TKC (The Killing Committee) Forum

While US pilots and astronauts have been training on simulators for decades, Moonbase Alpha is the first game in Nasa's Learning Technologies project designed for home use.

Basically put, the project plans to reach out to a new generation of enthusiasts whilst promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics in an interactive gaming environment.

To assist with this, Nasa has had assistance from of the development teams at Virtual Heroes and Army Game Studio - two of the brightest stars in the serious game industry.

Coupled with graphics from the Unreal Engine 3 and online distribution from Steam, it's clear to see Nasa are keen about establishing a presence in this area. Particularly as they've already gone on record by stating that Moonbase Alpha is the precursor to a Nasa-based MMO.

Part training mission and part co-op brain teaser, Moonbase Alpha allows up to six people to join together to repair a meteor-damaged international station based on the lunar surface.

After a brief summary of the situation, all players are free to start work on restoring the oxygen supply to the base in whatever manner they see fit, whilst keeping in contact using the in-game text chat.

Although maps vary in complexity, the layout is always the same - solar panels power tanks, which distribute oxygen through pipes, which are joined together by couplings, then attached to a power distributor and life support system, before finally passing into the base.

During the meteor strike, various parts of this supply chain are damaged (the severity and location of the damage changes each time) and it's your responsibility to figure out how to get everything operational again before your rather meagre 25 minutes of backpack life support runs out.

You can repair couplings and solar panels using the welder, or you can simply swap out the damaged items entirely. Herein lies the complexity - in order to swap out a coupling, you'll need to use a wrench to unhook the oxygen pipe at each end, then again to hook up the new coupling.

As you'll also need to retrieve the coupling from the equipment shed, it's much faster to simply repair any existing damage.

Unless, of course, the coupling goes "critical" (explodes) thereby unhooking itself from the line and simultaneously rendering itself inoperable anyway, at which point you will have no choice but to replace it.