This game will overlay the curriculum in this class in order to give you an added bonus to your learning this year but will be mostly independent of your grade. The goal of the game is to rebuild the greatness of human civilization on your new home planet. You started as an international delegation sent to Alpha Centauri in the year 2060 by the United Nations aboard the spaceship “Unity” to find a new home due to the imminent destruction of Earth. But the journey was not without incident.

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Towards the end of your half-century journey, the ship began to break down. Problems in the reactor core led to issues with the life support systems and main engines, crippling the ship. Communication systems were destroyed shortly after, cutting off all contact with Earth, as was the ship’s database – the record of all human history. Rumors of sabotage quickly ran through the ship, and the crew, who had only recently woken from their sleep-stasis, began to suspect each other. Factions, based on ideologies, began to form leading to anger and eventually violence on the ship. The captain was assassinated and the future of humankind was put in jeopardy. Four leaders quickly emerged calling for détente in an attempt to bring everyone back together. But the fractures between the groups were too deep. Unable to decide on the future of the new civilization, the crew of the ship decided to split into four factions each intent on creating the future of humanity in their own image. And instead of one unified coalition, the last hope for humankind descended from the derelict ship onto the surface of the unexplored planet below.

 

Now divided, each faction will attempt to build a new civilization based on what they can remember. But years of sleep-stasis have had an effect on the bodies and minds of the crew. Initially chosen for their intellect, each crew member now retains only the memories of their first 13-15 years of life, significantly limiting what they can build and create. Each new civilization has access to the ship’s database which contains the entire recorded history of your species, but significant damage to the computer has limited what each group has access to. As each faction boots up the database, it only seems to show them information from a specific time and place – Ming China, Mughal India, the Ottoman Empire, and Renaissance Europe. While further research into the database may grant more information on the history of humanity; what to build, as well as how to build it will have to be researched in order to expand on the new civilization’s knowledge.

 

And so here you stand. Mostly alone on a new world light-years from Earth, fighting to create a new home and history for humanity in your own image. You have enough knowledge to potentially build a city based on the immediate information you have access to in the database. If you want more, you will have to put in the time and effort to research and build it. You know that there are three other civilizations out there trying to do the same. Will you out-create them? Will you trade with them? Will you go to war with them? Will you ever be advanced enough to get back to Earth to find out what happened to your home planet and bring over any survivors? The future of the human species is in your hands, and its story will be your vision…if you can survive and flourish!

 

Welcome to New Earth.