We played our own tutorial, and we got stuck
v0.88.0 closes the tutorial work, which walks a new player from their first hire to their first defenses. Before shipping it, we played it from start to finish, and we got stuck more than once. The steps now come in a new order and the guide finally points at a place you can see. None of it is mandatory.
Versión original en inglés.
Two updates ago, the game's tutorial went from two phases to eight. On paper, it walked a new player from the first worker hired to the end of the game's core loop. Before closing the work, we did what we should have done from the start: play it all the way through, on a test account, doing only what it asked.
In short: we got stuck in several places, and v0.88.0 fixes them. The steps come in a new order, where you learn to earn Scrip before spending it. The guide brings the place to act into view, helps you in the Workforce window and tells you when a build is already under way. A greyed-out button says what is missing. And as before, you can skip the tutorial at any time.
What we found by playing it
A step with no way out. "Build a second power source": the guide pointed at the Champ solaire, already built, whose only button was "Upgrade". Upgrading it ticked nothing. The only way forward was to build a coal plant, which then sat idle for lack of coal and an operator.
Scrip asked for too early. The tutorial had you hire a technician, paid in Scrip, long before explaining how to earn any. On our test account, at zero Scrip, the "Hire" buttons were greyed out without a word, and nothing said to go and sell.
Places off the screen. The guide sometimes pointed at a button hidden below the bottom of a column, or at a card with only its edge showing.
A new order
Still eight phases and twenty steps, arranged differently: first steps, factories, selling at the NPC Counter, then technicians and power, research, an expedition, scanning a system, and defense to finish.
So you learn to sell right after your two factories, before any second hire. The scan comes before defense, which is the longest step. And the step with no way out becomes "Upgrade your Champ solaire", which the button shown really lets you do.
A guide that points at what you can see
When the place to act is out of view, the guide brings it onto the screen, once. After that you scroll as you like: it does not drag you back.
In the Workforce window, it shows who to hire. To staff two factories, that is a technician able to run two sites, the cheapest one you can afford: one candidate in two can only run one, and nothing said so. Once the hire is done, it points at the button that closes the window.
During a build, the bubble no longer asks you to build next to a button that has turned into "Cancel": it says the build is in progress, and that it finishes even if you leave the screen. The same goes for a probe on its way.
Finally, a greyed-out "Hire" button says why: no room left, or not enough Scrip, with how much is missing and where to earn it.
The early deficit
Right after your first hire, the Advisor reports a Scrip deficit. It is true, and it is expected: you are paying a wage before you have anything to sell. The Compass now says so in one line: at zero Scrip, nothing is destroyed and nobody leaves.
Nothing mandatory
The tutorial blocks nothing. No timer, no reward you could miss, nothing to lose. "Skip the tutorial" stays in the Compass from start to finish. The "Phase complete" card goes away on its own, or with a click.
If your tutorial is in progress, it picks up where your colony stands. If it is finished or skipped, nothing changes for you.
Two notes. Not everything is perfect: in the Workforce window, the guide's bubble covers part of the card of the candidate it points at. And the screenshots in this post come from a guest game, in a narrow window where the game switches to a single column, with the interface in French.
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