Hey DominusNovus! Thanks for sending up all those questions. Will try my best to satisfy your craving for knowledge.
- Whats the main reason you decided to include a mechanic of asteroids coming in range and out of range? Will there be any asteroids that stay in range?
We wanted the experience to be very different from those on the surface. Smaller and focussed bases that deal with the challenges of that particular asteroid for a limited period of time. Having them move out of range also lets you experience more asteroids on a single save. No Asteroids will stay in range tho, they have a tendency to just disappear in dark space.
- What happens to colonists on the asteroids after they're out of range?
They will go on an exciting journey into the unknown, never to be seen again. Not sure I would recommend such a trip to anyone...
- Will Phobos and Deimos feature in any capacity?
In the early stages we considered including them, however, they didn’t make the cut as they didn’t work with the gameplay we had in mind for Below and Beyond (they would have been too similar to your base on Mars).
- How moddable are these asteroid missions?
Through Lua scripting the random map presets can be changed however it is not possible to create custom maps.
- Flavor-wise, why would the rockets that land on Mars have a harder time landing on asteroids?
The biggest problem is the difference in gravity between Mars and asteroids. The specs on the landing and take-off systems would have to be very different.