Colony Ship Early Access Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Jaedar]

- The difficulty completely collapsed, not sure why; I had a ton of quests and felt somewhat stymied, but then I went to do the end of the Armory main quest, and it was quite easy (because I had the skills checked in the dialogue), and then everyone died, I had all the loot and my party could finally cream frogs, and then I could go anywhere, level up Faythe's lockpick on sufficiently easy locks, hack computers and electronics, etc. It took me about four hours to get where I was at the start of this session (very few quests complete), and then they all dropped one after another. Maybe it was finally being able to use the computer on top of the hydroponics tower that did it! Obviously, dialogue resolutions are way faster than combat resolutions, so perhaps there's no fix, but it seems like maybe you shouldn't get all the raider loot in the Armory if you use the autocannons to kill them (perhaps the loot could get destroyed in the attack). That might balance it better, not sure.

I agree. You struggle for a while, then a couple of skills hit a threshold and you can suddently go through a lot of content picking up xp and gear and companions and then you can steamroll the rest of chapter1. If your build is bad you might get stuck on the wrong side and have to reroll, otherwise it becomes easy.

 

[Lithium Flower]

please swap the rounder and bulldog sfx ok thanks

oh and suicide special and the bolter too

 

[PEACH]

during the ambush on the regulators in You Shall Not Pass what's supposed to happen if you close the gate and select 'get ready to fight' instead of the computer check?

the text implies the regulators will manage to get the gate open on their own but I've been stuck in a combat sequence with a giant gate between me and the enemies until I reload any time I chose that option.

 

[Twiglard]

What happens after the showdown and fetching the components from the alpha tower? I don't have any quests anymore and don't know where to go.

 

[kain30]

It would be great that once the game is complete you guys put a subquest where we can blow up the entire generation ship MWHAHAHAHA!

 

[Elhoim]

What does this marker mean? I think it might be something about reaction fire?

Yes, it shows there's a CHANCE it might happen. We actually wanted to show the chance or use different colors, but was a bit calculation intensive. We'll see what can be done, as right now it might be a 5% and it appears like you'd be hit for sure.

Moved to behind the counter, now there's these.

That's your cover against those guys.

And on a proposed move it turns into these.

That's the cover you'll have against those guys if you move there.

Excuse my , but some pointers here on what exactly the hell these mean would be great.

Nah, it's alright, they are not extremely intuitive. And sometimes is hard to explain all that. But it's good to see what you guys are not understanding so that we do a tutorial we don't make it obnoxiously detailed and focus on the stuff that's important for any new player.

the text implies the regulators will manage to get the gate open on their own but I've been stuck in a combat sequence with a giant gate between me and the enemies until I reload any time I chose that option.

It's fixed in the latest update.

 

[PEACH]

It's fixed in the latest update.

do you mean April 7th update or an upcoming one, because as of an hour ago it was still an issue on my current save.

 

[Elhoim]

do you mean April 7th update or an upcoming one, because as of an hour ago it was still an issue on my current save.

Thanks, what I fixed was the other one (the fight after failing the check, not going before).

 

[AdolfSatan]

With all the movement in here I just realized I haven't seen @Politician in a while, and honestly it's quite surprising. Did he self-eject? Went back to Lurker King/other alt?

 

[jackofshadows]

- Faythe got mad when Braxton was dead, but I don't recall her ever urging me to side with Braxton rather than Jonas.

But did she stay in your party? In any case, I appreciate that companions having their promised agenda but that should be more distinctive like in Morgan case with her.

- The difficulty completely collapsed, not sure why; I had a ton of quests and felt somewhat stymied, but then I went to do the end of the Armory main quest, and it was quite easy (because I had the skills checked in the dialogue), and then everyone died, I had all the loot and my party could finally cream frogs, and then I could go anywhere, level up Faythe's lockpick on sufficiently easy locks, hack computers and electronics, etc. It took me about four hours to get where I was at the start of this session (very few quests complete), and then they all dropped one after another. Maybe it was finally being able to use the computer on top of the hydroponics tower that did it! Obviously, dialogue resolutions are way faster than combat resolutions, so perhaps there's no fix, but it seems like maybe you shouldn't get all the raider loot in the Armory if you use the autocannons to kill them (perhaps the loot could get destroyed in the attack). That might balance it better, not sure.

Yeah, I thought I was too biased due to beta testing but the difficulty is lacking here compare to AoD. There were also certain 'threshholds' after which run could become a complete faceroll, ecpecially if char was able to move deeply into arena right off the bat and get the right gear. Here while vendors sell mostly utter trash you can get your hands early on granger coat or rusty doomsayer. Consumables are what they are but still - getting stasis grenades so early? And the ability to buy high-grade grenades right at the start? Not sure. Skill-checks are tight but not tight enough since after learning my imstakes in the second run I got access to all the stuff: implants, tokens, gear... Hope that there will be enough challenges ahead to use all of this.

 

[Savecummer]

BUGZBUGZBUGZ

Sharpface dialogue
there is a 4 streetwise node thats says "you will be broke years later, ...something something regret", it seems to actually be a 3 streetwise node
you win it (with only 3 streetwise) and go to two nodes of: 4 streetwise ("social experiment...") and 4 persuation ("plasma rilfes, grenades...")
the 4 streetwise "social experiment..." node can also be won with only 3 streetwise and leads into a 8 charisma check...
if you fail the supposed 4 streetwise "you will be broke years later" node, you only go to a 7 charisma check which wins the dialogue

Basically, there are 2 misnamed Streetwise nodes that say they are 4 Streetwise but show Success! with only 3.
And there is a path that ignores all skills and wins the dialogue with 7 Charisma
And winning the 4 (actually 3) Streetwise "years later ... broke ... regret" node leads you into another 4 (actually 3) Streetwise node which then requires 8 Charisma, while failing the original node lets you win with only 7 Charisma.

 

[Savecummer]

More BUGZ

Also, Sharpface dialogue:
after winning the dialogue and approaching the door, there is an option to "run away" which should kill you. It doesnt. It just moves Sharpface next to you and you can cycle his dialogue tree ad infini

In Morgan dialogue there is an option "last chance to leave buddy" which shows no skillcheck when you pick it but shows "streetwise success" if you good enough.
Also, when sneaking in Morgans tower, there is a console, leaving the console after using 3 electronics on it lets you reuse it ad infini too

Blueprints are the hard amirite

 

[jackofshadows]

Faithe sneaking but check is for MC. Maybe it's worth to make her refuse to sneak there at all given her agenda.

Also, as Savecummer have pointed out, while it's not exactly easy yet possible to recruit 2 companions right off the bat, (I just did that) while having 4 charisma. I mean... Even if recruiting will take place later on and I know this is core rules stuff but maybe it's too much? IIRC DR has more squat scheme where if you were dumping CHA you were off solo automatically which makes sense.

 

[lukaszek]

is recruitment mandatory? i hate bringing sidekicks

unless its a dog

 

[Binky]

How does one side with Mercy?

The answer comes from Steam:

If you convince Mercy to betray Jonas, she'll decide not to stop half way and kill Braxton (with your help) after you kill Jonas with Braxton's help.

This was my first EA combat run. Three fights without healing. Goddamn. Ran out of bullets, but Mercy is in charge. Praise da Lawd.

Spoiler

 

[Pink Eye]

This game is the bee's knees.

Spoiler

Buff Faythe pl0x. Best girl. But she's like a wet noddle compared to Evans.

 

[Agesilaus]

Bug report:

Spoiler

After you kill Jonas, you can side with Mercy.
After you kill Braxton this way, go to his office.

The door to his private room is closed and you cannot interact with it in any way. There is a chest inside his private room that still lights up when you hit tab, but no way to get to it. Braxton is dead, so it's not like anybody is stopping you; it appears to be a bug in the interface. The player should be able to open the door and walk in (or kick it in, or pick it, or whatever skill check you think appropriate).

 

[Jaedar]

is recruitment mandatory? i hate bringing sidekicks

unless its a dog

It's not mandatory, but even a cha4 character has a slot for one companion, and going solo to fights is a lot harder than having a friend.

Buff Faythe pl0x. Best girl. But she's like a wet noddle compared to Evans.

Faythe is a noncombat skill mule, just look at her starting skills.

 

[Agesilaus]

Spoiler

Is there any way of finding the 12 digit code for the final elevantor in the armoury, the one on the second level behind all the security? Or does that elevator lead to some super secret late game area?

Question about whether a certain bit of game content is in the demo or only in the full release.

 

[Reid]

Are remappable controls planned to be implemented at some point soon?

 

[jackofshadows]

Buff Faythe pl0x.

Not sure what you mean, her stats are awesome by companion's standarts. HP is lacking but you can still do a lot with that, just not at the front line.

 

[Agesilaus]

Finished the demo, reached level 4 and felt pretty powerful and wealthy. Pretty sure I worked my way through all of the content from at least one angle. It seemed to me that unlike Teron, the content is essentially the same for everyone with just a slight difference depending on the faction you support to rule the town, but maybe the plotlines will spiral out in radically different directions when you reach the Habitat.

One final bug:

Spoiler

There are two frog brains in the demo - one in the armoury, one in the biological area. If you bring the second frog brain to the scientist in camp reid, she doesn't acknowledge it. There is no way to tell her that you have extracted another brain. This is in addition to the bug that was already pointed out by someone else- she will give you infinite computer skill points.

All in all, excellent game and I am looking forward to the next major update. Captures the AoD spirit but in a totally different setting, with much different (some would say improved) mechanics, and different enough to genuinely be its own game. Couldn't have wished for more, Iron Tower Studio delivers again.

 

[Agesilaus]

This game is the bee's knees.

Spoiler

Buff Faythe pl0x. Best girl. But she's like a wet noddle compared to Evans.

Faith is supposed to be the sneaky-sneak lockpicker person. Maybe she does better if you buff her evasion and get her the forcefield armour and stuff that doesn't give too many penalties, I don't know how powerful a high dodge character can be in this game. I agree she is weaker than Evans if you dress her up normally, though. In the last battles against the frogs, I used her as force-field bait for the bullfrogs while Evans and the player character gunned them down.

 

[Agesilaus]

is recruitment mandatory? i hate bringing sidekicks

unless its a dog

No, but take Evans and just pretend he is a dog that figured out how to use firearms.

 

[Alphons]

Just finished a second playthrough- first was lone wolf hammer wielder, second was diplomatic team builder. First one backed Braxton and second Jonas.

Things I liked:

• Visuals. AoD and DR had a great art direction, but they were ugly. Colony Ship looks great (just turn off bloom), especially from height (Outer Gate in Pit and Hydroponics Towers).
• Music.
• New persuasion system.
• Sneaking- used it both to avoid enemies and to take some enemies out before starting combat. Once you understand how it works (some tutorial or tip for new players would be appreciated), it's really easy to read and plan around.
• Combat- similar to AoD and DR, but guns and gadgets give it a distinct feel.
• Writing- had a chuckle with streetwise check about social experiment. Really cool setting, interesting characters and some fun quests.

Things that should be added:

• Some tutorials or tips at the start, especially about stealth. You shouldn't have to look on Steam forums how an entire mechanic works.
• Option to save or autosave between fights in longer encounters. I had a crash when fighting Jonas in Promised Land and having to redo an entire shootout outside wasn't fun as a solo melee character (it wasn't hard, but it takes ages to kill all the guards with a bunch of LVL 1 riflemen).

Bugs and other problems:

• No option to tell Jonas that you haven't killed those two guys shaking down Abe or figured out it was Braxton who hired them (INT 7 check).
• During the quest to kill Samuel, option to make noise by hitting a turret only appears after everyone is dead. Sounds like something you'd want to do when sneaking.
• During a fight with Mercy, one of the guards is locked behind a door and can't take part in fight until you pick the lock.
• During the final fight in the Court (Brotherhood bounty hunter) enemies were losing frames when moving around. It didn't happen in any other fights, which felt more demanding on the computer (shootout with Jonas for example).
• During a fight against Jonas inside Promised Land game crashed after Martinez was killed with Reaction Shot by Caleb. I couldn't replicate it a second time, as he died outside when I replayed.
• If you sneak around the first frogs in Armory, text says that they took the body they were devouring with them and it was gone in game. After returning later from the Pit with enough Electronics for the nearby door, body was back where it was with some minor loot

Both playthroughs took around 9,5 hours.
Overall definitely recommended. Excited to see more locations.