Once just a colonist on your way to terraform and settle a new planet, you have been selected to have your consciousness uploaded to the ship's computer to take over as the new shipboard AI—and in the wake of near-total disaster, you'll have a lot of work ahead of you to see the rest of your fellows to your destination... wherever that might be! There are many things to be done on your journey, from managing the resources necessary to keep life support and other critical systems functioning to meeting the needs of those colonists also woken from their sleep by the damaged stasis array.
Recycle, Reuse, Rebuild
The wreckage of your ship offers a large starting supply of raw materials for your use. Whether as fuel for the matter reactors powering your ship's systems, spare parts to restore your ship to its original splendor, or even to trade with other ships you might encounter on your journey is up to you. But eventually those supplies will run out, and you'll need to find more—will you scout more wrecks to salvage? Find planets whose natural resources you can exploit? It's up to you!
Overseer or Overlord?
Both robotic drones and your human colonists will be able to help you help them—but as you can imagine, each is suited to different sorts of labor and tasks. Drones are hardy and more than capable of braving the rigors of space, but lack the innately human aspects certain specialized tasks might require. Those surviving humans—as well as any who find themselves unceremoniously ejected from their stasis—might be ideal engaged in research or preparing food or managing crops, but they'll need extra attention and support should you need them to venture outside.
Care for Your Crew
Understandably, drones and humans both have needs that must be met for their health and their happiness. Humans will of course need to be fed, and not only require facilities to sleep and bathe, but also need things to do and keep themselves occupied! Your drones, on the other hand, require no food or sleep, but they will need places to recharge their batteries as well as sufficient bandwidth to maintain a connection to the ship's computer—that's you!
Research and Develop
As the shipboard AI, you'll be able to decide how best to prioritize researching new technologies to aid your goal. A deep, expansive research tree awaits your perusal. Do you want to focus on creature comforts first? Or would you rather arm your colonists to the teeth to be prepared for any possible threats? What about improved and more efficient power generation to ease the strain on your supplies? The choice is yours!
Assuming Direct Control
Coming in our next update—titled Bioverse—are improvements to how players will interact with beings on the ship when they wish to give them specific orders. They should be quite familiar for players of similar titles such as Rimworld—but more on that in a later post!
In space, your friends can make you scream
Space is lonely, but it doesn't always have to be. Stardeus now also has Twitch integration that allows your community to get involved in your journey... for better or for worse! Let them become members of your crew, help with tasks... or even become mutinous and set critical ship systems aflame! We'll be providing more details on how to get this set up in a future posting!
The Stars Are the Limit
You're in command of the ship now; while this is merely a sampling of the different aspects of the game, you'll find the rabbit hole goes much, much deeper. Power management, production lines, combat with pirates and the occasional stowaway... all these and more await you on your journey to find a new world to call home!