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p-blomberg edited this page Dec 28, 2011 · 1 revision
  1. summary Basic ideas of the game

Table of Contents

Background

The Earth is crowded, and out of useful resources. Mining expeditions are being sent out to an asteroid belt where valuable minerals have been found. The ships are sent from Earth using a new warp cannon technology, that is not yet finished. The destination is approximate. However, once a connection is established with a Gateway (see below), transfers tend to work fine.

Concepts

Primary game concepts.

Mining

Mining stations are constructed on asteroids. Shuttles are used to ferry the mined material to a nearby storage facilities, processing plants or a gateway.

Trade

How trading works.

 * Resources (including energy)
 * Equipment (ships, modules, ...)
 * Knowledge (maps, blueprints, research, ...)

Communication

How communication between players works.

Resources

Various kinds of resources.

 * Ores (various kinds, can be refined)
 * Water (perhaps first in a rock-bound form?)
 * Oxygen (perhaps first in a rock-bound form?)
 * Food (grown)
 * Energy
 * Fuel (required by ships)

Objects

Various objects that exist in the game.

Gateways

Focuses incoming wormholes making it possible to regularly communicate and exchange resources with the home planet. Cannot actually create a wormhole by itself (so it's not possible to use it to travel between colonies or other solar systems).

Extremely important in the beginning as it allows selling mined resources and buying needed ones (such as oxygen, water and food) until the colony becomes self-sufficient or can trade for them with other colonies.

Availability: Start.

Asteroids

Stations

Ships

Scouts

Scouts are medium sized ships for exploring and initiating contact with other colonies. They have a very long range and advanced equipment for communicating with the home base and other colonies. They have a single pilot, no storage space and no weapons. Almost all of the space in the ship is used for fuel.

Availability: Start.

Prospectors

Prospectors are medium sized ships for examining the contents of asteroids. They are quite expensive but well worth it as they make it possible to avoid constructing mining stations on worthless asteroids.

Availability: Start.

Shuttles

Shuttles are small ships for ferrying people and resources. They have a short range and small carrying capacity but are cheap and sturdy. They are typically used to transport ore from mining stations to a nearby storage facility, processing plant or the gateway.

Availability: Start.

Transports

Transports are huge ships with a long range and large carrying capacity. They are typically used for trade between players or transporting resources over large distances.

Availability: Later.

Pipes

Pipes are an alternative transportation method. They are expensive to build but have low running costs and can transfer large amount of resources very quickly. Pipes are built in segments and have no limit on their length.

Pipes require energy to operate. Each segment requires a relatively small amount of energy, but the total requirement of a large pipe network can be substantial.

Availability: Later.