Preview - Space Miner

Qplaze TM presents:

Far from the Earth, flooded by rains and wasted by ecological catastrophes, among the strange and unfamiliar stars…

The covert subterranean of far planets is waiting for you. The echoes of alien’s screams, died thousands years ago, still sound there, and the military robots of mysterious Precursors are waiting for their moment.

You are to go down to the place never seen by the human being, where only the power armor of your underground miner can save you from the great pressure, where only the plasma drill can lay the road, where your life itself depends on your reaction and the power of your jet engine.

The plot

The year 2500. Earth, almost everywhere covered with water and can not maintain life after the series of global warmings and complete exhaustion of resources. Greenhouse effect melted polar ice, and covered the Earth with white and impenetrable clouds. All it’s 20 billionth population concentrated in huge megapolises situated on the ancient mountain ranges. Only from the high and protected from sun’s radiation towers of these megapolises man could see the sun. Only special generators, situated above the mountains, could maintain ozone layer. So outside the cities all life was condemned to die or mutate under influence of space radiation. Outside an ultrastrong concrete groundworks of megapolises, there was an ocean – flogged by endless rains, it became a cradle of unfamiliar and strange to human life.

In comparison to Earth destroyed by human foolishness, far planets didn’t seem so dangerous and alien. The great exodus started in 2412, after the building of circumlunar space dockyard was complete. It was a pad for first fleets of terraformers with huge colonial carriers. Knowing, what’s behind, millions of people decided to leave Earth for uncertainity.

Each carrier could hold more than 700 000 of families, and had big holds for equipment. Some years passed since first carrier departure, when first post shuttles of settlers returned. Four planets of far star systems were under process of terraforming, so in recent years they could receive the second wave of immigrants.

There was a place for man in the space, but mankind had no resources to take this place. Earth’s resources were exhausted more than 200 hundred years ago, intensive space program transformed Mars and Venus into something like Moon – pitted with mines and open excavations, with a suitable for breathing atmosphere, but filled with wastes of their own industry. In a year 2471 Mars and Venus left simultaneously Earth’s Confederation, and all factories working for far space were stopped. Then was the first in mankind’s history, space war - short and cruel. The population of Three Planets decreased by six billions in less than two months. Moon, space dockyards and lunar military base were bombed up and captured by rebels in two weeks. And four weeks fragments of it’s orbital stations and satellites were falling to radioactive oceans of Earth. Earth’s government capitulated only after the falling of interstellar carrier led by venusian suicide bombers on Hong Kong 7 – colossal megapolis in Himalayas. This caused tectonic shift and eruptions of volcanoes all over the planet.

Earth’s government passed to the Alliance – defensive, trade and scientific community of independent planets. In 2500-s Earth still played a leading role in Alliance, but two-kilometer crater in the center of Himalayan range was a good reminder of what can happen if Earth will want some more. After the war the process of immigration to colonies stopped – Earth could not maintain expansion independently, when Mars and Venus tried to restore their industries.

During next 50 years colonies, known as Far Planets, were separated from Earth’s help and supply. One of them declined – as a result of failure, terraforming turned lifeless planet into jungles settled by half-sentient plants. Less than one hundred colonists were saved from there by Alliance’s scouts, who left solar system for the first time since the War of Three Planets. Alliance had no resources to build new space carriers, so new fleet consisted of many small ships of different models constructed in the docks of Venus, Moon and Mars.

There was no need to save colonists from other planets. In their systems scouts were met by ships of obviously alien design with humans on board.

Earth’s Alliance faced Intergalactic one.

Regardless of writers’ and futurists’ warnings, aliens were not dangerous or aggressive – universe is too big to fight for it with somebody - while humans themselves, destroying their own cradle, seemed real monsters for neutral sight.

Galactic community seemed very different from man’s expectations. Consisting many different civilizations and races, it existed for thousands of years without any government, from the man’s point of view, regulating it’s life by interstellar information networks. All community’s members, being different and independent acted in coordination and very strictly.

Far human colonies left without any support from their home, entered Alliance in 10 years after the war of Tree Planets. When they were recovered, they already were independent members of Intergalactic Alliance, they were settled by several races, they had well developed economy and culture, which didn’t seem completely human.

Solar System entered Intergalactic Alliance in 2524.

To this moment Earth became the most populated and the least comfortable planet, settled by humans. This was the beginning of the second wave of expansion.

Alliance wasn’t represented in the governments of human planets, and could not influence on their decisions, but it integrated into the human economy structure tree it’s organizations – Intergalactic Scientific Organization, dealing with research, scouting and informational networks; Intergalactic Trade Organization, dealing with race value interchange; and Intergalactic Mining Organization, dealing with extraction of different natural resources. Each of the organizations was a superstructure above civilizations, the state in the state, having their own planets, armies and fleets.

Humans, being individualists, and having dockyards for building small ships, became perfect scouts and miners. Their small, single-seated getters – miners, could get lots of minerals in few days, without any complicated equipment for mining and mines strengthening. Humans were the only who used this method, as it was very dangerous. Thanks to Intergalactic Mining Organization humans were able to gain billions of credits needed to build planetary teleports. Profession of space miner became the most prestigious on the planet of rains and radioactive storms.

That’s how human beings dispersed over the Galaxy, to it’s most far corners – scouts in small and quick ships, and miners in armored “miners”.

So…

Humanity has the only chance to survive – resettlement to other planets. But it requires lots of energy and resources. So the best of the best, independent miners having perfect mining equipment and great thirst of gain start on their journey to the space to extract it from alien and unexplored planets.

You are one of them.

A journey to the depths is waiting for you, depths full of unpredictable dangers and enormous riches. You will fill your cargo hold by gold and platinum, uranium and vanadium, mysterious rhenium and thantryl to sell it to Intergalactic Mining Organization. For your proceeds you’ll be able to improve your miner – buy a new drill, engine, improve your armor or cooling system – and go farther down, deeper into the darkness.

It is natural that your service is more then just required. Corporations will buy the resources you gathered, scientists and smugglers will order you the search of certain artifacts, items and signs of other civilizations, because it is rumored that under surface of some desert planets, still can stay the glimmers of alien life.

Gameplay

The player operates his drift miner on the plane, which is planetary crust in profile. You can see tunnels on your display, soil of different thickness, deposits of minerals, oil, high-temperature pockets, action objects, etc. Depth, temperature, armor condition, fuel left, load box capacity are reflected on the display. Your machine can lay new tunnels, extract minerals, blow up impassable sectors, and even fly. Take into account, fuel necessary for drift miner is limited and has a tendency of coming to an end, temperature rises when you’re going down, while the fall to a shaft or getting to a fire pocket can destroy your machine.

After your cargo hold is full, you have to go back to the surface, to the outpost of Alliance.

Three buildings in the outpost are available for you: Mining Organization building – here you can sell the minerals you’ve get and refuel your machine, Workshop – a place for repair and improvement, and Information Center – here you can get the next mission. Improvements depend only on your finances. More than 54 upgrades of different machine systems are available in the game: improvement of drill, engine, cooling system, armor, you can choose three types of hull, two types of explosives, mobile repair package, outboard fuel tank and even personal teleport.

All these varieties will surely help you to move forward the plot – you’ll have to prove deposit and extraction on three different planets and take part in 30 missions – rescuing of important equipment, mineral extraction at top speed, the search of archeological data and Precursor’s artifacts. With the depth, mining comes increasingly dangerous; soil thickness and drill load come more and more severe, temperature and number of fire pockets also rises.

You’ll have to overcome lots of checkouts and risks, but we’re sure – you’ll succeed.

All mankind rely on you – brave space pioneers.

Features:

- Investigate underground depths of 3 unknown planets;
- Extract 25 types of resources;
- Earn money and improve your underground rover – three types of machine body and 54 types of other improvements are available: engine, drill, fuel and cooling systems can be modified, also unique improvements available too;
- Take part in 30 plotlines; from rescuing of wrecked people to alien’s artifacts searching;
- Enjoy excellent graphics, perfect soundtrack, 2 game modes and replayability.

And remember - Earth does not exist anymore, there’s no place to return.
Conquer the new world for us all.