The game will allow you to play the role of the head of one of the private space exploration and colonization companies. You will become pioneers in your profession. Your goal will be to develop the largest, most advanced, self-sustaining and independent of any terrestrial corporation on Mars, thereby achieving OMDE's mission statement as well as the hidden goal of your own corporation. To do this, everyone will try to develop the main colony founded in 2034 by the Organization for Mars Development and Exploration - OMDE, which will be the gateway to the wider exploration of the red globe.
By bringing new settlers to Mars and managing them properly, you will be able to discover new territories; extract resources hidden beneath its surface; and manage the construction, power supply and modernization of buildings such as: oxygen factories, power plants and mines. The goal of mankind on a new planet is to learn to value water, air, and other vital necessities more than money. Do you dare to take part in the next greatest conquest of mankind?
On Mars is played in turns, divided into phases. You will decide together which of the OMDE goals will be realized during the game; what will be the initial distribution of colonists in the colonies available at the beginning of the game; and what initial community buildings and materials the Earth must provide and authorize. This makes it possible to carry out many different variants of the starting system, which encourages repeated attempts to colonize the alien planet.
Then you will receive a common limited set of actions that you can perform during your turn, and the resources provided by the Earth that you selected in the previous stage. According to the order of the game, you will be able to perform one action at a time. The actions available to players are: erecting buildings; production of planetary rovers and ships: acquisition, purchase and sale of materials; planet exploration; and conducting research. You need to plan your activities carefully, because buildings consume energy and some of the buildings of the later phases cannot be erected by you at all in front of the power plants.
Different actions have different costs. Some are assigned to workers (it uses the worker placement , known by other titles); puts cards to others; some require the use of a scientist or specialist with an engineering degree. Each action is additionally associated with the use of limited energy resources. An important element is therefore the appropriate management of energy generators and power plants, and devoting efforts to their expansion. Buildings require appropriate resources to build, which you will have to buy or obtain from the house. In order to use the buildings, you will need to assign workers to them, supply them with energy and supply them with oxygen.
You will need to provide your workers with sufficient oxygen, food and water to survive and operate, and shelter from the inhospitable conditions of the planet. Additionally, you will be considering storing these resources for later use so that the colonies can continue to develop and expand their populations. Once all players have performed their actions, the parameters of each colony will be adjusted according to the prevailing conditions.
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