worth buying?

[Nacho CL]

okay, so i didn´t find a recent topic discussing this, is the game worth buying? I mean, are they fixing the stuff that you don´t like in most cases? (for example the I.A. beign not good and the pathfinding problems)

[casualsailor]

I purchased the game on sale and got 150 hours of play out of it so far. It's fun despite some pathing problems and other glitches.

Actually those things are sort of Murphy's Law popping up and forcing you to pay attention instead of just letting your base run on autopilot.

But I don't think they are continuing to develop this title. I believe they are working on a new game called Dawn of Man due out later this year.

And of course there is always talk of Planet Base 2, but until DoM is released I doubt we'll get any firm committment on that.

I know the devs do monitor this forum so perhaps they can correct anything I might have gotten wrong.

[QueenlyVenomous]

There are a ton of bugs in game, yes its fun BUT you have to be willing to overlook your colonists starving on a regular basis even with food, unable to assign them tasks and the list goes on and on. I honestly did not make a recommendation for others to buy it in the review until such time as a lot of these bugs and glitches are fixed BUT its up to the ndividual person.

[Rigel]

The AI are fine. It's just that it's a game not an aquarium: the AI do not take care of the base all by themselves, you have to learn how to make them do the right things.

[Mistfox]

I think the most rage inducing part is the non-intuitive behavior of the colonists but if you can manipulate them not to die, it's ok.

[Yendor]

It's worth getting especially on sale. But I don't see myself playing long-term once I've finished the achievements (75 hours, one planet to go).

The developers are making only minor changes to it. The AI and RNG is sometimes infuriating, but that's just another problem to work around. It helps to know that trading with a ship has higher priority than moving vegetables to a meal-maker, so take a deliberate break after any large trade to give your workers time to restock. And use priority to get them to do (ONE) task in order.

The main thing I enjoy about Planetbase is you need to monitor your base and notice/ take care of problems in advance. If you don't notice that your water consumption has crept up until an oxygen generator shuts down, you're going to have a bad day. Likewise, power problems can be eased temporarily but shutting non-essential buildings off, but that strategy works best if you use it as soon as you realize you don't have enough power. It's only adequate if you wait until the "Power Low" warning, and is not going to help all that much if you don't do anything until the "power critical" warning.

[Malak]

Originally posted by Rigel:

The AI are fine. It's just that it's a game not an aquarium: the AI do not take care of the base all by themselves, you have to learn how to make them do the right things.

+1

Except for the early game, any starving is not understanding how to avoid it. Once you have 30 colonists, any starving is your fault. Been thinking about writing up my methods like I did with Banished. (Another game where people endlessly whine about starving)

[Rigel]

Banished? I never whined about starving when I played Banished. In stead I whined about firewood. Need more firewood. I became obsessed with firewood. Or you can build your houses of stone. But then you become obsessed with stone. Need more stone. Where to get more stone? Quarries. Need more quarries.

:-)

I like PlanetBase much better because you can stop expanding and stabilize your base before you continue.

[Luzilyo]

i think it's pretty allright. nothing to keep me hooked for hundreds of hours, but i can certainly enjoy it for a couple of days before moving on to a different game. ultimately it depends on your own taste though, if this game will be worth it or not.

[Mistfox]

Originally posted by Malak:

Except for the early game, any starving is not understanding how to avoid it. Once you have 30 colonists, any starving is your fault. Been thinking about writing up my methods like I did with Banished. (Another game where people endlessly whine about starving)

Unless you miss the mealmakers suddenly freezing. I think it 'waits' for a certain combo of ingredients or go below a certain food stock level before 'cooking', so sometimes a missed cue leaves you full of vegetables but no meals. I suspect it's due to saved game timings. Easy fix, dismantle and rebuild but sometimes you need to catch it first.

[Malak]

Nope, the secret is to have a huge stockpile nearby. I usually have a 70%+ filled storage before even adding a 2nd machine. I use salads, so I need a higher chance of at least 3 diff veggies being in there at once, but if the supply is low, you get more basic meals. The machine makes the first possible recipe it can.

[QueenlyVenomous]

Originally posted by Rigel:

The AI are fine. It's just that it's a game not an aquarium: the AI do not take care of the base all by themselves, you have to learn how to make them do the right things.

umm no, that does not work either because even when making things a priority they still just stand around looking stupid.

[Painless]

Originally posted by raquelambersantiago:

Originally posted by Rigel:

The AI are fine. It's just that it's a game not an aquarium: the AI do not take care of the base all by themselves, you have to learn how to make them do the right things.

umm no, that does not work either because even when making things a priority they still just stand around looking stupid.

Ummm... take a look at the guys working on the highway in your city or town. :)

[QueenlyVenomous]

Originally posted by Painless:

Originally posted by raquelambersantiago:

umm no, that does not work either because even when making things a priority they still just stand around looking stupid.

Ummm... take a look at the guys working on the highway in your city or town. :)

LMAO

[Mistfox]

Originally posted by raquelambersantiago:

Originally posted by Painless:

Ummm... take a look at the guys working on the highway in your city or town. :)

LMAO

That was a good one. lol.

Originally posted by Malak:

Nope, the secret is to have a huge stockpile nearby. I usually have a 70%+ filled storage before even adding a 2nd machine. I use salads, so I need a higher chance of at least 3 diff veggies being in there at once, but if the supply is low, you get more basic meals. The machine makes the first possible recipe it can.

Malak, I'm not sure if logic works on you but the meal maker freezing up means that even if you have 300 vegetables as a stockpile (and yes I had bases starve even with 300 veg stockpile), it still will not make meals. The problem is not a vegetable shortage, it is the meal maker missing a 'build meal' cue so it does not build meals. Regardless of how huge your stockpile is. You need to 'reboot' the meal maker by tearing it down and rebuilding.

[casualsailor]

Originally posted by Malak:

Originally posted by Rigel:

The AI are fine. It's just that it's a game not an aquarium: the AI do not take care of the base all by themselves, you have to learn how to make them do the right things.

+1

Except for the early game, any starving is not understanding how to avoid it. Once you have 30 colonists, any starving is your fault. Been thinking about writing up my methods like I did with Banished. (Another game where people endlessly whine about starving)

This is true.

The thing newer players will struggle with is how the AI sets priorities. For example, carrying goods to a trade ship will take precedence over practically everything, including filling meal makers. And the workers seem to ignore the presence of carry bots. So, if you get ambitious and try to sell 200 items to two different trade ships you can cause all your workers to ignore their own needs to fulfill that request.

After filling trade ships comes new construction. If you lay down several new structures your workers will carry bioplastic to them even if you lack the metals to complete them and again they will ignore their needs for food, water and sleep.

So, basically @Malak and @Rigel are correct. There's nothing wrong with the AI, the game just doesn't manage the work/build queue for you. You need to manage it manually and make sure you are not queuing up too much work for your workforce.