I guarantee I'm doing something wrong, but just to be sure, is the game just a massive slog?

[Gold♥Shield]

I just started the campaign and got to the part where it was asking me to start researching some stuff only to find most research was asking for 1,000 of one of the resources and I'm only making 2 of each from my factories. Am I expected to branch out all over the map with smaller resource gathering stations or is there something else? Usually in a tutorial level, it would tell you that branching out is not only expected, but required (like in They Are Billions and Factorio), yet there was nothing like that mentioned in this tutorial so I got the impression I was doing something wrong.

[Khalan]

Yes, you'll want to make further outposts, usually you can fit 4 mines to each clump of resources, then also make smaller outposts around the map. You can also get some basic resources by killing enemies. With research you can get higher yield mines so resources come in much quicker. Later you'll be spreading out amongst different maps on the planet as well for different resources, all resources (except for electricity and water unless you use certain techs) are global and still come in to your storage automatically even when you're off that map.

I know it seems slow at the start, but it's exponential gains. You'll find yourself having to build lots of storage buildings just to keep up with the influx of resources. Same goes for energy, you'll need lots of wind and solar in the beginning, but there are a bunch of energy upgrades and new buildings that will give you much more power later.

I find small outposts dotted around the map much more effective than one large base. They are much easier to defend, they slow and whittle raids down before they get to your main base, and are easy to rebuild if destroyed.

[Blargo]

Generally yes, you would want to branch out and setup factories on multiple resource deposits, but also, you can gain additional resources faster by exploring the map and harvesting what the game calls "bioanomalies", which are essentially caches of resources.

There are two types of bioanomalies - ones that are marked with a circle icon and ones marked with a diamond icon on the mini-map. The circle ones can be safely harvested, but the diamond ones will trigger a swarm of enemies when harvested.
Both types also have a rarity level indicated by their color/size, where higher level rarities contain more resources, and in the case of the diamond bioanomallies, also trigger harder enemy swarms.

From lowest to highest rarity:
Grey --> Blue --> Purple --> Red

Also, you can place multiple factories on the same resource deposit to harvest it faster, just in case you aren't doing so already.

Some more info below if you'd like, but it kinda gets into spoiler territory:

- Factories can be upgraded up to level 3, which makes them individually harvest faster. Higher levels need to be researched in the research tree.

- One of the earliest mechanics you'll unlock is the geo-scanner, which is yet another way to get more resources. It can find & reveal hidden resource deposits underground, and also gass/geothermal vents as well.

- Around mid-game, you'll unlock resource synthesizers for carbonium and ironium. These are factories that infinitely produce resources out of nothing, but at a slow rate, and also require a decent chunk of power to sustain. It's pretty common that once you get into the end-game, you'll have enough power to sustain dozens of these synthesiers.

- The Cultivator and Harvester are two more buildings you can use to infinitely produce other resources. Cultivators grow plants; Harvisters harvest nearby plants. Certain plants produce certain resources.
An important detail that the game genuinely fails to mention anywhere: After you build a Cultivator, you select what it plants by pressing Ctrl to enter build mode, clicking on it, and then selecting the center button with the plant icon.

- At some point, you might end up in a situation where you need to acquire a lot more resources than what you currently have, but don't really have a way to reasonably increase your production yet.
If that happens, a quick way to get more resources without waiting for your production to catch-up is by using the Orbital Scanner (another building you unlock early-on) to find a new location to warp to. It'll generate a new map with new resource depostis, bioanomalies, geo-scanner spots, and so-on.
Pretty much just run around the map, grab whatever you want, and setup another outpost there if you feel like it (you can just abandon the location afterwards if you don't want to setup a permanent outpost there).

[blackphoenixx]

A carbonium powerplant can fuel 3 extractors of the same level so you can just slap down 1 pp and 3 extractors on any carbonium deposit on the map, put a wall around it and move on.
Ironium will need wind/solar but you also need less of it at the beginning.

Once you unlock the orbital scanner and can go to other maps you can just plop down an outpost, extractors and power to fuel them, fight of the first (weak) raid and then leave - the extractors will keep working without you being present and you won't have to worry about defending them.

The same applies to solid storage btw - you can put those on an outpost map so you won't have to defend them when your HQ gets raided. Saves a lot of space (and stops you from losing your stored resources when your walls get breached).

[Lord Admiral Revol]

Branching out is absolutely required.

Your HQ will be massive, but that's OK. You'll need a lot of energy for your research buildings. Make sure you are next to a water source when you put it down, and make sure there is a lot of room. Defensibility is nice, but tertiary. First priority is room, second priority is water.

First things first, you'll need to put down 2x mining outpost for carbon, 1x for iron (usually 4 mines, 4 equal level wind turbines, 2 equal level solar panel, a battery, a turret, an energy connector, and a portal, surrounded by walls), build your Armoury, parry the first wave, and then start building up your base proper.

Your first haphazard wall around the base will probably be simple Sentinel turrets with walls. That's absolutely enough to hold out against a wave until you make it there and sort it out. Don't forget to put down the occasional firing step. Eventually you'll have the resources to build "Wallboxes". Build a Portal Bomb tower, and around it, arrange a Shotgun tower, Sentinel, Laser (not Plasma!), Acid (the blob shooting, not the shredder), Artillery and Rocket tower, and behind it, a Repair Facility. You may add other towers, if you want to get fancy, I usually add a Shockwave once I get it. Put 7 tiles between each box. More, and they can't properly support each other. Less, and they'll overlap too much. Exceptions exist, of course, sometimes you want to put 2 if there is a bit longer stretch of wall, but it would be a bit too close to each other. These Wallboxes can also defend your mining outposts.

You want to do Palladium, Cobalt, Uranium, and Titanium, in that order. Once you have everything, then do the DLCs in whatever order. Once you get Palladium, the gas powerplants will give you a lot of breathing room in terms of energy.

Each outpost you want some storage, I usually put 9 regular, and 9 advanced storages, that on every map nets you well over half a million storage, that's more than enough for anything.

How many mining outposts you want? No, you want more. I usually stripmine the HQ, every mining map, and even scan for new biomes to exploit.

To be fair, I have a custom mod (that I'm not willing to share) that tunes the game for 3x mining output, that helps. A lot.

Oh, the DLC stuff? Like the Heavy Metal energy buildings and towers? Forget them, completely worthless compared to the basegame arsenal.

[Gold♥Shield]

Thanks for all the information. Is the first tutorial mission in the campaign going to become my permanent HQ where I should explore the map better before just slapping it down anywhere or will I go to a different planet soon?

[deltahazer]

Originally posted by Gold♥Shield:

Thanks for all the information. Is the first tutorial mission in the campaign going to become my permanent HQ where I should explore the map better before just slapping it down anywhere or will I go to a different planet soon?

I would suggest adding the "Move HQ Tool" mod. It adds a tool to the build menu that allows you to relocate your HQ building, so you can put one down initially to give you a respawn point and then once you've explored the map you can choose a "permanent" home.

As far as "planets" go, you're on Galatea 37 for the duration. You'll teleport back and forth to other portions of it, with a variety of environments and creatures, but it's all on the same ball of dirt, and as long as you've dropped an Outpost (like a mini-HQ) on a given map you can return to it or the main HQ pretty much anytime.

[Khalan]

Also worth knowing is that you won't get attacked before you place your HQ down in that first map (except by the groups of creatures you run into, or if you purposefully trigger an anomaly, the diamond shaped ones on the map). So you can run around exploring the map to find a good place before placing the HQ down. The only things you have to worry about is that your ammo won't be renewed for your starting machine gun (but you have a sword and an unlimited ammo blaster), and your health kits won't get restored, you have 10 to use, and if you do die you'll have to start a new game.

[Spirit]

Originally posted by Lord Admiral Revol:

Branching out is absolutely required.

Your HQ will be massive, but that's OK. You'll need a lot of energy for your research buildings. Make sure you are next to a water source when you put it down, and make sure there is a lot of room. Defensibility is nice, but tertiary. First priority is room, second priority is water.

First things first, you'll need to put down 2x mining outpost for carbon, 1x for iron (usually 4 mines, 4 equal level wind turbines, 2 equal level solar panel, a battery, a turret, an energy connector, and a portal, surrounded by walls), build your Armoury, parry the first wave, and then start building up your base proper.

Your first haphazard wall around the base will probably be simple Sentinel turrets with walls. That's absolutely enough to hold out against a wave until you make it there and sort it out. Don't forget to put down the occasional firing step. Eventually you'll have the resources to build "Wallboxes". Build a Portal Bomb tower, and around it, arrange a Shotgun tower, Sentinel, Laser (not Plasma!), Acid (the blob shooting, not the shredder), Artillery and Rocket tower, and behind it, a Repair Facility. You may add other towers, if you want to get fancy, I usually add a Shockwave once I get it. Put 7 tiles between each box. More, and they can't properly support each other. Less, and they'll overlap too much. Exceptions exist, of course, sometimes you want to put 2 if there is a bit longer stretch of wall, but it would be a bit too close to each other. These Wallboxes can also defend your mining outposts.

You want to do Palladium, Cobalt, Uranium, and Titanium, in that order. Once you have everything, then do the DLCs in whatever order. Once you get Palladium, the gas powerplants will give you a lot of breathing room in terms of energy.

Each outpost you want some storage, I usually put 9 regular, and 9 advanced storages, that on every map nets you well over half a million storage, that's more than enough for anything.

How many mining outposts you want? No, you want more. I usually stripmine the HQ, every mining map, and even scan for new biomes to exploit.

To be fair, I have a custom mod (that I'm not willing to share) that tunes the game for 3x mining output, that helps. A lot.

Oh, the DLC stuff? Like the Heavy Metal energy buildings and towers? Forget them, completely worthless compared to the basegame arsenal.

well , i use the infinite ressources mod , this way you never run out of materials and for the x3 extraction mod , there is one in the workshop that has even higher yield

[Lord Admiral Revol]

Originally posted by Spirit:

Originally posted by Lord Admiral Revol:

Branching out is absolutely required.

Your HQ will be massive, but that's OK. You'll need a lot of energy for your research buildings. Make sure you are next to a water source when you put it down, and make sure there is a lot of room. Defensibility is nice, but tertiary. First priority is room, second priority is water.

First things first, you'll need to put down 2x mining outpost for carbon, 1x for iron (usually 4 mines, 4 equal level wind turbines, 2 equal level solar panel, a battery, a turret, an energy connector, and a portal, surrounded by walls), build your Armoury, parry the first wave, and then start building up your base proper.

Your first haphazard wall around the base will probably be simple Sentinel turrets with walls. That's absolutely enough to hold out against a wave until you make it there and sort it out. Don't forget to put down the occasional firing step. Eventually you'll have the resources to build "Wallboxes". Build a Portal Bomb tower, and around it, arrange a Shotgun tower, Sentinel, Laser (not Plasma!), Acid (the blob shooting, not the shredder), Artillery and Rocket tower, and behind it, a Repair Facility. You may add other towers, if you want to get fancy, I usually add a Shockwave once I get it. Put 7 tiles between each box. More, and they can't properly support each other. Less, and they'll overlap too much. Exceptions exist, of course, sometimes you want to put 2 if there is a bit longer stretch of wall, but it would be a bit too close to each other. These Wallboxes can also defend your mining outposts.

You want to do Palladium, Cobalt, Uranium, and Titanium, in that order. Once you have everything, then do the DLCs in whatever order. Once you get Palladium, the gas powerplants will give you a lot of breathing room in terms of energy.

Each outpost you want some storage, I usually put 9 regular, and 9 advanced storages, that on every map nets you well over half a million storage, that's more than enough for anything.

How many mining outposts you want? No, you want more. I usually stripmine the HQ, every mining map, and even scan for new biomes to exploit.

To be fair, I have a custom mod (that I'm not willing to share) that tunes the game for 3x mining output, that helps. A lot.

Oh, the DLC stuff? Like the Heavy Metal energy buildings and towers? Forget them, completely worthless compared to the basegame arsenal.

well , i use the infinite ressources mod , this way you never run out of materials and for the x3 extraction mod , there is one in the workshop that has even higher yield

You never run out of resources either way. Carbonium and Ironium can be synthetized, but I'm sure you already know that. What you don't appear to be aware of, is that Carbonium, Ironium, and the biome appropriate special resource (Cobalt for Jungle, Palladium for Acid Swamp, Uranium for Desert, and Titanium for Volcanic Wasteland) actually respawns! There are two separate events that happen fairly regularly, first is the earthquake with the gravitational anomaly, the second is the meteor impact. Both deliver one of the three resources. They are a tad slow, so I actually suggest going on mining expeditions for any resources you might require. However, once you get there, keep in mind, that move fast, build swiftly, and get out to let the mines do their work while you are away from the map, as the waves on those maps are quite a bit stronger.

And even if they weren't, I'd still advise against using infinite ores. This way, an unfortunate ore vein can really mess up an otherwise nice base or defensive line. Happened to me multiple times.

[Flytrap]

Am i misunderstanding something or are you really asking 'do i need to scale up in this game'? Because let me remind you that you need to do that in every building game like this.

I dont understand how thats a big thing. Its not a slog there, why is it a slog here?

No, you want a slog? Try the megastructures in the endgame.