Was Default Resources settings always this difficult?

[odarcan2]

I am used to play with max settings on richness and size of resource patches

With latest update Im trying default for the first time in long time.

It seems I have to spend my time finding and setting up new miners most of the time, and they seem to be limited in size and amount to around 10 M, do they get bigger if I travel much further out?

I also travel really far to get 1500 2000 oil and I have spotted like 3-4 now after many hours of play, and each require 3-4 pumps on the way.

Was it always like this, and is this the prefered way you guys play?

And biters are seem much faster and stronger in my recent plays. Ive already launched rocket but I stay away from these guys still.

[Hurkyl]

Yeah, resource nodes are a lot smaller and infrequent on default settings, but they do indeed get bigger the further out you go.

The availability varies a lot with map randomness, though.

In the experimental 2.1.x updates, biter expansion logic has been adjusted in two relevant ways:

• They don't 'waste' their efforts filling in every square inch of land far away from your factory
• Expansions tend to be a lot larger than they used to be

So you will see biters try towards you or areas you've cleared far more often than they did in previous versions, and the expansion bases will be a lot nastier.

But, in consolation, I imagine it's somewhat less painful these days to seize new terrain? I'm just guessing, I don't have experience.