>>717749787 (OP)
Keeping your pollution cloud clean is easier than building defenses around your entire factore. If you're having trouble taking out nests: tanks have equipment grids now in 2.0, meaning you can place not just robo-ports in them, but also personal laser defenses, energy shields, and exoskeletons. Get fast and use your cannon to destroy nests while your equipment automatically kills the biters for you.
>>717751593
Nuclear is incredible and I give the devs a lot of props for making it simple, effective, and safe. They could absolutely have played into cultural fearmongering and made them explode if you don't build it perfectly or miswire a circuit connection. Make a 2x2 reactor setup and it will change your life.
I notice that new players typically avoid modules and I think the main reason is they think the benefits aren't worth the extra power cost. Get some nuclear up, see how your entire factory is now using maybe 10% of your production, then embrace productivity modules as your new best friend.
>>717752730
Purple and Yellow were originally the late-game sciences (with space being post-game), so their challenges were that you need smarter solutions to expand production at scale using your currently available technologies, ie bots. You're powerful now. The game wants you to prove it by building mines/smelter stacks/train connections without needing to place anything by hand. When in doubt, remember the old adage: "If you think you have enough green circuits, you don't."
