Play M.U.L.E. Online

Summary

When you fire up M.U.L.E., the first thing you do is pick a race – some are forgiving, others demand a tighter strategy. The game offers three difficulty settings; the easiest runs only six turns and even hides the lucrative Crystite, while the full‑length mode stretches to twelve turns.

Each round opens with a land‑claim phase. You and up to three opponents each snap a plot from a varied map – rivers feed food, plains generate energy, mountains yield smithore, and the secret Crystite veins lie buried until a sample is taken back to town. If two colonists eye the same spot, the one with the lighter wallet gets the claim.

After the claim, you rotate through actions: buying M.U.L.E.s to harvest resources, unleashing rogue M.U.L.E.s to sabotage rivals, hunting the mountain Wumpus for cash, and scouting for hidden Crystite. Your food supply dictates how much time you have each turn, and the evening ends at the pub (or casino) where leftover time can be cashed in.

The economy is a delicate dance. Short on food and your turn shrinks; lacking energy stalls production; a smithore shortage drives M.U.L.E. prices up; and Crystite, untouched by supply‑and‑demand, can swing the final scores. Random events – runaway M.U.L.E.s, sunspots, pirate raids – keep the board lively, often favoring the underdog and punishing the leader.

Storyline

M.U.L.E. puts you in the shoes of four hopeful explorers landing on the untouched world of Irata – Atari spelled backwards – where the promise of wealth and power beckons. As colonists you must claim land, mine precious Smithore and Crystite, grow food and generate energy using the titular M.U.L.E.s (Multiple Use Labor Elements), the mechanical donkeys that do the heavy lifting. Success hinges on balancing supply and demand, out‑producing rivals, and sometimes cooperating to keep the fledgling colony alive.

Random events keep the race unpredictable: space pirates may steal your cargo, sunspots can cripple production, and meteorites may strike your fields. A daring hunt for the legendary mountain wampus can also net a cash windfall. In the end, the richest, most powerful ruler is the one who hoards the most land, resources and M.U.L.E.s, even if a little treachery is required.