Planetbase: Tutorial Experience

Today, we played the planetbase tutorial. Our task is to get a general idea for how the game works, passing off the information and giving a general review of the game. Here is how my experience went, beginning with some things you should consider early on.

It is very important at the beginning of the game to get three main things set up. Oxygen generation, power generation, and water production. Once that is set up it is probably a good idea to set up an airlock and connect it to the oxygen generator so that the workers can get inside and breathe. Once you have that, sleep is a good thing to consider, so a dorm would be a good thing to set up. Then food production, etc. It is very important to consider the needs of the colonists at all times, or it may be devastating for your base. 

Here is just a shot of everything being built. The solar panel was erected, and the water generation shortly after. The next thing being built was the airlock, which has a connection with the oxygen generator.

Here are four basic things you need to take care of initially. A water source, a power supply(solar panel), an oxygen generator and an airlock. 

Here is an image of a sort of power array that I have set up, with a wind turbine and solar panel each generating power, a power collector for storage, as well as the water generator in the middle. 

Some of the next base setup includes building a bio-dome for food production, and a dorm so that the workers can eat and sleep; necessary to their survival. If the workers are going to eat, they are also going to need a canteen, or basically a cafeteria as we may otherwise know it. There is a button in the top left corner of the information box for each building that looks like a camera. You can click that to get a cool view inside of each structure, and look around the room.

Here is a finished bio-dome, with some plants queued for being built. 

A more finished product, now that the crops are growing inside of the bio-dome. 

Here is the canteen. There is a meal processor that gives the colonists food. There is a table so they can sit and eat rather than just sitting on the floor, as well as a water fountain to let them drink. There is a television on the wall as well, but it is placed right where the camera is, so it can't be seen in this shot. If you look closely as well, there is a worker glitching inside of a robot. 

 There are plenty of other structures that can be built as well, such as a mine for harvesting ore, laser defense systems that can prevent meteor damage, labs that can be used to produce medicine, sick bays for unhealthy workers and so much more. Even within some of these places like the sick bay and the lab, you can place mini structures within them. For example you can place beds in the sick bay, and a crafting table in the lab. I like that you can customize the interior of the structures, rather than just placing them and having them work automatically. It adds a little extra detail.

There are some key bindings that I learned along the way as well that will definitely come in handy. For one, you can press Alt and you will be able to see in the top right had corner of the screen at how many resources you have left, and even how much you are losing by rate.

You can also press tab to remove the glass over the structure for a better look inside. Another quite useful tool is the plus button. That allows you to speed up the time in game, while minus slows it down of course. Another I found to be nice for screenshots is the spacebar. It removes all of the interface stuff from the screen, so you just get a clear shot, which I used in a few instances as you may notice.

Hopefully from here you are ready to take on a solo mission. Once you are done the tutorial you can dive straight into the action, starting on the first, mars-like plant. Hopefully you don't get hit by any meteors early on, for that could easily wipe out your entire colony. Personally, I am very excited to get to playing this game. I can't wait to see what the next few days bring.