Updated for the current major update. Alot of progress, alot of quality of life, many of the things I wanted in are solved. <3 to see it. Unfortunately some crashing and bugs with the new update marr the current experience. While I expect this to get ironed out, its very annoying for right now. Overall I'm even more optimistic than before. Leaving the points up from before with updates in ( ) so you can see how much has progressed in real time since my original review.

A damn fine Automation game played from a City builder perspective with a good story, great music, and some pretty strong time pressure in the story. It's got some rough edges still and needs some polish, but the game that's already here is quite good even in its unfinished unpolished state. I love how underground conveyors are implemented and the upgrades increasing the range. I wish other automation games added that.

Things I'd like to see:
- (this had been added!) Autocalculate the proper amount of goods for the cargo container and let me just click "fill to max" for contracts.

- (still needed, especially for slag contracts) Include even larger cargo containers. Some of the big contracts with large amounts of heavy resources get super tedious when you need to fill like 6 large containers for it and then fill them in short order.

- (skill issue on my part, I got better at my automation and the problem went away) The Expedition Center and Flight Control Center should come stock with large amounts of internal storage. Right now them having zero storage makes them too fiddly and you already feed them via conveyor belts.

- (still didn't see this addressed) I don't think cargo container price was getting discounted with the tech upgrade in the social tree like it was supposed to. 40% discount two different tech upgrades claim. UI still says the same number and I tried to watch and I believe I still got charged the base price.

- (this has been addressed!) The ability to get "overflow" splitter sorting similar to factorio. Right now one of the main issues with organization is dealing with overflow. If this is in the programmable splitter....it happens way too late. It should be mid tier tech at most. Like around the time you get the Multi-Regolith Reprocessor.

- (this has been addressed!) Lots of times trucks don't return to base after their job when they are set to. This should be fixed.

- (This has been addressed, you can cancel expeditions now AND can have multiple expedition centers) The expedition center can only stock up for one expedition at a time. Which means if you set one of the big long term goals in it then it effectively blocks usage of cargo trucks. Let us upgrade it with expansion bays or something so we can load multiple trucks simultaneously.

- (still needs improvement IMO) The rover LPS hunting game is annoying. Please let it scan while moving or que up scans or something. Right now its pretty fiddly.

- (this has been solved via a combo of the addition of other resource acquisition systems and me getting better organized) I'd like to see a multi-smelter similar to the multi-regolith processor. And more smelting speed achieved somehow. I had a huge line of smelters end game required just to keep up with the processors and still lost.

- (this has been fixed!) For Cargo Truck Expeditions Contracts keep showing up under expeditions, a minor but annoying bug.

- (this has been addressed!) For Cargo Truck Contracts its hard to know how long the truck would take to drive that far. An estimate of the travel time (once loaded and sent) would be nice even if it wasn't 100% accurate. Currently you just have to send enough trucks on expeditions to get a rough idea.

- (this has been addressed, alternate area drag marking added!) A bigger brush size is needed for marking excavation. 3x3 is not enough. Please add 5x5 and 10x10 as well. I spent much longer than should be necessary painting walls with the excavation brush.



As you see above alot of progress! Also more things like a revamped and better organized research tree that flows better, new content, outposts, new resources, etc. Good progress all in all, but also a few bugs to call out:

Right now bugs I expect to be fixed:

- Storage units sometimes stop outputting goods to their converyor belts. Happens every few hours and a reload fixes it, but annoying. I know they're working on it.

- Current build has stability issues. Crashed on average once every 3-4 hours with some crashes happening within 30 minutes of the last. The game was stable as heck before, I'm sure they'll iron it out but for right now its impactful and should be mentioned.

- Cargo Dock stopped accepting trucks. I think I managed to break the Dock by getting a truck route stuck in it. Had to deconstruct it and replace it to get it working again. Only happened once and was only a minor hiccup but its a bug worth mentioning.

I'll give them a couple patches and then update this review after another full play through. Overall I think the game is moving in a really good and healthy direction improving upon itself and bugs and crashes after major updates are expected. Hopefully they squash them soon though.

Updated for the current major update. Alot of progress, alot of quality of life, many of the things I wanted in are solved. <3 to see it. Unfortunately some crashing and bugs with the new update marr the current experience. While I expect this to get ironed out, its very annoying for right now. Overall I'm even more optimistic than before. Leaving the points up from before with updates in ( ) so you can see how much has progressed in real time since my original review. A damn fine Automation game played from a City builder perspective with a good story, great music, and some pretty strong time pressure in the story. It's got some rough edges still and needs some polish, but the game that's already here is quite good even in its unfinished unpolished state. I love how underground conveyors are implemented and the upgrades increasing the range. I wish other automation games added that. Things I'd like to see: - (this had been added!) Autocalculate the proper amount of goods for the cargo container and let me just click "fill to max" for contracts. - (still needed, especially for slag contracts) Include even larger cargo containers. Some of the big contracts with large amounts of heavy resources get super tedious when you need to fill like 6 large containers for it and then fill them in short order. - (skill issue on my part, I got better at my automation and the problem went away) The Expedition Center and Flight Control Center should come stock with large amounts of internal storage. Right now them having zero storage makes them too fiddly and you already feed them via conveyor belts. - (still didn't see this addressed) I don't think cargo container price was getting discounted with the tech upgrade in the social tree like it was supposed to. 40% discount two different tech upgrades claim. UI still says the same number and I tried to watch and I believe I still got charged the base price. - (this has been addressed!) The ability to get "overflow" splitter sorting similar to factorio. Right now one of the main issues with organization is dealing with overflow. If this is in the programmable splitter....it happens way too late. It should be mid tier tech at most. Like around the time you get the Multi-Regolith Reprocessor. - (this has been addressed!) Lots of times trucks don't return to base after their job when they are set to. This should be fixed. - (This has been addressed, you can cancel expeditions now AND can have multiple expedition centers) The expedition center can only stock up for one expedition at a time. Which means if you set one of the big long term goals in it then it effectively blocks usage of cargo trucks. Let us upgrade it with expansion bays or something so we can load multiple trucks simultaneously. - (still needs improvement IMO) The rover LPS hunting game is annoying. Please let it scan while moving or que up scans or something. Right now its pretty fiddly. - (this has been solved via a combo of the addition of other resource acquisition systems and me getting better organized) I'd like to see a multi-smelter similar to the multi-regolith processor. And more smelting speed achieved somehow. I had a huge line of smelters end game required just to keep up with the processors and still lost. - (this has been fixed!) For Cargo Truck Expeditions Contracts keep showing up under expeditions, a minor but annoying bug. - (this has been addressed!) For Cargo Truck Contracts its hard to know how long the truck would take to drive that far. An estimate of the travel time (once loaded and sent) would be nice even if it wasn't 100% accurate. Currently you just have to send enough trucks on expeditions to get a rough idea. - (this has been addressed, alternate area drag marking added!) A bigger brush size is needed for marking excavation. 3x3 is not enough. Please add 5x5 and 10x10 as well. I spent much longer than should be necessary painting walls with the excavation brush. As you see above alot of progress! Also more things like a revamped and better organized research tree that flows better, new content, outposts, new resources, etc. Good progress all in all, but also a few bugs to call out: Right now bugs I expect to be fixed: - Storage units sometimes stop outputting goods to their converyor belts. Happens every few hours and a reload fixes it, but annoying. I know they're working on it. - Current build has stability issues. Crashed on average once every 3-4 hours with some crashes happening within 30 minutes of the last. The game was stable as heck before, I'm sure they'll iron it out but for right now its impactful and should be mentioned. - Cargo Dock stopped accepting trucks. I think I managed to break the Dock by getting a truck route stuck in it. Had to deconstruct it and replace it to get it working again. Only happened once and was only a minor hiccup but its a bug worth mentioning. I'll give them a couple patches and then update this review after another full play through. Overall I think the game is moving in a really good and healthy direction improving upon itself and bugs and crashes after major updates are expected. Hopefully they squash them soon though.