Surviving Mars

Surviving Mars

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All about Colonists
By DanishScorpio
Colonists are brave souls who decide to settle Mars and risk death and injury with no possibility of rescue.
   
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Colonists
Colonists begin arriving once you create a colony with domes that can sustain human life and require care and attention. Notably, each colonist has their own personality and distinct set of likes and dislikes, which can evolve over time. Colonists require Oxygen, Water and Food to survive.

Applicants are potential colonists and may be chosen based upon the traits and specializations listed below. The Sponsor determines the number of initial applicants available and various technologies and sponsor traits may also influence the number of applicants available. Non-age related colonist deaths reduce the pool of available applicants.
Colonist Behavior
Each colonist prefers to work in a building that matches their specialization (below). If no such job is available, then they will fill spaces depending upon the priorities that you have set. They also have characteristics such as comfort and sanity that must be managed lest the colonist become Earthsick and demand to leave on the next shuttle home.

Colonists will only work within the dome that they live in, but they can walk from dome-to-dome or take a shuttle (provided via the Shuttle Hub) to transfer from one dome to another should you choose to manually set their new home or new work in a different dome.

Colonist work assignments follow these rules, in order:
  • The player can manually assign individual workers, ignoring all rules below. Ideally we hope that there will be no reason to do so, unless the player particularly likes to micromanage. Clarification: Manual assignment is not permanent, so after a long period the colonist may decide to switch jobs.
  • Buildings with the highest priority are fully staffed if possible
  • If there is not enough workforce higher priority buildings will be fully staffed while lower priority buildings will be partially staffed, but the game will try to keep them operational if possible (e.g. all buildings at high priority staffed at 100%, all buildings at the medium priority staffed at roughly 50%, all buildings at low priority staffed at 0%)
  • Specialists prefer to work according to their specialization, as long as this doesn't mess up the above rules.
  • Keep in mind that since everything depends on the individual simulation, you may have to wait for 1-2 sols until all workers find their desired workspots, so in any current moment there may be a situation where e.g. a Botanist is working in a Bar and a colonist without a specialization is working at a Farm. This is temporary and should be resolved automatically after a while.[/list[
Age Groups
Colonists are divided into five Age Groups. These are Children, Youth, Adult, Middle Aged, and Senior. Children and Seniors cannot work. Children may attend school, however, where they can acquire the traits taught there.
Specializations
Citizens perform better at workplaces that match their specialization. Non-specialized colonists never receive a bonus to job performance, and all colonists receive a penalty if working the wrong type of work. Specializations also seem to determine colonists' interests.





Specialization
Ideal Workplace
Interests
None
Non-specialized work (Diner, etc)
Social, Relaxation, Shopping
Botanist
Farms
Relaxation, Shopping, Luxury
Engineer
Factories
Relaxation, Shopping, Dining
Geologist
Extractors
Social, Shopping, Drinking
Medic
Infirmary, Medical Center
Social, Relaxation, Luxury
Scientist
Research Lab, Science Institute
Social, Relaxation, Gaming
Security
Security Station
Relaxation, Social, Exercise
Sex
Colonists are separated into three categories for Sex: Male, Female, and Other.
Perks
Beneficial traits, representing various talents and abilities of the Colonist:

Perk
Description
Celebrity
Generates Funding when in the Colony.
Composed
All sanity losses are halved.
Enthusiast
Increased performance boost when at high Morale.
Fit
More health recovered when resting. Can work when health is low. +Exercise
Gamer
Gains sanity while gaming. +Gaming
Genius
Generates Research when in the Colony.
Hippie
Gains twice as much Comfort in gardens and parks.
Nerd
Gain a temporary Morale boost every time a new technology is researched.
Party Animal
Gains additional Comfort when satisfying social interest. +Social
Saint
Raises the Morale of all Religious people in the Dome. Benefits stack with each additional Saint.
Sexy
Greatly increased birth rate.
Survivor
Loses less Health without food, water, oxygen, or when living in an unpowered Dome.
Religious
Higher individual base morale. Low sanity never leads to suicide.
Rugged
No comfort penalties when eating unprepared food or having no residence.
Workaholic
Individual performance increased by 20, no penalty for heavy workloads. -Relaxation
Flaws
Detrimental Traits, representing various flaws and disabilities of the Colonist:

Flaw
Description
Alcoholic
Work performance lowered by 10. Can be caused by Sanity breakdowns. +Drinking
Chronic Condition
Loses Health each day.
Coward
Double Sanity loss from disasters. Can be caused by Sanity breakdowns.
Idiot
Can cause a malfunction at workplace (10% chance). Malfunctioning buildings stop working and require maintenance.
Gambler
Has a 50% chance to lose 20 Sanity when visiting a Casino. Can be caused by Sanity breakdowns. +Gambling
Glutton
Eats double rations. Can be caused by Sanity breakdowns. +Dining
Hypochondriac
Will randomly visit Medical buildings and take Sanity damage if unable to do so. +Medical
Lazy
Individual performance decreased by 20 at all jobs.
Loner
Loses Comfort every day while living in a Dome with population over 30. -Social
Melancholic
Increased performance penalty when at low Morale. Can be caused by Sanity breakdowns.
Whiner
Loses Sanity when low on Comfort.
Quirks
Traits that don't fit into any of the other groups:

Quirk
Description
Guru
Randomly spreads other traits of this colonist to persons in the same Dome with less than 3 traits.
Tourist
Doesn't work. Leaves at first opportunity, but will stay if Comfort is high.
Vegan
Don't worry. They'll tell you.
Empath
Unique quirk gained via Breakthrough that increases Sanity of all Colonists in the Dome they are housed.
Dreamer
A quirk acquired through the Inner Light Mystery. Taught to children at schools, grants +15 productivity.
Notes
Thanks to Paradox Wiki and friends for providing information for this guide.

Information based on version:

227,831 2018-03-15 Release version






------------- Video Game History Curator ------------------------------ Video Game History Steam Group -------
11 Comments
Hate Bear 14 Feb, 2021 @ 9:38am 
3) So the way to think about the game when you play is to keep a bunch of variables within a certain range rather than focusing on an exact minimum of something. It is key to have enough or close to enough of everything rather than trying for a perfect build. There basically isn't one.
Hate Bear 14 Feb, 2021 @ 9:38am 
2) The way that makes it work is very believable because it's calculated over time and appears as softer chances rather than a total guarantee that X thing will happen at Y time. However, a colonist WILL die if outside a dome for a certain length of time at that exact time. There is no wiggle room on that.
Hate Bear 14 Feb, 2021 @ 9:38am 
1) A lot of things aren't done in thresholds. I just think there are soft chances, like a colonist might suicide or have a mental break of some other kind if certain stats are low, which is then calculated over time. So if morale gets low for a moment for only one colonist, they might become a renegade at that moment and stay that way, but the odds are extremely low (I found this to be a problem in a biorobot colony, mainly).
Morbo 24 Jun, 2020 @ 4:44am 
This "guide" is superflous. Everything explained can be found in-game.
Hilex 17 Jun, 2020 @ 12:50am 
i got this issue with colonist which that i have enough vacant workplace and enough living space but they dont assign automatically like i have 100 empty house in the nearby dome which is connected via passages...
what im looking for is a possibility or an option to choose more than one person at a time to assign manually, is that possible ? is there any option such this?
Moncher 9 Mar, 2020 @ 1:06pm 
I find the Hypochondriac flaw is more of a perk when present in colonists working sanity-damaging jobs as they will more frequently regain sanity from visiting medical buildings.
DanishScorpio  [author] 6 Apr, 2018 @ 5:09am 
I would love to have detailed game mechanics in the guide, but just as you have I've found it hard to get the information - even from Paradox.
backtospawn 1 Apr, 2018 @ 9:32am 
That's great and all but that info is all easily accesible within the encyclopedia.

Does anyone know how colonist stats actually work? What the sanity threshold for suicide is? How does morale increase or decrease, is it a daily thing based on their other stats?

Even the perks aren't properly explained, sexy people have more babies, how many more? what's the formula used when the dome compares the willing males and females?

How many sols from child to youth? Do seniors have a set date to die of natural causes or do they flip a coin every morning?

I've been fishing for information but no one seems to know the way the game mechanics work
76561198437569268 29 Mar, 2018 @ 6:56am 



........
DanishScorpio  [author] 27 Mar, 2018 @ 3:38pm 
The game tutorial is lacking alot of information :br_sad: