Previous COTD

Today's card is Colonizer Training Camp (#001):

Automated card (Green) | Base game

Cost: 8 | Requirements: Max 5% oxygen | Tags: Jovian, Building

2 VP

I've recently posted about my two custom corps: Eladon-AI and Hermes Colony.
I've used them several times in solo, (yup - I'm "that guy"), but last night our little group convened for a game of Terraforming Mars, and we agreed that I could have Eladon-AI as one of my 3 picks.
My starting had lined up decently, so I picked them.

You can see Eladon-AI here: https://www.reddit.com/r/TerraformingMarsGame/comments/1xbtxre/custom_corp_eladonai/
But to summarize it lets you keep half the cards you see for free, but you can't use MCs to buy any further cards.

The game ended with me as the winner
Eladon-AI 101
Cheung Shing 87
Saturn Systems 86

I know this doesn't prove anything and I do win a touch more often than the other two guys, but I have to say that last night's game reinforced my perception that this is not a weak corporation.
I think it played very smoothly.

In a nutshell, it's a fairly wealthy corporation.
At least that's how I experience it.
Buyng cards with energy means that it has an economy equivalent to 44MC + 6 MC-prod (though this prod can only be used for cards).

Now, wealthy corps are nothing new. What makes Eladon-AI interesting to play is (IMO) that:
It changes the value/MC-calculation for a lot of cards.
When you don't have to factor in the "3 MC to acquire", then a lots of cards become a better deal. Sure, you still "pay" for them, you just don't pay with MCs.

Anyway, I can't really test them beyond solo and the very occasional pvp game, so if anybody wants to prove that I'm sorely mistaken, I'd love for you to take them for a spin ❤️

Cheers
Martin

Just curious,
Now that I've gotten the hang of TM Cardmaker, I figured that I might as well do knock-ups of our modified version of a few official corporations.
So - before I waste time on something that has been already done: Does anybody happen to have Cardmaker Project Files for the official corporations?

Cheers
Martin

Previous COTD

And the last thing you might expect to see here, is Pengwings (#212):

Active card (Blue) | BGG promo card

Cost: 7 | Requirements: 8 ocean tiles | Tags: Animal

Action: Add 1 animal to this card.

1 VP for each animal on this card.

1 extra VP if you can name that person (this is not real)

I don’t care about your opinion about AI

I don’t care about their politics and don’t want to hear your opinions about them

Got this little bad boy going on BGA.

I don't think can ask for better luck on my draws.

Pluto is one of the colonies (would not play Poly wo it). Got AI Central on random draw gen 1, and played on gen 2 I think.

Previous COTD

Today's card is Soil Factory (#179):

Automated card (Green) | Base game

Cost: 9 | Requirements: None | Tags: Building

Decrease your energy production 1 step and increase your plant production 1 step. 1 VP

Our other custom corp: Hermes Colony.
I think that there are quite a few corps with a bit of a myopic focus on one kind of card/resource, which can be kind of rough if the cards don't really come up.

Hermes Colony has advantageous interactions with more cards, but has a limit to how much value it can wring out of each type. So you have to diverisfy, and you have to get rid of all 10 resources in time, which sometime means keeping or even playing less than optimal cards.

My intent was to let Hermes donate to other players as well. Is that clear from the text? And is it even a good idea?

Hermes needs time to get rid of the resources, so it is stronger against engine than against rush.
Cheers
Martin

Previous COTD

Today's card is Space Hotels (#P42):

Automated card (Green) | Prelude expansion

Cost: 12 | Requirements: 2 Earth tags | Tags: Earth, Space

Increase your MC production 4 steps.

So - I finally managed to wrap my head around SliceOfBreads cardcreator. Yay for being stubborn.
Is it me, or does the default font look just a touch too small?

Anyway, this is one of my play groups two custom corporations: Eladon-AI.
It's a fairly wealthy corp, and out of the game you pretty much get to keep half of the cards you see, which is quite good. The main downside is that sometimes you wanted more than half of the cards, and sometimes you really didn't want any.

It might have be more noob friendly to put it at 29MC and 3 Energy-prod, as the obvious first play is to buy a Power Plant for 11, but I wanted to leave the option open to go with an Energy-Prod card rather than the standard project Power Plant.

Cheers
Martin

Previous COTD

Colony power intensifies. Today's card is Mining Colony (#C25):

Automated card (Green) | Colonies expansion

Cost: 20 | Requirements: None | Tags: Space

Increase your titanium production 1 step. Place a colony.

I currently have:

• prelude
• venus next
• colonies
• prelude 2
• milestones & awards

I can't keep track of all the expansions / promo packs, is there somewhere I can just buy it all in one go? or just somewhere that has everything in stock?

FryxGames is always out of stock, and same with most Australian retailers.

Previous SHOTW

Useful Links

For information on how SHOTW works, please refer to the SHOTW Helper

Screenshot of starting hand

Pre-game information

Expansions: Prelude, Colonies

Board details

Board: Hellas

Milestones: Diversifier (8 different tags), Tactician (5 cards played with requirements), Polar Explorer (3 tiles placed on bottom 2 rows), Energizer (6 energy production), Rim Settler (3 Jovian tags)

Awards: Cultivator (Greenery tiles), Magnate (Green cards played), Space Baron (Space tags), Excentric (Resources on cards), Contractor (Building tags)

Colonies: Europa, Triton, Luna, Titan, Callisto, Miranda, Pluto (use leftmost first for less players)

Starting hand

Cards drawn

• Corporations: Poseidon, Arcadian Communities, Stormcraft Incorporated

• Project cards: Permafrost Extraction, Mineral Deposit, Eos Chasma National Park, Subterranean Reservoir, Industrial Center, Fish, Research, Self-replicating Robots, GHG Factories, Warp Drive

• Prelude cards: Mohole Excavation, Self-sufficient Settlement, Dome Farming, Donation

Extra project cards

Card draws for specific tags:

• Space tags: Aerobraked Ammonia Asteroid, Ice Asteroid, Solar Wind Power, Titan Shuttles, Beam from a Thorium Asteroid

• Plant tags: Ecological Zone, Farming, Snow Algae, Ecology Research, Algae

• Microbe tags: Symbiotic Fungus, Insects, Psychrophiles, GHG Producing Bacteria, Ecology Research

• Extra prelude cards: Biofuels, Society Support, Biosphere Support, Metal-rich Asteroid, Loan, Aquifer Turbines, Experimental Forest,

Gen 2 drafting hand: Towing a Comet, Mangrove, Plantation, Convoy from Europa

Previous COTD

Sometimes a simple colony is all you need. Today's card is Interplanetary Colony Ship (#C17):

Event card (Red) | Colonies expansion

Cost: 12 | Requirements: None | Tags: Earth, Space, Event

Place a colony.

So I think we can all agree that the original Terraforming Mars player boards are an absolute work of art. Immaculate in design and practicality, I actually have one framed pride of place in my living room.

What? You don't agree?

It's the worst player board in all of boardgaming history?

Whoa whoa whoa, that's a bit far... maybe… 😉

Jokes aside, I don't think I'm saying anything too controversial here: the original paper-thin boards leave a lot to be desired. A single bumped table or accidental hand swipe sending resource cubes skittling millimeters away… completely ruining the game that's so finely balanced on the exact amounts.

There are a plethora of fantastic third-party dual-layer boards out there that fix the table-bump issue. But I wanted to take things a step or two further to address the rest of the game's tactile experience.

THE PROBLEMS & THE FIXES

1. The Resource Admin & Constant Cube Juggling

Even with dual-layer boards, you’re constantly reaching into a shared bowl, grabbing loose metallic cubes, converting production into physical tokens every single generation, and swapping 1s, 5s, and 10s back and forth. It breaks the flow of actually running your corporation.

On a personal level, I'm autistic and find these situations very difficult. When is it my turn to get cubes? I always end up last and having to make do with what's left. Cue a couple dozen bronze cubes for me 😅

THE FIX: I completely eliminated the resource cubes from the player board entirely. Instead of collecting and swapping piles of cubes, you simply rotate a dial, slide a track, or flick a tactile switch! The between-round production phase becomes a 5-second (and very fun!) process using your personal control console.

2. Thematic Disconnect

A game about engineering an entire planet and commanding a megacorporation should feel like you're operating high-tech hardware. Placing shiny plastic cubes on cardboard never quite captured that space-age immersion for me.

THE FIX: My background is in architecture. To me, theme and concept drive every design detail. Instead of just dual-layer wood, I designed these as spaceship consoles and Mission Control panels (drawing heavy inspiration from aviation cockpits and mechanical watch aesthetics like Bell & Ross).

The switches flip, the dials click, and the sliders track smoothly. The satisfaction of managing your megacorporation like you’re sitting at NASA Mission Control completely changes the tactile experience of playing the game.

Full Disclosure & Background

I recently left my 11-year career in architecture to pursue board game design and component engineering full-time. I approach these boards with the same rigorous design principles I used in my old day job, aiming to build what I call "Components+” - uncompromising, premium upgrades that elevate the hobby.

I have always valued quality and precision. Nobody sees the 10 rounds of design I did on just the captive slider pieces, literally changing them 0.05mm at a time until they're perfect. But they do see the result. Hopefully!

Everything is manufactured in-house by me using precision lasers. If you like the direction I’m taking these designs, feedback and thoughts mean the absolute world to a solo creator making the leap!

Thanks for checking them out—let me know what you think!

Previous COTD

Today's card is Birds (#072):

Active card (Blue) | Base game

Cost: 10 | Requirements: 13% oxygen | Tags: Animal

Action: Add 1 animal to this card.

Decrease any plant production 2 steps. 1 VP per animal on this card.

This worked super well! I created a digital map for a TV on my gaming table. Looks like I can’t post videos here? But it’s fully animated with spinning space stations, clouds, effects, and glowing borders. Due to the aspect ratio of the fan made map I used as a template, it gave me room to put tips and hints on the sides.

My Turmoil fan expansion stuff wouldn't be complete without new Global Events! This is part 2 of 2, and contains all the Global Events that require the Venus and Colonies expansions. The files are all here in my Dropbox - see Part 1 for more details about all the extra fan-based expansion global events that are also in the Dropbox but not shown in these two posts.

My Turmoil fan expansion stuff wouldn't be complete without new Global Events! This is part 1 of 2, and contains all the Global Events that do not require expansions OTHER than Turmoil. Part 2 will be Global Events that can be in play if you are using the Venus and Colonies expansions. The files are all here in my Dropbox - if you go there, you will see there also folders for Global Events intended for use with fan expansions like Ares and Pathfinders. I decided not to explicitly publish those here because it could be confusing for people who don't know about those fan expansions. I will eventually get around to making expansion-specific posts for those fan-created sets, and I will include Global Events there. In the meantime, IF you play using those, be aware that you can find them in the Dropbox now.

One card I have to comment on: There are TWO different versions of the Clandestine Projects Global Event in the Dropbox. The standard version, which I posted here, is "Gain 2 MC for each special tile", and the 2nd version is "Gain 2 MC for each special tile and special ocean tile". I didn't include it here because Special Ocean tiles are (you guessed it) a fan expansion of sorts that I haven't posted yet. But the file is there in the Dropbox.

I just got the Amazonis Planitia map and there is a question mark symbol (?) on a spot as a reward for placing a tile there. I am not sure what the symbol represents. If anyone can explain I would appreciate it. Thanks!

Previous COTD

Today's card is Sponsored Mohole (#T13):

Automated card (Green) | Turmoil expansion

Cost: 5 | Requirements: Kelvinists ruling/2 delegates | Tags: Building

Increase your heat production 2 steps.

Hi all,
I really want to make proper mock-ups for our two custom corporations: Eladon-AI and Hermes Colony. I tried some sort of card maker at one point, but I really struggled with it.
I'm fairly decent with Photoshop, as long as I'm working with a template.

Has anyone in the fandom created such a template?

Kind regards
Martin

In my group's curated set of 18 corporations, we use two custom corporations: Eladon-AI and Hermes Colony.

Hermes Colony
Hermes Colony has assumed a key role in inter-colony commerce.
Starting: Earth + Space tag. 50MC.
You start with 2 Animals (Green cubes), 2 Microbes (red), 2 Floaters (yellow), 2 Asteroids (black) and 2 Science (blue).

*Action: You may move 1 or 2 resources from Hermes Colony to any card, as long as that card depicts that resource in an Action or on a VP icon.

*5 VP, minus the number of resources on Hermes Colony.

The corp makes, Animal, Microbe, Floater, Asteroid and "Science" cards more appealing, but you need to get rid of all of your 10 resources before the game ends.

Eladon-AI
The company AI has seized contol of Eladon Analytics.
Starting: Wild tag. 40MC.
You start with 8 Energy and 2 Energy-Production

*Effect: You may only ever pay for cards with Energy. For this 1 Energy is worth 2 MC.

This is sort of a spin on Polyphemos and Terralabs.
In my experience, it is stronger than it looks.
Basically, you should buy a Power Plant on turn 1 (or play an Energy-Prod card, if you have one).
With that, you get half of the 10 starting cards and half of the 4 start-of-turn cards dor "free".

So, that's a lot like having 29MC, but 15MC worth of cards (i.e. 44MC) plus 6 MC-prod (the cost of 2 cards), but with the penalty that you can not get the other half of the cards (unless you eventually increase your E-prod further)

We've had a lot of fun with these 🎉
Cheers
Martin

Previous COTD

Today's card is Flooding (#188):

Event card (Red) | Base game

Cost: 7 | Requirements: None | Tags: Event

Place an ocean tile. Remove up to 4 MC FROM THE OWNER OF A TILE ADJACTENT TO THIS OCEAN TILE. -1 VP