Running a Colony in Planetrism

So far we have not explained in detail what kind of a game Planetrism is. We have only hinted that Planetrism is a personal level game where you participate in daily life and tasks of colony, while also leading and managing overall activities. Parallel to that, there is also storyline events and the world of 2240 itself. But the core of the game itself has been left quite vague.

Everything above is true. Since Planetrism is a virtual reality game, it naturally allows a personal level experience on establishing and running an exoplanet colony. Player may really do manual tasks in person and interact with environment and colonists from personal point of view. So, player is actually living normal colonist everyday life.

But player acts as leader of the colony, too. He has to make decisions, delegate tasks and plan ahead to ensure the stability and prosperity of his colony. But all that management must be done on personal level. If he wants to see, how construction task is proceeding, he has to go and check it out, or ask someone, or he can go to command center and check reports. If some machinery breaks, player may either fix it himself, or he may delegate that job to someone else.

MANAGEMENT CYCLE

The personal life of player character may take several forms, but colony management has a clear cyclic structure. It is a clear economical model, although in this case actual money is rarely used in typical colony, but all other aspects of consumption and production exist. Our goal is to represent this exoplanet colony economy as realistic as possible, taking into account technology, ecology, agriculture, physics, energy etc.

Even if the simulation of colony economy may be a complex mathematical simulation, we try to keep it understandable for player. Therefore we divide the management cycle into five domains

• Energy cycle
• Food cycle
• Materials cycle
• Science cycle
• Community cycle

These cover everything that keeps colony running, and when they are properly understood by player, they give tools to keep different actors in balance and plan for the future. Outside that there are the storylines and events that provide unpredictable elements into game, and challenge player’s carefully laid plans.

We have already revealed that in Planetrism the colonies are usually established with corporate sponsorship. This means that colonists get a starting package from megacorporation. This includes

• Basic training on colony life and appropriate skills
• Passage to exoplanet itself
• Raw materials and equipment to build basic infrastructure
• Energy reserve to power basic survival for first weeks
• Food rations for 3 months until hydroponics production is fully operational

Colonists may pool their personal wealth to purchase upgrades on basic package or additional cargo space. But starting package should be enough to sustain their life for couple of months. In that time it is expected that colonists have established energy and food production to keep systems running and colonists healthy, and built accommodations and infrastructure to protect them from environment.

After this transition period the colonists are on their own. They have to plan carefully their actions to ensure their survival.  This means keeping all five cycles in balance. Energy, food and materials production must match their consumption. They have to survey their surroundings to understand how their environment works. They also have to stay focused on their task.

After a certain time bare survival is not enough. They have to plan ahead. Even on old Earth situations change and something unpredictable may happen. Colony leaders duty is to plan for unpredictable, because help is usually several hundred light years away.

ENERGY CYCLE

Depending on exoplanet environment the energy production may be most critical aspect of survival. Especially on planets where environment is too cold or too hot, you need constant energy source to keep your shelter habitable. Without energy you die. Although such case is an extreme, the colony needs energy to keep all the equipment running, to produce food and build accommodations.

In most cases colonies use renewable energy sources like solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal energy, ocean waves etc. When natural sources are not enough, fusion generators provide power, but they are not a standard option due to more difficult maintenance compared to solar panels and wind turbines. Every colony uses also fuel cell based batteries for portable reserve power.

Every colonist generates a certain amount of power consumption based on his accomodation, food consumption, equipment etc. Basically almost everything a colonist does consumes some energy. Even growing food consumes energy. Recycling waste consumes energy, and so on. These values are estimated based on statistics.

In energy cycle player as a colonist leader has to ensure that colony has enough energy by

• Building enegy stations of different sources
• Building energy reservoir stations
• Building energy conduits for power transfer
• Monitoring energy production and use

All these are tasks that may be performed by player and other colonists assisted by robots.

FOOD CYCLE

Every colonist needs to eat. After the food rations are consumed, the colony has to feed its occupants on its own. This means agriculture is some form. Depending on the environment colonists may have to grow everything in airtight greenhouses with hydroponics or they may be able to plant everything in real soil.

Colonist diet is very vegan in most cases. Sometimes, when colony is already quite stable they may either import some suitable animals (e.g. chicken) or hunt some edible animals native to the planet. But this is also a philosophical and ethical question, and customs vary from one colony to another. In every case player needs to plan enough variation in crop to ensure a diet that keeps colonists healthy and gives them enough energy to fulfill all the tasks.

Depending on the conditions food production may be constant or periodic. Usually colony should keep some food reserves to prepare for problems in food production and catastrofies. Hydroponic greenhouse with suitable growth phase rotation can produce crops constantly, but it also needs work every day.

Most common food cycle tasks are

• Planting
• Cultivating
• Monitoring crops
• Harvesting
• Processing harvested materials to food
• Storing food

Then the food is eaten and eventually all the waste is recycled and processed to various materials

MATERIALS CYCLE

Exoplanet colony needs all kinds of materials. Accommodations have to be constructed, equipment built. Colony may need some kind of infrastructure to transfer personnel and equipment. Everything the colony needs beyond energy and food has to be built from raw materials. One part of this cycle is the acquisition of these raw materials.

Thanks to technological advances, most things are produced with 3D printing. It would be impossible to stock a colony with thousands of different equipment and component. Instead of that the colony has a beginning package of several 3D printers of different sizes and large stock of printer mediums with different physical properties. Using a large library of standard templates, the colonists are able to manufacture parts for accomodations and equipment.

Tasks in materials cycle are

• Collection of raw materials used in manufacturing and other processes
• Processing of raw materials into suitable form
• Manufacturing
• Construction
• Maintenance

Easy maintenance and generally compatible components are an important factor. All equipment and machines must be maintained carefully to ensure their longevity.

SCIENCE CYCLE

Colonists are also scientists and explorers to a certain degree. It is vitally important that colony is familiar with its new home planet and star system. Colony leaders responsibility is to assign survey and exploration tasks as much as possible after the colony is secured. More they know about the planet, the better they chances are to survive and prosper.

Colony should also ensure good communications and surveillance by building communication and sensor stations to cover as much area as possible. This will ensure good weather forecasts and early warnings of approaching problems. They may also be used to study local fauna and other phenomena.

Most important science tasks

• Geographical survey
• Natural resource exploration
• Com and sensor stations
• Meteorological studies
• Biological sampling
• Geological surveys
• Ecosystem studies
• Astronomical studies

COMMUNITY CYCLE

An exoplanet colony is nothing without the colonists themselves, since colonists provide the workforce for all tasks in other cycles. Good colony leader understands that colony will triuph not only through materials gained in other cycles above but continual growth of colonists. In this case the growth is measured in skill advancement, good morale and general mental and physical wellbeing of colony as whole and every individual in it. It is leader’s responsibility to help colonists find a purpose in their life and keep them focused on that.

Colony has usually large library and databank, that may used to self-learn various important skills. Learning of new skills not only increases the efficiency and survival factor, but it also increases self-esteem. Leader should also take care that colony is an organisation where everyone has enough duties and everyone feels being a part of a community.

Part of community cycle is trade. Usually this is off-planet trading with sponsoring megacorporation. This means that leader has to keep track that any quotas are fulfilled as per agreement. Sometimes one planet may have several colonies, so it is possible that there is some inter-colony trading, too.

GRAND CYCLE

It is self-evident that all cycles above overlap to some degree. Each cycle depends on some tasks in other cycles and vice versa. Colony leader has to find a balance between these five cycles. That balance will tell the probabilities of survival on an exoplanet.

(Originally published 13 Apr, 2017)