Discussion: Mars Colony Cross-Chain Plans

[Durb]

There has been some ongoing discussion on the Mars Colony cross-chain plans, as it was mentioned in the the latest Info Drop post. Here’s the quote of it:

@brother

Cross-chain

We’re beginning to prepare to go launch Mars Colony on another blockchain, and we’re shooting for Polygon first, for multiple reasons that will be discussed later, as preparations take shape.

Until then, what you should know is:

1. All Mars Colonies will be a single development track. No chain need be developed instead of another, and no chain will fall behind in the long term (just expect some communication delays as my life becomes absolute chaos when we near launch). There will not likely be major changes between chains, only things that improve the chain-specific user experience.
2. Harmony Martians will be able to invest in a way in future colonies, at the very least by being an early participant of the new launches, but we’ll also be able to create investment mechanisms and treasury-sharing mechanisms to help colonies co-thrive. This can be determined in more detail as the launch gets closer.
3. Launching on Polygon will be another way to scale Mars Colony, in this case exponentially, and prepare us to colonize (not in the Earth sense of the word) the entire metaverse. It will be a win for all Martians, together, and we’ll all need to participate in preparing and spreading the word.

This forum post will be used to facilitate conversation on this topic, and it will give us a space to focus our ongoing discussion on the topic, capture informal sentiment on the topic, and act as a form of record-keeping for the community and team.

I will try my best to summarize (once a day) all of the unique key bullet points in opposition or support of the topic if they are voiced in this post.

Key Points - Topic

• Polygon is a likely contender for the first blockchain
• In regard to the timeline, @brother mentioned 2 months is the likely minimum for the launch after avatars and missions have been released. He clarified: “it could be earlier than 2 months, but I doubt it. I said 2 months is a likely minimum, only because one can never be certain.”

Key Points - In Support (Will be added to as people share)

• Placeholder (will fill when responses are added)

Key Points - In Opposition (Will be added to as people share)

• Placeholder (will fill when responses are added)

Key Points - Concerns/Hesitations (Will be added to as people share)

• A lack of a solid plan or product has led to the downfall of projects that have gone cross-chain (will seek references from the community; these projects can be good case studies)
• The Harmony implementation should be prioritized and perfected with cross-chain in mind because that will increase the success of the future off-chain implementations.
• The chains in consideration should have low transaction costs, similar to Harmony.
• A bridging solution should be prepared to minimize the costs and impact on users.
• Mars Colony needs more maturity first before going cross-chain
• Placeholder (will fill when responses are added)

For those interested in sharing their stance in an informal poll, please, record your sentiment in the poll below. You are encouraged to change your recorded stance at any time so that an up-to-date reflection of the community’s sentiment is always available.

• Strongly Support (My mind is set)
• Support (I’m open to changing my position)
• Neutral
• Oppose (I’m open to changing my position)
• Strongly Oppose (My mind is set)

Questions for the Team (Will be added to as people share)

• How reusable and extensible is the codebase to support separate chains? What level of effort can you expect in porting the Mars Colony codebase to other chains?
• “Is there a plan to build a bridge first before going cross-chain? NOTE: I’m tired of looking for efficient ways of bridging assets between chains.”
• Will the chains in consideration have as low transaction costs as Harmony? " I have no interest in paying gas fees of >$1 to do simple transactions…"

[brother]

Great post! One clarification, it could be earlier than 2 months, but I doubt it. I said 2 months is a likely minimum, only because one can never be certain.

[orracion6]

I’m opposed but open to change
waiting for the detailed plan, then maybe I’ll change my opinion

most projects going multichain gone rekt because they don’t have a solid plan or product

just saying,

[Durb]

Thanks for sharing, @orracion6 ! I added your concern/hesitation to the post. It’s definitely a valid one. Do you have any examples of projects that have gone cross-chain and got rekt? I’ll add them to the post. They could be good case studies to learn from and their experiences could advise on how to better execute a Mars Colony cross-chain plan.

[wenshao28]

At least do it in harmony first ,Considering multiple chains
Otherwise, you won’t be able to do anything in the end.

[TdxTri]

Couple Questions: Neutral at the moment

Is all the base code for the project easily transferable? Meaning little additional development required in order to maintain code for two or more separate chains?

I know much of the details are still in development, but is there a plan to build a bridge first before going cross chain? NOTE: I’m tired of looking for efficient ways of bridging assets between chains.

I hate high transactions fees for conducing simple transactions. Are the chains in consideration of equal stature to what Harmony costs? I don’t know, but worth asking the question. Tranquil moved their expansion to CRONOS network and its very expensive to transact there and I have no interest in paying gas fees of >$1 to do simple transactions. I’m not familiar with Polygon, but will research this when I get time.

These are my initial thoughts on questions. I’m sure as time passes, I will think of more.

[orracion6]

the closest one would be viper, with their cobra token
I know it is an entire diff kind of project but ykwim

[CryptoQA]

Mars colony is still very much in it’s infancy stage. There is nothing to be played yet. At this stage, crosschain will be a bit too soon. the key to success to everything is tunnel vision and focus. by spreading the dev resources between multiple chains, you lose this very important factor. which is the thing you need to make sure mars colony can become bigger and more successfull. I am fully in favor of multichain after mars colony have grown into a multi hundred million or billion market cap project

[Killua]

Expanding to other chains will be a natural progression down the road but executing it too soon can be a dangerous double edged sword that could cut both projects and bleed them significantly.
First of all, without a fully working project on Harmony it will seem like just a quick and easy money and time grab from the team. They got a pretty big investment from the official Harmony team and it would be very weird in my eyes to turn on them so quickly and invest time and resources into other chains.
Secondly, it needs to be planed very well, as I said only after you have good working project on Harmony (that includes dex with a lot of liquidity, avatars with missions and possibly even pvp play that would serve as the next big step…). It would look really cheap if it were to be the same planet on Polygon with the same mechanics and just a different token.
Also you would need some incentives to convince the og investors that this is a good idea, but on the other hand that also shouldn’t be too big as it would be a turn off for the new investors that want to start fresh with a new project.

All in all, cross-chain could be a good thing, but not too soon, without an established, fully working product and dedicated community that will support it, otherwise it is bound to fail and hurt everyone in the process.