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.