Interesting point. I think from a new user side seeing the red text when you're running negative on something may direct people to build life support buildings first which is actually the last thing you want to do if you want the player to have a good game.

This is a good point and I'll send it to Soren.

-Scott-

I feel like this would be only way not having starting resources could work, however I feel like the way it is works fine. After a few games you will find a comfortable rhythm to get up to level 2 hq quick without have to sell off all your starting resources. Personally I never sell off the resources I start with that is auto-consumed and will immediately start accumulating debt, I usually just start by selling off the carbon or the silicon if I really need to. Although I mainly only play expansive as of now and haven't really gone outside my comfort zone. I think it's better to have the choice instead of forcing people into debt or changing the way the starting mechanics work.

Part of the problem is even if you go non-standard (no steel/alum) opening and just delay upgrading, you still need steel/alum to build anything other than power. Then you have the whole issue of claims. You need claims, so you have to upgrade soon. Sometimes you get 1 or 2 on the black market instead, but that only delays the need for a short while.I think changing scrapping to return some resource will help too, since you won't necessarily get stuck into a line . It might open up the possibility to start with one thing then switch to another at some point.

Every alternative other than power requires steel to build the buildings, so its crazy to not produce either steel or aluminum at the start.

Removing life support that you start with is might only going to reinforce alum/steel further since it removes the initial cash lump that you use to just jump to level 2 at which point you actually have enough claims to do something. I do like playing on VP handicap since you can't just spam the upgrade button since you don't have the cash so you have to be a little bit prudent at level 1. At the same time, removing the starting resources so you just have cash could accomplish the same, however it would increase the risk of spawn stagnation.

Perhaps.... add a life support component to upgrading your colony? Logically makes sense, have to have reserve stocks to expand: more o2 to fill the new buildings, food/water to feed the new colonists or more electronics for additional robots to run things. This would increase the demand for the life support, hopefully to the point of making it profitable. I know that o2 can be profitable enough at the start from dry ice condensers, but dry ice is rare. So it shouldn't take too much to shift things.

The alternative would be to lessen the steel load to build things.

Due to the inter-connected nature of the game's mechanics (part of what makes it so sweet), another lever that might work here would be increasing the impact of early-game debt.  If, for instance, debt acted as a multiplier on the cost to upgrade your HQ, there might be viable strategies to go into early life support to keep debt down and buy construction materials from the market.

I don't know that this is actually a good idea, but it might be worth exploring.

Its a little different with life support I think.  If I'm trying to gain cash, and care less about debt, then I'm not going to produce life support, because that can just go to debt.  I'm still thinking about this, but I think I'd like to see debt eliminated.  You say, how would that work?  Your production facilities are taxed to purchase the power and life support they need based on market prices.  If life support prices are high, and you have none on-hand, your industries suffer by some amount.

Hmm, I forgot about avoiding the death spiral issue.  Forgetting that gets me every time.  I'll have to give this more thought.  Its probably too late for something like a big game changer, even in early access, so I won't think too hard.

From a game design perspective I think it works as it is. A simple way that would not risk interfering with the current design is to have a game option 'Cash is King' = "Players start with cash instead of initial resources".

Problem with that is the more claims you get at level 1, the more of an advantage the person who founds first will get.

I don't think founding first is that much of an advantage if any. Its likely you haven't chosen the best location as there wasn't time to scan much of the map. Also you dont know what other colonies people will choose.