How to stabilize the economy

[Alfon]

I think I am gonna give up another game where I tried to terraform mars but I never got to get any atmosphere. And I am thinking in stopping playing all modes except creative.

This time I played in very easy, with a rocket guy. The shuttles and the huge founding (and the lack of environment hazards, well, mostly) has allowed me to keep playing for many hours but my founding is decreasing and my colony, despite being big, with 4 domes and more than 120 colonists, is everything but stable.

In other management games there's this point where things just work. That equilibrium. I am having problems finding it here, maybe someone can give me a few advices.

I think my main problem is that I am very impulsive, I use a lot of outsource founding to get research done, then I have a crisis and I have problems to deal with it because I lack foundings.

But everything works soooo slooooowly. I have one factory of every type, almost one in each dome. And the production is so low. I can raise it and force people to work there but then people are unhappy, they used to get out of the colony, now they can't so they kill themselves (for real O.o).

I try to build a lot of stuff for comfort but there's never enough people to be placed in the space bar or the grocer, they always stop working there to work in other places.

And when things start to work, they get old. IN MASS. Suddenly I have 100 colonists but only a 25 of them are working, what the hell. I can't keep building domes, because the map is starting to get dry of metal and every time is harder to get. Also, keeping all the huge infrastructure up and running is costing me A LOT in polymers, and while the machine parts factory works nicely (too nicely maybe), the polymer factory can't keep up with the demand, similar problem with the electronics...

Then I try things to get my money back, inviting tourists and getting rare metals, but I barely have people to work in my factories and the rare metal stuff gives so little stuff, and it's so cheap to sell, I barely get nothing. The tourists are useless, that amount of money seems to be incredibly small (even when they said they had fun).

So I don't know, I think that I am stressing way too much. It's not that it's complicated, it's that there are no easy solutions (except the shuttles). What to do about the seniors? Is there some way to just kill them all? Maybe getting all of them together in a dome and turning it off? Would that be a solution? I think this game may be turning me into a psychopath T.T.

Any advice for a newbie would be helpful. My stress is killing me. I just wanted to make a green mars and chill.

[Alex]

Can you provide some screenshots, or maybe even a save?

[Alfon]

Sure, I would give you the save but I don't know where it is.

EDIT: Ok, found it.

https://mega.nz/file/p8R3gAoZ#tag3BliWm_iJPPI0jlFwr3nx5H-BViwF-9AtWjTztaY

[Alex]

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

Sure, I would give you the save but I don't know where it is.

EDIT: Ok, found it.

https://mega.nz/file/p8R3gAoZ#tag3BliWm_iJPPI0jlFwr3nx5H-BViwF-9AtWjTztaY

Somehow, you managed to encrypt that file. It's impossible to download it.

[Alfon]

Originally posted by Alex:

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

Sure, I would give you the save but I don't know where it is.

EDIT: Ok, found it.

https://mega.nz/file/p8R3gAoZ#tag3BliWm_iJPPI0jlFwr3nx5H-BViwF-9AtWjTztaY

Somehow, you managed to encrypt that file. It's impossible to download it.

https://mega.nz/file/Z5hlFQwI#tag3BliWm_iJPPI0jlFwr3nx5H-BViwF-9AtWjTztaY

But I did exactly the same thing. Just like the previous link, that one includes the encryption key.

https://mega.nz/file/Z5hlFQwI

That's the same link WITHOUT the encryption key. I usually share my files with friends using this method and I have no problems, I don't know man. Sometimes the explorer gets stuck before loading the encrypted part, but I can't do anything about it.

[kaki_gamet]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1748501548 This guide may give you better insight on how to handle your colonists. Other than that don't rush, don't overbuild, don't spread your colonists too much (more people together more babies).

Edit: the Tips & Tricks pinned post is nice it too, just don't necro it as someone else did ; )

[Alfon]

Originally posted by kaki_gamet:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1748501548 This guide may give you better insight on how to handle your colonists. Other than that don't rush, don't overbuild, don't spread your colonists too much (more people together more babies).

Edit: the Tips & Tricks pinned post is nice it too, just don't necro it as someone else did ; )

I read the tips and tricks but it was very, very basic stuff. There were some useful stuff though.

I'll read this one next. Thanks a lot.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

That's the same link WITHOUT the encryption key. I usually share my files with friends using this method and I have no problems, I don't know man. Sometimes the explorer gets stuck before loading the encrypted part, but I can't do anything about it.

Oh, yes, it was just the steam redirection warning page which cut off the key string. I'll have a look at it now.

[Alex]

Okay, this is honestly a gigantic mess.
1. Specialize your domes and place the spires accordingly. Farming + reclamators, outside activities + medical spire, science + network nodes, university + sanatorium, etc.
2. Same goes for children and the elderly.
- A creche dome filled with nothing but nurseries, playgrounds and schools will house kids only. Placing a food depot outside shall feed them, and once grown up, they can leave it.
- Seniors can be moved to a separate dome as well, but this one will need some workforce to run a few basic facilities. Or, just connect it to a small service dome with a tunnel.
3. Plan the population numbers. You either have too many or not enough people, but also housing slots or workplaces in each dome.
4. Don't spread out so much this early. Grow a bit, then start establishing mining outposts, and finally, satellite compounds.
5. When importing colonists, make sure to exclude seniors and middle-aged ones, unless you have the "forever young" breakthrough.
6. Vaporators will lose efficiency when placed so close to each other. Make sure that their ranges don't overlap each other.
7. Don't buy so many stirling generators, it's a gigantic waste of money.
8. Establishing a research dome will be far cheaper then outsourcing.
9. Placing such long piplelines is far too risky, you are just asking for a disaster to wreck them.
10. Group consumers and providers together, if possible. Mines and factories, fuel refinieries and polymer factories, or fuel refineries and GHG burners.

[Alfon]

Originally posted by Alex:

Okay, this is honestly a gigantic mess.
1. Specialize your domes and place the spires accordingly. Farming + reclamators, outside activities + medical spire, science + network nodes, university + sanatorium, etc.
2. Same goes for children and the elderly.
- A creche dome filled with nothing but nurseries, playgrounds and schools will house kids only. Placing a food depot outside shall feed them, and once grown up, they can leave it.
- Seniors can be moved to a separate dome as well, but this one will need some workforce to run a few basic facilities. Or, just connect it to a small service dome with a tunnel.
3. Plan the population numbers. You either have too many or not enough people, but also housing slots or workplaces in each dome.
4. Don't spread out so much this early. Grow a bit, then start establishing mining outposts, and finally, satellite compounds.
5. When importing colonists, make sure to exclude seniors and middle-aged ones, unless you have the "forever young" breakthrough.
6. Vaporators will lose efficiency when placed so close to each other. Make sure that their ranges don't overlap each other.
7. Don't buy so many stirling generators, it's a gigantic waste of money.
8. Establishing a research dome will be far cheaper then outsourcing.
9. Placing such long piplelines is far too risky, you are just asking for a disaster to wreck them.
10. Group consumers and providers together, if possible. Mines and factories, fuel refinieries and polymer factories, or fuel refineries and GHG burners.

All good advices, in my new game I am trying them out, but I have some doubts (I gave up fixing that mess).

Everybody says "specialize your dome" like if it was something easy, but what's the meaning of that. In my first dome I need small farm, + research + infirmary and if I can get rare metals, I should get them I think. So I can't specialize, I need that stuff, right?

Then later in game if I want to specialize, how should I do it? Should I look to put all factories in one dome, that's very heavy electricity wise. All farms in one dome? But I don't have that much water I'd say, and how many farms are required to keep a certain population up? In that game I have no problems because in every easy the rockets come full of food, but in previous games my population starts starving eventually despite all my efforts.

Also what's a research dome? You mean a research facility in a dome? Or how many research facilities?

And also, the thing about the pipelines, they allowed me more flexibility for each dome, to prevent catastrophies I put valves so if something happens just close the valve and pray I can fix it soon enough. Well, maybe praying shouldn't be included in any engineering project... it's usually kind of implied though...

About other things... the stirling generators are amazing but so expensive... and I think they are more expensive to build than to just buy. 10 polymers each, right? Hell. But over time if I can keep them close, they really help with the maintenance.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

All good advices, in my new game I am trying them out, but I have some doubts (I gave up fixing that mess).

Don't worry, restarting a few times until you get some experience is quite common, for any game.

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

Everybody says "specialize your dome" like if it was something easy, but what's the meaning of that. In my first dome I need small farm, + research + infirmary and if I can get rare metals, I should get them I think. So I can't specialize, I need that stuff, right?

The first starting domes don't need to be specialized. Or, rather, you can't yet afford to do that. Just use whatever's available nearby. For example, if you have a rare metal deposit, then exploit it first, and use the cash to buy supplies until you get to factories. Reasearch can be postponed until you get the production chains running.

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

Then later in game if I want to specialize, how should I do it? Should I look to put all factories in one dome, that's very heavy electricity wise. All farms in one dome? But I don't have that much water I'd say, and how many farms are required to keep a certain population up? In that game I have no problems because in every easy the rockets come full of food, but in previous games my population starts starving eventually despite all my efforts.

1. What a single farm can sustain depends on crop and productivity.
https://survivingmars.paradoxwikis.com/Food
My point is that you should place all farms in dedicated domes equipped with water reclamators.
2. Factories should be placed in domes that have enough housing slots for the workers.

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

Also what's a research dome? You mean a research facility in a dome? Or how many research facilities?

A research dome is just that, a dome filled with labs and equipped with a network node spire, preferably near a spot which grants a research bonus.

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

And also, the thing about the pipelines, they allowed me more flexibility for each dome, to prevent catastrophies I put valves so if something happens just close the valve and pray I can fix it soon enough. Well, maybe praying shouldn't be included in any engineering project... it's usually kind of implied though...

You can use tunnels as well, those connect pipe and power grids, but aren't as vulnerable.

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

About other things... the stirling generators are amazing but so expensive... and I think they are more expensive to build than to just buy. 10 polymers each, right? Hell. But over time if I can keep them close, they really help with the maintenance.

10 polymers and 5 electronics. The point is that any kind of energy generation need both a basic and an advanced resource to provide power throughout the entire day. You either have solar (metals) and batteries (polymers), or wind (concrete and machine parts).

[Alfon]

Thanks a lot, I think I have it. I managed to create a self sustaining colony, I even got to create the big dome (quite a waste to be honest but I wanted to see it). Putting all the seniors together really helped and I didn't need to turn their dome off since they very kindly choose to die of old age. I was tempted to develope the technology that prolongs the lives of my colonists but since that would mean a greater amount of senior colonists, I declined. Was it a good idea?

Now I have another question. Since I am in very easy difficulty, I have all the food I need from the rockets... I created some farms but I am having problems to get the way to make food making efficient.

Every farm can create up to three crops, right? I only use one, because I noticed that the farmers seem to divide their attention. So with more crops they won't make more food, right? Am I wrong?

Also, I decided to get all the big farms together in the big dome, and to cultivate apples since they seem to be the most efficient quantity wise since they don't ruin the soil. I feel a bit lost here.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

Thanks a lot, I think I have it. I managed to create a self sustaining colony, I even got to create the big dome (quite a waste to be honest but I wanted to see it). Putting all the seniors together really helped and I didn't need to turn their dome off since they very kindly choose to die of old age. I was tempted to develope the technology that prolongs the lives of my colonists but since that would mean a greater amount of senior colonists, I declined. Was it a good idea?

Stem reconstruction prolongs the lifespan and "shifts" the age thresholds back a few years. This means that the colonists will become seniors later in life, normally it's at 60, with reconstruction, 80.
https://survivingmars.paradoxwikis.com/Colonists#Age_groups

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

Now I have another question. Since I am in very easy difficulty, I have all the food I need from the rockets... I created some farms but I am having problems to get the way to make food making efficient.

Every farm can create up to three crops, right? I only use one, because I noticed that the farmers seem to divide their attention. So with more crops they won't make more food, right? Am I wrong?

Also, I decided to get all the big farms together in the big dome, and to cultivate apples since they seem to be the most efficient quantity wise since they don't ruin the soil. I feel a bit lost here.

Those three crop slots aren't used together, but one after another.

Food production depends on crop and soil quality. There are 3 crop types, neutral (wheat&quinoa), beneficial which raise quality (soy&apples), draining ones which lower it (potatoes&corn). The usual approach is to bring the soil quality to 100% with beneficial or cover crops, then set up a rotation of beneficial/draining to keep the quality, since the draining type has better yields. The neutral type is a fallback, since it has the lowest water consumption and grows quickly.

Long story short, since you have already unlocked the advanced crops, bring the soil quality to 100%, then set one slot to apples, the second to corn, and leave the third one empty. But, if you don't have enough water, set it to a single slot of quinoa instead.
https://survivingmars.paradoxwikis.com/Food#Farm_Crops

[Alfon]

Originally posted by Alex:

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

Thanks a lot, I think I have it. I managed to create a self sustaining colony, I even got to create the big dome (quite a waste to be honest but I wanted to see it). Putting all the seniors together really helped and I didn't need to turn their dome off since they very kindly choose to die of old age. I was tempted to develope the technology that prolongs the lives of my colonists but since that would mean a greater amount of senior colonists, I declined. Was it a good idea?

Stem reconstruction prolongs the lifespan and "shifts" the age thresholds back a few years. This means that the colonists will become seniors later in life, normally it's at 60, with reconstruction, 80.
https://survivingmars.paradoxwikis.com/Colonists#Age_groups

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

Now I have another question. Since I am in very easy difficulty, I have all the food I need from the rockets... I created some farms but I am having problems to get the way to make food making efficient.

Every farm can create up to three crops, right? I only use one, because I noticed that the farmers seem to divide their attention. So with more crops they won't make more food, right? Am I wrong?

Also, I decided to get all the big farms together in the big dome, and to cultivate apples since they seem to be the most efficient quantity wise since they don't ruin the soil. I feel a bit lost here.

Those three crop slots aren't used together, but one after another.

Food production depends on crop and soil quality. There are 3 crop types, neutral (wheat&quinoa), beneficial which raise quality (soy&apples), draining ones which lower it (potatoes&corn). The usual approach is to bring the soil quality to 100% with beneficial or cover crops, then set up a rotation of beneficial/draining to keep the quality, since the draining type has better yields. The neutral type is a fallback, since it has the lowest water consumption and grows quickly.

Long story short, since you have already unlocked the advanced crops, bring the soil quality to 100%, then set one slot to apples, the second to corn, and leave the third one empty. But, if you don't have enough water, set it to a single slot of quinoa instead.
https://survivingmars.paradoxwikis.com/Food#Farm_Crops

Cool stuff, that explains a lot. Thank you.

I already loved this game but the more I know how to play it, the more I like it. I found a few bugs though, mainly not updating the new characteristics of some buildings until I restart the game. But oh well. It's minor.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

I already loved this game but the more I know how to play it, the more I like it. I found a few bugs though, mainly not updating the new characteristics of some buildings until I restart the game. But oh well. It's minor.

You mean new buildings not being activated if you buy the corresponding DLC mid-game? There are mods to enable them.

[Alfon]

Originally posted by Alex:

Originally posted by Sorenzor:

I already loved this game but the more I know how to play it, the more I like it. I found a few bugs though, mainly not updating the new characteristics of some buildings until I restart the game. But oh well. It's minor.

You mean new buildings not being activated if you buy the corresponding DLC mid-game? There are mods to enable them.

Nope, it's a known bug, I saw it in other posts. I have to restart the game some times. Honestly it only happened once so I wouldn't call it a REAL problem.

My colony is thriving by the way. I am gonna build my first wonder, the one that allows me to mine unlimited metal.

My atmosphere is at 89%, the sky is freaking blue XD, temperature at 67, no more toxic rain, metheorites, or twisters. Any disaster that happens is because the game doesn't notify me in time.

I see "1,5k" food and I think "nice, let's make more seeds then". Then somebody starts starving. I think "not enough shuttles": Then suddenly EVERYONE IS STARVING. Those 1,5k food were stored in my many stores. So I had no reserves and the food went out immediately. I know should have checked but there were so much stuff happening all the time...

Two or three times I had to load a previous game to survive. But now I think everything is done. I was worried about the water but now with the atm so high, the moisture vaporators make a big enoug impact that two of them are better than most wells. So ey. I think I won the game :D

Can't wait to see my colonist walking without domes.