Surviving Mars: Green Planet is Out Now, Costs Nothing for Season Pass Holders

Are you ready to have your minions breathe the fresh air of Mars? That’s the mission with the newly released Surviving Mars: Green Planet update. The new expansion gives players the chance to take their colonies to the next level by terraforming Mars and turning it into Earth 2.0. Once you’ve terraformed enough of the martian soil and turned that nasty toxic air into breathable goodness, your people will be able to leave their domes and live a fuller life. Or at least that’s the idea…
In addition to the Green Planet expansion there is also the Project Laika pack which adds animal breeding and 25 animals that can be reared as pets. How lovely. The Green Planet expansion will set you back $19.99 while the Project Laika pack will cost $5.99. Season Pass holders, however, won’t pay a penny. The Armstrong update, however, is free for all players and you can read all about what that entails down below, courtesy of the Paradox Interactive press release. Be sure to check out the trailer up above, too!

Armstrong Update includes:

5 Landscaping Tools and Buildings: Flatten terrain, create ramps, change surface texture, and construct rock formations to fit your colony’s needs. Landscaping does not require research and is available at the start of the game. Make sure you monitor your resources while landscaping the planet, all that displaced rock and dirt has to go somewhere!
3 Special Projects: Now you can capture meteors, launch high-speed comm satellites, and even launch a SETI satellite. These special projects become available when the first batch of Planetary Anomalies gets discovered and do not require previous research.
2 New Buildings: Players can build a Large Dumping Site and Rocket Construction Site for their colonies. The Large Dumping Site is available right away and gives you a place to put all the excess Waste Rock while the Rocket Construction Site allows you to build rockets after you have researched Advanced Rocketry.
20 New Events: These events add more variety at the early stages of the game, so be on the lookout!
New Research UI: Revamped research interface.

Surviving Mars: Green Planet features include:

Terraforming: Terraform Mars and make the hostile planet habitable for humanity. Each decision you make while managing your colony can affect the Terraforming Parameters, which includes Atmosphere, Temperature, Water, and Vegetation, and ideally brings them closer to habitable levels. Monitor your progress on a planetary scale with the Planetary Overview UI. Once you’ve made the atmosphere breathable, open the domes and let your colonists breathe Martian air!
Green Mars: Seed the surface of Mars with various lichen, grass, shrubs, or trees and watch as they begin to turn the Red Planet green. Low maintenance plants like Lichen can improve the soil quality to help more complex plants grow while Trees produce high seed yields for your colony to harvest. Be sure to monitor your soil quality levels to keep your plants healthy and growing.
Special Projects: Take on seven challenging Special Projects like melting the polar caps, capturing ice asteroids, launching a space mirror, and more to begin shifting the Terraforming Parameters. Be careful, these projects will have a lasting impact on the planet and will trigger natural disasters!
7 New Terraforming Buildings: Construct seven new buildings that can help you terraform the planet or capitalize on the changes. Use the GHG factory to release greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, the Forestation Plant to boost vegetation production, the Water Pump to fill a man-made lake bed, and more.
Climate Calamities: Terraforming a planet can have unexpected consequences. If you release too many greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere you can trigger acid rain which reduces soil quality, or if an asteroid slams into the planet it will cause a Marsquake that can disrupt your colony’s production.

Project Laika includes:

Animal Farm: Breed up to eight different farm animals in the Martian Pastures including Cows, Chickens, Pigs, and more. Farm animals can be raised for food in the new In-Dome Ranches or Outside Ranches, depending on their size, and consume more water than crops.
Martian’s Best Friend: Animal Pack features 25 different pets, ranging from your usual suspects like cats, dogs, and rabbits to some unexpected critters like llamas, penguins, and platypuses. Once you terraform the planet enough, pets will go outside to explore nearby bushes and trees.