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Fix this to make the game more accessible instead of oversimplifying everything

Keks shared this feedback ago

Under Consideration

As many people have mentioned before, it is really concerning how the game is being oversimplified to achieve better accessibility for new players.

Increasing accessibility is a good thing, but I think you are overlooking some very important points.

Currently, you are removing complexity (no ingots) and flattening the gameplay (backpack building). This doesn’t make the game easier - it just makes it boring.

Instead of removing core features and adding "cheaty" mechanics, the focus should be on fixing the fundamental flaws that SE has.

Here are some examples of what is actually critical, in my opinion:

1. The ore detector is a bad game mechanic

Flying around aimlessly, hoping to stumble upon the right deposit with a very limited scan range, is tedious.

Suggestion:

Make the scanner cover a much larger area (maybe with a single "ping" like in Satisfactory).

Then the player knows where to go and only has to manage the travel and the actual mining.

2. New players are lacking suitable blueprints

If you want to mine or transport things, you currently have to build the grids from scratch or browse the Workshop.

This can be overwhelming and interrupts the game flow.

Suggestion:

Add a basic library with "elementary" blueprints to give new players a functional starting point.

3. It’s hard to know what’s going on with your grid

How many items are in all your containers combined?

What’s in the production queue of your 10 assemblers?

What’s the total energy status of all your batteries?

Suggestion:

Add proper overview dashboards and statistics panels that aggregate information across all blocks of a specific type.

4. Item management is way too fiddly

There is too much micromanagement when transferring items between grids or player and grid.

The horror: Filling up a welding ship that has dozens of containers from a base that also has dozens of containers.

It’s also repetitive to manually restart the production of components you use constantly.

Suggestion:

Add a unified inventory view that sums up all inventories and allows for seamless transfers.

Add configurable "transfer jobs" to fill grid wide stock levels with a single button press.

Let players set thresholds so assemblers automatically produce missing items.

5. Controlling a grid with many functions/axes is very hard

Take a crane as an example: controlling all pistons and rotors via the toolbar is cumbersome.

Suggestion:

Add configurable grid controls to bind block actions directly to the keyboard or mouse.

Example: Mouse X = Rotor 1, Mouse Y = Piston 1, W/S = Piston 2, Space/C = Hinge 1, etc.

And so on...

These are common SE problems that almost every player faces in a playthrough.

In SE1, I personally use mods and scripts to solve these issues, and if necessary, I’ll do the same in SE2.

But for new players, these things can be frustrating and game-breaking. SE2 should do a better job here.

I don’t think anybody is overwhelmed by ingots, but they are surely overwhelmed by the issues I mentioned above ;)

I like this feedback

Replies (1)

Sergen ●

I totally agree with this with the exception of unified storage units. Maybe giving both option to player would be better as I personally enjoy organizing ingots, ores, components, tools into their own specific storage containers with sorters so the trading of mine is more clear instead of bulk carrying. Other than that I'm disappointed how the developers aimlessly splitting their focus into new and ARCADE features such as making ores in our pockets enough to build stuff without ingots and components while forgetting what made first game fun. Even most of the basic settings doesn't exist in second game that first game received way earlier.

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Keks ●

I apologize, I didn't explain that clearly enough. Of course, the unified storage is intended to be an optional view.

It’s not meant to replace the individual inventories of your containers, but rather to serve as a menu that shows them in an aggregated way.

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SE2 Community Support ●

Thanks for the detailed feedback there are a lot of solid usability concerns in here, even if we don’t agree with every proposed solution.

A few of the points you raise are actually very aligned with ongoing internal discussions:

Information clarity (containers, production, batteries, assemblers): We agree that players need better overview tools. Aggregated status views and clearer dashboards are something we’re actively looking at so players don’t have to manually inspect every block.
Item management and logistics: The frustration with repetitive transfers and large-scale inventory handling is well understood. The direction here is not to remove depth, but to reduce unnecessary micromanagement and improve control over logistics at scale.
Grid control complexity (rotors, pistons, cranes, etc.): This is another area where we’re exploring better control schemes and binding options to make complex builds more usable without relying on scripts.

On the broader point: the intent is not to “oversimplify” systems, but to reduce friction in areas where players currently rely heavily on workarounds, scripts, or mods just to achieve basic usability. The challenge we’re working through is preserving depth while improving clarity and reducing repetitive or unintuitive interactions.

That said, your concern about maintaining what makes SE engaging is valid, and that balance is exactly what’s being tuned during development.

Appreciate you taking the time to break it down so clearly it’s been passed on.

Arron, Community Manager

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Archimagus ●

This is some of the best feedback I have seen for things that would improve the new player experience while maintaining what made SE2 great. Better than the current approach for sure.

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Rabiator ●

I'd like to add a suggestion for a slightly different approach to item management:

Container groups. Several containers can be grouped into one larger virtual container, as long as they are connected directly or through large conveyors. The virtual container shows up as one large container in the inventory. The connection requirement makes sure that any item thrown into a container in the group can be extracted at another container door.

This would de-clutter the inventory by having less containers but still give the player a bit more control over what goes into which container. For instance, a player could choose to have a group of containers named "Bulk Freight" and a separate group of containers named 'Valuables" that is in a better protected place. Then the player could sort items into the different container groups according to value.

The concept could be extended to groups of assemblers, batteries and anything else where aggregating units to a larger pool makes sense.

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