Surviving Mars: All About Colonists

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There will be challenges to overcome. Execute your strategy and improve your colony’s chances of survival while unlocking the mysteries of this alien world. Are you ready? Mars is waiting for you.

Other Surviving Mars Guides:

All About Colonists

Colonists are brave souls who decide to settle Mars and risk death and injury with no possibility of rescue.

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.

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	Interest
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.

It’s end. I hope “All About Colonists” guide helps you. Feel free to contribute the topic. If you have also comments or suggestions, comment us.