Tradewars 2002 Server is UP!

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AmeritecTech
Change we can believe in, 1922
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join:2002-09-06
Houston, TX

Tradewars 2002 Server is UP!

Karride is now running a DSLR Tradewars server. I'm so excited!

What is Tradewars 2002?

Tradewars is an old text-based BBS game with ASCII graphics. The basic idea is to travel around space trading different goods (Fuel Ore, Organics, and Equipment) while avoiding the phasers of other players. As you get more money, you can upgrade to more cargo holds or upgrade to a different ship with better weapons. Meanwhile you can build up planets to have their own citadels and defenses.

How to connect?

You can use the default Windows Telnet client if you want...but its unpleasant because it doesn't display ASCII stuff right. You'll want to use a better Telnet client. Putty is a free download and works great. I'll probably post a helper application later, but for now its best to get basic mechanics of the game down.

Server: tw2002.errantventure.net port 23

Server is 5000 turns per day. More on that later.

After you key the above in to Putty, you can type a name in the box below and hit Save. That way you won't have to key it in again and you can just doubleclick the name to connect in the future.

Getting Started

Once connected, log in and start a new character. You'll be asked to name your character, your ship, and your planet. You'll start out on your planet. Here you can see how many thousands of people you have working on producing each of the three resources (Fuel Ore, Organics, Equipment). You can see how much they're producing of each per day.

At any time, you can hit ? to see the one-letter commands available to you. Hit Q to blast off from your planet. Now, to make some money! You should see some neighboring sectors listed. If there's not a port in your home sector, key in one of the neighboring sectors and your ship will go there. Look around until you find a port.

Each port is either buying or selling each of Fuel Ore, Organics, and Equipment. A BBB port is buying all three. A BSS port is buying Fuel Ore, and selling Organics and Equipment. An SBS port is selling Fuel Ore, buying Organics, selling Equipment. You get the idea. Equipment is the most profitable thing to trade, followed by Organics and lastly Fuel Ore.

Once you find a port selling something, hit P to port with them. They'll ask you how much you want to buy of what they're selling. To buy a full load (which is what you normally want to do) just hit enter. They'll offer a price. You can now offer them a lower price and they'll counter-offer, back and forth. When he warns you he's making his final offer, make sure to come a lot closer to what he's offering to close the deal.

Now, you've got a load. Warp around the universe and find a port that is buying what you've got in your cargo holds. P to port, and they'll immediately ask you how many you want to sell. Sell them the load and negotiate a price with them. The difference in what you bought it for and sold it for is your profit. Cha-ching!

You'll start to think to yourself that there's got to be a more efficient way. What you want to do is find a port pair. This is two ports in neighboring sectors that are buying and selling at least two opposite things. For example, a BBS and a BSB. That way you can sell and buy, go next door and sell and buy again. Equipment-Organics port pairs are the best.

That's the basics of making money in the Universe.

Stardock

Stardock in our universe is in sector 1191. You can go here to upgrade your ship, buy a new ship, use the bank, buy Space Mines, all sorts of stuff. P to Port, S to Stardock, ? to see the places you can go on the Stardock. Stardock and some neighboring sectors are in what's called Fedspace. Fedspace is protected by the Imperial Fleet. Attacking a person with positive alignment (more on alignment later) in Fedspace will get you owned by one of the Imperial Admirals (non-player characters). Fedspace can be a good place to park for the night before you've purchased a ship that cloaks.

On Turns

Our universe has 5000 turns per day. The number of turns used each time you warp to another sector is determined by the speed of your ship. The default ship they give you (Merchant Cruiser) is 3 turns per warp, which is respectable speed. Ships with heavier armaments (like the formidable ISS) move much slower and ships with little armaments (like a Scout...warning, no escape pod) move much faster.

If you're in an escape pod (someone blew up your ship), try to trade out at the Stardock ASAP, because it wastes 6 turns per warp and only has 5 cargo holds. If you get killed in your pod, you're dead for the rest of the day and have to wait til tomorrow to play. This is called getting podkilled.

Upgrading!

To upgrade your ship or get a new ship, go to the Stardock. Your Merchant Cruiser has 3 turns per warp and max holds of 75, but you need to upgrade the holds to get to that many. I personally prefer upgrading to a Merchant Freighter. it only has max holds of 65, but it only uses 2 turns per warp. They'll give you trade-in value on your existing ship, so affording one should be a cinch. Then don't forget to upgrade the cargo holds. The more cargo you can carry, the faster you make money.

Later I'll post more about tunnels and building a headquarters with plenty of planets with ion cannons to defend your assets.

I'm AmeritecTech in game.
--
"Independent thinkers tend to ALWAYS have someone Not agreeing with them. It's The non-thinkers that ALWAYS come in legions."
-John Callari


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