A good game that's kind of disappointing because you can see the bones of a really great game. As many mention, expedition combat is just sad/ text based. Base defense is not too bad, a little like a tower defender, but you can move some of your units. I really don't understand the weird disconnect between the two. There are all kind of upgrades you can do to your weapons technology, but they have no effect on expedition combat, only base defense. Also the cozy scale of a base builder where you know the names of every person really doesn't translate to a 4x where you're conquering planets.
But overall I had fun playing it. As I said there is the foundation of a really good game here, but I'm not sure how much I'll replay it as is.

I was really enjoying this game until I came across a game breaking bug.

After a couple of hours of playing and following the tutorial prompts I was finally able to research the med-bay. I had accrued 100 research and was ready to go!

I pick the med-bay form the research and then wait .... nothing happens. I am unable to get any of my scientists to use the research terminals and actually progress any of my research.

Here are the things I checked/tried to solve this.
- Checked the research terminals are unobstructed
- Cancelled the research and then picked it again using the science button on the far right
- Cancelled the research and then selected it manually from the research consoles
- Adjusted the scientists to focus on work and ignore needs
- Removed the scientists from the teams they were in
- Fast forward the game

I can't figure out how to get them to actually carry out the research and this has prevented me from progressing any further in the game.

I know its only 2.5hours of gameplay lost and I could restart the game but it just puts me off because something similar could happen 30 hours into the game and kill my whole save.

If anyone has figured out how to bypass this bug I would appreciate a reply because I was actually enjoying the game until then.
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Update: I managed to fix the issue by building a second science room and putting new desks in there. Once deployed the scientists used them as normal.

But .........

I then build a medical bay, have an injured character laying in the bed waiting for diagnosis whilst 3 medics stand in the room and just ignore that character. Once again another critical room bugged.

At this point the games being uninstalled. The devs boast about "Hundreds of hours of play testing" in the intro message but these are some pretty big bugs you would have easily bumped into.

While I enjoyed this game, there are some QoL things I would like to see added:
1. On the Gaters page at the top, where it gives the total number of gaters, I would like to see it broken down so the number of each profession is shown as well.
1a. Would be nice to designate barracks to either specific teams or specific professions if one chooses.
2. On the Gaters page, I would like to see a place for an icon showing what type of equipment, if any and if they are currently assigned an exosuit (which kind of exosuit if so)
3. When launching a team, the player has the option to assign exosuits, I would also like to be able to assign equipment.
When adjusting Gater Priorities, I would like the option to set as default for that profession.
4. The equipment... the frame that allows more ore to be carried is self explanatory. The armored vest is mostly self-explanatory, but would be nice to know if it only works on base defense, or does it work on invasion/defense missions as well? And the speed boots, is that just for while in base or does that have any benefit on missions? And if it benefits missions, does everyone need them for the benefit or is one person enough?
5. The weapon upgrades... I assume these do not affect Invasion/defense missions, otherwise, you actually get punished for beating the squarbs too early as letting them attack you are the only way to earn the weapon upgrade currency. I guess this is fine if those upgrades are worthless outside of base defense, but it they help in missions, then provide a way to complete that tech tree after the squarbs are gone.
6. There needs to be a way to force a specific team to gut in line and launch immediately. Lie Defense or Consolidation missions. Even if it is at the cost of Mental health of the team, or whatever. It is very frustrating to let an invasion go unchallenged because some gater decides something else is more important for them.
7. You have to build an armory, but the one thing that cannot go in the armory? Weapons. Would be nice to be able to put weapons racks in the armory instead of forcing them to be in the hallways. And speaking of weapons, why do all professions get to practice at the range, but none (except soldier) are allowed to even carry a pistol during a base invasion?
8. Once a Gater reaches level 10, they stop using any training facilities whatsoever. they should at least be able to use the training equiment to lower stress and raise mental health if nothing else.