Isaac just finished the official youtube tutorial for Turmoil. This is probably the easiest way to learn the rules of our newest expansion. Enjoy!
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Cubes for everyone!
Time flies, and we’re deep into the process of getting the production of Turmoil started. This includes coordinating the translation of the expansion into more than 15 languages, setting color profiles for the printer, double-checking grammar, iconography etc. Since Turmoil is our first Kickstarted expansion, we also have a lot of new tasks to handle, from sorting out who will send which package to which backer to preparing packaging materials, labels, tape, markers etc. For me, it means I will prepare my home to have 19 fully loaded pallets of games and packing material delivered to my front door in Karlstad, and try to fit them in whatever room possible, even in the bathroom if necessary (no worries, I have 2). From there (my home, not my bathroom), over 4000 packages will be sent to backers in Scandinavia and many other European countries. I am so pumped for this, and really look forward to hearing all your feedback on Turmoil, which has been my favorite expansion since the release of the base game in 2016. Since then, we’ve maintained and enriched the theme of the expansion, but have reworked the mechanics to make a worthy follow-up to Colonies. I recently searched my computer folders for old prototype versions of Turmoil, and came up with a few cards I would like to share. This is the oldest one I found, a global event from long before the release of the base game. These cards were shuffled into to project card deck (the project cards also had this design back then. Good thing Isaac came along to make something better!)
Some time after the release of the base game, we had time to come back to the development of Turmoil, and Jacob had the idea to have one event lead to another event a few generations later. We referred to the events as “sow” events and “reap” events. The essential ideas from the above card were carried over to the new system. In the following example, which made it all the way to the final version, Separatist Movements start gathering support, which leads to War on Earth 3 generations later.
A war on Earth would drastically change the amount of funds available for the terraforming efforts (“Waning funds”), which reduces the Terraform Rating for all players equally. As you can see, in the first version, all players lost 8 TR, without any possibility to protect themselves. Back then, the political system was completely different and players didn’t have “influence”. The theme was there, and it was great. But the mechanics were not interesting enough, and too harsh. The real break-through for Turmoil came after some heated discussions about the expansion in 2018. That’s when the game mechanics started falling into place. The middle card above was the last prototype before the final version. By then, we had added delegates, ruling policies, the chairman, and some cards to interact with those. Suddenly, Turmoil was much more dynamic, allowing for a range of new tactical moves, long-term planning, player interaction, and an ever-present narrative of the growing human civilization on Mars.
Cubes for Terraforming Mars
In other news, we just received a batch of extra cube sets for Terraforming Mars, and we have started to offer them in our webshop. It is the same set that comes in the game, so just over 400 cubes. If your cubes are worn out, or if you want extras, you can order them here.
If you haven’t seen the Terraforming Mugs there already, go check them out as well here.
Kickstarter and Space Station
Hi everyone!
Things are happening fast right now, so we have 2 great news for you. The first one is that the Kickstarter campaign for our 5th expansion for Terraforming Mars: Turmoil, is soon finished. It has collected over 1,000,000 USD in funds from over 20,000 backers from all over the world! With approximately 40 hours left, this is your last chance to support the campaign and be one of the first to receive the new expansion with the bonus dual layer player boards and the new massive promo pack. Visit the Kickstarter Campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/strongholdgames/terraforming-mars-turmoil
The second thing is that one of our oldest games, Space Station, will get a face lift and be published as a new edition by Hexy Studio.
We have streamlined the game mechanics, and Hexy Studio will make the new graphics so that the game fits their Star Scrappers universe. We think that this collaboration will be a great benefit for the game, and hope you’ll enjoy it a lot!
Octoberfest
Fellow terraformers! October is here, and that means new releases! Our own Octoberfest, so to speak.
The first release is tomorrow, when the digital version of Terraforming Mars is released for PC on Steam. It’s been a great journey together with Asmodee Digital and Luckyhammers to bring our flag ship Terraforming Mars to the virtual world. We hope to see many terraformers there, both rookies and veterans.
But even though this is huge – this is our first digital release – we also have the 4th expansion for the game being released next week in Essen, Germany. Colonies brings players to the outer solar system in pursuit of new resources to import and new frontiers to push for the sake of humanity. The first copies of the expansion are shipped directly to the fair, so we look forward to celebrating this new release together with our fans at the fair.
After Essen, we will also have local release events in Sweden. For those of you near Stockholm, Västerås, Linköping, Trelleborg, and Karlstad, the Colonies will be waiting in the following times and places:
November 2nd – Release at Dragon’s Lair in Stockholm
Time: 16:00 – 19:00
Address: Sveavägen 118
Your host for the evening is Jacob Fryxelius, the one and only
November 3rd – Release at Seriecentrum in Trelleborg
Time: 12:00 – 20:00
Address: Hedvägen 155
Your host for the evening is Enoch Fryxelius, important CEO
November 5th – Release at Studiefrämjandet in Linköping
Time: 18:00 – 22:00
Address: Platensgatan 25
Your host for the evening is Daniel Fryxelius, enthusiastic gamer
November 6th – Release at Leklust in Västerås
Time: 18:00 – 20:00
Address: Vasagatan 16
Your host for the evening is Jacob Fryxelius, beardy gamer
November 10th – Release at Karlstad University
Time: 18:00 – 23:00
Address: House 12, Karlstad University
Your host for the evening is Jonathan Fryxelius, some baby brother
We hope to see you there!
So now, who came here just to see another card from Colonies? Raise your hands!
Titanium, titanium, titanium
With a focus on trade and colonization of small worlds throughout the solar system, the Colonies expansion for Terraforming Mars naturally features some titanium-producing cards. Not only can titanium be used for lauching your trade fleet, it is also highly useful for building all space infrastructure. Triton is therefore sure to get attention when in play. Trade with it before the competition takes the bounty – or establish a colony to leech off of them even when they beat you to it!
Titanium can also be found on Saturn’s moon Titan, where your shuttles can lift it into orbit, or deliver it to various atmospheric projects.
But you don’t have to go that far though to find titanium. Suitable ship-building materials are found right here on Earth, but are just too expensive to get into orbit in larger quantities. Building a Space Elevator on Earth might change that, and even though some consider the challenges too great, the rewards are more than worth it. The whole of humanity will thank you!
Considerably cheaper, but less glorious, would be to mine the moon.
Making Lunar Mining efficient will require some Earth tags, but in our next update you’ll be happy to meet the man for the job: the Luna Governor…
Masters of Trade
The Colonies expansion for Terraforming Mars is all about sending your trade fleet to distant colonies in search of riches. If you can do this more efficiently than the other corporations, you’ll have a strong edge over them. Smart colony placement and timely trades can get you far, but founding a Trading Colony will make your trades more efficient, and space-faring technologies such as Cryo-sleep will reduce your costs. All you need then is a Space Port so that you can host a second trade fleet and utilize your advantage even more!
Each of these cards can give you a distinct advantage, but they also synergize really well. The Trading Colony will allow you to reach higher on the colony tile’s resource track, allowing you to make better profits, and trade with worlds that are not yet beneficial enough for the other players.
Cryo-sleep, on the other hand, reduces the trade cost from 9 MC, 3 titanium, or 3 energy to 8 MC, 2 titanium, or 2 energy. This makes it much more advantageous to use titanium or energy, and at the same time more accessible to do so. And with Cryo-sleep, it will not be so difficult to afford running a second trade fleet, which is where Space Port comes in. The extra trade fleet might seem like a huge deal, but it still needs resources to run, and the increased number of trade fleets in play will deplete the colonies more quickly. Judging when to invest in and use an extra trade fleet is of crucial importance if you want to become the master of trade.
Terraforming Mars Digital coming to Steam on October 17th
Only 8 days to go, Terraforming Mars will soon be launched on Steam. For the iOS and Android versions, we’ll have to wait another month or so.
Add the game to your wishlist already! https://store.steampowered.com/app/800270/Terraforming_Mars/
Upcoming Essen
We are already working hard to get all details ready for the international games fair Spiel’18 in Essen, Germany, which is at the end of October. We hope to see you there! Our booth number is 3-O103, close to where we’ve been all these 7 years since we started FryxGames. Our new items this year are of course the 2 latest expansions for Terraforming Mars: Prelude and Colonies. We will also sell the promo pack, containing all 10 promo cards released thus far for the game, including the 3 corporations from the BoardGameGeek contest.
This is the price list for Essen this year:
Terraforming Mars: 55€
TM: Hellas & Elysium: 20€
TM: Venus Next: 25€
TM: Prelude: 20€
TM: Colonies: 30€
TM: Promo pack (10 promos): 8€
TM: Everything: 120€ (save 38€)
TM: Expansions: 75€ (save 28€)
After the Virus: 25€
Fleets (few left): 50€
Space Station: 20€
Brawling Barons: 5€ / deck
All items can be pre-ordered for pick-up at Essen. Just e-mail us at info@fryxgames.se, give us your name and the items you want to pre-order.
Newsletter
We have set up an e-mail list for our newsletter, which we aim to send out every three months. We want to send the first newsletter this week, so be sure to subscribe to it by clicking here.
Terraforming Mars Digital App
Soon you will be able to play Terraforming Mars on your digital devices! Although the launch has been postponed to late September or early October, things are falling into place and we look forward to the full release with great anticipation! To learn more, visit the app on Steam by clicking here.
The image used on the Colonies box. Image by Isaac Fryxelius.
Pre-releasing Prelude
Dear friends,
Prelude has arrived from the factory, and will begin to sell shortly. We have just enough time to pre-release it in the cities in Sweden where we live, THIS WEEKEND. So here comes some short information about the whereabouts of the pre-release events.
In Trelleborg, Enoch hosts the event at Seriecentrum (address Hedvägen 155). The event starts at 14:00 on Saturday, July 28th.
In Stockholm, Jacob hosts the event at Dragon’s Lair (Sveavägen) on Sunday at 14:00.
In Karlstad, Jonathan hosts the event at Karlstad University, House 12 at 15:00, also Sunday.
In Linköping, Daniel hosts the event in the Studiefrämjandet premises (address Platensgatan 25) on Monday at 18:00.
The events should be long enough for visitors to try the game with Prelude. We will have discounts for expansion packages and will also have the promo cards for sale.
Welcome!
Past and Future
This year will see the release of two expansions for Terraforming Mars.
Prelude will delve into the background of the corporations, what they did up to the start of the terraforming. Did they have strong Earth assets? Were they Martian miners? Or colonizing the moons of Jupiter? Whatever their background, this propelled them to become the corporations entrusted with the development of Mars. In the game, this is simulated by prelude cards that you play after playing your corporation. The prelude cards give you a strong boost and throw you right into the fray running.
During this fall, Colonies will join the Terraforming Mars universe and broaden the scope, introducing more colonization of the outer solar system. The moons of Jupiter and Saturn are within our reach, and offer easy access to vast resources – resources that can be used on Mars! The reach of the corporations is expanding…
Swedish Championship
This weekend we gathered all FryxGames brothers to participate in one of Sweden’s largest board game fairs, LinCon. It has been 4 days of intense demoing, prototype testing, discussing and not least arranging the Swedish Terraforming Championship. The 20 spots available for the championship were quickly claimed, and the Friday was spent playing the three games leading up to the final on Saturday. Each participant thus played 3 games against other players, where the winner got 4 Tournament Points (TP) and any player within 5 points from the winner got 3 TP, players within 10 points received 2 TP and ending within 15 points gave 1 TP. After the three matches, the 5 players with the highest TP got to play in the finals.
Here we present the finalists:
5th place: Jenny Rydén
4th place: Valentina Chapovalova
3rd place: Henning Persson
2nd place: Aron Enström
1st place and Terraformer of the Year: Jonas Hagelid
Terraformer Finalists, Jenny Ryden, Aron Enström, Jonas Hagelid, Henning Persson, and Valentina Chapovalova.