SAPROMETE®

In a future of perfect harmony, where technology is entirely at the service of humanity, a public body known as the Council of Humanity ensures order and promotes expansion across solar systems through a cold and systematic Bureaucratic Protocol.

Each player takes on the role of an Expedition Captain, the admired and highly specialised elite of the Pioneers of Exploration, who are entrusted with the highest duty and honour: to reach ruined and theoretically uninhabited worlds to extract the Resources needed to fuel the terraforming process that expands the reach of human civilisation.

The primary objective of each player is to guide their Expedition Group through the Layers of the Planet by removing Terrain Tiles from the board to clear the path to its Core. The game ends when a player retrieves the Planet’s Core; however, victory goes to the player who has demonstrated the greatest efficiency: only the Captain who has achieved the highest Reputation will be honoured by the Council of Humanity.

No Captain can face the unknown alone: as their Reputation grows through the completion of Objectives, players will be able to recruit specialised Pioneers with unique abilities into their group. The success of the mission will depend on how skilfully players manage their Expedition Party, combining the four Classes featured in the game with balance and strategy:

• Excavator: The backbone of resource procurement and mineral extraction. They are the expedition’s hands, capable of extracting the most useful materials from every rock face and carving a path to the centre of the planet.
• Fighter: Warriors chosen to protect the cargo and defend the members of the group. They are the expedition’s shield, capable of facing the most dangerous and ferocious monsters without showing any fear.
• Healer: The linchpin for safeguarding the team’s genetic and physical integrity. They are the heart of the expedition, capable of healing their comrades’ wounds and reviving the fallen.
• Surveyor: Masters at traversing uncharted terrain and anticipating the movements of creatures. They are the eyes of the expedition, able to foresee environmental dangers and thwart monster ambushes.

In the unexplored depths of the Planet, the sheer biological strength of your Expedition Team is not enough: to overcome the toughest mineral veins and the defences of the fiercest predators, it is essential to use the Resources extracted to develop new equipment that enhances the group’s mining and combat capabilities and increases the expedition’s value in the eyes of the Council of Humanity. Players will be able to craft four types of Tools:

• Tools: Drilling equipment and probes designed to optimise excavation. They are key to drilling through the planet’s hardest layers and maximising the extraction of valuable resources.
• Weapons: Ballistic and energy-based offensive systems designed for close-quarters combat. They are essential for increasing firepower and neutralising threats.
• Consumables: Medical kits and emergency serums that ensure the group’s physical well-being. These are single-use items capable of healing the pioneers’ wounds and creating temporary barriers.
• Armour: Exoskeletons and advanced tactical visors that collect and process data in real time. This equipment is capable of identifying weak points in the terrain and gathering vital information about creatures.

Making your way into the depths of the Planet and climbing the Civic Merit hierarchy comes at a price: as players trigger specific events, the Threat Track will advance inexorably, changing the rules of the Expedition:

• The ecosystem strikes back: The environment will become deadly, the dangers will grow more hostile, and the monsters will become more aggressive and harder to defeat.
• The Council is becoming more demanding: The targets set from above will become more complex, requiring ever more meticulous planning.
• Humanity adapts: To tackle the crisis, the Forge’s staff will develop higher-rank Tools, and more experienced Pioneers will arrive on the planet.

Be careful, however, not to push things too far. If the threat were to reach the final level, collapse would be inevitable: the Planet would become unstable and the Expedition would be cancelled, resulting in the defeat of all the Captains.