However, the big point of this is how it compares to AoE, which came out a lot earlier. A LOT earlier.
What is the main difference to AoE? I understand that there is the EFab, which just adds a layer of complexity to crafting, but what other content changes are there?
I am not through it yet but generally speaking most of the internal mod progression has not been changed.
There are also a lot less recipe changes in general and rather than heavily relying on cross-mod recipes it is used mostly in places where gating is intended.
An attempt was made to remove redundant machinery and a lot of side grading has been taken out. Afaik there are only 3 different powercells (tiers) in the game and no additional power storage at all.
E: Also as an FYI there is no focus on Exploration and Ore Gen is pretty much the default experience.
I am far from my final verdict on this one and I will hopefully get/take the time to write down my thoughts after I quit playing but on first look it seems that the intention was to do something different than the crazy arms race that has been going on in the "expert pack scene" recently.
This tries to unify and offer a more comprehensive (if less fully featured) experience.
It is not a Infinity Expert 2 neither is it a competitor for AoE.