M.U.L.E. , for you youngsters, was a game that came out in 1983 a year before the Original Elite. It was a 4 player game (the only 4 player game in the Atari 400/800-C64 era) of Colonization, Planetary development, with a commodities market game thrown in. The goal was for 4 players to jointly develop a colony. The player with the greatest bottom line won, but the colony had to achieve certain minimum resource goals or everybody lost (which sorta put a curb on the level of cutthroat activity in the game--although there was still a good deal of friendly competition in the way of bidding wars at the auction). In 1996 it won an award as the 3rd place in Computer Gaming World's Hall of Fame. In 2009 it won 5th place in PC Worlds 'Ten Greatest Games Ever'.
Basic game play: the colony starts out with a base landing site. Around that landing site is a grid of 'homestead' properties. Each turn the players equip a M.U.L.E. (Multiple Use Labor Element) for the type of commodity they hope to produce. The then run that M.U.L.E out to a piece of property and set it up (on a timer--failure to set up your M.U.L.E. within the allotted time and the M.U.L.E. runs off losing your money). First time a player successfully sets a M.U.L.E on a piece of property claims the land. There's never enough time to equip and set up more than one M.U.L.E. per turn. When set up the M.U.L.E. turns into a commodities harvester.
There are only 4 commodities: Food (lack of food reduces the time you have to set up a M.U.L.E.), Ore (necessary to make M.U.L.E.s), Energy (harvesters won't collect commodities without enough energy), and Crystals (off world commodity).
There are 4 types of land: River valley (best for Food), Plains (best for Energy), Hills (flexible), and Mountains (best for Ore). You can set up a harvester on a piece of property not best for the type of resource you're trying to harvest and it will still work, you just won't get as big a harvest as you would on an ideal piece of land. River valley for example, produces only miniscule amount of Ore, while Mountains only produce very small amounts of food. You get the idea.
Once each turn (season) there's an auction where you can sell the commodities your lands have produced. You have to be careful to keep enough to continue your colony operating next season. Surplus is sold off. If you come up short in energy, food, or ore, you can buy what you need at the auction...assuming other players are playing nice. There's always the chance that you'll get into bidding wars with other players. And there's a certain strategy to staying ahead of the other players. However remember that players can get too cutthroat or the whole colony will fail and everybody loses.
In addition to regular play, each turn there could be a random event. The game was actually set up so that negative things didn't happen to the player in last place. But other players could lose crops through acid rain storms, alien invasions, infestations, etc. Good things could also happen to increase your harvest: e.g. solar flares would boost energy production, or you might strike the mother-load and double your ore / crystal production.
One of the inhabitants of the planet Irata (atari spelled backwards) was the Wumpus. Occasionally one would appear in the mountains during the M.U.L.E. placement phase. If you captured him, you got an extra cash bonus.
Quatloo's are a made up currency from the Star Trek episode 'The Gamesters of Triskelion'. Kirk and assorted bridge crew members are teleported to a planet where body-less brains (glowing different colors) bet 'Quatloos' on the outcome of various gladiatorial combats between their kidnap victims.
Eventually Kirk eventually persuades the 'Brains' to make a really risky bet: If he wins the next gladiatorial contest, they will have to stop using the gladiators as fodder for their games and teach them how to civilize their world. Naturally they set him up vs. his love interest, and true to Kirk form... has no problem hitting a women, or anybody else, in a good cause... defeats his opponents and forces the 'Brains' to 'expand their horizons' and do some world building.
Can anybody put together the pieces?
Basic game play: the colony starts out with a base landing site. Around that landing site is a grid of 'homestead' properties. Each turn the players equip a M.U.L.E. (Multiple Use Labor Element) for the type of commodity they hope to produce. The then run that M.U.L.E out to a piece of property and set it up (on a timer--failure to set up your M.U.L.E. within the allotted time and the M.U.L.E. runs off losing your money). First time a player successfully sets a M.U.L.E on a piece of property claims the land. There's never enough time to equip and set up more than one M.U.L.E. per turn. When set up the M.U.L.E. turns into a commodities harvester.
There are only 4 commodities: Food (lack of food reduces the time you have to set up a M.U.L.E.), Ore (necessary to make M.U.L.E.s), Energy (harvesters won't collect commodities without enough energy), and Crystals (off world commodity).
There are 4 types of land: River valley (best for Food), Plains (best for Energy), Hills (flexible), and Mountains (best for Ore). You can set up a harvester on a piece of property not best for the type of resource you're trying to harvest and it will still work, you just won't get as big a harvest as you would on an ideal piece of land. River valley for example, produces only miniscule amount of Ore, while Mountains only produce very small amounts of food. You get the idea.
Once each turn (season) there's an auction where you can sell the commodities your lands have produced. You have to be careful to keep enough to continue your colony operating next season. Surplus is sold off. If you come up short in energy, food, or ore, you can buy what you need at the auction...assuming other players are playing nice. There's always the chance that you'll get into bidding wars with other players. And there's a certain strategy to staying ahead of the other players. However remember that players can get too cutthroat or the whole colony will fail and everybody loses.
In addition to regular play, each turn there could be a random event. The game was actually set up so that negative things didn't happen to the player in last place. But other players could lose crops through acid rain storms, alien invasions, infestations, etc. Good things could also happen to increase your harvest: e.g. solar flares would boost energy production, or you might strike the mother-load and double your ore / crystal production.
One of the inhabitants of the planet Irata (atari spelled backwards) was the Wumpus. Occasionally one would appear in the mountains during the M.U.L.E. placement phase. If you captured him, you got an extra cash bonus.
Quatloo's are a made up currency from the Star Trek episode 'The Gamesters of Triskelion'. Kirk and assorted bridge crew members are teleported to a planet where body-less brains (glowing different colors) bet 'Quatloos' on the outcome of various gladiatorial combats between their kidnap victims.
Eventually Kirk eventually persuades the 'Brains' to make a really risky bet: If he wins the next gladiatorial contest, they will have to stop using the gladiators as fodder for their games and teach them how to civilize their world. Naturally they set him up vs. his love interest, and true to Kirk form... has no problem hitting a women, or anybody else, in a good cause... defeats his opponents and forces the 'Brains' to 'expand their horizons' and do some world building.
Can anybody put together the pieces?
