Terraforming Mars: Colonies

Colonies setup

Place the Trade Fleets tile next to the main board. Every player takes one trade fleet and places it there with their player marker inside.

Then shuffle the Colony tiles and reveal players + 2 tiles. There is one exception: in a two-player game, use 5 Colony tiles.

Place a white marker on the highlighted second step of each active colony track. That marker shows the current trade income.

Titan, Enceladus and Miranda start inactive

The three special-resource colonies—Titan, Enceladus and Miranda—do not begin like ordinary colonies. Their white marker starts on the moon image itself.

You cannot build a colony there or trade there until a card enters play that can collect that colony’s relevant special resource. When that happens, move the white marker to the highlighted second step and the colony becomes usable.

How to build a colony

Building a colony is a standard project. Use one action and pay 17 M€.

Place your player marker in the lowest available colony position on that tile and take the printed placement bonus. If necessary, move the white trade marker upward so it is not below a newly placed colony.

• Maximum 3 colonies total per Colony tile.
• A player normally may have only 1 colony per tile.
• A card can explicitly override the one-colony-per-player restriction, but not the three-colony total limit.

How to trade with a colony

Trading is a new action, not a standard project. To trade, your trade fleet must still be available on the Trade Fleets tile.

Pay one of the three trade costs:

• 9 M€, or
• 3 energy, or
• 3 titanium.

Move your trade fleet to an available Colony tile. A Colony tile may hold only one trade fleet at a time.

What happens when you trade?

Resolve two rewards:

1. The trading player gains the trade income shown by the white marker on the colony track.
2. Every player with a colony there gains the colony bonus printed on the tile.

You can therefore profit from another player’s trade if you previously built a colony at that location.

What happens to the colony track after trading?

Immediately after trade resolves, move the white marker as far left as possible, stopping next to the existing player colonies or at the bottom of the track.

This reset is important: a rich colony becomes temporarily less valuable after somebody uses it, then improves again over future generations.

Can more than one player trade with the same colony?

Not during the same generation while a trade fleet remains there. A Colony tile can hold only one trade fleet at a time.

Because fleets do not return until the Solar Phase, trading can also function as denial: taking the best colony now can prevent another corporation from using that location later in the generation.

The Solar Phase

With Colonies, the Solar Phase occurs after production each generation.

Step 1: Game End Check

If temperature, oxygen and oceans are all complete, the game ends normally and no later Solar Phase steps occur.

Step 2: World Government Terraforming

If you are also playing with Venus Next, the first player acts as the World Government and advances a non-maxed global parameter one step or places an ocean. The first player does not personally gain the normal TR or placement reward from that World Government action.

Step 3: Colony Production

Return every trade fleet from Colony tiles to the Trade Fleets tile. Then move the white marker on every Colony tile one step up.

Why colony values rise over time

If a colony is not traded with, its white marker climbs during Colony Production. That makes the future trade reward more valuable.

This creates the main timing decision in Colonies: trade now for a resource you urgently need, or wait for the track to grow and risk another player claiming the location first.

Building vs. trading

Common rules mistakes

• Treating Trade as a standard project. It is a separate action.
• Forgetting the three different trade costs. You choose 9 M€, 3 energy or 3 titanium.
• Giving only the trading player a reward. Colony owners also receive the printed colony bonus.
• Leaving the white marker high after trade. It resets immediately after the trade resolves.
• Returning fleets too early. Fleets come back in the Solar Phase, not immediately after trading.
• Using special-resource colonies too soon. Titan, Enceladus and Miranda must first be activated by a relevant card entering play.

Solo rules with Colonies

Use the normal Terraforming Mars solo rules, but make two Colonies-specific adjustments:

• Start by reducing your M€ production by 2 steps.
• Draw 4 Colony tiles and choose 3 to use in the game.

Choose those colonies at the same time you choose your cards and corporation.

Combining Colonies with Venus Next

Both expansions use the Solar Phase. The order is straightforward: check the game end, resolve World Government Terraforming if using Venus Next, then resolve Colony Production.

The Colonies rulebook notes that the Solar Phase is intended as a shared framework for multiple Terraforming Mars expansions, so do not create a separate end-of-generation phase for each module.

How Colonies changes strategy

These are editorial implications of the rules rather than extra rules:

• Energy and titanium gain an alternate use. Three units can become a trade instead of being spent only through their normal systems.
• Building a colony creates passive upside. Someone else’s trade can pay you.
• Trade timing can deny opponents. One fleet blocks that location for the rest of the generation.
• Ignored colonies become better. The rising trade track rewards patience.
• Resource-specific engines become easier to support. A well-timed trade can fix a production bottleneck without requiring a permanent production increase.

Terraforming Mars Colonies FAQ

How much does it cost to build a colony?

17 M€ as a standard project.

How much does it cost to trade?

9 M€, 3 energy or 3 titanium.

How many colonies fit on one tile?

Three total, with normally no more than one per player.

Can two players trade with the same colony in one generation?

Not while the first trade fleet is still there. Each Colony tile holds only one trade fleet at a time.

When do trade fleets come back?

During Colony Production in the Solar Phase after the production phase.

Do colony owners get a reward when someone else trades?

Yes. The trading player gains trade income, while every colony owner there gains the colony bonus.

How many Colony tiles are used?

Players + 2, except a two-player game uses five.

Sources and scope

Rules checked 7 October 2026 against the official FryxGames Colonies English rulebook, including the setup, Building a Colony, Trading and Solar Phase sections. This page summarizes the rules in original wording rather than reproducing the manual. Card-specific exceptions still override general rules. Editorial policy and corrections.