M.U.L.E

NOTE For version 1.0.0 of the firmware see Why does M.U.L.E contain missing graphics?

Starting a Game

Gameplay

Game Modes

M.U.L.E has three difficulty modes: Beginner, Intermediate, and Tournament.

Beginner and intermediate modes change the difficulty level of computer-controlled players and the number of rounds.

Tournament mode introduces Crystite, a new resource for the player to gather, faster-paced land selection, and more challenging computer opponents.

Interface

Player Turn Screen

1. Game Stage/Round
2. Player Money
3. Time Remaining

Trading Screen

1. Time remaining
2. Buy Line
3. Sellers
4. Buyers
5. Money/Units Available
6. Unit Type

M.U.L.E puts the player in control of one of 9 alien species, tasked with exploring, gathering resources and growing their colony on the planet Irata. Each race has different advantages which can provide bonuses to different types of play.

Grow your colony by gathering more land, and utilise Multiple Use Labor Elements (M.U.L.E) to create harvesting structures on owned land. Choose to harvest energy, food, smithore, or crystite in Tournament mode.

Land

At the start of each round, tiles are distributed to each player.

A highlighted tile moves from the top left of the screen across each unowned tile - players can press the action button on the joystick to claim a desired tile, but must do so before another player tries to claim it!

After tiles have been distributed, a tile auction occurs, where up to 5 tiles of land can be given to players. Players bid for each tile in the same auction screen shown when selling or buying resources later in the round.

If the tile being offered is not sold to a player, no further tiles are sold in that round.

There are three types of land tiles:

Mountainous

Best for mining smithore.

River

Best for producing food.

Flat

Best for producing energy or food.

Central Hub

The central town is where each player begins their turn. The town contains different areas which a player can move inside to interact with.

Central Town Areas

• The Pub
  • Enter the pub to gamble and automatically win a small amount of money.
  • Entering the pub will end your current turn.
  • The more time left in the turn, the more money is earned.
• Equipment Selection
  • When a MULE has been purchased, move into a room with the corresponding resource symbol to equip the mule with harvesting tools for that resource.
• Allay
  • In Tournament mode, the Allay can be used to survey a tile, revealing if there is any Crystite there.
• Land
  • Move here to sell a land tile that you own in the next auction.
• MULEs
  • Move here to purchase a MULE and begin equipping it to harvest.

To exit the central town and enter the full map, move to any corner of the screen.

M.U.L.E.s

Multiple Use Labor Elements, or M.U.L.E.s, are equipped with tools to harvest on owned land. MULEs can be placed on a tile during a player’s turn to gather resources. Be sure to place a MULE on a tile before the end of your turn, or else it will run away!

Resources

There are four types of resources in M.U.L.E, each of which can be gathered by equipping MULEs with the correct harvesting equipment during your game turn, and interacting with an owned plot with the action button on the joystick.

Energy

Energy resources can be sold to the shop or during an auction, and are used to power each mule harvesting that is not an energy MULE. If a player does not have enough energy, MULEs will stop production on the land they occupy at random.

Food

Food is used to extend the time a player has to perform actions during their turn. As the game progresses, the amount of food required to maintain turn time increases.

Half of the food that you do not consume during a turn will spoil, becoming unusable. Food can be grown on any tile, but grows best on river tiles in the center column of the map.

Smithore

Smithore is a resource which is used to produce more MULEs, or sold in the store. It can be mined by placing a MULE equipped with the ability to gather smithore on any non-river tile.

If a player does not have enough smithore during their turn, they are unable to purchase any additional MULEs.

Crystite

Crystite is a rare resource that is only present during Tournament mode. Crystite sells for a far greater price than any other resource, but is difficult to manage. Crystite can be found on a selection of random tiles. Tiles can be surveyed for Crystite by using the assay office in the central town.

Crystite cannot be sold to other players - it is sold off-world instead. If a pirate invasion random event occurs, a player can potentially lose all of their current crystite.

Events

Random events can occur during each game, affecting all players, or one colony. Events can either provide a benefit to players, or a unique challenge.

Individual Player Events

Individual events have a small chance of happening at the start of each player’s turn, displayed as a prompt at the bottom center of the screen before the turn starts.

They can vary from home-world relatives giving the player additional food and energy, to losing money from betting on a two-legged kazinga race.

Global Events

* These events spawn a moving cloud/meteorite on-screen at the start of a round, affecting tiles the cloud passes over.

Scoring

After the final turn’s auction is over, a screen is shown displaying each player’s current score:

The player’s total score is calculated from:

• Money
• Land: 500 points per land tile owned + cost of equipment for MULEs harvesting
• Goods: The current market value of all resources the player hasn’t sold or used.