After having set up an interstellar transport system using portals, mankind discovered many new planets. Some of them were populated by people and became colonies. The others where turned into mining operations to supply the shipyards manufacturing starships with construction material.

One of the newly found planets was given the name “Kharak”. It was hot and dry and extraordinarily rich in useful resources. Furthermore, it had a breathable atmosphere and was slightly smaller than Earth has been. This allowed humans to directly walk on Kharak’s surface without needing additional gear. These were optimal conditions for setting up a large-scale mining operation.

Unfortunately, there were other people living on Kharak already. To the surprise of the scientists for planetary observation, the people on Kharak were not so different from humans. They were organized in some form of family tribes which have been at war constantly arguing over who should reign over Kharak (which was somewhat ridiculous because Kharak was just a giant desert).

Due to the exceptional quality of resources on their planet and the everlasting war demanding better technology on all levels, Kharak’s population was advanced – especially in warfare.


A scouting team was sent to the planet’s surface. They were welcomed friendly by the tribe they first encountered. After declaring their intentions of peacefully mining Kharak’s resources however, they were told to leave immediately. Apparently, the people on Kharak did not think it would be so great if their planet’s resources were mined away by a foreign nation.
The tribes of Kharak – unitedly – sent a message to the human council saying: “The resources of Kharak belong to the people of Kharak only and we will not hesitate to wipe out every last human who is foolish enough to set foot on our home planet ever again”.

The ministry for planetary exploration and mining (MPEM) had no intent to let this sign of power stop them from extracting those precious resources. Why should they not be able to claim part of Kharak’s resources, anyway? The planets were not given to people, were they? So, the people of Kharak could not claim them as their own solely. The human council was convinced they had the right to mine some of Kharak’s resources as they needed them just as much as the people of Kharak.


Given the statement the tribes of Kharak have made, the necessity for a protected mining operation was obvious. The MPEM developed a strategic plan to find and secure resource-rich areas first, before sending the heavy mining equipment to the planet’s surface.

For this purpose, large vehicles being mobile factories and military bases were constructed. They were similar to aircraft carriers that had been used on Earth which have proven themselves effective.

Thanks to Kharak’s lower gravity, those “land carriers” could be built longer and wider than any ground vehicle that has existed on Earth. Each land carrier was able to produce various smaller vehicles having different purposes. Many of them (Light Attack Vehicles, Armored Assault Vehicles, Railguns, Missile Batteries, Baserunners, artillery cruisers, battle cruisers, assault cruisers, strike fighters, gunships and tactical bombers) were made for combat as the primary goal of these carrier expeditions was to force back the enemy and secure the mining sites. Other vehicles produced on the carrier were Support Cruisers and Salvagers supplying the carrier with construction material.


To the surprise of the tribes on Kharak (and the human council as well), the expedition carriers were a major success. Together with all the smaller vehicles produced on the carriers using Kharak’s very own resources it was possible to establish confined zones the tribes of Kharak were not able to enter, even with their advanced military. The carrier fleets held their position and protected the mining sites from the constant attacks by the people of Kharak. This laid the foundation for a mining operation that would let mankind advance even further in space travel.

When I read the background story of Project 2048, it reminded me so much of the story in "Deserts of Kharak".
In the game, the planet (Kharak) of another humanoid race (the Kushan) is dying as well and the people of Kharak also search for a way to escape their planet – just like in Project 2048. So, "Deserts of Kharak" came to my mind immediately.

I know the game since 2016 when it was released and was deeply impressed by its story and unique as beautiful art style.What impressed me the most was the land based aircraft carrier, of course. Since then, I toyed with the idea of making it in Minecraft, not only because it would be awesome but also to get a sense for how big it really is.

For a long time I thought one would have to be insane to make such a large vehicle in Minecraft. But this carrier specifically had a few advantages other vehicles did not have.
First of them was that it has virtually no interior. There is a spacious hangar for deploying vehicles at the back and a few smaller hangars on the left and right side, but that was it. This would make it easier to build by magnitudes.
Second, it is a fictional vehicle and was already made by humans once. This meant that I could use some parts more than once since the game developers did not make their designing process more complicated than it needed to be (they reused some parts).
All in all, it is like a sculpture with a painted outside.
Third and last, the game developers made a great job in showing their creation from every side except the bottom in the game's campaign. This helped me a lot with incorporating every small detail in my recreation. For the bottom I had to rely on a meme making fun of the Kapisi's tendency to ignore gravity and float away into the skies sometimes.

So, the first two points allowed me to finish this carrier within a reasonable period of time (20 days) and the third point allowed me to make it super accurate which was very important to me.