1) will there be trade with other creatures and life forms ?
Not in this iteration. Alien life will mostly be primordial. Some intelligent, but nothing at our level.
2) will we be able to send units off map on "mission" e.g. Diplomacy or finding artifacts or ruins.
The map is pretty huge. So we can do stuff on the map!
3) will characters have skills ? So once person is specialised in medical and surgery.
Yeah. Characters will pick up skills by doing certain actions. If they become very specialised they will assume that role in the colony.
4) how in depth will characters body's be ? Diseases and collapsed throats ?
I'm planning for a few sicknesses, as well as things like oxygen deprivation, sleep deprivation, burns etc. Hoping to do broken limbs, stuff I can show with a texture map. Probably can't do dismemberment. Also doing a lot of mental illnesses which will be fun to simulate.
5) ( one thing I have really been wanting to know ) will human characters claim property for them selfs ? And then buy/take objects and furnish their property where they live.
They will claim beds and a few other things. There arnt many objects at that level yet, so while I want it, I've yet to design for it.
6) leading on from this will character have relationships? So this could lead to one character stealing from another.
Yep characters(also dogs, cats and tame aliens) will form friendships and love/hate each other. Stealing depends on what level I go down to with personal effects. At the moment, its pretty much just guns, that might change over development.
7) genetic research ? Because we all want horribly mutated dog guards at the gates
Yes. At the moment, this will allow you to create tamable alien species. Not sure how far I'll take it. Probably a long way off yet.
how in depth will research be ? And can we do SCIENCE out side of research, in this I mean will this we place be able to have meaningful reactions to be world around and we can create ingenious traps and buildings.
Reasonably in depth. At the moment its like DK's library. New stuff will be unlocked, other things upgraded etc.
9) leavers ?
Maybe, but only death awaits on the surface.
10) how will combat work ? And what sort of things could we be fighting ?
Nothing fancy. Colonists will stand and shoot, go hand to hand or run away.
11) will other characters take stuff and use it from their inventory without player prompt ? So colonist #2 takes a liking to this shotgun and then keeps it in their backpack or stores it in a chest inside those property.
Yes. Indeed there wont really be any way to prompt the colonists to do much. (since its hands off)
12) how far down are we able to dig ?
Currently its just 1 level. I want to get 8 or so for the time being. In the future I want up to 50 levels.
13) will we be able to controll the atmosphere underground ? So corridor 1 has been overrun lock doors and pump shit ton of Co2 in there and deprive them of oxygen.
Yep, locking doors and pumping in/out atmosphere will be a very important defense technique!
14) can we live on the surface ?
Yeah. "Photovoltaics, solar stills, greenhouses and the like will be featured. Of course these things will be very exposed, so good defenses and plenty of risky "surface walks" will be needed to keep those valuable things running.."
And of course you can build rooms on the surface. But you risk losing atmosphere.
15) slavery ? Can we enslave any intelligent life on the planet ?
Taming animals yeah.
16) will the planet we occupie be randomaly generated ?
Yep. Currently I'm using the same seed data for my screens, but the world will be fully procedural
17) will colonists give birth ? And will we see migrants ?
Having children is something I designed for, but am having trouble implementing. Also the ability to kill children makes people very grumpy so not sure how I'll add it.
Immigrants are a possibility. I'm thinking they might be for easier difficulty modes.
18) building other types of vehicles ? So landing pads for ships and docking stations for other vehicles
I'm tempted to add some stuff for mining and traversing the surface. Maybe landing pads.
19) will we be able to destroy everything ?
If you get enough Lava. :p
20) how big will the map be we inhabit and see ?
2km to scale. So it takes several minutes to scroll across the game world.