When I played the base game for the first time, I quickly fell into a trap of looking up designs and just pasting ready blueprints. This significantly killed the enjoyment of the game for me, until I had mentally reset and finished the game with my own designs. Going into the Space Age, I have made a decision to play it as blindly as possible. 230 hours later, I have achieved a victory condition, and I'm still continuing to play to experience most of what Space Age has to offer. If you'll forgive me the funny meme, I finally got a pure hit of Cracktorio - I had to restrict myself not to play late into the night.

I like the planets and their challenges. Initially I was put off by Fulgora and Gleba, but Gleba grew up on me immensely, and solving Gleba helped me improve my Fulgora factory, as well as prepare me for Aquilo. Together with other 2.0 changes, I have learned to use circuits, from simple condition checks to more advanced blocks like timers and SR latches. My space ships started small, but later designs have smart designs for asteroid processing and pre-flight checks. Interplanetary logistics are touch simplistic, but I have ships not only carrying science and unique exports, but also helping to shore up the production on other planets. I'm looking forward to building a space ship capable of traveling to the Shattered Planet and making the post-endgame science pack.

Space Age is a set of new interesting challenges and mechanics, and while I understand why some players may be off-put by them, I find it extremely interesting and captivating - well worth the money.