Steam Community :: Premonitions: The Merchants of Sol

Premonitions: The Merchants of Sol

All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos News Guides Reviews

Premonitions: The Merchants of Sol

0 in Group Chat

Command a fleet of merchant ships in this story-driven strategy game. Manipulate markets, dominate trade, make investments; do anything that you can to get rich regardless of morality or legality. Starve a population of supplies just to sell them later at a massively inflated price? Good idea.

Visit the Store Page

Most popular community and official content for the past week. (?)

The layman's guide to interplanetary politics - Update 2

Aug 5, 2023

There is much to be said on the topic of politics, especially on Mars. But perhaps it's most appropriate to begin with what it looks like.

The Martian Federal System
Mars is a federal state. It has a senate which presides over "reserved powers" such as taxation but it also provisions many powers to the regional authorities. Each region is defined by a "sector", of which there are a dozen sectors on Mars. The authority of each sector is provisioned to an elected governor, whom represents their people within the sector, but not the senate.

This is the design of the Martian federal system.

Elections
There are two types of election that occurs on Mars at different intervals. There are the regional elections (to select a new governor) and the senatorial (federal) elections. The regional elections occur every four years (2,748 days). Whereas federal elections occur every eight years (5,496 days).

Every citizen of Mars has the right to vote and to stand for election. As a citizen of Mars, you'll have the opportunity to do both.

The Law
As I said earlier, Martian law is divided into federal powers and regional powers. The law applies to matters such as criminal activity, taxation, war and conscription, drugs, weapons, employment, among other things. Citizens of Mars, including you, will be expected to understand and follow the law or face punishment if caught.

Political Figures
Governors and senators are considered "political figures". These people are elected based upon their qualities during a campaign. Their qualities are determined by their background. If their qualities align with those desired by a society then they are more likely to be elected. However, there are several other factors that can affect this outcome.

Policy Outcomes
Every politician (both federal and regional) has the opportunity to push for changes to the law. They're more likely to push for change if they feel strongly about the subject. This is determined by their qualities. The policy changes that they push for might be substantial or insubstantial, this is dependent on their desire for change.

Political Intrigue
If you have a strong desire to make political change then it is unnecessary to wait for an election. There are several actions that you can take in order to shift policy outcomes in your favour. One such action is bribery (or lobbying, if you want to make it sound less morally corrupt); another, more extreme, action is to assassinate your political opponents.

That's all for today
There's plenty more to talk about but that'll have to do for now. As always, if you have any questions then please post them here and if I have an answer then I will try to respond.

I'm also in the process of setting up a discord server for "Premonitions" and "The Merchants of Sol". The link will be made available with the next update so check that out if you feel inclined. It'll be a more convenient way to get consistent updates about The Merchants of Sol and a means to chat if you have any questions or want to talk about Premonitions.

Thanks for all the support,
Jessica

Premonitions: The Merchants of Sol

What's going on with "Premonitions: The Merchants of Sol" - Update 1

Jul 20, 2023

As you may, or may not, have noticed, today the name has been updated from “Merchants of Sol” to “Premonitions: The Merchants of Sol”. This is to indicate the first of a series of changes to the game and its development. In this announcement, I plan to update you all on several things, including: what’s new, what’s being worked on, what to expect in the coming months.

It’s been a busy time for me, working on this project. It’s seen a lot more popularity than I ever could have expected. First of all, I’d like to thank everyone that has supported me so far on Steam and everywhere else. The growing number of wish lists and followers of “The Merchants of Sol” has been a huge inspiration for me and an incredible motivator that has kept me working hard. It’s my only hope that the game will bring you all a lot of joy and entertainment. But, anyway, onto the announcement:

Why was the name changed?

“Merchants of Sol” was always planned to be the first of a series of games. The running title for this series is “Premonitions”, hence the change. The Premonitions series is the culmination of a decade of work and planning. It’s an entire story of which “The Merchants of Sol” is only a small part. You’ll hear more about that in the future.

I have a confession to make..

The store page is a little bit disingenuous. While the description is appropriate, the images do not reflect the work that has gone into the game. I will be updating these promptly and you’ll notice a particularly glaring change, the game is not in an 8-bit, 2D style. In fact, it is a 3D game. (Surprise!) Due to the amount of work that has been required of me in the development of this game, I have been using old images that referenced the original idea for “Merchants of Sol”. In fact, the screen shot from this announcement shows a (WIP) model of Mars that will feature in the game. A cool thing about Mars is that you can fly from space down onto the planet and land, seamlessly(!) On the surface is littered many interesting things from crashed ships to “sectors” (where people live).

Factories..!

A feature that I wasn’t sure would make the final cut. However, recently I’ve been quite passionate about the idea. Therefore, players will be able to create factories where they can hire workers and produce products to sell (or to use). These factories can be purchased on Mars and fitted with many different objects. This provides a lot of new mechanics to play with, including: power management, worker management, materials/recipes/products, logistics, and many more political and legal complications to navigate.

Lore

Perhaps you thought that the Merchants of Sol was a vanilla space trading sim. If you did, you’d be wrong. There’s a lot of lore to unpack, both through play, and in the lore pages found by progressing through the game (No, you won’t have to hunt for collectables). But, primarily, there is a story that will introduce you to the “Premonitions” time line and some important characters from the series.

Modding

This has been a particularly difficult part of designing “The Merchants of Sol”. I’ve wanted every aspect of the game to be flexible for modding and I stand by what I stated in the store page. But I’d like to provide more information on it, as much as that is possible right now. You will be able to mod almost every aspect of this game. Most of the games content (besides the core scripts) will be available to modify. Both through plain text files and through the game’s mod editor.

Achievements

Yes, they will be in the game. I won’t say anything else about them now, but they are fully planned and implemented.

Press (review) copies

Available on request, one week before launch. Key requests will be vetted before being provisioned. You can reach out to me here on Steam or on twitter (@jessicawastaken) to express your interest.

That's all for today

If you have any questions, please post them here and if I have an answer then I will try to respond. For more casual (and frequent) news and updates on “The Merchants of Sol” follow me on Twitter (@jessicawastaken).

I’ll also be trying to be more consistent with news in the near future. Especially because there will be lots to talk about.

Once again, thanks for all the support,
Jessica

Premonitions: The Merchants of Sol

See More Content

No more content. So sad.

You can help: share a screenshot, make a video, or start a new discussion!

Returning to where you were last on this page...

Cancel