Introduction
Although the main narrative in the current market is Ethereum, the Solana ecosystem still has many opportunities.
In the field of games, Star Atlas, a 3A blockchain game from the last cycle, has launched the full-chain game SAGE Labs, which is also worth paying attention to. Although the project did not directly mention potential airdrops and other benefits, it is also a good choice to understand and participate in advance with a low threshold.
This article takes a deep dive into SAGE Labs’ relationship with Star Atlas, the in-game economy, gameplay, and how to join the game. Although SAGE Labs has a high onboarding difficulty, it provides a unique and engaging gaming experience that is worth exploring for game enthusiasts and participants in the Web3 space.
Introduction
A few weeks ago, we explored Solana’s on-chain gaming ecosystem. In that post, I mentioned a game that many have heard of but few have actually played: SAGE Labs. SAGE Labs is part of Star Atlas, one of the largest Web3 games and ecosystems. While Star Atlas itself is not a full-chain game, SAGE Labs is!
Today, we will take a deep dive into various aspects of SAGE, including
Its position in the Star Atlas ecosystem
In-game economy
How to enter the game
The relationship between Star Atlas and SAGE
First, let’s understand SAGE Labs’ positioning in the Star Atlas ecosystem.
Star Atlas is a Solana-based space exploration game founded in 2020.
The game is set in an open outer space world where you will explore, navigate a complex economy, and engage in combat to ensure galactic dominance. Star Atlas is an ambitious project, backed by millions of dollars in funding, and has been in development for the past few years.
Although the full game is not yet online, some test versions have been released. For example, in the latest release, players can fight space battles with AI, test the third-person shooting mode, participate in time trials, watch spaceships, and even try VR games.
In addition to the main Star Atlas game, the team has also developed a secondary game called SAGE Labs. SAGE is a 2D, fully on-chain browser game where you can explore, mine resources, craft items, etc. You can think of it as the V0 version of Star Atlas, as its economic system and assets are the same as Star Atlas.
SAGE Economic System
SAGE has a complex economy, and to understand its gameplay you need to understand how its economy works. I will try to simplify this as much as possible.
ATLAS and POLIS
The two main tokens driving the ecosystem are ATLAS and POLIS. ATLAS is the in-game payment token used as a medium of exchange. It is inflationary and its supply growth rate is designed to reflect the growth of the in-game economy.
On the other hand, POLIS is the game's governance token. When holders stake POLIS, they gain control over Star Atlas DAO and its treasury. Unlike ATLAS, it has a fixed supply.
resource
In addition to tokens, there are many resources that play a key role in the game.
One resource type is consumables, which are essential for exploration within the game. The four types of consumables include food, ammunition, fuel, and toolkits.
Each consumable item plays a different role, such as food and ammunition for survival, fuel for transportation, and toolkits to help discover mining resources.
Another resource type is raw materials. Raw materials can be mined and used to craft other items (more on this later).
For more information on the resources, check out this website which provides comprehensive information on each resource.
spaceship
Another major component in the SAGE economy is the ship. The ship is essential for in-game activities such as SDU scanning and mining.
Each ship comes in a different size, and size determines how far and how fast you can travel, how much material you can haul, how fast you can mine, and more.
Additionally, ships can be equipped with modules and components that give them an advantage over other ships of their type.
To see all the latest updated statistics for each ship, check out this Google Sheet.
Ships and other in-game assets can be purchased on the Star Atlas universal marketplace. Players can also use the marketplace to post bounties to pay others to complete tasks for them.
Gameplay
Now that we understand SAGE's economic system, let's take a deeper look at its gameplay.
As mentioned before, there are three main game types in SAGE Labs: SDU Scanning, Mining, and Crafting. Let’s explain each one separately.
SDU Scan
A core component of SAGE Labs is the Scanning Survey Data Unit (SDU). In this part of the game, you'll use your ship to scan various parts of the map to discover them.
The location and number of SDUs in the game will vary over time, as at most 25% of the map will contain them.
When you find an SDU, you can sell it on the marketplace, or redeem it for in-game assets like items, ships, or Golden Ticket NFTs. If you decide to focus on finding SDUs, it's a good idea to have at least 10 ships to increase your chances of finding them.
Considering the smallest ships are around $10, hunting for SDUs is the best way to get into the game with relatively little capital.
To maximize your chances of getting SDUs, I recommend using this tool, which determines SDU drop rates based on your map region.
Mining
Another key aspect of SAGE Labs is mining. Mining involves using your ship to extract various resources in the game.
Types of mineable resources
Once you've mined resources, you can use them to craft components that you can use yourself or sell on the open market.
The rate at which you mine resources depends on your ship, the planet you're mining on, and the scarcity of the target resource.
Rather than having an artificially fixed supply, resources in SAGE adopt a "size of the straw approach," meaning that their supply is limited only by how quickly they can be mined from a particular location (just as the size of a straw limits how quickly liquid can flow through it).
Production
Crafting is the third core part of SAGE Labs' gameplay.
As I mentioned before, crafting involves using your resources to create items that can be used to build your fleet in the game, or sold on the in-game marketplace.
Items available for crafting
Please calculate the cost of raw materials and the price of items on the market before making them, as handmade crafts are not always profitable.
Onboarding and User Experience
Now that we’ve taken a look at SAGE Labs’ economy and gameplay, let’s take a look at the onboarding and user experience of the game.
I found the game to be quite challenging to get started with.
As mentioned before, the in-game economy is complex and you will need to do a lot of math and use some of the tools I linked in the article to accomplish it.
The game also doesn’t use one-time wallets or session keys, so you have to manually confirm transactions for every action you take.
But don't worry, I will do my best to help you with the first steps you need to take to start playing.
The first few steps are easy. You just need to:
Connect your Solana wallet
Create your character
Then things get more complicated because you need to:
Choose a faction
Three different factions
There are three different factions you can choose from, including the MUD representing humanity, ONI, an alliance of alien species, and the Ustur, a collective of intelligent robots.
Although most players have chosen MUD, the differences between factions are barely noticeable at this point.
However, there are some advantages to choosing a MUD, as you can use the MUD's infrastructure and get help from other players.
After choosing your faction, you will need to:
Choose a Name
Buy a Ship
You need to buy at least one ship from the market to play, the cheapest one is about $10. In addition, you must have four consumables before you can start SDU scanning.
The complexity of the game can be a bit overwhelming, so I recommend getting information from the Star Atlas Discord channel, where you may also be recruited by in-game guilds.
I also recommend playing with Sage 2D V1 as it is easier to run, has fewer bugs, and has more videos and tutorials.
Summarize
Overall, I really like SAGE Labs.
Despite the complexity of the game, once you understand the economy and the various mechanics, the game becomes very addictive.
Developers are constantly building, releasing updates, and hinting at new features.
It's also a great way to get your hands on Star Atlas so that when the 3D version of the game comes out, you'll be ready.
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