Stranded: Alien Dawn - Robots and Guardians Review (Red Bat)
One of the problems with the main game is eventually you kind of see all possibilities, even with 3 regions and 3 scenarios. This DLC adds a new scenario that includes different enemies to fight while retaining the trading mechanic from the trading outpost scenario. I won't say it replaces the other scenarios as this one has a very different pacing, but it does feel like my favorite scenario overall.
So the main thing with the guardians scenario that differentiates it is the robot attacks. In the other scenarios you are attacked by a variety of insects who use raw numbers to overwhelm you. This does not happen at all in guardians. Instead all attacks are by robots, who have much fewer numbers and use some of the same tech you use, making for hectic battles. On top of that you can scavenge the robots for parts and weapons, which means you effectively can skip the entire early part of the tech tree. Because of this you can jump into some of the lategame stuff very quick, much like with the military outpost scenario. If you want insect attacks as well, you'll need to use a mod though.
As for Hope. She starts out unable to do much of anything and develops skills as they develops more sentience. She doesn't eat organic food, and needs different materials to heal from injuries. However you can eventually get an event that lets you pick one skill to make her an expert in, which results in her being much faster than other characters in doing it. Yes, she can be a faster farmer than Laura or a faster crafter than Vivian. Because of that you can kind of plan your other characters around what Hope won't be doing. It does feel a little weird having a scenario focused entirely around one character, but it's the only scenario like that so it makes for some interesting variety.
The new tech from this DLC however stands out as it adds some much needed lategame variety. The work robots and delivery drones require high tech stuff but they can effectively free your characters up to work on crafting and construction, while the battle drones and robots can make you less reliant on a super efficient killbox setup. Best part is you get all this tech in the other scenarios. I think the only techs completely locked to the guardian scenario are the android foods and the spider robot.
Sadly this game probably isn't getting anymore DLC, but this one really does a good job of fleshing out the only game out right now I view as scratching the same itch as Rimworld.