Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

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Zarathud
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Zarathud »

It is a city builder. Dry comes with the territory.

I'm on easy mode with no insanity, and just put my initial 12 scientists, botanists and miners to work in my first dome. Water is short at my starting location and I'll have to build a second dome much further north.

I can set it aside but it has that "maybe I can build that better" aspect that draws you back in.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by jztemple2 »

Montag wrote: Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:18 am I do greatly like the ability to toggle working shifts so you can have certain things only run in the day for solar power.
That hadn't even occurred to me, to disable night shifts to save power :wub:

I pretty much only have day shifts due to lack of workers, but it's something to keep in mind.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Sepiche »

I'm enjoying it so far. Always hard to judge city builders since they can play so differently in the beginning as compared to the end, but I like that it's slow paced. It feels like a major accomplishment just getting your first dome up and running and keeping your founders alive, let alone growing and thriving.

I really like all the different starting options... each faction plays a little differently, and your goals can change significantly depending on your choices. I like that your initial landing is only robots to get the infrastructure for the humans built. I like the research and the fact that it's random... I started a couple games to get the feel for it before starting my real colony, and it's interesting how differently you're forced to play depending on what tech you have access to, not to mention the breakthroughs you can find. I like that you have a lot of control over who your colonists are.

It did take me quite a while to get a feel for how I was expected to gather all the different resources... for instance I didn't figure out until my third game that the transport vehicles could also mine iron in addition to transporting resources. Once I figured that out and sent them out on gathering missions, I had more than enough iron to last until I could start mining it.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by wonderpug »

Does this seem overly micromanagy? From Steam reviews, that's the complaint I'm seeing that worries me the most about whether I'll like the game.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Sepiche »

Doesn't seem overly so in my play so far, keeping in mind my colony is pretty small.

Some things like transferring goods between stockpiles could use a little streamlining, but once I got a handle on how things are expected to function it wasn't too bad as transferring doesn't come up too much if you lay things out well.

Also, pro tip: You don't have to keep your oxygen and water pipes separate... a single pipe can carry both simultaneously which isn't initially obvious.

I should also say the lack of a real tutorial is disappointing. There is some basic help that fills you in on some things, and on the whole it's not hard to figure things out with a little trial and error, but there are a lot of things that would have been simpler to understand with a little more guidance.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by jztemple2 »

wonderpug wrote: Fri Mar 16, 2018 11:24 am Does this seem overly micromanagy? From Steam reviews, that's the complaint I'm seeing that worries me the most about whether I'll like the game.
It does require much more micromanagement than, say, Cities: Skyline. I'm eleven hours in on my first colony and I do find myself trying to keep track of which transport is available so I can switch around resources to be nearer where they would be needed in the future. Now I really don't need to do that unless an area is totally isolated, but it does save the drone's time when something is needed. This is something I do for rockets especially, I create fuel depots near where I land them so the drones can refuel the rocket faster.

I'd say that it is the fun you find in tweaking a carburetor so that the idle is just right. It doesn't need to be done that intently, but there's the satisfaction in how smoothly things will run.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by jztemple2 »

Sepiche wrote: Fri Mar 16, 2018 11:49 am I should also say the lack of a real tutorial is disappointing. There is some basic help that fills you in on some things, and on the whole it's not hard to figure things out with a little trial and error, but there are a lot of things that would have been simpler to understand with a little more guidance.
Yeah, I was really just sort of "what the heck do I do next" for a while in the first couple of hours. I think they expected you to watch some of the tutorial videos that had been posted by that Quill guy, in fact there is now a link on the main menu to take you there. So maybe that was what they intended.

Also there's now a small patch posted for the game.

UPDATE: patch notes:
Hey everyone,

We have just pushed an update which has fixed the below:

Fixed an issue where the Explorer Rover had the incorrect price, this is now lowered
Linux: Fixed an issue where text elements would flicker and display incorrectly

Regarding Mac issues: We want to reassure you that we are very aware of them and it's on the top of our list and we are working very hard to get it all sorted. We're very sorry for the inconvenience and we appreciate your patience.

Please keep feeding back and if you encounter a bug please post it on the bug forum (not on this thread).

Thanks
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by LordMortis »

wonderpug wrote: Fri Mar 16, 2018 11:24 am Does this seem overly micromanagy? From Steam reviews, that's the complaint I'm seeing that worries me the most about whether I'll like the game.
After about 90 minutes last night I'd say no. In many cases you are going to wish you could micromanage more. For instance, your infrastructure is build by your drones, algorithms determine the your drones work modified by three priority levels you can set on building things but my stupid drones would rather find metal source a whole sector away, so long as it's in their radius and mine metal than pick it up from the stock pile I place right next to their building site.

I never got humanity on my colony as I was exploring game controls so I can't yet speak to how I feel about managing them.

The game will live and die by keyboard hotkeys and I have yet to effectively use them by memory. The mousing UI is interesting proof of concept but clumsy.

Exploration is very mircormanagey but so far it's not overwhelming and horrible. I don't know how I'll feel after dozens of hours.

With no tutorial, I'm not sure what the end game. Is is to build a wonder and count points? Is it to make it past one of the events that you can choose without truly knowing what they are? Whether or not this is a sandbox game will determine it longevity for me. I grow bored of sandbox games (especially citybuilders) rather quickly.

Still I wanted something and it scratches an itch.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by jztemple2 »

LordMortis wrote: Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:45 pm With no tutorial, I'm not sure what the end game. Is is to build a wonder and count points? Is it to make it past one of the events that you can choose without truly knowing what they are? Whether or not this is a sandbox game will determine it longevity for me. I grow bored of sandbox games (especially citybuilders) rather quickly.
As far as I can tell, you are playing to get to that wonder and count points, yes. Since there is only a finite amount of resources on the map, I guess part of it is whether you end up running dry on the important things, plus money of course, before you get to that final goal. I wouldn't say it's a sandbox just because of that limitation, unless there are enough techs to unlock that elimination all those maintenance items.

By the way, have folks figured out that the tech display slides over to the right almost a whole more screen? I just realized there are a bunch more things to unlock :roll:
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by LordMortis »

jztemple2 wrote: Fri Mar 16, 2018 2:19 pm
LordMortis wrote: Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:45 pm With no tutorial, I'm not sure what the end game. Is is to build a wonder and count points? Is it to make it past one of the events that you can choose without truly knowing what they are? Whether or not this is a sandbox game will determine it longevity for me. I grow bored of sandbox games (especially citybuilders) rather quickly.
As far as I can tell, you are playing to get to that wonder and count points, yes. Since there is only a finite amount of resources on the map, I guess part of it is whether you end up running dry on the important things, plus money of course, before you get to that final goal. I wouldn't say it's a sandbox just because of that limitation, unless there are enough techs to unlock that elimination all those maintenance items.

By the way, have folks figured out that the tech display slides over to the right almost a whole more screen? I just realized there are a bunch more things to unlock :roll:
At least one class allow use generate $ M for tech which allows you to import finite resources. If there is a way to infinitely mine prescious metals you can also create revenue stream to import the rest.

Watching Quill videos, I want to say I saw a tech that allowed you make concrete from Mars Dust but don't quote me on that.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Sepiche »

I'm more and more liking what they've done with research... it seems to add a lot of variation to each game which is something a lot of city builders struggle with.

In my first game I came across the neo-concrete breakthrough by researching an anomaly and it was a massive change to my strategy as it reduced the concrete cost of domes by 80% which made them much easier to build. Haven't seen that tech again so far though.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by LordMortis »

The breakthroughs dynamic will be fascinating.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by coopasonic »

Zarathud wrote: Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:44 am It is a city builder. Dry comes with the territory.
I liked SimCity and Cities: Skylines, but this just looks kind of boring by comparison. I think a lot of it is the way it starts out with just rovers/drones doing the work. You aren't getting the dynamics of businesses and population moving in, making it look like a much slower start. Of course the more posts I read the more interested I become, but it's still not grabbing me. The forum effect is generally more effective on me than it is for this game so far.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by LordMortis »

coopasonic wrote: Fri Mar 16, 2018 3:32 pm
Zarathud wrote: Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:44 am It is a city builder. Dry comes with the territory.
I liked SimCity and Cities: Skylines, but this just looks kind of boring by comparison. I think a lot of it is the way it starts out with just rovers/drones doing the work. You aren't getting the dynamics of businesses and population moving in, making it look like a much slower start. Of course the more posts I read the more interested I become, but it's still not grabbing me. The forum effect is generally more effective on me than it is for this game so far.
Is is slow and deliberate and it is also not "fill in the this area" so you work work does show off like bustling city landscape painting.

This appeals to me.

I don't know how later game may change things but right now it looks like you may build a half dozen domes through out an entire play and specialize them to a purpose of???? I don't know what yet...

I'd actually like to seem more factorio with regard to the drones doing the work. The game (so far) is not nearly complex enough for that with only a few basic resources performing most functions and doing so in an abstract way.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by jztemple2 »

My domes so far, Sol 60 or so.

Image

I'm learning a lot about domes and people. First, and I confirmed this on the Paradox forums, is that a resident of one dome will not go next door to the next dome to shop or hit the bar or visit the infirmity. All services that you want to provide to a colonist must be in that person's dome. Some folks have been complaining about that, but I see it as a game mechanic; there are larger domes later in the game and so you are motivated to go larger.

Next, managing people in the game can be a bit of a pain. I had an infirmary with a non-specialist working there, but I had a free medic in another dome. I moved the medic to the needed dome and then fired the non-medic from the infirmary. Before I could assign the medic to the job someone else jumped into it; it must be a cushier job than the one they had. I went through this about three times before I finally got my medic in place. It's annoying but nothing like a deal breaker, especially since people usually go to jobs in their specialty first.

And finally, the caliber of people going to Mars is pretty sad :D. Between the drunks, the hypochondriacs, the lazy, the cowards, the gamblers and (heaven forbid!) the vegans, they are all pretty much a pain in the ass. However, I've only had one actually break down, a geologist who was working a late shift in a mine, besides being lazy and a general pain in the ass. He's better now, but doesn't seem to want to go back to work.

Oh, I also forgot to mention that you'll find your living quarters getting full with children, who you'll want to ship out to a nursery, but that doesn't happen automatically. I also have seniors who are no longer in the workforce :whistle: who I ship off to one set of quarters so I can free up the original space for workers. And there is no clever interface that finds these people for you, so you need to periodically click on each living quarters and go through the people there.

Oddly enough, I'm still having fun with all this :D
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by jztemple2 »

Oh yeah, one more thing. I guess it had to do with selecting the Easy Start game. Right off the bat I built two hydroponic buildings because I was concerned I was going to run out of food early on. Oh no, not at all. Every ship with twelve colonists brought 120 food. I don't know the formula for how much food gets eaten each day, but it wasn't a deficit compared to what the ships were bringing in.

The image shows just one set of food depots, that's five depots of them (the green cubes) around the dome. I've got over a thousand food just sitting around. I finally shut down the hydroponic building and put the botanists to work in real jobs, like tending bar :D

Image
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Sepiche »

Yeah, I got scared when I started a game as the US as the 120 food thing is a bonus of the international backing option... normal passenger ships only carry 12 food, but it turns out 12 food seems to last a while for 12 people. Food usage isn't 1/person/day that I initially feared, but I haven't been able to pinpoint exactly how much is it... maybe .1/person/day? That's probably in the ballpark at least.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Kraken »

Daehawk wrote: Fri Mar 16, 2018 2:22 am
I was all would up about the Civ6 expansion until it died after a page.
Your enjoyment of a game is based on how long a thread about it is? Or do you mean your happy hype and not own it?
Whether or not the OO Effect leads me to buy. I only buy 1-2 games a year so I have to be more selective than most of you. The lack of chatter after the first few days tells me to wait until the Civ6 expansion goes on sale.

Same principle here. The pre- and immediate release buzz is positive, and I love the concept behind this game, but let's see if anyone's still playing a month from now.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

Ok finally got to play as had a migraine last night. Love the first game, oh shit feelings, am I going to run out of x/y/z etc. Got my o2, water and concrete all going but am concerned about polymer running out before I get colonists or can build more, not many on the surface. Should I start building domes and stuff straight away or stockpile resources and things first?

So far I'm 2 hours in, and have the just one more sol/turn effect :) Did Easy start to start with. Not too micromanagy, about what I would expect from this sort of game.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

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Well,the bloom is off the rose for me. I've played for twenty-three hours and am still on my first colony. The micromanagement was getting pretty intense, but not unacceptable, as I faced my first crisis, my nearby metals mine was running out. I did have a location about half way across the map with a metal mine and a rare metal mine, so I started the complex process of building a new dome plus all the ancillary buildings, power lines and pipes, etc. And then somebody decided that I needed to accept some ship from Earth and fill it with 200 metal :doh:. So I'm left with only one metal mine that spends several sols putting out metal for this damn ship, which shuts down my expansion. Finally I fill up the ship and it leaves. Good riddance.

Except that a little later I get a message that I need to donate again and this time I get to choose among four options. I chose to donate polymers since I actually have a lot of those since I've been making them. And I eventually fill the ship and it leaves and then damn, they want more :o. This happens three more times and for this I choose advanced materials which cleans me out of stuff I don't have a lot of. It didn't occur to me that, screw it, I should just tell it to land in the middle of nowhere and I'd let it just stew there till I was good and ready to supply it.

Overall the gameplay has gotten very hectic. New martians are born and need to be sent to nurseries, others age and leave the workforce and I'm bundling them off to an apartment I've nicknamed Boca Raton :D. Thankfully at some point I can research a new tech that keeps seniors as viable members of the workforce. And otherwise it's always a struggle, there's never enough power, oxygen or water to get me to relax, so I'm always seeing how much is in the accumulators and so how long I can hold off from new builds.

I don't know if it's related to my Easy Start Game, but I've unlocked many, many techs which I haven't had the time to research, so I know they are out there, but I can't use them yet. It's kinda frustrating and a bit overwhelming. This game may be from the Tropico folks, but the tech tree looks more like GalCiv III, except that you can research anything that is unlocked, without regards to order. And since I have massive surpluses of food, for instance, I'm not even bothering with any of those techs.

Now all of this would be just annoying, except that I had a bigger problem. At around seventeen hours the game locked up :grund:. I had been moving along without doing manual saves and the damn autosave system only saves every five sols, so I ended up losing about twenty five minutes of work. So I restarted, loaded the save and replayed all the events, this time saving every few minutes. And then it locked up again :grund: :grund:

I only lost about five minutes of progress so I again restarted, loaded and played, this time saving every couple of minutes. And after an hour, it locked up again :( . Being committed to my colony, I restarted, loaded and played, again saving every couple of minutes. And I've gone five hours without another lockup, but I'm still saving every couple of minutes. I've submitted a bug report on my crash and a suggestion that the damn autosave period be adjustable and tied to real world time, and I'd prefer it be able to save every damn minute.

So I took off from the game this morning and got some sun and did some pool maintenance and started a new Audible book. And maybe this afternoon I'll start playing again. Who am I kidding? Of course I'm going to play again :roll:
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by jztemple2 »

Here's a useful article that came out on the game's new feed today, Tips & Tricks for beginners (written). I didn't paste it here as it is rather long, but since I put it into my own doc file for printing purposes I've also uploaded it to my Dropbox account here. Let me know if there is problems with that link.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Freyland »

Jztemple, did you play Rimworld? If so, how do things compare, enjoyment-wise?
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by jztemple2 »

Freyland wrote: Sat Mar 17, 2018 3:36 pm Jztemple, did you play Rimworld? If so, how do things compare, enjoyment-wise?
I have Rimworld and have played it a couple of times, but it did't grab me like Surviving Mars has. I think part of that was because in Rimworld I seemed to have problems with getting folks to do what I wanted. Also the graphics presentation was a bit of problem for me, I found it hard to keep track of many items on the map.

I've put in a couple more hours in Surviving Mars and I'm happier now. I did what I said I was going to do and landed that request ship far enough away so that my robots wouldn't service it till I was ready. I did go through another major crisis when I finally overextended myself on power, but once I could build fusion reactors power is less of an issue. And I got the tech that allowed my seniors to work so suddenly I had 30+ new folks in the workforce. So things are better now. And I haven't had another lockup which is always good.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Daehawk »

5000 pop and 25 domes from some guy.

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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by jztemple2 »

Wow, that's quite an accomplishment and I don't know if I have the stamina.

I just reached twenty-eight hours in my game. I went through a running out of food crisis, which was my own fault for never having a farm because of all the food the ships brought. I threw myself into building farms to catch back up, which threw me into a water crisis :roll:. I finally drilled my first deep water well, so maybe I'm OK for now.

And I haven't had any more lockups :shock:
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

Still loving the game but couple of errors I've done, didn't realise that settlers couldn't travel between domes for work but are fine walking outside to mine *grr* so now have to redo my domes.

I've only just found (sol 21) my first rare metals deposit! so I've had to keep importing computer parts so hopefully that will sort out now. Still a great game, reminds me of that village survival game where you had people born die and had to have all the stores so they would build buildings etc, forgot the name at the moment.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Daehawk »

Sounds like the game I wanted to love but have never done well at all in..Banished.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Freyland »

"Technology to allow seniors to work".... Could you explain that? I'm struggling to imagine sending ANY colonists to Mars if they couldn't work.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

Daehawk wrote: Sun Mar 18, 2018 12:35 am Sounds like the game I wanted to love but have never done well at all in..Banished.
Yep Banished, that's what it was thx.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by jztemple2 »

Just FYI, I've put the images in spoiler tags, in case someone might think they are spoilers. I don't think they are...

Well, I think I've finished my first playthrough, although I'm still debating. I've gotten to the bottom of the milestone list by building a Wonder:
Spoiler:
Image
The Wonder (and apparently there are several of them) is the Mohole. Basically it allows you to mine for metal and rare metal anywhere on the map. It uses a lot of power but by the endgame power isn't too much of an issue:
Spoiler:
Image
I'm not anywhere near reaching the end of the research options. The screenshot shows the right half of the tech pages, what I haven't researched is in a brighter color of course.
Spoiler:
Image
So, to sum up, 33 hours of playing on the Easy Start game option. As I said, I may or may not play further on this colony, as there are still a lot of techs to unlock. And I've only built ten domes and not even a Megadome.

So, my opinion of the game? Allowing for those three lockups which occurred around hour 17, and never reoccurred, I really enjoyed myself. I never once felt like the game was on cruise control, that I didn't have to keep a watch on every little thing. Yet the micromanaging never reached the state of making the game feel like work. And the various crises that came up during the game were enjoyable mental exercises and never inconsistent with the gameplay. I did gripe about those trade ships that needed me to supply them with my precious resources, but once I figured out to land them outside of my drone range so I could control when I sent it supplies, it was OK. I didn't really get into some of the mysteries that were options in the tech tree, so I can't comment on those.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Daehawk »

Those outside sources that want you to supply them are what always ruined the old city builders for me. I really loved some of them except for that. When that happened I quit playing them and never went back though I look back at the game as good. Like Pharaoh and Caesar and Children of the Nile and such. That one mechanic killed them for me. Sometimes with me its as simple as one bad design decision that ruins an entire great game. happened in Privateer 2 for a different reason.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by Daehawk »

Stefan Stirzaker wrote: Sun Mar 18, 2018 2:06 am
Daehawk wrote: Sun Mar 18, 2018 12:35 am Sounds like the game I wanted to love but have never done well at all in..Banished.
Yep Banished, that's what it was thx.
welcome.
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I am Dyslexic of Borg, prepare to have your ass laminated.
I guess Ray Butts has ate his last pancake.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by LordMortis »

jztemple2 wrote: Sun Mar 18, 2018 3:28 am Just FYI, I've put the images in spoiler tags, in case someone might think they are spoilers. I don't think they are...

Well, I think I've finished my first playthrough, although I'm still debating. I've gotten to the bottom of the milestone list by building a Wonder:
Spoiler:
Image
The Wonder (and apparently there are several of them) is the Mohole. Basically it allows you to mine for metal and rare metal anywhere on the map. It uses a lot of power but by the endgame power isn't too much of an issue:
Spoiler:
Image
I'm not anywhere near reaching the end of the research options. The screenshot shows the right half of the tech pages, what I haven't researched is in a brighter color of course.
Spoiler:
Image
So, to sum up, 33 hours of playing on the Easy Start game option. As I said, I may or may not play further on this colony, as there are still a lot of techs to unlock. And I've only built ten domes and not even a Megadome.

So, my opinion of the game? Allowing for those three lockups which occurred around hour 17, and never reoccurred, I really enjoyed myself. I never once felt like the game was on cruise control, that I didn't have to keep a watch on every little thing. Yet the micromanaging never reached the state of making the game feel like work. And the various crises that came up during the game were enjoyable mental exercises and never inconsistent with the gameplay. I did gripe about those trade ships that needed me to supply them with my precious resources, but once I figured out to land them outside of my drone range so I could control when I sent it supplies, it was OK. I didn't really get into some of the mysteries that were options in the tech tree, so I can't comment on those.

I think there are varying storylines and I'm not sure the easy start has one. I'm currently playing the first easy storyline and 29 years in to it, I haven't seen anything thing. Of course, I still haven't finished my evaluation yet. I need 40 techs before 100 sols, which shouldn't be a problem. That or my evaluation is the story line/beginning of the storyline. I don't know yet.

I'm running out of citizens to import, so I may need to learn how to create better baby factories, which will also take a long time to make them part of my society.

Playing as the International whatever they're called I made the mistake of treating money like it grows on trees. I fear my colonists, as many as I have working, are not self sufficient and can't produce nearly enough polymers and electronics to keep up with demand. I may have to shut down one of my science institutes. Playing a more challenging nation is going to be rough, I think.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by jztemple2 »

In case it's not visible, I'm at sol 141 after 33 hours of playing. I almost never accelerate the clock as things happen fast enough as it is. However, thinking about it, I also almost never paused the game, since so often vehicles are in transit, people are moving and there are so many other things that I'm needing to happen to make another decision that I felt like pausing was going to mess up my rhythm.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by jztemple2 »

OMG I'm an idiot. I got in all those hours on the game and didn't realize I completely missed one important tool. There was a mesa near my main base with water, mines and concrete, but because I couldn't drive up onto it I thought that it was intended to be unreachable. What I wasn't even paying attention to was a build available right at the start, the tunnel! It isn't just for going through terrain on a level, but also for going to different levels. Damn, I made the game that much harder on myself by not using it :roll:
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by LordMortis »

Day 51 and I'm finally self sufficient but not by much. My story line has kicked in, which make me wonder when my evaluation will complete. Day 100, I guess? And then I get ranked? No idea. But there were essentially three choices for my mystery at the start (hence the name Three something or other, I guess)
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by jztemple2 »

Something from Photo Mode (click for full screen mode)

Image
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by LordMortis »

Was wondering if Arcologies are the way to go. New game has me wanting to go home and not work.
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by jztemple2 »

LordMortis wrote: Mon Mar 19, 2018 8:53 am Was wondering if Arcologies are the way to go.
I've only unlocked two of the spire structures. The other one helps save water but that's pointless now since I have lots of water. By the way, don't forget you can put multiple extractors (metal, rare metals, water) at a site, as long as the grey ring overlaps the resource. Again, wish I had know that earlier :roll:
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Re: Surviving Mars - A Mars City Builder from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive

Post by LordMortis »

jztemple2 wrote: Mon Mar 19, 2018 12:00 pm
LordMortis wrote: Mon Mar 19, 2018 8:53 am Was wondering if Arcologies are the way to go.
I've only unlocked two of the spire structures. The other one helps save water but that's pointless now since I have lots of water. By the way, don't forget you can put multiple extractors (metal, rare metals, water) at a site, as long as the grey ring overlaps the resource. Again, wish I had know that earlier :roll:
I had forgotten that... until I needed more water for my 3rd dome and 3rd refinery and none was to be found. That was a brief panic moment. Otherwise I try not to over produce from a single source. The last thing I want is to over rely on single source and have it run out.

I do have one metal extractor also running two sources because I can't get caught up on my current machine demand and I have no moment to send home for more machines.

I will be way interesting to try playing as something other than international. I little problems (but problems just the same) in getting to self sufficiency with the international crew. Cutting that funding will painful, though I must admit, I spend quite a bit on tech outsourcing, treating money as like it was I going to come back, no problem...

I also only have three spires at the moment. The arcology, the water one, and a break through for Clone Vats.

Seeing (but not acquiring) most of the techs, it seems the "random order" of techs is greatly exaggerated. It looks like there is are pools for order along a chain and those pools are very small. Like you will never get huge nuclear reactors or a megadome as an opening tech.

OtOH, I wonder how many different breakthroughs there are. They are what fascinates me. I'm not even sure I want to find the spoiler when it become available much like I don't want to spoil the mysteries (though I am really curious how many directions the three whatever they are go... I assume it's three directions...)
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