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

[Pink Eye]

Quick Fingers:

 

[lukaszek]

also another feat to allow looting implants in combat

 

[Eyestabber]

In the current version the "unload" feature is bugged for me. Ammo is simply wasted. VERY annoying. Any console commands to give myself some free ammo and recoup what the game stole?

 

[Vault Dweller]

In the current version the "unload" feature is bugged for me. Ammo is simply wasted. VERY annoying. Any console commands to give myself some free ammo and recoup what the game stole?

Are you absolutely certain? Nobody's reported it yet, not in the combat demo not in any EA version.

 

[Eyestabber]

In the current version the "unload" feature is bugged for me. Ammo is simply wasted. VERY annoying. Any console commands to give myself some free ammo and recoup what the game stole?

Are you absolutely certain? Nobody's reported it yet, not in the combat demo not in any EA version.

HOLY SHIT, NVM. Howler AR actually uses...9mm. So that's why I wasn't getting more rifle (5.56) rounds.

ANYWAY...

 

[agris]

come on Eyestabber! Just use your ey.... oh wait, nvm.

 

[Eyestabber]

Oukay, finished the EA build. Random thoughts:

• Nice mix of engagement distances, hope it remains so during the rest of the game. Melee and sniping are IMO mutually exclusive, so it's gonna be tough making sure both ninjas and snipers remain relevant all game.
• The very early game needs more thugs/easy fights like the duo near the apartment. Right now it feels REALLY tight, to the point where I felt the need to go back and forth between armory, hydro, courthouse, outskirts and Control, carefully measuring enemy groups and trying to figure out an optimal "path". Once you get some upgrades things become smoother but until then it's VERY easy to run into several unwinnable fights.
• Were some feats removed? I remember there were a bunch of pistol feats that are now gone...? Not sure, but...
• Companion survivability is a massive ass pain. It's easy to beef up the PC, but once you get the ball rolling enemy gunners will quickly start ignoring you and gunning down Faythe with burst fire from like 20 squares away. The evasion XP formula needs some tweaks. As it stands right now companions get stuck on a "not enough Evasion -> get hit -> don't get evasion XP to avoid hits -> keep getting hit -> die" loop. In short: you need evasion to get evasion, so if you don't have much evasion...
• Mission control feels dry at the moment. All the in-game text led me to think Control would be full of long lost secrets of the ship, there is a dedicated Lore NPC at the entrance and...not much to be found. I know it's EA, I'm just saying I hope MC is somewhat like the Tower and Archway: cool lore locations oozing with mystery.
• Isn't the Church a MAJOR faction in CSG? Then why are they completely ignored during the Braxton v Jonas thing?
• Mercy should be introduced earlier. For someone locked inside her very own fort and with the forces capable of challenging either side, you'd expect her to be more connected to the world instead of being a mere plot point.
• I'm excited for the Harbinger x Knurl thing. Mutant society seems interesting.
• With so many major and minor factions around, I feel like flags, emblems and uniforms would be a welcome addition. In AoD every faction had a color scheme: Red IG, Purple Aurelianus, etc. In CSG you have MORE factions but everyone wears the same trenchcoats, so it all ends up blending together.
• Is Smiles a possible party member? I hope she will be. SMG tank NPC sounds pretty useful. That and she looks cute.
• How do I turn characters in battle? This seems to be a major contributor to my belief that distortion >>>>> shields. Shields need to be tougher since they merely add to your DR while distortion provides WAY more utility.
• No map? I remember there was a map in previous versions, no? Currently I've no clue how MC and Factory connect to the pit, there doesn't seem to be a path other than teleporting. Lack of area connections make the world feel..."floaty"?
• Factions need more manpower in general. Regulators have like...two dudes on each floor of Braxton's office and that's it? Maybe add some patrols, some dudes doing drills near the HQ, I dunno. Same with Jonas. Mercy OTOH looks fine, ironically enough. There's a disconnect between how big and powerful the game tells you a faction is and how small their forces look. I think we need a better sense of "borders" too -> make sure the player knows who owns a certain part of town just by looking at it.
• Armor penalties (maybe) need some tweaking? I never got to upgrade Evans past Scav armor because the penalties were simply crippling and detrimental to his overall survival. PC OTOH was running around comfortably in Riot Armor and was basically unkillable during Factory. I feel like the Armor Skill doesn't do much for people without 8+ STR.
• Cover is WEIRD. Plenty of objects look like they should provide cover, but don't. And several covers only work from a single angle, oddly enough. In most encounters cover is only available to enemies. Actually, combat positioning seems to be out to get the player. The Morgan encounter, for instance, is hellish if you attempt it the "normal" way, but super easy if you sneak in (with 0 investment), fail the check and start fighting from a corner, instead of being surrounded. Sharp Face is similar.

Guess that's enough random thoughts for now. Will do another playthrough.

 

[Pink Eye]

Is Smiles a possible party member? I hope she will be. SMG tank NPC sounds pretty useful. That and she looks cute.

Vince pl0x. Make Smiles a companion.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Nice mix of engagement distances, hope it remains so during the rest of the game.

It will.

The very early game needs more thugs/easy fights like the duo near the apartment. Right now it feels REALLY tight, to the point where I felt the need to go back and forth between armory, hydro, courthouse, outskirts and Control, carefully measuring enemy groups and trying to figure out an optimal "path". Once you get some upgrades things become smoother but until then it's VERY easy to run into several unwinnable fights.

We'll add more fights in the Outskirts, but I think you'll be able to do the fights in any order once you're more used to the combat system.

Were some feats removed? I remember there were a bunch of pistol feats that are now gone...? Not sure, but...

No combat feats were removed.

Companion survivability is a massive ass pain. It's easy to beef up the PC, but once you get the ball rolling enemy gunners will quickly start ignoring you and gunning down Faythe with burst fire from like 20 squares away. The evasion XP formula needs some tweaks. As it stands right now companions get stuck on a "not enough Evasion -> get hit -> don't get evasion XP to avoid hits -> keep getting hit -> die" loop. In short: you need evasion to get evasion, so if you don't have much evasion...

Not sure but let's ask Pink Eye

Mission control feels dry at the moment. All the in-game text led me to think Control would be full of long lost secrets of the ship, there is a dedicated Lore NPC at the entrance and...not much to be found.

You'd have to 'dive' deeper for that. The current Mission Control content is nothing but intro.

Isn't the Church a MAJOR faction in CSG? Then why are they completely ignored during the Braxton v Jonas thing?

They don't have much interest in the Pit.

With so many major and minor factions around, I feel like flags, emblems and uniforms would be a welcome addition. In AoD every faction had a color scheme: Red IG, Purple Aurelianus, etc. In CSG you have MORE factions but everyone wears the same trenchcoats, so it all ends up blending together.

We'll spice it up and add some color later on. Keep in mind that the Pit (or any other chapter 1 location) doesn't have any major faction presence.

Is Smiles a possible party member? I hope she will be. SMG tank NPC sounds pretty useful. That and she looks cute.

No. Scripting party members is a lot more painful than anticipated, so we'll stick with what was planned.

No map? I remember there was a map in previous versions, no? Currently I've no clue how MC and Factory connect to the pit, there doesn't seem to be a path other than teleporting. Lack of area connections make the world feel..."floaty"?

No world map at the moment.

Factions need more manpower in general. Regulators have like...two dudes on each floor of Braxton's office and that's it? Maybe add some patrols, some dudes doing drills near the HQ, I dunno.

It's a bit of a problem, mainly tied to looting. So either we do what most RPGs do and limits drops to a potion and 5 coins or we keep the number of combatants low. It is mentioned that the Regulators patrol the area around the Pit and one of the alternative quests is to stop one of the patrols from entering the town.

 

[agris]

Oukay, finished the EA build. Random thoughts:

• Isn't the Church a MAJOR faction in CSG? Then why are they completely ignored during the Braxton v Jonas thing?
• Mercy should be introduced earlier. For someone locked inside her very own fort and with the forces capable of challenging either side, you'd expect her to be more connected to the world instead of being a mere plot point.

This gets to some feedback I gave Vault Dweller earlier re: The Pit feeling a bit half-baked in terms of world-building, especially Mercy. It may make sense for the Church to stay removed from overtly backing a side in the Pit, I get the feeling they're playing a long game, but I would expect some dialogue between yourself and the church preacher once it's clear that you're going to impact the fight for leadership.

• The very early game needs more thugs/easy fights like the duo near the apartment. Right now it feels REALLY tight, to the point where I felt the need to go back and forth between armory, hydro, courthouse, outskirts and Control, carefully measuring enemy groups and trying to figure out an optimal "path". Once you get some upgrades things become smoother but until then it's VERY easy to run into several unwinnable fights.

Your point about jumping around between maps, I'm not convinced that's a bad thing. Depending on how good (or not) your character is at combat will influence the need to do this dance. My first character wasn't very good at combat and I was able to clear most of the pit and armory without much dancing. Little did i know hydro was easier than armory, mostly, and I had saved it for last. I think the design intention where you don't just steamroll one area before moving onto the next is actually a good thing, and I don't think it's over-tuned to where you *have* to follow a pre-ordained path through the combats contained within pit, armory and hydro per my own experience.

 

[Pink Eye]

I actually was helping a steam user who built his Faythe like this:

Spoiler

As you can see. He built her for stealth but was using her for combats. Her build lacked survivability - meaning no evasion feats or tough bastard, but I still managed to beat the final arena encounter which he struggled with.

Spoiler

In regards to evasion grinding. It's not that difficult to get it to 5.

Spoiler

 

[Vault Dweller]

This gets to some feedback I gave Vault Dweller earlier re: The Pit feeling a bit half-baked in terms of world-building, especially Mercy. It may make sense for the Church to stay removed from overtly backing a side in the Pit, I get the feeling they're playing a long game, but I would expect some dialogue between yourself and the church preacher once it's clear that you're going to impact the fight for leadership.

Look at it this way, any Church is two very different things: your local preacher looking after his flock and a powerful institution wielding very real, non-spiritual power. Some small town priest can't speak for the Vatican and make deals on its behalf. Same here. You've met the preacher but not the institution.

 

[agris]

This gets to some feedback I gave Vault Dweller earlier re: The Pit feeling a bit half-baked in terms of world-building, especially Mercy. It may make sense for the Church to stay removed from overtly backing a side in the Pit, I get the feeling they're playing a long game, but I would expect some dialogue between yourself and the church preacher once it's clear that you're going to impact the fight for leadership.

Look at it this way, any Church is two very different things: your local preacher looking after his flock and a powerful institution wielding very real, non-spiritual power. Some small town priest can't speak for the Vatican and make deals on its behalf. Same here. You've met the preacher but not the institution.

That's fair, but I expect the Preacher also acts as an information gatherer for the Church, much like diplomats do for their respective country. In that regard, I would also expect the Preacher to at least have a very eager ear to hear your thoughts on the leadership struggle. It just seemed off-note for him not to recognize your role in this conflict, given how public it was with Braxton outside of Abe's shop.

 

[Technomancer]

No world map at the moment.

You could share the design doc for it though. Even when skeletal just seeing the layout gives so much more connection to the world.

It's a bit of a problem, mainly tied to looting. So either we do what most RPGs do and limits drops to a potion and 5 coins or we keep the number of combatants low. It is mentioned that the Regulators patrol the area around the Pit and one of the alternative quests is to stop one of the patrols from entering the town.

You can still add more people and kill them off-screen. Like when you go to attack HQ writing could mention how there are skirmishes all over the place, faction soldiers fighting in a street war. After you secure the HQ add some corpses in the pit and winning side standing over and looting the fallen (that way you can't do it).

 

[Vault Dweller]

That's fair, but I expect the Preacher also acts as an information gatherer for the Church, much like diplomats do for their respective country.

We considered it but decided against it as it would make him an agent rather than a pure believer who tries to do the right thing for the town.

In that regard, I would also expect the Preacher to at least have a very eager ear to hear your thoughts on the leadership struggle. It just seemed off-note for him not to recognize your role in this conflict, given how public it was with Braxton outside of Abe's shop.

We can certainly add it but I don't think it will be a very interesting conversation since the conflict is between Jonas and Braxton, and Mercy makes her move at the very last minute. Braxton had a falling out with the Church so he wouldn't be a preferred candidate and the preacher shouldn't really meddle at this point. He will, however, play a much stronger role in chapter 2 if Mercy's in charge. That's his turn to shine.

No world map at the moment.

You could share the design doc for it though. Even when skeletal just seeing the layout gives so much more connection to the world.

You can still add more people and kill them off-screen. Like when you go to attack HQ writing could mention how there are skirmishes all over the place, faction soldiers fighting in a street war. After you secure the HQ add some corpses in the pit and winning side standing over and looting the fallen (that way you can't do it).

I like it, we'll see what could be done (not now but when we do the visual improvements pass).

 

[agris]

In that regard, I would also expect the Preacher to at least have a very eager ear to hear your thoughts on the leadership struggle. It just seemed off-note for him not to recognize your role in this conflict, given how public it was with Braxton outside of Abe's shop.

We can certainly add it but I don't think it will be a very interesting conversation since the conflict is between Jonas and Braxton, and Mercy makes her move at the very last minute. Braxton had a falling out with the Church so he wouldn't be a preferred candidate and the preacher shouldn't really meddle at this point. He will, however, play a much stronger role in chapter 2 if Mercy's in charge. That's his turn to shine.

I totally understand that (1) it would not be an eventful conversation and that (2) your resources are spread incredibly thin, but this is why it gets back to world-building. Even an inconsequential conversation recognizing your role in the conflict makes The Pit more believable, and the game *feel* more reactive. That kind of recognition (Preacher talking to you about the conflict) coupled with other tweaks to the Pit that we discussed in my other thread would make the place feel more alive, less like a set piece. Fallout 1 was good at this, when you made decisions that impacted an area (killing Hightower in the Hub, replacing Killian with Gizmo or offing Gizmo), the town would react to your actions. In this case, it's an NPC that's forcing you to take a side, but the result is the same: everyone in the pit should know the position Braxton put you in, and it's weird they don't comment on it.

 

[Pink Eye]

Oooh. So that's what it looks like. Question. How does the party move from area to area? Do they walk? Or do they use some type of train system? That's never explained in game - if it was, I forgot - as the party just kinda teleports with no time wasted.

 

[Technomancer]

Or do they use some type of train system?

Rails are at the start of every location but trains on maps are repurposed/abandoned so people walk the tunnels most likely.

I'm assuming the green line is the main railway that connects ship's sectors.

 

[Infinitron]

No. Scripting party members is a lot more painful than anticipated

What does that remind me of

 

[Pink Eye]

I think he means bugs, errors, and other scripting stuff. I remember reporting some instances of Faythe not being able to use her skillz when I designated her as the specialist during dialogue checks. I assume it's not an easy task to go through and fix all those things for the plus something companions they have planned.

 

[Vault Dweller]

No. Scripting party members is a lot more painful than anticipated

What does that remind me of

While we did underestimate the scripting complexity, it's still nothing compared to AoD's parallel questlines. The main issue is that we're focused on the remaining content, so anything on top of that becomes the last straw. Hypothetically, adding Smiles as a party member *after* the game is released would be fairly easy as nothing else would be in the way.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Oooh. So that's what it looks like.

Yes, a modular cargo freighter with 4 detachable cargo holds. We want to do a proper map but right now it's not going to well. From another thread:

We wanted to do something similar to:

We talked to quite a few studios and artists that have done some work in this style. Nobody's willing to do for less than 3-4k due to the complexity and even at 3-4k there's a hard limit to how many hours they're willing to commit to it, meaning there'd b very little back and forth and corrections if something doesn't look right or way off. One guy who was willing to do a free test spent 10 hours (that would have cost us over a grand) and got nowhere (nothing we can even share here as work in progress).

Question. How does the party move from area to area? Do they walk? Or do they use some type of train system? That's never explained in game - if it was, I forgot - as the party just kinda teleports with no time wasted.

Walk. You'd be able to fix one of the trains to take the machine from the Armory into the Habitat, western-style, but that would come much later.

 

[Eyestabber]

Also:

Cole, MC's Last Stop Shop, Keeper's Store and Keeper's "Secret" Store are currently missing the option to rob them blind heroically acquire additional wealth. We also need a Blunt weapon that would be an upgrade from the Warhammer.

QoL Suggestion:
- make armor penetration more obvious in the combat UI. Maybe show enemy DR after Pen is factored and in red colors? Also, Aimed: Center should be 33%. 30 means it just fails to be useful at DR 3-6-9, unless the game is rounding numbers up under the hood (which would essentially turn it into a 33).
- add a big red text on Swords saying "won't work for stealth takedowns"
- Add text showing the current/maximum implants of every individual when clicking the Implant Machine.

 

[agris]

- make armor penetration more obvious in the combat UI. Maybe show enemy DR after Pen is factored and in red colors? Also, Aimed: Center should be 33%. 30 means it just fails to be useful at DR 3-6-9, unless the game is rounding numbers up under the hood (which would essentially turn it into a 33).
- add a big red text on Swords saying "won't work for stealth takedowns"
- Add text showing the current/maximum implants of every individual when clicking the Implant Machine.

1st and 3rd are great suggestions.

For the middle one, I think it would better to indicate on melee weapons that they *do* allow for stealth takedowns. Inclusive rather than exclusive is more useful I think. The first time a player sees it on a dagger, they'll go "ok, so this is what I look for to know what works in those situations" rather than "ok, this doesn't work in stealth.. what will?"

 

[Pink Eye]

>We also need a Blunt weapon that would be an upgrade from the Warhammer
Need more blunt weapons in general. Only have:
- Utility Bar (Best weapon in the game, bar none)
- Truncheon
- Gear Mace
- Warhammer

In contrast. Bladed users get:
- Camp Knife
- Toothpick
- Machete
- Bowie
- Combat Knife
- Johnny Reb
- Chopper