Can SAGE Labs, the full-chain game on Solana, give Star Atlas a second life?

This article will take an in-depth look at SAGE Labs’ relationship with Star Atlas, the in-game economy, gameplay, and how to join the game.

**Written by: **0xAkina

Compiled by: Shenchao TechFlow

Introduction

Although the main narrative in the current market is Ethereum, the Solana ecosystem is still full of opportunities.

In the gaming field, the 3A chain game Star Atlas in the last cycle has now launched the full-chain game SAGE Labs, which is also worthy of attention. Although the project does 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 delves into SAGE Labs’ relationship with Star Atlas, the in-game economy, gameplay, and how to join the game. Although SAGE Labs is difficult to get started, it provides a unique and engaging gaming experience that is worth exploring for game enthusiasts and participants in the Web3 field.

Introduction

A few weeks ago, we explored Solana’s on-chain gaming ecosystem. In that article, I mentioned a game that many people 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. Although Star Atlas itself is not a full-chain game, SAGE Labs is!

Today we’ll take a deep dive into various aspects of SAGE, including

• Its positioning in the Star Atlas ecosystem
• In-game economic model
• How to enter the game to play

The relationship between Star Atlas and SAGE

First, let’s understand SAGE Labs’ position in the Star Atlas ecosystem.

Star Atlas is a space exploration game based on Solana, founded in 2020.

The game is set in the open world of outer space, where you will explore, navigate a complex economy, and engage in battles to secure galactic dominance. Star Atlas is an ambitious project backed by millions in funding and has been in development for the past few years.

While the full game is not yet live, some beta versions have been released. For example, in the latest release, players can engage in space battles against AI, test out third-person shooter modes, participate in time trials, view spaceships, and even try out VR games.

In addition to the main Star Atlas game, the team 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, and more. You can think of it as the V0 version of Star Atlas, since 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’ll try to simplify this.

ATLAS and POLIS

The two main tokens driving the ecosystem are ATLAS and POLIS. ATLAS is an 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.

POLIS, on the other hand, is the game’s governance token. When holders stake POLIS, they have 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, and these are vital to in-game exploration. The four types of consumables include food, ammo, fuel, and tool kits.

Each consumable plays a different role, such as food and ammo 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 about resources, check out this website, which provides comprehensive information on each resource.

spaceship

Another major component in the SAGE economy is the spaceship. Ships are vital to in-game activities such as SDU scanning and mining.

Each ship has a different size, and size can determine how far and how fast you can travel, how much material you can transport, how quickly you mine, and more.

In addition, ships can be equipped with modules and components that give them an advantage over other ships in their class.

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 General Market. Players can also use the marketplace to post bounties to pay others to complete tasks for them.

Gameplay

Now that we understand SAGE’s economy, let’s dive into its gameplay.

As mentioned before, there are three main game types in SAGE Labs: SDU Scanning, Mining, and Crafting. Let’s explain each one.

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 change over time, as only a maximum of 25% of the map will contain them.

When you find an SDU, you can sell it on the market, or redeem it for in-game assets such as 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 cost around $10, hunting down 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 area.

Mining

Another key aspect of SAGE Labs is mining. Mining involves using your ship to extract various resources in the game.

Types of resources that can be mined

Once resources are mined, you can use them to create components, which can be used for your own use or sold on the open market.

The speed at which you mine resources depends on your ship, the planet you are 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 their supply is limited only by how quickly they can be mined from a specific location (just like the size of the straw). limits the speed of liquid flow).

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 market.

Items available for crafting

Before making, please calculate the cost of raw materials and the price of the items on the market, because handmade production is not always profitable.

Getting started and user experience

Now that we’ve looked at SAGE Labs’ economy and gameplay, let’s take a look at the game’s onboarding and user experience.

I found this game quite challenging to get started with.

As mentioned before, the in-game economy is complex and you need to do a lot of math and use some of the tools I linked to in the article to complete it.

The game also doesn’t use disposable wallets or session keys, so you have to manually confirm transactions for every action you take.

But don’t worry, I’ll try to help you with the first steps you need to start playing.

The first few steps are easy, all you need to do is:

• Connect your Solana wallet *Create your character

Then things get more complicated because you need:

• Choose a faction

Three different factions

There are three different factions you can choose from, including the MUD, which represents humanity, ONI, an alliance of alien species, and Ustur, a collective of intelligent robots.

Although most players have chosen the MUD, the differences between the factions are currently barely noticeable.

However, there are some benefits to choosing a MUD, as you can use the MUD’s infrastructure and get help from other players within it.

After choosing a faction, you will need to:

*Choose a name

• Purchase a spaceship

You need to buy at least one ship from the market to play, with the cheapest being around $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 the Sage 2D V1 version as it is easier to run, has fewer bugs, and has more videos and tutorials.

Summarize

Overall, I really like SAGE Labs.

Despite its complexity, the game becomes very engaging once you understand the economy and various mechanics.

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 online, you’ll be ready.