I was doing the usual morning browsing through my Facebook timeline and, upon realising that I had a spare 30 minutes of time to kill, decided to load up the Game Center and access THE TRIBE VIDEOGAME. After the logo disappeared from the screen, I was instantly taken back to the small corner of Sector 2 that I had claimed as my own, seeing my tribe walk around the abandoned garage as they continued to go about the daily tasks that I had assigned to them the night before.

In annoyance I can see the remnants of my fortifications scattered across the garage, the contents of the store cupboard and my Resources is conspicuously lighter than it was, and the overall Health Bar of my tribe has taken a significant dent. Taking a look at the Raid Timer, I realise that a rival tribe must have hit me pretty hard during the night. Such raids are to be expected from time to time. Oh well, time to rebuild! Selecting some members of my tribe, I set them the task of rebuilding the fortifications whilst I feed some of the others in the small office attached to the garage.

With food dangerously low, I pull my best scavenger from repairing the fortifications and send her out into the city on a Scavenging Mission. With her high stats that I have cultivated, there is a 15% chance for additional discoveries of Resources. That should go a long way to rebuilding my food storage. But with 2 hours on the timer, I need a more immediate source of food if I’m to keep my tribe healthy and alive long enough to survive another raid. It’s time to head to the Market.

The market is a pretty cool area of the City. It is a place where all players can put up the goods and salvage that they have found through participating in Scavenging Missions, and offer trades for other supplies. I ignore the overly greedy merchants selling food for highly extortionate prices and find some more sensible trade offers. I trade some of my Wood and Metal supplies (useful for building fortifications, defensive items and gear for my tribe) for 200 tins of food. I notice that there is an NPC shouting about the return of the adults. I smile as I realise that the next Story Update is going to include the re-emergence of the virus that will open up the Eagle Mountain quests.

But for now, it’s time to head back to my tribe.

My tribe has certainly been busy in my absence. The fortifications are almost rebuild, and everyone is engaging in discussions – which strengthens the overall Teamwork effectiveness. I allow them to continue doing so whilst I check over the repairs. I set two of my tribe members to Raid Defence – allowing them to take up patrol of my garage and reduce further Raid attempts. But since my tribe is only small so far, and with only basic gear, I’m going to need a lot more to stand a chance against some of the more aggressive tribes out there.

Luckily, there are many different types of players within the game. I get an ingame message from my Collective – a group of tribes joining together into a Guild. Collectives provide passive bonuses, like an increase in Supply bonuses and Resources. We can also trade freely between ourselves. The message is a Gift containing some random Paintball Gear, but this is ace as it allows me to boost the defensive stats of my guys on Raid Defence. That’s much better!

Blimey, that half hour went fast. I take one final look at my tribe and, satisfied that we can take on whatever the future holds, I log off from the game to the music of The Dream Must Stay Alive.

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