Star traders
| title: | Star traders |
| url: | link |
| download page: | No link! |
| license: | shareware |
| genre: | Strategy Games |
| developer: | Trees brothers games |
| platform: | Android, Ios |
| release: | Unknown |
| features: | text, sound, visuals |
| last edit by: | Dark |
Description
Star Traders is an incredibly complex and detailed space stratogy rpg game for Ios and Android. The game takes place in the distant future, in a galaxy not unlike that of Frank Herbert's Dune, a world where huge interstellar games of war, commerce and intreague are played between noble houses and massive, system wide commercial syndicates, where space teams with everything from wealthy merchants to hostile aliens, and where opportunities for a new space captain go hand in hand with disaster.
Having inherited a spacecraft from your father, your object in the game is to survive, prosper and make money by doing a lot of activities. As you might expect some of these include trade, piracy and combat, as well as performing missions for the different factions, however other activities are available as well such as exploring wild planets for goods and resources, spying on neighboring factions, or chasing rumours halfway across the galaxy. You must also manage your crew, your cargo space and be careful to keep your ship' stocked with fuel and food while still leaving space for cargo.
The game is completely accessible with either Talkback or Voiceover thanks to some dedicated work by the developers, and all page elements can be read, however note that even if your familiar with space trading games Star traders plays slightly differently to the way that you might expect, differences which are reflected in it's interface.
When beginning the game, you will be placed on a screen where you can enter a name for your captain, and choose your profession, starting ship, difficulty and starting faction with the various sliders. After finishing here, you will find yourself in a short story introduction, after which you'll be deposited onto the main travel screen of the game.
Rather than presenting you with a broard overview travel screen the way some other space games do, Star traders employs a system of setting waypoints to navigate your ship. So, at the top of the main travel screen is your current coordinates, the date (in Ae), and your distance to the current waypoint in Au (astronomical units). You can then hit the "start" button to begin traveling, or the "dock" or "land" buttons to dock in the urban zone of a planet or land in the wild zone. You can set a new waypoint by hitting the "zoom" button which will zoom out the map and then hitting the "navigator" to bring up a list of planets with the closest to you at the top, (the zzoom out screen is also where you'll find the bridge button which is where you go to perform space operations such as patrolling or surveillance).
The waypoint system is also how many other activities in the game work, for example in the "Status" screen under bridge you will find listings for your current contracts, for rumours you've heard, and for prices of good's you've previously seen. Hitting the "navigate" buttons on any of these screens will set a waypoint for you to travel. Also note that in status you can view lots of important information such as the current faction conflicts, your standing with the six factions, and also assign points to your captain's stats and skills as you advance in the game.
In combat, you will see the stats of your ship vs the enemy and your range, short, medium or long, with buttons to perform actions such as firing your lasers or your ship's torpedos.
Performing actions such as exploring, blockading or getting entertainments to improve your crew's morale in spice halls are fairly streight forward in terms of buttons or text.
Screens that involve items such as picking up trade goods, looting ships after battle or gathering items while exploring all use the same interface, you will see the total amount in your ship and available to be picked up in columns at the top (along with the price if any), with a slider towards the bottom that reflects the full percentage of items, so for example if you had 5 units of fuel in your ship, and there was space for another 5, the slider would begin at %50, setting it to %100 would result in buying all 5 units, while setting it to %0 would result in selling the 5 units you have. Also note that on ios Double tap and hold is often useful for the sliders, and it is necessary to move your finger quite far across the screen to get them to change.
One of the most unique parts of gameplay in star traders, and one of the chief reasons it's such a difficult and yet profoundly addictive game is that so many different factors interact. For example having certain items in your ship's hold can have affects on both combat and the rate of encounters, while your captain's stats and skills combined with the stats of your ship often change the chances of success of various in game activities, for example how much fuel your ship requires to travel between destinations is a function both of your captain's piloting skill, and the ratio of solar sales to hull on your ship. Though the game doesn't have a definitive ending, various awards can be ganed for performing several activities, (see the list in game), also gaining some awards at higher difficulties unlocks extra ship upgrades or different starting ships, though if you want to support Trees brothers development or if your just impatient you can pay for all unlocks with an in ap upgrade. Additionally, some enemy ship types won't show up on lower difficulties, making Star traders a game where facing challenge is definitely rewarded.
Star traders has some sound effects for ship combat, as well as some atmospheric music for the main game and for battles against your enemies, though if you find the music or sounds too loud you can always turn them off in the game options.
There are two versions of the game. the free Star traders Rpg, and the paid Star traders elite which costs 3 usd. The free version has most of the activities and starting professions, but far fewer ship types, (there are 400 extra added in the elite version), and an additional 110 planets, there are also twice as many officers, rumours and other encounters. In addition, there are some items available to buy in the game, both the previously mentioned ability to unlockall the upgrades and starting ship types, and the ship designer which lets you visit stardocks and custom build your own spaceship.
Additional resources.
The star traders manual may be read either in game or Here on the Trees brothers site
Also, note that the site includes several guides and notes on the different professions in the game, which are definitely recommended to get a more accurate overview of specific stratogies.
If you want a quick introduction to dive in and start playing, some loon called Dark has provided This introduction in the Articals room of the forum.
Star traders is a very huge, multifacited game with many different aspects and activities and a large amount of information, set in a truly unique and very different galaxy. It's therefore highly recommended to any rpg or stratogy fans, sinse though the learning curve is steep, once you've climed it you'll find a truly unique experience quite unlike anything else.
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Updates: entry 2 Feb 22 and description 2 Feb 22