Offworld Trading Company

Offworld Trading Company

Offworld Trading Company is a real-time strategy game in which money, not firepower, is the player's weapon. Players lead their developing companies in a cutthroat war against other companies trying to become the dominant economic power on Mars. Loosely modeled on classics like M.U.L.E., Offworld Trading Company forces players to make difficult decisions about what resources to acquire, what goods to build and sell, how to interact with the planet's thriving underworld, and when and what stocks to buy. Players compete against up to seven other AI or player-controlled companies. The game is won when one player ends up acquiring all of his competitors' stock, seizing control of the planet's entire economy.

Story

After the Great Collapse, hope died for most of us on Earth. The asteroids were supposed to provide us with unlimited resources, but their promise was stolen by a corrupt monopoly. The powerful enforce a status quo that protects their interests, leaving the rest of us to fight for the scraps. Mars is the last chance for anyone who still believes they can make something of themselves. It's time to stake your claim. It's time to go offworld. The year is 2063, and the last generation has experienced a series of catastrophic setbacks that have made even the most optimistic among us doubt our future. Earth experienced the Great Collapse: a worldwide market collapse fueled by human greed and caused by a rogue artificial intelligence. There was also the Red Catastrophe, which left failed and dying government-sponsored colonies on the surface of Mars. In this environment of fear, a powerful syndicate took over and claimed exclusive rights to the resource-rich asteroid belt. Because of the vast deposits of precious metals and other materials, the syndicate became the exclusive lender to the governments of the world. No one was safe from their controlling hand, and after the reintroduction of debtor's prison, the world's remaining free countries decided that something drastic had to be done. The spark that would ignite the human spirit was outside the world. The governments of the world decided to reestablish colonies on Mars in hopes of taking back control of their future from the usurious lenders of the Syndicate. In an attempt to do things differently this time and avoid a second Red Catastrophe, a free market based on competition and merit principles seemed the best solution. The days of subsidies and automated electronic transactions were long gone. The business of each colony would be won on the economic battlefield, and only the most successful ventures would be allowed to continue. The new Martian colonies would be supplied and fought over by a strange variety of people, all with one hopeful idea in common: "Let's do better this time."

Fans

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  • Geekozoid
    Geekozoid
      39 
     2022-07-19T03:08:29.000+0000
     20** Pyrmont
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