~TerraTech Apropos of Nothing~

TerraTech is quite a fun open-world game by Payload Studios, wherein you may assemble your own vehicles from all manner of modular pieces, have races, watch them fall over, and try to survive and sell natural resources on alien planets. I've made a small picture diary of my most recent attempt at playing TerraTech, because I do that from time to time.

Chapter 4

This morning, I made auto-miners.

Auto-miners, brought to you by the Galactic Survey Organisation. Auto-mineable ore deposit not included.

The fabricator needed two refined plumbites, two refined titanites and one refined luxite to make an auto-miner. Luckily, the plains had all those minerals in plentiful amounts: boulders rich in titanite and plumbite, and yellow luxite crystals growing out of the grass.

I took my current vehicle out and drilled through several hundred boulders, the fragments of which I carried back to the base. The fabricator cheerfully got to work on the metal and spat it out in the form of some freshly baked auto-miners.

I needed a couple of dozen auto-miners, you see, to begin my new money-making operation. If you're a TerraTech afficionado, you probably know what "operation" I'm talking about. I was going to build an automatic erudite crystal farm and use it to make millions.

Erudite, you see, is one of the most valuable materials in TerraTech, with refined erudite chunks selling for 233 block bucks. The plains happen to have clusters of tall green erudite crystals, under which you can find deep erudite veins just waiting to be auto-mined.

I dug up a suitable crop of erudite and squeezed two auto-miners onto each seam. After that, I set up some collectors and conveyor belts leading to a central refinery and two delivery cannons, which put together would automatically collect, refine and sell all the erudite I could dream of.

The profit from this erudite should keep me firmly in the green.

Now, at this point, you may be wondering a few things. Who's collecting all this erudite I've fired into the upper atmosphere, and paying me through the nose? What are they going to use the it for? Will this planet ever run out of erudite, and it so, what's going to happen to the local economy? And what actual right do I have to plunder such a lush, beautiful world of all its natural resources? All good questions, and in response, I'd have to say that

I had been working on a new tech, one that's agile, manoeuvreable and also fairly tough. Some of the light machine guns and rocket boosters sold by Venture would give it that extra edge. I called it the Wanderer, and I was looking forward to getting a second GeoCorp machine gun to stick on the front.

A snapshot for the finished Wander. Again, you'll need siitako's GSO Plus block pack to use it in-game.

I built up the Wander as and when I had parts for her, most notably the SCU I stored on top. I could anchor the Wander to use the SCU without detaching it, which was very convenient.

The Wander turned out to be agile enough for some of Venture's stunt ramps, too:

A perfect landing. 10/10, no notes.

I headed back to the trading station for lunch, which was fish and chips washed down with a glass of aged red wine. I checked my e-mail and found one from Agent Pow, asking to meet me at a place called SAM Site Ridge.

My heart skipped a beat and I realised what a fool I'd been, searching fruitlessly for love when all along it had been right there. Agent Pow... I hadn't even considered her, but I'd die before I gave her a reason to regret her love for me.

Thus I put on my best overalls and a splash of Hai Karate aftershave, and set out on a long, quite comfortable drive.

This happened along the way. The enemies were getting a bit frisky, now that I had a grade-3 GeoCorp license, but with strong weaponry and good piloting I could handle them.

At long last I found her, Agent Pow, with her silky cherry-red hair blowing in the wind. I emerged from my tech with a rose between my teeth to sweep her off her rotating anchor.

"Er... air freight?" I said, blinking in polite disbelief. "But I was... I thought..."

"Oh, God," sighed Agent Pow. "Yes, the air freight! I wanted to hire you to take out that surface-to-air missile turret which has been shooting down our cargo planes!"

Agent Pow was of course referring to the GSO's fleet of cargo aeroplanes, none of which are seen making deliveries at any point during the game. I remembered the rose between my teeth, and, bright red with embarrassment, started chewing on it to save face.

So I went and found SAM Site Ridge. There, in a very original and creative gameplay moment, was a surface-to-air missile turret protected by an indestructible shield, which was kept aloft by three charger towers. I didn't have too much trouble staying out of range of the missiles while I blew up the towers.

Taking on the turret itself, though, would be a different prospect altogether. If I drove down to face it, I'd be within missile range for certain, and explosive weapons are notoriously effective in TerraTech. However, SAM Site Ridge was build on an ancient ruin with some high, well-protected walls...

...from which I could rain bullets down from well beyond the turret's range.

"But-but surely a SURFACE TO AIR MISSILE turret would be more than capable of nailing you up there!"

Yes, that's nice, but do stop talking.

That was that. Agent Pow was thrilled... although, without the rose-tinted spectacles of love clouding my vision, I was starting to suspect she didn't actually like me very much. Oh, well. I didn't become an off-world miner just to meet women, did I?

I drove away, hoping to find some lemonade to rinse away the bitter after-taste of that rose.