First things first, choosing where to land initially on Mars is vital as it will determine how you fare in your play-through of the game. Some things which you can keep in mind to ensure an area with higher resources and minerals are given below:

The average altitude of a region is key to how wind turbines work. Being most efficient at high altitudes, you may want to choose a spot higher up for maximum output from these machines. The mean temperature of a region may indicate as to how much of that region will be frozen and whether water resources may be scarce or abundant. A high mean temperature may lead to evaporation of water resources so you may want to avoid that.

Topographical features of the land determine how well you can craft and build structures in that region. A rugged landscape may prove to be harder to colonize than a smoother one. Other features like cliff and mountains also play a hand in colonization of that region.

Always land to a region with higher chances of resource availability. The more the bars are filled, the more your chances of obtaining metals, water and whatnot. Also, avoid places with a higher threat level to ensure a better and safer colonization attempt. Dust storms, meteors, cold waves and other disasters are always looming right around the corner so check up on those bars and head to the region with the smallest one.

Speaking of disasters and threats, how they affect your productivity and progress is detailed below.

Hard to precisely predict when and where they will hit, Dust Devils are a threat like none other. These are giant tornadoes which will severely damage or even destroy equipment of your base on Mars. They disappear on their own after a while.

Dust Storms will decrease visibility of map by covering everything in clouds of sand. Outdoor facilities will require maintenance while solar panels will become less effective at their output. Water Vaparators and MOXIES will be unable to work. The only good thing to come out of this, though, will be that Wind Turbines will start working more efficiently.

Meteors on Mars at least can be predicted beforehand. The region to be hit by one is highlighted as a warning right before impact. Meteors will damage equipment on first impact. On second impact, they will destroy the structures. Cold Waves will freeze everything on the map including water tower. This will prompt you to increase power output and heat or thermal production to eliminate effects of these cold waves.

Okay so here some things you need to establish a colony that thrives and flourishes. Start by building a primary source of power generator. We recommend solar panels which will help you generate power at a steady rate. For collecting and using water resources, use Water Extractors. You can choose up to 6 of these in a given area. Place them on the source of water and connect it to the tanker of water.

Next comes growing food resources including botanic life. Factories and industries are established to provide the optimum conditions and stimuli for growth and sustenance of these plants. As for the Founders, the population of human beings on Mars, domes are used along with sufficient energy and oxygen supplies inside.

The basic dome which you get towards the beginning of the game is not really useful since it can only cover a small area and so a small number of these Founders can be settled in a given time. We advise you to engineer a medium dome or better for more effective results. Note that you can always salvage any unwanted infrastructures to recover the resources back.

Domes and factories can be upgrading with the help of ‘Robotics’ and ‘Engineering’ options in-game in the ‘Research’ tab. Remember, even after acquiring the upgrades, you’ll still have to manually attach these updates to your desired factory or dome etc.

When it comes to exploration and space travel, your rockets need to be at their best. Setting up a Fuel Refinery will ensure that rockets are never running empty on fuel. The ‘Machine Parts’ factory will help you upgrade these rockets with better machinery and support to maximize effectiveness and progression.

Moreover, this will also help you increase the capacity of your rocket to transport more cargo and resources back to Earth. Placing Universal depots will help you save up on storage space. The RC Rover is useful in speeding up research and reach breakthroughs which further improve your chances of sustaining your colony.