Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role-playing Game Test Branch Changes

With Iron Tower Studio's Colony Ship RPG now in early access and getting regular balance updates, we can also get a taste of what the developers are currently working on thanks to the new test branch.

Of special note there are a number of expanded party management options that will let us heal our party members and automatically reload weapons after combat, and assign dedicated specialists for the game's many skill checks. Here's the test changelog:

If you want to take a look at the upcoming changes:
  • Right click on Colony Ship in your Steam library and select Properties, then click on Betas.
  • Select Public Testing from the drop-down list
Here's what's in the update:

Party Management:
  • Click on the red icon next to the inventory icon to open up the party management screen.
  • Set designated specialists to handle skill checks when clicking on objects (to avoid switching characters manually)
  • Heal your characters with medkits (the amount healed is modified by your biotech skill)
  • Set auto-heal after combat (using the available medkits).
  • Set auto-reload weapons after combat (starting a fight with an empty gun is a thing of the past now)
Improvements
  • You can now give implants to your party members based on their preferences
  • Added more party banter in the Armory and Hydroponics
  • Added new interactions when exploring Hydroponics
  • Added an option to steal a badge in the Regulators HQ
  • Added a sneaking opportunity in Camp Reid in Hydroponics
  • Added some loot in Zeke's backroom, with a different way in
  • Added two extra stashes in the Pit
  • You can now train party members (same trainers as before, for now)
  • Can't see beyond the vault door in the Armory before you open it (limited 'fog of war')
Changes
  • Removed a few climbing events in the hydroponics area.
  • Cloaking field base thermal detection resistance is 10 (from 25).
  • Cloaking field base detection chance is 35 (from 25).
  • Thermal vision is now properly reduced by thermal detection resistance
  • Starfish now recovers 10 HP when draining.
  • Starfish DR is now 10/8/6 (from 6/4/3).
  • Added +1 damage to shotguns.
  • Tweaked scanner's and worker googles' stats
  • Minor increases to DR and penalties to armors.
  • Changed Faythe assassin feat. Bladed THC +10, CS Chance +5, Penetration +10, Takedown +15.
  • Added check value to doors and containers cursor text.
  • Bulldog II is a bit harder to get, but it's a bit more powerful.
  • Tweaks to exploration reputation.
  • Increased weight of misses on defense xp distribution.
  • Slightly reduced skill gain from attack and defense XP.
  • Items now sell for 10% of the price.
  • Tweaked the prices of several items.
  • Removed Master Trader feat and refunded 1 feat point to characters that had it
Fixes
  • Fixed a door in the Armory being usable in stealth but not in combat.
  • Power Vest properly reduces initiative instead of increasing it.
  • Fixed issues with the Armory's elevator with a party member selected.
  • Fixed scav stealth dialogue coming up twice if you clicked repeatedly when interacting with it.
  • Removed infinite attack XP exploit on turret
  • Fixed the character name text field caret bug
  • Missed frog attacks now can trigger counter-attacks, reported properly in the textbox.
  • Fixed some cases when grenades could be thrown through the floor (from the first floor to the second)
  • Fixed T-pose animations happening in some rare cases.
  • Starfish sounds are now affected by volume controls properly.
  • Fixed Swing attack becoming unusable after spending AP on other combat actions.
  • Fixed doors incorrectly executing opening/closing scripts on game start.
  • Gadgets don't stay active after stealth end anymore.
  • Fixed incorrect combat rolls when attacking turrets.
  • Fixed shots sometimes missing starfish if it's displaced after the 'hug'
That's about it. Hope you'll enjoy it.