About Powerstate

What this is

Powerstate is a power grid and energy simulation game that runs in your web browser. You are handed a new world with one town on it and sixty years to build the power, grid and heat system that carries it, and to decarbonise that system before the planet it stands on cooks.

The physics and the economics are the present day’s: real thermal efficiencies, real capacity factors, real build times, real fuel and carbon prices on real cost curves. Nothing in the simulation is a difficulty dial wearing a costume.

It runs entirely in your browser. The simulation, the map and your saved run never touch a server. There is no account, and nothing to sign up for in order to play.

The one exception is the Challenge, and only if you play it: the player name you choose, when each Challenge run starts, and its score and end figures when it ends go to our server, so it can put the run on the leaderboard.

Questions

Is Powerstate free?

Yes. There is no price, no adverts and no account.

What do I need to play?

A browser on a desktop or laptop, with a keyboard and a mouse. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. There is nothing to download or install.

Can I play on a phone or tablet?

Not well. The game needs a mouse, a keyboard and a large screen. The gameplay tour works on a phone.

Is there a download or a Steam version?

No. Powerstate runs in your browser.

What can I build?

Coal, gas, nuclear, wind, solar, hydro and geothermal plants, batteries, hydrogen, direct air capture, and the lines and substations that connect them to the towns. The full list is on power plants.

How realistic is it?

Plants use present day efficiencies, capacity factors, build times, fuel prices and carbon prices. Lines and transformers have ratings, and storms trip lines. How it works describes every model and where it stops.

How long is a game?

A full colony runs 50 to 60 game years. The starter world is 5 years and the Challenge is 20. You can pause and speed up time.

Which worlds are there?

Six worlds, a guided lesson and the Challenge. You can also make your own world in the scenario editor and share it with a link.

Is it multiplayer?

No, it is single player. In the Challenge everyone plays the same map and the scores are ranked on a leaderboard.

Where are my saves kept?

In your browser, in five save slots. You can export a colony to a file.

Who makes it?

One person, in the evenings. Bugs and ideas go to r/powerstate or the Discord.

Contact

Write about anything: a bug, a physics number you think is wrong, a feature request, permission to use footage, an order, or a request about your data. All of it goes to info@powerstate-game.com, and every mail is read.

Bugs and suggestions are often faster in public, where other players can pile on: r/powerstate, or the Discord.

What is kept on your machine

Everything Powerstate keeps about you is in this browser, and this is all of it. There is no account behind these and no copy on a server, with one exception you choose yourself: if you play the Challenge, your player name and the Challenge runs you play are also held by our server, as the privacy page describes. Clear these and this browser has forgotten you.

• powerstate.save.slot.*your saved colonies, up to five, in this browser only
• powerstate.saves.v1the names of those saves and which one you are playing
• wattmark.save.v1a run saved by an older version, kept only until it is moved to a save slot
• powerstate.gate.dismissedthat you chose to play on a small screen anyway
• powerstate.tour.sentthat a small screen has already been shown the gameplay page once
• powerstate.consent.measurement.v3this consent decision, so you are not asked again
• powerstate.install.v1a random id your finished runs are filed under, only if you agreed to that
• powerstate.runlog.v1your own finished runs, so the end screen can compare them, in this browser only
• powerstate.commendations.v2which achievements you have been awarded, per world, in this browser only
• powerstate.commendations.v1the same record in its old shape, kept only so this button can erase it
• powerstate.scenarios.v1the scenarios you wrote in the editor, in this browser only
• powerstate.lesson.opened.v1that you have opened the lesson, so the console stops holding the worlds shut
• powerstate.units.v1that you picked metric or US units yourself, written only if you overrode the guess
• powerstate.posts.v1which update posts you have read, so the start screen stops pointing at them
• powerstate.windows.v1where you moved the windows to, written only once you move one
• powerstate.challenge.player.v1your Challenge name and the key that lets this browser post runs under it
• powerstate.challenge.entries.v1the Challenge runs you sent, and any waiting to be sent
• powerstate.challenge.save.v1*your Challenge run, saved apart from your colonies, in this browser only

Provider