In the race to colonize planet Mars, everything is up for grabs.

Offworld Trading Company’s quick and intensely competitive matches pit up to 8 players against each other on randomly generated maps. Players must quickly determine the best path toward building a self-sufficient colony that can extract the abundant Martian resources while maintaining profitability – and surviving the “talents” of shady black-market characters who are all too happy to raid any player’s shipments or smuggle a paralyzing EMP device into any colony for the right price.

Stardock and Mohawk Games have released an update for ​Offworld Trading Company ​ that fully integrates the game with Steam Workshop. Players who would like to mod the game will now be able to mod xml data for buildings, units, and resources, while those with advanced coding experience can access and modify their own C# code.

“We’re really excited to be opening up ​Offworld ​ to the modding community,” said Soren Johnson, lead designer for ​Offworld Trading Company ​ and President of Mohawk Games. “We built Offworld Trading Company not only to support mods that change the game values, but also to allow for players to modify the C# code itself.”

Modders can look forward to uploading mods to Steam Workshop directly through the game, as well as easy access to their work with a new “Mods” screen on the game’s Start menu. Players will also be able to view other mods and manage both uploaded and subscribed content.

“There’s something for everyone here,” said Johnson. “People who are just getting into modding can work with values in xml, while others who are advanced coders can write their own code that will execute right alongside the game’s code. This allows for adjustments to the AI, for example, along with a ton of other possibilities.”

The programmer in charge of mod support at Mohawk, Jason Winokur, recorded three tutorial videos to guide prospective modders. They can be viewed on the Mohawk Games blog ​here​.

Unlike traditional RTS games, there are no military units and what you need to win can change at a moment’s notice because on Mars, there are no rules in the free market. None of the 13 resources is more powerful than any other, and everything is for sale. Players gain cash by selling excess resources like carbon, fuel, and silicon on the open market, and spend it buying the resources they’re short on. Prices fluctuate in real time forcing players to adapt their strategy; dump a bunch of iron on the market and its price will crater, making other players’ stockpiles worth much less in the near term.

The game is won when the ultimate cutthroat capitalist completes buys out the stock of all their rivals, thereby seizing control of the entire planet’s economy.

In Offworld Trading Company, the marketplace is the battlefield.

Offworld Trading Companyis currently available on Steam or through Stardock.