You place little beacons, kill the occasional buggy monster that comes to destroy them, use their drops to make more beacons. That and a small progression system with resource nodes on the surface. I think the idea is that you spread your network of beacons across the land, but it doesn't seem to work since as the network gets bigger, you become unable to protect all of them at once - remember, the monsters destroy your beacons and torches.
You place little beacons, kill the occasional buggy monster that comes to destroy them, use their drops to make more beacons. That and a small progression system with resource nodes on the surface. I think the idea is that you spread your network of beacons across the land, but it doesn't seem to work since as the network gets bigger, you become unable to protect all of them at once - remember, the monsters destroy your beacons and torches.