Dear Terraformers,

The first major update for Terraforming Mars is now officially available! Read below to discover the new content and the bugfixes.

Content: 1] Draft Variant 2] Game State 3] Awards & Milestones Competitors 4] Access to Tutorials 5] Fixed bugs and known bugs

1] Draft Variant

After the Solo Challenge and the Corporate Era, the third official variant is now implemented and available as an option for local and online games. It allows players to affect which cards other players get access to, and increases your ability to pursue a certain strategy, or predict which parameter will rise first.
During the Research phase each player drafts four cards to buy from instead of just drawing four to buy from. Each player first gets four cards and chooses one to draft and put aside. Each player then passes the three other cards to the following player. You now set aside one of them and pass the rest to the left. You repeat this until all cards drawn have been drafted.
You now examine the four cards you’ve set aside (drafted) and choose which to buy (3 M€ each) and which to discard.
Drafting is not used during the first generation since the first Research phase is skipped. The Draft Variant adds some extra game time and isn't recommended for players new to Terraforming Mars.

2] Game State

This new feature, available at any step of the game, allows you to pause your current action and check the information you need before making your decision.
For instance, you're at the end of the Research phase and need to select which cards to buy. Simply press the button View game state to switch to the main screen, view the surface of Mars and open any window you need (your Tags for instance).

3] Awards & Milestones Competitors

A mouseover on any Award or Milestone will display the compared performance of all players.

4] Access to Tutorials

The Tutorials are now available in the Main Menu instead of the Options menu.

5] Fixed bugs and known bugs

All blocker bugs and a large number of rule-breaking issues have been addressed. We will continue ironing out the game and monitoring the forum for your reports in the next months. We'd like to thank our beta-testers who have provided valuable feedback over the winter. They'll be listed in the game's Credits in the next patches.
The fixes included in this build include: AI freezes, online desynch, awards calculation, blue cards exploits, negative productions, corporation-specific issues, and card-specific issue such as Search For Life (005), Capital City (008), Noctis City (017), Phobos Space Haven (021), Arctic Algae (023), Predators (024), Optimal Aerobraking (031), Nitrogen-Rich Asteroid (037), Virus (050), Land Claim (066), Advanced Alloys (071), Mars University (073), Viral Enhancers (074), Ganymede Colony (081), Robotic Workforce (086), Research (090), Extreme-Cold Fungus (134), Herbivores (147), Pets (172), Livestock (184), Rad-Suits (186).

Some issues are still present. We're going to fix the following issues in the next patches:
- The action of Search for Life (005) reveals the card only to the player using it.
- User playing as Helion is unable to use Heat to buy cards with certain actions.
- Helion can fall into negative megacredits when attempting to buy Standard Projects using Heat with no MC.
- The player tray can remain focused on the opponent if they gain resources during the user's turn.
- In very rare cases, two winners are wrongly declared at the end of a game despite different final scores.

Keep sharing your suggestions to improve the game on the forum. If you experience any bugs, please report it here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/800270/discussions/0/3247565033769707889/

Happy drafting and terraforming!