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This is not by any means a new game, the last release was on December 24th 2000. This freeware game was just too good to not review. The author Pieter Spronck sums up Space Trader the best. "Space Trader is a strategy game for the PalmPilot. It is inspired by David J. Webb's PalmPilot game SolarWars (which in its turn is based on Matt Lee's game DopeWars) and the 80's classic 3D strategy game Elite". This game brings back pleasant memories for myself, and everyone I have shown it to. This is a strategy game and the game play is very fluid. There are five levels of difficulty; Beginner, Easy, Normal, Hard and Impossible. On beginner and easy level just about anyone can retire to a moon and live happily every after, as long you don't make any really silly mistakes along the way. For example a mistake might to be attack a pirate with a much better ship than you and not flee before being blown to bits.
The game objective is to amass wealth to one day buy your own moon and retire. When you first start out however, just saying alive and making some money by buying low and selling high at the space stations can be a challenge. The goods you can buy vary from cheap natural recourses; Water, Furs, Food and Ore to industrial goods; Games, Firearms, Medicine Machinery, Narcotics and Robots. Buying the natural resources from less developed systems and the industrial goods from the more advances and technical systems is usually profitable. Having the skills to do this also helps. Skills include Pilot, Fighter, Trader and Engineer. If you yourself do not have high skills in one area once you have advanced and purchased a larger ship with crew quarters you can hire someone with the skills you need to advance. There are ten types of ships, each with its own unique stats and capabilities. These include everything from the tiny Flea to the mighty and powerful Wasp. As I have said this is strategy game, the first thing to do is survive. Then you can start playing a clean game by becoming a trader and bounty hunter or if you prefer you can become a pirate and raid other ships to get your goods. You could also trade in Narcotics and Firearms but this might get you in trouble with the police. The police like to inspect your cargo holds every time you encounter them. You could run, and I suggest you do if you are carrying illegal goods. The police will be also be after you if you run so thank goodness for fast ships and worm holes. From time to time there are special quests asked of you. You may have to find professor or stop an alien attack. These add a twist to the game because if you choose to follow a quest it can be quite profitable but it may cost you fuel and time to complete. Final Words:
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