On Mars
186 questions players ask about On Mars. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-01.
Setup and General Rules
- Does a 2-player game use a different set of tech tiles?
- How are the starting buildings and shelters placed at setup?
- Where does the colony marker start on the LSS track, and what colony level is that?
- Is On Mars language independent?
- What are the First Colonist tiles for?
- If a First Colonist B card's condition is already met when I draw it, do I get the reward?
- Can resources or crystals run out of the supply?
- Does the middle space of the second laboratory column give a benefit?
- Can you get stuck with no way to get resources?
Resources, Crystals and Storage
- Can Minerals stand in for other resources?
- When can I spend a Crystal I just gained?
- Do Crystals from Resupply go into the Depot or below it?
- If my Depot is full, do I lose Crystals I gain?
- Is the storage limit shelters plus one for all resources or for each type?
- Can I spend a resource gained earlier in the same turn?
- Where do Colonists go when my Living Quarters have no room?
- Can I take a Blueprint when I have no storage for the resource on it?
Turn Structure and Colonists
- How many actions can I take on my turn?
- Do I have to be able to carry out a main action to choose it?
- What if I have no Colonists in my Living Quarters or no main action looks possible?
- How much do I pay to place a Colonist on a space other players already use?
- Where do Colonists go when they are removed from a full action space?
- Can I take an Executive action while my marker is on the other side of the board?
- Do executive actions need a Colonist on an action space?
- Can I take an Executive action in the same turn I use the Landing Pod?
- What does the Landing Pod give, and does it place a Discovery tile?
- Can I use the Aerial Elevator and then the Landing Pod in the same turn?
Bots, Rovers and Discovery Tiles
- Must I use all my movement points with the Control Center?
- How far does my Rover move with Rover tech?
- When does a Rover pick up a Discovery or Research tile or Crystals?
- Can I pick up more than one Discovery or Research tile in a turn?
- Can my Rover end on a Discovery or Research tile whose benefit I cannot use?
- How does the Recycling Bots card work with tiles and Crystals?
- Does a Discovery tile taken by a Recycling Bot count for Rover missions?
- Can bots and rovers end on a hex that holds a building or another piece?
- If I build or upgrade on a hex where a bot or rover stands, must it move, even my own?
- Where does a displaced bot or rover go?
Constructing Buildings
- Where can I place a new building relative to others of the same type?
- Can there be two or more separate complexes of the same building type?
- Do I need a tech tile to build a single building that is not part of a complex?
- What if there is no legal hex to build a building type, especially mines?
- Does building a single tile advance its LSS marker, or only a complex?
- When do I get the LSS bonus for a building?
- What resource do I gain when I construct a building?
- What level is a building tech tile, and how big a complex can it build?
- What does it cost to build a mine?
- What happens to a Colonist on a mine when someone upgrades it?
Technology
- Are Laboratory and Turn Order benefits optional?
- Do I get Oxygen every time another player uses my tech?
- What do I do with the Oxygen when someone uses my tech?
- In what order do tech owners resolve their Oxygen choices?
- If two players own the same tech and a third uses it, who gets the benefit?
- Can I use or boost a tech that is not in play on any player's board?
- Can I use a tech tile with an Executive action, and with bonus effects?
- How does Efficient Upgrading work with upgrades and bonuses?
- Can I own two tech tiles of the same kind?
- How many tech tiles can Learn New Technology give me?
- How does developing a tech with R&D work?
Blueprints and Advanced Buildings
- Does taking a Blueprint cost a Mineral or give me an upgrade?
- Can I upgrade a building without a matching Blueprint?
- What do the icons on a Blueprint mean?
- Do Level 3 Blueprints need a complex of size 3?
- Do upgrades from bonuses need a bot nearby?
- Can two Advanced Building markers share one building?
- Can an Advanced Building be used more than once?
- When do I choose the Discovery tile for the Radar advanced building?
- How does the Construction Yard upgrade several buildings?
- How does Automated Production work?
Executive Actions and Scientists
- How can I use an Advanced Building's Executive action?
- Do I still pay the building's normal cost on an Executive action?
- Does a Scientist stay on an Advanced Building, and can both players use it?
- How do I move a Scientist to a different Advanced Building?
- Do I need a Blueprint or matching building to hire a Scientist?
Ships and Colony Level
- How many ships can I welcome?
- What does Welcome a Ship cost, and how does boosting work?
- How do I get more Colonists and Bots?
- Where does a new Bot go?
- What does the colony level control?
- When does a colony level-up resolve?
- In what order do I score LSS points and take the bonus?
- Where can an LSS reward retrieve a Colonist from?
- Are progress cubes removed after scoring at a colony level-up?
Missions and Private Goals
- How do I tell Short missions from Long missions, and how do I set the game length?
- Which actions advance a Mission, and does each item count?
- Do Blueprints and Tech from turn order, Discovery tiles or setup count for Missions?
- Does a Bot destroying a Research tile count for Research tile Missions?
- Do I still get Crystals from a Mission that has just been completed?
- Can I complete a Private Goal in the middle of an action?
- Can I discard Private Goals as Crystals, and how many at once?
- Can a Private Goal retrieve a Miner from a mine?
- How do the Private Goals for upgrades, mines and Scientists work?
- Where do the A, B and C mission markers go?
Earth Contracts
- When is an Earth Contract completed?
- Can I get resources back from a Delivery Contract, and where do they come from?
- Can a Private Goal or Mineral stand in for what an Earth Contract needs?
- What do Blueprint icons and shapes on Earth Contracts mean?
- Can one complex or the same upgrades satisfy two Earth Contracts?
- Must the Advanced Buildings for an Earth Contract be my own?
- If another player's expansion completes my Upgrade Contract, who gets the Crystals?
- Does an Upgrade Contract count for the Earth Contract Mission?
- Is the Earth Contract display refilled after I take a Contract?
- Can I take an Earth Contract with an Executive action and does it refill?
Shuttle Phase and Turn Order
- Can I discard a ship from my Hangar to travel whenever the Shuttle is not going my way?
- When does the Shuttle let me travel for free?
- Which Colonists come back when I travel?
- What happens if I do not travel in the Shuttle phase?
- What do my buildings produce when I travel to Orbit?
- Where do produced resources go?
- What happens with the Discovery tile when I travel to the Colony?
- What does the Shuttle do at colony levels 4 and 5?
- Can I travel and still act on the side I left?
- Can I get stuck on the Colony with no ship?
- Do I get a turn order bonus if I stay where I am?
End of the Game
- How does the Remaining Missions marker move and trigger the end?
- Does reaching colony level 5 end the game immediately?
- Is there a Shuttle phase in the final round?
- What can I still do in the final round?
- Which Colonists are retrieved and scored at game end?
- How do Scientists score at the end?
- Do unbuilt Blueprints cost points at the end?
- What is the tiebreaker, and what counts?
- How does the Mine LSS reward score?
- Do I lose points for Earth Contracts that are too large or incomplete?
Solo Mode (Lacerda)
- What does Lacerda do when he cannot take the action he drew?
- Where does Lacerda's bot start moving from, and how far does it go?
- Does Lacerda place Colonists and pay Crystals like a player?
- Does Lacerda get Colonists back, or run out?
- When does Lacerda spend or gain Crystals?
- How does Lacerda use and advance Tech?
- What does Lacerda build when he cannot make a complex?
- What does Lacerda gain when the colony levels up?
- Does Lacerda's action move a Mission marker, and does he get a Crystal?
- How does Lacerda travel on the Shuttle?
- How is Lacerda set up?
On Mars: Alien InvasionExpansion
- Do I need to know base On Mars to play Alien Invasion, and do its components mix into the competitive game?
- How many players does each chapter support, and which can be played solo?
- How does the Monolith solo scenario work, and can I change its difficulty?
- How does Monolith end and score?
- Where do I place a Sabotage cube when several cards match?
- What happens when Hacked Tech moves my Tech backward in Monolith?
- What happens when the Aliens abduct a human Scientist?
- How can the Scientist Abduction building be tamed if it blocks the Alien's tech action?
- What does the Alien player start with, and can they use two buildings per turn?