When you finally rocket to the moon with your crypto gains, you’re going to want a place to stay or live. Carda Station has taken that idea and is developing a lunar metaverse that will allow owners to build, earn and grow.
The Carda Station team put together what I think is the first working metaverse on Cardano. Way back in August of 2022, I remember taking my Meta Jet out for a spin on Carda Station for a story in our first issue. Since then, it looks like the project is building faster than ever
A Long Record Of Building
The team has been building since day one, and they obviously know what they’re doing. The graphics are good, the user experience is getting better, and there is no sign that they are slowing down.
Carda Station released its first NFTs on November 4, 2021, when it saw 994 Carda Station Construction pieces minted. It sold out relatively quickly, and they never looked back. Since the first drop, they’ve released inventory tokens, hub units, inventory skins, and 2 sets of lands, including the domed plots, which are available to mint now.
The Lands
The lands are a very important part of the game with Carda Station. It’s a base, a community and I’m sure more utility will follow.
The first release of lands was for the initial settlement, Colony 1. Colony 1 is the earliest settlement and includes what appears to be the industrial center of the metaverse. People own land, but there are “Designate Areas” that are used for other purposes, including a Bio Farm, The Garage, Solar Farm, Spaceport, a Race Track, and even a stadium. These areas also provide revenue for the land deed holders
To me, Colony 1 appears to be, as I said earlier, an industrial-style settlement that does the heavy lifting and landing and will be the nerve center of the ecosystem.
The newer settlement is Colony 2, which has a much different environment than the original colony. Colony 2 is a domed structure, which will allow land owners and visitors the opportunity to move around the only without having to wear space suits. The buildings in Colony 2 will not have to be pressurized, which will be a much more earth-like experience
Getting Around On Carda Station
Once you have land and a place to stay on the moon, you’ll want to have an easy way to get around. At this time, the team has four vehicles to choose from. You can purchase them in the garage for $Cast (I’ll discuss $Cast later in this article). They are:
1S Model Rover
The 1S is a traditional-style one-person rover that can be used on short excursions around the moon’s surface near the colony. It’s an ATV for the lunar terrain. There are only 250
The Bison
The Bison is another rover, that appears to be a longer-range vehicle than the 1S. It has an enclosed cabin, with solar panels, and is built for longer exploration around the moon’s surface. The Bison has a supply of 750.
Pegasus
You could be one of the first people to ride a virtual motorcycle on the moon! This sleek 2-wheeled beast looks like it’s built for speed. I’m very interested in seeing what the Pegasus will be used for. There are only 250.Pegasus’.
Tracker (Bike T):
Whereas the Pegasus looks more road-worthy, the Tracker looks more like a dirt bike with those fat tires and huge treads. With the huge amount of dirt on The Moon, this vehicle makes total sense and looks like a ton of fun.
The Garage
The Garage is one of the Designated Areas with only 63 plots. The garage acts as the main hub for anything related to your vehicles. You can purchase vehicles, get repairs and upgrades, and buy skins for your rovers and motorbikes. Proceeds from these purchases will be shared with the Garage deed holders.
A garage would be a cool hang-out for gearheads, and I wouldn’t be surprised if these deeds will attract tinkerers that are looking to socialize with other motorheads.
As I mentioned above, you can use $Cast to purchase vehicles, upgrades, skins, and more. The coolest part is that you don’t have to wait, you can do it right now.
Explorer Mode Sounds Like Fun
The team is developing an explorer mode for the metaverse, which ties in with the vehicles discussed above. In explorer mode, you won’t be limited to the confines of the colony. Instead, you’ll have the chance to traverse faraway areas of the lunar surface. There will also be a gamified element to Explorer Mode where you can find resources, hidden treasure, NASA space landing sites, and much more.
I personally can see myself hopping on a rover and taking off to explore for hours looking for treasure and history, a couple of my favorite things to do IRL.
Carda Station Never Stops With The Utility
When you own land in any colony, you’ll be able to build or do whatever you want with the land. It’s interesting, some of the owners have turned owning a Carda Station plot into a marketing hub. As you can see, many are using their spaces to promote their, or other projects.
A large part of the utility, in my opinion, is the track record of the team and community. The guys behind the project have not once slowed down on their building, and it’s hard to argue that they are not the most developed metaverse on Cardano.
Another huge opportunity for utility is the gaming system their building on the virtual moon. There is a live racing game that you can access. As I mentioned earlier, I flew my Meta Jet on Carda Station months ago. They’ve also partnered with X-Race, an NFT project dedicated to racing, to allow X-Race holders to use their assets on Carda Station.
Seriously, there is a lot of utility and innovation going on at Carda Station. They are light-years ahead of any metaverse I know on Cardano.
$Cast – The Economic Driver of The Project
Their utility token is $Cast, and it is used for all in-game transactions. You can use this $Cast to mint vehicles for the ecosystem and customize your vehicle and more. Here are some future uses for $Cast
- Allow Landowners to mint NFTs
- access premium content
- Mint inventory items and resources
- Competitive games
I think it’s great that they are adding so much utility, but after what I’ve already discussed, I’m not surprised.
You Can Build To Earn
Carda Station wants to reward people who put hard work into getting people into the ecosystem. In a recent announcement, the project is going to offer monetary rewards to those who bring the most visitors into the ecosystem.
This reminds me of my affiliate marketing days. People earn by referring others into the ecosystem. What’s brilliant about this is that they are giving their most fervent supporters a chance to profit off of something they’re probably already doing.
To The Moon
I’ll be honest, I knew a little about the utility offered by holders of Carda Station Tokens. I did not, however, comprehend the sheer magnitude of useful things already available to holders. And to think, the developers still consider their products as “alpha”. I can’t imagine how Carda Station will look when it is fully developed.
Carda Station is honestly the most developed project in Cardano NFTs. They have working games, useful partnerships, and a community that’s behind the team all the way. What they’ve done already is very impressive, and they are just getting started. In my opinion, Carda Station is a diamond in the rough.
