A massive asteroid called “Vulcan's Hammer” causes an extinction event on Earth. A handful of engineers and scientists escape in the starship Conestoga. The ship travels in interstellar space with the passengers in stasis. After many centuries, the ship's onboard supplies begin to run out and its A.I. is forced to awaken the captain and some colonists. They give orders to touch down on the most habitable planet in range, though it is still quite harsh to human life. They name it New Terra and establish the colony of Eden. After many years orbiting New Terra, the Conestoga eventually crashes due to orbital decay.

Some years after the landing, disagreement over the colony's direction sparks division among its members. The main Eden faction wants to pursue terraforming, while separatists believe that humanity should adapt to live in the planet's natural environment. The ruling council decides in favor of terraforming. Subsequently, members of the separatist group steal materials and transports in order to form their own splinter colony, Plymouth. Using the sole communications satellite, the two colonies continue the debate remotely. Eventually, Eden announces that they have begun terraforming the planet. In response, the leaders of Plymouth sever relations with Eden by shutting down the communications satellite with the deactivation code. Shortly afterwards it's discovered that no one has the reactivation code, meaning the satellite is offline permanently. This shuts down any direct dialog between the two factions though it is shown in the novella that communication via other routes takes place during specific events.

Eden's terraforming process uses a bioagent that breaks apart oxygen bonds, carrying the potential to also destroy boptronic computer systems and humans by breaking down their organic molecules. At first Eden performs a number of tests with early versions of the bioagent in testwells aligned with a fault line leading almost all the way up to Plymouth's colony. “The Blight”, the uncontrolled expansion of the bioagent, is unleashed upon New Terra when one of their advanced labs explodes. Eden has to evacuate to run from the, at first, mostly unknown cause of the disaster. The water produced by the breaking of oxygen bonds lubricates dormant fault lines, and the air released begins to thicken and storm. These result in more frequent occurrences of earthquakes, lightning storms, and other natural disasters. In Plymouth, a dormant volcano erupts nearby, also forcing them to leave the area. To top off the disasters, the planet does not have enough atmosphere to burn off asteroids as it passes through an asteroid belt. Both factions soon come to the conclusion that New Terra is about to become uninhabitable, and the progressing Blight will soon engulf the entire planet. They decide to evacuate New Terra, but as they discover there are not enough resources left on the planet for two spaceships, confrontation is inevitable.

The game can be purchased via GOG, or if you'd like the original CD, from a website such as eBay or similar.

The Outpost Universe provides an unofficial update package for Outpost 2. Simply download the installer, run it and follow the on screen instructions. For Linux users, Outpost 2 runs well through WINE. On macOS Catalina, you can try Crossover Wine as it still supports 32-bit programs but performance can be less than stellar.

• Current Windows Version: Outpost 2 Windows Build

A comprehensive listing of maps in the game for both single player and multi-player can be found here: Outpost 2 Maps.

Instructions on how to create your own maps can be found here: Outpost 2 Map Making.

Outpost 2 is accompanied by a novella written by J. Steven York that further develops the storyline outside of gameplay. Each mission in the campaign has an associated novella. See the page Novella for more details on the storyline page.

A comprehensive listing of research can be found here: research page.

A list of programs to help with Outpost 2 related tasks such as accessing archive files and scanning missions: Helper Programs.

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