Hi everyone. This is the second update. Let’s talk about the setting. I purposely went back and edited things to be a little more vague because I don’t want to spoil the plot too much.
The game takes place in the year 2077 and the player is on Titan to harvest methane. Normally, this premise would be flawed because the cost of mining something that is relatively abundant on earth millions of kilometres away is not cost-efficient, but this is an alternate history setting.
The 1970s oil crisis wasn’t just a scare in this setting, it had a more profound and lasting impact on the world. In Titan Outpost’s current time, earth has been burning hydrocarbons at an accelerated rate for a hundred years. Earth’s equator slowly became a lifeless desert. Endless fields of solar arrays helped, but collective efforts at temperature regulation only compounded the energy problems. To prevent global warming, excess greenhouse gasses were jettisoned from the atmosphere. This was an efficient and cheap move in the short term, but with the carbon cycle broken, earth’s carbon levels were rapidly and permanently depleted. As of the game’s start date, the reserve of 130 billion tons is mostly gone and so is most of the fissile material. Most nukes have been dismantled because fuel was more important than military superiority.
Measures were taken, but too little, too late. The colonization of the moon in 2060 and the rise of civilian space travel made matters worse, with an increased demand for fuel.
Your mission is a last-ditch effort at satiating your species’ ever-growing thirst for fuel. A long-term colonization plan was in place, but economical incentive has pushed the plan forward. Your character is dumped on Titan with enough resources to set up a semi-automated mining operation, but little preparation for long-term stay and no way out.
Europe, West-Russia, The United States, Japan and most South American countries united to form the International Autonomous Space Association. You work this supranational organisation.
The rest of the world is split into an oligarchy of Indian companies and the People’s Republic of China. China has annexed Eastern Russia, except for Primorsky Krai, which is still controlled by Moscow. Fun fact: Due to environmental changes, Vladivostok is now a beach resort.
There are a few autonomous organisations operating in space as well, more an that later.
There is much more backstory, but that’s beyond the scope of this update. An example would be that OPEC was never formed and the consequences that would have. Some of it is implied through dialogue, some of it is explained in optional exposition in the game, like item descriptions or other flavor content. If you’re into the world building, you can dig in and peruse every piece of information and if you’re not, it won’t be in your face all the time.
The whole world has migrated towards cryptocoin, with the WCU, an intergovernmentally backed coin, being the most popular. Everyone accepts it as fiat currency except for the Chinese.
The factions you have to deal with are:
IASA - Your employer at the start. Nations banded together to form this relatively autonomous institution that has in some ways more power than the nations that started it. IASA has a base in the Titan/Saturn L2 Lagrange point called Kronos Station. When the game starts, you've been recuperating at this station from your long voyage to Saturn and ready to launch your Titan lander.
Kronos Station and the lander.
Chinese - They have a solid presence in the Saturnian system with an established base on the moon Enceladus. They have also recently begun operations on Titan, but for different reasons. The Chinese are actively colonizing Mars. You believe they still have a planned economy, but in reality, no one really knows for sure.
"Uphold science, eradicate superstition"
Independent Contractors - This covers a variety of non-government parties. These parties will approach you to conduct extracurricular business. IASA will almost invariably disapprove of this business. For example, there is a private shipping company that wants a piece of the action, there is a trade conglomerate that wants to prevent IASA from becoming a hydrocarbon monopolist and there is a tourist company that wants to explore the idea of sightseeing on Titan for the extremely wealthy. You will be contacted by these people as the game progresses, and you can keep in touch with their representatives through the comms system. Ships will arrive at Titan periodically to send and receive supplies.
Modular Freighter (work in progress)
This theme of government versus private enterprise is everywhere in the game. It is not a hamfisted poltical allegory and in the end the player controls the outcome, but there is an underlying message. Like Robert Heinlein's ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’, the morality of independence is a central issue.
Most (almost all) of the game takes place on Titan. In the beginning, you are alone, but throughout the game some people will join you on the surface. Or work against you, depending on your actions. If you head straight for the Chinese base, you will be able to meet people there right away, but that is like going straight to Mariposa in Fallout. It’s possible, even viable, but not exactly the intended way to go about things.
Communication with people on earth or near earth is mostly done through in-game e-mail with over an hour of delay between messages. The deep space network has been improved and greatly expanded, but there is no magic and waves don’t exceed the speed of light.
There is a cast of characters in the Saturnian system with whom you can communicate directly. Some of them you can meet face to face, some of them will only talk to you through the communications panel in the Outpost or your Rover. Right now, we’re talking about a cast of roughly twenty NPC’s, as I’m trying to make them all have a level of depth heretofore unseen in RPG’s. I have a few more in my ‘could have’ list, but aside from the extra development time, my primary concern is that they crowd things up. Saturn is a long way from earth, the setting is relatively near-future and it wouldn’t make sense to have a lot of people around.
The setting is bleak at times, but still mostly hopeful. There is a way for the player to have a 'good' outcome that hits every feelgood beat, but that is relatively hard to do. Odds are, something will get fucked up.
You can walk the surface for short periods at a time by using a special heating suit. It’s a drysuit within an EVA suit. Neoprene layers to the skin with trapped nitrogen, followed by an aerogel layer, followed by tubes running hot liquids through the suit, especially to the feet. Dealing with the suit is a core element of the gameplay.
Here is a little bonus screenshot: The death screen for when your suit is out of power and you eventually freeze to death. The most common way to die in the game. Hope you like it.
Death Screen
As for Titan itself, I’ve gone to great lengths to determine how it should look, but that is a story for another time.
The game takes place in the year 2077 and the player is on Titan to harvest methane. Normally, this premise would be flawed because the cost of mining something that is relatively abundant on earth millions of kilometres away is not cost-efficient, but this is an alternate history setting.
The 1970s oil crisis wasn’t just a scare in this setting, it had a more profound and lasting impact on the world. In Titan Outpost’s current time, earth has been burning hydrocarbons at an accelerated rate for a hundred years. Earth’s equator slowly became a lifeless desert. Endless fields of solar arrays helped, but collective efforts at temperature regulation only compounded the energy problems. To prevent global warming, excess greenhouse gasses were jettisoned from the atmosphere. This was an efficient and cheap move in the short term, but with the carbon cycle broken, earth’s carbon levels were rapidly and permanently depleted. As of the game’s start date, the reserve of 130 billion tons is mostly gone and so is most of the fissile material. Most nukes have been dismantled because fuel was more important than military superiority.
Measures were taken, but too little, too late. The colonization of the moon in 2060 and the rise of civilian space travel made matters worse, with an increased demand for fuel.
Your mission is a last-ditch effort at satiating your species’ ever-growing thirst for fuel. A long-term colonization plan was in place, but economical incentive has pushed the plan forward. Your character is dumped on Titan with enough resources to set up a semi-automated mining operation, but little preparation for long-term stay and no way out.
Europe, West-Russia, The United States, Japan and most South American countries united to form the International Autonomous Space Association. You work this supranational organisation.
The rest of the world is split into an oligarchy of Indian companies and the People’s Republic of China. China has annexed Eastern Russia, except for Primorsky Krai, which is still controlled by Moscow. Fun fact: Due to environmental changes, Vladivostok is now a beach resort.
There are a few autonomous organisations operating in space as well, more an that later.
There is much more backstory, but that’s beyond the scope of this update. An example would be that OPEC was never formed and the consequences that would have. Some of it is implied through dialogue, some of it is explained in optional exposition in the game, like item descriptions or other flavor content. If you’re into the world building, you can dig in and peruse every piece of information and if you’re not, it won’t be in your face all the time.
The whole world has migrated towards cryptocoin, with the WCU, an intergovernmentally backed coin, being the most popular. Everyone accepts it as fiat currency except for the Chinese.
The factions you have to deal with are:
IASA - Your employer at the start. Nations banded together to form this relatively autonomous institution that has in some ways more power than the nations that started it. IASA has a base in the Titan/Saturn L2 Lagrange point called Kronos Station. When the game starts, you've been recuperating at this station from your long voyage to Saturn and ready to launch your Titan lander.
Kronos Station and the lander.
Chinese - They have a solid presence in the Saturnian system with an established base on the moon Enceladus. They have also recently begun operations on Titan, but for different reasons. The Chinese are actively colonizing Mars. You believe they still have a planned economy, but in reality, no one really knows for sure.
"Uphold science, eradicate superstition"
Independent Contractors - This covers a variety of non-government parties. These parties will approach you to conduct extracurricular business. IASA will almost invariably disapprove of this business. For example, there is a private shipping company that wants a piece of the action, there is a trade conglomerate that wants to prevent IASA from becoming a hydrocarbon monopolist and there is a tourist company that wants to explore the idea of sightseeing on Titan for the extremely wealthy. You will be contacted by these people as the game progresses, and you can keep in touch with their representatives through the comms system. Ships will arrive at Titan periodically to send and receive supplies.
Modular Freighter (work in progress)
This theme of government versus private enterprise is everywhere in the game. It is not a hamfisted poltical allegory and in the end the player controls the outcome, but there is an underlying message. Like Robert Heinlein's ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’, the morality of independence is a central issue.
Most (almost all) of the game takes place on Titan. In the beginning, you are alone, but throughout the game some people will join you on the surface. Or work against you, depending on your actions. If you head straight for the Chinese base, you will be able to meet people there right away, but that is like going straight to Mariposa in Fallout. It’s possible, even viable, but not exactly the intended way to go about things.
Communication with people on earth or near earth is mostly done through in-game e-mail with over an hour of delay between messages. The deep space network has been improved and greatly expanded, but there is no magic and waves don’t exceed the speed of light.
There is a cast of characters in the Saturnian system with whom you can communicate directly. Some of them you can meet face to face, some of them will only talk to you through the communications panel in the Outpost or your Rover. Right now, we’re talking about a cast of roughly twenty NPC’s, as I’m trying to make them all have a level of depth heretofore unseen in RPG’s. I have a few more in my ‘could have’ list, but aside from the extra development time, my primary concern is that they crowd things up. Saturn is a long way from earth, the setting is relatively near-future and it wouldn’t make sense to have a lot of people around.
The setting is bleak at times, but still mostly hopeful. There is a way for the player to have a 'good' outcome that hits every feelgood beat, but that is relatively hard to do. Odds are, something will get fucked up.
You can walk the surface for short periods at a time by using a special heating suit. It’s a drysuit within an EVA suit. Neoprene layers to the skin with trapped nitrogen, followed by an aerogel layer, followed by tubes running hot liquids through the suit, especially to the feet. Dealing with the suit is a core element of the gameplay.
Here is a little bonus screenshot: The death screen for when your suit is out of power and you eventually freeze to death. The most common way to die in the game. Hope you like it.
Death Screen
As for Titan itself, I’ve gone to great lengths to determine how it should look, but that is a story for another time.
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