Surviving Mars is a city-building simulation game that allows players to build and maintain a colony on Mars. To get the true feeling of starting from scratch, the game offers players numerous different buildings, support structures, and vehicles to craft. One of the more useful of these just happens to be one of the more tricky to make: the Shuttle. With more content likely planned for Surviving Mars, players will need to master this vehicle sooner rather than later.
Shuttles in Surviving Mars are hugely important when it comes to long-range transportation in-game. On a desolate planet, players need to carefully place colonies and share resources across wide stretches of land. Shuttles let players do just that. These vehicles can transport resources and colonists to and from different colonies and are based out of Shuttle Hubs.
RELATED: Kingdom Come: Deliverance Headlines August Humble Bundle
Shuttles in Surviving Mars assist with the long-range transportation of resources between depots and can even assist in the resettling of colonists between player-built Domes. They do require an investment of fuel, and their Hubs require power, but players can operate several shuttles out of a single Hub. They make access to these useful items and people much quicker and are essential to growing a colony quickly.
But access to a Shuttle Hub building can be tricky. Depending on the type of profile a player chooses when starting a game, it might be quite some time before they become available. The only profile that gives players an immediate head start in this aspect is that of the Rocket Scientist. A Rocket Scientist commander in Surviving Mars begins a colony with the CO2 Jet Propulsion Technology. This is the required technology for the creation of Shuttle Hubs and therefore Shuttles in Surviving Mars.
For other profile types, unlocking the technology that opens up the option of building Shuttle Hubs is a bit more challenging. Surviving Mars has a variety of different technology trees players can use to research different technologies. All other profile types need to pursue the Robotics technology tree to get the needed CO2 Jet Propulsion Technology. This advancement is in the 11th position along this technology tree and could take players quite a bit of time to achieve.
Once the technology has been researched, a Shuttle Hub has an additional material cost for Surviving Mars players. Players need 10 Concrete, 15 Polymers, and 10 Electronics to build the structure.
Concrete in Surviving Mars can be gathered with Concrete Extractors. Polymers can be found naturally on Mars through obsidian or synthesized through Polymer Factories, and Electronics can be created at Electronics Factories. On top of this investment of resources, Shuttles themselves cost players 10 polymers and 6 electronics each. Once built, though, they make resource management and transportation much easier.
Surviving Mars is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.