New GM Question

So I’ve been (re)listening to The Letters Page and I’ve come up to the last few months and I wanted to ask a few experienced GMs a question about the Kickstarter which I have run several times now. I’ve noticed that in the session I have run (1, 2, and “Tomb of Anubis”) that my players have not been interested at all in investigating into the bots in the Tomb or the Spider bots. I’m dropping the lines of “you hear the metallic ~clank~ as you punch that mummy” and other such suggestive ideas, but for the most part they aren’t quick to investigate anything around them.

In the “Tomb” I even attempted to encourage them because my minions were rolling very well and were dealing a lot of damage. When someone rolled an overwhelming success the minion crashed into a coffin and I had them find an orange luminescent orb which I later let them heal with. Then later having a minor setback be that Bunker’s cannon destroyed a bunch in jars they had not yet investigated. They still aren’t really investigating and poking around and I’m curious if I’m not presenting information well or if we are just a young group.

I’ve come to respect this community very well and would REALLY appreciate any and all tips on getting better. I want this to be a more fun experience for them all. 

I mean, you can't force players to play by the intended story. Railroading usually isn't fun. If you keep dropping hints and they're just not taking them, let everything be a surprise!

It kind of depends on what your personal GM style is.  If your players want to bash their way through everything, you can roll with it and make things more and more actiony/over the top... or start hitting them with unexpected negative consequences later because they bashed their way through something that could have given them an advantage. I feel like either is appropriate, as long as you aren't vindictive about it.  

On the practical side, one thing that you can do is start introducing challenges mid-combat- physically putting a card with checkboxes on the table that tells them what to do gives them a pretty big hint that something bad will happen if they choose not to do it!  (For example, a challenge to save civilians that they choose to ignore could have the people of the city seeing them as the villains!)

Thank you both! Looking forward to honing my craft. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.