Day 7
So … sorry for the lack of updates. I've been busy.
Some of those biters were getting rather close and I went out and cleared some space to the south and south west. No doubt there are others out there, but the space I've cleared will do for now.I basically used a line of turrets as mobile defence and then used an anti-material rifle to shoot from a safe distance.
I found a blueprint for something called a mall in the shuttle's computer and I was busy laying it down - it looks like it'll produce most of the basic items I'll need and the intermediates required to make them, with the intention that I can go 'shopping' whenever I need to mass producing the next item I need. I've barely completed the initial stage at the moment as I'm still waiting for all of the resources required to make it, though hopefully it'll fuel the rest of my expansion.
Additionally I started an offshoot for basic circuits and to get a little bit of mass production started. Who knew you could make those things from wood? Stone is my other option, but the latter is finite whereas I can just produce wood in greenhouses and have it all automatically added to the bus.
I might have to look at using stone to use it up (if required), but that is a future me issue.
Also, as a site note … I've found out just how many flavors of emergency rations the suit systems offers. And just how close the built in synthesizer comes to actual food.
Add 'eat actual food' to the reasons to get back home.
Day 10
More and more the factory grows and with that comes other issues.
I've got the two most basic science cards processing by themselves as long as there's enough resources on the bus. They're going automatically into the science labs, though this seems to be merely the start of things. From the variety of inputs on the labs things shouldn't get too complicated.
Given that the bus has expanded northward I'm also getting rather close to a couple of nesting sites. I'd rather avoid them nibbling on anything important so I'm going to look at cleaning out a bit more space. I've already done that to the south, though most of the nests that I'm worried about are outside of my radar's vision ranges.
Here's another interesting thing - I've discovered that I can research upgrades to my suit - to strengthen its miniaturisation field so I can carry more, to speed up my movement and even increase the speed of its built in matter manipulation fields. I'm in part carrying the important stuff that I can't afford to have smashed by a meteor. You'd think that there'd be an option to expand the food types that the suit can produce, or alternatively produce better quality food ... but no.
The main issue? I don't even know how big this factory is going to get. How many resources it'll consume. I hope it stops before it eats the entire planet …