The Complete Surviving Mars Guide | Paradox Interactive Forums

Note: This guide is meant for players which have bought not only the base game but also all the expansions (which you should, it's a really good game). It therefore refers to some buildings that are available only in the expansions. If you have just the base / Space Race version of the game you can check my original guide here:

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-primer-redux-updated-for-space-race.1133562/

This guide is also divided into a basic introduction section for first-time players, and an addendum filled with notes for advanced players. For Terraforming, head to the very last addendum of the guide.

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Beginner's Guide to Surviving Mars

Introduction & Key Concepts

Surviving Mars, despite the name, is NOT a "survival" game. Indeed most "survival" games are misleading because they are not really about survival - instead you simply collect more and more resources to build bigger and bigger things.

Surviving Mars is instead a management simulation - more specifically an engine-building game. You start with a pile of resources, which you convert into investments (e.g. power plants, mines, colonists) which produce more resources. Newly produced resources are then converted into more investments which expand the engine. Done consistently, this leads to a "virtuous cycle" wherein your produce more and more resources to the point you enter the state of permanent surplus. At this point, the sky is the limit with regards to what you can build and achieve (and thanks to the Green Planet expansion, this end objective should be to fully Terraform Mars into Earth-like conditions).

However, engine-building games are suceptible to something called "systems collapse". This can occur if your consumption of resources - particularly the maintenance of buildings - exceeds your production. If you are unprofitable for too long then a situation can occur called a "deadlock" - wherein you can no longer acquire/produce specific key resources to keep your system running, causing everything else to stop running and fall apart.

This is why - contrary to the advice of most Youtube Streamers - beginners should NOT aim for self-sufficiency to begin with. There are multiple types of resource and a shortage of any single type can lead to deadlock.

Instead, beginners should focus on the one resource in Surviving Mars which can fix any deadlock situation - namely money. Players keep forgetting that you can import additional resources from Earth - using either a supply pod or your rocket - in order to make up for any shortfall. With money you can buy food to feed your starving colonists, or arrange for a shipment of polymers to fix your broken battery. You don't have to worry about building a farm or polymer factory just as your colony is beginning to fall apart.

In short, success in Surviving Mars can be summed up with these two lines:

Do not aim to be self-sufficient.

Aim instead to be profitable.

Self-sufficiency may allow your colony to survive indefinitely, but without profit your colony cannot deal with emergencies or expand its operations.

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Creating Your First Profitable Colony

With "profitability" always in mind, it's important to realize that Surviving Mars has three distinct phases:

1) Early game exploration - which is defined by the period BEFORE you land your first colonist, and your main priority is finding a good rare metal deposit.

2) Establishment of your first Dome - which is defined by creating your first "profitable" manned settlement as a proof-of-concept that produces a profit.

3) Expansion - which is basically replicating your early successes and / or exploring new ones.

This section will discuss these phases for first-time players, assuming relatively easy game settings (no special rules and few disasters). Note also that we will NOT discuss Terraforming yet. While you can start Terraforming immediately, it is not recommended until you have a more extensive industrial base.

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Exploration:

One of the unique mechanics of Surviving Mars is the fact that you are NOT forced to start sending colonists immediately. You instead start off with an unmanned mission - consisting of various rovers and drones - who are supposed to explore the area and build your initial infrastructure. You can theoretically Terraform Mars or build up enormous stockpiles of basic goods before landing a single colonist.

That being said, the most consistently profitable "business" in the early game is selling rare metals to Earth. Some sponsor combinations may generate money in other ways that allow for more flexibility - Europe being a particular standout as they earn money from research - but all colonies can turn a profit via rare metal mining. Hence, your primary goal in the early exploration phase is to find a good rare metal source - preferably of "average" quality or better (as this affects how fast you can mine it).

In this regard, it is important to remember these key principles:

1) You are NOT required to build on the first "revealed" sector. You do not even have to land there. If the resource mix on the initial scanned site is poor (or it's isolated by mountains), you can land somewhere else. That said, it is highly recommended for first-time players to pick the "Astrogeologist" Commander Profile as it guarantees a rare metal deposit in your initial scanned sector. This allows you to start building immediately while you continuing your exploration (as you want to reveal more resources!).

2) You don't have to bring orbital scanners to find "better" spots. It is generally cheaper (and better long-term) to land and build Sensor Towers. Your initial rocket should bring in some electronics and build a sensor tower (plus a small solar panel to power it) on your initial landing spot to scan the surrounding area.

3) Your rocket, after landing, needs to be refueled. Otherwise it will stay on Mars and be unable to export rare metal for you. Fortunately, setting up a refueling system is really easy using prefabricated buildings - just remember to bring a Moisture Farm and a Fuel Refinery on your first trip. Build them beside your rocket, then build some solar panels, and your rocket will be refueled in a few days. You should setup this refueling system right from the outset since it's independent from any on-site resources beside metal for Solar panels.

Note: Solar panels only work in the daytime, so you should also build a Concrete Extractor (requiring machine parts) and bring in some Polymers so you can add a battery that will allow the whole system to work both day and night. You need about 7 Solar Power panels and 1 battery for your three initial buildings (with some power to spare). See the "Planning for Power" section for more details. You also want to start stockpiling concrete anyway to build Domes, and to build a rocket pad that makes everything tidier.

4) Though the "exploration" phase will typically be over after a few Sols, you should continue building sensor towers as outlined in Step 2 until you have fully scanned the map; as your primary source of metal in the early game are surface deposits (revealed by scanning) which are collected by your Transport Rover. They also allow you to plan better for the expansion phase - e.g. by discovering where there are more rare metal or water deposits. Scanning the map also reveals anomalies - which can be scanned using an Explorer Rover for research bonuses and more technology.

Given this, my ideal initial rocket cargo setup would be the following:

1. Moisture Farm Prefab - for Refueling the Rocket2. Fuel Refinery Refab - for Refueling the Rocket4. Transport Rover - to collect Metal for Solar Panels and other buildings5. RC Rover - to control drones and build sensor towers in other sectors6. Exploration Rover - to scan anomalies7. 5 Machine Parts - to build a Concrete Extractor8. 5 Electronics - to build sensor towers9. 5 Polymers - to build a battery

Except for SpaceY all sponsors should be able to fit this in their initial rocket; but if you forget anything don't worry - just send a resupply pod with whatever you are missing. Also any additional space in your initial rocket should be filled up using drones - as more drones helps reduce their workload and speeds up construction.

Your First Dome:

First, the math: A small deposit of just 300 rare metal, selling at $20M (the minimum), would generate $6000M once fully consumed. This exceeds the initial funding of all the "hard" difficulty sponsors, thus giving you enough cash to build even more Domes while reusing most of your initial investments (e.g. fueling depots, and no-maintenance drones + rovers).

It is in fact "okay" to import stuff like machine parts and polymers early on to fulfill your maintenance needs, and food is so cheap that having hydrophonics is really unnecessary. Just make sure your supply of parts or food will not dry up before the arrival of the next resupply rocket, and make sure you don't over-order. In an emergency, use resupply pods as they ignore disasters and reach Mars faster than the rocket.

In terms of actually building the Domes, it pays to remember that most Domes require cement, metal, and polymers to build - plus generally more cement and other stuff to build the structures inside of it. Hence from a cash perspective Domes are actually "cheap" - as only the Polymers and the machine parts for the concrete extractor are bought in from Earth. Therefore as a general principle players should always think in terms of building more Domes whenever they feel that they've run out of living space (See Housing Myths for more advanced details).

Finally, your initial Dome should be a MicroDome - as it does not require Polymers while giving you a very efficient initial setup. Some players may complain and feel that a MicroDome is too limiting in terms of space, but note the following:

- You can power your MicroDome and all of its work buildings by just adding six more Solar Panels and another battery (import more poylmers as necessary).- You can very easily supply the MicroDome with Oxygen from a single Moxie. Indeed it is highly recommended that you build an Oxygen tank and only run the Moxie during the daytime - relying on tanked Oxygen at night.- You can supply your MicroDome with water using your original Moisture Farm as you only need 0.5 water/hour. Simply turn off the Fuel Refinery for the afternoon and evening shift, and add a water tank to store up water during this time. Note though that this will considerably slow down your refueling progress - but this is a temporary problem because an early research upgrade can increase the Moisture Farm to 1.5 water production which allows you to resume full-scale fuel production.

Note: Buildings must be upgraded individually, and upgrades usually cost some resources. In this case you need to pay a few polymers to increase your water production to 1.5 after research. It is NOT applied automatically.

In short, the MicroDome can be supported with a very minimal amount of additional infrastructure, which in turn means very low maintenance cost for more profit. While it is certainly possible to start big, I recommend against this for first-time players so that they learn to be efficient and discplined. Don't build more than you actually need, because all those extra buildings simply eat up more maintenance and lower your profits.

The MicroDome in fact is exactly big enough to let you operate one mine and one research lab - giving you not only money but a significant research boost. Just note the following:

1) You should initially build ONE basic living quarters to fill a big triangle, and a bunch of services to fill out a second big triangle. This is because you are not allowed to send more colonists until 10 days after the initial settlers unless a child is born in your colony before then. Having only residences + services increases the chance of a birth occuring. Make sure to open all shifts of your service buildings to maximize comfort at this stage. Also, obviously, most of your initial colonists should be Geologists, Scientists, or Medics - but do not stress yourself if you lack the right number of specialists. An unspecialized workforce is better than none at all (see Labor Myths for details)

2) Your service triangle should consist of three medium and one small building. The three medium buildings should be an Infirmary, a Diner, and a Grocer. The small building should be a park of some sort. This "service slice" will be replicated throughout your colony - with an average of one service slice for 30-60 residents and only some minor variation (generally this means replacing the Grocer with a better store).

3) When the birth happens you can then "fill out" the colony and build a second living quarter on the other big slice. In addition you can then build the rare metal extractor on the deposit and a lab on your remaining medium slot.

4) With 28 living spaces and a fully populated colony you should theoretically be able to man all the buildings in your colony for the two day time shifts, plus a few more to hold children. You thus have a nice, reasonably happy colony that regularly produces money (from rare metal exports) and research!

Expansion:

Now that you are making money, you have the freedom to expand and diversify your colony. Just remember to remain within the virtuous cycle of ever-increasing profit, and not fall into the trap of deficits which can result in deadlock or even collapse. Here are some final ideas to guide your expansion.

1) Specialize your domes - each should only have one or two different kinds of primary worker. Your original Geologist/Scientist combo is fine. A pure agricultural Dome full of only Boatanists is even better. Managing specialized Domes is easy if you simply make a Dome "prefer" a specific set of specialists. For instance your first mining colony should be made to prefer Geologists and Scientists. That said specialized Domes should NOT reject other specialists - because you might not have enough specialists of the right type to fill out all your slots. See Labor Myths for more details.

2) Agriculture Domes are best delayed until you have farms, as Hydrophonics and Fungus tend to eat up power and other valuable resources in addition to being less productive than farms. Agri Domes also need quite a bit of water, so they should be built near a water source. That said, a single basic Agri Dome with just 3 farms (plus 2 living quarters and a service slice) can easily feed a hundred colonists, and with improved crops of various types it may push closer to 200. Later in the game, the water consumption issue all but vanishes with the addition of a water reclamation spire; at which point they stop really needing the water source and can rely on Moisture Farms again. For reference, it takes 0.2 food to feed a colonist each day.

3) A science-focused Dome will generally produce more research than your starting sponsor rate, but labs requires electronics for maintenance which are the most expensive type of import. On the other hand, you can simply spend money outright to get research through Outsource. Long-term Science Domes are generally desirable and should be built, just make sure you can support them and do consider just Outsourcing in the meantime. Unfortunately a previously available "business model" - wherein money is generated by researching patents - has been nerfed so building a lot of science Domes to make money is less viable, but it's still possible.

4) Manufacturing Domes can produce multiple types of advanced resources - because they're all reliant on Engineer specialists. That said, electronics factories tend to require much more manpower than machine parts or polymers, so it may be better to leave them in a separate Dome due to manpower concerns.

Indeed, I suspect a lot of the manpower issues lies with how people try to cram all three types of factory in a single Dome - resulting in too much labor demand and not enough workers. Likewise, small factories tend to be much less efficient than big ones - so wait until you have big factories before starting production. Obviously, your supply of raw materials should also exceed your manufacturing capability - there's no point in being able to produce 10 machine parts per day if your metals production is only 3!

Finally, there are no spires which enhance industrial production, so you should consider Domes without spires but extra space to house industry. The Barrel Dome in particular is a great pick for an industrial center.

5) Have a specialized Dome for training specialists once you unlock the university. Make sure the university always works all shifts. Set it to prefer non-specialized adults and REJECT any specialists. That way non-specialists go into the university Dome and are kicked out as soon as they get skills. Name it after some famous real-world university town like say Heidelberg. That's part of the fun of the game.

6) Eventually your Domes will become "clogged" by Seniors and children, who do not contribute to the work force but prevent vital factories from being manned. At this point, a "retirement" Dome and a "children's" Dome might be in order.

However, unlike "specialized" Domes which prefer certain specialists, you must do the reverse: To create a Senior's Dome, you must select all other Domes and have them REJECT Seniors. The retirement Dome then prefers Seniors but does not disallow other age groups (except maybe children).

This is because seniors will not automatically migrate to the "retirement" dome unless their parent dome rejects them. Meanwhile, you still want the retirement dome to have a few working-age people (to man the services).

Apply the same logic to create a children's Dome, albeit the children's Dome should be full of nurseries and include schools and playgrounds to educate the next generation of Martians; similar to the university Dome.

7) Rely more on single-resource depot than universal ones, as this allows you to more easily set transfer routes between Domes using your RC Transports. If you do use universal depots then make sure to disable resources that are not needed in that Dome (e.g. fuel in a spot where the rocket never lands). Shuttle technology is also something to beeline for if you're having difficult micromanaging everything, though RC Transports remain the best and most efficient method of bulk transport.

Anyway, that's all for the beginner's guide. Good luck, commanders!

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Addendum for Advanced Players

Addendum 1: General FAQ and Notes on some Game Features

1) Landscaping

Definitely use landscaping to flatten the ground and give yourself more building space, and use landscaping to build ramps across cliffs instead of building tunnels. Landscaping mostly takes time, whereas a structure like a tunnel requires resources. Tunnels also cause some pathfinding issues for your rovers.

2) Sponsor / Commander Notes and Advice

IMM - I actually don't recommend this for beginners, because you start with such an embarassment of riches that you can end up over-spending without becoming profitable. I would instead pick IMM for experienced players who want a very fast start - e.g. one where they setup multiple domes on the first few sols, or those who want to start terraforming immediately.

America - the better first choice for beginners, as you get periodic income which can bail you out of a deadlock if you've spent yourself down to zero money. Malls are a mediocre service building however - they fulfill a lot of needs, but require a lot of staff and their comfort rating is not that high.

Blue Sun - a great choice for new players who are familiar with setting up mining Domes, as this sponsor earns more from rare metal mining and can spend this cash to resolve labour shortages. The Corporate Office should be avoided early - it just doesn't generate enough money for the manpower required. It is instead a lategame building that opens up a Dystopian Corporate future where you can rake in unlimited cash from your workers via endless paperwork.

China - the population bonus fades once you have enough people on Mars to produce a surplus of children, but they do have an excellent Rover (arguably the best in the game) which produces 30 power! You won't need to build Solar Panels for the most part - simply buy another RC Rover which you needed anyway for drone control. The Tai-Chi park is also underrated as it has a significant comfort boost.

India - people greatly underestimate the amount of resources you can save with India's bonus, not to mention the faster build time (since most of the "build time" is largely taken up by transporting resources to the site).

SpaceY - having a lot of rockets is honestly not that great, albeit that combined with half-priced Earth imports can allow you to setup a lot of infrastructure quickly; albeit you have a small applicant pool and thus can't really fully utilize a lot of infrastructure. My advice would be to focus on tourism - your rockets are faster and can carry as many tourists - plus tourists help make babies to fill up your infrastructure.

Europe - a research powerhouse, whose first MicroDome should be a pure research center that combines an internal Research Lab and an external Low-G Lab. Lack of early mining money isn't an issue because you gain money from research. My personal favorite.

Russia - I'll be blunt - challenge sponsors aren't really that challenging, they just make the game slower than it normally is. The rare metal drill even side-steps the early money problems, letting you drill as much rare metal as you want given enough time without the need for any colonist or maintenance.

Paradox - a really slow start due to the refueling penalty and low applicants, and only a potentially stronger end due to more breakthroughs. It is also supposedly the most difficult sponsor, but see my note on Russia. Play Paradox if you really care about difficulty percentage numbers (which will really impress no one at this point) or if you want a lot of breakthroughs.

Last Ark - a more interesting challenge sponsor. After you get past the early problems - no research, low funding, and only a single rocket - you get a doubled birthrate bonus which really lets your colony grow rapidly without having to rely on Earth. A great pick for various self-imposed challenges, like say an isolationist colony which refuses to sell rare metals to Earth.

Brazil - the passage penalty isn't really a big deal to make it a central mechanic for a sponsor, but the extra money for colonists does make Brazil the most profitable tourist sponsor.

Japan - the real challenge for Japan is the tiny applicant pool, which is so low that it becomes a different experience compared to other sponsors. Once you get past it though it's a fairly ordinary game.

Commanders:

Astrogeologist - recommended for first-time players to guarantee a rare metal deposit, a poor overall choice otherwise. It doesn't bring enough to the table.

City Mayor - another good beginner choice for extra money and a discount to buildings.

Inventor - a quality of life pick. Drone Hubs are very convenient but cost too much power and maintenance normally. This lets you rely on Drone Hubs without paying power or maintenace costs.

Oligarch - a very poor pick that is unfortunately overvalued because a lot of beginners keep trying to fit everything in their existing domes instead of building more. Arcologies are in fact a poor building - they cost almost as much as a whole new dome both in terms of construction and maintenance!

Hydroengineer - a thematic pick that has less value than Astrogeologist because water is easy to get using Moisture Farms.

Doctor - a good pick for increasing population and making your workforce more productive as a whole, but there are better picks.

Psychologist - a worse Doctor. Sanity really isn't a big issue.

Politician - the additional money isn't really worth giving up on some other, better picks.

Futurist - for difficulty percentage chasers only. The bonus is minimal and the technology is very easy to research.

Ecologist - the better Doctor. Hanging Gardens are the best way to boost comfort and thus birthrate, and getting these early is a significant boost. That said you have to build and maintain Hanging Gardens, so the Doctor is still a valid option as his tech is no-maintenance.

Rocket Scientist - another quality of life pick. If you plan to have a lot of spread out colonies early, then you want the Shuttle Hub tech unlocked early.

3) Mysteries

Mysteries are fun in that they give a bit of a narrative twist to each game, so I won't spoil them.

That said - If you're stuck in a mystery, click on one of the Mystery's unique objects on the map. They often let you do things to it (see your options screen) which allows you to progress.

Alternatively, just wait. Mysteries sometimes just require a few days of wait time before progressing.

4) Connections

You don't really need them and I highly suggest to ignore them in your initial playthrough. The game was originally designed without connections and it can still be played without them as long as you are disciplined with regards to specializing your Domes. Use them once you've mastered specializing Domes, not before.

As a background: They were included because players kept clamouring for a big interconnected colony, and because many players misunderstood how Comfort works (see Comfort Myths for details). In reality interconnected colonies were not very efficient with or without connections, and having access to the Casino in the adjacent colony did not make colonists noticeably less miserable.

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