Game on Colonization / Terraforming of Mars

RickSmith · 2007-07-14 17:05:31

Hi Everyone,
I've got a game about Mars partly built and I'm currently in the polishing stage. Just wondering if anyone would like to discuss what they would like to see in their perfect Mars colonization or terraforming game.

What elements would you want to see in a Mars game? What would be the conflict? What would be the major actions that the players could do?

Warm regards, Rick

Michael Bloxham · 2007-07-16 00:16:53

What have you got so far?

nickname · 2007-07-16 04:29:23

RickSmith,

Wow! that sounds very cool.

It would be neat in that to have a section on how life adapts to Mars, especially the insects, they will be interesting on Mars.

We could have some mighty big insects on Mars.

noosfractal · 2007-07-16 07:06:53

What elements would you want to see in a Mars game? What would be the conflict? What would be the major actions that the players could do?

I think the character of terraforming changes pre and post colonization. In particular, pre-colonization terraforming can be rapid and high energy (e.g., ammonia asteroid impacts), whereas post-colonization terraforming is likely constrained to gradual, relatively low energy techniques (e.g., solar mirrors, PFC factories). The creation of oceans/liquid surface water seems to be another major event. Even if it is gradual, if it occurs post-colonization, it is going to be a source of major challenges – think of the melting permafrost on Earth but multiplied a hundred times.

I think the question of how terraforming is funded is interesting. I imagine there is an Earth-based terraforming fund. Assume it starts at a certain amount and has a baseline annual donation and then additional donations based on perceived results. The player can spend the fund capital or limit themselves to spending just the interest – or spend nothing and wait for the fund to grow in anticipation of higher interest only spending later (at the cost of results-based donations). Post-colonization, the colonists can tax themselves or simply rely on donations for the common good. I’d like to see that dynamic emerge naturally – perhaps different colonies can earn social standing or tech levels for terraforming donations. Construction of a space elevator for Mars is probably another project at this level – or else probably a game winning advantage for a single colony.

I certainly think there should be multiple colonies with differing tech, culture, and so on. I love to see a natural market emerging between the colonies. You can buy anything from Earth but at high cost, but it is almost always going to be better to buy local if someone has a surplus. Colonies would compete with each other for immigrants (from Earth and from each other). Quality of life stats/score could help determine this for each colony. This is where the gain or loss of particular individuals could really make a difference to a colony.

RickSmith · 2007-07-17 13:54:06

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the kind words. Generally the game is less detailed than noosfractal suggested.

There are multiple colonies, controlled by different players. Also a number of colonies that are not controlled by any player will spring up as the game progresses. A key concept is each player building up their economy. However, the players automatically buy and sell with each other. There is not the situation where one player gets a monopoly and then can choose to cut out a player. If you can build (for example) computer chips, then everyone can get chips cheaper than from Earth.

A basic trade off is, "do I spend money on terraforming" (which helps everyone) "or on improving my economy?" (which helps just me). This is the 'free rider' game from game theory. Some players get victory points for terraforming so they are motivated to work on improving the world. A few don't care.

However, everything gets easier as the planet warms. You don't have to spend so much on power if the planet is warmer. Some economic improvements are easier if you have higher pressure. So even people who don't have a strong desire to terraform, have occasionally put money into improving things a bit as it helps them out now.

Usually when we play the game breaks into these stages:
- First players try to build and diversify their economy.
- Eventually it becomes cheap enough for people to start to terraform the planet. I've seen games where most people toss in some money each turn and this proceeds quickly. I've seen games where almost no one does and most of the game is played in hard vacuum.
- Near the end game some players might try to help the Martian ecology, while others work on massive projects like a sky ramp or fusion power.

Terraforming is centered around sollettas and greenhouse gasses. People can drop iceteriods but they are assumed to be small enough to not require massive evacuations. A couple of random events say that a big comet is by chance going to pass near Mars and if diverted, it may require massive evacuations.

One thing I don't have in the game is the importance of polar sollettas. I think that to get a decent amount of water near the equator, we need more heat at the poles. This way in the southern summer there is enough energy for a fair bit of the southern ice to melt.

I've simplified the spreading of life rules twice. (The first time was a state diagram that I was very proud of and it LOOKED so complex that people told me it had to be simplified before they even tried playing it.)

Currently it works like this:

1) Players may spend money to spread life. Scattering a few bacteria is cheap on the earlier levels. It becomes more expensive to hurry things as the ecology starts moving to multicellular life. If this money is paid the player advances the state of the ecology to the next level. (8 Levels currently.)

2) Players roll one ten sided die and do what it says. This can range from a free ecology advance if the conditions are clement, to no effect, to spend money to get another roll. Most effects raise oxygen, nitrogen or improves other states that will speed the spread of life.

3) Players roll a 'constraints die'. This asks you to check such things a cosmic rays, ultraviolet light or amount of biomass. If your ecological state has gotten too high it is reduced at this phase. However if things are rocking, all players can gain an economic bonus at this stage. (Less life support is needed, which directly helps your economy.)

4) Players check hard constraints. If air pressure is very low, you don't get past bacteria, for example. This phase also can drop the ecological state.

What it boils down to is if the planet warms up and gets a thicker atmosphere, the ecology will start up on its own. However it will do so very slowly. If several players push it, it can spread much faster. My game lasts around 300 years so players can not reach a breathable atmosphere. Ecopoiesis (the spreading of life to Mars) is the goal.

The highest state I've seen players reach honestly is an Antarctic Crytendaolithic ecosystem. In a game where I asked players to try to push life as far as possible, we got up to a Bryophyte Ecosystems (hornworts, liverworts and mosses) on land.

Other elements of the game are research, cost of space travel, the state of the Earth's civilization (handled by random events), massive investments, military actions and the politicking needed to gain a share in the Martian government that happens in the end game.

Like most games that try to simulate something, this game is big and complex. It takes 3 to 5 people 5 to 7 hours to play. (I've reduced this a fair bit but I can't really speed it more with out taking out elements I would like to keep.) The game has been tested about 10 times (which does not sound like much, but keep in mind that it is an effort to round up that many play testers for such a long time).

Anyway, I will boast more about my baby when it is closer to being ready for the public. For now, I was wondering what other people would like to see in such a game.

Rick

noosfractal · 2007-07-18 06:39:27

Sounds really cool. I'll look forward to hearing more about it.

I wonder what tech we'll have by 2300.

Michael Bloxham · 2007-07-18 22:39:35

Could you go into more detail about the base-building / colonization part of the game?

RickSmith · 2007-07-19 09:12:39

The game is based on Logarithms. A track shows how many people are in each population cube which about doubles for each step. Advances in space flight drop the cost of moving to Mars by about 1/2 per step. So it costs $1,000,000,000 Martian Dollars x (population track level - Cost of Space Flight + 6) to move one population cube to Mars.

Then you have to buy sufficient power to keep the base warm (based on latitude) and more power to do any industry.

Martian dollars start out worth $100,000,000 USD at the game start. As time goes buy their buying power increases. This is so that the prices can stay more constant thruout the game.

Major industries are deuterium collection, shipping strategic metal to Earth via magnetic sails, shipping supplies to asteroid bases and a host of infrastructure building actions.

Warm regards, Rick.

X · 2007-07-24 18:13:10

It sounds cool.

RickSmith · 2007-12-23 22:59:01

Hi Everyone,
I've been putting some work on the Mars game over the X-mas holidays. There have been a few changes.

As time has gone by, I've added a lot more industries to the game. (Most of these are the result of card play.) They usually do not place counters on the game map. This has had the unintended effect of making the map less important. (It used to be that you could fight and STEAL other player's income. Now, not so much.) The exploration deck was always too thin so I've added a few more cards that expand mines or give bonuses to them. (You dig a little bit deeper and 'WHOA!' mother load.)

However, anytime you add cards to a deck it increases the randomness so I need to playtest these new changes.

I've lowered the cost of gaining political control of regions. This is good in that it adds more competition to the game. But it has the unfortunate effect of sucking up people's money just when terraforming usually takes off. No easy solution as I WANT more competition.

Based on new studies, we need slightly more greenhouse gases to do the warming needed. (About twice as much as I was using before.) I've adjusted the table in the game and this also delays people wanting to put money into terraforming since it takes longer to get a payoff.

There are now so many things to buy that people are getting a bit lost. It is tough to decide when to invest in new forms of economic development. For example, in my last test game people could have made a lot of money by buying a "Shipping Supplies to Luna / Asteroids" title deed. People were so distracted by the other things that they are starting to miss good economic opportunities. I'm wondering if this is a good thing or not. I'm not going to worry about it for now as "games should allow people to make mistakes".

The game can be played with 2 to 5 players. I taught a new player and it took us 5 hours. However, more players take longer. I think that the rule would be something like: Time to Play = 4 hours + 0.5 hours / player. This is not too bad. However if it is: Time to Play = 3 hours + 1 hour / player it is not so good. I need to play a couple of 5 player games to get a better feel for how long it takes to play bigger games.

I've made a couple of shorter scenarios. In one everyone plays for 5 to 8 turns and just tries to have the highest income at the end of the game. In another you basically start half way thru the game (which ought to take 2 hours off the total time to play).

I confess I'm getting a bit burnt out on the game. It is getting harder to motivate myself to sit down and test it. (Actually I was planning to do some work on it today but I'm finding it easier to write this post.) :-)

Warm regards, Rick.

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#1 2007-07-14 17:05:31

Re: Game on Colonization / Terraforming of Mars

#2 2007-07-16 00:16:53

Re: Game on Colonization / Terraforming of Mars

#3 2007-07-16 04:29:23

Re: Game on Colonization / Terraforming of Mars

#4 2007-07-16 07:06:53

Re: Game on Colonization / Terraforming of Mars

#5 2007-07-17 13:54:06

Re: Game on Colonization / Terraforming of Mars

#6 2007-07-18 06:39:27

Re: Game on Colonization / Terraforming of Mars

#7 2007-07-18 22:39:35

Re: Game on Colonization / Terraforming of Mars

#8 2007-07-19 09:12:39

Re: Game on Colonization / Terraforming of Mars

#9 2007-07-24 18:13:10

Re: Game on Colonization / Terraforming of Mars

#10 2007-12-23 22:59:01

Re: Game on Colonization / Terraforming of Mars

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