Outpost (computer game)
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| Outpost {{#if:{{{image|}}}|<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">{{{image|}}} | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sierra On-Line {{#if:{{{publisher|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)<td>{{{publisher|}}} |
| Release date(s) | 1994 (PC) |
| Genre(s) | Strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player {{#if:{{{ratings|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)<td>{{{ratings|}}} |
| Platform(s) | Windows 3.1x, Macintosh {{#if:{{{media|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media<td>{{{media|}}} |
Outpost is a video game developed and published by Sierra On-Line. The game was noteworthy for having a hard science fiction approach, without standard science fiction technologies like faster than light travel, force fields, cloaking devices or teleporters.
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Story
An asteroid named Vulcan's Hammer is detected to be on a collision course with Earth, and all attempts to divert it from this path have failed. A mission is organised to create a colony on a world elsewhere in the galaxy as the last hope for mankind. The player is in charge of that mission.
Development
Outpost was developed with input from a NASA scientist, to verify technical details of game features.
Single-player gameplay
Gameplay starts with the player choosing what equipment they choose to bring to the colony and choosing a site for the future colony. Once this is done, gameplay shifts to the colony screen, where the player can organise research and other day-to-day colony tasks.
Details
The colonists land on the planet of the user's choice, where they must build many different buildings to keep Earth's representants alive. A hostile rebel colony attempts to become the dominant faction in the game. Although there is no battle in Outpost, there are battle units in Outpost 2.
Technical details
Outpost was released simultaneously for DOS and Windows 3.1, and was also released for the Macintosh. It made heavy use of pre-rendered 3D graphics. For DOS and Windows, the game required a PC with an Intel 386 (25 MHz) or better CPU, 4 MB RAM, and 5 MB of hard drive space.
Expansion packs and other related games
No expansion packs were created for Outpost, but a sequel was created: Outpost 2: Divided Destiny. The only update for Outpost 1 was Outpost 1.5 which included bug fixes.
Problems with gameplay
When Outpost was released, many of the features described in the documentation simply did not exist in the game at all, such as the ability to enter diplomatic relations with the rebel colony and the ability to build roads, among other things. These gameplay aspects were later patched in, though in function only, as many of them failed to have any meaningful effect on the game.
The game can sometimes end abruptly, as players who choose the wrong star system in the beginning can find him/herself in a star system with no inhabitable planets. Sometimes, players will find the colonists on the planet dying en masse for unexpected reasons, thus causing the game to end when everyone died. The colonists death rate during this occurrence was one of exponential growth, following the equation 2^n, where n is the number of turns passed since the widespread death "bug" began.
The algorithm to calculate recyclable resources was also exploitable. If one built enough residential units, the resulting recyclables produced by the colony would be more than the resources going into the colony.
See also
External links
- The Outpost Universe - Outpost 1/2/3 Headquarters
- Template:Moby game