History TabletopGame / TerraformingMars

* ShoutOut: In the manual, the examples of how the game works involve a hypothetical game between three players named [[Literature/RedMarsTrilogy Kim, Stanley, and Robinson]].

* SkillGateCharacter: The helpfully named Beginner Corporation lets you keep all 10 research cards that you draw at the start of the game without paying their costs. This is very useful for simplifying the early portion of the game if you're learning to play, but the Beginner Corporation's lack of a special ability beyond that, or any tags that can speed up research, makes it less useful for a player who better understands how to manage their resources.

* ''Prelude'' includes 5 new corporations, 7 new project cards, and a new phase at the beginning of the game that allows you to improve your resource production or terraforming progress before your first turn.
** ''Prelude 2'' includes more prelude, corporation and project cards with a focus on cross-expansion mechanics, alongside an [[TabletopGameAI Automa module]] for solo play.

* ''Prelude 2'' includes more prelude, corporation and project cards with a focus on cross-expansion mechanics, alongside an [[TabletopGameAI Automa module]] for solo play.

* DomedCity: Early cities on Mars are by necessity domed. A specific project even builds a single dome over an entire ''crater'' (fittingly tilted [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Domed Crater]]). A different project playable late in the game awards extra victory points and income for the first open-air city ("[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Open City]]").

''Terraforming Mars'' is a {{Eurogame}} set in a mid-future period. Mankind has spread through the solar system, and now has the technology and resources to begin a titanic project. Players take the role of megacorporations given funding from the World Government to accomplish the impossible — turn UsefulNotes/{{Mars}} into a living planet.

The game takes place over several "generations" as the players research projects (cards), spend their funding on making those projects happen, and acquire the resources and support to take larger and larger steps towards making the planet livable. Mars needs three things: oxygen, a higher temperature, and a working water cycle. Contributing directly to any of these will increase your score and raise more government funding. Creating your own infrastructure — whether industrial, space-bound, economic, or biospherical — will aid your efforts and give you more opportunities to score, as will some good PR for hitting the right milestones. The game ends when Mars reaches a threshold of "uncomfortable, but habitable", and the winner will be forever known as the leading pioneer of Mars.

The game takes place over several "generations" as the players' research projects (cards), spend their funding on making those projects happen, and acquire the resources and support to take larger and larger steps towards making the planet livable. Mars needs three things: oxygen, a higher temperature, and a working water cycle. Contributing directly to any of these will increase your score and raise more government funding. Creating your own infrastructure — whether industrial, space-bound, economic, or biospherical — will aid your efforts and give you more opportunities to score, as will some good PR for hitting the right milestones. The game ends when Mars reaches a threshold of "uncomfortable, but habitable", and the winner will be forever known as the leading pioneer of Mars.

* ''Hellas & Elysium'' introduces two new maps to play on. Hellas features a cold south pole that can be terraformed for heat and water, while Elysium features Mars' highest peak, which provides a large boost to research once terraformed. Each of these maps features its own milestones and awards.
* ''Venus Next'' introduces Venus as a planet where cities can be constructed on, 49 new project cards, 5 new corporations, a new milestone and a new award.

The game also has a quicker-playing CardGame version called ''Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition'', and a dice game version was launched and successfully funded on UsefulNotes/{{Kickstarter}} in 2022 for release the next year.

* OrbitalBombardment: There are quite a few positive ways to affect Mars that would normally fall in the planet killer category if used on Earth. Hitting Mars with a comet will produce water, for example, or you can set up shop on a radioactive-rich asteroid and use laser beams to heat up the atmosphere. Or, you know, just detonate some nukes.
* RaceAgainstTheClock: The Solo variant of the game tasks one person to try and terraform Mars in 14 generations by themselves. Given the lack of starting production and lower starting TR, simply completing all terraforming tracks in time is as much of a challenge as attaining the highest possible score.

** The solo variant ''does'' have a time limit. Your goal is to complete the terraforming of Mars within 14 generations. There isn't a 15th generation, whether you complete your objective or not.

The game takes place over several "generations" as the players research projects (cards), spend their funding on making those projects happen, and acquire the resources and support to take larger and larger steps towards making the planet livable. Mars needs three things: oxygen, a higher temperature, and a working water cycle. Contributing directly to any of these will increase your score and raise more government funding. Creating your own infrastructure — whether industrial, space-bound, economic, or biosphere — will aid your efforts and give you more opportunities to score, as will some good PR for hitting the right milestones. The game ends when Mars reaches a threshold of "uncomfortable, but habitable", and the winner will be forever known as the leading pioneer of Mars.

* ''Hellas & Elysium'' introduces two new maps to play on. Hellas features a cold south pole that can be terraformed for heat and water, while Elysium features Mars' highest peak, which provides a large boost to research once terraformed. Each of these maps features their own milestones and awards.
* ''Venus Next'' introduces Venus as a planet that cities can be constructed on, 49 new project cards, 5 new corporations, a new milestone and a new award.

!!The game contains examples of following tropes:

* AbsentAliens: Due to the game's (relative) realism, no Martians show up. At most you'll find some local bacteria through the "Search for Life" project.

* OrbitalBombardment: There are quite a few positive ways to affect Mars that would normally fall in the planet killer category if used on Earth. Hitting Mars with a comet will produce water, for example, or you can set up shop on a radioactives-rich asteroid and use laser beams to heat up the atmosphere. Or, you know, just detonate some nukes.

* SettlingTheFrontier: One card lets you set up an immigration center to speed up the flow of travelers and settlers. It costs a lot early on and actually ''decreases'' your income as you pay for upkeep, but raises it every time anyone else builds a city, potentially resulting in getting much more money back than you originally invested.

* CrutchCharacter: The helpfully named Beginner Corporations let you keep all 10 research cards that you draw at the start of the game without paying their costs. This is very useful for simplifying the early portion of the game if you're learning to play, but the Beginner Corporation's lack of a special ability beyond that, or any tags that can speed up research, makes it less useful for a player who better understands how to manage their resources.

''Terraforming Mars'' is a tabletop/board game set in a mid-future period. Mankind has spread through the solar system, and now has the technology and resources to begin a titanic project. Players take the role of megacorporations given funding from the World Government to accomplish the impossible — turn UsefulNotes/{{Mars}} into a living planet.

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: A promotional card brings penguins to the planet. It’s maybe borderline in its usefulness, as it can only be played when the planet has lots of ocean, which implies that the game is probably approaching its end, but it is most valuable if the player has several turns to add more penguins.

The game also has a quicker-playing CardGame version called ''Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition''.

* DomedCity: Early cities on Mars are by necessity domed. A project playable late in the game can construct the first open-air city, with a bonus to income and victory points.

* OrbitalBombardment: There are quite a few positive ways to affect Mars that would normally fall in the planet killer category if used on Earth. Hitting Mars with a comet will produce water, for example, or you can set up shop on a radioactives-rich asteroid and use laser beams to heat up the atmosphere.
* RaceAgainstTheClock: The Solo variant of the game tasks one person to try and terraform Mars in 14 generations by themselves. Given the lack of starting production and lower starting TR, simply completing all terraforming tracks in time is as much of a challenge as attaining the highest possible score.
* SettlingTheFrontier: One card lets you set up an immigration center to speed up the flow of travelers and settlers.

* SpaceElevator: One of the more expensive projects you can build, which gives a considerable boost to your economy.

** While there are no hard time limits in the standard game, some cards cannot be played after the terraforming reaches a certain threshold -- like the search for Martian life, which can only be done while oxygen is low, or the release of super-cold-adapted organisms, which is impossible above a certain temperature.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: You can play as one! Specifically, you play as the head of a corporation, and you can choose to take [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential ethically questionable actions]], such as using [[IndenturedServitude indentured workers]] or sabotaging other companies. However, the opportunities for outright evil are relatively limited; presumably, law enforcement is effective enough that blatant CorporateWarfare is bad business.

* AbsentAliens: Due to the game's (relative) realism, no Martians show up. At most you'll find some local bacteria through the "Search for Martian Life" project.

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Avoided for the most part. There's a lot to do over a lot of time, so projects concentrate on the positives. That said, there are occasional opportunities for stealing your rivals' thunder — that comet may incidentally impact a competitor's plants, the predators you introduce may not be too picky about whose animals they feed on, you might bump the oxygen or heat level just a notch out of bounds for a competitor's card, or you might simply have a rival build their city in the sweet spot where you were just about to build YOUR city. The ''Turmoil'' expansion adds an explicit political element, with competing factions for the players to support.