OK. weird stuff.
@Yokes can you pass it to devs?
Can you check if there is any prerequisite to discovering a processing site?
the refinery just shows up AFTER I deployed a second probe on a partially discovered area to remove a dark zone.
are you sure? not a little spot without probe?
where did you find it?
I am Community Councillor too, by the way
yes, I am super sure. mexico-ish, just like you said. thatâs why I wanted to remove every empty space there. and voila. but the area was previously discovered by a probe as it was in the middle of land and I was targeting some little coastal fragment.
Understood, you tried to cover a little spot in the coast, and your probe found out the refinery, but not in that spot, am I right?
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exactly, however it was one of my first probes, thatâs why I ask if there may be a hidden prerequisite like, âyou cant find a refinery before you find mutane fieldâ and thatâs why the refinery was discovered after second try. But ofc it shouldnât happen/.
I just asked, I will post the answer when I have one 
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I agree with a lot of whatâs been said in this thread. I have some mixed feelings on the new Expansion.
I like, for example, how the mutane gas site gives your soldiers additional fire damage. Itâs handy and allows a team of relative rookies the ability to defend the site easily along with a guardian. That design is nice, since you will most likely have rookies defending those sites rather than wasting the time of more experienced soldiers.
With that being said, I find myself agreeing with what a lot of others have already said. Here is my addition:
The refinery/mines are overly complicated for whatâs already happening. I get that the developers wanted to give a feel for defending resources against the pressure of enemies, but it feels almost like âpay-to-win game strategyâ is being pushed on a game thatâs not. That is to say, the game mechanics seem to fit something that should be in a mobile game MMO where the competition of resources is with other live players, not NPC enemies. âŚDoes that make sense? The mechanics of the game play seem like you want to railroad the player into making specific choices, against what comes naturally under a normal play through.
A game designer buddy of mine liked to say that âGamers are the laziest people on the planet. They will always try to find a way to do something using the least work possible.â This statement wasnât meant to be disparaging; it was meant to explain how âworkâ is applied in a video game. The mechanics of the new expansion gives the player too much work to obtain weapons that are not viewed as âworth itâ. The player has to scan for archeology sites (using material resources to buy probes), then has to spend more resources to dig up the sites (using more valuable resources), then has to spend the most valuable commodity of all, soldiers (their time spent defending and mining the sites) to defend. âŚAll of which could be better spent elsewhere. The return on investment isnât particularly valuable. This is why I say it feels like a âpay-to-winâ strategy: if you gave me the opportunity to spend real money to forgo some of these investments/actions, I would be tempted to do so. The mechanics feel overly wrought, forcing the player to juggle more tasks than he/she would feel comfortable (as a player) doing.
I think if it was simply the acquisition and defense of the Legacy resources (orchalelum, mutane gas and Living Crystal) alone the game would be fine. But adding three additional resources to worry about atop the three that already exist? âŚI know the rule of thumb is âthree is a charmâ, but now youâve gone to six.
Iâm⌠not sure where to go from here. I have some thoughts, but with the caveat that I am not a paid game designer, so please take what I say here with a grain of salt. I mean well but I do not consider my opinion to be the most qualified or optimal solution:
I feel like the different new resources should just be simplified down to one resource, with an acquisition rate that is glacially slow. However, I also recognize that that is a travesty and would nullify the new movies and unique abilities of the different resources (like the aforementioned mutane gas fire ability). That said, you would still need to defend both a mine and refinery-- Just not three of each.
Alternative to that:
Instead of a resource, players could earn a varying amount of components for each material from each site, over a period of time. These could then be combined to make a weapon or weapons of their choice. During the period of this dig, there would be a heightened frequency of attacks from pandas/factions on that dig site with little opportunity to ârest and healâ between fights. After the duration of the dig expires, the site is exhausted and the player has no need to worry about it.
If you really want to keep the players juggling haven defense/exploration/panda lair attacks, then I suggest to change refineries to Storage sites. Special components of the new Legacy cannot be stored at Phoenix point bases due to their deadly radioactive qualities. Players must send planes/ships to defend these storage sites. The distinction from the current expansion is that all components of the various types can be stored (potentially) at a single location. The game retains the need for exploration of new Archeology sites (to find more components and storage areas) but at a rate of their own choosing (defense missions for a dig it limited and within the players expectations, when defending storage you potentially only need to worry about the one site).
As for resource costs:
Probes: I would have the Archeology labs just make probes automatically, over time. Or possibly start with two to three per each Lab, with the option of making more probes at cost if you require them.
Archeology Labs would still affect rate of component acquisition in the latter outline noted above.
Excavation cost would be the same. Duration of dig would be the same.
And finally, you shouldnât need a refinery to construct a new weapon, since you have components already in hand.
Edit: additional note to developers: I donât mean to insult you, by the way. Alone, I think this system rocks-- like if there were a precursor version of Phoenix Point where you play as the Antediluvians and this is the only resource management you had to worry about, it would make for a fine game.
My problem is itâs piled on top of an another resource management system, and I feel it gets a little clunky, what with all the additional base/haven defense and Panda attack sites you have to worry about. With the additional system, it feels like things need to get simplified a little, rather than complicated.
Anywho⌠My thoughts on the matter.
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I just harvest the material and searched the weapon. When I want to manifacture the weapon, it said I need another place in my control. Really?.. Canât you make it more complex and harder? Do I play Indiana Jones adventure or a xcom game?
This is realy realy lameâŚ
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I have a question. I come to a newly revealed ancient site with one soldier. A message says that an exploration team has to be delivered by air, but âconstant aerial supervisionâ is not needed. The clock starts counting down. If my aircraft departs, my soldier flies on it. The clock continues to tick. What happens here? I.e. no need to stay on location? When will I face the aliens? When shall I need to defend the site?
To explore an ancient site you donât have to stay for the time. This is only needed to harvest the new resources, but before that you have to fight the ancient bots on this site when it is explored.
So 3 steps, exploration, mission, harvesting.
Edit:
OK, 4 steps, after all you have to defend it against Pandorans and also faction invaders. 
Thanks for your prompt reply! May I come to fight the ancients as soon as I am ready, even after several days after the exploration?
How many sites are there in total: 7?
PS: I find Archeology Probes very cheap and do not see why it bothers anyone to manufacture them to cover the Globe.
PPS: I find PP one of the best games available for Mac! Thank you, Julian, thank you, Snapshot!
Take your time and donât go in with low level and not good equipped troops. As you can read several times here in the forum, fighting the ancients bots on these sites are probably the hardest fights till the end of the game, some call it harder than the last fight.
Exploration takes 3 days as I remember correctly, after this is completed you can go with your best squad to this site to free it from the bots and then harvest resources.
For that you need an aircraft manned with at least one soldier on this site (if it is any form of âmineâ, see below) to harvest as long as this aircraft stays there.
I donât know exactly, but you need 3 âmining-sitesâ to harvest the 3 resources and additionally 3 âfabric-sitesâ (one per resource type) that allow you to build the new stuff. So more than 6 are not needed to get what you want but of course there are more on the globe (but I assume only 1 per âfabric-siteâ).
To âmining-siteâ and âfabric-siteâ, I donât know their exactly name but the names are somewhat self explaining, even when I also was slightly confused with all the new things of this DLC. Not much explanations in game, sadly âŚ
Of course you can, but as I said above, more than 6 sites are not necessary. So why scanning the whole globe when you have all of what you need? 
Just cleared my two first âancientâ sites. It was very easy. Just sniped them all from the distance. I also used grenades and missiles on cyclops.
Please advise what is the best way to keep sites from being invaded. I canât afford to have 6 aircrafts with squads consistently present on sites. And I would prefer not to fight the sites back, but to have time to travel there for defense, like how I do when a haven is being attacked.
Normally you should get a 24 hour warning, so enough time to get there. If not, then there is probably a bug?
Every new ancient site under PX control provides 1000 materials reward
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Oh really? Never realized that âŚ
next time take a look in geo panel