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Space Trader Classic
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About the game
Space Trader Classic is a trading game set in a galaxy of about a hundred planets. You start as a commander with a small ship, a handful of credits and a debt, and the goal is simple: make money. Buy goods on one planet, fly to another where they sell for more, and keep an eye on what the local economy and the government allow. Some goods are illegal in some systems, some planets are short on water or machines, and the price you get depends on the technology level, the politics and the events of the day.
The trip is where things go wrong. On the way you meet traders, pirates, the police and the occasional monster. You can talk your way out, pay a bribe, surrender your cargo, run, or fight, and what ship, weapons, shields and crew you carry decide how that goes. Between planets you can refuel and repair, buy a better ship at the shipyard, fit gadgets, hire mercenaries, take a loan at the bank, and follow a few story quests that unlock special equipment. The game ends when you retire, when you claim the moon you have been saving for, or when your ship does not make it.
This copy is a port of an old and well loved game. Pieter Spronck wrote the original for the Palm OS handhelds around the year 2000; Russell Wolf (Brucelet) later wrote the Android version, with the artwork, which this web version follows rule by rule. The only things added are exporting and importing a save and following the light or dark setting of your device.
Made with AI help. The author of the web port says openly that the move from the Java code to HTML and JavaScript was done almost entirely by large language models, with a person testing and directing the work. The rules, texts and pictures are the ones of the original game.
Playing it here
Click Play. On the title screen, start a new commander, choose a difficulty and share out the skill points among Pilot, Fighter, Trader and Engineer. Tap or click the name of the screen at the top to open the menu: Command takes you to the different screens (system information, buy and sell cargo, shipyard, equipment, crew, bank, ship, commander status, quests, the galactic chart and the journal), Game has New Game, Switch Game, Retire, Options, Shortcuts, High Scores and the save export and import, and Help has the manual of the original. The game saves by itself in this browser, and it keeps two games at the same time, so you can try a different approach without losing the first.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| tap or click on the title at the top | open the menu bar (Command, Game, Help) |
| buttons and lists on each screen | buy, sell, travel, fight, flee, negotiate |
| Game > Shortcuts | choose the shortcuts for the main screens |
| Game > Export Save / Import Save | move a game to another device as a file |
| i button (top right) | help for the screen you are on |
Tips
Learn the prices. The first days are for looking. Check what each planet sells cheaply and what it pays well for, and write down two or three pairs of neighbours that work as a route.
Pay the debt early. The interest on the loan is small but it adds up, and with a debt you cannot take the bigger loans or buy a new ship at the best moment.
Do not fight what you cannot beat. Check the opponent's ship before you decide. Fleeing is often cheaper than repairs, and a police stop with illegal cargo can cost you more than a pirate attack.
Buy the shield and a bigger hull before the guns. Surviving a few rounds gives you time to escape or to hit back.
FAQ
Is it the Palm OS game? It is a port of it. The rules follow the Android version 1.3.5 of Russell Wolf, which kept the game of Pieter Spronck. The pictures are the ones of that version.
Where is my save? In this browser, on this device. Use Game > Export Save to keep a copy or to move it to another device.
Does it need the internet? No. After the page has loaded, the game makes no requests to other sites.
Can I play on my phone? Yes, the interface was designed for touch screens too.
Credits and licence
The original Space Trader for Palm OS is by Pieter Spronck. The Android version, with the artwork (pictures based on originals copyright 2000 by Alexander Lawrence), is by Russell Wolf, and the web port is by lunchwine. All of it is free software under the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later; the fonts are Roboto, under the Apache License 2.0. Because of the GPL, the complete source of the version played here, with the build script and the small patch made for this site (a rule that blocks any request to other sites, and the two links of the About box turned into text), is linked from this page, together with the licence texts.