Terraforming Mars

This guide uses the standard 2–5-player game: remove Corporate Era cards, start at 20 TR and one production in each of the six resources, then apply corporation adjustments. Each generation has Player Order, Research, Action and Production phases. Skip Player Order and Research in the first generation.

During the Action phase, take one or two actions on your turn, then pass play clockwise; you may act again on later turns. Taking no actions means passing for the generation, after which you cannot act again. Each red-arrow action on a corporation or blue card is available at most once per generation; ongoing effects without a red arrow follow their triggers.

During Research, draw four cards, pay 3 M€ for each you keep and discard the rest face down. There is no hand limit. Playing a card separately requires meeting its conditions and paying its printed cost. Steel pays only for building-tag projects, normally at 2 M€ each; titanium pays only for space-tag projects, at 3 M€ each. Overpayment gives no change.

Production occurs simultaneously only after everyone has passed. First convert all old energy into heat, then gain M€ equal to TR plus money production and gain the resources shown by your other production tracks. Newly produced energy stays in the energy box. Finally remove used-action markers. You cannot collect the generation's production early during the Action phase.

Raising oxygen or temperature while below its maximum, or placing an ocean, normally increases TR accordingly. Basic conversions spend eight plants for one greenery or eight heat for one temperature step. A greenery raises oxygen, but provides no TR from oxygen once that parameter is complete. Standard projects remain available and can be used repeatedly in a generation, subject to their costs and placement restrictions.

Oceans go only on reserved spaces and have no owner. Each adjacent ocean gives 2 M€ when a tile is later placed. Place greenery next to one of your own tiles whenever a legal adjacent space exists. Cities normally cannot be adjacent to other cities, with exceptions specified by cards. At game end, each of your greeneries scores one point; each city scores one point per adjacent greenery, regardless of its owner.

Claim a milestone by meeting its condition and paying 8 M€. Each can be claimed once, at most three in total, and each scores five points. Funding awards costs 8, then 14, then 20 M€, with at most three funded; funding one does not guarantee winning it. At game end, first place scores five and second two, except that second scores nothing in a two-player game. Tied first places each score five and eliminate second place; tied second places each score two.

Once temperature reaches +8°C, oxygen 14% and all nine oceans are placed, finish the current generation. Continue actions until everyone passes, perform normal production, then allow final plant-to-greenery conversions in player order. Add TR, awards, milestones, tile points and points on played cards. Highest total wins, with remaining M€ breaking ties.