Terraforming Mars

You run one of the corporations paid to make Mars habitable. The game ends when three global parameters are complete: temperature, oxygen, and the nine oceans. Raising any of them earns terraform rating, which is both your score and your income for the rest of the game. Each generation you buy project cards, pay to play them, and build an engine: production that pays you every round, cards that feed other cards, and tiles placed on the board for adjacency bonuses. There are hundreds of cards, so no two games open the same way, and the ones you keep in the first few generations decide what kind of corporation you are running by the end. Placement matters as much as the cards. A city next to greenery scores, and an ocean placed early pays whoever put it there. Expect two hours or more with a full table. It is the heaviest game on our open shelves, it plays properly solo, and it suits a group that would rather sit down for one long game than three short ones.