So, what is your take of the Frosty Planet after a while?

[Gurgel]

Personally, I think this is a nice success. (I am playing Spaced-out, classic start) It took quite a while before the gameplay startet to resemble a regular start. I had to find a number of new approaches and modify old ones. Two major annoyances of mine are gone on the starting asteroid: 

1. Keeping solar going in the face of meteors
2. Oxyferns. They just do not work well.

Essentially what I expected and had hoped for. 

What is your take?

[fishoutofwater]

I'm running frosty base at a slow pace, right now at 80ish cycles, stil figuring out how to get water, so far I like the different critter and plants, specifically their liveable temperature.

If u don't mind, may I ask, what are the differences between spaced out asteroid and spaced out classic? beside map size

[Primalflower]

2 hours ago, fishoutofwater said:

what are the differences between spaced out asteroid and spaced out classic? beside map size

oil and uranium and fiber are all found on starting planet on classic whereas spaced out asteroid attempts to necessitate space travel by spreading these resources out

[blakemw]

I've been warming up to it (lol).

One of the big things I appreciate is that the critter scale growth is based on nutrition and the critter being happy. I despise the way Drecko scale growth depends on neither nutrition or happiness.

I like that it seems to favor having high agriculture and high ranching dupes - high agriculture is to maximize the benefit from "Farmer's Touch", which is really useful when ranching Bammoths especially because you get a big discount on the ethanol requirements, making it easy to "close the loop" with a Flox+Pikeapple <-> Bammoth+Plume Squash farm. The balance of these critters and plants is quite good. Floxes are decent for Omelette/Pancake (like Pips), Bammoths are really good meat animals, Bammoths also have their temperature thing going on which I haven't fully come to grips with but I think it's good, if you ignore it Bammoth ranches still work okay, but if you want to maximize  Bammoths you need to think about solutions. Delecta Voles seriously whiffed with their "picky eater" trait, but Bammoths thermal exchange "Fussiness" is much more manageable.

Haven't really got into the seals yet other than the wild ones (still preferring to get Ethanol via the Distillery), but the the Bonbon Tree is fun and the Nectar is a good coolant, not too good though. I also like how it can be turned into Plastic via the Polymer Press, for a DLC which is very agriculture/ranching heavy it is is nice that some industrial solutions are required too.

I like that radiation requirements were reduced for the Frosty plants, making mutating them practical in the early-mid game instead of being an end game megaproject, not to say the mutations are a super strong strategy, but it is at least an option.

I'm thrilled to have Wood Heaters.

I feel that Chilly Surroundings is well implemented for the most part. I like that there are multiple ways of dealing with it. Obviously some players like to give them all warm coats, but I scatter Wood and Space Heaters around, they're cheap to run, a single Flox Ranch sustains something like 28 wood heaters.

Overall I think the devs did a lot of things right, learning from past experience of what doesn't work well or was overpowered or overbalanced. After seeing mostly cosmetic upgrades, it is very nice to be seeing game mechanic upgrades.

[Red Shark]

The content is fine (Plug Slugs eventually got morphs, so I suspect the Ceresian critters might eventually too).

But I want to discuss the real travesty: Only 1 new achievement

Spaced Out! added 10 times as many! How am I to make the primal lizard-brain happy with only one new shiny sticker to chase?

[BezKa]

I'm super slow with my playthroughs, but I'm getting along on blasted Ceres fine. I can figure out solutions to my problems by myself which feels nice, and the colony is mostly going strong on wild Sleet Wheat- there's so much growing around I mostly just leave the barbeque from ranching as an addition. I haven't touched the pump yet and from descriptions I read on the forums I don't really get how it works so no opinions on that yet.

Overall, I'm having a lot of fun. All my setups taking forever to heat up, melting ice as the main source of water, duplicants freezing instead off overheating for once are all a nice change.

And I like the skins, a lot

 

[Ceos]

I will just add to the general agreement. New source of polymer that also works as a good "mid-cold" coolent and is bio derived... awesome. I know there has been some flak but I think the new critters are fun and a nice addition. For me though the biggest positive addition is the new uses for wood and snow. The wooden tiles and carvings as well as the snow tiles make this new colony feel unique. 

I always hated the thought of carpet or metal floors in the bathroom but I wanted the decor bonus. Now my dupes won't freeze thir feet or have gross bathroom carpet.

[6Havok9]

Nectar is awesome. Almost too good. Wooden tiles are cool and cozy. Wood blocks are buggy? They become invisible sometimes.

The geothermal heat pump is quite fun.

The sauna and the hot tub counteracting chilly surroundings AND SOGGY FEET is great.

But the best thing is pemmican, critters naturally expire even without ranching them for meat. So I can have a food with unlimited shelf life for rocket crews or whatever, without committing to that production chain.. and I can dedicate my water, farms and ranches to what truly matters: mixed berry pie and mushroom quiche.

My dupes shall never eat exploited critter barbeque ever again. Maybe some ethically sourced surf'n turf every now and then.

What I don't like: only the water cooler as a cooling station? Oh, cmon. Gimme a fan. And the the instantaneous debuffs are.. questionable.

Oh, and those flox animations...

I wouldn't recommend it to a new player because it could be overwhelming and because you don't get Classic critters on Ceres. But for longtime players is a good way to support the devs and get something "cool and refreshing" in return.

[Hokaeru]

I agree with what has been said. Very good content, disregarding some minor details that will probably get fixed with future updates.

I play spaced-out style. I like the new critters, and that you may use an alternative for oxygen production. I also think that the athletic debuff is a bit awkward in the early game, which encourages even more the use of atmosuits. Ceres has a nice synergy with the "basic start" you can reach via the teleporter. This brings infinite sustainability much sooner in the game with bammoths (I don't usually ranch dreckos), which is nice so I have more time to clean my planetoids and make everything tight before going for space travel. When with other planetoids, sometimes it was a necessity.

[Slavon Blue]

On 8/6/2024 at 1:05 PM, 6Havok9 said:

What I don't like: only the water cooler as a cooling station? Oh, cmon. Gimme a fan. And the the instantaneous debuffs are.. questionable.

We even have the chilly fan in game already! Big missed opportunity.

[SkunkMaster]

Having done around 10 colonies to cycle 100ish on Blasted Ceres, I feel like the frost planets are a challenge in "how to ignore the environment".

Can't just pour water into a container, Have to make container in insulated and make sure to use enough water that just dumping in water at 25c is enough to keep it warm. 

My impression is that the game is somewhat the same after that lesson has been learned. Actually I would argue the frozen maps are easier than other maps in the sense that Bammoths are SO much food (especially when turned into pemmican) and you start out with unholy amounts of oxylite and water (in the form of ice and snow).

 

Obviously havin to dig a bit for minerals can feel like a chore, but i would chuck that down to being "part of map tactics" rather then difficulty. 

The Geo Thermal plant is a fun/nice addition, haven't played with it alot but i can see the fun in it (much more so than that stupid tree)... 

The wooden tiles are awesome, I'd argue the wooden tiles are the best flooring. Fast to build, fast to run on high decor and easily renewable to top it all of with.

I also like the changes to cold/varm areas and the debuffs that come with it. Can't wait for them to remake the hot asteroids / make new hot asteroids, where the hot mechanic is the thing instead. 

I like that the new critters depend on eating for renewing their "scales". can't starve ranch them for their product, I really like that.

Mercury, nectar and all the other stuff is also nice...

I like nectar mainly because it's such a good coolant pre-super coolant, while also giving plastic. Having plastic before cycle 50 is more than doable

 

 

 

All in all money well spend I'd say

[Mastada]

Meh.

It's good, if you're looking for early game stuff.

Have been hoping for a long time, for more end game stuff. Have seen many topics/ideas/suggestions thrown around various forums for years that sound fantastic end game. Have aliens contact us. Produce 1000 tons of Steel in exchange for new technologies, for example. Barter and exchange. Systems that give value to unused skill points. Strategy. Challenges. Decision making. Etc. Won't rehash what's already been suggested.

I'm ignorant of what would need to be done on the backend for such things, but many of them seem pretty reasonable. ONI is the most fun when scarcity or challenges are involved. Once I've got more than enough fuel to last me 1000's of cycles, why would I want to build a petroluem/sour gas boiler? Answer: I never have.

I realize many enjoy the sandbox part of the game. That's awesome. I don't. I like moving towards a goal. Spending hours increasing my efficiency by .03% is a yawn fest.

I'm thrilled Klei is still updating the game. I bought the DLC. Just wish their focus was different.

[Pedro_L]

5 hours ago, Mastada said:

Meh.

It's good, if you're looking for early game stuff.

Have been hoping for a long time, for more end game stuff. Have seen many topics/ideas/suggestions thrown around various forums for years that sound fantastic end game. Have aliens contact us. Produce 1000 tons of Steel in exchange for new technologies, for example. Barter and exchange. Systems that give value to unused skill points. Strategy. Challenges. Decision making. Etc. Won't rehash what's already been suggested.

I'm ignorant of what would need to be done on the backend for such things, but many of them seem pretty reasonable. ONI is the most fun when scarcity or challenges are involved. Once I've got more than enough fuel to last me 1000's of cycles, why would I want to build a petroluem/sour gas boiler? Answer: I never have.

I realize many enjoy the sandbox part of the game. That's awesome. I don't. I like moving towards a goal. Spending hours increasing my efficiency by .03% is a yawn fest.

I'm thrilled Klei is still updating the game. I bought the DLC. Just wish their focus was different.

I miss the early days when long-term survival was impossible and you had to optimise as much as possible for you to survive as much as you could

[Nogard78]

I didn't really play that much, YET, but a new and fresh take on early and mid game is very nice. Also it's really interesting to see old ideas being but together, mainly speaking about old Helicona maps, one where there was a sandstone biome in the middle and outside of that just ice biomie, and the second helicona map with "electrum" biome at the top containing mercury, just like top biomie on Ceres. And something I was just not expecting were skins that came with DLC, many people got their wish granted. 

Now that I think about it this old "The Rock" map also reminds me of Blasted Ceres in some way, interesting... 

[Tenedas]

I have made to the end-game after 500ish cycles and have to say only two things were really new:

• Figure out the 3 new ranches - kind of easy tass
• Figure out the new heat pump - medium just becouse you had to calculate mass deletion etc without spoilers

On the other hand critical important Mechanics get removed from the playthrough (basically you are paying for.easy mode):

• You don't have to deal with heating problems in midgame. Nectar to Plastic allows for easy steamturbine and the planetoid include iron too. Get an AT/ST is trivial easy
• You don't have to deal.with power generation. Heat pump makes it so trivial, it can sustains 18-20 Steamturbines just rerouting the hot steam and adding a little water every 10/20 cycles
• You don't have to go to space or to the teleporter planetoid, everything you need is on the starting asteroid. This is sad becouse planetoid clusters were well designed until now in a way that you were forced to explore them to find stuff (reed fiber/iron/oil for plastic/etc) not all of them were available.

All in all i stay of my opinion, it is a bad and payed Quality of Life update that get things easier and worst of all the oxygen is basically imcluded.

I want to look at this DLC as a way for Klei to approach a more casual audience and introduce the game to new hardcore players too without being to punishing. Hope veteran player will not be taken for granted in the long run, my feeling is that most of us bought this DLC out of gratitude to Klei for years of quality content and not for the quality of this DLC itself, that's my two cents tho!

Cheers

[thegroundbelow]

On 8/5/2024 at 4:58 AM, blakemw said:

I like that radiation requirements were reduced for the Frosty plants, making mutating them practical in the early-mid game instead of being an end game megaproject, not to say the mutations are a super strong strategy, but it is at least an option.

The one really nice optimization you can do with crop mutations is let your 6 bammoth ranch graze on just 6 exuberant plume squash plants. Since each bammoth normally requires 4 plants, and exuberants cut down growth time by 75%, you can completely remove dupe labor from your bammoth and plume squash (assuming you're willing to give up the farmer's touch buff)

[imazined]

The new plants also need 250 rads

[Molay]

I played it only for a little. It seemed fine and interesting, I just don't really care for the big asteroids anymore, so I ended up doing a swampy moonlet playthrough instead, which I'm enjoying a lot (not done that start before). I really wish the get around to make it SO-integrated by making a moonlet start for the frost-dlc.

So it's mostly a wash for me, but I think it's generally a good addition to have in the game, even if they didn't integrate it properly so it ends up being more of a lategame afterthought thingy within a moonlet cluster, rather than a true experience as such. Not sad I bought it though. Hopefully they will rectify that oversight someday.

[BezKa]

9 hours ago, Molay said:

I really wish the get around to make it SO-integrated by making a moonlet start for the frost-dlc.

Wdym? There is a moonlet start in SO.

[hydragyro]

34 minutes ago, BezKa said:

Wdym? There is a moonlet start in SO.

That's a "Medium" cluster. A "Moonlet" cluster has a smaller starting asteroid, but more secondary asteroids and a slightly larger total map space. Terrania, Folia, and Quagmiris are "Medium" clusters; the rest of the Spaced Out! maps (aside from the classic-style maps) are "Moonlet" clusters.

[gigamoi]

I too found the lack of moonlet start displeasing. Thankfully, altering worldgen isn't very hard. So I made my own moonlet start.

[Tenedas]

4 hours ago, gigamoi said:

I too found the lack of moonlet start displeasing. Thankfully, altering worldgen isn't very hard. So I made my own moonlet start.

Would you mind sharing your way?

I am interested into recreating a frozen moonlet too

[gigamoi]

19 hours ago, Tenedas said:

Would you mind sharing your way?

I will attempt to package my work in a mod for everyone to enjoy. I will keep you posted.

[gigamoi]

Well, dupettes and dupes, here it is.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3314075768

[Gurgel]

To add to my original statement, I have now played the Blasted Ceres Cluster for a few days, and I really like it. Requires you to find new solutions for a number of things because things are on the other side of the gap.