Early Game Essentials (Outside Domes)

Master Surviving Mars' early game outside domes. Learn about rover and drone control, dust and maintenance, map exploration, resource gathering, and anomaly analysis for a successful Martian colony.

This guide covers essential early-game mechanics for Surviving Mars, focusing on operations outside of Domes. Understanding these systems is crucial for establishing a functional and expanding colony.

Rover and Drone Control: Rovers are manually controlled via their Infopanels, allowing them to be given orders to move to map locations or interact with specific objects like Anomalies or Surface Deposits. Drones are semi-autonomous, queuing tasks within their Service Area, but can also be directly controlled by the player. Control preferences can be adjusted in the Options menu.

Dust and Maintenance: All buildings degrade over time. Drones are dispatched to service buildings when their maintenance bar fills, requiring specific resources. If maintenance is not performed within a Sol, the building ceases operation. Martian dust and disasters accelerate deterioration for buildings outside Domes. Extractors, dust geysers, and rocket activity spread dust, increasing maintenance needs for nearby structures. Drones can break down due to dust and must recharge at Recharge Stations.

Map and Exploration: The map is divided into Sectors that must be scanned to reveal resources and Anomalies. Scanning can be queued from the Map Overview. Sensor towers speed up scanning for nearby sectors. Orbital Probes offer a fast, albeit expensive, way to instantly scan a chosen sector. Building in unexplored Sectors risks construction over undiscovered resource deposits. Probes can be deployed using LMB or X.

Resources and Construction: Building is the primary use of resources. Drones stockpile necessary resources for construction if the site is within their Drone Hub's Service Range. Resources are gathered from deposits (surface, underground, or terrain) or produced by Extractors, Factories, or Farms. Deposit grades affect production rates. Surface deposits are mined directly by Drones, while underground and terrain deposits require Extractors. Extractors produce Waste Rock, which must be moved to a Waste Rock Dump to prevent the Extractor from stopping.

Anomalies: Anomalies are found in scanned sectors and trigger effects when analyzed by an RC Explorer. Types include Event Anomalies (triggering events), Research Anomalies (generating Research Points), Breakthrough Anomalies (revealing Breakthrough techs), and Tech Anomalies (enabling specific techs).

Research: New technologies unlock buildings, upgrades, and benefits. Standard technologies are divided into five fields. Researching a technology makes another within its field available. Research buildings are necessary for advanced technologies, and Outsourcing research is an option for a fee. Analyzing anomalies can also grant research points or unlock new technologies.