I tried the game a while ago, and have roughly followed its development for the last few months.
Accordingly, I want to give a few comments and tips about the game, especially because I find the concept itself really great.
It will be a little longer
In my last playthrough, I was quite disturbed by the fact that almost every minute there was an attack on the base and I had no real possibilities to make major changes to the infrastructure of my base.
For this reason, at some point I started to draw a wall around the base, directing the enemies through a corridor when they attacked and letting them run into a wall of saws at the end.
The fact that my companions also run randomly into the blades is not a problem, I can revive them at any time, but this was sometimes the only possibility for me to make the attacks more pleasant, when I actually wanted to expand the base.
The fact that the world map has changed a lot had pleased me, also the new enemies that you could run into have added new tactics. The sand worms in particular were a pleasant challenge.
New mobs and perhaps also things that you can discover in the free world would be a great incentive to move further out into the world. Maybe some unique upgrades that you have to find before you can unlock them in EDIE?
I could imagine that would be cool.
Some kind of battle animal system might also be fun. The dog that you always have with you is a really cool new feature that I missed in the old versions. The fact that the dog can slow down the opponents makes many combat situations much more pleasant and not so hectic.
What I would perhaps bring in would be a system where you could perhaps raise animals as combat companions. For example, a Wolly that you can choose from your herd and raise from a human companion by means of a new job. Beast of burden, fighting animal, or maybe a way to trade them?`Could fit well with the dystopian scenario.
And, what also caught the eye especially in the attacks was the lack of electrical circuits. So simple circuits. At the moment, certain defense systems don't really make sense to build, since there's no way to centrally activate their function, since they already consume electricity.
I had tried something like this, a remote control for the defense systems, but it could not be built properly.
The companions currently equip themselves with what fits their job. Maybe it would be possible to allow and forbid certain equipment for the companions. So that the guards get the strongest unlocked weapons and armor, and you can also assign weapons and armor to the others in case of an attack. Otherwise the companions die too quickly when human attackers walk into the base.
Finally, I have a very small comment, which would certainly not mean much trouble.
For the devices that can be filled up to produce other things, for example this composting plant that turns vegetables into oil, it would be pretty cool to have a way to fill them up completely or only partially by pressing a button. Currently, if you have a capacity of 200 vegetables, you have to press a button 200 times so that you can then produce 100 oil. I don't know if there is a button for that yet, but so far I couldn't find it, which is why I bought more of the stuff instead of producing it myself.
Those were my comments, I hope they could help you and maybe inspire you to new possibilities within the game. I think the game is really great, keep it up.