M.U.L.E./Land and land grants

Land
There are three types of terrain found on planet Irata; river, flat, and mountain. Each type of terrain is best suited for the production of one particular commodity, although they are not limited to that type. River: The river stretches from the top of the screen to the bottom, passing through the town square. That means there are only ever four river plots in any game. River plots are unquestionably the most ideal plots for growing food. Plots that are adjacent to the river tend to be pretty good for food production as well, but the production rate drops off considerably. Flat: The wide open plains of Irata are great for one thing: collecting solar energy. With no trees or mountains to block the bright Irata sun, M.U.L.E.s outfitted for electricity soak up the sun's rays and produce far more energy than river or mountain plots. Mountain: What better way to make use of a mountain plot than to mine it for smithore? Plots that contain mountain yield a much higher production rate of smithore than any other plot. In fact, the more mountains contained in the plot, the more smithore you'll find. So plots with three mountains are considerably more valuable than plots with two or one.

Land grants
Once before each new round begins, all of the players have a chance to claim one of the remaining free plots of land. The cursor starts at the top left corner of the map, and begins to scroll across to the right. When it reaches the right side of the map, it returns to the left and drops one level. It crosses all five levels of the map from left to right until all of the remaining plots have been highlighted.

During this time, each player must press their button when the plot of land they wish to acquire is highlighted. If two players attempt to grab the same piece of land, the tie goes to the player who is in the lowest place at the start of that round (meaning the player in 1st place will never win, and the player in 4th place will always win.) Beware if two players are going for one of the plots on the right side of the lowest level. The loser of the tie may not get another opportunity to claim a plot.

Land auctions
In the standard and tournament games, a plot (or many plots) may go up for auction. Bidding on a plot works just like bidding on commodities. There is no limit to how much you can pay for a plot of land, besides your own budget. But how do you know how much a plot is worth? It depends on a few things: In the end, you are the best judge. Plots of land add $500 to your net worth, so they are usually worth at least that much. But if it's a flat plot that is nowhere near your plots, it may not be worth spending $500, especially if it's late in the game. Also keep in mind that, although a plot may not be valuable to you, it might be key to another player, and you may want to prevent him or her from having it (or you can buy it and sell it off at a profit.) Alternately, you may wish to cripple the other bidder less directly by deliberately matching bids until the price rises significantly and then pulling out just before the time runs out, thus making the winner pay more than necessary if he or she can't retreat in time.
 * How many mountains does it contain? If it contains two or three, it's value is high due to the smithore that can be mined from them.
 * How many turns are left in the game? Land yields more product the longer you have it.  So the later it is in the game, the less you will make back on the purchase of the plot.
 * How close is it to your existing plots? If it's a neighboring plot, it can be used to increase the production value of your existing plot by outfitting another M.U.L.E. for the same job.
 * In Tournament mode, did a meteor happen to drop on or next to the plot? Meteors are ordinarily destructive random events, but in Tournament mode, they seed the land around it with new deposits of Crystite which are quite valuable.