Santoblasted at loop 8. Can you beat that? =)
Lol, this got me going on trying to optimize the whole game. I am not doing perfect, but I believe I am doing fairly good. I did manage to get Santoblasted on loop 5, and am currently just starting loop 9 with Santorini about half done and almost through the third layer in Laurion.
tldr: Description of loops 6-8 and thoughts about what next.
Loop 6 was all about getting the shortcut to the dam and getting all the way to Santorini without running out of power or water, loop 7 much the same and prepping some blue actions. Could optimize them more, but diminishing returns.. I didn't really see any major reason for trying yet again.
Loop 8, the shortcut was prepped enough to go directly, get two boxes, continue. Do a bunch of blue actions, get the suit, the fuel, the speed filter, and the solar power tech. Return through shortcut to Talos, because that requires way less power than it would going straight to Laurion. Pit stop, get solar going to get the last few points of power needed to go through the tunnel to Laurion. In Laurion, just install the generator and sped up water filter, get all the remaining blues, then drill baby drill!
Plan for 9 is much the same as 8, but maybe get three boxes this time. Could go for Astrape after Santorini instead of Laurion, or maybe Pneuma. That would adhere to Shadowsand's plan of making it more difficult to drill but with more stuff that can make it easier spread out in the different locations, and I'm currently done with blues in Laurion. Since I will need to return to research places later anyway, maybe I'll save the drilling for those instances instead. On the other hand, doing those trips without that artifact support is not quite optimal.
Alright, let's give an update.
I went all in on skipping the artifact in Laurion (for now, at least), and instead, based on my optimized santoblast loop 5-save went for Astrape instead. And man, are there many ways to play this! I do not know how far off a "perfect" run I am, but I suspect it it possible to clear Astrape (excluding the aircraft obv, but including all blue actions) by the end of loop 10. I did not manage that, but I did manage to find the faster path through the highlands, get the artifact, and even quite a few blue actions that are not requisites for getting resources or the artifact by the end of loop 10. Most admin and civilian blue actions are left though. I'm done there. The first loop I got to Astrape was loop 8 - loop 6 and 7 was pretty much the same as previously, just optimized for getting to Astrape instead of going back to Laurion. Key for 6 is to get to Laurion and get water and fuel, for 7 just fuel.
This took so many attempts and re-attempts and sheesh. Just getting the most out of everything but still getting away from Santorini in time in pretty much every loop, one way or another. Especially annoying when trying to get to Santorini and back with the tram in as early a loop as possible! I still have a bunch of blue actions in Santorini because doing them would delay solving Astrape! I suppose, though, that now that Astrape is stable I could park the rover in Santorini, take the tram and do all the blue actions in Astrape, get back, do all-or-most blue actions in Santorini, then start heading for.. I dunno.. Pneuma?
I'd be happy to get some input, what should I go for now? I'll probably take a break and start enjoying summer a bit more now though, lol