Just bought the game; What were Your first impressions?

[cybersteve547]

First impression: *Gets demo* YES. *Buys game*

[ExistentialHorror]

I've played the Space Age expansion for 60 hours.
Having played the original version for few hundred hours (my feedback is here.) I was hesitant to start all over again. I can't speedrun, so it is a big time investment. Yet I was driven by the desire to check out the new content.

I have an impression that either the useful materials sources got farer or the biters got harder. It has got considerably harder to expand and defend, and that translates into me doing more manual labor fighting biters, being more scarce at investing and spending.

I had a problem with oil; maybe because all of my trains were running on solid fuel. Perhaps, otherwise I would have a problem with coal. Any way, the oil production dropped rather fast, I had to expand to 3 more oil sources, and that's still not enough to sustain plastic bar and sulfuric acid production. I have a strong feeling that the new add-on forces a certain gameplay upon you, and it is not a "send trains everywhere" gameplay, and maybe not a "build a giant perimeter with walls and guns over everything that is yours" gameplay.
Having requester boxes later also made the game slower, hence more manual labor.

Finally I've launched the rocket to the orbit. The concept of it is aesthetically pleasing: the platform constructs itself without the character, the asteroids, the outer space, another soundtrack.
The rockets from the platform to the planet seem to be free and indefinite; in the game where nothing is free. The way they land everywhere if you don't build a landing platform is funny.
I haven't found a way to send science packs automatically.
I had to look up why an asteroid collector is offline. It would be nice to have a tip for that. I'd add more tips for the platform in general.

There are many small game improvements compared to the original version which I appreciate, such as immediately rotating the belt when far away.
Also I am not sure if the fueling condition for the train was in the original version, but I've used it this time.
The pipe overextension makes perfect sense.

I didn't use the quality module. For regular items it makes the mechanic too complex to bother.
Or, for example, I am crafting a better shotgun. What should I do with the lower quality ones? I still can't recycle them.

I've enjoyed the game. Thank you everyone who was working on it!

[ArcoLaren]

Played this since 0.14. I remember my path. First it was "oh, I can Automate things". Then - "wait, why do I need that much stuff?". After - "Now, now I see". Also mods. Since then - 1.6k hours. This is by far the best entertainment/money investment I've ever made.

[HeavenlyToe]

what are these circuit things and why do i never have enough of them

[Merry76]

Tbh, my first impression was "meh". Didnt really like it that much. Put the game down again and played something else.

Came back to it, did the scenario/tutorial mission. Hated the first one, because I played it like minecraft (crafted everything myself, and had a lot of waiting). Did the second. Wait a minute... Automation is actually pretty cool here.

6 Years later and 1300+ hours in... Yeah, its pretty good.

[CarelK]

Tbh, my first impression was "meh". Didnt really like it that much. Put the game down again and played something else.

Came back to it, did the scenario/tutorial mission. Hated the first one, because I played it like minecraft and on this site (crafted everything myself, and had a lot of waiting). Did the second. Wait a minute... Automation is actually pretty cool here.

6 Years later and 1300+ hours in... Yeah, its pretty good.

I agree It can be a little off-putting at first, but once you start to figure it out, it becomes much more interesting.

[Haless]

My first impression:

Building my first space platform and could not walk on there. Scratch head, maybe my game is bugged, then later I discovered that building there is totally diferent from Nauvis.

I was so excited to see other planets, that forgot totally to bring materials and machines. And after landing on Vulcanus.... oops. How I go back to the platform? Oh... need to build a second factory from scratch! Lets do it, after 15 hours I did and returned to Nauvis, to repair and rebuild my space platform damaged by the asteroids.

Then reading the forum I discovered that one can discard things on platform and lava.... I really had no idea... lol.

Also I always play on map deathworld, lots of biters for me is a must.

I am loving so far.

In vanilla after launch 2 rockets, I dove in mod world and fell in love for bob's angel's and the biters mods. So going back to vanilla space age was not so difficult. But discovering the new things is very rewarding.

In my steam show 38 thousand hours. But I am sure that I didnt played that much.... the fact is I go to sleep or work and pause the game, for some reason Steam count the paused time as playing.

Thanks all the devs for the awesome game!

[IsaacOscar]

My first impression:

Building my first space platform and could not walk on there. Scratch head, maybe my game is bugged, then later I discovered that building there is totally diferent from Nauvis.

I was so excited to see other planets, that forgot totally to bring materials and machines. And after landing on Vulcanus.... oops. How I go back to the platform? Oh... need to build a second factory from scratch! Lets do it, after 15 hours I did and returned to Nauvis, to repair and rebuild my space platform damaged by the asteroids.

Bassically the same experience I had, but I found it more fun to start from scratch so I've been doing that on purpose now.

Then reading the forum I discovered that one can discard things on platform and lava.... I really had no idea... lol.

I'm pretty sure both of these are shown in the tips and tricks!

Also I always play on map deathworld, lots of biters for me is a must.

Unfortunately none of the presets affect planets other than nauvis, so I've decided not to use them, otherwise I'd probably use the island one.

I am loving so far.

Same!

I have a few main complaints though:

• it takes a lot of time to get to your first planet (this is my fault for being in a rush to try the new content)
• the game makes it seam like Gleba is just as easy as Vulcanus or Fulgora, wen it very much isn't.... (I initially went to it before Fulgora, but after a while I gave up and loaded an autosave and went to Fulgora first)
• rocket's not liking mixed cargo is really annoying
• quality seems really overwhelming in how much complexity it adds, so I've decided not to use it (this one is really my fault)
• the GUI gives lots of spoilers (this surprised me, as in 1.1 there where far fewer spoilers).

I haven't finished it yet though.