What is iMULE?
by WildKard, updated by Parker
iMULE is a game about four hopeful explorers trying to make a fortune on an
unexplored planet. This is done by producing various goods and smart buying and selling on
the open market.
There are four goods that can be produced: Food, Energy, Smithore, and Crystite.
Each of these goods have specific uses: if you do not have enough food, you will
have less time during your turn. If you do not have enough energy, your
production will be lower. If there is not enough smithore, there will be a shortage of
MULE’s. Crystite is the big earner that can make or break your game.
You start the game by selecting your race. Some make the game easier to play and
others harder. There are three levels of difficulty, the easiest the game
only lasts 6 months (turns), but the real game is 12 months. Crystite is only
available to product on the higher levels.
It is always played with four players, one human player and three computer
players. iMULE is a finely tuned game where the rewards, penalties and various
tasks are designed to keep the game balanced. Random map,
rules and random events means that no two games are the same.
Ruling the World
Land Claim
Each month players receive a free piece of land to produce goods. If two players
choose the same spot, the player with less money wins. Production will be
increased or decreased depend on location. River is best for producing food,
plains for energy, and mountains for smithore. Crystite is hidden and must be
found by taking a land sample to the town.
Cultivating
Player takes turns cultivating their land and doing other tasks. They can buy
MULE’s to start production on their land. You can sabotage other players by
buying MULE’s and letting them loose. You can try to catch the Wumpus for cash
and try to find crystite veins. The time to do these things depends on if the
player has enough food. Finally the player goes to the pub and wins money
gambling.
Production
The production phase is where each land produces an amount of goods depending on
a number of factors such as if the player has enough energy in storage, what
type of land is used, and some random events such as sunspots that increase
energy output. If the same player has plots producing the same goods next to
each other, they gain a bonus. Three plots of same production type anywhere on
the map by the same player also get bonus.
The Auction
Here the players buy and sell their goods on the open market. Players negotiate
the price by moving up and down on the screen. The shop prices are depend on how
abundant or scarce the goods are. If there is a shortage of food, the price goes
up and vice versa. This allows for interesting tactics, especially if one player
manages to monopolize food, energy or smithore production. If there is no food,
others will not have time to change their production types. If there is a
shortage of energy, their land will not produce. If there are a shortage of
MULE’s, you will not be able to change production type on your plot. Hoarding
goods has a drawback in the form of loosing goods to spoilage.
Disasters, Rewards and Penalties
There are a number of random events in the game.
The random events are listed below.
• Your MULE goes crazy - on one of the plots, the MULE runs away losing production
for that round and the money to replace it.
• Planet quake - production of smithore and crystite is lower.
• Fire in store - all stock in the shops is destroyed (prices will
skyrocket, if you need to buy supplies, you are at the mercy of other
players).
• Pirate attack - pirates steal all crystite (smithore in beginner level) from
stores and players.
• Acid rain storm - affects the plot under the storm and below it by boosting
food production and decreasing energy production.
• Sunspot activity - increases energy production.
• Pest attack - pest's eat all food on one plot.
• Meteor strike - destroys the MULE on the plot it strikes and creates a very
rich crystite plot. |