Colonists in Surviving Mars Surviving Mars Guide & Walkthrough
Last update: 20 March 2018
In this chapter you will find detailed information about the colonists. Familiarizing yourself with this section will allow you to better manage your colony and learn how to assign colonists to appropriate buildings.
Parameters of colonists
You will not be able to control colonists directly. You can, however, manually assign their homes and workplaces. Each of the colonists has parameters determining their condition: their physical and mental health, comfort, morale and perks.
Physical health reflects the physical condition of colonists, their damage, illnesses and exhaustion. The drop of physical health often might be caused by work under heavy load, lack of housing, shock associated with the lack of resources necessary to survive or physical injuries. They can then be treated in medical facilities, provided that they have access to food, water and oxygen. Colonists with a low physical health value can work only if they are fit.
Drop in mental health is caused by work under heavy load, in external buildings and at night, being present at the death of a colonist living in the same place of residence or by natural disasters. Colonists can recover their mental health by resting in their homes and visiting service buildings in the dome.
The comfort parameter depends on the place of residence, as well as on visiting buildings that increase the comfort of citizens (like, for instance, parks or fountains). Colonists will visit only those buildings that suit their interests. This is an important parameter - a high level of comfort encourages colonists to reproduce. When the level of comfort falls below an acceptable level, they will quit their jobs and will leave the colony at the first opportunity.
Morale reflects happiness, optimism and loyalty of the colonist. All of the previous parameters have an impact on morale, while morale affects work efficiency. Low morale results in the citizen turning into a renegade (he/she won't work and will have problems in the colony).
In addition, colonists can have specific specializations - use it to allocate them to appropriate buildings, like, for instance, botanists to farms. There are 7 specializations in the game: lack of specialization, scientist, technician, bodyguard, geologist, botanist and doctor. Colonists with the lack of specialization are suitable primarily for public buildings - spacebar, diner, electronics store, art workshop and grocery store. Scientists should be placed in research laboratories and science institutes. Technicians are doing well in thermonuclear reactors and factories, such as polymer, electronics or mechanical parts. Bodyguards perform well when placed in security stations. Geologists should supervise metal and rare metal extractors. Botanists are great at farms. Doctors, on the other hand, should be placed in hospitals, sanitariums and medical centers. Children and elderly colonists can't work at all.
Take care of your colonists - if they start dying, the mission to colonize Mars may be interrupted.
Characteristics of the colonists
In this chapter, you will learn about the characteristics of the colonists - what they are willing to do, where they can recover more efficiently, what bonuses they receive from specific parameters. Each colonist has his/her own set of perks, flaws and sometimes even quirks. Remember - you can choose which colonists you want to invite to the colony.
Perks of the colonists
Name | Description |
Workaholic | Individual performance increased by 20, no penalty for heavy workloads. |
Survivor | Loses less health without food, water, oxygen, or when living in an unpowered dome. |
Sexy | Greatly increased birth rate. |
Composed | All sanity losses are halved. |
Genius | Generates research points when in the colony. |
Celebrity | Generates funding when in the colony. |
Saint | Increases morale of all religious people n the dome. Benefits increase with each additional Saint. |
Religious | Higher base morale. Low mental health never leads to a suicide. |
Gamer | Gains mental health while gaming. |
Nerd | Gains a temporary boost to morale each time a new technology is researched. |
Rugged | No comfort penalties when eating unprepared food or having no residence. |
Fit | Colonist recovers more health when resting. Can work even with low health. |
Enthusiast | Increased performance boost when at high morale. |
Hippie | Gains twice as much comfort in gardens and parks. |
Party Animal | Gains additional comfort when satisfying social interest. |
The most sought out perks should be: Workaholic, Sexy, Genius, Celebrity, Religious, Fit and Enthusiast. Some of the perks aren't as good, such as Party Animal.
Flaws of the colonists
Name | Description |
Lazy | Decreases performance by 20 at all jobs. |
Chronic Condition | Loses health each day. |
Idiot | Can cause a malfunction at workplace (10%). |
Alcoholic | Work performance decreased by 10. Can be caused by sanity breakdowns. |
Gambler | Has 50% chance to lose 20 points of mental health when visiting a casino. Can be caused by sanity breakdowns. |
Glutton | Eats double rations. Can be caused by sanity breakdowns. |
Hypochondriac | Will randomly visit medical buildings and take mental damage if unable to do so. |
Whiner | Loses mental health when low on comfort. |
Melancholic | Increased performance penalty when at low morale. Can be caused by sanity breakdowns. |
Loner | Loses comfort every day while living in a dome with a population over 30. |
Coward | Double mental health loses from disasters. Can be caused by sanity breakdowns. |
Flaws that are acceptable and have low impact on the gameplay are: Glutton, Melancholic, Whiner and Idiot. Note that if you construct certain buildings in a dome, some of those can be mitigated.
Quirks of the colonists
Name | Description |
Guru | Randomly spreads other traits of this colonist to persons in the same dome with less than 3 traits. |
Tourist | Doesn't work. Leaves at first opportunity, but will stay if Comfort is high. |
Veganism | I don't eat friends! |
Quirks are, in most cases, attributes that are indifferent, the only exception to this is the Tourist - a completely useless quirk.