How to properly equip an expedition to Mars and prepare a site for colonists
Other guides:
- Surviving Mars: Colony Building Guide
Introduction
Recently, economic simulators have triumphantly returned to the screens of our monitors. They lost their primitive hardcore, on the way they acquired casualness and turned to the gamer with a human face. We can say that it did them good. The pioneers of this genre, Haemimont Games (authors of Tropico 3 ), decided not to bother and make the same cheerful and simple game, but only on Mars. Apparently the people were hungry for such projects and accepted Surviving Mars very favorably. In this guide, we will tell you how to properly prepare for the important mission of conquering the Red Planet, and also highlight the first steps in the colonization of this alien world.
Prelaunch setup
The first thing you will come across is the main menu, where you can select “Easy Start” if you don’t want to rack your brains. But this is the path for weaklings! Click on “New game” and move to the edit screen for your mission. First you need to choose a flight organizer, which implies a choice of difficulty. Let’s list all the participants and their bonuses.
Mission organizers
- International Mars Exploration Program. This is the easiest level, since here all the inhabitants of the Earth threw themselves into this expedition. Let’s list the main advantages: four rockets at the start, $ 30,000 million of the budget, 300 science points for sol, the price of rare metals – 25, the number of first volunteers – 200. In addition, there are capacious rockets (70 tons), the colonists do not miss the Earth , passenger ships bring more food (x10), rockets themselves synthesize fuel.
- USA. Basic parameters: three rockets at launch, $ 8,000 million from the budget, 300 science points per sol, the price of rare metals – 25, the number of first volunteers – 100. In addition, there are capacious rockets (70 tons) and additional funding is periodically allocated.
- Corporation “Blue Luminaries”. Main characteristics: two rockets at the start, $ 10,000 million budget, 100 science points for sol, the price of rare metals – 30, the number of first volunteers – 100. You can also hire volunteers for money, additional rockets are cheaper, probes can find deep deposits of rare metals. Among other things, the technology “Deep metal mining” is given at the start.
- China. Basic parameters: three rockets at launch, $ 8,000 million budget, 200 science points per sol, the price of rare metals – 25, the number of first volunteers – 200. Passenger rockets can accommodate 10 more colonists, and volunteers appear twice as fast.
- India. Main characteristics: three rockets at launch, $ 7,000 million budget, 100 science points for sol, the price of rare metals – 24, the number of first volunteers – 150. All construction costs are reduced by 20%, there is an additional technology “Engineering in conditions low gravity ”(opens the middle dome).
- Europe. Basic parameters: two rockets at the start, $ 6,000 million of the budget, 400 science points for sol, the price of rare metals – 22, the number of first volunteers – 100. They start with five additional technologies and receive money for each one studied (twice as much for a breakthrough ).
- SpaceY company(yes, yes). Main characteristics: five missiles at the start, 6,000 million dollars of the budget, 200 science points for sol, the price of rare metals – 20, the number of first volunteers – 75. In the new control centers with drones there are additional cars, special resources are 50% cheaper.
- Church “New Ark”. Basic parameters: one rocket at the start, 4,000 million dollars of the budget, no science points for sol, the price of rare metals – 20, the number of first volunteers – 120. All colonists have the “Devotion” trait, twice as many children are born, work efficiency hydroponic farms reduced by 50 units (disadvantage).
- Russia. Main characteristics: two missiles at the start, 5,000 million dollars of the budget, 200 science points for sol, the price of rare metals – 22, the number of first volunteers – 100. There is an additional technology “Fuel extractors” fuel factories are reduced by 50%, the flight time of the rocket is increased (disadvantage).
It is clear that the more resources, the easier it is at first. But you should not completely simplify your life, otherwise it will be simply boring. The editorial choice is either the USA (a lot of money) or China (the influx of people into the colony).
There are so many technologies here that the eyes run up
Commanding
Next, you choose your alter ego, whose skills give certain advantages:
- Inventor. Drones are gradually starting to run faster up to the hundredth sol. Additional technology “Autonomous control centers” – control centers no longer require maintenance and electricity.
- Oligarch. Fuel production increases by 25%. Additional technology “Arcology” – opens a residential high-rise.
- Hydrological engineer. Opens the reservoir at the very beginning of the game, the domes consume 25% less water. Additional technology “Water treatment system” – opens a high-rise that reduces water consumption.
- Doctor. The minimum level of comfort for childbirth has been reduced by 15 points. Additional technology “Stem Cell Therapy” increases the lifespan of colonists.
- Psychologist. Resting at home, colonists additionally restore five units of peace of mind. The additional technology “Behavior Correction” opens the corresponding center, where the flaws in the characters of the colonists are corrected.
- Politician. Funding increased by 20%. Complementary technology “Martian patents” – multiple technology giving additional funding)
- Futurist. Breakthrough technologies are researched 30% faster. Additional technology “Standalone sensors” – research towers no longer need to be maintained and supplied with electricity.
- Ecologist. Decorative buildings increase the comfort of services by 10 units. Additional technology “Hanging Gardens” – opens a high-rise that improves living space in the dome.
- Astrogeologist. Opens a rare metal deposit at the beginning of the game, the productivity of the extractor is increased by 10%. Additional technology “Deep Scan” allows you to study sectors for hidden deposits.
- Rocket builder. An additional rocket at the very beginning of the game. The additional technology “Carbon dioxide jet engine” opens the control center by shuttles and the possibility of long-distance transportation.
Testing
It displays the probability of launching a variety of events that will not let you get bored during colonization: Power of Three, Inner Light, Out of Earth, Artificial Intelligence, Balls, Draghi, Martian Gate, The Last War ”,“ Destruction ”. We will not spoil you about the content of the story quests, so as not to disturb the pleasure of completing them. It is better to set the parameter “Random” in the menu.
Rockets are the main vehicle
Loading a rocket
So, it’s time to load your first spaceship with everything you need. This will be a cargo rocket, the task of which is to deliver the first resources and blocks to Mars, which will form the basis of your colony. Passengers will arrive much later. At the same time, you need to understand that no matter how much money you have, the capacity of the hold sets its own limitations. Therefore, you need to clearly understand what is needed at the start, and what can be neglected.
To get started, learn “Modular Buildings”. Any factories of electronics, mechanical engineering and polymers should not be taken, because this is high-level. All you need at the very beginning is a “Drones Control Center”, several “Evaporators” and a fuel plant. You can even remove the Stirling generators, because organizing an energy district at the landing site is as easy as shelling pears.
It is more difficult further. A self-propelled remote control that transports and controls drones is certainly needed, but at the very beginning you can do without it – reserve a place for it on the next rocket. Be sure to take the remote control scout and the remote control transporter. The first will go through all the anomalies and give you the first science points, and the second will collect all the resources available on the surface. There are six drones by default, usually enough.
Concrete, metals, food should not be taken on the first flight. You will find everything and get it on the spot, and the drones only need energy. Polymers, spare parts and electronics are needed, determine the proportions yourself, based on the first buildings. Orbital probes will help you conduct your first exploration of territories for resources, three is enough to start.
Resources are randomly generated, challenging your logistics talents
The beginning of colonization
So, your ship has entered the orbit of Mars. The first step is to determine the landing site. Scroll the globe with the mouse and choose a place where there are at least two divisions of metal, concrete and water. The last two must be in order. Also, try not to crawl into areas where the average annual temperature is below minus 15 degrees. The terrain should be relatively flat, so as not to spend money on tunnels in the mountains. Carefully study the list of threats – do not climb into abnormal cold weather and places where meteors often fall from the sky.
Next, the sector screen will open, which is divided into unexplored squares. There is one place studied – the landing site. Resources drop randomly. Launch orbital probes and scan the squares near the landing site. There is concrete almost everywhere, but if you find water or a deposit of metals, you can say you are lucky. Plant the rocket so that all the resources are at hand, or at least at an equally accessible distance.
The landed ship itself will be your first drone control center. Make sure that the control radius covers all the places where you are going to erect buildings. To begin with, build warehouses for resources and empty the hold of the rocket. It is better not to build universal ones, concentrating on specialized ones, in order to avoid confusion in the future. After that, you form your first energy district from large solar panels and batteries. Remember to lay the connection cable.
If there is concrete nearby, put an extractor there and connect it to the network. When you have accumulated the first building blocks, you can put three wind turbines in addition to the panels to provide voltage to the network at night. Then you unpack the evaporators (if there is no water deposit), put a water tower, a fuel plant next to it and connect everything with a pipeline. This mini-complex will produce fuel, which drones will gradually transfer into the rocket, for later launching it back to Earth. You now have a well-functioning transport cycle.
To control drones without a rocket, set up a control center, a repair station and recharging. You send the remote control scout to investigate the anomalies, and the remote control transporter takes out all the resources that are lying on the surface after being bombarded by meteors. In the meantime, you are scouting the sectors and looking for a place under the dome for the colonists. It should be located near a deposit of rare or common metals, as these mines require people to maintain. As soon as the polymer dome is erected, stick a MOXI and an oxygen tank next to it, supply all this with energy and water. Inside, build the first residential buildings and you can call the first transport flight – the colony is almost ready!
Communication is your main headache in the game
Small hints
- “Queen Bee”. As soon as the rocket is refueled, do not forget to detach the drones from it, otherwise they will fly off to Earth. It will be very disappointing. Prepare CU in advance.
- “Breathe freely!” … Evaporators have a certain radius from which moisture is collected. If you place two of these side by side, water production will drop corny.
- Dust collector. During operation, all extractors emit a lot of dust into the atmosphere, which settles on nearby buildings and leads to their accelerated deterioration. It is especially worth avoiding the construction of solar panels nearby – energy production will drop several times.
- “Sacrifice”. If you have a lot of missiles, you can disassemble the first carrier to land into its component parts, which will be very useful for the development of the colony.
- “Rosette”. To recharge the remote control transporter or remote control reconnaissance, simply bring them to the battery, or put them on the power cable. Blue flashes ran across the body of the car – charging had begun.
As soon as the dome is powered – call the passenger rocket
Outcome
The above tips will be enough for you to build the foundation of the colony. But this is only the beginning of a long journey, during which endless accidents, lack of resources, weather disasters, violent colonists and much more await you. All of these aspects of survival on Mars can be covered in subsequent guides. In the meantime, go ahead – to found colonies!
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