On my huge starship deep in outer area, I’ve simply obtained a notification that somebody named Estrella “Apricot” Devilla has joined my colony. Usually in a colony administration sport, a brand new arrival is nice information. An addition to the group means a brand new set of fingers to carry out duties, new expertise within the labor pool, and generally even some compelling character traits. Will Apricot develop into my new favourite colonist?
To place it bluntly: No. Within the opening hours of starship colony sim Stardeus (opens in new tab), Apricot’s arrival is definitely horrible information as a result of my ship at present consists largely of particles and shattered hull partitions. Apricot did not arrive right here on a shuttle, she awoke from a malfunctioning cryosleep pod which should not have opened till we would landed on a liveable planet. The cryo chamber has no meals, no warmth, no oxygen, and is uncovered to the void of area by way of a number of hull breaches. Liveable planet? I do not actually have a liveable bed room but.
Apricot stands within the cryo chamber for lower than a second earlier than realizing she will be able to’t breathe, then runs by way of an open door into an adjoining room which additionally has no air. Her well being plummeting, she desperately sprints into a 3rd room simply in time to fall to the ground lifeless.
Um. Welcome to the colony? Because the starship’s supervisor I stare in horror at Apricot’s first few moments and remaining few moments (they’re the identical moments). I am considerably comforted by the truth that whereas my colony ship is a whole catastrophe, it is not a catastrophe I created: The situation I am enjoying begins that manner, with the ship smashed to items following an unknown disaster.
A much less comforting thought: there are virtually 900 extra colonists in cryosleep in the identical room, and any of them might probably get up at any time. I actually, really want to type this place out.
Hardspace: Ship-broken
Stardeus is impressed by video games like RimWorld and Factorio, a top-down colony constructing and administration sim with some fairly deep techniques to handle, every little thing from energy to temperature to oxygen ranges to pressurization as your ship drifts by way of the void of area. Your workforce consists of a handful of drones, and as soon as you have repaired, rebuilt, and researched new know-how in your ship, you’ll be able to ultimately add steering techniques and engines and go to asteroids, planets, and photo voltaic techniques. Deeper into the sport (opens in new tab) there are area pirates, merchants, shuttle expeditions, and hazards like asteroid strikes and raiding events.
I do not know the place the large spiders got here from.
That is a great distance off for me: I am nonetheless attempting to perform the fundamentals like restoring energy and sealing off the cryo room from the vacuum of area. I’ve acquired my drones cannibalizing a part of my busted ship so that they’ll have the sources to restore the remainder of it, actually tearing up flooring for scrap metallic to burn as gasoline in my reactor. It feels just like the determined finish of a marketing campaign quite than the hopeful starting of 1, however I’ve managed to attach the cryosleep room to my principal generator and laptop, linking it with a protracted line {of electrical} conduits, so at the least the following time somebody wakes up and suffocates to dying… I do not know, the lights shall be on? Perhaps that’ll be nicer for them?
Talking of which, earlier than Apricot awoke and promptly died I might observed there was already a troubling quantity of corpses of different colonists who had earlier woken up and promptly died. Much more troubling, in some way, is that among the many human corpses are the corpses of big spiders. I do not know the place the large spiders got here from—absolutely I haven’t got big spiders in cryosleep pods, as a result of why would that be a factor—however the silver lining is that my colony is such a whole catastrophe that even big alien bugs cannot survive right here.
Whereas I am salvaging one a part of the ship to rebuild the opposite a part of the ship, I’ve certainly one of my spare drones stack the lifeless spiders in one other room simply in case their our bodies show helpful in some way for analysis (or a meals supply). I do not really feel fairly as snug doing that with the human corpses, so I’ve the drone simply dump them into area, the place they sadly simply float proper alongside the ship. Remind me to not construct any home windows on that aspect, I assume. Nonetheless, I am feeling extra optimistic: now when a colonist wakes up and dies they will not be observing a pile of well-lit corpses whereas it occurs.
Sole survivor
Nobody else wakes up whereas I end repairing and changing partitions and powering digital doorways across the cryo room. My fragile human cargo additionally requires a breathable environment, and I have been researching an oxygen pump for, frankly, days now. Researching in Stardeus takes fairly a very long time, which is in some methods irritating however feels kind of reasonable. I do not love the lengthy await my robots to find create merchandise, however I respect it. It is a difficult piece of equipment, so it most likely would take fairly some time to determine it out.
However even with partitions and flooring and sealed doorways and oxygen flowing, the room stays unpressurized. Lastly I come across the answer, noticing there’s an “airtightness” overlay I can toggle. This lets me see any spots on the ship the place oxygen leaks could also be occurring, and even on this room I have been engaged on for ages, there are a lot of. A tiny crack in a flooring panel right here, a powered however broken air vent there, a number of sections of hull that are not 100%. Cripes, people require a number of engineering to not die horribly.
Lastly, days into my mission, with a couple of dozen corpses floating alongside my ship, my cryosleep chamber is sealed hermetic, has energy and air, and might truly assist human life. As if to have fun, a colonist named Bork wakes up and does not instantly start working round in a panic whereas he suffocates. There is not any time to have fun my success: Having a residing colonist means I am going to have to feed him and doubtless present issues like furnishings, hygiene, and leisure, however after wanting by way of the tech tree the one nutrition-based merchandise I’ve unlocked is a pet food bowl. An empty pet food bowl. I begin researching biotechnology so I can generate some meals, however feeling a bit dangerous for Bork, who’s going to have fairly some time to attend, I’m going forward and construct the pet food bowl within the room. He does not appear impressed, however at the least he is not lifeless. But.
A number of hours in I’ve solely barely scratched the floor of Stardeus nevertheless it already looks like a fairly deep and sophisticated colony sim, which is particularly spectacular coming from solo developer Kodo Linija. Stardeus is in Early Entry on Steam (opens in new tab) (printed by Paradox Arc) the place the dev expects it to stay for the following 2-3 years. Within the meantime, colony sim followers ought to positively preserve it on the prime of their lists. Colonists, alternatively, ought to strategy it with excessive warning.
