Surviving Mars — Mohole Mine is the key

loading screen. but you can actually get visuals like this in the game

Surviving Mars is a game that I have been playing a lot lately. Having completed the game multiple times (and again after the new Planet DLC), I realized something.

If you are gunning for a easy victory (even on higher difficulties), your first priority should be get to the wonder — Mohole Mine. It falls in the Research category of Robotics, and is usually at the very end of the tree, and is called “Project Mohole”.

Why Mohole?

ah! Mohole, you beauty on Mars.

The thing about surviving mars, as with any business simulation game, is management of resources. Resources that are in short supply.

Mohole gives you all the core items you will ever need — Metals, Rare Metals aka Money and Waste Rock. You have enough of these things, you can run your entire planet like crazy.

You got unlimited money, so you can keep sending it to earth and make as much money as you want. Once you have money, you can get every possible resource from food to electronics and polymers to keep your colony running in top shape. You can also pay for research so you don’t have to build and maintain expensive research labs!

Another thing I like about Mohole is that it runs on its own. Just add a bunch of Sterling Generators, put some 20 to 40 drones next to it and you wont even realize its on the map. The only error you will ever get is a message saying that you are running out of space to keep metals ;)

Getting to Mohole Fast

Here is what I do.

1. As much as possible, focus building all colonies near rare metal deposits. Export as much as you can, get loads of money.
2. Use the money to buy all your resources, including, even food. More importantly, keep outsourcing research so you research keeps going at full speed.
3. Focus your research on the “Robotics” branch. Just keep digging down in that branch till you get to Mohole.
4. As you get closer to Mohole in the research tree, start importing all the necessary things from earth — 400 Concrete, 100 Metals and 300 Mechanical Parts.
5. As you are collecting and storing the necessary things, pick a nice place away from your colonies, build up your power supply, storage space and some 20 drones ready to roll.

Final Note

For me, the game is essentially over (as a challenge), the moment I build the Mohole building. It gives so much money, after that, it becomes a lot more enjoyable.

Without needing to worry about money (or resources that you can buy endlessly with endless money), you can focus on other parts of the game and generally have a good time.

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