Surviving Mars - colony management sim from Tropico devs

[Mortmal]

this game is fun and I take umbrage with fantadomat's view as he complains about things that are doable in the game. the game has flaws for sure but the foundation is good and you can make the game as challenging as you wish via start locations.. currently battling both regularly occuring meteors and cold snaps and it's fun

Soo people are to buy the game and wait for the mods to fix it? In my post i am even bias toward the devs,the assholes have their studios an hour away from my home. I do wanted for fellow Bulgarians to do some incline,but this ain't it. The game is not hard at all,i did go with the Russians and some hard mystery on a medium starting place,and what make the game hard was the boredom. Also meteorites are annoying shit. The game have some potential for modding,but it is not worth for the what it is now.

I'm doubting if you even played, because you said you picked Russia but then black people came.. but Russia was only the sponsor, the applicants come from world wide.. Maybe they gave you a bunch fo black people to get them off Earth?

some things you stated that make me feel as though you played for an hour and didn't understand things:

Drone AI is bad - in my experience it is pretty good, you need to know its range and have material storages in its range so it can work.. if things are outside of its range yes it won't do anything. I have several drone hubs that overlap slightly and the drones will bring materials from one end to another in a daisy chain, so that the next set of drones can grab it and bring it where it needs to be

your colonists left = colonists will leave if they are homesick (mostly due to being homeless or unemployed) or have the tourist trait (which you can say you don't want any of these people when requesting colonists)

"A working strategy that i found out a bit later is to buy as much research rovers as possible and grab the +100 research tech for them." - this is where I know you are either retarded or full of shit. while yes this works for a few hundred research points, there are diminishing returns, the more explorer rovers you have you receive a penalty to research so this 'strategy' is buying a ton of them for research is a waste of money and retarded.. getting 2-3 more is realistic.. "getting as much as possible" while still grabbing +100 each is bullshit

protip: if you had built a dome and put a research institute in there you woud have employed your people to make them not want to leave and have gotten a lot more research than buying tons of rovers, there is also no diminishing returns on institutes (unless built in the same dome)

so you failed to set up a supply chain and the colonists thought your place was a shithole and left and you blame others? classic eastern european

Hahaha a lot of assumptions there mate,and all of them are wrong. Are you butthurt or something? I see that you didn't play as Russia and went for the super easy international mission like the noob you are. With Russia all the people i checked were Russians,even the black ones,and yes i didn't checked all of them.
And i take offence on the "played an hour" part,it took me at least 4 hours until i uninstalled the game,also it took me like 5 minutes to get the game and its loop,it seems it is far too complex for a simple minded person like you. The game is some basic level of complexity,you place shit in the range of shit,it is a game placing raged shit around resources. Only way to loose at the game is too run out of resources on the map and don't have enough for maintenance. As for the research institute.....from what i remember it needed tech....and tech is random. The core gameplay loop is researching priorities and mining resources so you have enough shit for maintenance.It is boring and tedious game that nothing interesting happens in it for the first few hours....maybe even for the whole game. If you think that this game is complex,then you are very simple person mate.

so you didn't even get into the mystery, stopped playing after the initial geting your shit set up phase (which you clearly didn't do well since people wanted to GTFO) and I guess the game is complex.. for you. research institutes are a tech that needs to be unlocked, you are correct, I unfortunately used the wrong term and I apologize. However you should have known that research labs are available from the get go and is the initial research building... yes institutes need to be researched as they provide a lot more research points than the labs... having tiered buildings in a city builder must be too complex for you.

also fyi the sponsor selected is not the only thing that changes the difficulty, start location matters too.. you can pick russia and a safe place to land with low level threats and be fine, you can take usa and go to a place with lots of meteors, cold snaps, dust storms etc. and have a worse time.

Seems fantadomat is a bit frustrated by the game and venting here. I have the same experience with drones they work very well if you know what youa re doing , they dont when you dont plan supply depots on overlapping zones between drone command center. Later you even get flying shuttles taking anything from the map at any range.This game is very similar to Anno .Of course it takes time to figure all of this, also how to optimize domes and population.

Now end game is lacking, the mystery is nice but once you overcome that what is there left to do ? I got WW3 event , stopped the war with massive gold envoys to earth, then no more story events and no more challenge,if you can send the amount of material they request you have nothing to fear anymore.

 

[rezaf]

http://homeoftheunderdogs.net/game.php?id=157

Holy shit, I haven't been to HOTU in years. Talk about a blast from the past.

There are games from >2000 on there now.

Heh, the new crew posting there under Underdogs is posting a single new game whenever there is a total eclipse or something when UD herself managed to do two updates with a dozen games or more twice a month in her heyday. Those were the days.

Speaking of olden days, somehow Surviving on Mars reminds me of the original Colonization. I wish someone had made a proper successor to that one at a point, but all I know of is the incomplete open source variant and the pretty bad Firaxis version shoehorned into the Civ4 engine.

 

[Joined on the 4th of July]

this game is fun and I take umbrage with fantadomat's view as he complains about things that are doable in the game. the game has flaws for sure but the foundation is good and you can make the game as challenging as you wish via start locations.. currently battling both regularly occuring meteors and cold snaps and it's fun

In my post i am even bias toward the devs,the assholes have their studios an hour away from my home. I do wanted for fellow Bulgarians to do some incline,but this ain't it.

Looking at his twitter feed, at least Haemimont's tech lead seems like an alright guy.

 

[fantadomat]

this game is fun and I take umbrage with fantadomat's view as he complains about things that are doable in the game. the game has flaws for sure but the foundation is good and you can make the game as challenging as you wish via start locations.. currently battling both regularly occuring meteors and cold snaps and it's fun

In my post i am even bias toward the devs,the assholes have their studios an hour away from my home. I do wanted for fellow Bulgarians to do some incline,but this ain't it.

Looking at his twitter feed, at least Haemimont's tech lead seems like an alright guy.

Honestly i thing that it have something to do with paradox,the game runs very well,but it lacks in the fun part. Most of their games are pretty good,would recommend checking them out,Tzar is really good RTS. I think that Paradox wanted another city skylines and told them to go that direction.

 

[DDZ]

Since I am not a faggot like laundromat dude above me, I am enjoying this quieter a bit.

I see it not as a city builder or mars colonization simulation, but more like something in the vein of the Impression Games.

An entertaining Ceasar in space.

 

[Jarmaro]

I am done with this game, lost half colonists beceause they decided to go to the edge of the map and die. No reason.
They should repair this shit.

 

[Jimmious]

I am done with this game, lost half colonists beceause they decided to go to the edge of the map and die. No reason.
They should repair this shit.

You basically drove a whole colony to mass suicide?

 

[Jarmaro]

You basically drove a whole colony to mass suicide?

Yep, they were pilgrimaging to one place and then suffocating to death. Without hesitation. I admire their bravery.

 

[fantadomat]

You basically drove a whole colony to mass suicide?

Yep, they were pilgrimaging to one place and then suffocating to death. Without hesitation. I admire their bravery.

As Jenkem said,the AI is great and it works perfectly.

 

[thesheeep]

I claim this is a new mystery.
Suicide cult.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Strangely enough, I was doing just that a couple of days ago, and have been following the game for years. I'm still not too sure about it, but I imagine I'll pull the trigger someday, possibly after v1.0.



Holy shit, I haven't been to HOTU in years. Talk about a blast from the past.

HotU is so old by now, it should have its own entry on HotU. At least there isn't a single indie game or shitty at film on there like some other "old game" sites. Also, not a single trace of anything powered by Unity.

 

[Jenkem]

 

[Space Satan]

Tried it and from my experience the game isextremely raw. What a surprisefor a Paradox game! Who could ever expect it!?
Game is horrendously unbalanced, challenging at some aspects and easy on others. Techs are unbalancedas well, some are completely useless and others are vital to the point of being game-decisive.
For example: Food - farms require no power and can provide tons offood. Two farms can sustain two huge domes of 60 colonists each and will be overproducing. Tech disparity is so huge it hurts, with every game being streamlined to several techs. Like research-boosters and two decisive - Stirling generator and dust-cleaning one. Stirling generator require no maintenance while closed and dust cleaner works on in-dome buildings as well and can reduce maintenance to ZERO. SO every game is the same - setup a dome on stirgens, then get colonists and start exporting some stuff until you research stirlings so you can build them.
Electronics factory produces few electronics but require lotsof electronics for regular maintenance. So until you get dust-killer it is better to import it from Earth. Later on gamebecomes EXTREMELY slow and boring. You wait for ages until you end up research, which is very very slow. then you expand, which is a pain. Because you cannot build enough buildings for basic dome, you cannot educate colonists you cannot provide enough entertainment etc. And resettlement is a pain as well even with shuttles.
So it is a usual verdict for a Paradox game - wait several years until 15 DLCs will be released and enjoy a decent game.

 

[Blaine]

Yeah, I had a bit of hope for this game, but once I'd skimmed enough Steam reviews I knew that, on balance, it was probably better to stay away.

Steam reviews are far from a perfect measure and I've hated some Overwhelmingly Positive games before (and enjoyed some Mixed games), but after gathering highlights from a few dozen reviews, you can at least gauge the likelihood that a given game is something you want to play.

 

[Jenkem]

Patch Notes (Opportunity Update)
Surviving Mars - candyalien

Opportunity changelog

New Features and Buildings:

Passages
You are now able to connect your domes together by constructing Passages. These transportation tunnels allows colonists to move freely into adjacent domes and utilizing the workplaces and services available there.
- If one Dome has no power, oxygen or water for over a Sol, all passages leading to it are disabled until the problem isresolved. This will cause workers being fired from their workplaces as if the passage has been destroyed.
- These passages are fragile, and your Colonists may die if hit by a meteor while in the Passage

New Buildings & Related Changes
- New high-end automated storage building which can take over 4,000 units of separate resource is available for your Colony.
- Added 3 new workshop buildings. Workshops allow colonists to work their vocation providing more employment for the late game.
- A new Landing pad makes sure the Rocket lands at the designated spot and eliminates the dusting effect of the surrounding structures
- A new Large Water Tank, storing up to 1,000 units of Water is available to suit the needs of your developing colony
- Added new Milestone related to workshop buildings to reflect achieving post-scarcity vocation-oriented society
- Added new Technologies, which allow construction of Workshops, Automated Storage and Large Water Tank

Game Rules
You can now choose brand new options during game setup to activate additional rule-sets for the mission that will impact the difficulty, making the mission easier or harder.

Available Game Rules:
- Prefab Colony: Begin with free prefabs for all buildings necessary for a small colony.
- No Disasters: Disables all disasters (excluding those coming from mysteries).
- Hunger: Can't import food from Earth.
- Inflation: Import prices increase over time.
- Long Ride: Rocket travel time to and from Mars is three times longer.
- The Last Ark: Can call a Passenger Rocket only once.
- Amateurs: No specialist applicants.
- Rebel Yell: Colonists periodically become renegades. Crime is more severe.
- Chaos Theory: Tech fields are fully randomized.
- Winter is coming: Cold Wave rating set to a new Max level for all locations on Mars. Cold waves increase power consumption even more.
- Armageddon: Meteor rating set to a new Max level for all locations on Mars.
- Dust in the Wind: Dust Storm rating set to a new Max level for all locations on Mars.
- Twister: Dust Devil rating set to a new Max level for all locations on Mars.

Other fixes and improvements:

Balance:
- Added upgrades to the Mohole Mine and the Excavator to increase production

UI:
- 3 new notifications: for busy drone hubs, busy shuttle hubs, out of fuel shuttle hubs
- Better alignment for traits in school
- Added on-screen notification for split Power/Life support networks (by player actions or meteorites)
- Colonists with special traits, coming from a rocket, will no longer be pinned for colonies with over 100 colonists
- Fixed overlapping of deposits (from random map generation and anomalies)
- Storages and Depots are divided in subcategories of the Build Menu


General Fixes:
- Fixed air producers (wrong) production in some cases
- Fixed calculation of challenge bonus in milestones
- Fixed Triboelectric Scrubber not rotating after first clean
- Fixed TOS to no longer reappear when changing language
- Fixed a bug where more than the maximum number of colonists in a Dome can have homes and/or work
- Fixed an issue with unemployed statistics in Dome not updated when moving a Colonist
- Fixed a bug where turned off/malfunctioned supply storages (incl. Batteries) would reconnect to grid after modifying any of their storage props
- Fixed upside-down positioning of shuttles
- Fixed an issue where colonists became starving from eating uncooked meals
- Androids now have no initial specialization
- Marsgate Mystery: Fixed Rover Command AI tech to not affects hostile rovers
- Marsgate Mystery: Fixes for hostile rovers to prevent them from salvage after battery drain
- Fix for Autonomous sensors to not show "outside drone control" icon after Autonomous Sensors tech is researched if sensors are build prior research completion
- Beyond Earth Mystery: Fix for saves swarmed by trade rockets, causing infinite loop from pinned rockets
- Fixes on Polymer Factory production (now depends on its workers)
- Fix for some edge cases of automated routes for Transport Rover
- Fix for chance for crime prevention (capped at 50% when Security Officers outnumber renegades 3 to 1)
- Fix for Waste Rock production to now properly depend on the grade of Concrete, Metals and Rare Metals deposit used
- Fix for colonists and drones to stop going through Spires
- Improved estimation of the load of the drone controllers (Hub, Rover, Rocket)
- Buildings are now considered to be in dome range if one of their hexes is inside dome range
- Updated University description
- Clarified immigration policy texts
- Various performance optimizations
- Various stability improvements
- Various sound FX tweaks

Mods:
- Documentation for Effects - building blocks for Mission Sponsor, Commander Profile and Game Rule mod items
- Added "GlobalEffects" mod item
- Default mod preview image format is set to PNG
- Kept backward compatibility with mods that use the old tags system

 

[Space Satan]

Good, only n-1 patches and DLCs left for it to be entertaining

 

[Jarmaro]

NOW THEY ARE ADDING DOMES CONNECTION? I already lost interest, but adding such important so late is pure foolishness. Such a dissapointment.

 

[thesheeep]

Good, only n-1 patches and DLCs left for it to be entertaining

Is n a real number?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Good, only n-1 patches and DLCs left for it to be entertaining

Is n a real number?

It is if you believe in it!

 

[Space Satan]

At some point games becomes boring. But not the the levels of banished or fostpunk boring. At least here you can replay it differently because breakthroughs and techs are randomized

 

[fantadomat]

At some point games becomes boring. But not the the levels of banished or fostpunk boring. At least here you can replay it differently because breakthroughs and techs are randomized

 

[Burning Bridges]

So the city builders of 2017-2018 are all shit, k.

It's probably not even worth checking anything but 1 man projects like Mashinky, as every 2 man team team on average already contains at least 1 millenial.

 

[Burning Bridges]

"I like to smell my fingers"

 

[Space Satan]

So the city builders of 2017-2018 are all shit, k.

It's probably not even worth checking anything but 1 man projects like Mashinky, as every 2 man team team on average already contains at least 1 millenial.

Tropico is going to be released by the day Kalypso will release a decent game with be the day of jews and arabs being friends. New Anno is a EA abomination. My last hope is with Industries of Titan.

 

[Space Satan]

March 2018 4,430.3 players.
Last 30 Days 2,333.0
Game was not popular from the beginning and lost most of its playerbase quite fast, with 23k players at peak. Not surprising, given how franticly thye are adding new features in free patche to make game look less barebones.