20,000 Light Years Into Space

A real-time strategy game that doesn't involve any armies: could such a game be possible? Could such a game be FUN? The conventional answer would be "No", but Jack Whitham's 20,000 Light Years Into Space is by no means a conventional game.

The premise is simple: you're building a base on the moon, and the base being powered by steam, you need to lay down a network of pipes and nodes. The objective is to upgrade your base up to a particular tech level, possible only if you have enough steam flowing in from the nodes. Each tech level gives you one more worker unit, which means you can build pipes simultaneously; however, if you, er, run out of steam, the game ends. Complicating matters are various events, such as aliens, earthquakes, and tornadoes, all of which destroy your pipes and affect your steam supply.

As I said, there are no armies to command. This game is purely resource building. But if you think it's boring, you couldn't be more wrong. At times, 20,000 Light Years can be nail-bitingly tense as you scramble to lay out a new pipe to replace a broken one. It's an RTS that's not oriented towards the military but towards engineering.

20,000 Light Years Into Space is installable via APT.