Colony Ship update #43: combat beta on Apr 15

[Abu Antar]

There are conditions to some feats. True Grit was my best friend. I do agree that Underrail is hard to beat feats-wise, though.

Fast Draw: Always strike first, +5 action points in the first turn.
Lone Wolf: Evasion +15, Reaction +20, CS chance +5% when working alone (you can recruit party members but lose the bonus).
Sarge: party members only: THC +10, CS chance +5%: Requires: Charisma 6
True Grit: Evasion +10, ballistic DR +1, reaction +10 when not in cover.
Second Wind: AP +6 on kill.
Berserker: Attack Cost -1, +1 to min damage, aimed attacks are permanently disabled. Requires Strength 8.

Even the weapon feats offer something other than raw numbers.
Pistolero: Pistol Accuracy +10. Reaction +4 for each skill level.
Rifleman: Rifle Accuracy +10. Stagger +5 for each skill level.
Too Close!: Shotgun Accuracy +10. Knockdown +5 for each skill level.
Gunner: SMG Accuracy +10. Graze +3 for each skill level.
Master Blaster: Energy Weapons: THC +15, CS chance +10, energy skills grow 25% faster.

EDIT: Feats related to the stealth system are not in. I suspect that we will non-combat feats, but there's no point in showing them in a combat demo. Don't quote me on this, though. There's also implants coming, but I don't know if I can talk about that.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Cyberarmy which part of my post were fake news?

Missclick

 

[Black Angel]

Master Blaster: Energy Weapons: THC +15, CS chance +10, energy skills grow 25% faster.

Hmm Vault Dweller now that the energy skills are merged with the firearms skills, will the energy growth bonus removed? Or changed, like 'skills grow faster when using an energy weapon'?

 

[Trashos]

At first I was one of the guys worried with the decision to go with learning-by-doing system, but after experiencing it myself there's no need to worry about it. What we need to see now is how the learning-by-doing system works with non-combat gameplay.
....
The feats selection and its effect weren't as exciting as Underrail's, and even New Vegas, for now, but hopefully it would be rectified at release.

Well, I am still worried about it. (haven't played the beta)

Underrail and New Vegas are great examples of games that allow a lot of fun planning the character. Especially Underrail, where planning the character is more or less considered to be part of the gameplay, and supported by the online character builder. I am still unsure what I am going to be able to plan about in Colony Ship.

Fingers crossed. I am excited about Colony Ship regardless, but this is kind of a biggie for me.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Master Blaster: Energy Weapons: THC +15, CS chance +10, energy skills grow 25% faster.

Hmm Vault Dweller now that the energy skills are merged with the firearms skills, will the energy growth bonus removed? Or changed, like 'skills grow faster when using an energy weapon'?

Removed as it's no longer necessary.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

This belief alignment system is promising.

That's my point. With the new updates, the Heroic feats are *really* cool stuff only obtainable by those with a 10 in a stat. And they really do let you do some cool shit like with 10 DEX feat, you can (from what I read) completely disable enemy's reaction/Attack of Opportunity when moving. Haven't tried it, but man that's what I'm talking about.

But the selection pool still pale in comparison to the other games I've mentioned. I'd sincerely hope VD would consider putting out more cool feats, and ALSO cool non-combat feats.

Maybe you should suggest some new feats then.

 

[Black Angel]

I am still unsure what I am going to be able to plan about in Colony Ship.

Don't worry. Ignoring even the feat selection pool for now, just play it like trying to play AoD, but this time you also have an option for playing a gunslinger character archetype and the likes. Not to mention companions and party-based mechanics. And like I said, the Heroic feats are the coolest stuff so far even though they reward specialist (aka minmaxed) characters.

Maybe you should suggest some new feats then.

Will do, once I get around to play using my brother's new PC so I can play with comfortable framerate because my laptop can't handle the incline as well as it should

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Will do, once I get around to play using my brother's new PC so I can play with comfortable framerate because my laptop can't handle the incline as well as it should

Shit. Not even with lower graphics?

 

[Black Angel]

Will do, once I get around to play using my brother's new PC so I can play with comfortable framerate because my laptop can't handle the incline as well as it should

Shit. Not even with lower graphics?

It's my shitty laptop, the game is fine

 

[Diggfinger]

Can we try out (parts of) character creation in this demo or combat only?

 

[Abu Antar]

Can we try out (parts of) character creation in this demo or combat only?

You can create your own character from scratch.

 

[Tigranes]

re. learn by doing & 'cool feats':

Despite playing the beta extensively, it's hard to say how well learn by doing works / doesn't work in CSG, because you can't really get a sense of it in an artificial combat arena where you go through the entire game's growth trajectory in a few battles without a proper party. So I would say that even after the combat demo is out, we're not really going to know how learn by doing plays out. It's as if UR had a learn by doing system, but all you got to play was the arena demo where you level up 3 times after each fight.

Regarding the lack of 'cool feats', I agree - & I also think that this parsimony is a signature of ITS design that did have its benefits in AOD. Cool feats/abilities are usually cool because they break the existing rules and give themselves an exception. By being very strict about this, AOD achieved a system where you always know what you can do and what the opponent can do with one look at the battlefield, and where you really have to sit there and calculate every angle and every option each turn to manage the chessboard. When you have too many 'cool feats', you exponentially raise the risk that players exercise get out of jail cards, that enemies do it, and that the whole system becomes muddier.

That said, I also pushed in the beta for a little more zest, and we got it in the form of Heroic feats and some new feats - everything got more spiced up relative to the first beta round. I think it's in a pretty good place now. I personally find the combat overall less fun than AOD, because guns collapse space management that was so central to AOD, but it is clear that the system is built with similar kinds of care & good logic and that it can provide broadly the same kind of excellent pleasure.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Regarding the lack of 'cool feats', I agree - & I also think that this parsimony is a signature of ITS design that did have its benefits in AOD. Cool feats/abilities are usually cool because they break the existing rules and give themselves an exception. By being very strict about this, AOD achieved a system where you always know what you can do and what the opponent can do with one look at the battlefield, and where you really have to sit there and calculate every angle and every option each turn to manage the chessboard. When you have too many 'cool feats', you exponentially raise the risk that players exercise get out of jail cards, that enemies do it, and that the whole system becomes muddier.

You mean, the cool feats are game breaking because they make the game less challenging as you progress.

That said, I also pushed in the beta for a little more zest, and we got it in the form of Heroic feats and some new feats - everything got more spiced up relative to the first beta round.

I personally find the combat overall less fun than AOD, because guns collapse space management that was so central to AOD, but it is clear that the system is built with similar kinds of care & good logic and that it can provide broadly the same kind of excellent pleasure.

 

[Tigranes]

I don't know what to tell you, my friend.

 

[Ismaul]

whatisfun.jpg

 

[Black Angel]

because guns collapse space management that was so central to AOD,

Aren't the cover mechanics there to maintain some sort of space management? Not to mention there's even a feat that relies on the characters being behind a cover?

But yeah, we can't judge or measure this based on very limited arena session.

 

[conan_edw]

What time should we expect it to come out?

 

[Vault Dweller]

What time should we expect it to come out?

Early morning. You won't have to wait long.

 

[Agesilaus]

AoD combat demo was amazing. 4/15 is going to be great.

 

[Agesilaus]

It is now 12:01 am in my timezone, and as the Player Character my timezone controls. Yet, the "download demo" button just refreshes the screen without downloading anything. This is not justice, I will not be denied access to what is almost certainly GOTY 2020 & 2021!

 

[razvedchiki]

its already morning comrade commisar.

 

[Rinslin Merwind]

It's already late morning in MSK and early morning in GMT and "download demo" button only refreshes page. Perhaps we misunderstood something and release of public demo scheduled according Pacific Time? It's also possibly that button not working because bug in Valve's code, but probability of this is low.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Early morning. You won't have to wait long.

I demand the Colony Ship demo!
I'm holding 10 pigeons cats bats as hostages and i'll be eating one every hour until it's released!

 

[conan_edw]

It's already late morning in MSK and early morning in GMT and "download demo" button only refreshes page. Perhaps we misunderstood something and release of public demo scheduled according Pacific Time? It's also possibly that button not working because bug in Valve's code, but probability of this is low.

If I'm not mistaken ITS is based in Canada so I assume VD means morning in there and the time is still 5 a.m. at the moment.

 

[Rinslin Merwind]

If I'm not mistaken ITS is based in Canada

Ah, if you correct, this can explain situation. For some reason I thought that studio operates in Europe, so this is why I tried demo button so early.