Techtonica

Potential-Monke

Not sure if anyone else is playing this, but I think it deserves it's own thread. Currently available on Steam and Xbox (via Gamepass), it's a first person factory automation game set beneath the surface of alien planet Calyx. Can be played solo or co-op (not cross platform at present). I've been playing it non-stop the last week. Simple premise of find tech to scan for new machines/tools/recipies and set the automation to work.

There is a story there, and it reminds me of Subnautica in the way it presents it. You awake as a Breaker with no memory of who you are or what happened, but you quickly meet some... one and set to work rebuilding the factory line. But you've to explore the caves to find more tech and expand the story more. It's presented very well for a game still in EA, and while it is a bit rough in some areas, I can see the final product and it will be something special I reckon. If this is your type of game that is.

I've spent quite a bit of time reorganising my factories, as it's ever expanding needs increase. It's good insofar as once you start mining ore, you never have to worry about having to relocate. It's infinite, and you only need to worry about feeding fuel/components and emptying the machines quickly enough. Space becomes limited, but most of the cave can be cleared and walls mined, etc to make more. I'm starting to connect the areas with tunnels, and the game definitely pushes towards having the factory spread out, with miles of conveyer belts connecting what's required, but I've managed to keep most of mine central so far.

Playing it on XSX, so not sure what PC performance is like. But for "free" on Gamepass, it's well worth a shot. It should be coming to PS at some point I believe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru2G9WfCnBY

marcbrophy

I did give it an hour to 90 mins the other day, based on your recommendation in the GP thread!

It's the type of game that gives me anxiety seeing the trailer and screenshots!

I know I'll eventually need to have a big complex of things, doing things, in order to make things, but for now I just have to place this one smelter!

Will it be okay here? Do i get penalised for moving it! What's the best damn spot???

I was a bit hungover playing, so prob not in the best mindset!

I'll give it another blast tomorrow or the night after and see what i make of it!

I don't want to be all negative, as above is just personal opinion. It is fun alright and uniquely coloured and relatively intuitive for a game in pre-release.

Holds your hand in a way that it tells you what's up next, but you can still head around and explore, finding areas you see might open in the future or new things that you can't make yet, that will be showing up soon in your tech tree!

It's also just over 5GB in size, so nice and small for those on poor BB, who can't stream so good! :)

Potential-Monke

That anxiety doesn't go away. I, yet again, spent most of last night reorganising my copper production. But I did unlock a new level and tech, and finally getting into some of those places I've found, if I can ever remember which ones they were. As it's still EA, it's not completely right, so things like trying to find the door you want to open only from a screenshot of the door and nothing to really remind you which part of the cave it's in! I'll be spending quite a chunk of tonight figuring out one of them.

The latest tech unlock... I need to start making more assemblers! But I'm also at the point where the upgrades are starting to make a difference. And I still don't fully understand the unnecessarily oversized upgrade modules. But I also progressed the story so I have to keep going now. It's not a quick game by any accounts, or maybe I'm just being too picky... The only advice I'll give so far is to make sure you can easily add more drills/smelters later. And maybe have a clean way of any resources being sent anywhere... Simples! XD

Sephiroth_dude

Getting factorio vibes........I may have to give this one a go.

Potential-Monke

So I gave it a break 2 nights ago. Just to see if I could. And i lasted one whole day. But that was good, because I was back with a vengeance last night. Was about to restore power to some place, and the game crashed. I took it as a hint to go to bed, so something is about to happen and it could be end game or opening up a whole new area, I dunno!

Seems the monorail system isn't working as expected, but the tracks are handy for getting around. Still spending ages reorganising the assemblers now, have over a jiggawatt of power, and it still has me hooked. Seriously impressive that, like Dysmantle, it remembers every block and what it's doing. And from a team of only 22 and under 6gig!

Sephiroth_dude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120912419#Comment_120912419

Have you played factorio? would it be as in depth as that? what's wrong with your monorail system?

Potential-Monke

Unfortunately I don't have a pc capable and they're not doing a console release. But, Factorio will be far more polished. I think the main differences, from what I've read, is that it's underground, first person and with a story telling/exploration similar to Subnautica but nowhere near the same level in terms of size. But not as in depth as Factorio. Far simpler by all accounts.

Monorail is busted for everyone i think. You can use the track to move around with a suit upgrade, and it does load, but it'll only transfer 1 block (of 60ish, all containing 60ish of said resource) when you load the game. Then it gets stuck saying not enough power, but there is. Known issue. Up until 10 mins ago it wasn't an issue, and I'll still be able to work around it, just makes transferring a bit of a pain, either doing refills manually or laying out very long conveyers!

I'm on the last main upgrade, which I believe will move the story to end game, few more hours or more. Secondary objectives are now massive in scale, compared to so far, so I'm hoping not necessary to finish! One is to lay 200 Mk.II assemblers, and I reckon I've 20 Mk.I's laid all game!

Having a few crashes lately, but not surprised with all that's going on. It won't be for everyone, but im enjoying my time with it. Has me hooked like Dysmantle. Plenty of "just one more machine/layout/task" turning into 3 hours later.

Potential-Monke

Unfortunately I don't have a pc capable and they're not doing a console release. But, Factorio will be far more polished. I think the main differences, from what I've read, is that it's underground, first person and with a story telling/exploration similar to Subnautica but nowhere near the same level in terms of size. But not as in depth as Factorio. Far simpler by all accounts.

Monorail is busted for everyone i think. You can use the track to move around with a suit upgrade, and it does load, but it'll only transfer 1 block (of 60ish, all containing 60ish of said resource) when you load the game. Then it gets stuck saying not enough power, but there is. Known issue. Up until 10 mins ago it wasn't an issue, and I'll still be able to work around it, just makes transferring a bit of a pain, either doing refills manually or laying out very long conveyers!

I'm on the last main upgrade, which I believe will move the story to end game, few more hours or more. Secondary objectives are now massive in scale, compared to so far, so I'm hoping not necessary to finish! One is to lay 200 Mk.II assemblers, and I reckon I've 20 Mk.I's laid all game!

Having a few crashes lately, but not surprised with all that's going on. It won't be for everyone, but im enjoying my time with it. Has me hooked like Dysmantle. Plenty of "just one more machine/layout/task" turning into 3 hours later.

Potential-Monke

Pretty sure I'm at end game, but its not written yet. I've done the main objectives, only have 3 overtime objectives and an un-finishable monorail one (its bugged). Don't think they're holding back the story, but I'll work on getting them done anyway.

Great game overall, few issues aside. Finished product could be something special, but I hope they change how the upgrade node thingys are done, they're too big and pointless at the moment. Sort out the monorail, make the enclyopedia usable (it's there, but it doesn't work properly, can't scroll on entries). Other than that, it's a solid game with an interesting discovery story which hopefully eventually ends strong!

Potential-Monke

Game is gone quite unstable for me now. Constant jittering, laggy movement unless I go slow. Was flattening a bit of land last night, using the largest upgrade I had, and it instantly froze. I suspect it's due to all the stuff I have in one area, but the game crashed in a different area. Might be because it was in the same area as my towers of oversized upgrade nodes, I heard people call them the towers of lag on PC. Not complaining, it's early access so issues are bound to happen, but happy to see it's really only end game affected so far. Speaking of, I'm pretty sure there's no end game yet. I've nearly all the secondary missions done, pretty sure I've explored everywhere.

I still recommend it as a grand pick up and play game inbetween games, if you don't get addicted to it like I did. I look forward to see where this is going.