M.U.L.E./Phase I: Developing your land

Taking your turn
When the land grant (and potential land auction) phase has ended, every player begins to take their turn for the current round. The order of the turns taken is determined by the order of financial wealth at the start of the round. Whoever is listed first takes the first turn. Once your turn begins, several things can take place before the time limit for your turn runs out. Note that if you have a shortage of food, you will be granted less time for that round, proportional to the amount of food you have remaining.

A random event
At the start of every player's turn, an event has a random chance of occurring. For the players in the first two places, this will always be a bad event; something that will cost you money, loss of goods, loss of a M.U.L.E., or possibly even the loss of a plot. For the players in the last two place, this will always be a good event; something that will provide you with money or extra goods. There is nothing you can do to influence the likelihood of these events. All that you can do is read them and continue.

Purchase and outfit a M.U.L.E.
If you've just received a new plot, you will most likely want to assign a M.U.L.E. to the plot so that it can begin producing goods. When you walk to the center square of the colony, a zoomed in view of town will appear. The M.U.L.E. corral is in the bottom right corner. To buy a M.U.L.E., simply walk in to the corral and walk back out, and your newly purchased M.U.L.E. will be following behind you. (You can also choose to sell a M.U.L.E. back to the corral by walking back into the corral with a M.U.L.E. behind you, and you will be given the current market price for the M.U.L.E.)

Once you have purchased a M.U.L.E., you must outfit it for a particular job. You can not leave town with a M.U.L.E. that has not been outfitted. To outfit your M.U.L.E., walk into one of the buildings in the top row with the icon that represents the job you desire. Refer to the following table to understand your choices and the cost associated with each job. Note that Crystite outfitting is only available in Tournament mode.

But what job should you pick for your M.U.L.E.? That depends on what you need most to succeed in the game. Broken down simply:
 * Food: If you have a full amount of food, you will get the maximum time for your turn. If you are short on food, or have no food at all, the amount of time you are given for the next turn will be severely reduced, preventing you from getting much development accomplished before the next production phase.
 * Energy: If you have the amount of energy needed to power all of your M.U.L.E.s, they will produce at full capacity. If you are short on energy, or have no energy at all, your M.U.L.E.'s ability to produce will be crippled and have a much smaller yield for the next turn.
 * Smithore: Smithore is not directly required by the player, but it is a substantial source of income, as well as being the deciding factor of the cost of M.U.L.E.s. When the amount of smithore in the colony is low, the price of M.U.L.E.s rise since the demand for smithore increases.  If smithore levels plummet to nonexistent levels, there will be fewer M.U.L.E.s available for purchase, and you may not be able to purchase your much needed Labor Element.
 * Crystite: You can only mine for Crystite in Tournament mode. It is not a commodity necessary for survival on the colony, and thus is not subject to the rules of supply and demand dictated by the colony.  Rather, Crystite is traded on a galactic market and the price rises and falls seemingly randomly.  Be sure you know that a plot of yours will yield Crystite before outfitting a M.U.L.E. for Crystite mining instead of a more needed resource.

Assign a M.U.L.E. to a plot
Once your M.U.L.E. is purchased and outfitted, it is important to walk the M.U.L.E. back to the plot you would like to assign him to, and do it properly. In Novice mode, you can walk anywhere on your plot with the M.U.L.E. and press the button, and it will be assigned. However, in Standard and Tournament mode, it is very important that you are standing directly over the house on the plot when you press the button. Failure to do so will result in an escaped M.U.L.E. which you can never recover.

Reoutfit or reassign an existing M.U.L.E.
Sometimes, for example, you no longer wish for a M.U.L.E. to farm on one of your plots and you would prefer that it be outfitted for energy instead. To reoutfit your M.U.L.E., stand on the house icon on one of your plots and press the button. The M.U.L.E. will appear by your side. Walk it back into town and reoutfit it with the job of your choice (for the usual fee) and walk him back to the plot and assign him.

Alternatively, you may decide that you want your M.U.L.E. to continue to farm, but on another plot. Again, stand on the house with the farming M.U.L.E., press the button to summon it, and walk it over to the other plot where you'd like to reassign it. If the plot that you're reassigning the M.U.L.E. to already has a M.U.L.E. assigned to it, pressing the button on the house icon will cause the M.U.L.E.s to swap. So you will be left standing next to the M.U.L.E. that was just swapped out of that plot.

Hunt the Wampus
After a short period of time has passed in your turn, the Wampus begins to appear among the mountains. From the view of the colony, the Wampus appears as a bright pixel that flashes among the mountains. It will flash for a random number of times in one mountain before randomly moving to another. Once you've determined where the Wampus is currently flashing, head over to the mountain and try to catch it before it's too late and the Wampus moves.

In order to catch the Wampus, you must be standing very close to, but not on the mountain that it is currently inhabiting. If you are actually touching the mountain, the Wampus will not appear. Once the Wampus appears, move very quickly to touch the single pixel before it blinks off again. If you are fast enough to touch the pixel, you are treated to a view of the Wampus looking out from a mountain cave (in the NES version you only see the message). It will offer you its treasure in return for letting it go. His treasure is $100 for the first three rounds, $200 for the next three, $300 for the three after that, and $400 for the final three rounds of the game.

Sell a plot
If you decide that you are really pressed for cash and think that you can get an opponent to buy one of your plots, you may choose to put it up for auction. To do so, walk into town, and walk into the Land office. You will be instructed to select the plot that you wish to sell. Stand on the plot and press a button. At this time, you must complete the action by returning to the Land office to confirm the sale. If you don't do this, the land will not be auctioned off. Once you return to the Land office, you will be informed that the land will go up for auction during the next turn. Remember to move any M.U.L.E.s around if you don't want them sold off with the land.

Assay the land
In Tournament mode, at least one plot contains very high levels of Crystite, with the levels of Crystite falling off in the surrounding plots. The only way to determine if Crystite mining will be successful (other than trial and error) is to assay the land. To assay the land, enter the Assay office. You will asked to go out to a plot and return with a soil sample. Head to the plot that you're interested in, press the button, and return to the Assay office. Upon your return, you will be informed as to whether the plot has high, medium, low, or no Crystite content. Bear in mind that you can also observe the Assay activity of your opponents, whether they are human or computer, so don't make the mistake of assaying the same plot that someone else already checked out.

End your turn at the pub
When you are completely finished and you have time left over, but wish to end the turn immediately, there's no better way to end your turn than with a visit to the pub for a little gambling. In an ironic twist, everyone who visits the pub for some gambling always wins. The amount that you win is proportional to the amount of time you have remaining, as well as how late in the game it is. The higher the round, the more you are likely to win for the same amount of remaining time compared to an earlier round. Once your turn is over, it's time for the production phase.