itch.io

Very good points. Too bad it's moot, since after playing some maps you will never get a playable map. So the game has a life span of maybe 10 games max. Then it's over, you'll never be able to play again. That is if want to have a chance at winning.  

In my opinion, that extra difficulty is not a bad thing.

Just a tip here; you can wait turns without having to place the base. That way you can receive terraforming tools before placing the base to make it more suitable without using up resources.

This is what worked for me:

Do not accept any of the first colonists. Wait two turns without placing the base so that you get terraforming tools.

Now, with those terraforming tools change a place you find desirable (normally, one with at least one, and if you can two water wells, and at least one mineral nearby).

Your base doesn't need to be bunched up together, you can spread it a lot. So Place three solar panels, two houses and try to place them in a way that gives you direct access to at least three farm plots (or two, but then you would need to terraform one mountain to make it farmable) and at least one mineral. Accept the second wave of twenty colonists, all of them. Place one factory and two farms directly near to each other for a total of 15 colonists out of 20.

You will start losing 20 water per turn. Make sure you have acces to a second water well (or at least that you will have if using a terraforming tool) and you have access to enough power. Then use that new metal to create power lines to reach that second water well, wait 4 turns and survive off your water reserves. You will have only 20 water left, and will receive new colonists. Take 10 of them in, and build a water extractor with them. Now you will not have enough food but will have enough water to survive. Survive off of your stored food, and save metal to build two new farms, and now, you will be stable. You will have a surplus of both water and food and will produce metal.

By now you could leave the base like this, not accept new colonists and just grow and use the terraforming tools to create a good landscape for your new citizens. But beware: from now on, the number of colonists coming in will increase to 30, then 40 and then 50 (and then go back to 20), and you can only take either all of them, half of them or none.

So you will need to always make sure that you have enough space, surplus of food and water and energy to always take 15, 20 and 25 (half) of the incoming colonists each time.

This way you can easily beat the game.

Sorry if it was too long.