Surviving Mars Review (Kazzik)
In the first two weeks I have logged 174 hours. (I am retired, so lots of free time)
For the record, that's more than 50% of the time.
Okay, what I like:
1. The look and feel of the game. It's pretty, unless you don't like red at all.
2. Discovering things is a lot of fun for me, and there is plenty of that.
3. The "breakthrough" line in the tech tree keeps replay options fresh. Some are OP though.
4. The pacing is pretty good. In that same vein, the mysteries (only a few so far) are a nice touch.
5. I love creating things, so this is right up my alley.
6. The mod support is quite good.
7. Addicting as @&@%$!
8. STILL discovering little things that I did not notice right away. (What?!? I can change the look of those too!?! YES!)
The stuff I would change:
1. The drone AI is stubborn as a mule sometimes and horribly un-optimized. You cannot override this manually either. (What do you mean I can't assign this drone to repair this MOXIE?!? It has the metal and is right next to it! ... Oh the drone from the far side of the control range is already assigned to that?) Dumb! Rockets with drones and supplies land and then the drones come out empty handed, then immediately go back inside to get the supplies... or refueling drones carry in fuel... and don't grab supplies on the way out... WHY?!? (Though if you could improve it, that could be a great technology improvement to add)
2. >>>Having only 3 priority levels is a pain. I need 5.<<<
3. Assigning colonists to jobs is tedious to get them in the right spot. I wish there was a drag and drop way to do so. Also a way to lock people in certain jobs would be great.
4. The MOMENT you lose water access to a dome people are dehydrated. I mean if you are mining outside of the dome on your shift why is the lack of water a concern to you before you get home? What do you mean you can't store water inside the dome?? But that would make SENSE! You can put solar panels inside a dome, why not water storage? Also people take time to suffer from lack of water... Ugh silly game mechanics.
5. A better search system for a landing spot would be cool. Like being able to specify certain min or max levels for resources and disasters.
6. There are a few "dilemmas" that are missing the common sense answer. One example is the "Flat Mars Society" where you can't give the idiot a spot on your next mission on a rocket to SHOW him the error of his ways. I mean I would gladly spend a load of fuel to stop that one, but apparently people who can colonize another planet can't think of that one.
I know I wrote a lot more about the things I would change but do not take that as a negative. Just a source of frustration - similar to how you can get frustrated with a child. You still love them!