Line #8 VideoGame/SpaceTrader


1	[[quoteright:160:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/space-trader-1_5016.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:160:The title screen.]]
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4	''Space Trader'' ([[http://www.spronck.net/spacetrader/STFrames.html Official Website]]) is a freeware game for Palm OS devices. It is compatible with Palm OS 2.0 and higher[[note]]but full greyscale and color support only work on 3.5 and higher. The game should work even on "Garnet" versions; OS 5.4.2.[[/note]]. The game was initially released in 2002, with its most recent version being released in December 2005. It has since been ported to the Pocket PC, a [[https://sourceforge.net/projects/spacetraderwin/ native Windows program]], and iOS and Android (the latter being retitled [[http://darknova.net/ ''Dark Nova'']]), as well as more vanilla [[http://spacetrader.brucelet.com/ Android]] [[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.anderdonau.spacetrader&hl=en ports]] and [[http://www.spacetraderios.com/ iOS]] [[https://itunes.apple.com/sg/app/spacetrader-by-sightsaw/id1094156099 ports]] as of July 2014.
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6	The game is based off of the fairly-popular ''VideoGame/{{Elite}}'' and ''Solar Wars''[[note]]which, in turn, was based on ''Dope Wars''[[/note]]. ''Space Trader'' itself became quite popular as far as freeware Palm OS games went, and it is commonly cited as one of the OS's best.
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8	The game itself focuses on buying and selling goods between multiple planet-like "systems", with the ultimate goal of eventually purchasing a moon and retiring there. The player can choose to be a perfectly benign trader (perhaps bounty hunting on the side), or walk the path of piracy and plunder less capable traders (or somewhere in between) while dealing with the police.
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10	The developer (Pieter Spronck) was writing a sequel at one point, called ''Picoverse'', but unfortunately it has fallen off the map.
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13	!!Tropes present in ''Space Trader''
14	* AWinnerIsYou: Your reward for claiming the moon is a nifty little picture before being ushered to the scoreboard.
15	* AllThereInTheManual: The backstory of how the player's trading quest got started.
16	* AnarchyIsChaos: Planets under Anarchy have a very high concentration of SpacePirates.
17	* AnimalThemeNaming: Mimicking ''Elite'', all of the ship types are named after insects. The player starts with a Gnat (one shy of the tiniest ship, a Flea), and the biggest on the market is a Wasp.
18	* AttackAttackRetreatRetreat: Frequently occurs for the player if they try to take out a target, only to find that the target gets a lucky streak of hits. This sometimes occurs with trader and pirate ships, too, should a strong player fight them.
19	* BoringButPractical: Trading back and forth between two fairly quiet systems (low pirates and/or police), steadily gaining profits.
20	** {{Antigrinding}}: Systems take time to replenish goods, so doing this may result in suddenly running out of goods to trade at those systems, forcing the player to either wait or move on to another area.
21	* BountyHunter: One way to earn money is to kill pirates. This also improves your Police Record, resulting in fewer inspections. If you're a criminal, you aren't paid bounty, but your record will improve anyway, reducing or eventually eliminating any punishment if you're caught smuggling.
22	* CheatCode: Has a few, which can be entered in the Galactic Chart's Find System box. The developer [[http://ticc.uvt.nl/~pspronck/spacetrader/STFAQ.html#Cheat revealed them - with a cipher]].
23	* ContinuingIsPainful: If your ship gets destroyed and you have an escape pod, you (and your crew members, but they get sent home) will survive, but all of your cargo is lost and you're stuck with the most basic of the ship models. If you don't have many credits left, you're practically screwed.
24	* CoolStarship: The more-expensive ship models boast impressive stats.
25	* CurbStompBattle: What happens when a powerful ship meets a weaker ship, and the weaker has no luck in fleeing. Has the potential to happen within the first few days of the game.
26	* DrugsAreBad: Trading Narcotics can be very profitable, but good luck if the police catch you.
27	* DynamicDifficulty: Generally speaking, ships and equipment owned by pirates scales based on the player's current credit total.
28	* EscapePod: These can be bought from any shipyard, and are the player's one measure of averting {{Permadeath}}. The player character converts them into a Flea in order to continue trading.
29	* ExplosiveBreeder: Tribbles, should they get their fur on any of the player's food.
30	* FascistButInefficient: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. In Fascist states, both police and pirates come in a high concentration. The police are actually quite effective in prevention of trade in Narcotics, but are not interested in hunting pirates. Actually, the pirates mainly consist of [[DirtyCop government vessels that have gone rogue and rob random ships]], without fear of consequences.
31	** As the rogue cop vessels in Fascist states have no official sanction (and are shown as ordinary pirates in encounter screens) they still have one thing to fear: they are subject to lawful destruction shall they [[MuggingTheMonster attempt to rob]] the occasional [[IntrepidMerchant heavily armed trader]] who is willing to shoot them out of space for [[BountyHunter bounty]]. You can become one.
32	** The Dictatorship systems play this straight. Piracy is pretty much looked through, as is smuggling. The police force exist mainly to protect the dictator himself.
33	* FlatCharacter: Pretty much all the [=NPCs=] are simply there to give you something to do.
34	* GuideDangIt: Averted, more or less. The game includes a very extensive built-in help system, with text for virtually every dialog box that can appear. What little isn't mentioned there - such as details on the political systems and tech levels - can be read about in the included (external) documentation.
35	** However, finding and completing all the quests can be difficult, as two only show up when you have a criminal reputation, and you usually don't want to spend too long as a criminal.
36	* ImmortalLifeIsCheap: In planets that run a Cybernetic State, the local TranshumanAliens are all backed up on hard disk and death means no more than the loss of a ship, so both pirates and police come in huge swarms.
37	* InfinityPlusOneSword: The player can earn an unbuyable weapon through one of the quests.
38	* JackOfAllStats: One possible way to set up the player character.
39	* LuckBasedMission: A few of the quests can end up this way, especially if the player needs to reach a specific system within a limited time frame; the system maps are randomly generated. And then there's the Amazing Stat Tonic ...
40	* MoralEventHorizon: In-universe, destroying a police ship gets you labelled a "Psycho" and from then on the police will stop asking for your surrender and just shoot.
41	* NintendoHard: Particularly for newer players.
42	* OneNationUnderCopyright: Corporate worlds. Always [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corrupt]], so the police are bribable.
43	* {{Permadeath}}: You can't reload your save if your character dies. Averted in the Windows port, however.
44	* PolishedPort: The Russel Wolf port goes above and beyond a straight port; bugs were corrected, the graphics got higher-resolution versions, and a few extra options were added to adapt the UI more for smartphones.
45	** The Benjamin Schieder port does deserve mention, as it adds sliders to some dialog boxes and moves the main menus to a side bar.
46	* RandomEncounters: With traders, police, and pirates, mainly.
47	* RandomlyDrops: On occasion, a destroyed pirate or trader ship may leave behind some cargo, which the player may pick up.
48	* {{Retraux}}: The Russel Wolf Android port adds the option of emulating the Palm OS color scheme. The port in general also mimics the style of the Palm OS UI, including drop-down menus and smallish "bubble-shaped" buttons. Meanwhile, the Benjamin Schieder port features the original sprites, including the app icon.
49	* SchmuckBait: You may encounter an abandoned ship during your travels. According to salvage law, you are free to take the cargo inside - including Narcotics, which can sell for a lot. [[spoiler: Trouble is, the whole thing is an elaborate trap for catching criminally-inclined traders -- if you take the narcotics out of the ship, the police will be waiting.]]
50	* SpacePirates: A major enemy. Also, the player can be one (though it's not very profitable unless you have the right gear to avoid blowing up your targets).
51	* ShoutOut: To ''Elite'', ''Solar Wars'', and ''Star Trek''. The gameplay, as mentioned earlier, is even based off the former two.
52	* TimedMission: The aforementioned "get to a specific system within X days" quests.
53	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The player can be this, if he has a clean criminal record, a cloaking device, and smuggles drugs while remaining above suspicion by the police.
54	* WeWillSpendCreditsInTheFuture

Context VideoGame / SpaceTrader