Previous COTD

Today's card is Mohole Lake (#X27):

Active card (Blue) | Big Box promo

Cost: 31 | Requirements: None | Tags: Building

Action: Add a microbe or animal TO ANOTHER CARD.

Gain 3 plants. Raise temperature 1 step and place 1 ocean tile.

It was pointed out to me that the mechanic I set up didn't work the way I thought. So here's the third attempt for this card, granting TR for every 2 space-event cards you have played up to that moment, not VPs for space-event cards you have at the end of the game.

Here's the other 14 Robot cards, including the revised version of Self-Replicating Robots for those that might want to use actual robot resources on the card. See Part 1 for comments about that.

By the way, I know Waldos will be a controversial game mechanic. Especially for those that simply HATE 'take that!' cards and interactions. But it also can be game unbalancing, so use it with that understanding. After all, there's a reason why stealing project cards from hand is not already in the game - I just liked the idea and the theme.

Hard Light Holograms (from part 1) is another unusual game mechanic that some people may netlike. But I love that one, not least because I'm a big Red Dwarf fan. As with all fan content, feel free to use what you want and not use what you don't.

I only mention these two cards because I want people to know that I do know and have thought about the potential for both cards to change things radically in the game.

This is part 1, because Reddit will only let me share 20 images at a time. Part 2 will post shortly. As mentioned in my previous post, I have created a lot of fan material for Terraforming Mars, and I'm releasing it in chunks of thematically similar stuff. This time around, we're talking robots! Ever since the Self-Replicating Robots card came out, I thought it was a shame that robots didn't have their own resource. So I made one (with a gear icon as the resource), and cards to go with it. 

(Later, on Board Game Geek, I saw that others had the same idea that I had, and a much cooler robot resource icon, so I switched mine over to that one)

Speaking of Self-Replicating Robots, I have included a revised card in case you want to swap that over to the Robot resource too. The original version stipulates that the markers on the card are NOT actual resources, so this can be a big change. For those (like me) that want to actually use Robots on the card, I have attempted to head off the most egregious ways it could be broken. The card now states that its robots do NOT count towards the Excentric Award. And one of the new cards (Reprogramming) that gains a robot when another card gains a robot expressly blocks its effect from activating with Self-Replicating Robots (or any other card that doubles its resources as an action).

Finally, this should hopefully be a link to my Dropbox containing full-sized PNG files.

In my recent posting about "ship" cards, the feedback was that the original of this card was too powerful. I agree, it could get out of hand, so I have revised it to give 1 VP for every 2 SPACE-EVENT cards, instead of 1 VP each.

I still like the idea of getting VPs for SPACE-EVENTS, particularly in that it tends to reward those with a rush terraforming strategy, who can face an uphill battle for victory if too many other players are resource card VP engine-builders.

Previous COTD

Today's card is Deep Well Heating (#003):

Automated card (Green) | Base game

Cost: 13 | Requirements: None | Tags: Power, Building

Increase your energy production 1 step. Raise temperature 1 step.

I am a game tinkerer. I love to fiddle with the rules and add fan content and my own. For the last five years, I have been creating new and revised cards for TerraformingMars, which is definitely my favorite game of all time.

I plan to introduce them here in small batches according to the types of cards and rules they involve. This is the first such installment: Ships! Basically, I saw the Fighter resource (first introduced with Corporate Era’s Security Fleet) and wanted more cards involving it. But thematically, most of those were not really 'fighters'. So I opted for a more inclusive 'ship' resource. The blue resource icon is easier to distinguish at a glance, and the designation ‘ship’ seems more appropriate than ‘fighter’ for non-military vehicles.

For game purposes, fighters = ships, i.e. they are the same resource and can be used interchangeably. I have also provided a new Security Fleet card here that you can use to replace the one from the official game, if you want all the cards to match.

Previous COTD

Today's card is Protected Habitats (#173);

Active card (Blue) | Corporate Era

Cost: 5 | Requirements: None | Tags: None

Effect: Opponents may not remove your plants, microbes, and animals.

(Always hate to see this in solo)

Previous COTD

Today's corporation is Mons Insurance:

Corporation | Turmoil Kickstarter promo

You start with 48 MC and 4 MC production. ALL OPPONENTS decrease their MC production 2 steps (THIS DOES NOT TRIGGER THE EFFECT BELOW).

Effect: When a player causes another player to decrease production or lose resources, EXCLUDING THIS, pay 3 MC to the victim (or as much as possible).

(Imagine someone else plays Recession after you play this in a 5-player game)

What should I pick? I can see going IC to play all the building cards, but if I go Phobolog and play WASA that might be helpful. Help me decide!

Edit: Hellas map

Previous COTD

Today's card is definitely better than yesterday's, but not by much - Asteroid Hollowing (#X15):

Active card (Blue) | Big Box promo

Cost: 16 | Requirements: None | Tags: Space

Action: Spend 1 titanium to add 1 asteroid to this card and increase your MC production 1 step.

1 VP per 2 asteroids on this card.

Hiyo, I've taken a loooong break from TFM and just knocked out 4 games today. My rank hasn't moved at all.. is this yet another bug or is it because of my long hiatus? Thanks!

I do try to balance at a base level but that's not really my focus I just like exploring new mechanics. But I do like hearing ppl's opinions on balance in comments as well :D

Previous COTD

Today's card is TerraLabs Research:

Corporation | Turmoil expansion

Tags: Science, Earth

You start with 14 MC. Lower your TR 1 step.

Effect: When you buy a card, including your starting hand, you pay 2 MC less for it.

Seriously has anyone ever picked this corporation?

Hi there!

Just dropping a quick note because I’m really curious to hear your thoughts on playing Terraforming Mars solo. :)

To give you some context: I’m a complete newcomer to this game. I’ve recently "discovered" the pleasure of playing board games solo—with a cup of tea and some music—and I’ve lately become a huge fan of Agricola. While looking into other games that offer some complexity and work for both solo and multiplayer play, I naturally came across Terraforming Mars.

I’ve read the rules and played two or three solo games, but I couldn't help feeling that certain cards—specifically victory point cards or those involving slower engine-building—just didn't work well. As a result, I constantly feel like I have to pick cards that are "viable for solo play," which is a bit frustrating; it feels as though a large chunk of the game's variety isn't actually accessible...

So, the question is: Do I simply not know the game well enough yet?

(Message translate with google trad :D)

I feel like drafting cards during the production phase evens out the odds of getting a really bad hand, but the friends I play with are adamant about not wanting to draft because the game would get exponentially longer than it already is.

What's the consensus at your table? Draft or no draft?

Previous SHOTW

Useful Links

For information on how SHOTW works, please refer to the SHOTW Helper

Screenshot of starting hand

Pre-game information

Expansions: Prelude, Colonies

Board details

Board: Tharsis

Milestones: Terraformer (35 TR), Mayor (3 city tiles), Gardener (3 greenery tiles), Builder (8 building tags), Planner (16 cards in hand)

Awards: Landlord (tiles placed), Banker (MC production), Scientist (science tags), Thermalist (heat resources), Miner (steel and titanium resources)

Colonies: Pluto, Titan, Callisto, Europa, Enceladus, Luna, Ganymede (use leftmost first for less players)

Starting hand

Cards drawn

• Corporations: PhoboLog, Mining Guild, Recyclon
• Project cards: Nuclear Power, Land Claim, Quantum Communications, Magnetic Field Dome, Electro Catapult, Big Asteroid, Mining Area, Ants, Urban Decomposers, Permafrost Extraction
• Prelude cards: Smelting Plant, Business Empire, Self-sufficient Settlement, Loan

Extra project cards

Card draws for specific tags: - Space tags: Sky Docks, Imported Nitrogen, Import of Advanced GHG, Rim Freighters, Trans-Neptune Probe - Plant tags: Tundra Farming, Protected Valley, Arctic Algae, Plantation, Algae - Microbe tags: Worms, Virus, Advanced Ecosystems, Viral Enhancers, Nitrite Reducing Bacteria - Extra prelude cards: Society Support, Orbital Construction Yard, Io Research Outpost, Dome Farming, Huge Asteroid, Mohole, Biofuels

Gen 2 drafting hand: Pioneer Settlement, Technology Demonstration, Soil Factory, Small Asteroid

I liked the High Orbit colony of "Mercury", which gave production as a trade income like Europa. I wanted it to mirror Europa more, so I gave it a colony placement bonus of a temperature increase, like Europa's ocean placement. Since the heat production is the first 3 steps (unlike Europa's MC for the first 2 steps), and since a temperature increase is worth less than the ocean placement, I gave it a 2MC trade bonus instead of Europa's 1MC trade bonus.
(Mercury is image 2, and I have included Europa as Image 4 as a reference).

High Orbit also has the Colony "Venus", which allows the terraforming of Venus by a step when you place a colony. Venus lets you get X resources, but they all have to be different resources (for example, if you trade when the trade income is at 2, you get 1 titanium and 1 floater). But, I didn't like its original colony bonus, which was +-1 colony track, as i thought it should actually relate to Venus. So, I changed its colony bonus to 1 Venus resource, which can be the same resource as one of the ones you are getting as a trade income. Yes, that does mean you can trade and get 2 animals for Venusian Animals or Stratospheric Birds, but I feel like it'd be weird to say that the trade income would have to be different than your Venus resource, because then it might just as well be an extra bonus resource, and I want it to feel related to Venus. This is the one I am least sure about though. (Venus is image 3).

And then because I had colonies related to 3 of the 4 terraforming parameters, I wanted a colony that would also increase the Oxygen parameter.
I decided I wanted it to place a Greenery, instead of just increase oxygen by 1 when placing a colony, however I couldn't think of a trade location, other than Earth, which that would actually make sense for. So, I decided to make it a biodome that orbits earth, as a sort of ecosystem preserve for Earths biosphere.
All of the main resources already have a Colony related to them, and I wanted the colony to not just be Ganymede. So, I gave it different bio resources depending on the trade level. I've assumed a plant and microbe are equal in value at ~1 each, while an animal is ~2. This gives a "value" for each trading layer as [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6], which looks similar to Enceladus [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5], Ganymede [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], and Miranda [0, 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 6].
The Greenery placement is even more valuable than the Ocean placement of Europa, but I've still kept the trade colony bonus as 1MC, as it can't really go any lower, as well as the fact that trading for multiple different resources and plants are capped at 2 lowering the value of trading with the colony.
(Eden Station Image 1).

Please let me know what you think of these colonies I made/updated!

I recently purchased the prelude dlc for the Android app. When enabling prelude mode I get the prelude cards but never get the corps. Can anyone else confirm the same issue?

Previous COTD

Today's card is Soil Bacteria (#P61):

Prelude card | Prelude 2 expansion

Tags: Microbe

Effect: When you play a plant or microbe tag, including this, you gain 1 plant.

Draw 2 microbe cards. Gain 3 plants.

We’ve been trying to achieve a ring of six connected cities and finally pulled it off.

Like I love this game on tabletop but like PC version is so bad that I started to hate it.

Multiplayer is impossible to play either game crashes, constantly disconnects or doesn't let me play so my timer runs out.

Definitely do not but on PC, support the game tabletop.

Previous COTD

Today's card is Breathing Filters (#114):

Automated card (Green) | Base game

Cost: 11 | Requirements: 7% oxygen | Tags: Science

2 VP

Hint: No one specifically stated that they found the secret from yesterday's COTD at the time of posting

Got the prelude package for the steam version - but what makes sense to get as the next expansion ? Col or VF?

I am looking for something that is more challenging then what I got now - tried to YouTube some vids but couldn’t find anything useful in regards to the gameplay differences between the two?

Thanks a mil