Starting on moon Europe feels broken

Menos Wansis shared this feedback ago

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I did a fresh start on Europe (the moon) and soon learned that there is nothing but ice on that planet. Without any available resources any form of progression is impossible, and the only way to actually advance is to leave that planet as soon as possible- That however is easy because the starter pod actually has an engine that allows you to fly off the planet right away, all you need to do is to put a cockpit on it. This however turns it into an alternate space start, which feels broken to me.

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Replies (3)

Menos Wansis ●

So I tried this again with some other players and we actually found resources and managed to build a base with advanced assembler and refinery. So there are resources they are just well hidden.

Still the easiest solution is to just go into space and mine some asteroids, which is no big deal given the low gravity.

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Aronax ●

I had no problem finding Ore-Deposits, but I couldn't find any Stone-Deposits in the third playtest, to get started. I'm not sure if I was simply unlucky or if there was none.

In the second playtest I had no problem finding stone on Europa.

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Menos Wansis ●

The group of 4 people I played with have found no stone on Europe anywhere. One person even dug like 200m deep just to check if there was something below the ice, but there was just more ice.

The big problem here is that the starter pod actually does not provide enough resources to build and power the most basic base you would need to process the ore you find, so the only way to get that base finished was to wait for unknown signals to appear. This however just turned the whole thing into a frustrating waiting game, as there was zero challenge attached to it.

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Danil Martynuk ●

I tried this scenario too, and used realistic settings for inventory size and all production/welding/grinding speed as well. I found that you can almost construct a wind turbine and basic refinery (wiki mentions atmospheric thrusters work on Europa, so wind turbines should work too?) from disassembling parts of the lander and "unknown contact" probes. The only thing you miss is girders. None of the lander component use them unfortunately.

If you manage to construct these two blocks without mining nearby asteroids - you can make use of deposits there to progress further. So one way to fix it would be to add girders to the lander inventory.

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Menos Wansis ●

I strongly assume that wind turbines on planets without atmosphere is a bug, because that totally makes no sense. But yes wind turbines are actually easy free power that will easily solve all your power issues.

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Danil Martynuk ●

That's not just wind turbines. According to the wiki, Europa actually has an non-breathable atmosphere thick enough for atmospheric thrusters to work and ion thrusters loose efficiency. Whether or not it should have atmosphere is another question. In reality of course it has no atmosphere to speak of, but it also doesn't orbit Mars in our world.

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