As the Galactic Fleet preps for its big expansion into Fringe Space — code-named “Operation Radius” — you, a newly-enlisted commander, along with your fellow peers have been given the green light to participate in Mining Expedition Alpha and send out automated ships to scout and mine 50+ star systems. During the expedition, you’ll be permitted to send out as many AI-controlled ships under your command as you have in your hangar. AI-controlled ships typically don’t mine as much ore as you would manually, so you don’t expect a big haul. However, the ore you do collect reveals important information on its whereabouts, which will be pivotal in your personal rise to glory when the fleet is ready to embark in a few months. Be warned — the Galactic Federation has set up strict limits on the amount of resources that can be claimed by early commanders. The race is on to claim all you can before the systems are closed off for Operation Radius to commence. As you sit and contemplate your plans for Mining Expedition Alpha, you can’t help but wish that you had more ships…

After that delightful introduction (kudos to our Lucid Sight design and creative teams :-D), I’m happy to introduce you to our first pre-launch mini-game, Mining Expedition Alpha (MEA), a fun mini-gaming experience that will provide an opportunity for our early commanders to use their ships before the official game launches.

The objective of MEA is to provide commanders with the ability to mine and prospect a small corner of the CSC universe. The mini-game will include 12 of the 22 planned mineable resource types that will be available at the launch of CSC. Resources and mining ability are limited in the MEA mini-game, but the resources you collect will be valuable and the knowledge could help you, our early commanders, secure a prosperous destiny in the EtherVerse.

How to Play Mining Expedition Alpha

To participate in MEA, you’ll need a ship (or a voucher for a ship). The SHIP TYPE will affect the quantity of resources you’ll mine. Each ship will start with base AI Mining Efficiency (AIME) — this ship stat is for the MEA mini-game only. The more times you send your ship out, the higher your AI’s efficiency will get, resulting in more ore being collected (AIME starts at 0 and increases by 25 every trip). There is no limit on the number of ships a commander can send out, but each ship will take time to travel and mine before it can be sent out again. Once a ship returns to Sol, you’ll be able to refine its haul and claim your refined ore.

Mining Expedition Alpha — Mini-Game Map

Start by sending out your ship from the Hangar using the “Mission” button (this will be enabled when MEA is live). In the Mission screen, pick which star system you’d like your ship to prospect and mine. The light year distance divided by your FTL speed will dictate the number of hours required for the trip. Once at the system, your ship will prospect and mine for 1 hour. The amount you mine will depend on the mining rate of your ship, its max cargo capacity, and the AIME multiplier (an AIME of 50 would give you a multiplier of 1.5 times your mining rate). Once you select your target system on the Galactic Star Map and complete the Ethereum transaction (just paying the network gas fee), your prospect mining operation will begin.

Ship & Stats for MEA Mini-Game (1 ton of ore = 1 unit in cargo)

Vulcan Harvester / Prometheus Voucher

Vulcan Harvester &

Prometheus Voucher

FTL: 1.75 Light years per hour

Mining Rate: 150 tons per hour

Max Cargo Hold: 6,000 units

Phoenix Cruiser / Corsair Voucher

Phoenix Cruiser &

Corsair Voucher

FTL: 2.5 Light years per hour

Mining Rate: 20 tons per hour

Max Cargo Hold: 1,500 units

Reaper Interceptor / Intrepid Voucher

Reaper Interceptor &

Intrepid Voucher

FTL: 4.0 Light years per hour

Mining Rate: 5 tons per hour

Max Cargo Hold: 320 units

Once your ships return, it’s time to refine the collected ore and see what types of resources you’ve discovered. Each system’s resources will be seeded by us, the devs, based on a gamified distribution algorithm. This algorithm is based on a set of parameters we developed specifically for this mini-game. However, these parameters will translate into the final game universe and reflect future ore distribution. Each system will have a fixed amount of specific resources, and the amount of a particular resource you mine will indicate the overall density of that resource in the system. See the key at the bottom of this post for the types and rarity of the resources we will be seeding. Once a system’s quota has been reached, commanders will no longer be able to prospect in that system during this mini-game event.

It is also important to note that we have a FIXED supply of resources generated for our pre-launch universe. The majority of the generated resources (80% — the remainder will be held by the Galactic Federation in reserve) will be seeded entirely to the early commanders via this mini-game event.

In addition, be on the lookout for our upcoming CSC Marketplace! The Marketplace will be the central hub for trading based in Sol and Proxima once the game launches. Commanders can buy, sell, and exchange ships, resources, and other in-game assets in the Marketplace before CSC’s beta launch. More to come on the Marketplace in the coming weeks.

That’s about it, commanders! Now you know everything you need to participate and prosper in our Mining Expedition Alpha event. The total amount of resources and distribution quantities will be published before MEA begins.

The CSC Pre-launch Ship Sale is going on now at https://www.csc-game.com/sale.