In this episode, hear an AI summary of the latest Star Atlas community event. Full video recordings can be found on the YouTube channel of Star Atlas TV at https://www.youtube.com/@staratlastv.
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Podcast Transcript
The Star Atlas Economic Forum, a monthly event focused on economics, game design, and data, featured Gareth, also known as Eco Ninja or Jim Chadex, presenting the Q2 2025 Report Breakdown alongside hosts Santi and Joseette. Gareth noted that Chris, another key team member, was on leave. The agenda included updates on community dashboards, a quick review of the quarterly report, and a Q&A session covering various topics.
Several updates to dashboards were discussed, including a new Atlas Locker dashboard that provides standard date range filters, a wallet lookup, and aggregate statistics like total Atlas locked, average Atlas locked per wallet, median lock, and number of participants by tier. Notably, Atlas locking has seen an all-time high and continues to break records, with an observed inverse relationship between token price and the amount of Atlas locked – people tend to accumulate and lock more when prices are lower. A long-term goal is to reach 20% of the total Atlas supply locked. Regarding the Emissions dashboard, fixes are underway for bugs, including missing data from unnamed local market mints and a stopped LP emissions stream. An ongoing issue with tooltip values appearing as zero is awaiting a Looker Studio update.
The method for calculating Daily Active Users (DAU) in Star Atlas involves tracking distinct profiles performing transactions within the Sage 2 program, such as withdrawing cargo, warping, subwaring, or crafting. This calculation aligns with public on-chain queries on platforms like Flipside. While EVI’s daily XP earner numbers are often lower, this could be because not all actions in Sage (like selling items) generate XP. The team is aware of Flipside’s analytics shutdown and is working to make data sources, potentially via an API, available to the community, though timelines are uncertain.
Key highlights from the Quarterly Report included a sustained increase in Atlas emissions last quarter, particularly after the Golden Carnival promotion. However, updates to “forify diversification” have been effective in reducing these emissions, especially massive single-day contract redemptions, and emissions are expected to decrease next quarter. Despite the higher emissions, their impact on the actual Atlas price was minimal, with only about 5% of emissions directly resulting in Atlas selling. New Fick recipes, like quantum nodes, are planned to further reduce emissions, and no major adjustments are anticipated in the very near term. Gareth advised against hoarding Fick.
A significant finding was that employed groups now control 70% of Star Atlas wealth, a census figure that encompasses resources, ships, claim stakes, Atlas, and Polus. This indicates a diverse appreciation of value within these groups, which have been accumulating wealth from non-resident groups. The Star Atlas rental program has seen massive demand, with rented fleets now accounting for 10% of active fleets and increasing. This ties into the appreciation across popular ship classes, with extra small ships, for example, increasing in value by about 12% in USDC. NFTs, particularly producing assets like ships and claim stakes, are observed to act as hedges against token volatility, retaining or increasing their value. This rental and appreciation dynamic has been a major highlight for the economy, providing a powerful tool for players to earn Atlas.
Regarding Holocene, the free-to-play aspect has shown very promising early data, bringing players back, though a mainnet on-ramp is still being developed. It’s proving attractive to new players and serves as a valuable fallback. In terms of marketplaces, the Galactic Marketplace remains dominant for trading volume. A significant shift to local marketplaces is anticipated once they enable trading of other NFTs like ships and claim stakes, with careful consideration for liquidity. This transition is expected to be greatly influenced by the upcoming C4.
The discussion heavily focused on C4 (Combat, Finance, Factories, Freight), addressing the current 6:1 ratio of Atlas emitted to Atlas burnt/locked/spent. The goal is to bring this ratio down, ideally to 1:1, or more realistically to 1.5:1 or 2:1. C4 will introduce strategic skill and risk to combat, where escaping may not always be guaranteed, especially on the front lines. The economy will shift from production-incentivized to a “war machine” model, with gameplay features designed to maximize Atlas burn. Joseette contrasted the “massacre” in Holocene, where asset destruction was permanent, with Sage’s C4, where players will lose components and cargo but retain their ships and crew, which should reduce “rage quitting”. For businesses, operation certainty in C4 will depend on proximity to combat zones, with risk levels clearly indicated on the map. The aim is to create more opportunities for risk-taking, moving beyond the current “hyper optimize production fleets” meta. Atlas emissions in C4 are targeted to be similar to Sage (7-8 million), but distributed in a more engaging manner. Repairing Star Bases is unlikely to provide LP, with combat being a primary source. The team is ensuring that successful combat participation will not dilute LP, and the new combat economy will offer more diverse avenues for incentive alignment compared to the current production-centric one.
Finally, the SCORE product was mentioned as having minimal impact on emissions and will eventually be phased out once C4 and Fick emissions stabilize, though no exact date was provided. The forum concluded with an acknowledgment of the challenging broader market conditions and a decrease in Star Atlas’s GDP due to primary sales and Atlas token price declines. However, recovery is underway with increased production from Fick recipes, and the economic team remains very bullish and optimistic about Star Atlas’s future.
