ROADMAP

Overview:

  • Estimated trophy difficulty: 2/10 with beneficial Game Rules (Cheats) on, 4/10 without (Platinum Difficulty Rating)
  • Offline trophies: 51 (38, 10, 2, 1)
  • Online trophies: N/A
  • Approximate amount of time to platinum: 60 Hours with beneficial Game Rules (Cheats) on, 120+ Hours without (Estimated Time to Platinum)
  • Minimum number of playthroughs: 8 - One per each Mission Sponsor, excluding International Mars Mission
  • Number of missable trophies: None
  • Glitched trophies: None
  • Does difficulty affect trophies?: No
  • Do trophies stack?: N/A
  • Do cheat codes disable trophies?: Some, see Walkthrough
  • Additional peripherals required?: N/A

 

Introduction

Surviving Mars is a city building sim brought to us by the creators of Tropico. The game is set in, as you know it, Mars where players will need to build and expand a Colony of space-faring hopefuls, deal with the harsh environments and hazards of the planet and explore the Mysteries of this planet.
 

Walkthrough

Step 1: Complete the Tutorial

Surviving Mars can be a rather complex game and if you don't know what you're doing, you'll find yourself constantly putting out fires all the time and struggling to make any progress. The game is akin to a sandbox building & management type and does not feature any story or campaign mode. However, players may select one of the dozen Mysteries that function as mini-scenarios for each of your playthroughs to inject a bit of narrative into the game. There's no trophy for this step, but rather it serves to familiarize you with the mechanics of the game.

As of Aug 2018, patch 1.04 was released for the PS4 allowing players to customize each playthrough with a series of "Game Rules". These Game Rules are designed to either make your life much easier, or significantly much harder. Some of these Game Rules will disable trophies so do pay attention to the tooltips under each one of them if you choose to do so. DO NOT start a new game in Creative Mode as trophies are disabled because certain Game Rules are on by default in this mode.

If you want a good challenge and you're really into micro-management, then I would suggest playing the game without any of the Game Rules. If you want an easier time, then following Game Rules will enable you to enjoy the game at a casual pace while still enabling trophies to be unlocked. You can read more at https://survivingmars.paradoxwikis.com/Game_Rules

  • Prefab Colony - Begin with free prefabs for all buildings necessary for a small colony
  • Fast Rockets - Rockets travel ten times faster
  • Fast Scanning - Sector scanning is ten times faster
  • Increased Production - The base production of all resources is doubled. Production from upgrades and other modifiers is unchanged.
  • More Applicants - Start with 500 additional applicants
  • Disable Disasters - Disables all disasters (excluding those coming from mysteries)


There's no right or wrong way to play the game, though as is staple for all building/management sims you want to be focused on securing resources, building ample production buildings and satisfying your population in order to grow comfortably. The same goes with Mysteries, there are no right or wrong choices, your choices will only affect what happens at each step of the mystery and potentially the amount/type of rewards obtained.


Step 2: Complete a playthrough with each of the Mission Sponsors

Excluding International Mars Mission, you'll need to play once as each of the 8 other Mission Sponsors and complete a specific task (not to be confused with the Mission Evaluation in-game mechanic which may or may not be related to the task required for the trophy). At the same time, you'll also need to complete specifically 6 of the 12 available Mysteries. Barring a couple of them, the Mysteries are really easy, straight forward and almost impossible to fail.

Keep a lookout for whenever you discover the breakthrough technologies “The Positronic Brain” and "Project Phoenix". You can discover a maximum of 19 out of 55 Breakthrough techs per playthrough, and the order you receive them is randomized but if you always pick the same location to start the game, it will always give you the same 19 techs but in random order. Therefore, if you did not get these breakthrough techs on a playthrough, then you must pick a different location to start the game the next time. The following trophies are related specifically to these 2 technologies - The Positronic Man , Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , and Immortality of a Kind

You'll be aiming to reach the endgame with at least one of the 8 Mission Sponsors, meaning reaching 1000+ Colonists for Multiplanet Species , researching all technologies for The Boundaries of Knowledge , building all the Wonders after you've researched them for The New Wonders of the World and subsequently turning your attention of the trophies Dream of a Green Mars and S.P.E.C.I.A.L in this particular playthrough.

Step 3: Clean Up

If there are any trophies left by the time you reach this step, please refer to the relevant trophy description for a method on how to unlock them as quickly as possible.

Most importantly, have fun!

[PST Would Like to Thank yewjhin for this Roadmap]

 

Space Race & Green Planet DLCs:

Overview:

  • Estimated trophy difficulty: 4/10 (Personal opinion)
  • Offline trophies: 20 (16, 4)
  • Online trophies: 0
  • Approximate amount of time to 100%: 30-40hrs (Personal opinion)
  • Minimum number of playthroughs: 10 (One as each of the Sponsor Factions in Space Race DLC)
  • Number of missable trophies: 10 (Limited time in each playthrough)
  • Glitched trophies: None
  • Does difficulty affect trophies?: No
  • Do trophies stack?: No
  • Do cheat codes disable trophies?: Some 'Game Rules' disable trophies. Read the in game description.
  • Additional peripherals required?: No

Walkthrough

Step 1: Complete all Space Race DLC trophies

The Space Race DLC now introduces other AI-controlled factions into the game. However this feature is entirely optional, is not required for any of the trophies, and can be disabled in the starting menu. For the Space Race DLC trophies, you'll be tasked to play as each of 7 designated factions and achieve a very specific goal, most of the time within 100 Sols. These can be quite challenging and I would recommend enabling any Game Rules that don't disable trophies in the menu. You can refer to the Game Rule description to see if it disables trophies.

For trophies that require 500% Challenge Rating, basically the map has to have an extreme amount of hazards (Dust Devil/Storms, Meteors, Cold Waves) and limited amount of resources. You can try using this link to look for suitable coordinates: LINK

At the end of this step, you will have earned the following:

Space Shopping
Tao
Space Capitalism
Europa Universalis
Waste Not, Want Not
The Pace of Progress
No Pain, No Gain
The Garden of Eden
Bushido
Gold Rush


Step 2: Complete all Green Planet DLC trophies

All of these trophies can be completed in a single playthrough and I would recommend to do this in conjunction with one of the easier trophies in the Space Race DLC (e.g. Space Shopping [USA] or Tao [China]) if you're keen on saving time. Basically you just need to follow the tutorial/hints that popup and keep increasing the terraforming properties of the planet by constructing specific buildings, completing research and special projects, then finally constructing a Capital City.

At the end of this step, you will have earned the following:

Move this Mountain!
Seeds of Life
Red Button
Tears of Joy
Fear my Botany Powers!
Now we need ducks
Detox
Skies of Blue
Creator of Worlds
Capital Achievement

[PST Would Like to Thank yewjhin for this Roadmap]

Surviving Mars Trophy Guide

Printable Guide
Show completed trophies
Show secret trophies

81 trophies ( 17  61  10  )

  • Collected all remaining Surviving Mars trophies

    Congratulations. You have conquered a new frontier in space.

  • Completed Mystery: The Power of Three

    Pick “The Power of Three” mystery when you start a new game. The mystery triggers automatically after a set amount of time (approximately 30 Sols) and will culminate in 1 of 3 possible outcomes depending on your actions. The trophy unlocks no matter what the outcome. As the mystery progresses, you must complete the breakthrough research technologies “Dark Spectrometry” and “SHEPID” to proceed to the next step. To get “Dark Spectrometry” to appear in the research screen, you must have one active Concrete Extractor which will be destroyed and acts as the trigger for the next step of the mystery.

    Recommendations:
    1) Have a lot of drones for this mystery.

    There are 3 possible outcomes depending on your choice of action in dealing with the Black Cubes appearing throughout the map – (1) Non-aggressive/Cautious: Store the black cubes in storage depots, (2) Aggressive: Destroy the black cubes, (3) Non-aggressive/Worship: Construct decorations out of Black Cubes. As far as I know, only choice (1) does not have any negative consequences.

    You’ll need to build Black Cube storage depots and the drones will automatically pick up the Black Cubes within their operational zone and store in the depots. Black Cubes will spawn randomly all over the map thus hindering your colony expansion unless dealt with through any of the 3 choice mentioned above. If you choose choice (1), towards the end, your drones will automatically start to build a dome-like Black Monument on its own from the accumulated Black Cubes, and once completed you’ll be rewarded with a random technology.

  • Completed Mystery: The Dredgers

    Pick “The Dredgers” mystery when you start a new game. The mystery triggers automatically after a set amount of time (approximately 30 Sols) and will culminate in 1 of 2 possible outcomes depending on your actions. The trophy unlocks no matter what the outcome.

    Recommendations:
    1) Have a couple of RC Commanders with 5-10 drones each for this mystery.

    In the early stage, there’ll be a meteor storm preventing resupplies from Earth. Subsequently, alien vessels will begin appearing on the map with an Anomaly next to them. Explore the Anomaly with a RC Explorer and research “Dredger Morphology Breakthrough” technology. Subsequently, send your RC Commanders to the alien Dredgers and destroy them. You’ll then need to research the “Dredger Wavelength Decoding” technology. More and more Dredgers will appear and you’ll be rewarded $100M in funding for each destroyed Dredger. At the end, you’ll receive a notification that a large Dredger is inbound. Destroy it and you’ll be rewarded with a pre-scripted breakthrough technology and another random technology.

  • Completed Mystery: Spheres

    Pick “Spheres” mystery when you start a new game. The mystery triggers when you analyse an Anomaly with the "eye" icon that will appear sometime after Sol 30. There is only one single outcome, and you must deal with all events to complete the mystery and unlock the trophy.

    Recommendations:
    1) Have lots of spare power capacity
    2) Prepare for Cold Waves

    At the site of the Anomaly is a Sphere that seems to be embedded in a pile of rocks. You'll need to select the Sphere with and perform 3 actions: (1) Use a RC Commander to pierce the shell, (2) Build a Sensor Tower nearby and attempt to communicate, (3) Build some power generators and a power accumulator nearby.

    When you have completed all 3 actions, the Sphere will break free and fly to your Colony for the next event, which requires you to research "Sphere Protection". Do that quickly or a few of your Colonists will die. Build a couple of power accumulators and make sure you have some spare power available to charge them, then just wait until an event prompts you that the "Purpose of the Spheres" research is available. Research that and build the Power Decoy building from the Infrastructure tab, it'll trap one of the many Spheres.

    By now if you've noticed, the Spheres tend to convert the areas below it into 'Cold Areas', similar to the Cold Wave disaster. This is a prelude to the next event, where a prolonged Cold Wave event will happen, and thus electricity consumption of all buildings will increase by 60% and water in storage tanks will freeze.

    As preparation, build Subsurface Heaters near your production buildings and Domes to heat up the area and counteract the cold effect. Once the next event triggers, quickly research the "Xeno-Terraforming" research that appears which costs a hefty 20,000 points. Once the research is completed, you can then dismantle any Spheres that you have captured with the Power Decoy buildings into Polymers, Metals or Rare Metals. You must capture and dismantle all Spheres to unlock the trophy.

  • Completed Mystery: Inner Light

    Pick “Inner Light” mystery when you start a new game. The mystery triggers automatically after a set amount of time (approximately 40 Sols)

    Recommendations:
    1) You need as many Colonists as possible (approximate 500) to complete the mystery
    2) Build Schools and keep your Colonists happy

    When the Mystery starts, a small portion of your Colonists will gain the 'Dreamer' trait. Every few Sols, the game will turn a hue of green indicating a "Dream" event is occuring, which is when these Colonists with the trait will collapse, suffer some Sanity/Morale penalties and will not be working.

    Starting off, you'll be asked to research the "Dream Simulation" breakthrough tech given to you. Thereafter, to consistently progress through each step of the mystery, you need to increase the number of Colonists with the Dreamer trait, and that can only be done 2 ways - Consistently expanding your population and building schools while selecting the option to teach the Dreamer trait to children. You'll probably need around 100-200 people with the Dreamer trait in order to trigger the final event.

    The mystery is fairly straightforward and will require you to make a few choices but ultimately at the end all Colonists with the Dreamer trait will gain +15 work performance and no more "Dream" event will occur. You also gain a random technology.

    Note: Sanatoriums can be customized to remove the Dreamer trait as it is deemed as a Flaw trait while the mystery is still active. It is said that removing the trait from all Colonists may end the mystery, but unknown if this counts as completing the mystery.

  • Completed Mystery: Artificial Intelligence

    Pick “Artificial Intelligence” mystery when you start a new game. The mystery triggers automatically after a set amount of time (approximately 30 Sols) and culminate in 1 of 2 possible outcomes depending on your actions. The trophy unlocks no matter what the outcome.

    Recommendations:
    1) When starting a new game, ideally choose a location which has a “relatively flat” topography
    2) To prepare for this mystery, you’ll need to have 2-3 Domes for this, in order to build Network Node spires that are required for progressing the mystery once triggered.
    3) You should stockpile food/water/O2 in depots & storage tanks and be prepared to rebuild some essential structures that could be destroyed due to scripted events: moisture evaporators, MOXIE, fungal farms etc.
    4) Have a couple of RC Explorers and make sure they can access all the different elevations all over the map to speed up the end step.

    In the early stage, you’ll be asked to build Network Nodes and you’ll receive funding rewards for each one built. After a while, the AI will go rogue, and drones will start destroying some of your essential structures (moisture vaporators, MOXIE, fungal farms etc). You need to research the “Number Six Tracing” technology and anomalies will appear all over the map, the anomalies with an eye as the symbol are the ones you want. You can look at the anomaly tooltip and it will mention something related to the mystery. You will want to analyse all these anomalies with RC Explorers as quickly as you can because drones will be attacking your structures periodically until all the anomalies are cleared. At the end step, your choice affects only the type of reward that you’ll receive.

  • Completed Mystery: Marsgate

    Pick “Marsgate” mystery when you start a new game. The mystery triggers automatically after 30-40 Sols. This is one of the more aggressive mysteries and you could lose control if not well prepared.

    Recommendations:
    1) Stockpile a lot of Electronics and Polymers from early on, you’ll need them for building defense turrets and for building repairs
    2) Try to keep your colony compact. Having long distances between Domes will stretch your defense thin and expose your Domes to danger of fractures (consistently lose water & O2, colonists lose sanity/comfort and may die) until repaired.

    Once the mystery triggers, EsoCorp Rovers will begin appearing on the map. They are non-hostile at this point, and after a while, one of the Rovers will breakdown and you'll need to analyse the Anomaly that appears next to it. Subsequently, you’ll get the chance to send RC Commanders with drones to repair EsoCorp Rovers and obtain $500M funding for each repair, so capitalize as much as possible on that. Mid-way through you’ll be asked to make a choice to expose EsoCorp or blackmail them, the choice only affects the reward (applicants, funding, Rare Metals, technology) at this step but all choices lead to the same ending.

    Towards the end, you’ll receive a notification that EsoCorp is sending a wave of Rovers to attack. Prioritize the “Defense Turret” (1000 Research) which appears now and proceed to build Defense Turrets to cover the perimeter of your colony and have the turrets’ coverage area overlap. Protect your Domes at all costs, call for resupplies if you are lacking resources. EsoCorp will attack in two waves, each wave consisting of about 10 Rovers, which can destroy most structures and rovers in 1 hit. The Defense Turrets have longer range than the Rovers but the Rovers can take 2-3 hits, so be prepared to rebuild turrets. After the first wave, you can also send RC Commanders (if any still remain) to repair the destroyed Rovers and turn them against the second wave. Once you have destroyed both waves, you’ll get a choice to put an EsoCorp rover on display or choose to be “prepared”. The former choice removes all destroyed rovers from the map immediately, whereas the latter option leaves the rovers where they are, allowing you to repair the rovers which can shoot down Meteors (like a mobile MDS Laser) or salvage the rovers for resources without any negative consequences. Obviously choosing the latter is recommended.

  • Built a Dome

    This will come naturally as the Dome is the only building which can house colonists, which is necessary for your colony’s expansion.

  • Refueled a Rocket

    When a Rocket lands on Mars, it needs to be refuelled in order to make the journey back to Earth (to be recalled as many times as you want with cargo or passengers). You’ll need to have a Fuel Refinery and a source of water (Moisture Evaporators or Water Extractor) to make fuel. You can order a Fuel Refinery prefab and a Moisture Evaporator prefab from the resupply menu, which should be staple of all starting colonies. Connect the water source to a Fuel Refinery via pipes and supply them power, and you’ll begin producing Fuel. Rockets require 50 Fuel to completely refuel in the beginning, and this can be reduced to 30 via research.

  • Harvested Food on Mars

    First you’ll need to build a Dome, as all food producing buildings need colonists to function. Food can be produced via Hydroponic Farm, Farm, or Fungal Farm. Botanists are the best specializations for food production. Hydroponic Farms are unlocked from the start whereas Farms and Fungal Farms need to be researched.

  • Analyzed an Anomaly

    On the map overview screen, you’ll need to scan sectors on the map to reveal resources and anomalies in each area. Once an Anomaly is detected, send your RC Explorer to explore the Anomaly with +

  • First child on Mars

    To ensure that your colonists reproduce, you’ll need to provide them a Dome with a minimum level of comfort and have at least a couple of opposite sex. Without an Infirmary, the minimum Comfort level required for birth is 70, whereas with a staffed Infirmary the required Comfort level is reduced to 55. Higher Comfort levels will contribute more to a hidden birth meter each Sol whereupon a new child will be born once the birth meter is filled. Comfort levels can be increased by providing amenities through construction of specific in-dome buildings and satisfying the interests of the population – Dining, Social, Relaxation, Luxury, Gaming, Shopping, Relaxation, Food etc. Each in-dome building will display the comfort level that the building is providing, for example Smart Homes provide 70 Comfort compared to Apartments which provide 30 Comfort. Building upgrades can be unlocked through research to boost the Comfort level further.

  • Passed the Colony Approval stage

    Once you’ve landed your first batch of Colonists on Mars, you’ll need to ensure that they survive for 10 Sols, which is known as the Colony Approval stage. If all your colonists die, you’ll fail and the game ends. However, if you successfully managed to give birth to a child during the stage (see Marvin, the Martian ) you’ll instantly be granted Colony Approval no matter how many Sols remain.

  • Reached 250 Colonists

    See Multiplanet Species trophy.

  • Reached 1000 Colonists

    Time Saver: Do this together with Dream of a Green Mars and S.P.E.C.I.A.L

    After passing the Colony Approval stage, keep expanding your colony by building more Domes, securing resources and keep your population Comfort levels high to encourage more births. You’ll want to maintain a Comfort level of at least 70 as anything below that means your population isn’t growing. You can also use the resupply function to call for Colonists from Earth, but keep in mind it takes time to replenish the pool of applicants.

  • Researched all non-Breakthrough Technologies

    Time Saver: Do this in conjunction with New Wonders of the World

    In the Research menu accessed via , excluding Breakthrough technologies there are 5 main tech-trees of Research – Biotech, Engineering, Robotics, Physics and Social. Every time a technology is research in one tech-tree, it opens up the next one in the same tech-tree. Every subsequent technology unlocked costs more research points. You can also discover new technologies to be researched by analysing Anomalies found by scanning the map. You’ll need to research every single technology in all 5 main tech-trees for this trophy.

    Research points are injected into your chosen/queued technology every Sol and can be increased by building Research Labs & Science Institutes and outsourcing research by using funding. There are also other technologies that either boost the efficiency of Research Labs & Science Institutes, convert spare power into research (breakthrough tech), or increase research contribution from your sponsor or RC Explorers. Keep in mind that having multiple Research buildings & RC Explorers will incur a “collaboration loss”, meaning subsequent identical buildings will operate less optimally even when fully staffed to a point that research gained = research loss for a particular individual building/rover. This usually occurs if you have 5-6 of the same building/rover. Research Labs and Science Institutes count as separate buildings so “collaboration loss” does not carry over between the two types of buildings.

  • Scanned all Sectors

    At the start of the game, one of the key steps is to identify resources on the map and this is done by pressing and access the map overview. Here you’ll see the entire map divided into sectors. Highlight any sector of the map you wish to scan and press . You can queue up to 10 sectors to be scanned. Scanning speed is dependent on how far the sector is from your colony and can be boosted by building Sensor Towers. If you have selected “Fast Scanning” in the Game Rules when starting a new game, you’ll be able to scan the entire map in less than 10 minutes.

    To perform a deep scan, you need to have researched either the Adapted Probes or Deep Scanning technology. With Adapted Probes, you can deep scan using probes that are bought using funding through resupply rockets, whereas Deep Scanning allows you to scan all sectors without cost much like the basic version of scanning, only much faster. Deep scan will reveal deep water, metal and rare metal deposit that are usually much very rich but will require the appropriate technology researched in order to exploit them.

  • Deep scanned all Sectors

    See Can’t Stop the Signal

  • Reached $100,000 M

    Time Saver: Start a new game and pick Blue Sun Corporation as your mission sponsor to nail Building a Better Future at the same time. Otherwise, go for this together with The Rabbit Hole and New Wonders of the World .

    The main method of securing additional funds is to export Rare Metals, which are carried by refuelled Rockets heading back to Earth or via the Space Elevator. Each mission sponsor will pay you a specific amount of funds for each unit of Rare Metal exported, which can be checked in the new game menu. Some mission sponsors (USA) will also send you additional funds periodically or for completing objectives but relying on that alone will take a long time. While expanding your colony, you’ll need to strike a balance between exporting Rare Metals and stockpiling some to be processed into Electronics in your Electronics Factories, while continuing to source for new deposits to be mined. Towards the end game however, you can research the Mohole Mine wonder which can be built anywhere and will supply you with an endless supply of Metals and Rare Metals.

  • Built 1000 buildings

    You must build 1000 buildings in a single playthrough. The easiest way is to build Solar Panels which only cost 0.8 Metals each when you've reached the endgame while having the Mohole Main wonder built which gives you endless supply of Metals.

  • Landed 50 Rockets on Mars in a single playthrough

    In a single playthrough, land a Rocket on Mars, refuel it, send it back to Earth and repeat 50 times. You’ll likely achieve this when going for How Much is a Googol? at the same time.

  • Built a Dome Spire

    First you’ll need to have researched an appropriate technology, for example: Water Reclamation, Microgravity Medicine, Arcology which unlocks the relevant Spire for construction. Spires can only be built in Domes that have space for one, but since every basic Dome can support one spire, this pre-requisite won’t be a problem.

  • Built a Shuttle Hub

    Shuttle Hubs are available for construction once you have researched “CO2 propulsion” technology in the Robotics tech-tree. If you picked the Rocket Scientist commander profile when starting the game, the technology will be unlocked automatically. Built the structure to unlock the trophy.

  • Shot down a meteorite

    You must not enable the "No Disasters" Game Rule to unlock this trophy, otherwise it disables all Meteor Storms which is required for this trophy. To shoot down a meteorite, you need to research the “Meteor Defense System” technology in the Robotics tech-tree. Build a Sensor Tower and you’ll receive early warnings of where Meteor Storms will occur. Quickly head over to the sector and build the MDS Laser and it’ll shoot down a Meteor.

    Alternatively, if you are doing the “Marsgate” mystery, you can repair one of EsoCorps’ rovers during the attack and you need to choose to keep the rover at the end of the mystery. These rovers are mobile and function exactly like the MDS Laser building.

  • Reached 200 Vegans

    Time Saver: Do this together with Multiplanet Species and S.P.E.C.I.A.L

    Vegans are a type of trait classified as 'Quirks'. There's no way of cultivating this perk in your Colonists so you'll be dependent on the randomness of traits assigned to Colonist whether through bringing in applicants from Earth or children born on Mars. Therefore, you'll want to build up your Colony and have as many Domes as possible to accommodate potentially up to 2000+ Colonists.

    During your playthrough, you can filter and select Colonists coming in through the resupply menu to have the "Vegan" trait. Build Medical Centers in your Domes, research technologies such as Stem Reconstruction (Biotech) and Holographic Scanning (Biotech), Keep bringing in Colonists, maintain a population with high birth rates and you'll reach 200 Vegans eventually.

  • Reached 100 Colonists living in a single Dome

    You’ll likely achieve this when going for Multiplanet Species trophy. Larger domes can accommodate more residences and thus more colonists while having space to build other amenities and maintain a decent Comfort level.

  • Treated 50 Colonists in a Sanatorium

    The Sanatorium is a spire building that unlocks after researching the “Behavioral Shaping” technology in the Social tech-tree, usually unlocked towards mid-game phase of a playthrough. At any time, the Sanatorium can be instructed to treat 3 out of 7 types of flaws from Colonists - Alcoholic, Gambler, Glutton, Lazy, Chronic Condition, Melancholic and Coward. There’s a total of 12 types of flaws, but the rest cannot be treated.

    For maximum effectiveness, ideally a Sanatorium should be built in a high population dome that can support a spire. Inspect the Sanatorium periodically to see if there are people staffed in the dome, meaning they are getting treated for the flaws that you have selected. If there aren’t any, choose other flaws and you’ll see other colonists with the respective flaws start to staff the building.

    All 50 Colonists must be treated in a single playthrough, and you'll get this automatically if you're going for the S.P.E.C.I.A.L trophy using the methods described in that trophy.

  • Played as USA and researched all technologies in the Engineering tech-tree before Sol 100

    Pick USA as your mission sponsor when starting a new game. USA pays well for exported Rare Metals and gives you periodic funding, make use of that to outsource research from the get go.

    After setting up your Colony and ensuring you’ve got all the essentials covered through production (metals, food, polymers), start building Research Labs and focus all your research in the Engineering tech-tree unless you really need a tech in the other tech-trees for optimization or to boost your research. You can use RC Explorers to analyse Anomalies and unlock more technologies for research ahead of time.

    Once you have 3-4 Research Labs running on 2 shifts each, you’ll want to start building Science Institutes (unlocked in Social tech-tree) because any more Research Labs will not results in gains due to diminishing returns as a result of the ‘collaboration loss’ ingame mechanic.

  • Played as Blue Sun Corporation and exported 500 units of Rare Metals to Earth before Sol 100

    Pick Blue Sun Corporation as your mission sponsor when starting a new game. Blue Sun Corporation pays the highest for Rare Metal exports and has the Deep Metal Extraction technology unlocked from the start and its probes can Deep Scan so by combining the two, you’ll be able to discover rich deep Rare Metal deposits early on.

    After setting up your Colony and ensuring you’ve got all the essentials covered through production (metals, food, polymers), start exploring the map and setting up domes where Rare Metals have been discovered.

    Whatever Rare Metals that are not used for producing Electronics should be exported, and at this point it’ll be worthwhile buying an extra rocket or two. Each Rocket carries up to 30 Rare Metals, you need to make sure the export function is turned on (on by default) on each Rocket and you should utilize the cycle function to make them land and depart automatically at a location near to where your Rare Metal & Fuel stockpiles are for quick exports.

  • Played as China and reached a population of 200 before Sol 100

    Pick China as your mission sponsor when starting a new game. China’s Rockets can carry double the normal amount of Colonists and also has double the applicant pool for Colonists.

    After setting up your Colony and ensuring you’ve got all the essentials covered through production (metals, food, polymers), you’ll want to focus on growing sufficient food and building more Domes to increase your population. Call for passenger Rockets (preferably with the ‘Sexy’ trait) whenever you think you can support them, keep the population Comfort levels high and ensure that each Dome has a fully staffed Infirmary with Medics to encourage birth rates.

  • Played as India and had 5 Domes before Sol 100

    Pick India as your mission sponsor when starting a new game. When playing as India, all building costs are reduced by 20%. All you have to do is build and populate a starting Dome, secure sufficient Concrete and Metals then just build 5 Domes anywhere.

  • Played as Europe and researched 5 Breakthrough Technologies before Sol 100

    Pick Europe as your mission sponsor when starting a new game. Somewhat similar to playing as the USA, call for a RC Explorer through resupplies after you’ve set up your initial dome and start analysing Anomalies that are revealed on the map through scanning. Anomalies with the “Key” symbol are the ones that will have a chance of granting Breakthrough Technologies, so you need to be diligent in managing your RC Explorer and then setting up a couple of Research Labs to research 5 Breakthrough Technologies. Europe grants funding for each completed technology research, so make sure of that to call for resupplies or outsource research.

  • Played as SpaceY and controlled 200 Drones before Sol 100

    Pick SpaceY as your mission sponsor when starting a new game. Secure a Rare Metal deposit early on and start exporting the Rare Metals, then just buy 200 Drones through resupplies. You’ll want to research the Drone Swarm early Robotics tech to make sure your Drone Hubs can manage up to 100 Drones each and make full use of those Drones you’re calling in.

  • Played as Russia and extracted 10000 resource units from Deposits before Sol 100

    Pick Russia as your mission sponsor when starting a new game. After setting up your Colony and ensuring you’ve got all the essentials covered through production (metals, food, polymers), you’ll want to focus on aggressive expansion and sufficient power for extractors. One of the easiest resources to extract are Concrete and Water as they do not need Colonists to staff them, and you can build as many depots as you want to store the excess resources. Supplement that with your Colony’s expansion and secure Metals and Rare Metals to produce Machine Parts and Electronic for building maintenance or build Research Labs to unlock technologies that boost resource mining/production.

  • Played as the Church of the New Ark and had 100 people born on Mars before Sol 100

    Pick Church of the New Ark as your mission sponsor when starting a new game. Birthrate is doubled when playing as this faction and you need to have accumulated 100 Martianborns in total before Sol 100, Colonists from Earth do not count. Similar to playing as China, you should prioritize maintaining high Comfort levels but less focus on food production & importing of Colonists from Earth. You’ll want to stockpile different type of resources and ensure that Infirmaries are fully staffed by Medics and all interests are satisfied by having different types of services – Diners, Grocers, Art Workshop, Electronics Stores and Spacebars, maybe Casino Complexes if you can afford to maintain them. The Medical Center spire building, unlocked by researching Microgravity Medicine in Biotech tech-tree can be upgraded to increase birth-rates through the Holographic Scanning tech also in Biotech tech-tree.

  • Had a Colonist with all four stats at maximum

    Each Colonist has four stats – Health, Sanity, Comfort and Morale. As long as you keep your Colonists well fed and satisfied you’ll have no problem achieving this. All you need is just one single Colonist with his stats maxed out.

    • Health - As long as you supply your Colonists with food, water, oxygen and sufficient accommodation, they will recover and maintain high Health and Sanity levels.
    • Sanity - Colonists lose Sanity when working outside the Dome (little), working overtime or night shifts, witness deaths of fellow Colonists, disasters strike or there is insufficient necessities (food/water/oxygen/accommodation). Sanity is recovered through rest or visiting medical buildings.
    • Comfort – Comfort is raised by satisfying Colonists’ interests via service buildings such as Spacebars, Art Workshop, Electronics Store, Gardens etc. This stat is the one that needs most work
    • Morale – Morale is affected by Health, Sanity and Comfort. Having high levels of all the above stats will result in the Colonist having high Morale as well. Morale is also raised when the Colonist has the Religious trait, researching the Neural Empath (unlocks rare trait – Empath) or Inspiring Architecture (Domes with Spires increase Morale of all inhabitants) breakthrough technologies.
  • Had an Earthsick Colonist who decided to stay on Mars

    Only Colonists from Earth can become Earthsick. They become Earthsick when their Comfort level drops below 20. If a Rocket arrives while the Colonist is Earthsick, he will board that Rocket and return to Earth and is lost forever. To keep the Colonist on Mars, do not call for any Rocket resupplies and work to increase the Colonist’s Comfort by inspecting his Interests and building the complementary service buildings.

  • Had a Colonist with 2 Rare traits

    You’ll most likely get this while going for the S.P.E.C.I.A.L trophy. All Colonists are born with traits, which are further segregated into Perks, Flaws or Quirks. The Rare Traits are the perks known as Celebrity, Genius, Saint. Colonists born on Mars (Martianborn) will develop traits once they reach adulthood. The chances of a Colonist having a rare trait can be boosted by researching the Social technology "Behavioural Melding" (Replaces removed flaws in Sanatorium with random Perks) and breakthrough technologies "Neural Empathy" (Unlocks Rare Trait – Empath) & "Gene Selection" (Doubles the chance that a Colonist will have or gain a Rare Trait).

    For this trophy, I suggest periodically reviewing the list of applicants of Colonists on Earth and picking out any Colonist that has 2 out of the above rare traits. This is a little luck based, but you can also boost your chances on the side by constructing Sanatoriums in your Domes, upgrade them with the Behavioural Melding technology, keep birth rates high and keep expanding your population. Eventually one of your Colonists will gain 2 of the rare traits. In my Colony of 2000+ population I had close to 50 Colonists with 2 Rare Traits.

  • Passed the Colony Approval stage with a single Founder

    This is a reference to the film The Martian. Once you’ve set up your first Dome, you can call only one Colonist from Mars. I highly recommend that you pick the Religious trait along with as many beneficial perks as possible. The Religious trait gives the Colonist higher base Morale and prevents him from committing suicide due to low Sanity. As you only have one Colonist, it is pretty much impossible to produce anything with him during the Colony Approval stage (10 Sols). You’ll need to call for resupplies, mainly for Food, but also other resources that the drones will need for building maintenance.

  • Had a Colonist with 5 Perks

    Each Colonist can have a maximum of 5 traits at one time. Beneficial traits are known as Perks, whereas negative ones are known as Flaws, and there are some traits in between known as Quirks. It is extremely rare that an applicant Colonist from Earth or one born on Mars (Martianborn) would have 5 perks from the get go, so this requires a bit of work.

    You'll need the following setup below in order to increase your chances of unlocking this trophy. Once you have everything in place, all you need to do is wait.

    • Colony Size - Build your Colony to be able to sustain a population of 1000-2000
    • Build Schools - These buildings can teach Children up to 3 Perks, very invaluable
    • Research "Martianborn Adaptability" Social tech - Martianborn Colonists graduate faster in Universities and Sanatoriums and have higher chance to gain Perks from Schools.
    • Research "Behavioral Shaping" Social tech - This technology will unlock the Sanatorium spire building, which can be customized remove up to 7 types of Flaws from Colonists, and can treat 3 out of 7 Flaws at any moment.
    • Research "Behavioral Melding" Social tech - This technology allows Sanatoriums to be upgraded to replace any Flaw removed during treatment with a random Perk
    • Research "Dream Reality" Social tech - This unlocks the Project Morpheus wonder. Once built, the Wonder will grant Colonists everywhere random Perks from time to time.
    • (OPTIONAL) Research "Gene Selection" Breakthrough tech - This technlogy doubles the chance that a Colonist will be born with or acquire Rare traits. As the only Rare Traits are Celebrity, Genius, Saint which are all beneficial Perks, this is a good tech to have. However, since Breakthrough tech are randomized in each playthrough, it's down to your luck if you get this tech.
    • (OPTIONAL) Research "Multispiral Architecture" Breakthrough tech - This unlocks the Oval Dome which allows for 2 Spires to be built within. Sanatoriums can only treat 3 Flaws at one time. Although you can switch which flaws to be treated anytime, this change needs to be done manually, and can be a hassle when dealing with many domes. With this Dome you can build 2 Sanatoriums within and customize each one to treat different flaws for a total of 6 at a time, reducing the need for micromanagement. However, since Breakthrough tech are randomized in each playthrough, it's down to your luck if you get this tech.


    Notes:

    1. I left the game running on its own for quite some time while waiting, and only unlocked the trophy when I accessed the resupply menu, wanting to call in some Colonists. As the game is paused when you access any menus, this trophy could potentially be bugged in the sense that the game only checks if you've fulfilled the conditions when in the menus (perhaps too much processing power used when running 2000+ Colonists)
    2. When I unlocked the trophy, I checked all 2600 Colonists of mine, and none of them seemed to have 5 Perks. A majority of them did have 4 Perks + the 'Martianborn' Quirk. It is possible that the 'Martianborn' Quirk could also be a Perk as Martianborns Colonists do acquire many beneficial advantages through researching other technologies. You can see the full list of Perks, Flaws and Quirk at Surviving Mars Paradox Wiki
  • Constructed 5 different Wonders in a single playthrough

    Time Saver: Do this together with The Boundaries of Knowledge

    Wonders are mega structures that are usually unlocked by reaching the end of each of the 5 main research tech-trees. There is a total of 7 wonders, and you’ll need to construct each one anyway for their respective trophies, so you might as well build 5 of them in a single playthrough. Each Wonder requires a lot of resources, typically Concrete, Metals, Machine Parts, Electronics and Polymers but bestow many end game benefits and when combined with all the prior technologies can potentially make your Colony self-sufficient to the point that no more management is necessary if well placed.

    List of Wonders

    • Space Elevator – (Engineering Tech-tree: Orbital Engineering) Exports Rare Metals to Earth (without need for Rockets) and offers resupply materials and prefabs at a discount
    • Geoscape Dome – (Biotech Tech-tree: Localized Terraforming) Grants high levels of Comfort and restores Sanity to all inhabitants every Sol
    • Artificial Sun – (Physics Tech-tree: Micro Fusion) Produces colossal amounts of Power. It provides light for nearby Solar Panels during the dark hours and heats the surrounding area. Consumes vast amounts of Water on startup
    • Omega Telescope – (Physics Tech-tree: Interplanetary Astronomy) Gives access to new Breakthrough Technologies and boosts overall research
    • Mohole Mine – (Robotics Tech-tree: Project Mohole) Extracts Metals, Rare Metals and Waste Rock without the need of a deposit, while heating the surrounding area
    • The Excavator – (Robotics Tech-tree: Large Scale Excavation) Produces Concrete directly from the Martian soil without requiring a deposit
    • Project Morpheus – (Social Tech-tree: Dream Reality) Stimulates the development of new Perks in adult Colonists throughout the entire Colony
  • Had a Biorobot Colonist

    See Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

  • Had a Dome populated by at least 50 Biorobot Colonists

    Biorobot Colonists can be constructed in the Drone Assembler once you have researched the breakthrough technology “The Positronic Brain”. You can discover a maximum of 19 out of 55 Breakthrough techs per playthrough, and the order you receive them is randomized but if you always pick the same location to start the game, it will always give you the same 19 techs but in random order, so this is somewhat luck based, therefore it is better if you start a new game without any Mystery selected as Mysteries usually will take up 2 of the 19 breakthrough technologies. If you did not get these breakthrough techs on a playthrough, then you must pick a different location to start the game the next time.

    Analysing Anomalies throughout the map with RC Explorers will grant a chance for up to approximately 15 breakthrough technologies to be discovered depending on how many Anomalies there are on the map, whereas the wonder The Omega Telescope will reveal the rest of the breakthrough technologies that have not been discovered, up to the maximum of 19 per playthrough as mentioned above.

    In the Dome management infopanel, you can filter what traits of Colonists that can inhabit the particular Dome, and Biorobot Colonists will have the Biorobot trait, so pick that trait as favourable in one single Dome and remember to pick the Biorobot trait as unfavourable in all other Domes. Biorobot Colonists eat and sleep similar to normal Colonists, but they do not age or reproduce.

  • Had a citizen that was reconstructed by project Phoenix

    Project Phoenix is a breakthrough technology. You can discover a maximum of 19 out of 55 Breakthrough techs per playthrough, and the order you receive them is randomized but if you always pick the same location to start the game, it will always give you the same 19 techs but in random order, so this is somewhat luck based, therefore it is better if you start a new game without any Mystery selected as Mysteries usually will take up 2 of the 19 breakthrough technologies. If you did not get these breakthrough techs on a playthrough, then you must pick a different location to start the game the next time.

    Analysing Anomalies throughout the map with RC Explorers will grant a chance for up to approximately 15 breakthrough technologies to be discovered depending on how many Anomalies there are on the map, whereas the wonder The Omega Telescope will reveal the rest of the breakthrough technologies that have not been discovered, up to the maximum of 19 per playthrough as mentioned above.

    Once you have research Project Phoenix, there is a 50% that a Colonist that dies can be reconstructed as a youth with the same traits, so pass the time and wait for it.

 

Secret trophies

DLC: Space Race

10 trophies

  • Played as USA and had a Geoscape Dome with a Megamall before Sol 100

    The Geoscape Dome is the final technology to be researched in the Biotech tree, whereas the Megamall is an unique building exclusive to USA, under the 'Dome Services' building category. Complete researching the Biotech tree and then build a Geoscape Dome with a Megamall within before Sol 100.

  • Tao

     

    Played as China and had Tai-chi Gardens in 10 Domes before Sol 100

    Tai-chi Gardens are the unique building for China, which grants high Comfort. Build 10 Domes and a Tai-chi Gardens in each of dome before Sol 100.

  • Played as Blue Sun Corporation and produced $100,000 M Funding before Sol 100

    This is going to be a mild challenge. I highly emphasize picking the Politician commander profile which increases all Funding gains by 20%, an easy location with 4 rating in all resources, with 'No Disasters', 'Fast Rockets' and 'Increased Production', in addition to all other the beneficial game rules that do not disable trophies (6 of them, refer to Roadmap). You need to be consistently doing these below, there is no time for rest. I unlocked this trophy with only 4 Sols to spare.

    1. Export Rare Metals. Each Rare Metal is worth a base $30M to BlueSun, so that's alot of Rare Metals that needs exporting
    2. Bring in 'Tourist' colonists from Earth. Each colonist with the 'Tourist' trait will bring $10M funding, and leave after 5 Sols, provided there is rocket leaving Mars at that time. For each Tourist that completes the trip to and back, it will generate 2 more Tourist applicants on Earth
    3. Build 2 or 3 Corporate Offices with full staff (2 workshifts) - Each Corporate Office generates about $30M per sol. It's not much but it adds up when you have a few of them, and over time.
    4. Manage your colony to ensure it doesn't run out of resources and has enough food to sustain the Tourists
  • Played as Europe and reached daily production of 10,000 Research before Sol 100

    This playthrough will require you to prioritize securing Rare Metals to produce Electronics, and research all technologies that give a boost to research points. You are going to need a colony size of about 300+, with a majority of them scientists (either from Earth or trained in Martian University).

    Keep in mind that if you have the multiple of the same Research buildings in the same Dome, each building suffers from Collaboration Losses. Try to limit to maximum of 2 per dome, even if you have a big dome with the Network Node spire, have them staffed with Scientists. You need reach a daily total of 10,000 Research which is no small feat.

    2x RC Explorers = 160 Points total (200 Points - 40 Collaboration Loss)
    Sponsor Research = 400 Points base, can be increased via Research & Special Projects up to around 1200 Points before Sol 100
    Genius Colonists = 150 Points each, when at high sanity
    Research Lab = Average 400 Points each
    Hawking Institue = Average 650 Points each
    Low G-Lab = Average 300 Points each
    Outsource Research = Maximum 1000 Points per Sol

  • Played as India and converted 3000 Waste Rock to useful materials before Sol 100

    Build lots of extractors and build the sponsor unique building Metals Refinery near them, which will process 10 Waste Rock into 1 Metal. Once you've processed 3000 Waste Rock, which should be sometime around Sol 50, the trophy will unlock. You can check the total waste rock processed in each of the Metals Refinery building tab, and sum up the totals to monitor your progress.

  • Played as SpaceY and complete all Sponsor Goals on challenge rating 500% or higher

    Start a new game, pick SpaceY as mission sponsor and Futurist as commander profile. Skip the next 2 menus and search for a colony location with challenge rating of 560% or higher, usually this will be a location with scarce resources but maximum threats (I did this at coordinates 7N116W).

    Go back to the first menu and then choose "No Disasters" game rule and "Increased Production", then check that the rating on the top left is at least 500%. If it is, start the game and play as normal until your complete all Sponsor Goals (press and navigate to Mission Profile to monitor your Sponsor Goals progress). There is no time limit for this.

  • Played as Russia and had 500 colonists on challenge rating 500% or higher

    Start a new game, pick Russia as mission sponsor and Futurist as commander profile. Skip the next 2 menus and search for a colony location with challenge rating of 560% or higher, usually this will be a location with scarce resources but maximum threats (I did this at coordinates 7N116W).

    Go back to the first menu and then choose "No Disasters" game rule and "Increased Production" and check that the rating on the top left is at least 500%. If it is, start the game and play as normal until you hit 500 colonists. There is no time limit for this.

  • Played as Church of the new Ark and had 250 Colonists at 70+ Comfort before Sol 100

    Pick Church of the new Ark as mission sponsor and Ecologist as commander profile. Beware that this isn't an easy task as this mission sponsor only gives you 1 Rocket to start and very very little funding. It is imperative that you secure a Rare Metal deposit and start exporting ASAP.

    Once you've got your economy running, build domes near Vistas, which will provide comfort boosts to your colonists and build the Hanging Gardens spire where possible in each dome if you've got plenty of water, otherwise build the Temple spire. Grow your colony to about 300+ colonists, keep them happy with lots of Dome service buildings and this should come naturally two-thirds of the way to 100 Sols.

  • Played as Japan and trained 200 specialists before Sol 100

    Pick Japan as mission sponsor and Doctor as commander profile, along with the "More Applicants" game rule. Basically grow your colony and only call in colonists with 'No Specializations'. Build Martian Universities which will train them into specialists (Engineers, Geologists, Scientists, Botanist) etc. that are required for your economy. Build lots of production buildings like Metal/Rare Metal Extractors and Polymer/Machine/Electronics Factories and for food production, where possible go for Farms or Fungal Farms instead of ranches, because ranches don't require specializations to operate.

  • Played as Brazil and converted 2000 Waste Rock to Rare Metals before Sol 100

    Play as Brazil, build lots of extractors and the sponsor unique building Rare Metals refinery next to them. This will come naturally over time.

DLC: Green Planet

10 trophies

  • Had a RC Dozer complete a landscaping project

    The RC Dozer is a new Rover that you can order as cargo for Resupply from Earth. It's main purpose is to terraform and flatten the terrain.

  • Harvested Seeds on Mars

    Seeds can initially be produced in Hydroponic Farms and Farms, then later on via Open Farms and Forestation Plants once researched and the pre-requisite terraforming parameters of 10% Water and 15% Temperature have been met.

  • Nuked the Polar Caps

    To do this, you need to research the 'Nuclear Terraforming' technology in the terraforming tech tree. Thereafter, new planetary projects will appear as "Melt the Polar Caps". Complete the project to unlock this.

  • Had water rain on Mars

    This will come naturally on the way to achieving Creator of Worlds.

  • Planted a tree

    First research the 'Adapted Vegetation' technology, then raise the terraforming parameters to 17.5% Water and Temperature, then set your Forestation Plants to begin planting trees.

  • Had a lake with liquid water

    Complete researching the 'Lake Crafting' terraforming technology and raise the Temperature parameter to 25%, then build a lake afterwards. Building a lake before that will just result in a frozen lake and even if it melts afterwards due to increasing Temperature parameter, it won't count.

  • Endured the Toxic Rains

    The trophy description for this is misleading. Make sure you don't have the "No Disasters" game rule active when you start a game. Basically you need to raise Atmosphere and Temperature parameters to above 55% and Water above 5%. Thereafter you'll get an in-game notification that Toxic Rains will no longer occur.

  • Created blue skies by terraforming

    Raise your Atmosphere parameter to above 50% by building Carbonate Processor and Magnetic Field Generators, then completing the "Import Greenhouse Gases" planetary project.

  • Maxed all Terraforming Parameters

    You need to get all four parameters to 100% simultaneously.

    Atmosphere: Increased by building Carbonate Processor and Magnetic Field Generators and completing the "Import Greenhouse Gases" planetary special project.

    Temperature: Increased by building GHG Factory, Core Heat Convector buildings and completing the "Launch Spare Mirror" planetary special project.

    Water: Increased by building Lakes, and completing "Capture Ice Asteroids", "Cloud Seeding" and "Melt the Polar Caps" planetary special project.

    Vegetation: Increased by building Forestation Plants, which can only raise the parameter up to 40%. Thereafter the only way to further increase is to repeatedly complete the "Seed Vegetation" planetary special project.

  • Constructed a Capital City

    The Capital City is a new type of Dome, available once you attain 95% Atmosphere and 50% Temperature terraforming. If the Atmosphere drops below 95%, any colonist within the Capital City will suffocate.

DLC: Below and Beyond

10 trophies

  • Successfully returned from an asteroid

  • Visited 3 asteroids simultaneously

  • Completed all techs in the recon & expansion tech tree

  • Retrieved all resources from an asteroid & leave nothing behind

  • Prevented 100 Cave-ins from Underground Marsquakes

  • All your colonists live underground (at least 200 colonists)

  • Went game over as your last colonists left Mars behind to take a trip into the great unknown

 

Secret trophies

  • Fully developed a buried wonder to benefit your colony

  • Fully developed all buried wonders in the underground, before sol 100

  • Had a single Asteroid Lander visit 10 asteroids before returning to Mars

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