New Player Impressions / Suggestions

[Poko]

I downloaded the new pre-alpha version on Friday and then spent the majority of the weekend playing, I wanted to say how impressed I am with how bug-free the game is for such an early state, and how much fun it is.  Great work so far, I can't wait to see what comes out next!

Things that are particularly awesome:
-The early game, where you need to carefully balance food gathering and base building
-Raids / base defense - at least until blasting charges show up, they just make it easy-mode. But, until then (and even after that if I avoid exploiting it), base defense is engaging, fun, and nerve-wracking. It's way too early for it, but, for the final version, can you include an ironman mode that doesn't allow reloads?
-The ability to fine-tune the priorities of each person, it's really cool. An added feature might be some kind of temporary command where it puts the priority on a certain thing to 1 for all colonists for a day, then reset to normal (say you need to get something built in a hurry, or there's a food crisis).

My main area of criticism is not related to gameplay at all, it's story-based, and is relatively minor.  The 3 people land stranded on a rim world, and then, in under a day, can have built a solar panel array and an interplanetary communication device.  The next non-slaver ship that passes by they can hitch a ride on and 'game over'. The idea that these 3 castaways can build all of the amazing tech that they do is a little strange anyway. 

I originally had a long list of suggestions, but here are my primary 2:

Expand weapons to include tools, and allow the colonists to create tools (and weapons?) and equip them in place of weapons.  If you've played the iPad game Rebuild, I'm thinking something along those lines, where someone can carry a pick and get +2 to mining instead of (in addition to? a pistol.  Or a shovel and get +2 to planting. This might be very easy to implement, but it would also be nice to have them, once recruited for defense, run to an equipment rack and get a weapon.

At some point in the game, have Raiders construct their own base, and allow the player to conduct raids on it / destroy it. 

Anyway, thanks for the amazing game, I'm looking forward to more content in future releases.