Basic Controls & Camera — Surviving Mars Guide

Learn the essential controls and camera movements for Surviving Mars. Master camera rotation, zoom, overview mode, and game speed controls to navigate the Red Planet effectively.

This guide covers the basic controls and camera functions in Surviving Mars to help you navigate the Martian landscape and manage your colony.

All Rovers are manually controlled via commands in their Infopanels, allowing them to move to map locations or interact with map objects like Anomalies or Surface Deposits. Drones are semi-autonomous but can be directly controlled by the player. You can change preferred controls and mappings in the Options menu.

Buildings deteriorate over time and require maintenance. If a building's maintenance bar fills, a drone is dispatched to service it. Failure to supply the required maintenance resource within a Sol will result in the building ceasing operation. Martian dust and disasters increase deterioration for buildings outside of Domes. Dust can also cause drones to break down; Recharge Stations clean drones during charging.

The map is divided into Sectors that must be scanned to reveal resources and Anomalies. Sensor towers increase scanning speed, and Orbital Probes offer an instant, albeit expensive, way to scan sectors. Building in unexplored sectors risks construction over undiscovered resources.

Construction requires resources, which are gathered from deposits or produced in buildings. Surface deposits are mined by drones, while underground and terrain deposits require Extractors. Extractors can fill up with Waste Rock, halting production until it's removed. Anomalies can trigger events, grant Research Points, reveal Breakthrough technologies, or enable specific techs for research.

New technologies unlock new buildings, upgrades, and benefits. Researching technologies generates research points, and some can be outsourced for Funding. Breakthroughs are powerful, unique technologies discovered through anomalies or at the end of the Research Tree. Wonders are exceptionally advanced, unique structures providing major colony benefits, unlocked at the far ends of the Research Tree.

Resources are either gathered directly from Mars or manufactured. They are essential for life-support, construction, and upkeep. Grid resources use Pipes and Cables, while non-grid resources require Drones or RC Rovers for transport.