Thanks a lot for such detailed feedback! I agree that terraformation requires improvements. Even more, in my opinion, terraformation is the reason why the older version might feel more fun to play. I see a few problems with it right now:
- I'm not happy with how maps are generated. Level generator is too random, and maps usually have a lot of free space which can make terraformation unimportant, or even useless.
- As you pointed out, sometimes terraformation patterns are pointless, and order in which they appear is unpredictable.
Because of that, working on terraformation is one of my priorities in the next major update (0.4). Also, I have a few more ideas on how to improve it:
- Add option to hide terraformation pattern into the stash for later use.
- Mineral and water terraformation types are boring in most cases because you just put them near existing resources to get an efficiency bonus. So I'm thinking about adding a new logic. For example, instead of existing "mineral deposits with 2 new mountains nearby" terraformation pattern, there will be a "mineral deposit that requires 2 existing mountains nearby" terraformation pattern.
Not sure if those ideas would be as fun as it sounds to me on paper, but I'll test them.