So it might have taken several dozen tries but I completed the story campaign. It started out like it could be easy but as usual there's a frustrating wall because of the missions objectives and layout. It took a while to figure it out. Then tried it on insane and realized it was hopeless.
The last mission is intense because after all the previous missions which had very careful handholding.. It is finally assumed that you can handle it all on your own and so they present you with pretty much one objective. Grow quickly. In order to complete that objective though.. You have to manage all resources. Figure out which ones to go for first and still juggle your colonists desires to keep them happy.
Well.. Really the issue is which needs to respond to and which ones to ignore because ignoring too many will result in them all being dead. Oddly enough ignoring food air and water production helped.
So by the last available mission you should know how to grow a sustainable base. By ignoring everything you learned so far.
Right ya. But even after several attempts to just get a base going.. The timer kept getting me. I'd get something right.. But forget something else. Or intentionally fail so as to figure out what I could get away with ignoring and for how long.
It finally felt like a slightly modern version of a Sid Meier Tycoon game.. Minus the transportation system.
Funny then that this game should pop up on my radar then when I'd only just a few weeks ago managed to get Sid Meier's Railroads going. That involved several patches and BS to get going but is still fun 12 years later. Though of course it lacked the base building intricacies found here in Aven Colony.
It really doesn't make sense how Firaxis focuses so hard on Civilization when there's so much room to develop RTS games that really are challenging and compelling.
Seeing that the game's forum is dead though.. It's kind of sad knowing both games are effectively dead. Hopefully Aven hits Steam in some type of early access scheme so more people can try it and provide feedback.. But it just doesn't look like it really is a game in progress. The website claims it gets updates regularly so we'll see.