So I've been playing for the last couple days, mostly single-player with a couple of multi-player games that didn't work out so well. A few observations:
1) I love the game so far.
2) Can we get a running list of identified issues that are being worked on? It might cut down on people repeating the same problems. IE UI mispellings, common gripes...
3) Single Player Campaign - In campaign mode, when you "quit" a game and go back to the main screen, the consequences of quitting should be more clear. It should also be clearer to the player that they forfeited the map they'd been playing on. Perhaps when you quit to the campaign screen you should get a warning dialogue showing you were going to lose the income and perks from that map? Also, to note the progression through the campaign, perhaps dates or some other indicator (Map x of x, etc or Mars Date xxxxx) should be clear to the player so they can see tell there's been a progression of time between campaign maps?
4) Single Player Campaign - For the campaign map, it might help to take the Mars map and dice it up into color coded areas of control. Initially the map would be blank, but with every win or loss the areas would change color to reflect the victors. I know this is reflected in the current playing ranking display, but I think it might help to have both or have it be a toggle.
5) Single Player Campaign - Why does my stock price re-set on every map/area? If I'm running one company across multiple areas, shouldn't the stock price carry over from area to area? Additionally, shouldn't my profits from one area be reflected on my other colonies? I think it'd be great to be able to jump back and forth between different areas to tweak my mining operations. That is, one area is heavily producing water, which I then use on a different map that has no water in order to press an advantage in fuel or oxygen that my opponents don't have. That said, I know that would make the game wildly more complex and would probably effectively break how it currently functions. You may want some narrative explanation about why each scenario in a campaign effectively starts you over at zero besides affecting your income at the campaign screen.
5) Auctions - When there's an auction for a patent, I should be able to mouseover the Patent that's for auction and get a briefing on what it does. Eventually I'll memorize this stuff, but for an early player it's tough. Same with all the other Patents. If I've forgotten what teleportation does, I need a quick reference.
6) Tooltips - In the campaign it's frustrating to not be able to use a technology because I haven't hired the appropriate engineer. I think it needs to be made more explicit that hiring the engineer can be accomplished only at the campaign screen. Alternately, what if I could pay a premium to hire a needed engineer through the black market? Also, the process for hiring the engineers seems sort of random. Is there a logic to what engineers are presented? If so, could that logic be made more explicit to the player?
7) Disasters - What does the Solar Storm do? What does the Marsquake do? I see that they increase the costs of resources, but what other effects do they have? Does the solar storm make my solar cells generate more electricity or less? Does the Marsquake perhaps open up new geothermal vents? Does it destroy buildings? I can't tell the effects, currently.
8) Website - https://www.offworldgame.com/game/gameplay The Colony Types listed under "Business Models" don't match up with what's in game now.