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Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 1:36 am
by jztemple2
Well, while I'm at it, I'll mention four other mods I just added from the same guy as above,
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 6:21 am
by Stefan Stirzaker
Just reached my 100 day goal, easy start. My storyline was the AI one. Won't spoil it for you for when you get it. Think I'll progress that linea bit more then start a new game.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 9:26 am
by Fitzy
Those mods do look great for removing the tediousness.
Pretty soon there's going to be an "autoplaygameforme"
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 11:08 pm
by jztemple2
I started another colony so I could try out some of these mods with the terrain or tunnels being a problem. I selected a pretty easy location and got lucky finding water, metals, rare metals and concrete nearby.
I decided this time to try laying out my dome position early on, but turning it off so the drones didn't waste time working on it. I also am experimenting with a new "ring" system of cables and pipes, so if I get a leak I can isolate the location without taking out the rest of the facilities.
And for this run through, I'm running these mods (plus some music ones):
These mods make things a bit better, including automating some manual tasks:
These are "cheater" mods, although they don't have that much effect.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2018 11:02 am
by Montag
jztemple2 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 30, 2018 11:08 pm
I started another colony so I could try out some of these mods with the terrain or tunnels being a problem. I selected a pretty easy location and got lucky finding water, metals, rare metals and concrete nearby.
I am far from mastering the game but I have some comments.
Unless you have the superior cables, the ring is not a good idea. Extra length gives an extra chance of faults. Faults do not break a circuit, they just add a drain - same for pipes.
You do have a sweet location, but your dome will not be able to dully utilize it unless you have breakthrough that lets you run extractors without people.
This is still a good long term location. Start with mining all of the rare metals then switch to metal.
Having a lot of people work outside is bad unless you have martian born doing it. They will take the sanity hit.
You do want your extractors and production buildings further apart. They produce dust which shortens the maintenance cycle. I am not sure which of the production buildings produce dust, but I believe all the extractor buildings do.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2018 12:35 pm
by jztemple2
Montag wrote: ↑Sat Mar 31, 2018 11:02 am
Unless you have the superior cables, the ring is not a good idea. Extra length gives an extra chance of faults. Faults do not break a circuit, they just add a drain - same for pipes.
I built a huge colony, almost 2000 colonists, and didn't see any real increase in leak occurrence. As you say, leaks are just drains, so the ring is a bit more of a fashion statement. It prevents (theoretically) a meteor from causing a lot of havoc, although I've yet to have a meteor hit a cable or pipe, so the theory is yet to be tested.
Montag wrote: ↑Sat Mar 31, 2018 11:02 am
You do have a sweet location, but your dome will not be able to dully utilize it unless you have breakthrough that lets you run extractors without people.
I plan on overlapping the dome coverage area so that two domes can service the rare metals and metal mines on the south side.
Montag wrote: ↑Sat Mar 31, 2018 11:02 am
Having a lot of people work outside is bad unless you have martian born doing it. They will take the sanity hit.
I have an infirmary for that. As I said, I've had a lot of outside facilities on my giant colony and didn't see insanity issues. But by then most were Martian born so maybe I've just not seen the issue. But somebody has to go outside and work
Montag wrote: ↑Sat Mar 31, 2018 11:02 am
You do want your extractors and production buildings further apart. They produce dust which shortens the maintenance cycle. I am not sure which of the production buildings produce dust, but I believe all the extractor buildings do.
I didn't think of this
. I'll try to spread out more on my next set of buildings.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 12:15 am
by jztemple2
I've just hit 70 hours in Surviving Mars. I'm continuing on my colony I lovingly call
USA diff65%, sponsor and difficulty. I'm on a nice map that's split into two valleys that run east to west, blocked from each other by a ridge of hills that block access except at each end.
And although the resources for the map are metals 4, concrete 4 and water 3, the damn water is hard to come by. I had one source right near where I landed, over eight thousand units but Very Low accessibility, so I have five extractors running on it. And now it's starting to run dry and damn the next water source is on the other side of a ridge way away from my main complex of four domes (the extra three are placeholders). So I had to build what I called the
Croton Aqueduct:
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:33 pm
by jztemple2
The
Croton Aqueduct I described in my last post served it's purpose, I completely drained that water resource. In the meantime (being the retired engineer that I am) I planned for the next phase of water gathering, using Vaporizers. So when the water underground ran out I placed a number of them on the old pipeline:
One great help was that not only did I unlock Fusion Reactors, but I got the Breakthrough that allowed me to upgrade them to not need workers. This is one of the great appeals to me of Surviving Mars, not only do the techs unlock in an unpredictable way, but the Breakthroughs are randomized so I can't count on some tech showing up to save my butt.
Another issue I had to face was my growing senior population. Like some seniors I know, they don't want to do any work
so I created a sixth dome for them, called Quincy Adams (domes named after presidents, since we're USA sponsored) that is set to attract seniors, having shuffleboard courts and also lawns so the seniors can yell at people to get off them.
At sol 80 I'm pretty much self-sufficient, producing more food, fuel, machine parts, electronics and polymers than I consume. There are several rare metal sites near me so I can keep making money and plenty of metal and concrete. So in a while I might wind up this colony and start a new, tougher one.
This really is a perfect game for a retired engineer
And as always, I like to post what mods I'm running so folks can have some fun with the game. The first set of mods really has addressed most of the micromanagement issues that folks have noted. For instance, I have an automated transport that right from the start of the colony went out and fetched ground resources and dumped them near my depots without my intervention at all. Also I have an automated explorer that goes out and surveys when those things pop up. And an automated rover that will go rescue any stranded explorer or transport. Pretty cool
These mods make things a bit better, including automating some manual tasks:
These are "cheater" mods, although they don't have that much effect.
And these mods try to regulate who lives where and who works where as well:
And my radio mods:
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 10:00 pm
by LordMortis
jztemple2 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:33 pm
At sol 80 I'm pretty much self-sufficient, producing more food, fuel, machine parts, electronics and polymers than I consume. There are several rare metal sites near me so I can keep making money and plenty of metal and concrete. So in a while I might wind up this colony and start a new, tougher one.
The first game I played, that i set down, I had the doctor and never had to worry about seniors. The second game went down in flames because my whole populations aged in to seniors and I had no place to put them and no one to work. So now I go again my third building is designed to be a combination senior center and nursery dome.
The breakthroughs are really what make the game. They give you something to hunt and you simply can't count on a plan to use them.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:49 am
by Sepiche
Up to about Sol 75 with a new colony backed by India which is pretty entertaining. Their abilities are they get a 20% reduction in all construction costs, and they start with the tech to build medium domes. The larger domes take a bit more time and effort to get rolling initially, but it really pays off down the road to have larger domes so early.
Their major downside is having only 100 initial research points and, while I've struggled to get my research points up a bit, it hasn't been too bad overall. I also got one really nice breakthrough I wish I could have every game: I got one that made cables free to build, build instantly, and never short out. I got it early enough that I'd love to know how much metal and drone time it's saved me over the course of the game.
I definitely agree that the research in general, with a big help from the breakthroughs in particilar, do an amazing job of keeping each playthrough fresh.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2018 8:15 pm
by jztemple2
deleted, detailed report two posts below.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2018 8:22 pm
by jztemple2
I had to give up on my previous game. I was at about a thousand residents and during some fast forwarding I got a lock up. I restored from the latest save but there was some problem with the save; I couldn't launch fueled rocket and my space elevator wouldn't go online, saying it needed power even though it had plenty.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 2:10 am
by jztemple2
Started a new colony with the sponsor Blue Sun. I went with the default first rocket loadout of only an RC Transport, no Rover or Explorer. And it turned out that, since I had Hydro Engineering, I automatically had a found water source, which was good because my rocket didn't include a Vaporizer! And it turns out, I had other problems. My water source and the nearest concrete were way, way apart. I did have a Drone Hub so I built that near the water source. I set up local power and accumulator and built a Fuel Refinery. And then I started my water extractor, but that needs concrete so I had to wait for the next rocket.
On my next rocket I flew in an Explorer, a Rover and another Drone Hub, used the rover to set up the hub near the concrete, then built concrete extractors plus power. Thankfully the radius of the drone hubs overlapped so I could just put depots in the center to expedite the transfer of concrete.
I really find the most fun for me now, after 82 hours in the game, is starting up a colony at a new location with random conditions. Once I get a couple of domes up and working it gets to be old hat.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 10:37 am
by LordMortis
You can change your starting rocket's contents.
I'm enjoying achievement chasing right now, which will be a long process and I'm sure I'll move on to something else before I even get close. Right now I'm working on getting the USA achievement of completing the engineering tree within 100 sols while also working green light mystery.
I got 80 days in to the USA challenge last time before conceding defeat knowing I would never finish the engineering tree.
I'm 70 days in to again and again I'm not sure I'm going to make it. I think have about 130,000 research to do and only currently generate around 2000 research per sol and I can't spare the USA free cash that comes ever 5 sols as it supplements my electronics and building drone hubs so I can expand out to more water before my colony dies. Alternatively, I could spend it on water vaporizors I think getting to the wells will be a better cheaper short term solution.
But really, I think I'm going to fail again. I'm just not to the point where I see disaster around the corner yet. If I can get the water up and going before I collapse, I can build the domes to make research and divert cash into outsourcing research.
Still having a blast, so I got my $30 out of the game after two weeks. (It was $30, right?)
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 11:42 am
by Sepiche
On my initial rocket I tend to take:
- Drone hub
- 2x Stirling generators
- Polymers, Machine Parts, Electronics
- ~4x Orbital Probes
- ~10x Drones
- Transport Rover
My second rocket always brings over the exploration rover and anything else I'm missing to survive at that location.
I use the probes to find a good landing site. I try not to land anywhere that doesn't have water, concrete, and rare metals, and if the initial site doesn't look good, I'll use the probes to try to locate a better spot by using the mouse over hints to see where I have the best chance of finding water. The transport rover immediately starts collecting metals to expedite the initial startup, and two stirling generators do a good job of providing all the initial power I'll need for a while.
My initial build order tends to be: Power, Concrete, Scanners, Water, Oxygen, Dome.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 11:57 am
by LordMortis
- Drone hub
- Stirling generator
- Polymers, Machine Parts, Electronics
- ~10x Drones
- Transport Rover
whatever else makes sense at the time. The generator get concrete, one scanner, and drone hub up quickly and functioning through the first night fall, something very hard to do with solar panels.
I might also vary the drones. For instance, there is one leader leader that has increased Drones in the drone hub. It's actually a cheaper start to build his hub with 6 drone included at $150 than it is is to buy six drones at $180. There is no reason to ever buy more than a singe initial drone to build the first hub. You then then transfer the six drones that come with the hub back to the shuttle until the hub is powered. If you send $450 for 18 drones and $30 ($480 total) for the initial drone you get a huge coverage area and 19 drones for $480, where as 10 drones and a hub us 14 drones, a small coverage area for $450.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 12:54 pm
by jztemple2
LordMortis wrote: ↑Wed Apr 04, 2018 10:37 am
You can change your starting rocket's contents.
Oh I know that, but I like the challenge of sticking with what was given me. I think I'll suggest that the developers give extra score points for going with the default loadout of the first rocket.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:40 pm
by Montag
I think Stirlings are a money trap. There is a good Reddit thread on what it takes to succeed on a max difficulty start and Stirlings are a no no.
Made reddit link spoiler so it is collapsible. Did this on a phone earlier.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:50 pm
by jztemple2
Montag wrote: ↑Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:40 pm
There is a good Reddit thread on what it takes to succeed on a max difficulty start...
I read about a third of it and started losing focus. I mean, I like a good challenge, but I think it would take some time for me to work up to something like that
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 4:52 pm
by Montag
I am doing a 230% right now and I think I have it on a good path. Doing SpaceY with Astrogeologist in a dust storm 2, cold 2, dust devil 2, meteor 3 area. Got lucky and got Supercomputing and Eternal Fusion breakthroughs. Those together are full of win.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 5:42 pm
by LordMortis
Montag wrote: ↑Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:40 pm
I think Stirlings are a money trap. There is a good Reddit thread on what it takes to succeed on a max difficulty start and Stirlings are a no no.
Made reddit link spoiler so it is collapsible. Did this on a phone earlier.
The comment on Sterlings is interesting. I guess I always feel the pressure to get up and running with concrete and scanning on sol 1 and 1 Sterling accomplishes that goal. I suppose if ever $M was sacred in my playthroughs, I probably would behave differently.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 8:40 pm
by Lorini
Wrong thread.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 9:10 pm
by Montag
Do not underestimate the power of triboelectric scrubbers. The prevent the need for maintenance. You can place them so they scrub each other. Put them on the perimeter of the done and they even keep interior build sites in range clean. You can cover all but the spire in a medium dome. My only real maintenance cost of consequence is due to idiots. Eternal fusion gives you nearly unbreakable power with proper scrubbers, heaters, and laser defense.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 11:09 am
by Lorini
Big update. I might get back to it now if I can tear myself away from ONI.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 12:27 pm
by Fitzy
Is there a way to see how far the effects of the "dust" from production buildings will spread?
Mostly unrelated, but it's amusing me to land rockets next to stuff and watch them get immediate dirty.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 12:56 pm
by jztemple2
Fitzy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 12:27 pm
Is there a way to see how far the effects of the "dust" from production buildings will spread?
Best way I know of is to look at the cables.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 1:07 pm
by LordMortis
Bear in mind production buildings don't increase the spread of dust, extractors do. So that's specifically water, concrete, metal, and rare metal. You'll it's specifically them because when you get the extractor upgrade, it applies specifically to them.
Energy is not extracted, polymers are not extracted, fuel is not extracted, drones, moisture farms, etc... (though you think the moisture farms would be)
You'll notice what is and isn't an extractor in the tool tips when you demolish and recycle them.
using the surving mars extractor dust as a google search redit users claim five hexes is believed
https://www.reddit.com/r/SurvivingMars/ ... ion_range/
wiki doesn't say
https://survivingmars.gamepedia.com/How ... aintenance
Steam discussion
http://steamcommunity.com/app/464920/di ... 312858867/
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 1:30 pm
by Sepiche
Montag wrote: ↑Wed Apr 04, 2018 9:10 pm
and they even keep interior build sites in range clean
Doh.
Triboelectric Scrubber no longer scrubs buildings inside domes
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 1:56 pm
by LordMortis
http://steamcommunity.com/games/464920/ ... 0482550681
patch notes (and it looks like I have had this patch for a bit)
Of notice to me.
... Ive never seen a geyser...
The whole list
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:00 pm
by jztemple2
Link for the update,
Patch Notes (Spirit Update). And the text of the update:
I'm hoping this doesn't mess up too many of my favorite mods. For instance, their change to birth control, "
Added Birth Control Policy in domes. You can now set births to allowed or forbidden (Ctrl + LMB sets birth control policy in all domes)", isn't as good as the
Nurseries Limit Births mod which limits birth to the available nursery slots.
UPDATE: Brilliant minds think alike, LordMortis and I appear to have simul-posted.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:08 pm
by LordMortis
Even with the long list spoil
I see
Added new icons for Construct Drone and Dismantle Drone button
which makes me think i have the patch but I know my science institute is still called a science institute.
As much as you don't want your mods borked, I don't want my sol 80 USA hoping to finish my Engineering portion of the tech tree before sol 100 borked.
OtOH, I really do hope they have optimized the steam cloud syncing because my machine gets destroyed every time I shut the game down.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:36 pm
by jztemple2
LordMortis wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:08 pm
OtOH, I really do hope they have optimized the steam cloud syncing because my machine gets destroyed every time I shut the game down.
I just did a quick look at my game to see how all my mods fared (all seem unaffected) and saved as usual to two different files. On exiting it still seems that the upload to the Steam cloud does take a long time. On the other hand I haven't really looked to see how big the save files are, maybe that's the issue.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 3:23 pm
by DD*
Damn you, OO effect. You got me again.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 3:29 pm
by LordMortis
DD* wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 3:23 pm
Damn you, OO effect. You got me again.
I personally don't think it will be a long term game for me, but I'ma get $30 out of it. I really think I already have. it's not the best city builder I've played but it's appealed to me more than say "Cities Skylines" did OO loved that. If feels like it has more of a point.
I, personally, am achievement hunting. And again achievement hunting makes if feel like a relaxing game with a point. I never got that feeling in Cities. So while it's no Children of the Nile or Tropico 2. It's above average for my tastes. With RTS resource simple gathering at it's backbone.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 4:36 pm
by Sepiche
I really didn't expect this to grab me, but I keep finding myself coming back to it lately when I feel like something a little slower paced.
I'll reiterate too... they vastly extended the legs of the game by adding all the different sponsors and the randomness of the research tree. Really makes each play through unique.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 4:45 pm
by LordMortis
Sepiche wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 4:36 pm
I'll reiterate too... they vastly extended the legs of the game by adding all the different sponsors and the randomness of the research tree. Really makes each play through unique.
Agreed. As I achievement hunt, I can't count on the way the research will fall (so I have no memory for the research tree) and the breakthroughs are simply an awesome addition game rooted in developing through a technology tree. That give legs to playing over as a different sponsor to hunting another achievement before something new and shiny will replace this.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:23 pm
by jztemple2
Oh dear, a possible problem with the new patch...
Rockets cannot take off from Mars. I've just had this happen to me, twice. I though it was related to a mod, but several people are reporting the same thing.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:37 pm
by Fitzy
I thought I saw where the rocket thing was only happening in saved games, not new. Not that it wouldn't suck anyway.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:57 pm
by jztemple2
Fitzy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:37 pm
I thought I saw where the rocket thing was only happening in saved games, not new. Not that it wouldn't suck anyway.
Also I've had it happen to two cargo rockets, but not a passenger rocket. A workaround is to set the rocket to automatically launch after loading a full load of rare metals, which means it will launch when full. Then click on its launch spot and turn off the auto launch.
Re: Surviving Mars - Start a Colony on Mars, from Haemimont Games/Paradox Interactive
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 6:14 pm
by LordMortis
Fitzy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:37 pm
I thought I saw where the rocket thing was only happening in saved games, not new. Not that it wouldn't suck anyway.
Don't say that.