Star Atlas hints at possible reward for long term SCORE participants

In a cryptic tweet, Michael Wagner hinted that there may potentially be rewards coming for fleet owners who have participated in SCORE for an unspecified length of time.

In a late night tweet from Michael Wagner on April 14th, the Star Atlas CEO hinted at users to “Save your badges, save your SCORE”. It appears to be a rare bit of information regarding future rewards, also known as airdrops, for participants in the SCORE staking mechanic. If SCORE fleet badges eventually lead to a reward for SCORE HODL’rs, this would be a change in the official purpose for the fleet badges.

From the Star Atlas SCORE FAQ:

Q: What is this “Seasoned Fleet” badge I have over my ship in SCORE?
A: Seasoned Fleet badges and any other badges after that are seemingly just visual right now. They represent how long you’ve had your ships enlisted in SCORE.

Up to this point, it was widely understood by the community that, at present, SCORE fleet badges were purely cosmetic and served no utilitarian purpose. However, the recent tweet by Wagner would indicate that a potential change may be coming.

This possibility of change was further reinforced during the April 15 Star Atlas Chat hosted by Ashes in her twitter space.

The conversation between Michael Wagner, Ashes, and DAOCaster begins at the one hour and fifty four minute mark. During the conversation, DAOCaster asked Wagner if he could elaborate further on his April 14 tweet. DAOCaster suggested the community would have to wait until April 20 for answers — April 20 being a common reference for 4/20, 420, and marijuana.

Wagner tactfully deflected DAOCaster’s question and stated that the team had been working hard on significant SCREAM game designs. SCREAM will be the successor to SCORE and will be released sometime later this year. Wagner stated that the Star Atlas team could potentially take and “release screenshots or snapshots by the end of the month.”

This last statement by Wagner could potentially have dual meanings. First, it could simply mean that Start Atlas will release photographic screenshots of upcoming SCREAM gameplay and mechanics. This would be in-line with a developer showcasing game features prior to official release. However, for members in the crypto community, the term “snapshot” can also refer to an analysis of blockchain data at a specific point in time. In this case, a snapshot would be of the participants in SCORE and their experience levels. The reason for taking a snapshot is to verify participants in the blockchain at a specific point in time. In this case, the snapshot could reward participants of the SCORE blockchain.

Participants in SCORE are currently rewarded for staking their ships with the $ATLAS token. Over a cyclic period of a few days, fleet captains must constantly resupply their ships with fuel, food, ammo, and toolkits for repair. The only other reward for progress is an icon next to a fleet’s name displaying their experience level based on total number of days staked.

Currently there are four different badges a single fleet can earn. The Seasoned badge is earned after 7 days of enlistment. After that, fleets go on to earn the Hardened badge at 28 days, or 4 weeks. The next highest badge is the Veteran badge, earned after 112 days of enlistment, the equivalent of four months. Fleets that have remained enlisted in SCORE since its official launch are able to achieve this status. Lastly, the Elite badge is granted to experienced fleets of 8 months, specifically 224 days. No fleet is capable of this rank yet and we likely won’t see a majority of fleets earn this last badge until August of this year.

What remains unknown is if a blockchain snapshot will be taken and on what date. Evidence suggests that it could occur sometime between April 20 and the end of the month, although Wagner has implied that it is unlikely to be the 20th.

Additionally, it is also unknown what rewards will be given, if any, to existing fleets that have achieved certain badges. Previously, during the Rebirth of a Metaverse Poster NFT airdrop, owners we rewarded based upon the Tier Level of posters they owned. It is possible that Star Atlas could use a similar tiered reward system for the Seasoned, Hardened, and Veteran badge earners. Again, if reward do come soon, it is unlikely that there will be anything given to the Elite badge owners since no fleet will have been capable of achieving that status.

With the possibility of additional rewards to come for SCORE fleet captains, one thing is for certain. This pilot won’t be sending his fleets home anytime soon. For now, they’re destined to continue exploring the vast reaches of space in the hopes of earning a mysterious and surprising reward.