Description

The market simulation game Space Miners uses a simple production economy as a crucible for player conflict through commodity harvesting, conversion, and speculation, with an ultimate goal of sustained luxury good production.

In Space Miners, players work to create a largely self-sustaining mining colony while competing for control over internal trade of food and energy and the ore used to fabricate mining equipment. By becoming self-sufficient, whether by diversifying production or bringing to bear a dependable purchasing power, players can broaden their focus to include the colony’s founding goal: mining spice. But becoming self-sufficient means either wasting time on expensive, inefficient diversification or manipulating the market better than at least some of your fellow colonists.

Food, energy, and ore are necessary to the colony’s success, and they take their value from the constantly shifting planetary economy. Spice, on the other hand, is a valuable off-world commodity. By shifting infrastructure to spice production, players who maintain sufficient reserves of food and energy can hit it big on the off-world market, boosting the colony’s prestige and visibility. And the player who accumulates the largest share of the colony’s wealth has put himself or herself on a fast track to the colony governorship after the mother ship returns—but only if the colony succeeds overall.