Terraforming Mars Expansions | Which Should You Get?

[@namelessfire]

I'll say this about Venus Next: if you play five-player consistently, Venus Next is top-tier. The addition of Venus cards opens up the game with enough breathing room for five distinct strategies. This prevents a feel-bad situation which crops up far too often in five-player: three or four players fight for first while one to two players get left in the dust because their strategy was picked clean from the table. Excellent guide. Base, boards, and prelude are what I consider the core of TM where the other expansions are flavor packs you can sprinkle in. I love that TM's expansions essentially let you tailor the game to your mood or group.

[@acerealbox828]

Well said!

[@raymondlopez5974]

I was drawn to Ares Expedition:Terraforming Mars as a artist that appreciates digital art and illustrative art design because this box set is so beautiful to its cardplay Asthetics, and overall theme for box set. I have very minor Dungeons and Dragons board gameplay background and like to play not too long boardgames and not very complex in learning, AE really was a bit of stretch in patience for its learning curve however; I recommend youtube videos first learning, over trying to read the rulebook, use it secondhand. The TF big box set,doing research, makes for longer games than playing Ares Expedition(linger than 2hrs), so I went with the AE set over TF BigBoxSet- forshorter gameplay. I bought Venus Next after AE because I love the concept of terraforming and trying colonize planets, and it was a blast-actually a succussful game for me and my gf competiting against one another, and we actually enjoied venus next more than just the original base play exprience we had prior. We are about to play our 3rd game with prelude expansion, and are very excited, and our 4th game do with colonies and our 5th with Turmoil. We will be buying Hellas and Ellysium last, since it kinda changes feel of whole game introducing new boards.... for us. We are aware H&E is usually bought 1st or 2nd. But I would recommend prelude and Venus Next if you have love for space exploration and a deep appreciation for Terraforming and concepts of Planetary Colonization. If you are more into board gaming with friends,you likely want to buy TF or AE as your main box set depending on which box set your main chunk of friends play most often; and then go with prelude, Hellas and Ellysium, Venus Next, Colonies,Turmoil,Discovery,Foundation, Crisis, in that order if going off of order of game release. But honestly some crisis sets, I think can have discovery and foundation,all three in them, I believe. You can go without foundations IMO if only play with 2 people as the case me and my gf. Most people have more experience with other expansions first, then they do playing Turmoil, but I will be very curious to see how time treat Turmoil expansion myself. Every Expansion the Corporate Card Chosen is highly influencial on gameplay and win/lose turnout. I noticed that Credits are deceiving to really the playability and long term overall quality of the cards, for most of the expansion sets.

[@LassePeterson]

Thanks a lot for this really nice overview. I'll be getting them all because I backed the big box with all the bling. Just couldn't resist. Anyway this gives me a good idea of what order to being in the expansions.

[@acerealbox828]

Glad you enjoyed the more thorough breakdown. Enjoy the terraforming!

[@andrewsdavidson]

The easy answer is ALL OF THEM! And all the promos and extra maps too.

[@acerealbox828]

Thats where I landed XD

[@OmnisKorrecta]

Really great and useful video, thanks for making it. Helps me a lot in deciding which expansions to buy next!

[@acerealbox828]

Glad I could help!

[@Raistlin2k]

All! And the Big Box with 3d tiles. KKTHXBYE!

[@dannycam8000]

Amen! Best game ever (not a legacy) IMO

[@feanol22]

Thank you for such a comprehensive review of the expansions.

[@acerealbox828]

My pleasure!

[@advolf]

Bought all of them. No regrets.

[@acerealbox828]

This is the energy we need right now!

[@JohnHoliver]

Got my BigBox yesterday and enjoyed a lot this video to understand how to progress in my TM experience

[@acerealbox828]

Jealous!

[@zilvinaskraniauskas8441]

Nice, deep review :)

[@acerealbox828]

Glad you liked it!

[@elesvazul]

Easy answer, all of them! x'D ( I did ) xD

[@danielastin9445]

Thanks for the excellent run through, definitely helped with my purchase decision. Backed the recent review ks big box but bought the base, prelude and boards for now but adding hellas and colonies for the ks delivery next year.

[@acerealbox828]

Glad you enjoyed the longer form content, really wanted to hit on the feel of each one and I'm pumped to help a fellow terraformer!

[@DrZr]

Great video! Thanks for all the insight now I know what to buy next!

[@acerealbox828]

Glad it was helpful!

[@heyojayo8642]

Thanks a million breh 👍 Just got into the base game and now know to get prelude next and Hellas. Wish the base came with those upgraded boards as standard. For the price of the game to begin with being given those pieces of paper as "player boards" is a slap in the face!

[@acerealbox828]

Yea, its pretty much a must have if you play the game with any regularity. Glad that you found this informative, it was quire the long dive XD

[@colinwright27]

Great video. Never played TM even though I have it on Steam. My Kickstarter for the Big Box, Base game & all expansions should be arriving soon and I'm even more excited having watched this.

[@johncampbell5774]

the big box is unreal. my friend has it and we play on a regular basis

[@antonlumijoki1809]

Thanks for the video! Just bought colonies and I had prelude and the alternative maps from before. Magically I did it all in the correct order it would appear! ^_^

[@acerealbox828]

Absolute WIN

[@stefansibbes2440]

Prelude and Hellas and Elysium are must haves IMO. Colonies is good, will always play with it. Couldn't care less about the other two, they detract from the game IMO.

[@acerealbox828]

But MOAR cards is MOAR better

[@MrFox-xr9cc]

I agree. Prelude is a great addition of companies and the prelude really kick off the game in a direction you want. Can be especially good with more players where you don't often get the cards and ressources you might need. And Hellas and Elysium make up for a great change without changing the core rules of the game. And while i like the others, it is just too much to keep up and keep track of imho.

[@malcolm-chrisbikoumou972]

I think you pointed out why people don't like Venus Next: Most of the Venus/floaters cards are a reskin of microbes. They give you a lot of value when you have some synergies but they are not flashy, they don't put anything on the board... It's rough out there on Venus.

[@kimberlycarter369]

I’ve watched and read some mixed feelings on Venus Next. It’s the only one we don’t own...yet. We pre-ordered the Big Box, and had them include Venus Next with our order. Can’t wait for the tiles and other content in Big Box. Thanks for the information you’ve provided.

[@shamsi500]

Thank you for the very informational video. I introduced this game to my friend and ever since we play he always wins😂 i love this game but im nit very good at it.

[@acerealbox828]

Glad I could help!

[@FreeformRock]

This was so helpful, thank you so much.

[@derpz_]

Very comprehensive and entertaining review, and at least I got a very good idea what interests me most of the expansion packs. Tabletop Simulator worked really well in this video and it made me want to see more TTS in the future. What mods are you using for the TM and expansion on the simulator? Cheers.

[@jamesmcgowan2307]

This may be late but, others may find this helpful... It looks to be the "Terraforming Mars + Expansions (Scripted)" by Bmb92 (has a unique TM image) from the TableTop Simulator's Workshop area. NOTE: There is also a older version - "Terrafoming Mars + Expansions Alternative (Scripted)" (sp!) (has the Big Box cover image) also by Bmb92, but I get an error when loading it. I hope this helps.

[@derpz_]

@@jamesmcgowan2307 Thanks! Maybe I missed the notification from the reply haha!

[@MRAROCKERDUDE]

Great Video! Very helpful and informative. Thank you :)

[@brunoromiti7708]

great video! liked the delivery while explaining it in a fun and relatable way! thanks for taking the time to do it!

[@acerealbox828]

Thanks for the feedback! Happy to share my experience with TM

[@Rhajalob]

super helpful video! i will now get all of them ;-)

[@krikukiks]

For me it's colonies - sometimes turmoil - almost never

[@mariocrest]

Thanks for this review, I think the first one will be all of them. How I love this game and how I hate myself. 😒

[@acerealbox828]

All of them should have been my conclusion!

[@andersgad3055]

Great Video.. But the double layer boards you talked about, was only available in their Turmoil kickstarter. The same goes with a lot of those cards, you showed. But the good Thing is you can buy them all stuff at there website...

[@acerealbox828]

Yea, I've only played with the whole package so I totally missed separating the promo stuff. I really wished that I edited in a disclaimer.

[@majbrittnielsen5041]

Great video. Getting hellas and elysium for my husband for christmas. Where Can I get the wooden over lay?

[@acerealbox828]

Those are 3rd party ad-ons. You'll need to check marketplaces like Esty. I think a tray was also included in the kickstarter content for turnmoil.

[@ellej3112]

Terraforming Mars Termoil sounds like the most fun because of the buying and politics but I've never played any Terraforming Mars Games before. I'm uncertain if I should buy it...

[@acerealbox828]

Definitely start with the base game to learn. If you want more challenge/complexity then go for it

[@marc-andreviau3560]

Prelude ftw

[@casmx7300]

My only suggestion when it comes to Venus Next is to not play it with Corporate Era cards (the 'advanced' set of cards that came with the base game). If you play with the Corporate Era cards as well as the Venus Next cards, the deck becomes oversaturated and makes the Venus specific cards far too scarce and seemingly less impactful. If you remove the CE cards and essentially replace them with the Venus cards, the deck is considerably smaller and Venus cards make an appearance considerably more often, allowing it to play a more prominent role in the game. Players no longer feel like they are being punished for playing a Venus strategy and it does wonders for improving the overall game. I've come to organize my Terraforming Mars in a very unique way. Every card that requires Venus to be played (cards that have Floaters, or otherwise need the Venus board to be in play, including VN specific corps) I separate out. This includes cards from other expansions that have expanded on this. All other cards from all expansions, including cards from Venus Next, that don't require Venus to be played are shuffled into the deck o' cards. Now I effectively have a 'sideboard' of Venus cards that can only be played with VN and when my friends and I decide we want to play with those, I simply remove the CE cards and replace them with the VN cards. I also highly recommend counting how many cards are in your VN 'sideboard' so when you go to remove them again, you're sure you have them all and it doesn't screw up a future game where you didn't want to play with Venus. At least, that's how I do it.

[@acerealbox828]

Interesting way to play for sure! I'm much more of a throw in everything kind of player you never know what technologies/projects are going to come out of the deck!

[@vanessapipi]

Ótimo vídeo. Estou em dúvida em qual comprar e com sua explicação ajudou a decidir! Obrigada

[@drmanhattan71]

I am waiting for the eagerly anticipated "Cerealbox" expansion which includes a fully operational "Acerealbox" who could sit behind you at the table and prod you when you are about to throw away cards which will surely pay off later on, and make sure you don't start sweating the terraforming until it's time. When is that one coming out?

[@acerealbox828]

If its not gen 10, then I'm not even looking at the terraforming progress! Literally no sweats to give!

[@fabiansantander3564]

Hello! Great Video! Where did you bought those cool 3D tiles for the cities?

[@acerealbox828]

My sister 3d printed and painted them as a gift for Christmas!

[@kelseyjohnston1071]

For a 2 player game would you recommend starting with the prelude expansion Corp things and 0 production on each, just starting Corp (no prelude cards) and 1 production of each resource, prelude Corp extra cards and 1 production of each, or no prelude and 0 production? (We know how to play but have only played base game, wondering what’s the most fun for a 2 player game)

[@acerealbox828]

If you've played the base game and are comfortable with all the mechanics, 0 production with preludes is what I recommend. Lots more room for the players to be even more asymmetric in their playstyle and more varied approaches creates room for comebacks as opposed to the player in the lead simply dominating. Though that remains the biggest issue in head to head.

[@kelseyjohnston1071]

AceRealBox thanks for the quick reply! I have one last 2 player question if you don’t mind. (Hopefully we will be able to go back to 4 players later this year..) is it worth putting in any of the expansions besides prelude when at the 2 player count?

[@OmegaDez]

I wonder why you included the Turmoil Promo cards to Turmoil itself. Those won't be available to anyone who got Turmoil outside of the Kickstarter unless they order them online. I would have made a separate section to cover all of the promo cards. Also, Prelude isn't the second expansion, it's the third one.

[@acerealbox828]

I wanted to talk about prelude second so I cheated

[@daryllp6270]

Thanks for this video! - My wife and I have been playing about 4 games of TM per week. Which expansion(s) would you recommend for strictly 2 player games? Thanks :)

[@guynexdoor]

- Prelude

[@jadam42]

Colonies can be useful to help a stalled out engine, pending the resource type you are stalled out on is provided by one of the colonies in play. Europa is a nice one in lower player count games since not as many colonies will be in play.

[@acerealbox828]

As these fine gentlemen have suggested, prelude then colonies would be my suggestion for a 2p group!

[@philamylon1479]

Dude, how did you do the trick in TTS where you dealt out individual cards from the Turmoil stack?

[@acerealbox828]

Sorry I missed your comment! While holding a stack of objects (or a deck) you can right click to pick up individual objects and add them to the group in your grasp, but to do the reverse and drop them one at a time you hold down Alt and right click. Best

[@christianmarx3249]

all of them

[@amadeolopez76]

I wish they kept the flavor text on the digital version

[@acerealbox828]

They do! You can it a "?" button to see it. Some are so good!

[@amadeolopez76]

@@acerealbox828 awesome! Didnt notice. Thanks.

[@alexbenzler5327]

Did you upload your analysis/review of the 3rd party extensions yet? :)

[@acerealbox828]

Nope, the kick-starter 3d pieces pretty well speak for themselves and I dont own any of the 3rd party stuff like pathfinder. Though I do play with some fan made stuff in TTS

[@alexmonks2241]

If it was scrape-ing it would have been single p so it is scrap-ing

[@jabbawookeez01]

idk if its going to be brought up.. but uh.. specifically for a single player game.. which would you recommend? edit... yeah everything this person talks about is in a "group" type of games.. but doesnt talk about single player game :(

[@acerealbox828]

I play a ton of Solo on the channel haha, just recently scored 194pts on the steam app which is my preferred way to play. The expansions are great for solo but it become more and more luck dependent as you have fewer generations and less income. The topic could be another 45min video tbh

[@alphabet2238]

I know it's a year late. For solo, I think colonies integrates the best, Venus next and turmoil are side steps from the game which you just can't do in solo mode with limited generations.

[@Weire1991]

Can you Tell me where i cano download Terraforming Mars with the expansions on tts?

[@acerealbox828]

Look up the mmga discord

[@MegaLittleCrow]

Turmoil looks fun, though it puts quite a cynical spin on politics haha

[@acerealbox828]

Politics in real life - generally compromises where everyone is upset Politics in TM - Solely for corporations to exploit for profit

[@Wustenfuchs109]

It looks fun on the surface, but in reality it takes a portion of resource gain and makes you invest more time to get it. End result is the same in terms of in-game impact, no change... except that it adds another half an hour to an already quite long game.

[@cucho6873]

Where do you play the game online?

[@acerealbox828]

Tabletop simulator

[@justinrrizzo]

Which one moves the game away form its "on rails" experience?

[@cherneshenko]

Turmoil

[@malcolm-chrisbikoumou972]

In my group, we had a lot of painful experiences with Prelude. People getting free milestones turn 1, people getting really powerful starts and broken synergies between their preludes and their corps while others had pretty much nothing. So we don't play with Preludes cards anymore, or maybe once in 30 games. While I do like the jumpstart you get from these cards is good, I think the randomness it adds to the game is just too bad. Besides, I don't like getting free stuff in a game where you have to calculate the price of everything and wonder if your investment is worthy. I think it's a really poor design.

[@acerealbox828]

Our group combats this with extra choice and harder milestones. We randomize 5 "top" and 5 "bottom" milestones and you need to claim them in pairs, 1 from the top and one from the bottom row. A lot more challenging compared to the turn 1 milestones. We also draw 4 corps and 12 project cards, the philosophy being that its more fun if everyone has a chance at making a cool strategy vs one person getting cards that happen to work. Didnt want to go into house rules in the vid of course.

[@UofTguy]

@@acerealbox828 can you explain what you mean by top and bottom milestones? arent there only 5 milestones? How do you claim them in pairs?

[@acerealbox828]

We have cut outs of each individual milestone so that we can randomize 5 rather than using the 5 printed on the board. We do 5 more to create a second ground that we put on top

[@UofTguy]

@@acerealbox828 did you come up with more on your own? Or did you use the ones from the expansion boards?

[@goranmajnaric556]

Nice review. BYW Corona is a scam. GLHF everyone!