SHSelfHostIndex

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead vs Terraforming Mars

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted game servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
CA Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead Open-source turn-based survival roguelike VS TE Terraforming Mars Implementation of Terraforming Mars board game
FeatureCataclysm: Dark Days AheadTerraforming Mars
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseCC-BY-SA-3.0GPL-3.0
LanguageC++TypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB50 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, binary, sourcebare-metal
GitHub stars★ 12,896★ 939
First released20132023
ReplacesNetHack—

Why pick each one

Choose Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead if…

  • Enormous depth
  • Active development
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead details

Choose Terraforming Mars if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in TypeScript
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Terraforming Mars details

Frequently asked questions

Is Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead or Terraforming Mars better?

Neither is universally better. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead has the larger community, while Terraforming Mars is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead and Terraforming Mars free and open-source?

Yes. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead is licensed under CC-BY-SA-3.0 and Terraforming Mars under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead and Terraforming Mars with Docker?

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead: check the project docs for container support. Terraforming Mars: check the project docs for container support.

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