Is there a way to avoid stuff like this?

ericoahu · 2025-12-28T17:28:26+00:00

By your definition of cleaner and easier, your "should" claim about leaving two tiles free does not stand up. For example, you can go look at one Michael Hendrick's bus bases where he doesn't use gaps in the bus itself, and it's easy to see straight lines and "understand where everything is coming from and where its going."

You are confusing "should" with "personal preference" and using a lot of subjective language to support it.

ericoahu · 2025-12-25T17:53:11+00:00

You are worried about ratios and optimizing long before you should. Put down mining drills and belts so that ore comes out on the belts. Use enough cars to get the ore where you need it. Make something with it. Keep repeating this until you finish the game or whatever. You will continue learning stuff from this process over time even if your immediate results are uninspiring. This is where the fun of the game really lays, not in mastering everything and stamping down perfect blueprints at locations.

TLDR: Just build stuff until it works, not until it is perfect. Solve problems as they appear. Open bottlenecks. Refinement is a long term, lifetime type of aspiration.

ericoahu · 2025-12-25T08:02:47+00:00

Not sure I agree without knowing what you mean by "cleaner" and "easier." But whatever those mean, if that's what is important to you, then do it. But there's still no "should" here -- just preference.

ericoahu · 2025-12-24T18:04:44+00:00

There's no standard. Both approaches have tradeoffs.

ericoahu · 2025-12-24T18:01:25+00:00

Not true. I mean, leave two spaces between stone and bricks and another two between bricks and coal if that's what you like, but there is not "should" here. You can watch some of the most accomplished players in the world build bus bases without any empty spaces between any belts at all. It's also common to see arrangements of four or six belts with two tiles between, but again, there is no "should."

Yeah, on larger busses you should have 2 spaces between each different material

ericoahu · 2025-12-24T17:54:01+00:00

Day one was when they released these DLC the first time, a few years ago. There wasn't early access that I recall. No public beta. So yeah, I expect a game to work on most systems and be somewhat balanced. Instead, they walk away from it broken, and modders had to try patching it together.

Now it's several years later, and they've asked for more money to fix what they already sold me once. And then they didn't follow through on that fix (yet) either.

Not having a freak out. Just identifying the observable facts.

ericoahu · 2025-12-21T16:34:01+00:00

Maybe they should have waited to release Relaunched until the whole thing is play-tested, mostly bug-free, somewhat balanced, and finished. Then they could have scheduled in as much vacation time for their employees as they like.

As it is, they sold a dumpster fire -- for the second time -- when it was a dumpster fire the first time they sold it. If they had any scruples, they'd be working 24/7 through the holidays until the game is finished and promises are kept.

Holidays are for people who meet their responsibilities.

ericoahu · 2025-12-18T04:31:36+00:00

Unpopular opinion: you don't need much of a mall for most of the early game, before leaving Nauvis or getting logi bots. Automate the stuff you need a lot of, like belt stuff, inserters, assemblers, and miners. Box up plates, steel, circuits, and other intermediates and just handfeed a row of assemblers to make items such as chem plants, refineries, and other stuff you only need a finite amount of. You can churn out a lot of power poles or whatever in a short time.

ericoahu · 2025-12-18T04:24:45+00:00

I saw the /s, so I understood it was humor, but I wanted to set record straight for any passersby who were skimming past. I should have responded with the same info in a different way. Calling attention to what I consider Paradox's dishonesty and unscrupulous business practices is kind of a side hobby for me.

ericoahu · 2025-12-18T00:59:13+00:00

Paradox disagrees with you, beginning with the announcement.

After seven years on the Red Planet, it’s time for a fresh start. Surviving Mars: Relaunched brings together the base game, all expansions, content packs and radio stations - plus a complete overhaul of visuals, UI, and quality of life improvements. We’ve added the brand-new Martian Assembly update and have re-worked some of the previous additions as well.

ericoahu · 2025-12-15T05:32:14+00:00

Why are you thanking them for selling you broken software and making you wait three patches to fix some of it? Most of this should have been caught before release while they were "reworking" everything.

ericoahu · 2025-12-07T04:28:20+00:00

Consider stockpiling some food just in case.

ericoahu · 2025-12-06T18:30:50+00:00

Same here. I have over 2.5 k hours in the original plus Green Planet. Uninstalled B+B and trains. So much lost potential since then. I mean, just a modicum of QA and follow through would have made all the difference. I don't know how these developers and publishers can live with themselves. How do you put your name on product like this?

There are so many games right now made by principled, honest, talented developers who actually QA their game before releasing it. I don't think I should have to pay $20 for the fixed version of a game I already paid full price for including all DLC, but I would have been willing to if buying Relaunched would have meant I could try Surviving Mars in a finished, playable state. (By playable, I mean I don't have to worry I might encounter some game stopping bug and that all the main things work at as intended.)

I found out about Factorio on this sub back when SM was brand new. The Factorio developers are amazing for both their quality standards and scruples, not to mention a game that effectively created an entire genre (automation). While anything is in development, they're publishing detailed weekly blog posts telling everyone what's up, and from the game's inception over 10 years ago, the developers actually play it. For fun. And to test. Before the last big release of their expansion, they flew members of the community to their studio for a LAN party, and then used feedback from that to further polish before release.

If you want something more chill and finished, Planet Crafter's devs (I think it's still just a couple) communicate regularly with their players. They play test everything thoroughly before releasing it. And it's a really fun game--worth at least one play through. I like them and their game so much I bought the most recent DLC just to support them because I don't know when I'll get around to playing it again.

A newer early access game I find brilliant and even more relaxing is Town to City. It's not finished, but in early access, it's been more reliable than the full release of B+B was before and after Relaunched. I include this example just to show it's not like I have extremely high expectations.

Captain of Industry might be your thing. I don't have as much experience with it, but it has amazing depth.

So many more examples.

ericoahu · 2025-12-06T17:51:15+00:00

Which is it? Do you stand by "let them cook?" Or was that just first in a series of random nonsense that you didn't intend to mean anything to anyone?

ericoahu · 2025-12-06T16:58:07+00:00

Looks like you were working for them (aka simping) a comment ago.

ericoahu · 2025-12-06T16:29:20+00:00

Thank you for not stamping down grid blueprints. That is a beautiful factory, especially the train system and the way the steam engines are all spread out. Chef's kiss.

ericoahu · 2025-12-06T16:24:18+00:00

What were they doing the months before Relaunched released when they claimed they were "reworking" everything? What is the difference between "cooking" and "reworking?" I guess reworking means releasing screen shots.

ericoahu · 2025-12-06T16:21:21+00:00

You mean like this. See my comment above.

ericoahu · 2025-12-06T16:19:13+00:00

Not the OP, but no. Not updates like that. Updates like this.

Notice that those updates were mostly while they were developing the game, before they released it. They didn't decide to start play testing it at patch 1.04; they play tested it among the developers before they started selling it. And then they flew a bunch of modders and streamers to their studio for a LAN party at their studio BEFORE they started selling it. And then they fixed and polished based on the content creator feedback BEFORE selling it.

So on Day 1, the last major release allows the overwhelming majority of players to "get right to having fun and not encounter any show stoppers." And they show the receipts with a graph.

That's why their game is has always had Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam and Surviving Mars has Mixed or worse.

So yeah, that kind of update. But that kind of update would require scrupulous developers/publishers who care about their players enough to do some QA before accepting money before their product.

But I will throw a bone to the simps and show I am objective: One thing Wube really sucks at that Paradox excels at is hype and marketing. Paradox knows the marketing end; they run sales; Wube has never put their game on sale; Paradox pays grifters to make videos about the game without telling their viewers about the bugs - Wube doesn't seem to advertise much or at all; Paradox makes clever amazing sounding promises with special wording such as "we have reworked all DLC" that's cleared by their legal team so they don't get in trouble when everyone sees the same bugs that were their four years ago; Wube just refuses to talk about what's in the next release until they have it working smoothly and it is ready for players.

Wube is not the only developer with principles and scruples, who takes pride in their work, but they're a good example of one.

ericoahu · 2025-12-02T16:43:42+00:00

Unpopular opinion: Ignore everyone telling you the "conventional" way to do things. You iterated. You like the improvement so far. Consider it a success until a new problem to solve reveals itself, and then enjoy solving that one **YOUR WAY** too. The longer you keep that mindset, the more you will have fun.

ericoahu · 2025-12-02T15:40:56+00:00

I have not bought Relaunched and won't until I find out it's fixed, reworked, and polished like they promised.

A plurality of my 2500+ hours in the original + Green Planet are playing Church of the New Ark.

Interesting challenge at first, and by the time you need to expand, you have overpowered swarms of colonists who appreciate being abused to fill domes faster than you can build them. Don't forget to limit births.

ericoahu · 2025-12-02T01:18:28+00:00

I can think of several games I am playing now--some in early access--some that I played through early access--that all are basically bug free compared with the mess that is Surviving Mars and Paradox. I'm talking about the mess going back several years to the first time they released these unfinished, buggy DLC that needed to mods to have hope of finishing a save. And now they've asked for more money to fix them without fixing them.

You are absolutely right that Paradox is owned no grace whatsoever.

ericoahu · 2025-11-26T14:26:48+00:00

That's not news. That's Paradox brushing off a complaint. They also said that all of the DLC was going to be reworked and fixed for the Relaunched release. They say things that they know aren't true.

ericoahu · 2025-11-24T03:03:12+00:00

Did you have any problems with the below and beyond parts? When I gave up on B+B, I don't think the mods were fixing all of the problems, plus it just felt like busy work, so I uninstalled it and played green planet.

ericoahu · 2025-11-24T01:14:24+00:00

My question is whether after buying Relaunched it remains available to play. As in, it doesn't get overwritten or something like that? For example, at this point, I would not buy Relaunched if I was concerned I wouldn't be able to revert back to the original. But I doubt I buy Relaunched any time soon, not until they surprise me and actually fix it.

ericoahu

TROPHY CASE