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On Mars
#59BGG8.2RATING
Updated Sep 12
1–4
PLAYERS
90–150
MINUTES
3
BEST WITH
4.6
EXPERT
ERRATA2
Resupply crystal goes below the Depot, not into itpublisherdesigner
- RULING
- "It's my fault. It should say “below your depot”" — the Resupply action text on rulebook page 11 says the Crystal is placed in your Storage/Depot, but a Crystal taken this way is placed below your Depot and only becomes available at the start of your next turn.
AUTHOR: PaulGrogan (Paul Grogan, rulebook editor), accepted in-thread by newrev (Vital Lacerda, designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(13 replies)DATE: 2020-05-28Advanced building cards 5 and 16 omit "You can use tech"designer
- RULING
- "Card 5. Private Ship — In front of the explanation it should say that ”You can use tech”. In fact you can always use tech when it is related to the same action." The identical omission applies to Card 16, Builder Drone AI600.
AUTHOR: newrev (Vital Lacerda, designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(3 replies, 19 thumbs)DATE: 2019-12-20
DESIGNER CLARIFICATIONS66
End-of-turn order of operationsdesigner
- CONTEXT
- A player's turn triggered both a tech-owner oxygen decision and a Colony Status Update in the same moment.
- RULING
- "1. The active player finish their moves. 2. The tech owner takes their decision. 3. Turn is over. 4. Colony upgrade happens." Because the colony upgrade lands after the turn has ended, a player does not receive a blueprint that only becomes available through that upgrade.
The player turn resolves before the LSS turndesigner
- RULING
- "Finish the Player turn, then start the LSS turn."
The Shuttle does not move when colony level 4 triggers the end gamedesigner
- RULING
- "You don't move it. This happens always at the end of the turn of the player who upgraded the colony to lv4. So it precedes the shuttle phase."
Private ships cannot be used in the final rounddesigner
- RULING
- "The game ends before the shuttle phase."
The last round skips the Shuttle phasedesigner
- RULING
- "The Shuttle phase is the second phase on the round. The last round does not play that phase."
An action must be finished before another beginsdesigner
- CONTEXT
- Players attempted to interleave a private goal reward in the middle of a main action to chain effects.
- RULING
- "In none of my games you can interrupt an action to take another and comeback to finish the first one." Main and executive actions may be taken in either order, but never interleaved. Lacerda acknowledges the rulebook wording is ambiguous here: "It should always say before or after your executive or main action. Never in the middle."
When Earth contracts may be completeddesigner
- RULING
- Contracts may be completed in player order, at the beginning or at the end of any player's turn — including another player's turn.
An Earth contract counts as soon as its requirements are metdesigner
- RULING
- "The rulebook says the the contract must be met at the end of the game to be valid, but it may happen before. And it happens as soon as the requirements are completed."
Crystals only become available at the start of your turndesigner
- RULING
- "Does not matter in what phase you are, does not matter when you get the crystals, turn order does not matter at all... Before you take your action during the colonization phase, any crystals below your depot are moved up and available for the turn. Otherwise, any Crystals you get at ANY time are placed below the depot."
Resources other than crystals can be used the moment you gain themdesigner
- RULING
- "Yes, you can use the battery if you get it before you take the action. The only resource you cannot use immediately are the cristals."
When the tech owner chooses oxygen or developmentdesigner
- RULING
- "With the oxygen tile in the top of the player board, right before the end of the active player's turn, The owner of the tech decides to keep the Oxygen OR develop the USED tech."
Each separate use of a tech pays its owner againdesigner
- RULING
- "Yes, one O2/advance per tech use." If a player uses the same tech twice in one turn, "the tech is used twice, meaning the owner of the tech gets Oxygen twice," and each oxygen is independently kept or spent to develop that tech.
Resolving several tech developments in one turndesigner
- RULING
- "You can use your oxygen in any order as long as you only develop the used techs."
Colonists raise the effective tech level, but the tech must already be in playdesigner
- CONTEXT
- Players believed colonists sent to the Working Area could substitute for a tech nobody had researched, letting them create complexes with no tech in play. Lacerda calls this "the Achilles' heel of those advanced buildings."
- RULING
- "You need to know the tech to be able to improve it." The card text is definitive: "Advanced Building Action: Construct a Mine following normal rules. Tech required if creating or increasing the size of a Complex. Each colonist you send to your Working Area counts as 1 level of Tech." Colonists raise the level of an existing tech; they cannot conjure one that no player owns.
AUTHOR: newrev (Vital Lacerda, designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(34 replies, 4 thumbs)DATE: 2019-12-23You never pay another player to use an advanced buildingdesigner
- RULING
- "No, you never pay anything to other players when using advanced buildings." Oxygen granted for tech use comes from the general supply, not from the acting player.
The two legal building placementsdesigner
- RULING
- Quoting rulebook page 13 — "a. Adjacent to an existing Building of the same type (creating a Complex - this requires the use of a Tech tile), or b. Exactly 2 hexes away from an existing Building of the same type (and not adjacent to another existing Building of the same type)."
Multiple complexes of the same type are legaldesigner
- RULING
- "Yes, you can build 2 or more complexes of the same type."
Displacement only happens if the build is legaldesigner
- RULING
- "Displacement is a consequence of the construction. You have to verify all conditions before being able to build... you only displace if you are able to build. If you can't build for any reason you will not displace." Physically: "You need to pick up the piece before you place the tile under it."
Where a displaced piece goesdesigner
- RULING
- "The closest hex available."
AUTHOR: newrev (Vital Lacerda, designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(20 replies, 5 thumbs)DATE: 2020-01-11A crystal that cannot be placed is simply not placeddesigner
- CONTEXT
- A construction depicts a Crystal that would have to be placed on a hex occupied by a Bot or Rover.
- RULING
- "You just don't place it."
Building a complex for the first time still places the progress cubedesigner
- RULING
- "If it is the first time you build that complex you still place the progress cube. You still score and get the building benefit on the LSS."
You always pay costs unless the "already paid" icon is showndesigner
- RULING
- "If the tile does not have the free cost icon, you have to pay associated costs. No discovery tile have that icon. Only research tiles have those icons." The icon is a circle of the four LSS resource colours with a check-arrow in front of it.
The free-cost icon waives crystals toodesigner
- RULING
- "You don't pay the cristals either."
The colonist is the cost of the action, not of the buildingdesigner
- RULING
- "Sending the colonist is the cost of taking the action. Not the building."
Resources placed on a contract are locked theredesigner
- RULING
- "They are bound to the contract. Once placed on the contract you cannot used them anymore."
Private goal cards cannot pay a delivery contractdesigner
- RULING
- "You need the physical crystals to complete the card. You cannot use the cards."
The contract display refills at end of turn and never drops below sixdesigner
- RULING
- "You never have the display with less than 6 cards (unless there aren't more contracts to draw), and always at the end of the players turn. So, you can ever place a contract and take it in the same turn."
Earth contracts showing three blueprint iconsdesigner
- RULING
- "You just need to get 3 Blueprints of the same types to have those contracts completed."
Miners can never be retrieveddesigner
- RULING
- "Miners are never retrieved. The only way to get them back is through a take-over." They do not return to their owner at the end of the game.
Retrieving colonists takes one side of the board or the otherdesigner
- CONTEXT
- Effects such as the Eco Resort blueprint that retrieve colonists "from Orbit / the Planet".
- RULING
- "It's an OR (/). One side or the other."
What counts as an "active" colonistdesigner
- RULING
- "Active colonists are simply the ones in game. The ones you have next the board don't count."
Main action benefits are not optionaldesigner
- RULING
- "You always have an action that you can take from either side. So yes. You have to be able and execute the action you choose."
Your own ships ignore the Shuttle's positiondesigner
- RULING
- "You use your ships during the travel phase. Does not matter where the shuttle is." It is irrelevant whether the Shuttle moves, or in which direction.
One ship per colony leveldesigner
- RULING
- "When Colony is lv 1 you can welcome only one ship, If Colony is lv 2 you can welcome a 2nd ship, If colony is lv 3 you can welcome a 3rd ship... Only 1 per lv."
The Private Ship advanced building does not bypass the colony ship limitdesigner
- RULING
- It does not exceed the ships allowed by the colony level, but tech in play can increase the number of colonists it brings. Asked both questions together, Lacerda answered: "No and yes (if tech is in play)."
Landing Pod grants a bonus only on a newly covered spacedesigner
- RULING
- "You only get the bonus when you land on a new turn order space... You get the bonus when you cover it."
Landing Pod is a main actiondesigner
- RULING
- "The landing pod is a main action. So you still can take your executive action."
Landing Pod places no discovery tiledesigner
- RULING
- "You skip your turn and move to the Colony, then you take the benefit of the chosen space and laydown your astronaut. You just don't place the discovery tile. The pod does not scan the surface."
Advanced building actions work regardless of where you aredesigner
- RULING
- "If you have the a way to pay for the upgraded building. Yes. Does not matter where you are." The cost referred to is that of the executive action itself — "2 crystals or a scientist."
A blueprint can only be upgraded oncedesigner
- RULING
- "Once you upgrade it, its done. You cannot upgrade it again."
Only blueprints can upgrade a buildingdesigner
- RULING
- "You can only upgrade buildings with blueprints. They indicate what kind of building it becomes."
Recycling Bots cannot use Rover tech, and collects one tile per actiondesigner
- RULING
- "You cannot use Rover tech because a Bot it's not or become a Rover... Like a Rover you can only pick up one discovery tile per turn." Lacerda corrected the frequency in the same thread: "Its true per action, not per turn." If movement is split so that two Bots land on tiles, only one tile may be used and the other is destroyed.
AUTHOR: newrev (Vital Lacerda, designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(30 replies, 3 thumbs)DATE: 2019-12-20Radar's discovery tile is chosen when the building is upgradeddesigner
- CONTEXT
- Lacerda's first answer in April 2019 said the timing was the player's choice; he later confirmed the corrected reading and noted "Always check with the most recent posts please."
- RULING
- You choose the discovery tile when you upgrade this building, before using it as an executive action.
AUTHOR: newrev (Vital Lacerda, designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(15 replies, 5 thumbs)DATE: 2020-01-03Scientists work in any matching building, whoever owns itdesigner
- RULING
- "To Take the action of a Building the players must use their executive action. This has a cost of 2 crystals OR a scientist on the card. Scientists can work in any related building to take their executive action. The owner of the building or to whom the scientist is working, does not matter. Once in a card, the scientist can only be moved again to work in another card."
The LSS marker position tracks buildings on the boarddesigner
- RULING
- "The position of the LSS markers is equal to the number of buildings in the board."
The LSS tech tile scores a maximum of 6designer
- RULING
- "Max scoring for the LSS tech tile is 6 points not 9. It scores the tech level."
Levelling the colony requires all four LSS buildingsdesigner
- RULING
- "For the colony to lv up you need to upgrade the 4 LSS buildings. So lv 2 times you need to build 8 buildings."
Score first, then take the LSS bonusdesigner
- CONTEXT
- A community answer claimed the two bonuses could be taken in whichever order benefited the player.
- RULING
- "Sorry this is wrong. You score first and take the bonus second." Lacerda additionally referred players to rulebook page 15.
Any building advances the LSS markerdesigner
- RULING
- The rules as written are correct — any building tile advances the LSS marker, including a single isolated building, and it may be the cube that levels the station.
Private goal cards may be spent as crystals freelydesigner
- RULING
- "You can discard your cards for crystals at anytime during your turn, and you can discard more than one."
A completed private goal cannot then be spent as a crystaldesigner
- RULING
- "You discard the card after completing the goal. You cannot use it as a crystal."
Both Earth contract types advance the contract missiondesigner
- RULING
- Delivery contracts and upgrade contracts both advance the mission marker when fulfilled during a player's turn. The contract's points are still scored at the end of the game, not when fulfilled.
A destroyed research tile does not count for the missiondesigner
- RULING
- "If you destroy it, it does not count, you need to use it."
Minerals are wild except for completing contractsdesigner
- RULING
- Minerals substitute for any other resource, including when hiring scientists, with the single exception of completing a contract.
Learn New Technology requires the leftmost column specificallydesigner
- RULING
- "Does it say leftmost. Does not say leftmost available." The new tech tile must go into the leftmost column of your Laboratory, not merely the leftmost column that happens to be free.
When the Remaining Missions cube movesdesigner
- RULING
- "You move the cube once when you accomplish a mission or upgrade the colony." Reaching colony level 3 reduces the missions needed to trigger the end of the game by one, and level 4 reduces it by one again.
AUTHOR: newrev (Vital Lacerda, designer)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(52 replies, 3 thumbs)DATE: 2019-04-24Setup order for shelters and LSS buildingsdesigner
- RULING
- "Place the first shelter close of each player. Then shuffle the 4 LSS buildings and place them facedown at random. Finaly flip them up."
Colonists with no shelter space are lostdesigner
- RULING
- Colonists returning with no free slot in your shelters are not banked — "they Get lost or die." The personal supply, which holds colonist meeples you have not yet gained, is unlimited and is a different thing from shelter capacity.
What Lacerda spends crystals on in the solo gamedesigner
- RULING
- "Lacerda only uses crystals to pay for worker placement and to increase the movement of the River [Rover]. He does not boost any other actions."
Lacerda's workers behave like a player's, except on traveldesigner
- RULING
- "Lacerda places workers like a normal player. He just doesn't return them when travel, but they leave the worker places when they are full and he has the majority." He does place a worker when a mine is built.
Lacerda's bot moves after every buildingdesigner
- RULING
- "The bot always move after any building."
Lacerda's colonist supply is effectively unlimiteddesigner
- RULING
- Lacerda continues placing colonists from his supply as the colony levels up; he is not limited the way a player is.
Lacerda's LSS reward choicedesigner
- RULING
- "When you build a building from the LSS system that is needed by the colony, you can choose 1 reward between 4. Lacerda chooses the retrieve a colonist reward if he has a colonist in the scientist spot."
Lacerda's bot movement distancedesigner
- RULING
- "Once up to 2 spaces. Same as main or executive actions."
You cannot use Lacerda's scientistsdesigner
- CONTEXT
- Asked whether Lacerda's scientists could be used on the solo player's blueprint to act for free.
- RULING
- "He will not give you that advantage."
You cannot use another player's shelter techdesigner
- CONTEXT
- Shelter tech tiles are printed in each player's colour, and the rulebook does not state whether they are usable by others the way all other tech is.
- RULING
- "It's forbidden."
Last researched: 2026-08-10
CATEGORIES
City Building·Economic·Exploration·Science Fiction·Space Exploration·Territory Building
MECHANICS
ContractsDelayed PurchaseEnd Game BonusesHexagon GridIncomeMovement PointsSet CollectionSolo / Solitaire GameTech Trees / Tech Tracks
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An opponent's settlement blocks your road network — your road cannot be built through or past an occupied intersection.
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Null cards deal 0 damage regardless of base value or any bonuses applied.
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