Review 5: Terraforming Mars Automa
Enhance solo play with strategic AI Marsbot, adding dynamic challenges and immersive gameplay to your Terraforming Mars experience.
In a previous blog, I shared my excitement about Terraforming Mars: Automa and discussed some of its unique features. I also mentioned there’s a print-and-play version available, which gives you a taste of how the expansion plays and lets you try it out before committing. Now, having had the chance to play this ew expansion, I’m ready to share my full review on how this expansion delivers in gameplay.
Terraforming Mars, is a highly-rated game on BoardGameGeek, likely sits on many shelves gathering dust—not because it's a bad game, but because it can be a challenge to bring to the table. Despite its complexity, its popularity makes it a staple in almost every collection.
For those unfamiliar with the base game, the objective is to make Mars habitable by creating greenery, constructing oceans, and raising the temperature. Each player selects a corporation, gathers resources, and works toward terraforming Mars with these goals in mind. Once the game completes all of the terraforming metrics and who ever has the most victory points wins.
Wait, doesn’t the game already have a solo mode? Yes… but it’s lackluster. The default solo mode leaves out too many features, reducing the experience to a simple race to make Mars habitable within 14 rounds. There’s minimal strategy beyond placing greenery and ocean tiles and raising the temperature. Victory points? Those exciting cards with extra points? They barely even matter!
Thanks to designers Nick Shaw and David Turczi, the new Automa expansion brings the MarsBot AI to life, ready to dust off Terraforming Mars from your collection and challenge you to finally compete in terraforming the Red Planet.
Theme
This expansion keeps the game's scientific foundations intact. With many of its scientific concepts for making Mars habitable grounded in realism. For instance, humans need oxygen and a comfortable, livable temperature. As the temperature rises, the soil gains moisture, allowing greenery to grow and produce oxygen.
The expansion enhances the theme as the government is unhappy and released an experimental project called Marsbot. You will have to work under this AI but need to prove to the Government that humans are still smarter to truly design this new home for humanity.
The Marsbot will challenge you as it competes for resources, blocks your progress, and secures milestones and awards with its own calculated moves, all while pursuing the ultimate goal: outmaneuvering you in the race to terraform.
A new tile for the Bot has been added to the game called the Neural Instance. When activated, this tile leverages an advanced AI-driven decision mechanism, simulating an opponent's strategic actions by adapting to the current game state. The tile cannot be placed at the edges of the board, next to other tiles, or adjacent to reserved areas. At the end of the game, if there are no tiles or their own tiles nearby, they gain 1 VP for each.
Terraforming Mars for its thematic narrative was always interesting for me, and Automa only enhances this. The default solo mode felt lacking in theme, with just a solo race to terraform Mars. But with Automa, the solo experience gains depth, as the AI interacts with various elements on the board, simulating a real corporate rival. Competing against an AI-driven corporation brings a new layer of thematic immersion, and the clear yet compelling path to victory keeps the gameplay fresh and engaging—something I’ll never tire of.
Final score: 10/10
Mechanics
One of Terraforming Mars' strengths is its hand management and card drafting, and this expansion enhances that aspect beautifully. You have the option to use the drafting mechanic with the Bot, making it feel similar to playing with human opponents, adding depth and strategic choices to your gameplay.
At the start of each round, you and the Automa each draw four cards. You then select one card to keep, passing the remaining cards to the Automa. The Automa selects its card from your passed hand based on specific criteria programmed into the AI—usually prioritizing cards that align with its goals, like acquiring high-value cards or maximizing its impact on the board.
Hand management remains just as crucial as when playing against human opponents. In the default solo mode, hand management was necessary but mostly limited to cards that helped achieve specific terraforming metrics. Now, with Automa, all cards come into play—you can consider those valuable VP cards or focus on building up microbes and animals, adding depth to your strategy.
The way the Automa manages its hand is intriguing, especially with the inclusion of bonus cards. When you draw a card from the Automa’s hand, you verify the tags in the top corner and move the token on its track board for the matching tag. Depending on where the token lands, the Automa then performs that action and gains any associated benefits. Each action is the same as what a human would perform.
The tile placement mechanics are even more engaging now, as the AI actively competes to build greenery and city tiles. You'll need to strategically place your cities to maximize VP around greenery tiles, but you’ll have to act quickly to avoid letting the AI dominate key areas.
Overall, this solo expansion retains many of the key mechanics that the default solo mode left out. One downside, however, is that the AI is particularly aggressive with tile placement, often expanding its cities and greenery tiles much faster than you can, allowing it to gain a significant lead in points.
Final score: 9/10
Gameplay
This expansion doesn’t significantly change the core gameplay of Terraforming Mars, so if the base game isn’t your preference, it likely won’t convert you. However, it does an excellent job of emulating human play styles, allowing familiar strategies to be applied effectively against the Bot. This is where it truly improves on the default solo mode.
With David Turczi as designer, some might expect a complex Bot, but it’s surprisingly manageable. If you know the base game, the Bot’s turns flow smoothly, and the setup is the only part requiring initial attention. The iconography is consistent, ensuring minimal learning curve once you start.
The objective is to terraform Mars within 20 generations (rounds), a more forgiving timeframe than the default solo mode’s intense 14 rounds. With this added flexibility, I was able to terraform Mars within 13 to 15 generations, making the goal more attainable. However, if Mars isn’t fully transformed by the 20th round, you lose! I enjoy the added pressure of meeting specific milestones each generation, keeping the terraform metrics progressing steadily.
The fewer generations it takes to terraform Mars, the more the Marsbot’s victory points (VP) are reduced. During the game, the Marsbot gathers mega credits (MC), which become increasingly valuable with each generation. If too many generations pass without making enough progress, this can backfire, as the Marsbot has more time to increase its achievements and score.
I played three games against the MarsBot, and each one of them were challenging and different, letting me explore different strategies like optimal tile placement and competing for milestones and awards. I was horrible in accomplishing the milestones as the Marsbot were to able to accomplish them much quicker. Luck is still needed when drawing the right cards to support your strategy. This has been true since the base game and remains the same with this expansion, as it doesn’t alter the card-drawing mechanics.
Playing against the Bot allowed me to explore the strategic depth of building cities in Terraforming Mars. The Bot encourages you to place greenery tiles around cities to maximize VP at the game’s end. The default solo mode doesn’t emphasize this aspect; it simply requires greenery tiles to raise the oxygen level, without the same strategic layering around VP maximization.
One minor downside is the Bot’s predictability; its entire action track is visible, allowing players to anticipate moves. This can work to your advantage if you plan strategically for milestones or awards, but luck in card draws still plays a role.
Placing city or greenery tiles for the Bot can be a bit complex, especially when handling tiebreakers. When multiple spaces are viable options, a project card needs to be drawn, and its cost is used to count through the tied spaces from the top-left, moving right across rows. This ensures tile placement is strategic but can be time-consuming. Prior to this step, city and greenery tiles follow the standard placement rules from the base game.
Final score: 9/10
Production Quality
Overall, the component quality in Terraforming Mars remains subpar, and this expansion doesn’t make notable improvements. The community has voiced concerns about the component durability, especially with the six thin track sheets that slot into the MarsBot board but remain vulnerable to spills. The card design remains the same as the base game, which is understandable, though a refreshed version similar to Ares Expedition would be welcomed.
Unexpectedly, the Venus and Colonies boards are dual-layered, and given the gameplay value, the price feels reasonable for future replayability.
Final score: 7/10
Replayability
This expansion adds substantial content that keeps Terraforming Mars engaging, enhancing its replayability and making it easier to bring to the table frequently.
One of the expansion's standout features is that MarsBot chooses a corporation, adding unique, ongoing effects making it more challenging. For example, some corporations enable MarsBot to strategically discard project cards with fewer tags, advancing more efficiently on its track.
Compatibility with other expansions is another strong point. MarsBot’s corporation cards and extra action cards integrate seamlessly across expansions, with component boards provided for Venus Next and Colonies. There are also six custom track sheets adapted to specific boards like Utopia, Cimmeria, Amazonis, Vastitas etc…, ensuring milestones and awards align with each setup for balanced play.
Overall, it’s amazing how the expansion accommodates different setups, making it flexible for players who own additional content. Even if you don’t have all expansions yet, it’s reassuring to know this system adapts seamlessly, enhancing long-term enjoyment.
Final score: 10/10
Pros
Integration with all the expansions. Including the drafting mechanics.
Playing against the Bot feels like playing a human opponent, allowing you to continue exploring and developing new strategies.
This expansion adds a satisfying challenge with adjustable difficulty levels.
MarsBot gets a corporation ability, which raises the stakes and makes for even tougher gameplay.
Cons
Entire action track is visible, allowing players to anticipate bot’s moves.
Placing city/greenery/ocean tiles for Marsbot can be a bit complex when first learning the bot.
MarsBot can be quite aggressive in claiming tiles and securing awards/milestones.
Final Thoughts
Having primarily played Terraforming Mars solo, my experience with multiplayer is limited, but this expansion offers a refreshing, engaging experience that feels closer to competing with human players and includes all expansions.
I’m not suggesting you rush to buy the base game and expansion, but if you’re a solo player with Terraforming Mars taking up space on your shelf, this expansion could be worth it—especially if you’re a dedicated fan. It can also help you improve in becoming a better Terraforming Mar’s player.
The Automa expansion will stay in my collection, providing a consistent challenge as I work to outsmart the Marsbot in my mission to terraform Mars.