I've heard many good things with this game, and I'm certainly not disappointed with it given what I paid, so let me get that right out of the way.

My big issue with the game, and what's holding me back from spending some real time on it, is the sense of repetition. Every asteroid I spend a minute and a half queuing the exact same production. Exact. Same. And time is going while I'm doing it. So whereas some of the buildings obviously change (types of mines, radiation removals, etc), I ALWAYS have to build my power buildings, I ALWAYS have to build the food/water/air buildings, ALWAYS have to build a command centre/security/medic/pleasure dome. Half or more of the buildings I place are identical on every asteroid, which wouldn't be so bad if they didn't each have to be placed manually (though as far as I can tell their placement is largely inconsequential) and if the timer wasn't going the whole time.

Not to even mention that apparently timeflow can't be adjusted midgame outside of using cheats.

The game seems pretty cool but I've heard you can have over 200 asteroids; the idea of placing 1000 solar collectors, as well as hundreds and hundreds of the other building types, pains me.

My question is, will I eventually be able to have most of this done by overseer AIs or will I always have to go through this preliminary period of building identical infrastructure? And is there a way to mitigate both the repetition and the effect the manual placement has on my time management?

Fragile Allegiance is basically a port of the Amiga classic K240 from 1991, with some improvements. In other words, it's from an age when things like predefined building schemes and even modestly advanced AIs were a thing of the future.

Personally, I like how each asteroid is slightly different in surface size and layout, often requiring at least some level of design to achieve optimal balance between buildings. And you have to keep track of expenses, which also requires some thought - should I build defensive structures now or later, when to buy new tech, etc. But yes, the player will always have to go through the initial chore of manual placement of solar panels, living quarters and mining equipment to start with, and I can see how that can be painful. Me, I'm an old, old relic from Amiga days who still enjoys the game a lot :)

been a while since I've played the game but I'm sure it's possible to hire governors that will build stuff for you. in fact, you should be careful who you hire, as some might try betray you which I always though was a cool touch.

anyway. as you unlock more defensive tech the placement of your buildings on uneven grounds becomes a bit of a challenge, as you'll want most buildings covered by shielding and stuff.