When constructing a successful colony in Surviving Mars, players will need to take into account a wide array of variables, with one of the main factors for consideration being a solid power infrastructure. There are times, however, where building can go awry. Perhaps a player's plans may change over time for a specific section of their colony, or maybe a simple misclick has left some stray power cable lingering around using up precious resources. Whatever the case, this short guide will give players a quick and easy way to get rid of loose power cable in Surviving Mars.
Power cables, much like other resources in Surviving Mars, have a variety of uses. Not only do they provide power between buildings, allowing players to set up a power grid for their colony, they can also charge up the batteries of vehicles that are parked close by, making them one of the cornerstones of a sustainable colony. However, as players will need a large amount of them to construct a successful Martian settlement, wasting resources on power cable that isn't being used can become costly, and deleting the cable isn't as intuitive as one might think, especially on console versions of Surviving Mars.
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Many players have missed the option to delete stray cabling, as it is somewhat different than deleting larger buildings. To delete power cables, simply go to the first Buildings tab and then go to the Infrastructure section and look for the Salvage option. Click on the icon and the ability to delete power cables and other constructions that aren't able to be directly selected will now be available. The tool is incredibly useful for clearing space in a Martian colony in order to restructure or make new additions, as waste management in Surviving Mars is important. Players should be careful with it, though, as there is no confirmation box when salvaging, meaning they can easily delete the wrong thing by misclicking.
Salvaging parts in Surviving Mars works like other games in the genre, deleting power cables will net players half of the cost of the cables back, meaning that even if players place some incorrect cable and need to salvage it later, it isn't a total loss. Unlike certain buildings, there is no need to have invested in the Decommission Protocol research line in order to full clear the cable, it is simply able to be deleted outright using the Salvage option from the build menu.
While many players will be scratching their heads as to how they could have missed something so simple, it is actually fairly common to miss the Salvage option in Surviving Mars, perhaps due to it differing from the usual way of salvaging constructions in the game. It is, however, an incredibly useful tool to have, especially early on when resources are limited and power cable placement is important for creating a solid infrastructure for a colony. Perhaps quality of life improvements will come with future added content to Surviving Mars, when Abstraction decides to release DLC later in the year.
Surviving Mars is available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.