

The player is given the role of base architect as well as manager. In the game, the player leads a group of space settlers who are trying to form a base on an isolated planet. This game mode includes builtin challenges, but users can create many more, and they can upload them to the steam workshop to share with everyone. When in challenge mode, Steps and Achievements are disabled because the only goal is to complete the challenge objectives. They are accessible from the Challenges menu on the title screen. These are personalized scenarios that provide starting conditions and objectives as well as a specific environment. Resources from the Colonial Ship are more durable and will therefore take longer to disappear, but it’s always good to store them afterwards. It is therefore important to keep them in a safe place. Grow your colony from a few pioneers to a vibrant planetary base with hundreds of settlers. Automate your base by building your own robots that will help you with the most arduous tasks. Survive the star’s cataclysms such as meteor falls, sandstorms or snowstorms, lightning or solar flares, but still establish a defense of your base against intruders. Carefully manage the flow of settler immigration to ensure you have the right people with the right specializations. Mining and producing basic resources, refining them, producing products from them and establishing a production line. Grow hydroponic vegetables and synthesize meat to feed your people.

Harness solar and wind energy (if available) to power base structures.

There are four different planets with conditions and increasing difficulty. Resources will degrade and eventually disappear if they are not stored in a warehouse or in a structural installation (called content). This ranges from basic (or raw) resources such as ore and starch, to end products such as semiconductors or weapons. You will need to manage a variety of resources to keep your base running. Even if the game is not intended to be a simulator, all the mechanics are plausible and based on what would most certainly be the challenges that a colony will encounter on a new planet. You’ll get them to gather energy, extract water from the soil and metal from the hills, grow crops, build robots, and ultimately build a fully self-sufficient base. You will need to ensure that they have a constant supply of oxygen, food, and water to stay alive.
