Surviving Mars |OT| Let's science the **** out of this.

karnage10 · Sep 17, 2021

I was wrong and there was a new DLC!!!!

Key Features

Back to the Bases - Expand your colony into caves and lava tubes under the surface. Players can use existing structures, or underground-specific buildings to build a base for exploration. Expand with caution, potential cave-ins can destroy everything.

Mine Your Own Business - Players can now go below the surface and beyond the red planet for resource mining. Construct special rocket-propelled buildings to mine resources, including exotic minerals and Data Samples, on passing asteroids. Don't stick around too long or else the Asteroid will drift away with your stuff!

Branching Paths - The Recon and Expansion research trees unlock additional buildings, vehicles, upgrades, and locales. They will also unlock asteroid mining and tunnel colonization

THere was also a free patch that upgraded the UI quite a lot as well as give a new building.

I'm up for a new playthough! I hope i see you all on the red planet again!

Bombless · Feb 1, 2023

It's been a while and, while I haven't returned to the game recently (last playthrough was a year ago or so), I still listen to the Quantum Sonics playlist relatively often. I don't care much about the others, but QS is just incredible.

If anything from this game is to be remembered, the OST is towards the top of that list for sure.

karnage10 · Feb 1, 2023

Bombless said:
It's been a while and, while I haven't returned to the game recently (last playthrough was a year ago or so), I still listen to the Quantum Sonics playlist relatively often. I don't care much about the others, but QS is just incredible.

If anything from this game is to be remembered, the OST is towards the top of that list for sure.

Peronally i also thing the gameplay is one of the best colony building games. There is always something missing and managing between terraforming, colonists and raw resources is a lot of fun. The animations also make the game fun to look at while you gather the necessary resources.

Katbobo · Apr 2, 2023

Sorry for bumping this thread, but I've been on a really strong city builder/management game kick. Rise to Ruins didn't last me as long as I was hoping, so i'm moving on to the next game in my backlog which is Surviving Mars. I always heard really good things about it.

On steam there's quite a bit of DLC, but the only one that seems outright well reviewed is Green Planet. Is any of the other DLC worth getting, or should I just do base game + green planet?

karnage10 · Apr 2, 2023

Katbobo said:
Sorry for bumping this thread, but I've been on a really strong city builder/management game kick. Rise to Ruins didn't last me as long as I was hoping, so i'm moving on to the next game in my backlog which is Surviving Mars. I always heard really good things about it.

On steam there's quite a bit of DLC, but the only one that seems outright well reviewed is Green Planet. Is any of the other DLC worth getting, or should I just do base game + green planet?

If its cheap i'd also get space project. It adds 2 cool sponsors (think of them like starting bonuses/twists), a few events and expeditions. It also adds rivals and events/trade between factions. Personally it makes early game much better because if a resource is low you can usually trade for it using your abundant resources. IMO it makes the game much less punishing if you are very unlucky with your landing.

Green planet basically adds a new end game. Its cool and i highly recomend it.

Project laika - adds pets and a few building that use them. Mechanically it is very skippable, but i really enjoy having animals roaming my colony (and eventually mars as you terraform the planet)

Below and beyond - I enjoy this DLC a lot because it basically adds a really big map underground full of resources but they are hard to get and use. It basically allows you to boost mid game production by harvesting the resources bellow and sending the much needed resources to the surface. This DLC is a really good excuse to use all the landers that are barely used in the main game. The thing is for a newbie i recommend you to skip it. Due to 3 reasons:1) mechanically it has heavy flaws so until you know the quirks of the game you will have a really hard time moving resources around. 2) It doesn't add much besides a new way to acquire resources mid game and more real state for your building (only needed if you play on mountainous maps). 3) Makes the pacing of the game feel a bit weird because chances are that you can use these resources to beat the "mid game" crisis much easier then intended.

IF you like Eurovision type songs i highly recommend getting marsvision music. I find that music really really eurovionsiony . It has lyrics such as "I was only waiting for a sign; now its fine we are here(...) in your arms i'll be the one". It is so good! XD

I don't have any other DLC.

Lastly i want to say that the base game itself is really good. All the DLC basically add complexity and or new ways to do the base game. So in my opinion do a base game run, choose an easy crisis. Even then chances are that your colony will fail. took me 3-4 tries to be able to "finish" the base game. Only then, IMO, the DLC make sense.

Katbobo · Apr 2, 2023

karnage10 said:
If its cheap i'd also get space project. It adds 2 cool sponsors (think of them like starting bonuses/twists), a few events and expeditions. It also adds rivals and events/trade between factions. Personally it makes early game much better because if a resource is low you can usually trade for it using your abundant resources. IMO it makes the game much less punishing if you are very unlucky with your landing.

Green planet basically adds a new end game. Its cool and i highly recomend it.

Project laika - adds pets and a few building that use them. Mechanically it is very skippable, but i really enjoy having animals roaming my colony (and eventually mars as you terraform the planet)

Below and beyond - I enjoy this DLC a lot because it basically adds a really big map underground full of resources but they are hard to get and use. It basically allows you to boost mid game production by harvesting the resources bellow and sending the much needed resources to the surface. This DLC is a really good excuse to use all the landers that are barely used in the main game. The thing is for a newbie i recommend you to skip it. Due to 3 reasons:1) mechanically it has heavy flaws so until you know the quirks of the game you will have a really hard time moving resources around. 2) It doesn't add much besides a new way to acquire resources mid game and more real state for your building (only needed if you play on mountainous maps). 3) Makes the pacing of the game feel a bit weird because chances are that you can use these resources to beat the "mid game" crisis much easier then intended.

IF you like Eurovision type songs i highly recommend getting marsvision music. I find that music really really eurovionsiony . It has lyrics such as "I was only waiting for a sign; now its fine we are here(...) in your arms i'll be the one". It is so good! XD

I don't have any other DLC.

Lastly i want to say that the base game itself is really good. All the DLC basically add complexity and or new ways to do the base game. So in my opinion do a base game run, choose an easy crisis. Even then chances are that your colony will fail. took me 3-4 tries to be able to "finish" the base game. Only then, IMO, the DLC make sense.

Thank you so much for the answer!! I'll pick up Green Planet then, and probably pick up the pets and eurovision DLCs too. Your description of those lit up some lizard neurons in my brain, i think i need them.