Surviving Mars' domes, in which your colonists live, are one of my favourite things about the game. They're full of colour and light and really stand out from the dusty backdrop of the Red Planet. In an update on Monday, developer Haemimont Games will add five more dome types of various shapes and sizes, and they look very pretty indeed.
I especially like the design of the barrel dome, which you can see below. It's quite small, but it won't require many resources to build, so it should be handy early in the game. You can say the same for the micro dome, another cheap dome that's triangular in shape.
You'll have two larger triangular domes to play with: the Trigon dome and the Mega Trigon dome. They'll provide more space, but their shape makes them harder to place on the map.
The only dome that actually requires new tech (the others will unlock alongside the old domes as you play) is the Diamond dome, below. That requires a 'breakthrough', which you find by researching anomalies on Mars. It stands out because it can host two Spires—central structures that make your domes more useful. Most other domes can only house one.
Alongside the new domes, the Curiosity update will add a "huge five-part monster of a tutorial", which a lot of new players have been asking for. And rightly so, because the game can get a little complex at times. "Creating a tutorial after release may seem like a waste of effort, but we really want to make our game more welcoming to newcomers and we see this tutorial as very important for the future health of Surviving Mars," the team said in a blog post.
The update also introduces the Command Center, which is basically a massive data tool set that can help you get more information about your buildings, colonists and transportation system, complete with graphs. Lastly, it adds an info bar to the main screen that shows you how your current research project is progressing.
If you're a fan of city builders and haven't yet checked out Surviving Mars, it's worth considering. Read Fraser's review to find out why.