Surviving Mars

This game could be SO much better, but it really struggles to implement all of the pieces into a solid experience. The variety in building, tech tree, research mechanics, etc, don't matter at all when the execution is so poor. If you buy this game, get ready to spend a few hours just staring at the screen wondering why your drones aren't doing anything. Occaisionally they follow commands and build, often they don't, and it's really incredible that a city building game makes it so difficult to actually build anything. Even after doing the tutorial, I have played several rounds without even being able to get a single colonist. My drones will either not do anything, or build a couple structures before just stopping entirely. Forget a city - it's a struggle to get a single citizen.

I wasn't impressed with Surviving Mars at launch. In just two hours I found a lot of bugs and a mountain of features and systems that clearly needed a bit more time in the oven. When I saw it in a bundle with Aven Colony and Stellaris for 18 euro though I gave it another shot. And boy has this game grown. I immediately bought the season pass and with all the content the game is simply amazing. It already swallowed 30 hours of my time and I still feel haven't seen anything yet. A minor gripe - too bad the visuals are not nearly as sexy as the Tropico games, especially the UI looks cheap and old. I think it's a mistake for strategy/building game devs to underestimate visuals, it's what sells. But the rest of the game is great.

I have expected anything from Martian Fortress to Martian Centauri. What I got was SimMartian. The bad one, as in "The EA one". SM is pretty as "The EA's SIM". It has some fanservice, including quotes from Weir's "Martian" or Musk's intervews, like Civ. It tries to have multiple storyline quests, to excel Centauri. And it has pretty much no arch enemy, except game quality itself. The gameplay is dull. Micromanagement, micromanagement, CRISIS!, micromanagement... The mechanics of the game is simplified and linear, so, the replayability is low. I will disclose: I have failed my colony. It nosedived circa 65% of tech tree developed. Was it some bad decisions I made? Was it a Deus Ex Machina crush by forces of nature? No, it was a effin' logistics nightmare! Simply put, I got to a moment where AI of my own autonomus drones (and transports) started being more effective in it's counterproductivity than my micromanagement. And, frankly, I see no other way to lose this game. I played on 295% hard setting, and it was mild, compared to other colony sims. Yes, you have to read every description and apply logics (duh!), but there were no moments of "dang, I'm in a self made dead-end!". Not that I like such hostility from game, but than comes the choices: the realistic scenario, without the whole national guard landing with humvees and beer, gave me 295% hard rating. Wha?! Regarding tech of the game engine. I'm on a Linux. "Let's say I will cut the game some slack!" - I told myself first few crashes. Well, I'm in my low 20-s now, after only 3 days of playing, and man, it sucks... Aaaand one could combine 2 statements, about at least 2/3rds of science tree developed and 3 days playing... Apply logics... Yes, the game has 1-2 week of playing, until it starts hitting end of scenarios wall. Bottom line, the game has all neat graphics it that it should in the year 2018, but the rest is considerably worse than what became default 15 years ago.

Just answering a common complaint like the one by Mikeavelli right before me, about the AI being faulty and making micromanagement impossible to enjoy the game. Mike and the others didn't seem to have given the game and its systems enough of a try because everything he says is incorrect: Once you set which buildings can take which specializations, you won't have to worry about any specific buildings you have set this to (there's even an option that lets you make your choice for all buildings of the same type by Ctrl + left-clicking; Colonists never really get stuck, they can even move across disconnected domes by actually walking out of them and jump-walking over Mars' surface... not ideal but it does work - the ideal scenario falls on you to make it easier for them, for drones, and everything else to do whatever tasks they're supposed to do with minimal effort, and here the AI shines. It feels unfriendly at first but once you realize how to interfere to make your supply chains and logistics work seamlessly, it feels rewarding... and you have many ways to do so, from placing your depots sensibly (and selecting which and how much of which resources they're supposed to store), adjusting the number of drones per hub as well as the service area of both hubs and rovers, and connecting domes through passages and shuttle hubs; The bigger your colony gets naturally the longer it'll take the AI to react but it's never really long at all... it just won't happen right away always (though it does often enough): sometimes a colonist you've assigned a different building is busy having a drink, or visiting a garden or infirmary... if you bookmark them and check back after a minute or two you'll see they've followed through your orders flawlessly - this can also be helped by expanding your shuttle network, which in turn gets better by researching techs that increase shuttles per hub, their speed and cargo capacity. Other than quarantining their dome, colonists never get stuck.

Good game marred by Paradox's terminal case of DLC cancer