As a developer, I'd never thought I'd like to solve for getting off the planet, fighting monsters, building trains and tracks while trying not to pollute too much.
If you find pollution is not a challenge, try a deathworld run. If you can already beat a normal deathworld - turn down trees/moisture, turn up pollution diffusion ratio; then you can add rampant, armored biters, bob's enemies, etc. I recommend the infinite ore patches mod as well, you will be defending the starter patch for a veeery long time.
My favourite recent challenge was "New Game +", you start with all tech (perhaps except damage upgrades) unlocked, but biters also start at 1.0 evolution. You technically don't need any science to launch a rocket, but you still have to figure out how to build a mall (and enough defences) before triggering a single attack.
It really is, isn't it. You're incentivized to protect every last thing, not because of some arbitrary points system, but because they're all part of a big, interconnected system that needs to work in order to survive.
In my book, Factorio is up there at the top of best games of all time.
In tech, I'm interested in native systems programming, at the moment with C++.
Outside of tech, I do quite a bit of "long" distance running, swimming and e-biking.
When out on a run, it leaves lot of time available for listening on podcasts, mainly technical podcasts.
At the same time, when exercising, I want to publish tidbits I've learned, do projects with raspberry pies, arduinos, make statistics over time series (power consumption, electricity price, internet usage++).
When I'm home, I'm thinking I'll do it later :).
What I'm most curious about, is how people, and I, can stay organized. All information feels like a mess :)
I haven't had any checklist for a couple of months, due to holidays and so on. Earlier I've tried various formats; post-it, small notebooks, notes, paper, trello, notes (iPhone) and keeping it in my mind.
Sometimes the tasks are too large, and will easily take days to complete, which puts me off. Sometimes the tasks are too small, and I do them there and then. Sometimes they are right-sized.
When the tasks are written down, they become 'not important' and 'I can do it later', also they are easier to stow away out of sight :).
Not to mention there are also a couple of hundred open tabs of various stuff I'd like to research... but most of them can be probably be closed.
When it's routine, I've got no problems doing stuff like making dinner, vacuuming, exercising, getting groceries and so on.
But when it comes to projects, and publishing, I feel there is no more juice left.
Thanks Rob. It's been a long time since I wrote this much for a 'human' and not for a 'machine'. I'll try to continue reviving a couple of drafts.
Other two cents; when installing Windows, to skip Microsoft account creation / setting up ann internet connection, use shift-f10 to open a terminal and in the command window use the command oobe\BypassNRO.