Star Atlas, the upcoming Space MMO on the Solana blockchain, drops more information about owning land in their universe. Land NFTs represent a parcel on a planet and include specifics such as size, borders, location, and ownership. All empires need a base, so any aspiring sector rulers would be wise to keep their eyes open for the opportunity to acquire one or more land parcels.
Players initially acquire land through auctions on the primary markets. Once purchased, the NFTs are free to exchange on secondary markets as well. But what’s better than owning land? Building on it of course!
One of the primary uses of Land in Star Atlas is resource extraction. With the right amount of energy and resources, players can build Extractors on their land to produce raw materials. These materials are fungible assets and used for in-game production. Production focused players can unlock new, improved building types as they level up.
Land Ownership in Star Atlas
Owning Land doesn’t just give you the rights to harvest it for resources, it also provides a vote and voice in your regional Decentralized Autonomous Organization, or simply DAO. Landowners vote on proposals for their regions by staking POLIS, the governance token of Star Atlas.
DAO proposals can change, add, and remove policies, affect taxes, and even alter relations with other regions. Import taxes, regional power struggles, internal dissension with regional DAOs, Star Atlas provides opportunity for game controlling politics run by the players in a way that we haven’t seen since Eve Online.
The game plans on implementing a Land Value Tax – basically a recurring property tax – to incentive land usage and discourage flippers who sit on NFTs, waiting for them to appreciate in value. Instead, the game strongly encourages landowners to be active. Even if you’re not mining for raw resources, opportunities for leasing land and using it as collateral will be available in-game.
No release date for land auctions has been given, but they do mention a new game trailer on October 6th, 2021. It promises us a glimpse into land ownership in Star Atlas.
Mini-game and Ship Drop
On October 5th, 10am EDT, some sort of mini-game becomes available to players. How the game works is unclear, but the press release states that players can set up profiles, select a faction (which includes faction leaderboards), and prepare for a future product release.
Following that, on October 7th two new spaceships hit the Galactic Marketplace. Though names and details are not revealed, we do know that one is an aggressive fighter while the second is a large bomber-type craft. More info becomes available 24 hours before the sale.
ATLAS and POLIS tokens
The game runs on two currencies, ATLAS and POLIS. ATLAS, called the operations token, is used for in-game payments, taxes, and fees. POLIS is the governance token. But with an extra bit of game control. POLIS owners help guide and make decisions about in-game taxes and other decrees that can have a direct effect on the players. Ruling the cosmos will require much more than just might of arms. A stake in the game and the ability to influence others will also be important qualities!
ATLAS is designed as a feedback-loop currency, with fees and payments into the game system being recycled into quest payouts and other funnels back into the player economy. POLIS owners affect this distribution by voting and may even flag a certain percentage of ATLAS income to be burned!
Both currencies already exist and are traded on FTX, Bitrue, and Raydium. The game runs on the Solana blockchain, which also has its own token SOL. You will need some SOL for transaction fees.
What is Star Atlas?
Star Atlas is an upcoming massively multiplayer online game set in space, which will use Solana for its blockchain mechanics. All game logic, transactions and ownership will be stored on-chain. Star Atlas will be a grand strategy hybrid space game with serverless MMO gameplay. All gameplay will be real-time, and it will use the blockchain to give players ownership over in-game items, add economic-based gameplay mechanics and implement an economic system inspired by decentralized finance.
The game takes place in a distant future, in which three galactic factions have emerged. There’s an on-going struggle for resources, territorial conquest and political domination. Players can join one of these factions, and then earn income for their contributions. As a result their actions will change the course of the fictional universe. In-game created factions allow players to work together, gather resources and self-govern and manage their own micro-economy.
Star Atlas allows players to venture into deep space and discover new stars. In this universe filled with planets, there’s lots of conflict. Newcomers to the game will start out in a faction safe zone, but eventually venture into medium and deep space zones where the stakes and rewards are much greater.
All ships, space stations and land installations have weapons and shields for attack and defense. Gamers can upgrade space stations and installations through community efforts, while space ship commanders can assign crewmembers to improve the ship’s performance. The choice for your crew can influence your career, ranging from data runner to bounty hunter.
