Anyone have good builds to share?

[MylilPwny]

I know that sponsor and commander matters when choosing your first loadout and that map and disasters also play into the calculation and decisions. Are there any of you who have universal strategys that you execute regardless of what you picked? Also, i wonder how to tech up in the early game, as i find myself struggling in the mid game with resources. I always stay away from easy sponsor and have only played with Paradox, Russia and church. I always tend to go for maps with minimum 2 on disasters but always 1 or 2 disasters with 3 or 4 on it.

When i enter the game, i always have a plan, but i seem to mess it up during the game, with a cluster of stuff that triggers my desire to keep thing neat and clean. I have many times been a victim of meteors blowing up my fuel and
breaking my domes, sometimes alot of important structures on my grid, which sets me back alot and changes my priority.

Anyways, i think i need a better understanding of what to put in my domes and when to do it, i also believe that i could manage things better, but i have no understanding of how to know when i have enough food to sustain current population and how much i need to grow. I am never sure that my birthrate is on par with the amount of jobs i have and so on, and i dont know if i graduate enough people to sustain current production.

Are there stuff you tech for early and stuff you leave out? Im very curious if anyone would share their success in more detail and explaining why, timings etc.

 

[tobias.mb]

Since you mentioned Russia, that one goes well with Oligarch. The extra fuel production helps a lot, if you actually want to use fueled extractors.

I have many times been a victim of meteors blowing up my fuel and
breaking my domes

Not much you can do about getting hit by meteors, until you get the (mid-game) tech to build defense-lasers. Keep water- and oxygen-tanks as well as a battery next to each dome, so your colonists don't die if your pipes are hit.

i think i need a better understanding of what to put in my domes

Build order depends a lot on your sponsor. For example: as SpaceY, you are in no hurry to set up polymere or machine parts production, since it's cheap to import them. If your sponsor has poor research, you'll probably want to get multiple labs in your first dome. And in general the more funding you start with, the longer you can get away with importing stuff instead of producing them, and using your colonists to research instead, which can speed up to early game a lot.

Especially with the stingy sponsors it's usually a good idea to start exporting rare metals asap. So your 2nd dome at the latest should have a rare metals extractor. Aside from that try to produce polymers and machine parts in your first two domes. You'll also want 1-2 labs in those first two domes, otherwise you can't really progress.

Manually choose colonists with the right specialisation for your first few rockets. Production efficiency is important to get early colonies started.
For the same reason don't be afraid to use heavy workload in the early game! (Just maybe don't stack it with night or outdoor shifts, if you didn't get a fitting breakthrough and you don't have psychologist profile)

i have no understanding of how to know when i have enough food to sustain current population and how much i need to grow

Drones seem to ignore distributing food until there are starving colonists, which means food has to be produced locally anyways (Or at maximum in a neighbouring dome). If you select a dome, the info tab tells you how much food that dome uses each sol. Just compare that to the local farms. I often import 20-30 food before, or shortly after, my first colonists arrive.

I am never sure that my birthrate is on par with the amount of jobs

Put a nursery in every dome and then just ignore birth rate. Late game, your colonists will breed like rabbits and all free housing spots will be filled almost instantly. Early game it'll still be easily enough to replace any colonists who grow old. (Though you'll have to bring immigrants each time you want to increase your population)

and i dont know if i graduate enough people to sustain current production.

Simply check your university(ies). If all spots are full, it's time to build a new one.

Are there stuff you tech for early and stuff you leave out? Im very curious if anyone would share their success in more detail and explaining why, timings etc.

The first techs I try to get asap are:

1. Autonomous sensors. I like to quickly scan the map and look for a good place to place my first dome. Also anomalies make a big difference in the early game. Every flask mostly finishes a tech, the keys save you from wasting time on techs you don't really want and you can get really lucky with early breakthough techs.
2. Martian fuel. Saving 20 fuel on each rocket helps a lot, if you are still importing stuff.
3. Farms. Farms are much more productive than Hydroponics. If you want to feed anything more than your founders, you'll need proper farms.
4. Apartments. Almost twice the residents of a basic housing. Apartments go a long way solving your colonist shortage and they help you at producing more than one thing per dome.

 

[EEE_boy]

I was recommended two articles that really explain the mechanics of this game well:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SurvivingMars/comments/8674e4/how_to_win_on_hardcore_530/

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/surviving-mars-a-primer.1083069/

Basically rare metal —> science start is the optimal

 

[MarQan]

I mostly agree with tobias.mb, those are good pointers.
Plus here's a brief discussion on exact build orders: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...er-has-been-rearranged-what-is-yours.1086195/
Most of the orders there are reliable and apply to most games.

Also good to know that 1 Power Accumulator and 6 Large Solar Panels provide 20 Energy around the clock. Without serious elevation boost that would be 2-3 Wind Turbines.
That's 1 Polymer maintenance vs 1-1.5 Machine Parts. And the trade-off is even better with Atomic Accumulator.
So if you have high elevation and/or frequest Dust Storms then you want to start with a Machine Parts Factory and rely on Wind Turbines; while on with no elevation boost and rare Dust Storms you definitely want to go for a Polymer Factory for your Power Accumulators.
That's only true for early-game of course. Starting at around 3 Domes the maintenance on Solar will be too high imo, at which point even a complete transition from Solar to Wind can be justified.
Also TIL: the +33% Polymer Blade tech bonus and the breakthrough Frictionless Composites (+100% Wind Turbine Power) don't boost eachother, they only apply to base production + elevation boost.

As good as Apartments might seem, you definitely don't want that as your starting home, especially if you're bringing in Geologists (which you should) and not playing as Church.
Otherwise your Founder period might be the full 10 days - because of the lower Comfort - and you want to bring in extra colonists asap to fill up your buildings.

It's also worth to carefully consider Needs and Service Buildings.
Food is essential; Social and Shopping are very important; Playing and Relaxation are at least partially taken care of by that 1-tile decoration you can always build, but building an extra 3-tile dec. is not a problem either.
That means that if you have a Diner, you don't need Open Air Gym.
And you can't replace the Grocer with just a Diner, because then people can't go Shopping.
I usually start with a Grocer + Open Air Gym but if I get high needs for either Gaming or Luxury, then I transition to a Diner + 3-tile Decoration + Art Workshop/Electronics Store.
Obviously the latter costs more, but has a much higher Comfort rating.
In most cases Space Bar is not worth the space and manpower with such a low Service Comfort, so weirdly enough that's mostly mid-/lategame stuff as far as I'm concerned.
And Casino Complex is for when you just want to throw money at your people.

1 thing I would advise to keep your game interesting is to always expand when you can, without straining your resources enough to risk what you already have.
In Surviving Mars there isn't much motivation to expand after you mastered the "Surviving" part, because you can finish the game with just 2-3 Domes.
Struggling to be faster and build bigger colonies is what keeps the game challenging at the moment... at least for me.

 

[Jaol]

Since you mentioned Russia, that one goes well with Oligarch. The extra fuel production helps a lot, if you actually want to use fueled extractors.

Also with Paradox, and their rockets needing extra fuel.

Also, the arcology is fantastic to have in the early game for any of the poor sponsors. It lets you get a lot of production out of a single dome. And the high comfort rating helps with birth rate.

 

[darwinthepiercer]

I like starting with Blue Sun Corporation and either a hydrologist or rocket scientist. Bring four probes with me, and I generally can find a sweet spot with water, concrete, metals, and rare metals. With the $30MM import price of rare metals, I can set up a good trade run and purchase what I need to get a stable colony going.

I like high meteor areas; despise cold areas; and could care less about how extreme the dust storm and devils are.

First rocket brings transport, drones, extra polymer and machine parts, drone hub, and fuel refinery. Second rocket brings more resources as needed, initial factories, explorer (and possibly rover). By this time I will have all the basics established and can build my first dome.

First dome is one home, grocer, diner, machine parts factory, rare metals extractor, farm/hydroponics (depending on tech), research lab, and some parks. I hand select my colonists to get as close to a specialist in every available job, and ensure only 12 jobs are available.

My second load of people once founder stage is done will increase my metal extraction and machine parts production, expand grocer/diner services, and start up the polymer factory. Food enhancement might be done at this point, but sometimes I just import a bunch of food (if my exports are high). I will also build apartments if I have the tech, so I can get a higher population in the dome.

Second dome construction begins shortly thereafter, which focuses on research, electronics, and mining, with home and apartment blocks, and normal dome services. I've experimented with adding some baby-making bonus items, but usually at this point I already have half a dozen martianborn.

Third dome is specialized mainly around making babies and is supported by the other domes.

After that, it depends what the mystery is and how fun the map is.

Works like a charm, as out of three colonies with this setup, I am usually quite stable by Sol 40 or 50, and self-sufficient shortly thereafter.

I absolutely enjoy this game.

... I think I need to try some of the crazy challenges to up the difficulty. Or look for a spot with sparse resources and lots of disasters.

 

[EEE_boy]

First dome is one home, grocer, diner, machine parts factory, rare metals extractor, farm/hydroponics (depending on tech), research lab, and some parks. I hand select my colonists to get as close to a specialist in every available job, and ensure only 12 jobs are available.

1 specialist each is not optimalc, each building in this case will be unproductive. Better to focus on, say, 8 geologists plus 1 medic, 3 non-specialized in your first passenger rocket

 

[darwinthepiercer]

1 specialist each is not optimalc, each building in this case will be unproductive. Better to focus on, say, 8 geologists plus 1 medic, 3 non-specialized in your first passenger rocket

Out of curiosity, how is it not optimal to have specialists in their specific work areas? Botanists produce more in farms than non-specialists; geologists produce more metal extraction; scientists do more research; etc..

Am I missing something about how the game calculates gains from specialists vs. non-specialists? ... So far, my strategy creates very stable colonies very quickly; if there's a better way to optimize my gains, I'm all ears.

 

[ainyru]

Every such building consumes some resource. Thing is, amount to consume dosnt depend from how many workers are working. So with small amount of workers u will spend more resources than produce.

 

[darwinthepiercer]

Every such building consumes some resource. Thing is, amount to consume dosnt depend from how many workers are working. So with small amount of workers u will spend more resources than produce.

True, and in the beginning there are some resources that need to be sent from Earth. But by my second load of colonists, I'm producing more than I use for everything but electronics. Once the second dome is running, I'm producing enough electronics to cover maintenance. The only imports I generally make on that point is to fuel expansion.

 

[EEE_boy]

It’s not a big deal if you have 2 or 2+ rockets so you can quickly send applicants from Earth.


When running with 1 rocket, it’s better to send, say: (order may change depending on priority)

1st: 8 geologists, 3 non-special, 1 medic

2nd: 9 scientists, 2 non-special, 1 medic

3rd: 6 botanists, 4 non-special, 2 medics

4th: 10 engineers, 2 non-special.


That would be a lot of sols between each passenger rocket.


Each building you have will be 100% efficient, not wasting building maintenance.

 

[darwinthepiercer]

It’s not a big deal if you have 2 or 2+ rockets so you can quickly send applicants from Earth.


When running with 1 rocket, it’s better to send, say: (order may change depending on priority)

1st: 8 geologists, 3 non-special, 1 medic

2nd: 9 scientists, 2 non-special, 1 medic

3rd: 6 botanists, 4 non-special, 2 medics

4th: 10 engineers, 2 non-special.


That would be a lot of sols between each passenger rocket.


Each building you have will be 100% efficient, not wasting building maintenance.

This is good to know. I haven't yet tried a single rocket sponsor.

 

[Gilmund]

It's also better to bring people to make full shifts instead of semi shifts. Better bring 3 scientifics for a shift than 4 for two shifts. Cause they are less productive if the shift is not fully manned.
See what you need to complete shifts in different buildings.

 

[MarQan]

It’s not a big deal if you have 2 or 2+ rockets so you can quickly send applicants from Earth.


When running with 1 rocket, it’s better to send, say: (order may change depending on priority)

1st: 8 geologists, 3 non-special, 1 medic

2nd: 9 scientists, 2 non-special, 1 medic

3rd: 6 botanists, 4 non-special, 2 medics

4th: 10 engineers, 2 non-special.


That would be a lot of sols between each passenger rocket.


Each building you have will be 100% efficient, not wasting building maintenance.

Can you elaborate on your 1st passenger rocket?

Because I only do 1-rocket sponsors and my first passenger ship is always:
3 Botanist, 2 Medic, 2 non-spec ang 5 geologist.

I bring the 2 medics to end the Founder stage asap so I can fill up my Rare Metal Extractor.
2 non-spec for Grocery. 3 Botanists for the Farm.
Given I overproduce a bit even on a 50% Wheat Farm. Which is perfect, because after 2-3 harvests you have enough surplus to switch to Soy Beans.
How do you sustain the colony without 3 Botanists? Am I missing something and the other Food buildings are better?

Even with the Church 5 Geologists are usually enough to fill up the rocket and send it back before founder stage ends.

 

[EEE_boy]

Can you elaborate on your 1st passenger rocket?

Because I only do 1-rocket sponsors and my first passenger ship is always:
3 Botanist, 2 Medic, 2 non-spec ang 5 geologist.

I bring the 2 medics to end the Founder stage asap so I can fill up my Rare Metal Extractor.
2 non-spec for Grocery. 3 Botanists for the Farm.
Given I overproduce a bit even on a 50% Wheat Farm. Which is perfect, because after 2-3 harvests you have enough surplus to switch to Soy Beans.
How do you sustain the colony without 3 Botanists? Am I missing something and the other Food buildings are better?

Even with the Church 5 Geologists are usually enough to fill up the rocket and send it back before founder stage ends.

I started to go Rare metal—>Science Lab—>Metal or Food—> Machine Parts or Polymer build after reading these two articles as I mentioned earlier.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SurvivingMars/comments/8674e4/how_to_win_on_hardcore_530/

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/surviving-mars-a-primer.1083069/

The basic idea is to run lean economy, be very efficient at running the colony, no waste of resources, especially on high disaster map.

If not doing any challenge style of play (like no food import), rare metal should start asap followed by science.

The first rocket fills in the rare metal extractor, which has two shifts, each shit needs 4 geologists, since there is so few colonests, the dinner, medical can work 1 shift and 1 worker/medic for that shift, grocery can work two shifts.

Your first passenger rocket back to earth should ideally carry 30 rare metals for funding. That’s at hard level, every penny counts.

Next rocket 9 scientists to fill 3 shifts, each shift needs 3 scientists. now you have 24 colonists, so services can increase a bit, dinner and medical can work two shifts, one worker on each shift.

That’s the idea, only construct building when colonists are about to arrive. Once they arrive, work the building to the fullest capacity.

Food and advanced resouces (polymer, machines) can be purchased from earth using rare metal export funding. the guide says “NOT go self-sufficiency”, which is very true.

For your other questions, farm needs 6 botanists early game, so you should send in multiple of 6. Never work with 3, that’s wasting your water.

FYI, polymer factory needs 6+6, machine parts factory 5+5, electronics factory 10+10. Keep in mind those numbers help maximize the buildings. If not enough applicants in that specialization, consider delay the building and just buy the resouces. or shifting all engineers from polymer to machine parts altogther, while shutting down polymer factory, for example, never/try not to run both factory at half capacity.

 

[MarQan]

@EEE_boy
That's really interesting take on the early-game Food supply. I was kinda locked in the idea that I have to produce Food asap.
It's how I always imagined Mars colonization so I never really thought it through.

I'm still questioning whether it's worth it though.
As I see both of those guides are pre-Spirit, and one of them claims a 10M price for 5 Food.
Spirit doubled the Food consumption of colonists - it's currently around 0,2/colonist/day from the pre-Spirit ~0,1 -, and in my game I see 20M for 5 Food.
It still sounds decent enough though, especially if you find High or Very High grade Rare Metal deposits.
I'll have to test it for sure.

 

[EEE_boy]

@EEE_boy
That's really interesting take on the early-game Food supply. I was kinda locked in the idea that I have to produce Food asap.
It's how I always imagined Mars colonization so I never really thought it through.

I'm still questioning whether it's worth it though.
As I see both of those guides are pre-Spirit, and one of them claims a 10M price for 5 Food.
Spirit doubled the Food consumption of colonists - it's currently around 0,2/colonist/day from the pre-Spirit ~0,1 -, and in my game I see 20M for 5 Food.
It still sounds decent enough though, especially if you find High or Very High grade Rare Metal deposits.
I'll have to test it for sure.

I played after Spirit, food consumption is not that high in the early game so it is still valid.

I typically wait for 3rd or 4th passener rocket ( not counting cargo rocket) to bring in botanists, because I want to locate water and build food dome in medium size to take advantage of the water conservation spire. Otherwise I stick to small domes, and buy food to feed 36 or 48 colonists who do not consume that much food early.

Second cargo rocket brings in 30 food, third cargo rocket waiting for founder stage brings in 60. Next cargo another 60. it will be fine to feed until the medium food dome is up.

 

[Bugzy]

The best build i have found is to not build a single thing in the game till you have researched every piece of tech you can. At that point build whatever you want.

 

[Promethian]

A trick that is very helpful is a kiddy dome. The primary benefit of this is it frees up housing in your productive domes so people can move around to get into specialized jobs. It also makes it very easy to see the actual housing needs of your domes. Often you can look at a dome population and see it has more people than needed to fill the jobs, but the jobs aren't filled. This is because of seniors and kids. Also I do not recommend doing this with anything smaller than a medium dome. In a small dome services take up too much space and don't get enough kids in.


1. Set up the needed services. All of the basic services, including infirmary. None of the advanced like the casino or bar. Do add some playgrounds. The provide playing which is what kids go for the most and provide a lot of service for small space.

2. Count up how many people are needed to work the service jobs. Provide as much housing as is needed to fill the jobs going over as little as possible.

3. Look at how many kids you have in your colony. This is how many slots of nursery housing you are shooting for. Actually you want to exceed it by as much as possible for future growth. Balance this out with schools providing as many slots as you are providing nursery housing. Balance the two but when you are forced to be uneven then go with the school being the higher slots (note: can set all 3 shifts for schools). If you have more kids than you can fit in the dome then make another kiddy dome.

4. The final step is set your filters. Draw in kids and unskilled. The unskilled draw won't exceed the amount of housing available. Since you set it as close to the needed workers as possible it won't drain all your other domes dry. Thumb down skilled workers and seniors. As the kids grow up they will lose the ability to live in the nurseries. So they become homeless and immediately seek another dome to live in.


Thus you get a dome that draws in all your children then shifts them to productive domes when they grow up.