's still way, way closer in tone to AoD than Star Trek or Babylon 5.
It's a Deadwood-esque town, sitting outside of the Habitat's sphere of influence. It's exactly what you'd expect from a lawless town built from containers, both in terms of the atmosphere and people who'd feel at home there. The Habitat is the opposite: futuristic, cosmopolitan, and ideologically divided. The mutant town and the ECLSS are very different as well.
 

Disgruntled

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Looks really good for an early build, I can only nitpick on the character models for now.
That's quite a step up from AoD for making those first impressions on the masses. Though im sure they'll still leave when they cant get past the first level or so :D
 

Goral

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The placement of these crates seems very artificial and makes it obvious that this setup has been created in a game. A wall of crates placed every few meters is a waste of space and doesn't make sense even if we were to assume it was placed there for cover. Why would anyone allow enemies to approach using them for cover? They would only place them on their side so that the rest would be sitting ducks. You're taking example of Wasteland 2 or Shadowrun instead of Jagged Alliance or Fallout Tactics (or even Dungeon Rats, although cover there only mattered when you were facing crossbow or bow). Then again these games had open spaces, buildings, trenches, vehicles, etc. etc. Maybe if instead of crates only you would show what's actually in them (so some sacks, barrels, T bars, some trash or debris maybe) or next to them (cranes, forklifts) and mix things up a bit (for example there could be a puddle of oil that would give penalties if we would step on it, some gas tanks we could blow up, there could be rats or some cockroaches running so that it wouldn't feels so sterile) it would feel better. For now it looks like arena.

Other than that it looks great.
 

Alpan

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Grab the Codex by the pussy Pathfinder: Wrath
Unless the screenshots in update #31 were sketches, the UI panel art appear to have regressed.

3ULugLR.jpg

smv4bgR.png

Also:

The placement of these crates seems very artificial and makes it obvious that this setup has been created in a game.

Agreed. It gives the impression that the world is purpose-built for the player, rather than something that exists independently of the player.
 

Elhoim

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Don't read too much either regarding cover or the GUI. It's all temporary placement for testing. Early this morning we had grey blocks for cover, and we are just placing them around for testing behaviors, sizes, types, animations, etc., not actual combat balance. Same for the GUI, most of the just have the basic, first implementation without an art pass. And yes, that dialogue GUI was a sketch, the idea is to have that style.

As VD mentioned above, the placement of cover will be way more natural, and keep in mind this area is an arena designed for combat, so it will be a bit more "purpose-built".
 

hivemind

Guest
You won't be able to do everything with the same character and there will be many hard to reach areas, mutually exclusive decisions, especially related to factions, specific consequences and such, if that's what you're asking.
I meant more specifically just the "hard to reach areas" bits. Something like The Abyss, Darius Armor, etc.
 

Vault Dweller

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The placement of these crates seems very artificial and makes it obvious that this setup has been created in a game.

Agreed. It gives the impression that the world is purpose-built for the player, rather than something that exists independently of the player.
While the placement is temporary (mainly for the developers to test different covers, lines of sight, overhead indicators, etc), it is an arena built for the amusement of the crowd. It is not a "natural" environment by definition. Again, keep in mind that this is an early build that was put together 2 weeks ago. The only things that are final there are weapon icons and portraits.

You won't be able to do everything with the same character and there will be many hard to reach areas, mutually exclusive decisions, especially related to factions, specific consequences and such, if that's what you're asking.
I meant more specifically just the "hard to reach areas" bits. Something like The Abyss, Darius Armor, etc.
Yes, there are areas that only 5-10% of players would be able to explore.
 

agris

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Vault Dweller I want to make sure I understand weapon range before offering a suggestion. There are two sets of ranges, point blank up to and including effective, where there there is no THC malus, and effective to maximum, with the -10 THC/tile malus? So there is no range under which there’s a THC penalty? A minimum effective, for firing a long gun at point blank for example?
 
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Vault Dweller

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Vault Dweller I want to make sure I understand weapon range before offering a suggestion. There are two sets of ranges, point blank up to and including effective, where there there is no THC malus, and effective to maximum, with the -10 THC/tile malus? So there is no range under which there’s a THC penalty? A minimum effective, for firing a long gun at point blank for example?
There are point blank penalties for certain weapon types (a rifle, for example), but let's ignore them and focus on effective (no THC malus) and max (losing THC with every tile) ranges. If the player aims a pistol and sees that his THC is 5%, he needs to know it's because the enemy is far beyond the effective range.
 

CappenVarra

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Correct. Half-cover reduces the attacker's THC by 25%, full cover by 35%.
For the sake of us (the few, the proud, the obsessive-compulsive) inquiring individuals, can we perhaps make it 20/40% or 25/50%?

if half-cover doesn't produce 0.5 of the effect of full cover, isn't it mis-named?

on the other hand (of darkness), i wouldn't mind if my glass being half-full meant it was 71.43% percent full - it would last a bit longer that way ;)
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
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Correct. Half-cover reduces the attacker's THC by 25%, full cover by 35%.
For the sake of us (the few, the proud, the obsessive-compulsive) inquiring individuals, can we perhaps make it 20/40% or 25/50%?
If the players demand it after playing the demo, sure. Obviously, the balance is more important than how the lesser cover is called (how about limited cover?), but if the majority of players demand it, we'll gladly consider it.
 

Neanderthal

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Do cover bonuses (whether partial, light, heavy or whatever) stack with other considerations, or is it its own thing?
 

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