📓Colonists' Logs

The story so far, as told by the settlers on Trappist 1e.

Our beloved town, Settlement Prime, which we founded right near the crashed Odysseus. (Actual game-play graphics.)

Colony Log: Planet 1e

Sol 528

Mayor Elise Quarrin

I'm still getting used to the Sun being out all the time; I'm tempted to build a log cabin on the dark side of the planet, just so I can experience night time, a few days a month. On the bright side — pun intended — our solar panels never stop generating power!

Building of Settlement Prime is coming along slowly, due to the difficulty in finding the necessary resources. I intend to incentivise colonists with Tungsten coins to gather and refine the metals we need. I know they're all trying to fend for themselves, but once the settlement is complete, we will all be in a better position to provide for each other.

Sol 77

Mayor Elise Quarrin

Thanks to the town's engineers, the cyan lights installed at the Forestry Research Base combine nicely with the sun's constant red, resulting in more-human colours. (Actual game-play graphics.)

I'm amazed how well these floodlights work! The engineers got the proof-of-concept working at the Botanic Reseach Base in just two weeks. It's refreshing to see the full colour spectrum again. We'll use this technique at Settlement Prime and other locations, as our resources allow.

Sol 63

Mayor Elise Quarrin

We are all going quite mad at the Red Sun. It's doubly worse because this planet is tidally locked, so the Sun is out all day and "night."

Adding to the frustration is that we had actually planned for this, having developed red-blocking glasses for everyone to wear. But with the crash, we have only a few left. The rest are lost, or perhaps strewn about the planet in the cargo containers we've not yet recovered.

It's a lovely planet, for what it is, but the red! So much red! (Actual game-play graphics.)

The settlers have asked me to find a solution, but how does one recolour a whole planet? I have asked the town's engineers to experiment with erecting cyan-coloured floodlights in the settlement. If we can make them bright enough, the cyan should blend with the ever-present red light and return our town, if not the planet, to the colours to which humans are accustomed.

Sol 26

Mayor Elise Quarrin

This incredible solar system has another gift for us! The seven planets align every 36.6 days! We've decided to call that a "month," with ten months making one "year" — exactly the same length as an Earth Leap Year. How convenient for us!

It's a strange sensation that one year on our home 1e involves 30 orbits around the Sun and zero nights: The planet is tidally locked, so the side on which we crashed perpetually faces the Sun. It's going take some getting used to.

More soon!