Worth buying in 2024?

[Minininja147]

Any DLC you recommend?

[~WiFiEmoGirl~]

Space Engineers

[Dan2D3D]

Hi, first I must tell you I am not a SE Dev but forum Moderator Community Helper with admin rights ...

That said, yes it is worth it if you like to create because this Sandbox game is open at large to setup worlds to our liking, also because the SE Devs are still working on the game and told the community to create new Vote Feedbacks (Petitions) on their Support Portal so they can choose from for future game updates.

DLCs are just "Deco" blocks, well the Devs told the community they don't want the DLCs to become "Pay To Win" so those new blocks don't give any advantages to players using and are not needed at all.

+ I recommend to watch the DLC video + DLC description and take time to chose the one having the blocks you like the most.

Edit
Sorry corrections made.

[Jack Schitt]

If you've never played before it's probably best you just get the base game, no DLC, and try it out. It may not be what you expect. People that are regulars here on the community forums might confirm that we see a lot of new players create their own expectations about what the game is and does that is unfortunately not what it is and does.

Here are the common false expectations that I see new players have often:

1. It is not a combat game. The default game has very little to no combat. It's an engineering (build stuff) Sandbox. There are player-created mods for the game on the workshop (free) that add combat aspects to the game however they're not super fantastic...because the base game is not a combat game. There are plenty of players that play it as a combat game anyway, even without mods, they play PVP or team up and try to wipe out the default Pirate faction. The default Pirate faction is not very challenging to defeat.

2. It's a Sandbox game. The majority of game modes do not have a set goal players have to achieve. Players create their own goals. There are Scenarios (similar to but not missions) included in the base game that are either Tutorials or they have a story line and they can be completed. For the most part all the custom worlds are endless if we want them to be.

3. It's not easy to play. There's a learning curve. There are tutorials that are helpful with figuring out how to play and do things. YouTube video tutorials are how most of us have learned how to play.

[A Fat, Angry Serval]

Originally posted by Dan2D3D:

DLCs are just "Deco" blocks, well the Devs told the community they don't want the DLCs to become "Pay To Win" so those new blocks don't give any advantages to players using and are not needed at all.

While I'm going to once again preface this that it's not pay-to-win, there are definitely DLC blocks with functional differences to their normal counterparts.

Industrial Cockpit has better visibility, at the expense of having less convenient conveyor hookups.
Industrial Refinery allows for more compact base and ship building when placed vertically, at the expense of airtightness.
Industrial Assembler has more convenient upgrade module ports at the expense of being twice as big.
Half Beds can be placed in 1x1 spaces and still allow for free movement.
Grated Stairs take up less space than the default 2x1x1 stairs and are faster to climb than ladders, but don't provide much cover.
Small Warfare Ion Thrusters have more attachment points.
Large Industrial Hydrogen Thrusters are actually a downgrade, as they're an entire block longer than the normal ones.
However, probably the biggest one is the Automaton Programmable Block. The large grid version, like many of the other "deco" blocks mentioned above, effectively takes less space than the default programmable block. But it's the small grid version that's the biggest upgrade, as it's more or less a full block. This means you can use it as a structural component, eliminating the need to find a spot for what's essentially a glorified LCD panel and effectively letting you add scripts to any build that would otherwise have a spare 1x1x1 block.

I'd say that the DLC packs that have these blocks are the "essential" ones. You don't absolutely need them but I've found they help quite a bit. I'd also add Wasteland and Frostbite into the mix as they unlock Pertam and Triton respectively.

[Dan2D3D]

Originally posted by A Fat, Angry Serval:

I'd also add Wasteland and Frostbite into the mix as they unlock Pertam and Triton respectively.

No need of DLC to have Pertam and Triton planets, those are added in for free.