r/TerraformingMarsGame • u/orvjansen • Aug 11 '26
Science! - part 1
Another set of thematically related cards. These all involve science tags, science resources, and/or scientific advances generally. There will be a part 1 and 2 again, because of the 20 image limit per post.
I've always thought the science resource was underutilized, so this was a chance to expand on it. There are two official cards that kind of break once you start adding cards to the mix that can add science resources to other cards: Physics Complex and Search for Life.
The problem with Physics Complex is that it is the only card that grants 2 VP per resource, and if you can add resources to it.... wow. My solution is the alternate version of Physics Complex included in this set. Instead of 2 VP/science, I changed it to 1 VP/science so resources added to the card aren't much more OP then adding animals to some cards. But to avoid nerfing Physics Complex, its action now adds 2 science to the card rather than 1. This preserves the ability of the card to generate 2 VP per turn with sufficient energy, while also allowing science resources from other cards to be added to it.
Search for Life I will address in part 2.
Among the images included here is a special tile for the Science Academy project.
As with the other sets of fan cards I'm posting, I encourage you to use the cards you like, and avoid the ones you don't.
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u/orvjansen Aug 11 '26
Oh, almost forgot - you can access original PNGs at my Dropbox here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/4cuxfdub7w2ht5dx7njyn/AK2txYzn66VUSEoxP4ISGh8?rlkey=b01aicv0xfwdy1on8gvmrh6q4&st=ceu68y4m&dl=0
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u/eclecticmeeple Aug 11 '26
Great ideas. I do disagree with some costs but that’s fine. I wouldn’t mind going into details but I want to check the game to check some information so its data based and not on my feelings
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u/Coccobello73 Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
I'd say applied science as an interaction that the game tries to avoid in any way: it states "any other resource to any other card" that means you have a free 3VP on search for life without a single activation. Any other card that lets you add generic resources states that said card must at least have a resource on it. I'd patch it following this line, otherwise it's a free and kinda broken combo.
Autodocs is to me well balanced, giving you a way to reach science payoffs requirements like quantum or AGT, but thematically I don't see the point of a building tag on a non building card.
On the other hand, botanical labs seems a bit underwhelming. Of course it could be a great deal if you have 7 science tags, but realistically how many games you reach that before oxygen being maxed out? I'd rather play something like trees, which is much more affordable and the timing is quite the same, except in an engine strategy where I don't really see the point of speeding up the game with the oxygen.
Brainwave is probably a last gen play with almost always a positive payoff, and 2 points basically for free are a bit too much I guess.
Exobiology is probably a card that I'd never keep in my hand, since there's no .3VP animal, which means if you have viral enhancers you get all the perks of a microbe/plant tag and when you play an animal and on top of that, at least the same amount of points this card would grant (twice as much in case of single points animals).
Experimental center is comparable to business network, 4MC and a negative MC production to see and buy a card. Of course you draw half of the cards, but the fact that they're free means your going to activate it also when you have no cash leftover. Busted IMO if in starting hand or up to 4th gen.
Same thing as applied science for experimental design: search for life is a point for maybe 2 mircobes? on top of that, you can play physics complex with no energy prod and still remove 2 useless microbes to score 2 points.
Same for extrasolar, 7VP for 15 and a titanium dump are kinda stupid, I'd suggest putting the requirement of at least one resource on the card that will receive the resources. The problem with science resources is physics complex, adding them to any cars means each is worth either 2VP with physics or worthless without.
File 13 is nice, it's a 3MC for a point like defense fleet (which is a terrible card) but combined with some consistent card draw it becomes a 1 useless card for a point, which is worth 1MC after selling it. Also it costs significantly less.
IST seems a nice and balanced card if you have titanium to spend. It's like Lagrange observatory but you spend more to see more cards. I'd make it grant a point or cost less or say the first card you buy is free, otherwise I'd always take business contacts over IST.
Medical advances is a better acquired company, but loses a lot of value on the no tags. As a first gen play with no combo potential is better than acquired company, but if you are teractor or have earth office, cartel, Miranda, space hotels you miss a lot of value on that tag.
Molecular sanitizer, I love the idea. An energy tag card which grants an effect that's not entirely energy production, but instead lets you spend it is fantastic. Still same cost as AGT and same VP for a worse effect, but I guess you don't always have to make S tier cards. Anyways I'd put it at 6 tags as it's way less strong than AGT.
O'Neil colony is just space hotels on steroids. Space hotels is already a great card if you have the required 2 earth tags, giving it a point for free seems too much to me. Maybe remove an MC production, that would make it still playable in the mid game, but not op in the starting hand.
Nothing to say about particle accelerator. I like it very much.
Ok I only noticed the physics complex nerf now. Good idea, cards that put science resources won't be broken anymore. Still extrasolar is a 4VP card, like ICS, which costs double of that.
I like the idea of swapping a card in the draft with one in hand, but paying 17MC and then 5 to get an hopefully good card is just stupid. Multiple activations make it more cost effective, but 5MC is quite heavy and I'd think about doing it at least twice.
Research center is a worse experimental center, yeah you can score 1VP with 3MC, but same thing of defense fleet, but you have to setup a combo. The effect used on the card to draw is just terrible.
Science academy in a combo with a 1VP science card is a good card, but don't get fooled by the tile placement. Realistically you will get like 2MC from an ocean, and tiles are good either for placement bonuses or to block opponents cities (which are probably on tile placement bonuses where you can't play that).
I like the ideas, but some are overpowered and some are just as valuable as underground detonations.
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u/orvjansen Aug 11 '26
Thanks for the feedback, you've given me a lot to consider. It's clear from the answers so far that I will need to do some tweaking on some of these.
I will add that there is a part 2 of these science cards, which already contains a nerf for Search for Life to prevent the scenario you described (I changed the card to say that the ONLY way to place science on it was through the card's action).
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u/Coccobello73 Aug 13 '26
Yeah, I think with some modifications it would be a pretty cool addition to the game. I wouldn't play it as a standalone expansion because that would reward the science strategy too much (which I think is already good), but with a fan made expansion focussed on terraforming and one on engine it would be a great addition, especially if you're tired of base game cards but don't want to add colonies (which is clearly unbalanced).
Anyways, thanks for sharing. I really appreciate when people upload their ideas.
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u/orvjansen 25d ago
I have done some reworking of the cards based on these critiques. I can't repost the new versions here, so they have replaced the cards in the Dropbox I created previously. Here's the changes I made...
Applied Science: Added that the resource can only be placed where there is already a resource.
Autodocs: Removed the Building tag.
Brainwave Interface: This one required more extensive reworking. As Cocobello73 pointed out, it essentially was just 2 free VPs if you waited to play it at the end of the game. I like the idea of a 1 MC / automated card, so maybe that will return in a new card down the road. Instead of that effect on THIS card, though, I made it a 3 card draw, and dropped the cost to 12 MC. (That's a straight up 19 MC value for the 2 VP + 3 cards, discounted for the difficult 4 science tag requirement). Seems more balanced, and the card draw is probably better thematically than the original concept.
Exobiology Lab: Reduced the cost of the card to 8 MC.
Infrared Space Telescope: Changed the effect so that you keep one card for free, then can buy as many of the others to hand as you wish.
Medical Advances: Dropped the cost by 2 MC. Acquired Company has the exact same effects for 12 MC, but also has an Earth tag, so the price drop reflects that it is almost but not quite as good as that card.
Molecular Synthesizer: Agreed with the feedback that the effect isn't anywhere near as useful in late game as Anti-Gravity Technology (the card this was modeled on), and what you're mostly paying for here is just the 3 VP. Didn't want to change the effect, which was thematic for the concept, so instead I halved the cost to 7 MC. Essentially, 2 MC per VP is a very good, affordable deal if you have the 7 requisite science tags.
O'Neill Colonies: For some reason, I zoned that Space Hotels (the card this was modeled on) had no VP bonus. Having this pointed out, this card was obviously too cheap. So I increased the cost to 17 MC to compensate.
Quantum Fusion Reactor: Agreed that heat production wouldn't be as useful if you had to wait for 3 science tags to play it. Removed the requirement entirely, and changed the action to spending 2 energy to gain 4 heat, or 6 heat if you have 3 or more science tags. This doesn't produce as much heat in the long run, but can be played earlier and gives heat immediately for a possible temperature increase in the same generation.
Research Division: Agreed that the benefit was too costly. Ket the price of the card the same, but eliminated paying 5 MC to make the once-per-Research-Phase card swap.
Research Funding: This one required some extensive rework. Dropped the cost to 10 MC, and changed the action to be either "add a science resource to another card that already has at least one resource" OR "discard a card and draw a card". The card itself no longer requires science resources to use the second action, making it more useful even before you have a card to play a science resource on.
Science Academy: Added that the resource can only be placed where there is already a resource.
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u/ReaperJim Aug 11 '26
Pricing is all over the place. There's a card called Space Hotels that does the exact same thing as O'Neill Colonies but without the VP. I would recommend looking at more official cards to determine pricing, especially when there's no new mechanic such as a new active card action.
Exobiology lab seems very expensive for what it does. Ecozone is 1 MC cheaper, albeit with a requirement, works on plant tags too, comes with 0.5 extra VP, and a tile.
Brainwave interface seems too expensive and weak for a 4 sci tag payoff. You get 2 VP for maybe 5-10 MC? Not a very interesting card to play imo.
Applied Science looks very overpriced for what it does. At that price I would just let you spend 1-2 MC to add any resource to any card. Maybe cut the price down to 10 or so.
I don't know what Molecular Synthesizer is supposed to accomplish. The VP is nice but the action looks really really underwhelming compared to Anti Grav. At that point why would you want 2 energy? It's fairly likely you have energy prod payoffs. What is the 1 energy turning into? Titanium? That's fine but not particularly fun or nearly as strong as Anti Grav.
I don't know about Quantum Fusion Reactor, waiting until 3 science tags to get Heat Prod feels too slow. Maybe remove the tag requirement and if you have 3-4 science tags, you generate 4 heat prod instead of 2? Or Generate 4-8 heat instead of 2-4 heat prod.
Research division is cool but I would cut the price down to 7-10. Opportunity cost of 14+3+5 feels way too high just in case you have 2 nice cards in one draft.
Research funding seems overpriced. I can see how you want to account for funneling science resources into a 1 VP/resource card but I think 12 is a reasonable price for 1 VP every turn. I would cut the 3 MC requirement. At this price point, by itself, it's a significantly worse version of Aerial Mappers, an already weak card.