Mad Mary: Space Shepherd

Herd by day. Hold the line by night.

Mary is a shepherd a long way from Earth. She has a ranch on the wrong side of a strange frontier, a pack of doggies with guns mounted to their backs, and a flock the planet wants. Every day you build. Every night you find out whether it was enough.

By day: the ranch

• Herd the wild ones home. Ride out in the rover, turn wild sheep with your dogs, or just vacuum one up with the B.A.A.H.G and fire it at the pen.

• Breed a better flock. Every sheep carries its own DNA. Research it to increase the value for the merchant's price, hardiness to survive the night, methane to fuel the ranch.

• Plumb the place. Pump water from the pond, pipe it to the troughs, and feed a digester that turn poo into power.

• Fortify. Five turret types, from a cheap cannon to a laser that goes pew. Arm your doggies with the best stuff.

A ranch that runs on its own flock

The rover charges from the sun and never strands you. The ship burns biogas and nothing else, so the better your herd's genetics and the better your plumbing, the further you can fly.