Feedback: Aquatic planet doesn't feel aquatic enough

[0retoise]

I'm playing on just the base game and have only explored the biomes immediately surrounding the starting area so maybe I'm missing some of the experience, but here's my feedback so far:

• Overall, there is just not enough water to make the gameplay feel distinct. My Dupes still spend most of their time running around on land or are constantly getting in and out of isolated pools which makes the swimming skills feel underutilized. The planet is advertised as "Construction materials are a bit limited" but both metal ore and raw minerals are abundant and I don't feel that aspect is any different from other base game starting asteroids (with backwalls, it probably adds up to even more material than usual). I was expecting an experience closer to Badlands or Oasisse where there's just a lot of "empty" biome beyond the starting area. This would properly incentivize taking the swimming skills and investing in masks/building Breathing Stations to extend the oxygen supply in order to reach new biomes.
• The changing water level caused by Tidal Springs is an interesting mechanic but doesn't seem to have any gameplay implications. I feel like there's a missing interaction with critters or plants that should need to alternate between being submerged and dry. The Starnacles seem like a good candidate for this.
  • The fact that Tidal Springs are fully "solved" by a single building also feels a bit sad. I wish we were also given some option to build a more elaborate contraption for greater rewards, tied to this changing water level mechanic.
• On the balance side: early game power is easily solved by Tidal Springs (only bottleneck is waiting for rubber via Gum Palms) and early game oxygen is easily solved by algae. The infinite Tidal Spring power also makes it trivial to jump straight to Desalinator + Electrolyzer as soon as ~3 Tidal Turbines are created, which then means you can skip interacting with a bunch of the new critters. It feels like there is supposed to be a tradeoff here where the early game is easy but then there is a midgame bottleneck... but iron ore and lime are both abundant and Gum Palms also happen to solve refined carbon. It feels like maybe Orehulls were intended to be an iron bottleneck, but there's just so much iron ore available on the map that Orehulls can be ignored.

Edited June 2 by 0retoise

[Gurgel]

First, I like the water planet and the new mechanisms. Even if the planet is smaller than the regular classic start. But yes, you have a point. I am just not sure how this could be fixed.

[tHe_silent_H]

maybe the lab planet can have liquid borders with limited dry land pockets