We get used to the role of a Martian

TERRAFORMING MARS IN A NEW WAY

 For a long time now, we have been going around and around with the question: is life possible on Mars? There is a whole separate subgenre in science fiction where the Earth is dying at our own hands. Think of climate change, human depletion of raw materials and nuclear war... Wait, all this is already very close to the same science "fiction"... Since humanity takes everything for granted, there is a need to find an alternative "living" space in space. Finding a suitable place in an inexhaustible universe seems to be almost as difficult as finding a house for sale for first-time buyers in the Ukrainian housing market. Maybe Mars is an alternative to real estate in the center of Kyiv? Mars is a pretty stylish place, so you need to make it habitable first, and that's exactly what players will be doing in Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition . Will you be able to grow potatoes like the main character of the movie "The Martian" or will the lack of oxygen take your breath away?

GOAL OF THE GAME

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition is the younger brother of Terraforming Mars , one of the most popular expert games, the pinnacle of engine building games and the school of bad graphics and art. Like its big brother, in Ares Expedition , you and your fellow players will terraform Mars into a habitable planet. You must increase the oxygen content, make the temperature pleasant and create literally and figuratively oceans of water. The game will end as soon as there is enough oxygen, heat and water. The player with the most victory points wins the game.

HOW TO TERAFORM THAT MARS?

Each round takes place in several stages. Players can:

• build green cards, red or blue cards in your field;
• perform actions;
• produce resources;
• and conduct research.

Playing cards costs credits, but you can earn discounts. Building green cards often allows players to gain more resources during the production phase. Red cards usually initiate direct actions, while blue cards contain effects or actions that can be activated, such as during the action phase. Sometimes the cards also contain victory points or the opportunity to gain victory points. With the action phase, players can perform actions on maps or cooperative actions, such as opening oceans, increasing oxygen, and collecting resources or money. During the production phase, players gain more money, cards, and resources based on the cards they play. During research, players can get new cards.

The highlight of the phased game is that not all phases go through every round. At the start of a round, all players secretly choose a phase to play in that round. Players cannot choose the same phase they already chose in the previous round. All players now flip over the phases they chose, and these are the phases that all players can play this round. If two or more players choose the same phase, this does not mean that the phase will be completed twice, but it does mean that there will be fewer phases to complete in that round. Players who have selected a phase also receive a bonus during the selected phase.

PHEW, MARS HAS BEEN TERRAFORMED, NOW YOU CAN GO TO THE EXPERIENCES

 We really like the idea of phase selection. This greatly increases the interaction between players. By choosing certain phases, you can cause trouble for other players. For example, you see that your opponents have neither money nor cards, so they cannot profit from card draws during phases 1 and 2. Also, by choosing certain phases, you can inadvertently help your fellow players. So think carefully about which phase will help you the most, but which phase will benefit your opponent the least.

 Ares Expedition is also a great engine building game. It feels very smooth and intuitive to play. It's not a short game, but it's not annoyingly long either. With everyone pumping oxygen, heat, and water to Mars, the game is over sooner than you might think.

 Ares Expedition is beautifully designed. A common criticism of Terraforming Mars is the incredibly ugly artwork (stock photos, professional illustrations, amateur drawings and sketches mixed together). Ares Expedition is beautifully illustrated and colorfully designed. However, the criticism is that the text on the maps often causes unnecessary confusion. This could have been avoided by sticking to the symbols for the most part, but perhaps the publisher didn't dare.

 The game components are also of very good quality, unlike the base game. The cards are nice to the touch, and the plastic dice are fine too, unlike the base game dice, which had paint peeling off before the film was even removed from the box.

 Expedition "Ares surprised us a lot. It's a beautiful and enjoyable game that we think has a lot to offer both novice and experienced board players.

USEFUL LINKS

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition on BGG

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/328871/terraforming-mars-ares-expedition

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition on the Game Theory portal

https://tg.in.ua/boardgames/113926/terraforming-mars-ares-expedition

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DESCRIPTION OF THE BOARD GAME TERRAFORMING MARS: ARES EXPEDITION How to Terraform Mars without long hours of thinking, overgrown with dozens of technologies, complex combinations and complex calculations of winning points? Try to do it as part of the Expedition to Ares! "Terraforming Mars. Ares Expedition" is a stand-alone game in the Conquest of Mars series that will allow you to colonize Mars much faster, focusing on building a card engine and activating round phases. Now you don't need t..