Katryna Starks

OUR BIG RED NEIGHBOR

A Game Review

By Katryna Starks

AS futurists, we want to try to make Earth as great as it can be. Earth is our home, and scientifically speaking, we aren’t close to having another. The nearest planet that shows any promise is our next door neighbor, Mars – which is technically inhabited by a bunch of human-made robots, though not actual humans. As our neighbor, Mars is a source of endless fascination for scientists and game designers alike. For this edition, the focus is on games that terraform Mars into an inhabitable space for Earthlings.

Terraforming Mars

This game has a straightforward title, but an interesting origin. Terraforming Mars is a board game-turned video game. This article is about the PC version of the game and not the board game. The physical game adaptation seems to stay close to the original. There is a large graphic of Mars and it’s moons, overlayed with hexagons that indicate where tiles can be placed. The basic gameplay consists of cards that can be bought with in-game currency, and tiles that can be placed as standard actions or as a result of playing cards. The game has three goals: (1) Place 9 oceans on the planet, (2) Raise the atmospheric oxygen level to 14%, and (3) Raise the temperature from -30C (-22F) to 8C (46.4F) in increments of 2C (35.6F).

The card/board game aspect detracts from the immersion of the game. The tiles only show an overview of the planet from space. The view is of oceans, volcanoes, plants, and cities, however the cities are condensed to the size of a tile, so they look

somewhat like cities as presented in snow globes. The cards have more detail in that they represent specific technologies, like a Mars rover, kelp farms, steelworks, and livestock. A few cards indicate the Mars-Earth relationship, like a convoy of water from Europe, and the presence of Zeppelins. These vague notions of technology and the aforementioned cities are the only indications of a population in the game. The game is unique in that it specifically includes insects, microbes, and animals, however these are cards that can be played if they’re chosen and not requirements. The cards enforce an order in terraforming, in that some cards can only be played when there is a minimum amount of oxygen, heat, or water. However, cards are random by nature, so most cards can be played regardless of the conditions of the planet. Helpfully, many cards contain technology that directly affect one of the game goals, so the game still has a bit of scientific merit. Mostly, however, the focus is on playing the right cards and getting victory points. It is not clear how much is learned about actual terraforming, but the game is enjoyable enough to play and sticks well to the theme.

Surviving Mars

Like Terraforming Mars, this game has a straightforward title, however the game play is quite different. Surviving Mars is much more of a typical video game and plays like Sim City on another planet. Terraforming Mars has several narratives that the player can choose. Each narrative has its own goals and difficulty levels. The player has agency in several other areas of the game as well. Colonies and space ships can be named to the player’s liking, and the player can choose a mayor of sorts, who gives the colony advantages based on their profession. For instance, a rocket scientist gives extra research points and resources whereas a psychologist gives benefits to the colonists. Players also choose the location of their colony, which includes a difficulty level and meters to tell the player the likelihood of adverse affects (like dust storms and meteors) and the level of key resources like concrete and metal.

Though the game begins with just the player and a bunch of drones, there is a lot of encouragement to create a colony. Without people, drones can be used to extract concrete and build basic buildings for infrastructure. However, more complicated structures require metal and factory-made parts. Metal extractors and factories can only be operated by people, so the player is forced to either spend a lot of money ordering supply shuttles from Earth, or establish a colony with residents who can work at the factories. Each convoy of people includes specialists in science, botany, medicine, etc. These experts get a bonus if the player employs them in their professions

Once a colony is established, there are pictures of the inhabitants, as well as several meters showing if they are employed, healthy and happy. The health and happiness of the colony affects their morale at work, so the player needs to take good care of them. There is also a challenge to keep the colony alive for the first 20 sols (days) of existence, with a celebration back on Earth if it succeeds.

In Surviving Mars, order is key to terraforming. Instead of cards that can be drawn at random, there is a hierarchical technology tree. The player chooses a funding organization at the beginning of the game, and that determines the number of research points they receive each sol. They can create and maintain relationships with other research teams, or get sponsors, to obtain more research points. Each piece of technology enhances Mars in some way, but some are blueprints or upgrades to existing equipment. For instance, the player can only build things that have been researched. Otherwise they have to order prefabricated versions (called prefabs) from Earth. The blueprint requires resources while the prefabs don’t, but each prefab only builds one item, so the player is always aware of using them in the right places.

Order is evident throughout gameplay. For instance, each building or piece of equipment needs to be connected to a power source. Some buildings, like the fuel generator, use water. In that case, the building needs to be connected to a water source as well. Power and water have storage buildings so the player can establish an overflow of resources. This is a recommended practice, as the lack of storage can lead to disaster.

Remember those colonies? They don’t live in the atmosphere of a not fully terraformed Mars. The player has to build domes, and the domes need oxygen supplies and a source of water. If equipment on the electric grid or the water grid breaks down, the colony is affected. One way of mitigating this is to have the colony on a separate power and water source from the main, however there is quite a bit of risk in that as well. In any case, a failure of the electric or water system that leads to the colony can quickly turn fatal. If anyone dies of nonnatural causes, two more people leave the colony and go back to Earth. If the colony empties, the game is lost.

The research tree, shipments to and from Earth, and the establishment and care of colonies all work together to create a moderately immersive terraforming simulation. It doesn’t make the player feel as though they are walking around on Mars, but it does feel like they are managing the terraforming and population on it.

PROGNOSIS