Planetbase - Review

First Play-through

Goals:

1. Make a decent sized base

2. Get some milestones

3. make an observatory

First I started off with the two basic things: a large oxygen generator and an airlock.. Next was a small water extractor and a medium solar panel (you can't have everything big). The next 4 things I made was a wind turbine, canteen, biodome (with 3-5 plants) and a dorm. Once the essentials were complete I added a sickbay, another turbine, and a power collector. This the basic beginning setup that seems to work the best on Mars. I then added another water extractor, a mine, processing plant, factory and finally, a storage for all the resources from the lander. Along with a landing pad, I also started building another power collector.

As I was building another airlock and a command center, the landing pad finally paid off. I managed to attract some more colonists to the base, giving me the "expansion' milestone. Getting more colonists is a big part of the game. Without them your base can't expand very easily.

After a bit of playing I managed to finally get the observatory. Unfortunately, I was having problems with my power supply and I had to turn some buildings off to save power. I was also forced to make a second biodome due to a short food supply and new colonists.

I was doing so well on this base until the power started failing, resources ran low, and finally, a meteor hit the dorm and killed 4 colonists. I quit right after that.

So, what did I learn from this?

Well, one of my problems is that my base was too spread out. I should have built it around a central 'hub' instead of branching out so much. I was also having trouble with food, metal, and even bioplastic. I was trying to focus on one resources at a time rather than managing it all at once. Next time I will cycle through managing each one and give them all equal attention. Another problem I had was low power. My base kept having power shortages later on as my base got bigger. I didn't build more power sections as I needed them.

My opinion

Overall, I found the game to be quite fun. Sure it was frustrating at times, but that's to be expected from a beginning player.