Each colonist must develop a strategy involving the supply and demand for materials which are vital to the settlement's survival. By buying and selling food, energy, smithore, and (in the tournament version) crystite, the players attempt to gain the economic edge over their human and/or computer-driven opponents. The player with the most assets at the end of the game is dubbed First Founder of the colony--assuming, that is, that all the cutthroat competition hasn't doomed the outpost.
In a sense, M.U.L.E. is a space-age cousin of such boardgames as Monopoly and Easy Money. Because it's the interaction between the players that causes the largest changes in the game situation, it's virtually impossible to take a "perfect plan" approach to this electronic strategy classic. Instead, this page will concentrate on providing some guidelines for developing your own individual strategies.
The Land Grant[edit]
The first humble plot you choose is the basis for your future empire. Choose the location well. The first plot should be able to produce either food or energy, so go for flatland or river valley space. This guarantees that you'll be at least partially self-sufficient. Keep that first acre within easy striking distance of other flatland or mountain areas, and choose all subsequent plots adjacent to your first one.
Expertise bonuses are awarded to players who keep their lands tightly-knit. The more adjacent plots you have, the more you'll produce on each one. Likewise, producing the same commodity on three different plots rewards the colonist with more goods.
If land goes up for auction, always try to buy it, especially during the earliest phases. Each plot has an estimated value of $500, but it's advisable to buy higher--if you have enough rounds left to produce plenty of goods. After the ninth round or so, if you pay too much for land, you probably won't be able to recover the cost from the goods produced on it. If someone else is bidding higher than you and you don't intend to buy, push the line up anyway and pretend you want it. Then pull out at the last second and leave your opponent holding the bag. It's also advisable to leave yourself money to develop your brand-new plot, so never put all your cash on the line.
Land development & Production[edit]
Now that you've got your land, you have to decide what to do with it. Produce food? A good idea if you have river or flat land. Energy? The same. Smithore can't be mined in the wet river valley, and though it can be mined on flatlands, mountains are the ideal spot--the more mountains, the better! Make enough food and energy to fulfill your needs. This will keep you from being at the mercy of your best friend, who's likely to announce cheerfully, "Food? Gee, I think I have an extra unit or two. But you'll have to pay for it!" Players who have a food shortage will find their next development turn cut short proportionately, and lack of energy means low production.
The real key to the standard game is to produce smithore. Lots of it. It has a high base price and the store will always buy it. If you produce smithore towards the beginning of the game and then don't sell, prices rise accordingly--and the colony experiences a shortage of M.U.L.E.s.
The development phase always seems too short. A few time-saving tips: When walking outside of town, avoid mountains and river land. They slow you down. The fastest walking is accomplished by moving diagonally. Also, you don't have to enter town through its side roads. Touch any portion of the center square, and bingo! You're in. When entering town from the north or south, the character always appears directly in front of the inn.
It's possible to switch M.U.L.E.s without having to remove the installed one. Just go into town, get the type of M.U.L.E. you want, then position your character directly over the installed M.U.L.E. Press the red button. If you've done it right, the production symbol changes and you now have the old M.U.L.E. in hand. If you do it wrong, the M.U.L.E. you just bought runs away.
During the tournament game, two definite rules apply. First, forget about smithore. Go for crystite. Second, if you have time left after developing your land, pay the assay office a visit and check around for crystite. Also watch other players' development turns because they'll be searching for the stuff, also.
The Auction phase[edit]
Now it's time to sell off the surplus and buy what you need. This is really the most crucial phase of the game. First and foremost, don't ignore the value of psyching out the opposition (unfortunately, this only works on human opponents)! Hard-core M.U.L.E.ies know the value of a well-placed comment like, "Gee, the store looks a little low on energy. I'll bet there's a shortage coming up next turn." (This often fools the others into buying out the stock, so use it only when you're the one making the most energy.)
Always buy low, sell high. Low prices are: food, $15; energy, $10; smithore, $36-$43; and crystite, anything below $100. Even if you have a 20-unit surplus, never sell at these prices--unless you really need the cash for the next development phase. Let the whole crop rot before selling it to the store at a pittance.
If the store is stocked up on a particular item (therefore setting the price at a standard level), don't sell below the store's price--unless an opponent is lowering his or her price. Instead, perch right on the store's price line to get the highest price you can. The price of necessities is always relatively low--that is, until the store runs dry. After that, anything goes, so keep an eye on what goods will be in high demand in a turn or two. It's always fun to watch the poor suckers offer hundreds of dollars for a unit of food! A good way to make sure the store runs out--don't sell!
If you have enough food and energy, but your opponents don't, seriously consider buying out the store if you can. That way, everyone suffers but you... and the price rises higher in the next auction!
Never sell anything during the final, 12th auction phase. The value of your goods remains higher if you don't. The exception to this is Crystite, if you sell the price it set to that value. Say you and a friend are playing against the computers, at the end you and your friend stockpile Crystite and during the auction drive the price up as high as it will go before exchanging one Crystite. This will set the price of Crystite at about about $500 and insure the success of your colony, and ensure you beat the computers.
In general[edit]
If you have extra cash, buy smithore at $36 or $43, then sell it later when the price rises above $50. In the tournament game, always try to grab any property hit by a meteor. It turns the plot into a super crystite-producer.
Above all, stay flexible. If you have six energy plots and the store has, say, twenty units, convert those energy plots to something that will be more profitable. Constantly try to second-guess your opponents about what commodity is next on the short-supply list. Try to make what your enemies aren't. That way, you can really gouge the prices, especially in the essential food and energy areas.
Stay cool, calm, collected, and above all, greedy. Nobody ever said the First Founder was a nice guy!
The game's authors' advice[edit]
The very writers of the game themselves included their own strategic advice in the back of the instruction manual. It remains some of the best advice available.
Dan Bunten[edit]
"I like to win by analyzing my options."
"When I am bidding in a land auction I use a little 'rule of thumb' to determine how much a plot is worth. Multiply the number of turns left by 100 and add 500. This will give you the maximum bid you should make on any piece of property. In other words, bid high for land early in the game, even though you don't have much cash; but don't get sucked into a bidding battle later in the game just because you have lots of money."
"If you want to get really sophisticated, figure out what product you will develop on the land, then figure out how many units you'll average, and how much it will sell for. Multiply that by the number of turns left and add it to 500. This is how the computer player figures the value of each plot of land. But if you're like me, you won't be able to complete the full calculation before the auction is over."
Alan Watson[edit]
"Despite my experience with M.U.L.E., I have more ideas about how to play than about how to win. The way I play is conservative, and so I seldom win by a wide margin."
"It seems I need more than my share of property (11 plots) to win. So I try to get as much land as I can. Even so, I try to get adjacent plots to take advantage of economies of scale. Unless food prices are high (over $100), I try to convert all my Food M.U.L.E.s to Smithore or Crystite by the tenth turn. I also try to stockpile energy by then so I can convert my Energy M.U.L.E.s too."
"If I am behind, I always ask for advice. The suggestions don't always help, but they are usually good for a few chuckles that keep me interested."
"Finally, a few short tips
- The best way out of an outfitting shop is a downward-diagonal pull of the stick and then slide sideways.
- The fastest way to get to the center of town is to enter from the top or the bottom.
- If you play with someone who wins all the time (or the computer), try to figure out what they're doing."
Jim Rushing[edit]
"I always try to make prudent and logical decisions throughout the game, especially in the early turns. You may never recover from an early mistake like missing a land grant, not becoming self-sufficient in Food and Energy, or not leveraging every penny of excess cash."
"Unless I capture a decisive advantage early in the game, I usually find myself in a dangerously vulnerable position. The I have to use all my wits and cunning just to survive. I can often appeal to Alan's sympathetic nature and convince him to sell me one or two units of a need commodity, but all I ever hear from Dan or Bill is something like, 'You want it, let's see that price up to $300.' Totally ruthless."
"One bit of advice: if you just happen to find yourself in a winning position, and in possession of the only surplus Energy in the colony, pause for just a moment to remember all those times when the other players have helped you out; reflect on all those times that they showed pity on you and kept you alive; think about the good of the entire colony... and then, DON'T SELL."
Bill Bunten[edit]
"My advice is: play to win."
"As the game begins, get into Smithore. Grab a mountain plot next to the river, and mumble about the need for Food production. Usually that will convince two of the others to buy river land an develop Food."
"Then don't sell Smithore to the store. You want demand to go up and the store's supply to go down. When the others start to notice, coast another turn by cursing your joystick for "inadvertently" flopping you to a Buyer when you were trying to be a Seller. By the next turn, they'll start selling all their Smithore to keep the price down. Play possum. Wait until they're almost to the store and then step a dollar above the store price and buy all the Smithore that you can. The cat's out now, and everyone is on to you."
"So next turn -- don't develop at all -- let M.U.L.E.s free. Grab one, outfit it for food, step out of the town and push your button. If you're quick you can set at least four free. Smithore's price should jump to over $200. You just acquired leverage. Sell all your Smithore at the next auction."
"And remember, there are drawbacks to being the winning player -- you always lose ties in the auction. So, if you and another player both need Food or Energy, and you're winning, you must be conniving. Right before the auction starts, turn to him and make a chuckle like you just made a mistake. Make strong eye-contact and start explaining. By the time he realizes that the auction has started, you'll have that little jump. So buy all the product you need, and, for good measure, buy up any that he needed, too."