I have returned from vacation. Pro-tip: don’t go to the beach in early June and expect to get in the ocean or pool. It’s cold. Was seriously considering booking 1 night at a resort just for the indoor pool.

My disappointment with Farworld Pioneers left a Starbound-shaped hole in my heart that I prompted filled with Starbound. Again. More specifically with the Frackin’ Universe (FU) mod reinstalled.

I was pleased to see that the expansive mod had embiggened itself over the last three years, pretty much to the point where everything felt new. Yeah, many of the craftable items are the same as is the general sense of gear progression that comes from mining new ores on new planets to build things that help you mine newer ores on newer planets. But there was a clever implementation of a new Research system that ties it together in a (slightly) coherent package.

All technologies in FU are unlocked by spending Research points to purchase nodes in various categories. The primary way to accumulate Research is… playing the game. Which is a fancy way of saying “passively in real-time,” at the rate of +1/second. A system like this would typically feel stifling, but the innovation here are the modifiers. Play a long session? Bonus +1/second every 60 minutes. Land on a higher-tier world with more dangerous enemies? Bonus +1/second based on the tier. You can also get +1/second by hiring an NPC Researcher to follow you around, by wearing a special armor set, and by hoarding an endgame resource. Plus, there are some consumable rewards that will give you a dollop here and there.

For the most part, Research doesn’t get in your way too much, as certain nodes also require you to craft (or at least own) milestone materials in addition to the purchase price. Indeed, pretty much the only thing the system really changes is the encouragement of building a planet-bound base as your ship always counts as a “tier 1 planet.” And planet-bound bases were really already encouraged by the simple mechanics of buildings needing power that more easily came from solar/wind sources.

Well, I suppose Research also serves as a sanity check on players trying to leapfrog progression by getting lucky on high-tier planets. Before, if you could dodge getting one-shot by hostile fauna, it was sometimes worth landing somewhere long enough to get lucky with chest drops or some endgame ore close to the surface. With the Research system in place, you won’t be able to even smelt any ore you find without spending an appropriate amount. High-tier weapon drops could still make suicide runs worth it though.

Anyway, I’m back to being obsessed with Frackin Universe. For now.