Transarctica
Encyclopedia
Transarctica is a 1993 computer game made by the French
company Silmarils
for the Amiga
and ported to the PC
, Atari ST
, MAC
and Atari Falcon
. Its translation to English
was rather haphazard.
.
In the 21st century, mankind is being ravaged by the greenhouse effect
. A last-ditch effort to counteract it is designed and executed. It works far too well.
Centuries if not millennia later, the planet
is entirely covered in a thick, opaque cloud
layer. Giant wolf packs roam the frozen wastes, and the mammoth
has re-emerged from the elephant
stock. Mankind ekes out a living in a few handfuls of settlements, connected by a network of massive armored trains. The network in turn is in the hands of the gargantuan Viking Union, which is merciless towards threats to its power. A few radicals, though, are willing to attempt a change, and managing to hijack a train of the Union, the Transarctica, they set out in search of the "sun
".
using its various facilities and tools, gathering coal
for currency
and fuel
, visiting towns to trade and to enhance the train, and searching for clues for its quest. The dystopic
setting is rather well integrated, and for instance the use of slave labor
is necessary to complete the game.
The interface is quite original but rather cumbersome. This part has been critizised for the under-efficiency of trading in comparison to mining.
The two sides are positioned on parallel tracks some distance away from each other. Maneuvering is limited to horizontal movement. Combat assets include cannon
s (to attack enemy wagons), machine guns (to mow down ground troops, on both sides if timed poorly), infantry
(jacks of all trades to operate on and in between trains, attack ground troops, set charges on hostile wagons and clear them from friendly ones) and mammoth cavalry
(to attack ground troops and to shield and transport infantry). All other wagons, save the locomotives, are dead weight.
Combat is won when the enemy is disarmed, the train is then looted for intact wagons and materials and the contents of destroyed wagons are written off. The game is lost if the Transarctica loses a vital wagon. All engagements can be expected to take several minutes.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
company Silmarils
Silmarils (company)
Silmarils is a French computer game software company named after the Silmarils of J. R. R. Tolkien's saga.Silmarils was founded in 1987 by Louis-Marie and Andre Rocques. It produced games for PC, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Macintosh, Atari ST and Atari Falcon....
for the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
and ported to the PC
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
, Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, MAC
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
and Atari Falcon
Atari Falcon
The Atari Falcon030 Computer System was Atari Corporation's final computer product. Codenamed Sparrow, the machine was based on a Motorola 68030 main CPU, and had a Motorola 56000 digital signal processor, a feature which distinguished it from most other microcomputers of the era.-History:The...
. Its translation to English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
was rather haphazard.
Story
The story is based on a post-apocalyptic science fiction saga La Compagnie des Glaces (The Ice Company) written by Georges-Jean ArnaudGeorges-Jean Arnaud
-Biography:Arnaud was born in Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, Camargue, Gard.He made his first appearance in the Anticipation science fiction imprint of French publisher Fleuve Noir in 1971 with Les Croisés de Mara [The Crusaders Of Mara] the first volume of a trilogy entitled Chroniques de la Longue...
.
In the 21st century, mankind is being ravaged by the greenhouse effect
Greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect is a process by which thermal radiation from a planetary surface is absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gases, and is re-radiated in all directions. Since part of this re-radiation is back towards the surface, energy is transferred to the surface and the lower atmosphere...
. A last-ditch effort to counteract it is designed and executed. It works far too well.
Centuries if not millennia later, the planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
is entirely covered in a thick, opaque cloud
Cloud
A cloud is a visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals made of water and/or various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body. They are also known as aerosols. Clouds in Earth's atmosphere are studied in the cloud physics branch of meteorology...
layer. Giant wolf packs roam the frozen wastes, and the mammoth
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
has re-emerged from the elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
stock. Mankind ekes out a living in a few handfuls of settlements, connected by a network of massive armored trains. The network in turn is in the hands of the gargantuan Viking Union, which is merciless towards threats to its power. A few radicals, though, are willing to attempt a change, and managing to hijack a train of the Union, the Transarctica, they set out in search of the "sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
".
Exploration
The train roams EurasiaEurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
using its various facilities and tools, gathering coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
for currency
Currency
In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
and fuel
Fuel
Fuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Most fuels used by humans undergo combustion, a redox reaction in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air...
, visiting towns to trade and to enhance the train, and searching for clues for its quest. The dystopic
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
setting is rather well integrated, and for instance the use of slave labor
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
is necessary to complete the game.
The interface is quite original but rather cumbersome. This part has been critizised for the under-efficiency of trading in comparison to mining.
Combat
The Viking Union is out for blood, and meeting with another train triggers a simple battle mode. Battles are real-time plus slow-paced and may be dull at first, but the amount of things to handle will multiply with time - though this hardly helps the common mop-up period at the end.The two sides are positioned on parallel tracks some distance away from each other. Maneuvering is limited to horizontal movement. Combat assets include cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
s (to attack enemy wagons), machine guns (to mow down ground troops, on both sides if timed poorly), infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
(jacks of all trades to operate on and in between trains, attack ground troops, set charges on hostile wagons and clear them from friendly ones) and mammoth cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
(to attack ground troops and to shield and transport infantry). All other wagons, save the locomotives, are dead weight.
Combat is won when the enemy is disarmed, the train is then looted for intact wagons and materials and the contents of destroyed wagons are written off. The game is lost if the Transarctica loses a vital wagon. All engagements can be expected to take several minutes.
External links
- A list of towns for the game.
- The Ice Company series.
- Moby Games page on Transarctica.