M.U.L.E. Update for PC

[Alex]

http://www.gilligames.com/Space_Horse/TheGame.aspShrapnel Games is set to publish Space HoRSE, a strategy game from Gilligames inspired by the classic game M.U.L.E.. For those unfamiliar with it, M.U.L.E. is considered one of the best computer games ever, and the Atari 800 version is considered by many to be the best port. Get the ATR file for yourself and find out why. A demo of Space HoRSE should be available soon.

[Lemmi]

the only M.U.L.E. game ive ever played was on the NES and i thought that was pretty good

[Mindfield]

M.U.L.E. on the NES wasn't nearly as good as the Atari 8-Bit version. I played a lot of the Atari 8-bit version, myself. Fantastic game, it was. One of the few strategy games I ever truly liked -- and liked a lot. I always found it ironic that the Commodore 64 port of it still named its planet "Irata." :-) I hope this PC remake ends up doing the original justice. Dan(i) Bunten (may (s)he rest in peace in video game heaven) has some large shoes to fill, but I hope this Todd guy can at leat aspire to it. :-)

[bradjewell]

I can't wait to try this game out. I loved the old commodore 64 port of the game. You gotta love that theme music as well. Did the atari version have that same music?

 

Brad

[DuckandCover]

This updated version looks really intriguing. I'll be anxious to get my hands on the demo.

[Heaven/TQA]

rated by me as one of the best game ever...

 

even thought about doing a port for gameboy myself...or lynx...or 7800... really...

 

hve

[Thelen]

when i was younger i played the game, but didn't understand what to do. now i've tried again and get it a little more....can anyone point me a online manual ? i want to try it, hearing from everyone what a great game it is

 

Thelen

[Mindfield]

The object of the game is to get plots of land and mine, harvest or collect natural resources in order to become a successful colony within 12 months. Here's some basic play mechanics:

 

Each month, or round, is divided up into 5 phases.

 

Phase 1: Land Grant

During this phase of each round, a square cursor will methodically traverse the screen from left to right, going to the next level of the grid. Each player picks a plot of land when the cursor is over the empty plot they want. Tips on this later.

 

Phase 2: Development and Wampus Hunting

During phase two, you have a certain amount of time to buy and fit a M.U.L.E., and set your chosen plot of land up with whatever you fit your M.U.L.E. with. Your time is determined by how much energy and food you have.

You start off in the shop. Your first step, of course, is to go and buy a M.U.L.E. M.U.L.E. prices fluctuate throughout the game based on the availability of Smithore, the metal used to build M.U.L.E.s. Once you've purchased a M.U.L.E. you need to fit him with one of four gear kits with which you will develop your land plot: Food, energy, crystite, or smithore. Food and energy will determine how much time each player gets for each round. The more food and energy you have, the more time you have to develop your land, prospect it, and hunt the wampus. Crystite is a precious mineral that brings wealth to your colony. Smithore is used in the production of M.U.L.E. units, and therefore the more available it is, the cheaper and more available M.U.L.E.s are. More on what to put where later.

Once you've picked your gear, you must leave the store and go to your chosen plot to develop it to produce what you've chosen. You do this by bringing your mule out and pressing the joystick button when your M.U.L.E. is over the little house in the corner of your plot. If you miss the house, your M.U.L.E. will run off, forcing you to buy a new one.

During the course of the game, plots will also become available for sale at the beginning of this round. This is where you can enter an auction to bid for the plot, if you deem it worthy.

Once you're done installing M.U.L.E.s in your plots, and if you have time left over, you can choose to hunt the wampus. The wampus appears only when you're on the map screen as a little white dot accompanyed by a beep. He'll only appear in one place for a short period of time, though he may appear in the same place several times before moving on. If you catch him, you'll be awarded a sum of money. The amount awarded increases as the rounds progress. Tip: The pitch of the beep that accompanies the appearance of the wampus is directly related to his approximate location on the screen. The higher pitched the beep, the higher on the screen he is.

 

Phase 3: Status

This is a non-interactive phase, is a little like picking a Chance card in Monopoly. Various things can occur, from your M.U.L.E.s going nuts, or rusting and needing repair (costing money), to sunspot activity increasing energy production or storms ruining crop production. This round also details how your production levels are. Food, energy, smithore and crystite spoilage, usage and production/mining are all tallied up in this round.

 

Phase 4: The Auction

Once all the tallies are in, you can now enter the auction to buy resources you're low on, or sell resources you have an excess of. Players can either buy from the store, or whomever is selling the resource up for bids. While there is stock in the store, players selling must sell at the same price or lower than the store in order to be able to sell. However, if the stores are empty, either due to a fire or because all stock has been purchased, then the player selling may pretty well choose his price; those who buy from you will only buy it from you if they need it enough to justify your asking price.

At the beginning of the auction round, you may select whether you're a buyer or a seller. Pressing UP on the joystick will put you up top as a seller. Pressing DOWN will return you to the starting line of the buyers area.

Once your role in the auction is determined, the auction begins. Buyers all race up towards either the store, or the seller, to buy what they need. Sellers will remain at the top. If you wish to undercut the store and sell for below market value, you may press DOWN and travel just below the store's selling line. Once players meet your line, or the stores line, they begin to buy. Once one has bought all they need, the next proceed to do their business, and so on, until all have had their fill, or the seller(s) decide to pull out, or the store runs out of stock.

There are four auctions for each of the four resources that are available.

 

Phase 5: Colony Status

Another non-interactive screen that displays everyone's resources, tallies up the totals, and ranks everyone according to their relative wealth of resources and money.

 

After 12 months, the ship will return to asses your colony and pass judgement as to its success or failure.

 

Tips

 

- Plots placed directly on the river are best for growing food. Plots placed near the river also grow food, but not as much or as rapidly.

- Plots placed in clear, open areas are best for generating energy.

- Mountainous plots are best for mining smithore.

- Crystite appears most commonly in open or mountainous areas.

- You can use the assayer's office in the store during each round to check any plot of land for the presence of crystite.

- Food and energy are the most important resources, so concentrate on those. They ensure you have plenty of time each round to do what you need to do, and produce well at the end of each round. I always create numerous energy plots, then get enough money together to buy out the store of all its energy supplies, essentially becoming an energy baron and selling to everyone else at high prices. :-) Food plots are naturally self-limiting due to the relatively few areas where it will grow well, so it's not a good thing to capitalize on. Plus, on the first round most players will get themselves a river plot and install food M.U.L.E.s.

- Whenever possible, buy any plots put up for auction. They may make the seller richer, but the plots themselves will work to provide you with extra resources at the end of the round, while leaving the seller needing more at the end. This not only gives you an opportunity to acquire more resources, but also to sell more during the auction phase. Be careful not to pay so much for a plot that you're left with no money to install a M.U.L.E. though. You can get away with this once or twice, but if you let it pile up 'til you've enough money, you'll end up spending so much time installing M.U.L.E.s over several rounds that you won't get to do anything else, and your production levels will suffer, also. After all, an empty plot produces no goods.

- Don't worry about rankings from round to round, particularily in the first few rounds. You'll have plenty of time to rank up as you spend more time becoming an energy baron (or capitalizing in whatever resource you choose)

- Though it's tempting to choose the Flapper because of his starting financial bonus, he's not too quick. A Mechtron, Bonzoid or Leggite will serve you better later in the game.

- You can change plots later in the game if you want to convert one specific plot of land into something else. Simply buy a new M.U.L.E. and outfit him. Upon replacing the old M.U.L.E. in the plot you're converting, you can either install that old M.U.L.E. on a new plot, or bring him back to the stores to sell.

- Mountains and rivers slow movement down. Moving diagonally is faster than moving laterally.

- The more mountains in a plot of land, the more smithore you wil be able to mine. Plots will 3 mountains will produce more smithore than plots with 1 or 2.

- When the store is out of an item, you have some to sell, and there are players eager to buy, you can haggle them to pay higher prices by "teasing" them. You do this by moving down to the sell line, even moving the sell line down a bit, but not enough to meet them to sell. This can entice them into paying a higher price for what you're selling.

- Energy = production. The more energy you produce, the more your plots will produce.

- Food = time. The more food you have, the more time you'll have during each round.

- The more of one type of plot you have, the more each plot will produce. If, for example, you have 3 energy plots, each of those plots will produce one extra energy unit. In the game, this is attributed essentially to the fact that each energy resource (for example) helps out the other energy resources in learning how to better produce energy. This works for any resource, so producing additional food plots will, in fact, work to the benefit of all your food plots. This is further enhanced if the same-type plots are right next to each other -- this will give still one more bonus unit of product.

- Crystite is not available as a resource in a beginner's game.

 

[ 04-17-2002: Message edited by: Mindfield ]

[Thelen]

WOW you typed all that in ?? Thanks, this helps me out

 

TheleN

[Mindfield]

I'm a quick typist, so it didn't take all that long. Besides, once I get it in my head to start on something, it's hard to put me off it. :-)

 

Enjoy the game. It's worth learning to find out what all the fuss is about. Frankly, it's hard to find games of this calibre that are both realtively easy to pick up, and have lots of enjoyment and replay value about them.

[capnarrr]

quote:

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Originally posted by wolfgang:

I can't wait to try this game out. I loved the old commodore 64 port of the game. You gotta love that theme music as well. Did the atari version have that same music?

 

Brad

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The atari had the same good theme song. It sounds much better on the atari in my opinion. Great game!

[Heaven/TQA]

you guys mean the "AT AT" aeh...sorry... m.u.l.e. walking... at the beginning???

or do you mean after every round???

 

btw... it was lightyears ahead... you could play up to 4 players with most every control (joystick, paddle, keyboard) on every machine...

 

for the real thing...you have to play it on atari 800 (not xl model...) with 4 joystick ports...

[krawhitham]

Mindfield can I use what you say for a web site giving you full credit.

 

here is the site it is no where close to being done

www.irata.info

[Mindfield]

quote:

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Originally posted by Krawhitham:

Mindfield can I use what you say for a web site giving you full credit.

 

here is the site it is no where close to being done

www.irata.info

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I'm not sure which bit you're referring to that I said, but you're welcome to it. :-)