This is a first for me. I bought a game in early access. As a rule of thumb I don’t recommend it. I don’t even recommend pre-orders. In fact I think that’s worse as it’s a much shorter time to wait for it to release and get reviewed. It’s finally happened because The Last Starship comes from Introversion, the devs who made Prison Architect. A game I’m a big fan of. There are some similarities in their approach here with the addition of a grand story, space battles, and as yet unknown adventuring.
It’s obviously called The Last Starship because of all the other ships flying around and the ones for sale and the new ones being built. Oh… Well, maybe it’s got something to do with the giant black void anomaly that keeps growing and eating everything in it’s path, including the planets and stars. The story is still unclear but there is a focus on rescuing people and transporting them to new sectors trying to outrun oblivion. We may end up in an ark ship scenario that could justify the title. Either way it sounds pretty cool.
With all that in mind, ship design is a major part of the game. This is the part that will feel familiar to Prison Architect fans. Starting with a modest shell, a few items and resources, the first task is to install life support and propulsion. Connecting equipment with cables and pipes for power, fuel, water, and oxygen. Buying food at star bases. The entire ship can be built from the hull up during the game or in creative mode. Provided it is within the right value and parameters it’s possible to start the game with your own creation or have it show up as an NPC. Ships can be uploaded to the Steam workshop for everyone to use. There’s already a Millennium Falcon on there and at least one person has reported destroying it. Other players creations are a great way to get an idea of what works.
There’s virtually no in game tutorial. Each piece of equipment has some info in the trading store but that is the only place in game to view it. If the item is out of stock I couldn’t find a way to double check the info. This led to my not realising I needed an essential item until I had accepted a contract to transport some passengers to the next star system. A simple job I thought. Until all 22 customers suffocated from excess CO2. And they hadn’t paid yet. Still think I should have got something from selling their personal effects or dare I think it even selling the bodies. Maybe that’s a little too capitalist. It would probably harm my humanitarian rating. That rating does exist and has some effect on what contracts are available. Hinting at future ‘career’ paths.
Anyhow, my crew put on their space suits to fix the problem, discovering that I need to purchase and install a CO2 scrubber to keep the atmosphere breathable. I got one, then couldn’t work out how to fit the pipes correctly before my crew ran out of oxygen. Game over. Another derelict drifts off for a more competent crew to salvage.
If you watch the video please try to ignore my scuff new ship called ‘newship’ because I didn’t see how to change the name. Also the life support is a shambles because I messed up how to start a new ship and nearly suffocated everyone again. Leading to panicked pipe laying and forgetting the instructions – again. I’ll get it next time. It’s a fair example of what to expect if you go in blind. Having read up on things and toyed with ship creation more I’m now going to be dreaming of optimising ship layouts to infinity. That’s a 5×3, that’s 2×4, will it rotate, emergency life support there, should I store that so close? Bliss. I would quite like to place weapons on a diagonal hull section, mostly for aesthetic reasons, but doubt this will happen as it would be a fundamental change to the main design. Something I fully expect is furniture for the habitation deck. A pool table and hot tub please.
Sectors have a samey feel at the moment consisting of asteroid belts and systems with star bases. Apparently there are comets and mine fields but I’ve yet to encounter them. Other ships are going about their business also mining, salvaging etc. Nothing significant of the main plot has been implemented beyond the anomaly and a little Star Trek homage delivery job.
Money making is essential for progress. Missions include transport of cargo and passengers, rescuing people from damaged ships, mining, killing hostiles, and a passive task of collecting data on the anomaly. I know they offer more money to mine in an area with meteor showers but it’s frankly the most nerve racking thing to do. Sitting there being pummelled. Later I got into my first battle with some ships during a meteor shower and was surprised I survived it. Didn’t stick around for the salvage.
Battles are messy but manageable. The AI could do with an IQ boost, as could I. It will be interesting to see if they try to implement more collisions. The trickiness of tackling a sense of 3D in a 2D representation. Currently only meteors have a chance to hit. You can fly over anything without trouble. Giving the ability to easily annihilate some space stations from above because their defences point outward.
Enemies can attack in groups, ten is the most I’ve heard of so far. Eventually this could require a fleet of ships and I suspect a form of drone fighters is on the cards. I don’t know if there is a ship limit but you can easily afford a few. My instinct in it’s present state is that one ship can handle anything other than a big attacking force. Alternatively one large ship with one smaller more manoeuvrable fighter to accompany could work. There are no ship to ship transfers yet, a bit frustrating. Oddly you only need one FTL drive for the whole fleet. I think that may change in future, and frankly it seems plain sensible not to rely on one ship for it. Lose the only FTL drive in a system without trading and you’re dead in space. Remember to save often. Also because there will be bugs here and there.
For the time being I still won’t recommend this for purchase. There’s more content here than I expected and it eats up time even in this state. Personally I predict I’ll get my money’s worth before it hits 1.0. However it’s got a full game price tag and most people would prefer a more finished product at that cost. Currently this is for fans with faith it’s headed in the right direction and the biggest enthusiasts of the genre. For anyone that does take the plunge there is a wiki that can help get you started. It’s also in the early stages, though full of helpful info.
Prison Architect was in early access for three years before releasing. I imagine that to be the upper limit for The Last Starship but who knows. There is a lot of scope for content. I will probably do another post for the full release version and may mention it in side quest posts from time to time as it updates.
Available from GOG and Steam. (EARLY ACCESS)
mishmash 