Building comparison
head to head
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: ColonizationvsSurviving Mars
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Optimising colonial economy and revolution timing on an unknown map.
Surviving Mars
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Colonize Mars by stacking dome layouts and supply chains.
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Surviving Mars leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: ColonizationSurviving Mars
Axis by axis
Execution0 vs 1
Surviving Mars leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization
Turn-based clicks - no physical layer
Surviving Mars
pausable, no reflex
Reads1 vs 0
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization
AI rivals follow mappable tendencies
Surviving Mars
no adversary
Variance4 vs 4
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization
Map generation and exploration hide early information
Surviving Mars
disasters, sponsor traits
Optimization9 vs 9
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization
Colony economy, specialists and independence timing are deeply solvable
Surviving Mars
dome layouts and supply chains
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.