Terraforming Mars Rules Reference

Overview

This skill provides access to the authoritative Terraforming Mars rules document. Consult it whenever implementing, modifying, or debugging any game feature to ensure rule accuracy and correctness.

When to Use

Trigger this skill for any task involving:

• •Implementing or modifying game rules and logic
• •Adding or changing card effects and interactions
• •Working with resource management (MC, steel, titanium, plants, energy, heat)
• •Modifying global parameters (temperature, oxygen, oceans)
• •Tile placement rules and adjacency bonuses
• •Production phase or generation flow
• •Scoring, milestones, or awards
• •Corporation abilities and setup
• •Victory conditions and game-end triggers
• •Validating game state transitions
• •Debugging unexpected game behavior

How to Use

Step 1: Read the Rules Document

Before making any changes, read the full rules reference:

Read docs/TERRAFORMING_MARS_RULES.md

Step 2: Find the Relevant Section

The rules document is organized by topic. Use grep to find specific rules quickly:

Grep pattern="temperature" path="docs/TERRAFORMING_MARS_RULES.md"
Grep pattern="ocean" path="docs/TERRAFORMING_MARS_RULES.md"
Grep pattern="production" path="docs/TERRAFORMING_MARS_RULES.md"

Step 3: Verify Implementation Against Rules

Cross-reference the implementation with the rules document to ensure correctness. Pay special attention to:

• •Resource conversion rates (e.g., 8 plants = 1 greenery, 8 heat = +1 temperature)
• •TR bonus triggers (each global parameter step = +1 TR)
• •Tile placement constraints (cities cannot be adjacent, greenery must be adjacent to own tiles)
• •Production phase ordering (energy converts to heat first, then production generates)
• •Card requirement validation (checked at play time, not at effect time)

Examples

Example 1: Implementing heat-to-temperature conversion

A task asks to implement the "convert heat" standard action.

1. •Read the rules document
2. •Find the relevant section: "Convert Heat: 8 heat -> +1 temperature -> +1 TR"
3. •Also check the temperature track: range -30 to +8, bonuses at -24 and -20
4. •Implement accordingly, ensuring TR is incremented and temperature bonuses are triggered

Example 2: Adding a new project card with a building tag

A task asks to add a card that costs 15 MC with a building tag.

1. •Read the rules document
2. •Check "Steel Discount: Each steel reduces building costs by 2 MC"
3. •Ensure the card implementation allows steel to be used for payment
4. •Check if the card has any requirements (temperature, oxygen, tags) and validate them

Example 3: Debugging why scoring is wrong

A bug report says final scores are incorrect.

1. •Read the rules document, specifically the "Victory Conditions" and "Scoring" sections
2. •Verify: Final Score = TR + VP from cards + Milestones + Awards
3. •Check milestone scoring (5 VP each, max 3 per game)
4. •Check award scoring rules
5. •Verify tiebreakers: most MC first, then most cards played

Example 4: Implementing the production phase

A task asks to implement end-of-generation production.

1. •Read the rules document
2. •Find "Production Sequence": energy converts to heat first, then resources are produced
3. •Ensure the ordering is correct - energy-to-heat conversion happens BEFORE production
4. •Check that MC production adds to TR (MC production = TR + MC production level)

References

The full rules document is available at docs/TERRAFORMING_MARS_RULES.md. Key sections to grep for: