Expansion in Surviving Mars Surviving Mars Guide & Walkthrough
Last update: 20 March 2018
Sometimes, expansion is the only right choice when you lack resources to start. It's often necessary if you don't want to waste sponsor funds and import supplies from Earth.
Water expansion
Water expansion is relatively easy because you don't need to prepare too many resources. Apart from a tunnel, you need to prepare resources for water extractors, containers, pipes and a backup power source.
Tunnel - 80 concrete, 20 metals, 30 Machine Parts.
1 Water extractor - 6 concrete and 2 Machine Parts.
Water Tower - 3 metals.
Backup power source - Wind Turbine - 4 concrete, 1 Machine Part or Stirling Generator - 12 Polymers and 6 Electronics or prefabrication worth $400 M.
Pipes and cables - 1 metal for every 5 hexes.
Drone Hubs - prefabrication worth $150 M or 12 metals and 8 Electronics.
Optional meteor defense system - SOP Laser - 15 metals and 5 Electronics or a defense tower - 10 metals and 5 Electronics.
As you can see, investment cost is rather low.
Underground deposits expansion
Underground deposits expansion is relatively hard because it requires more infrastructure than the water expansion does. Keep in mind that Metal Extractors and Rare Metals Extractors won't work without colonists, so in order to extract metals, you will need to build a dome for your colonists. Furthermore, if you are building a dome, you need to take care of comfort as well. This will greatly increase the cost of your investment. Nevertheless, if the deposits are large enough, the investment can pay off and provide a steady income for your colony. If you want to compare costs of the water expansion, add costs related to a dome, buildings inside the dome, oxygen storage and production, and extractors. The very dome can cost a small fortune, especially at the early stage of the game when you don't have the right technologies to decrease building costs (e.g. small dome - 80 concrete, 20 metals, and 10 polymers).
