Terraforming Mars (English)

Terraforming Mars (EN)

This is the English-language strategy board game and former Spellenprijs winner Terraforming Mars for 1 to 5 players (ages 12 and up recommended) with a playing time of around 3-5 hours. The taming of the red planet has begun! In Terraforming Mars, you lead a corporation with its own specialization and goals. Play project cards, increase your production, place your cities and greenery on the map, and strive for milestones and awards! Will your corporation lead the way to a new era in the history of humanity?

Background of Terraforming Mars

In the 2400s, humanity begins terraforming the planet Mars. Giant corporations, sponsored by the World Government on Earth, launch massive projects to raise the temperature, oxygen level, and ocean coverage until the environment is habitable. In Terraforming Mars, you play one of those corporations and work together in the terraforming process, but compete for victory points that are awarded not only for your contribution to terraforming, but also for advancing human infrastructure throughout the solar system, and doing other praiseworthy things. Compete against different corporations to turn Mars into a habitable planet. Use a huge range of resources and innovative technologies to raise the temperature and create a livable atmosphere and oceans. As the terraforming process progresses, more and more people will leave Earth to settle on the Red Planet.

About the gameplay of Terraforming Mars

Players acquire unique project cards (from more than two hundred different project cards) by buying them into their hand. The projects (cards) can be all sorts of things, from introducing plants or animals, throwing asteroids at the surface, building cities, mining the moons of Jupiter, and setting up greenhouse gas industries to warm the atmosphere. Cards can grant you immediate bonuses and increase your production of various resources. Many cards also have requirements and become playable once the temperature, oxygen, or ocean coverage has risen enough. Buying cards is expensive, so there's a balance between buying cards (3 megacredits per card) and actually playing them (which can cost between 0 and 41 megacredits, depending on the project). Standard projects are always available to supplement your cards.

Your basic income, as well as your basic score, is based on your Terraform Rating (starting at 20), which increases every time you raise one of the three global parameters. Your income is also supplemented by your production, and you earn VP's from many other sources as well.

Each player tracks their production and resources on their player board, and the game uses six types of resources: MegaCredits, Steel, Titanium, Plants, Energy, and Heat. On the game board, you compete for the best spots for your city tiles, ocean tiles, and greenery tiles. You also compete for various milestones and awards worth plenty of VP's. Each round is called a generation (guess why) and consists of the following phases:

Player order – This shifts clockwise.

Research phase: All players buy cards from four personally drawn cards.

Action phase: Players take turns performing 1-2 actions from these options: play a card, claim a milestone, fund an award, use a standard project, convert a plant into greenery tiles (and raise oxygen), convert heat into a temperature increase, and use the action of a card in play. Play continues around the table (sometimes for multiple rounds) until all players have passed.

Production phase: Players receive resources based on their terraform rating and production parameters.

Once the three global parameters (temperature, oxygen, ocean) have all reached their target, terraforming is complete and the game ends after that generation. Count your Terraform Rating and other VP's to determine the winning corporation!

Product information

• Game type: Strategy game
• Number of players: 1–5
• Playing time: about 120 minutes
• Language: English
• Publisher: Stronghold Games

Order Terraforming Mars (EN) easily at Lichcards.