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Surviving Mars - colony management sim from Tropico devs

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
 

Demo.Graph

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They're still developing in the easiest direction. Terraforming looks like a glorified resource hoarding with new visuals and some resource multipliers slapped on terraforming track. Most changes seem to be generic "construct a building, get output".
Colonists are still drones. Economy is still non-existent.
But it's nice that they're not afraid to change UI significantly. At least it keeps a possibility that in several years' time they would grow enough to change the game's mechanisms in a way that would make it interesting again.

Just not to be an edgelord: imo, even in today's state the game is better than, say, Frostpunk.
 

Space Satan

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DD Free update. Landscape At last waste rock coul be used for SOMETHING

  1. Hello fellow survivors!

    We’re back with another dev diary for Green Planet. Today we will be discussing the awesome free update, which is going to be released together with Green Planet and Project Laika DLCs. We’ve added a bunch of new content and Quality of Life improvements in this update, the most notable new feature being landscaping. All owners of Surviving Mars will get new Special Projects, events, research UI, multiselect, rover orders queue, and new buildings as well.

    The Armstrong update is going to add a new section in your Build Menu: Landscaping. This new section contains the following new tools Flatten terrain, create Ramp, Change Surfacetexture and an option to construct Small Rock Formation or bigger Rock Formation.

    index.php

    The Flatten terrain tool allows you to select a flat surface on Mars and protrude it, leveling the terrain where it passes. It allows you to fill craters, extend plateaus or clear rough terrain for construction. Once you select an area to flatten, the tool will create a new landscaping project which is visualized with a construction hologram on your display. Each landscaping project evaluates the underlying terrain and calculates how much soil is needed and if excess soil is present. Then your drones will deliver or remove the Waste Rock as needed to complete the project.

    index.php


    The Ramp tool works similar to the Flatten tool but it allows you to connect two flat surfaces with different elevations, creating walkable ground between them.

    index.php


    The Change Surface tool marks an area, which will be gradually reworked by your Drones. They will break the rocks to make sand, or replace sand with rocks.

    index.php


    Additionally, you can use your excess Waste Rock to construct various Rock Formations. These are purely decorative combinations of rocks, which can be placed on flat surface. They were created for those moments when you have made Mars too Earth-like and want to bring back some natural Martian landscape.

    index.php


    The Armstrong update comes with 3 free Special Projects: Capture Meteors, launch High-Speed Comm Satellite and Launch SETI Satellite. They’re marked on the Planetary View with blue icons and become available as soon as the first batch of Planetary Anomalies gets discovered. Usually, this happens at Sol 10-15.

    index.php


    The Capture Meteors mission tasks one Rocket to go and divert meteors towards Mars. The Meteors then fall as Meteor Storm, leaving Metals and Polymers deposits. Just bear in mind that the storm may hit your colony.

    You can construct orbitals by sending a rocket loaded with resources to deploy either a High-Speed Comm Satellite or SETI Satellite. HSC Satellites grant you daily sponsor research, while SETI Satellites grant additional funding.

    The Armstrong update comes with 20 new events, scripted specifically for the early days of your colony and will grant you various benefits that will boost your expansion early on.

    We’ve added 2 new buildings in the Build Menu as well: Large Dumping Site and Rocket Construction Site. The Large Dumping Site allows you to store more Waste Rock in a tight area and you can now construct Rockets the same way you construct Rovers. But you’ll need to research Advanced Rocketry to construct Rockets.

    index.php


    As part of our on-going efforts to redesign Surviving Mars’ UI, the Armstrong update comes with a flashy new Research UI, better suited for our everlasting modding community.

    index.php


    Last but not least, the Armstrong update is going to introduce 2 long-since wanted features: multi-selection and rover orders queue.

    You can now drag select colonists, drones or rovers and then assign them the same task. Relocating all colonists of a Dome to another one has never been quicker!

    To queue orders, select a Rover and then hold Shift while clicking on various points of interest. You can now task your Explorer to scan all anomalies on the map in a given order and then return back to the safety of the colony.

    index.php


    The Armstrong update is coming with a long list of QoL improvements, optimizations, balance changes and bug fixes. Stay tuned for our next dev diary, which is dedicated to the ultimate goal of the terraforming initiative, making Mars hospitable for life outside of the dome.

    Ivan Grozev,
    Lead Designer,
    Green Planet.

    Ivan_Haemimont, Today at 14:00Report
    #1+ QuoteReply
    • clear.png
      Agree x 3
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      Helpful x 1




  2. OlterinSecond Lieutenant
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    Blog Entries:
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    New
    Looking good, however, the High-Speed Comms Satellite could stand from informing the player that the research gain is not a one-off but a sponsor research increase ... in the UI. Presently, it reads like a one-off +400 research points (Yes, it says it increases the sponsor research in the text - but the actual "tooltip" reads a totally different way).

    Olterin, Today at 14:08Report
    #2+ QuoteReply


 

Space Satan

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Welp, terraforming is just a waiting game. You just launch rocket after rocket for 1-2% improvement because all base terraforming buildings produce, like, 0.01% per Sol change.By the time I reached breathable athmosphere I was like, OH MY GOD LET IT END. By that time I just ignored all colonists, had, like 100 himeless and 150 unemployed because I just couldn't care anymore.
 

Wyatt_Derp

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Welp, terraforming is just a waiting game. You just launch rocket after rocket for 1-2% improvement because all base terraforming buildings produce, like, 0.01% per Sol change.By the time I reached breathable athmosphere I was like, OH MY GOD LET IT END. By that time I just ignored all colonists, had, like 100 himeless and 150 unemployed because I just couldn't care anymore.

Paradox seems almost obsessed with giving players endless busy work to create very banal systems of order. If they would only go the other way once in a while and let players manipulate those systems for chaos, their games would be so much more enjoyable.

Game devs understood this 30 years ago with games like Populous and Sim City, and the order/chaos scale was balanced and fun. It seems we've lost part of that completeness along the way and replaced it with autistic house cleaning and endless furniture arranging.
 

Space Satan

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I always end up fighting against overpopulation and unemployment. In the end you just spam domes with nothing but worshops and apartments just to fill all slots. And when I opened up my domes the problem was still there - your colonists are breeding like rabbits and you don't have industries to make them busy. And no trade or other infrastructure. Workshops arethe only thing that could make colonists busy late game.
And it's BORING
 

Jack Of Owls

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Got this free from the Epic Store yesterday along with two DLC. The question is: for someone that NEVER plays these kinds of sims, not even Tropico, will I enjoy it or find it too difficult? Also, how the heck do I know if the DLC is installed? Epic stores seems bare-bones compared to Steam.
 

Infinitron

I post news
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth


https://www.paradoxplaza.com/news?aid=Surviving-Mars-PDX-Insider

Surviving Mars Returns with Free Tourism Update and Content Creator Pack, Surpasses 5 Million Players -- Launching March 15th

CCP1_Logo_full_size.png

STOCKHOLM – March 13, 2021 – Paradox Interactive announced today that development has resumed on Surviving Mars, the survival colony builder set on the Red Planet, under Abstraction. Additionally, the company revealed that Surviving Mars has surpassed 5 million players in the lifetime of the game across all platforms. To Celebrate the return to Mars, Paradox will launch an In-Dome Buildings Pack and a free Tourism Update available to all Surviving Mars players this Monday, March 15.

Check out the return to Surviving Mars trailer here: https://youtu.be/1ioVvRJAlyw

The Tourism Update is free for all Surviving Mars players and revamps tourists, introduces a RC Safari, adds buildings, and more. With this update, players can expect to see some of their most-requested tourism features, such as Holiday Experience rating rewards and consequences.

Tourism Update Key Features: -__ Happy Holidays -__ Tourists will now rate their stay in your colony to determine their Holiday Experience Rating. That rating will determine what rewards, funds, and additional tourist applicants players will receive. -__ Movin On Up -__ Hotels can be built after completing the Smart Homes research to increase tourist comfort and raise satisfaction. Players can also build a Low-G Amusement Park that adds a boost to each tourists’ Satisfaction stat. -__ Rover Safaris -__ Set waypoints at places of interest and let tourists go sightseeing around your colony for increased satisfaction. Players can order an RC Safari from Earth, or build it on their own after completing the Rover Printing research project.

Developed in partnership with long-time community modder Silva, the In-Dome Buildings Pack continues Paradox’s commitment to supporting outstanding content creators in its community. This content creator pack introduces 8 buildings and a host of technical additions to expand housing and community options. The In-Dome Buildings Content Creator Pack can be purchased for a suggested retail price of $4.99 USD/€4.99 Eur/£3.99 GBP on Steam, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and other online retailers.

Check out the In-Dome Buildings Pack trailer here: https://youtu.be/whQI4rqWz0o

The In-Dome Buildings Pack Includes: -__ Habitats for Humanity__

  • Smart Apartments (Habitats, Large)
  • Seniors Residence (Habitats, Medium)
  • Large Nursery (Habitats, Large) -__ Dome Sweet Dome__
  • Medical Post (Dome Services, Small)
  • Security Post (Dome Services, Small)
  • Hospital (Dome Services, Large)
  • TV Studio Workshop (Dome Services, Large)
  • School Spire (Dome Spires, Spire)
“Since the launch of Surviving Mars: Green Planet, our players have been asking what’s next for Surviving Mars. The Tourism Update is just the beginning. The game is in good hands with Abstraction, they’re a team of veteran developers with years of experience making AAA titles and are passionate about Surviving Mars,” Magnus Lysell, Product Manager for Surviving Mars at Paradox Interactive said. “We’re humbled by the overwhelming support for Surviving Mars. 5 million players is huge and we can’t wait to share what’s next with all of you soon!”

Paradox and Abstraction also revealed that a fully-featured Surviving Mars expansion is in the works and will launch sometime later in 2021.

The first game in Paradox’s Surviving franchise, Surviving Mars tasks players with building a colony capable of sustaining human life on the Red Planet’s surface. Surviving Mars is currently free-to-play on the Epic Games Store until March 18. Xbox is hosting a PDX Insider Promo sale today only, where players can get the Surviving Franchise bundle (Surviving Mars and Surviving the Aftermath) and the Surviving Mars Season Pass for 50% off retail price. Additionally, Xbox players can get the Surviving Mars Digital Deluxe Edition at a 70% discount during the PDX Insider promotion.

Surviving Mars is available on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. For more information about Surviving Mars, visit the Paradox Store page, or check it out on Twitter and Facebook.
 
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Space Satan

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Surviving Mars has surpassed 5 million players in the lifetime of the game across all platforms
The missed the part where it is now free on Epic Games, which i, like, +100000 or so players just to grab it.
Anyway good news, I like how they integrated mods in the game
 

thesheeep

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Huh. Surprisingly good news.

I played it on release, but never afterwards. Sounds like soon might a good time to give it another go.
 

Hellraiser

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TBH I was disappointed they didn't crank out more content, lots of room for that. That and unfortunately the competition in the "mars colony builder" category is very poor, with seemingly no one close to making a better game about the subject than Surviving Mars.

I would play the shit out of a Europa, Titan or Ceres expansion pack. Especially if they would add a proper space layer.
 

cvv

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I played it on release, but never afterwards. Sounds like soon might a good time to give it another go.

Dude, on release this game bored me to tears. Unfinished, glitchy garbage.

I rebought it last spring and totally fell in love with the game. All the changes, patches, DLCs, expansions and mods made an enormous difference.

I'm stoked for the new content, I've long accepted Green Mars is the last piece of content for this. Hopefully the new guys won't fuck it up.
 

Demo.Graph

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I've tried running SM again and, in my opinion, it has somehow managed to decline a bit compared to vanilla.

They've removed the need to recharge rovers, so some autistic strats are not there anymore. Previously you could send bot rover to create solar outposts across the map like a lifeline, for said rover to recharge and spam sensor towers. Those outposts are not needed anymore. Spam the sensors at your leisure. Send research rovers anywhere, all map is yours.
They've added the hill slopes that can be dug out pretty easily. The terrain becomes irrelevant even sooner than before.
They've removed cable dependency. As clumsy as it was, it forced you to play some base-building tetris.
So there's no early game survival any more.

Devs had added a lot of faction-specific units, but they don't affect the gameplay significantly either because they become relevant late in the game (US mall) or their usefulness is marginal (Russian rover). There's almost no gameplay difference between nations (besides easy-mode kwans and hard-mode Russians and churchmen).

The late game is still the same. Economy is nonexistent, there're no production chains, colonists are reskinned bots, politics and diplomacy are pretty superficial. Terraforming is as exciting as watching paint dry.
Also, there's still no enough customization. My main gripe with that is that I really wanted to specify unique techs available before launching the game, to create a specific roleplaying flavor, but I can't.

All in all, it's pretty sad actually.
 
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Burning Bridges

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The late game is still the same. Economy is still nonexistent, there're no production chains, colonists are reskinned bots, politics and diplomacy are pretty superficial. Terraforming is as exciting as watching the paint dry.
Also, there's still no enough customization. My main gripe with that is that I really wanted to specify unique techs available before launching the game, to create a specific roleplaying flavor, but I can't.

Does the game have copious amounts of gay romances to make up for it?
 

Space Satan

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Hello Survivors, welcome to PDX Con Remixed!
We have some exciting events and activities scheduled, you can view the full Surviving Mars event list here:

Friday May 21st
22:00 CEST - Reviving Mars: Meet the New Team - Discord
Get your ass to Discord and meet the folks at Abstraction Games, the new developers of Surviving Mars! Find out what it takes to bring a breath of fresh air to the red planet and ask your questions!

Saturday May 22nd
10:50 CEST - Meet the New Mars: Abstraction - Twitch
Welcome back to Surviving Mars! We’ve got the team from Abstraction here to discuss what it’s been like working with your favorite interplanetary survival game. Join us for a look at where the game has been, and where it’s headed next!

11:55 CEST - Is there life on Mars? Surviving Mars Quiz - Discord
Are you a true Survivor? Challenge yourself with this quiz about Mars, Survival, and Surviving Mars, and win prizes!

We hope to see you there!
 

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