Terraformers – Beginners Guide

Don’t panic. This game has a steep learning curve. I haven’t by any means finished it, but after some cursing at the RNG god i have found a few tips i wish someone had told me when i first started. So here goes.

Guide for New Players

• Don’t try to stay in the positives in the support per turn. You don’t need those entertainment buildings when you only have one choice of card and you can get something you can use right now, like an energy building early game.
• Build many cities, don’t try to develop your cities too much. This is crucial, and sometimes it makes more sense to build a new city even if you hold a juicy building that will raise the population of your existing city (side note: robots are your friends: You can drop down a new city and throw some robot buildings and have instant access to new locations.
• Food is king. You need food for population, and you need population for support. So build lots of farms and do it the smart way. Position your farms so that a farm boosting building will benefit the most. Place farms only on rich soil (duh).
• Smart exploring is key to winning. Know what’s important when you explore. Rover stations and satellites are really useful. A good way to think is “What can I do right now?” For example, you might be able to explore different places to get happiness, research, titanium, or water. Look at your cards, the map, and your projects. If it’s early in the game and you have a card needing titanium for 3 robots, but you can’t afford it, explore where there’s titanium. If you’re close to getting a bacteria spreader, go for research. If you’re in the middle of the game and almost able to build a city you can afford, explore that location. Always think about what you need most at that moment.
• It is called terraformers for a reason. To advance, you need to start early on raising the terraform parameters. Even when you are playing with different winning goals, you have to put down life and have water, temperature, oxygen, atmosphere. If you don’t start early on bacteria, heat and oxygen you have no chance in the long run.

Remember

If you only make the most efficient moves, your progress is going to be slow. Good reasons to start building up a new city when your existing city isn’t finished include:

• Managing exploration costs.
• Obtaining access to new resources and/or resource types.
• Managing the support cost of sprawl.
• Getting access to a different climate zone for a lifeform spreader.
• Having access to a new city map and therefore a fresh set of adjacency bonuses.

Hope this helps a bit for those who find the game too hard.