Surviving Mars Surviving Mars - Starting Checklist (Tips for Beginners)

A guide to help new players manage their mars base at the start of the game.

See also: Basic Startup Guide to Self-Sufficiency.

Starting Your Mars Colony

The basics for the beginning "Sols" of your colony should look like this.

Select your rocket ship payload. I suggest using the recommended payload for the first couple of playthroughs in order to get used to the game.
Locate an area on mars that has a high amount of resources.
Use your starting probes to identify an area with a source of water and minerals.
Prepare a basic power source, the large solar panels are usually really good for beginning the game with.
Setup a basic loop with your power cables in order to prevent complete loss of power to anything connected to your grid.
Place "Water extractors" over your source of water and connect it to a water tank.
Place Universal depots in order to save on storage space early game.
Using the "resupply" button in the bottom left hand corner, ship in supplies and building fabs as needed.
In the research tab in the bottom right, select a research that suits your colony and the buildings that you have placed.

Locate an area on mars that has a high amount of resources.

Use your starting probes to identify an area with a source of water and minerals.

Prepare a basic power source, the large solar panels are usually really good for beginning the game with.

Setup a basic loop with your power cables in order to prevent complete loss of power to anything connected to your grid.

Place "Water extractors" over your source of water and connect it to a water tank.

Place Universal depots in order to save on storage space early game.

Using the "resupply" button in the bottom left hand corner, ship in supplies and building fabs as needed.

In the research tab in the bottom right, select a research that suits your colony and the buildings that you have placed.

Source: https://gameplay.tips/guides/2175-surviving-mars.html