The Mars you fly
None of it is hand-placed. Terrain, craters, erosion and the siting of every mine come out of a seed, so the shelf you learn is yours — and a seed written down is a world you can go back to, or hand to somebody else.
Ferris Station
Home. Six pads, a control centre, a factory that takes your ore, an infirmary that takes your casualties, living quarters, a solar plant and a pub. Pad One is unloading and it is the one you will use a hundred times; the Crew Terminal pad is the one with the walkway, and the Infirmary pad is where the hurt ones go. There is a fuel station on the apron.
Shut down on the paint of a base pad and you can get out and walk, in a suit, to the workshop. Turn in for eight hours with B and the next shift starts in daylight.
The seven mines
Two near, three mid, two far — so early jobs are short and the far claims are a commitment. Distance is the whole difficulty curve: the near mines are a few minutes out, the far ones are a fuel calculation. The mid and far claims sell fuel on the pad; the near ones do not, because they never needed to.
| Mine | Operator | Distance | Ground | Elevation | Ore | Fuel? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deep Cut | Kessler & Vane | Near | Crater floor | -350 to 400 m | Hematite, Aggregate, Osmium | No |
| Ladybird | Kessler & Vane | Near | Dust plain | -200 to 700 m | Aggregate, Hematite | No |
| Prosperity No. 3 | Halloran Extraction | Mid | Mesa top | 300 to 1300 m | Hematite, Osmium, Aggregate | Yes |
| Cold Fork | Halloran Extraction | Mid | Canyon wall | 900 to 2100 m | Subsurface Ice, Aggregate, Osmium | Yes |
| Broken Promise | Independent claim | Mid | Crater floor | -600 to 300 m | Osmium, Hematite, Aggregate | Yes |
| Widowmaker | Halloran Extraction | Far | Canyon wall | 700 to 2000 m | Osmium, Hematite, Aggregate | Yes |
| Sundowner | Independent claim | Far | Dust plain | -500 to 600 m | Osmium, Subsurface Ice, Aggregate | Yes |
What the operators say about them
- Deep Cut Near
- Shallow seam, steady output, nobody complains.
- Ladybird Near
- Bulk aggregate. Cheap ore, easy pad.
- Prosperity No. 3 Mid
- Third hole they sank on that mesa. First two are still up there.
- Cold Fork Mid
- Ice mostly. Cold enough that the pad frosts over.
- Broken Promise Mid
- Sold twice, worked once. Still pays.
- Widowmaker Far
- Best osmium on the shelf. Named for a reason.
- Sundowner Far
- Long haul out. Long haul back. Worth it on a good day.
The Lucky Strike
The one thing out here nobody sank a shaft for. Two hours out, open all night, and the drinks are not the point. Operated by Ferris Amusements, sited on a far dust plain flat enough that the sign is visible from a long way out, which is the entire commercial proposition. Land on the pad, walk in, and play blackjack or roulette with money you were supposed to spend on the ship.
What you haul
Four minerals, and the trade-off between them is mass. Osmium is genuinely dense: a small load is heavy and worth the trip. Aggregate is nearly worthless per unit, so the money in it is in hauling a great deal of it, which is a different problem for the same ship.
| Mineral | Ticker | Credits / unit | kg / unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Osmium | OSM | 240 | 62 |
| Subsurface Ice | ICE | 72 | 21 |
| Hematite | HEM | 46 | 38 |
| Aggregate | AGG | 18 | 26 |
Weather. Dust storms roll through, and they are not scenery: they push the ship around on approach and they drain a suit if you are outside one. Night is real too — the floodlights (L) are the difference between a pad and a rumour. Some jobs pay a night rate for exactly that reason.