


You can filter them by a number of positive and negative traits, age groups, or even gender. Once you've got your first Dome ready to go (along with a secure supply of water and oxygen), it's time to select your first group of Colonists to move over to Mars. While I've never attempted it, it's probably quite feasible to create a completely robotic base and never have a single human set foot on the planet. Your initial base can operate with nary a human in sight for some time. It's tempting to build a colony as fast as possible, but I've found it's best to scan a good portion of the map, gather up resources, and select an ideal site so as to best maximize your chances of succeeding. The first few Sols are a mix of setting up power generation, gathering resources, and beginning initial scans. Once you touch down, your rovers and drones will unload from the rocket and the game begins proper. You'll typically have one sector pre-scanned as a freebie and this usually makes for the best landing site. The map in Surviving Mars is divided into a grid. This will let you begin the game with a water deposit revealed on the map, the Water Reclamation technology already unlocked, and 25% lower water consumption in your domes. Once you've chosen your Sponsor and Commander Profile, you move on to outfitting your first rocket. For example, let's say you start the game with the "Hydro Engineer" Commander Profile.
SURVIVING MARS BELOW AND BEYOND BUGS FOR FREE
You must also select a Commander Profile, which will typically unlock one of the game's technologies for free and give you a unique ability. Each Sponsor has their own unique strengths, and some of the more difficult ones can have hefty downsides. You'll begin by choosing from a list of Sponsors for your mission. In Surviving Mars, you're tasked with setting up a colony on the titular red planet. Mash both of those together and you'll immediately capture my attention (and probably an uncomfortable amount of my time - goodness knows how many hours I've spent in games like Planetbase.) Surviving Mars (developed by Haemimont Games and published by Paradox Interactive) is one such mixture of sci-fi city building that I was eager to seek my teeth into. I like games that let me build stuff and I like sci-fi.
