Introduction
From the team that brought you MegaCryptoPolis, comes Farsite, an MMO RTS game with elements of adventure in a sci fi setting. The game is currently in development but has already given us a glimpse at some of its cool features.
Greetings space travelers!
Boy, have I been itching for a space exploration game!
I have always been enthralled by the concept of being an insignificant speck in the great expanse of space, charting your own course as you see fit.
What shall I do today you wonder?
Head to MEBO star system to pick up some heavily discounted ship components?
Mine some precious minerals in the Homestead star system?
Or perhaps hang back in your favorite space station and hire some mercenaries to cause a disturbance with that damned corporation who's been getting on your nerves.
These are just a few of the things you can potentially do in the upcoming Defi game, Farsite.
Gameplay - what we know so far
Let's go through the docs and see what we can learn about the gameplay.
Classes
From the get go, Farsite makes it clear that players are able to choose from various career paths.
From the game guide:
Hauler
Accomplish delivery contracts to earn Credits for safely moving goods between Stations and Planets. Equip your Ship with powerful Modules or hire Fighters to protect you in low-secure environments.
Miner
Acquire a Sector on a Planet and establish your Base to mine and refine Resources those are required for every in-game item production. Sell them to Manufacturers or Traders on a local Station.
Manufacturer
Craft Components, Modules and Ships. Master rare items for high margins. Acquire Resources from Miners, rent the facilities or establish your own Base. Acquire rare Blueprints for monopoly on an item.
Military
Become a Pirate to collect loot from random victims or serve as a Mercenary to help Haulers and Traders safely pass dangerous territories. Form Fleets and create coalitions with Corporations.
Explorer
Discover the vast universe and hunt for exotic Materials. Jump through Stars to find a rare Asteroid, Comet or an Anomaly - you will always have a bunch of stories to tell about your adventures.
Governor
Acquire control over a Star to set your own rules and collect Credits from every market deal and service ordered on the territory. Hire Mercenaries to force Corporations develop your territory.
Recruiter
Recruit new Pilots and help them learn basics to get started in the virtual universe. A lifetime share in Credits from every action they perform in the game then may be a good reward.
Politician
Open a Corporation, form an Alliance, define the objectives, lead members and manage roles, curate contractors, accumulate Credits and achieve the global dominance.
Trader
Follow the market to buy cheap, ship goods where they are in the most demand and make profits. Contract Haulers and Mercenaries to avoid risks, negotiate with Manufacturers for a monopoly.
Exploration
Movement in the game is separated into regular flights for exploring Stars and FTL Jumps for travel between stars. FTL Jumps ( which the docs say are near instantaneous ) will require fuel which are acquired at stations with credits.
The information above plus the fact that this game is part RTS, leads me to believe that regular flights between stars are possible in an asynchronous autopilot fashion but will take way longer.
When a ship is not docked at a space station or planet, it is vulnerable to attack.
No details yet on what the battles will play out, but there is a gameplay demo heading our way soon in Q4 2021.
Here's a little peek into the recently released star map to get a rough idea of the hierarchy of space we explore.
Constellations
Stars/Planets/Sectors
Building a base
The hexagonal shapes you see above are called sectors.
Players are able to acquire sectors to build bases, which have the following functions:
- Mine Ore
- Refine minerals
- Produce components and ammo
- Craft modules and ships
Daily Cycle
From the game guide:
Item production is the core gameplay loop
Almost everything in the game is player produced and player owned.
What this implies is a huge and healthy economy, where daily activities will be centered around making the most efficient decisions with the goal of acquiring and utilizing credits.
Looking at the OpenSea market, there is a fare amount of weapon modules available in the market, which would also imply that battles(or perhaps avoiding battles) will play an important role.
Play to earn
The game will be running on the Ethereum network
Credits earned within the game can be withdrawn as Layer1 FAR tokens.
From the game guide:
FAR tokens will be listed on several centralized exchanges and liquidity pool markets within time.
Also as almost everything is a NFT, they can be traded on external NFT marketplaces like OpenSea.
Starting out
Starting the game is free.
You get a starter ship, and by performing some social media activities( some are as simple as clicking a button ) you can unlock more modules and upgrades to give you a leg up when it launches. One of the unlocks that standout is the "Powerful starter ship".
Starter ship (pictured at the beginning of this post) stats
Powerful starter ship stats
So it looks like you get a huge bump up in cargo space for this upgrade.
For comparison, here is the cheapest purchasable ship hull on OpenSea at the moment.
Conclusion
Hope you enjoyed this short sneak peek into Farsite.
The star map is a recently released aspect of the game which looks rather interesting.
The site is rather polished and the 3d graphics of the ship hangar runs buttery smooth in my browser (some preloading required) and the lighting looks well done.
The hangar interface looks well thought out and compact (I love me some compact scifi HUDs!).
I will definitely be trying this game out when it comes out.
Next milestone would be Q4 2021 where a gameplay demo will be released and sector acquisition kicks off.
If you're interested, check out the game with my referral link:
https://farsite.club/u/mathematical-rose-bobcat
Thanks for reading!