Multiplayer
Everyone shares the same persistent surface but has private vessels. Multiplayer dynamics emerge organically from shared survival pressure. The world is dangerous enough that cooperation often makes more sense than conflict.
Cooperation Without Direct Competition
On the Surface
- You encounter other Moonstalkers organically while working
- Shared objectives — some contracts require group coordination (reactivating a facility, clearing a wildlife nest, transporting heavy equipment)
- Resource abundance — the world is vast enough that players aren't fighting over scraps
- Mutual aid — share shelter, warn of hazards, pool resources for shared teleportation
- Communication — proximity voice chat, signal flares, shared map markers
Why Cooperation Makes Sense
- The environment is the primary threat, not other players
- Selenite Corp contracts often pay better for group completion
- Some resources require multiple people to extract (heavy fragments, equipment that needs synchronized operation)
- Shared shelters during floods create natural social moments
Organic Social Spaces
Underground Hatches
Shared survival spaces where Moonstalkers meet during floods:
- Natural gathering points
- Trade resources, share information, form temporary alliances
- No violence possible inside (automated defense systems suppress aggression)
- But trust is still earned — someone could follow you out and lead dangers your way
Surface Landmarks
- Selenite Installations
- Corp facilities with strict non-violence protocols (but heavy surveillance)
- Drifter Camps
- Independent survivor settlements, neutral ground, suspicious of Corp loyalists
- Wreck Sites
- Crashed vessels, fallen infrastructure, where Moonstalkers gather to salvage
The Tension with Selenite Corp
Working for the Enemy
- Their contracts pay well, but they're extractive and exploitative
- They control the teleportation network and set the fees
- Their "employment" structure treats Moonstalkers as disposable
- Evidence scattered across the surface suggests they caused the cataclysm
- Players who dig too deep into Corp secrets find their contracts getting more dangerous
Two Philosophies
Player Ideologies
As Moonstalkers discover the truth, two philosophies emerge:
- Corporatists
- Work within the system, profit from it, ignore the moral cost
- Free Stalkers
- Harder path, more dangerous, but not feeding the machine that ended the world
Both are valid. Both have trade-offs. Players choose their own path.