i had trouble getting this mode to start. after a few new games it kicked in.
i needed to enable the ghost build option instead of shift clicking to build in ghost.
it is quite hard to get a viable map to start on.
you are given tech in the storage boxes that you can not use in your action bars until you research them.
all this means if you do not start with enough wood, rocks and rocks that contain coal within range you will fail.
even if you do this without setting resources to ultra rich and abundant you will not be able to expand
game-play:
after getting a power supply up and running you are greeted with an ever increasing lack of resources, you know of roboport and the ability to place the 5 given to you from the start, you will find it hard to research to the point of making roboports. making it almost impossible to expand past the first area you can see once spawning.

it is a great idea but what is the point of wasting 4+ inventory slots on thing you will never be able to research?? EG: requester chests (you can not place them until you research them!)

The starting chest gives special chests that can be researched using only red and green science. They are smaller in size than the regular ones, but work the same way and appear strongly at the beginning of the game

Regarding the expansion - repair turrets act as charging drones. They don't allow you to place drones inside them, but they can charge one drone at a time. These turrets also become available early on through green and red science.

Regarding resources - I personally tested in different biomes and only in the desert I had problems. In other cases, the available resources were enough to build a starting base and start using drones and the existing collector to produce science packs

you are given tech in the storage boxes that you can not use in your action bars until you research them

Can you attach screenshots/video of the problem? Starter chests should always work and should be able to be added to the hotbar without problems

My main gripe is the extreme low amount of starting drones. It took me close to an hour to build up the stuff I need just to unlock steam power. And then again it is just waiting. Specifically the logi drones are far to few. The builder bots are doable but with the stuff that needs to move around in the beginning (coal to furnaces, coal to boilers, plates to the only assembler you have), you are literally just sitting there waiting... a lot...

Interesting. When I checked my own mod I usually lacked exactly builders. I guess we have a different approach to base layout. I'll think about increasing the number of starting drones