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.

Set to release this Spring, Jupiter's Forge is the first expansion for Offworld Trading Company and is packed with new features.

Players will venture to Jupiter's volcanic moon, Io, as they try to turn a profit within its harsh environment. Jupiter's Forge will challenge players with an ongoing depletion of resources, new factions to work alongside, a new campaign, and the addition of the new 1000 Map Challenge.

"The further out into space we go, the harder survival becomes," said Soren Johnson, lead designer for Offworld Trading Company. "Unlike Mars, Io's resources are finite and will deplete over time, which makes the competition even more cutthroat. Players will have to adapt to an entirely different resource hierarchy than they've become used to on Mars or Ceres if they want their businesses to survive here."

Some of the highlights of Jupiter’s Forge include:

• New planet: Io
• New resource system
• New factions: The Penrose Collective and The Diadem Trust
• New resource: Basalt
• New buildings and structures
• New patents and black market events
• New map events: radiation storms, sulfur frosts, landslides, and tremors
• 1000 Map Challenge

The new factions in Jupiter’s Forge bring some additional diversity to the game with unique sets of new abilities. The Diadem Trust is capable of building improved versions of advanced structures like the Hacker Array, Pleasure Dome, and more, which allows them to gain an edge over the competition. The Penrose Collective is able to return claims at any time and also builds two headquarters at the start of the game, allowing them to spread out their operations.

For players who enjoy competition, the new 1000 Map Challenge offers a chance to place on the leaderboards with other community members. “With each map you beat, the next one gets harder,” said Johnson. “Each map has its own individual leaderboards. We also have overall scores - the idea is to get as far as you can while overcoming the increasing difficulty.”

Io also features a new campaign with a host of new challenges to overcome on the barely habitable moon. New resources, buildings, patents, black market effects, add additional depth to the expansion.

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.