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Aquarius Giveaway
$4.95
EXPIRED

Game Giveaway of the day — Aquarius

Exciting game of space wheeling and dealing! Fight pirates, and trade over 200 items in a widely varied universe.
$4.95 EXPIRED
User rating: 175 39 comments

Aquarius was available as a giveaway on January 10, 2015!

Today Giveaway of the Day
$5.00
free today
You have to protect your lands from three cruel kings.

Exciting game of space wheeling and dealing! Fight pirates, and trade over 200 items in a widely varied universe. Become a galactic merchant with ever-changing market conditions, side deals, pick up passengers for profit, invest in galactic businesses, battle 5 types of space pirates and more! Every game and universe is randomly generated. Equip and upgrade your ship with unique weapons and abilities, build a fleet to accompany you, and decide on battle tactics. Clean, attractive graphics and an easy-to-use interface make being a galactic trader a pleasure!

System Requirements:

Windows XP or higher; 1GB RAM; 1024x768 resolution, mouse; Pentium 400+, 64 MB RAM, decent video card, sound card recommended

Publisher:

Xing Interactive

Homepage:

http://simprosestudios.com/?q=trader2

File Size:

17.2 MB

Price:

$4.95

GIVEAWAY download basket

Developed by Electronic Arts
Developed by PopCap Games
Developed by Overwolf
Developed by BeamNG

Comments on Aquarius

Thank you for voting!
Please add a comment explaining the reason behind your vote.
#39

I enjoy the game, but I do have a criticism. Since a game freeze that left me with no choice but a force-quit, it's a random draw as to whether or not my saved game will load again. This is a very big minus for me, I'm afraid. Pity, because I enjoy games like this one.




.............................Moderator comment..........................

Thank you for your feedback Rose.




Reply   |   Comment by Rose  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#38

Thank you for replying. A logoff is required to change that setting. And that would mean to close down Firefox and Opera, running my favorite browsergame and the 150 other tabs... thats something my Samsung SSD 830 cannot handle under 2 minutes. So i better leave that to the developer, to find a more convenient solution.
The game is good though... and uugh.. hard stock market and investment fund mayhem, i won 16 million in the funds, just to lose 13m the other day on that other planet. :) Well it looks like im not going to win, i thought i would need 3 million to win, but i was wrong. Or the game is wrong triggered, i dont know.

Reply   |   Comment by Burni  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#37

………………………………Moderator comment……………………….

Hi Burni, you should still be able to change the text size whenever you play the game. I know it’s an inconvinience, but, if you like the game, a few momenbts each time you decide to play changing the text size is a small price to pay.

Hopefully the developer, who has been watching these comments will take note and maybe even create anupdate to sort the problem. :)
---------------------------------------

Thank you for replying. A logoff is required to change that setting. And that would mean to close down Firefox and Opera, running my favorite browsergame and the 150 other tabs... thats something my Samsung SSD 830 cannot handle under 2 minutes. So i better leave that to the developer, to find a more convenient solution.
The game is good though... and uugh.. hard stock market and investment fund mayhem, i won 16 million in the funds, just to lose 13m the other day on that other planet. :) Well it looks like im not going to win, i thought i would need 3 million to win, but i was wrong. Or the game is wrong triggered, i dont know.

Reply   |   Comment by Burni  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#36

For people saying it has a steep learning curve, and don't know how to play it, there is a 'readme.txt' file where you installed the game - it gives good details on what to do and what buttons do, etc.
Basically, buy items from planet 1, and find another planet to sell them to. Each planet will offer different prices. Each planet will also offer different items for sale. One planet will sell keyboards cheap (another expensive) and prices fluctuate to add a bit of 'spice'.
The game was quite engrossing, but after getting a good profit, I started to get hit by pirates (about 4 times in a short time) so its one of those games where you can't win, and once you do start 'winning', the game will ensure you don't .... if that makes sense... in other words, its fixed, a bit like fruit machines. Engrossing, but don't expect to win, and you end the game out of frustration. Guess a game where you'd win all the time would be quite boring.



...................................Moderator Comment...................................

Hi Chris, did you invest any of your money in shares? Thats one way to ensure you don't lose all of your money from pirates. :)

Reply   |   Comment by Chris Locke  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#35

Basically it's Trade Wars (old bbs door game) but with a very graphical interface other than a CLI. This is not my exact genre. I actually don't know why/how hidden object games fell into my genre but I like em a lot. I used to / sometimes still play Kingdom of Loathing and there's a space trip minigame in it that has the same kinda flow.. they're Space Control games. They can be fun and they can be overwhelming.

The font change thing is annoying because it requires you to restart your machine. I was however able to log off and it was much quicker.

I say annoying because typically in these games I die a lot. But hey, I'm used to these games being all text and online and engaged on a top of the line 14.4 modem, with 38400 bps. I guess we had the top tech to navigate that thing before the web.

I dunno, if you're into these kinds of games the price is fair. It's just slightly different enough to be cool, that's why I got it. I'm not uninstalling it or anything. I'll check it out, maybe post a vid or something. It looks entertaining despite all those games where I just end up running out of fuel or the space pirates mess up my system.

If you've got it and you like space games with a generalized field of planet lurking and soaring, it's worth a look and a keep. The game's small enough to where it's not borrowing a lot of space though I don't think that's an issue in this modern world of modern flash cards and flash drives that can store the memories of you and your entire ratpack growing up in whatever medium you choose for the most part.

At that I checked it out: The interface is quite nice, the stock market is fun. The pirates attacked me and took ALL MY CREDITS AND STUFF, but I had tons of shares. It's got a charm to it. I'd probably find myself playing this thing. You might too!




...................................Moderator Comment...................................

Thanks for the excellent feedback Jarkydrapedoor :)

Reply   |   Comment by Jarkydrapedoor  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#34

Thank you, as always, for all the work you do. I find text-based games can be very good, A Dark Room being a great example, so I'm not at all opposed to them on principle. This one gives a lot of help in the Readme file, which I actually read.I have only had time to play for a few minutes, so cannot as yet say how good the game is.
Big problem for me was that the game cannot be played in Windowed mode, and when I exited, it had resized all my other open windows and moved them up into the corner of my screen. Not acceptable!



...................................Moderator Comment...................................

Thank you for your feedback Zenwan

Reply   |   Comment by Zenwan  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#33

For the first time in seven years of using GGOTD, a game will not install. Total fail. I tried redownloading, and same problem. I tried a second PC. Same results. Total fail.

Reply   |   Comment by Ken Peters  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#32

I loved playing Space Trader on my Palm eons ago. This game is right up my alley!

One annoying thing about it is when I exit the game, it doesn't return my windows to their previous locations. All my windows are a smaller size and placed in the top left corner. I also like to multi-task, so it would be nice to be able to run this game in a window instead of full screen; but if I use ALT-TAB everything is HUGE!

Just curious, why do the Trade Center & Ship Upgrade Facility close after you visit them?

Thanks! Looks like a keeper!



...................................Moderator Comment...................................

Thank you for your feedback (and good point about the closures).

Reply   |   Comment by Coffeebuzz  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#31

I got a problem with the game at the first load: An error message said that i would have to reduce the Text size in my system to the default 96 DPI in Windows 7.
Well, i did that and can play the game now. But now it is hard for me to read all the other stuff in Windows. I will have no choice but to switch it back to 125% DPI later.... the hazzle of it means that i wont be able to play this game after tomorrow.




....................................Moderator comment............................

Hi Burni, you should still be able to change the text size whenever you play the game. I know it's an inconvinience, but, if you like the game, a few momenbts each time you decide to play changing the text size is a small price to pay.

Hopefully the developer, who has been watching these comments will take note and maybe even create anupdate to sort the problem. :)

Reply   |   Comment by Burni  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#30

Downloaded, explored (a tutorial would have been apreciated), started to play and am now already hooked! This is a true strategy game, no special effects bing bang explosions as a smoke screen for lack of substance - just plain smarts. Super. Reminds me of Gazillionnaire - Thank you!


............................Moderator Comment............................

Glad you like it. A few community members have seen the similarity with Gazillionaire :)

Reply   |   Comment by Pingouine  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#29

This requires a Pentium 400+ with 64 MB RAM and was first released in 2003 so if you like retro games, this might be of interest.
It also requires 96dpi (small) fonts, and wouldn't run on my computer until I changed my settings. I usually use medium.
I suppose if I really got to like the game, I could create a batch file to change my font size, run the game, and change back again, but I think changing font size requires logging off and then back on again.
Maybe the developers will consider a fix of some sort.
I might try it in a VM.



............................Moderator Comment............................

Hi George, hopefully the developer will fix this so that we can play it in a wider range of screen resolutions. :)

Reply   |   Comment by George  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#28

installed but it wanted to reduce my screen settings down to 96 and my computer had a tiff with such low resolution so I just uninstalled it.

Reply   |   Comment by Karen  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#27

Addendum - when you are killed the game should return to the main menu - NOT exit completely!




............................Moderator Comment............................

hopefully the developer will fix this.

Reply   |   Comment by jgf  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#26

A word of warning to people playing this game. Buying a ship in the shipyard (a fully detailed vessel at the bottom of the screen, not one of the scouts, escorts or battleships at the top) doesn't add to your fleet of ships. It instantly REPLACES your existing ship, without any warning or even compensation. All that wasted effort building up its cargo capacity and damage. Oh dear. My enthusiasm for this game has fallen somewhat.



....................................Moderator comment............................

Hopefully the developer will take note of your observations and update the read me thta you can access either when installing or opening the installed games folder. I've added the bulk of what is written in the read me to my first post above. Pity I didn't have time to review this game properly.

Reply   |   Comment by Julia  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#25

I haven't downloaded it yet, but I'd say based on the screenshots that it actually looks like a take off of Gazillionaire.



....................................Moderator comment............................

Jgf said the same. :).

Reply   |   Comment by SAB  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#24

Very reminiscent of the old "Gazillionaire" game (in which I spent many hours), but with more options. It does need some documentation, or on-screen pop-ups, to describe these options; otherwise your first couple of games are trial-and-error to find what everything does.

Definitely a keeper for me; especially since Gazillionaire doesn't run in Vista.



....................................Moderator comment............................

Glad you like it jgf; hopefully the developer will take note of the suggestions made today and update the game. (I hope so).

Reply   |   Comment by jgf  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#23

Game downloads,unpacks and authenticates but goes no further. It never installed. Turned off the virus software and still same result. This issue does not seem to be covered in your FAQ. Using Win 8.1.



....................................Moderator comment............................

Please excuse the late moderation. Needed a long cat nap this evening.

Have you tried installing the game with admin priveledges? Also, have you checked the path where it is supposed to be installed to> I've found sometimes games from the project install to the previous weeks path, so, check inside the last game you installed. That said, todays game does install a shortcut, so if that isn't present you'll probably not find anything. Still, its worth checking. Have you tried re downloading the file from the giveaway server? Finally try running the installation file in compatibility mode for XP or one of the other choices.

Hope this helps.

Reply   |   Comment by Capn Swabbee  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#22

The Pirate Contract is helpful, especially early in the game. It costs a bit of cash, but can reduce the chance of being attacked while you build up.


........................Moderator Comment........................

Thanks for your feedback. It's always nice to see the developer post in the comments section. It rarely happens. As you can see from the comments, it's one of those games where you like it or dislike. It's nice to see something different here for a change.

Regards

W.R.

Reply   |   Comment by Simprose Studios  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#21

Yes is bit old school but what the heck. Sometimes I just want to play along rather than constantly interact. Ok Windows 8.1.1 x64 Pro. Installed to D:. creates a shortcut. Just be careful about Folder creation since it will put its mess of files into an existing Folder unless you say \Aquarius to install to.
Had to use Revo Uninstall to wipe out the files & a ton of minor settings it puts into system. No biggie. Ran new one. Game plays full size, fast screen displays. Much like posters say, love or hate. For me one to just come & go with. Quick look 7/10 for strat majors. Likely will annoy twitchers. Thanks guys.


..............................Moderator Comment............................

Thanks for your feedback Beergas.

Reply   |   Comment by beergas  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#20

Sounds like you might want to think about &/or look into VMs, Therese. You can get away with them not costing anything more than your time. The way it works is you set aside some of your PC's or laptop's hardware resources to run a totally separate Windows install in a window [or full screen]. Not all games will run in a VM, but for those that do, you can pause a game, leaving it full screen in the VM window, minimize the VM window if you want, leave the game running in the VM window while you do anything else, & so on.


..............................Moderator Comment............................

Thank you for your feedback Mike.

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#19

Well, I played one game. It didn't last, sadly, but was enough to see that this game is a _lot_ of fun, for those who like this type of game. It's a space sim of the trading stuff type. I will enjoy this for awhile. On a side note, I recommend buying the pirate contract!




..............................Moderator Comment............................

:)

Reply   |   Comment by Therese  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#18

Installed OK, there are tips in the readme file that make me think this game might be a little difficult, esp. if I don't use a spreadsheet! (But I will think about it if the game turns out to be fun.) The only thing I don't like right off the bat is that it runs full screen. I don't like to focus only on a game with my computer, I usually have other things going on at the same time that I might want to monitor.


............................Moderator Comment.........................

Thank you for your feedback Therese :)

Reply   |   Comment by Therese  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#17

Why is the dl33MB if the installed game is less than 10? What else are you getting beside the game?


............................Moderator Comment.........................

The security gcd file is 14.3MB. That is then deleted once you've installed the game :)

Reply   |   Comment by SusanBeth  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#16

Downloaded OK and seemed to install OK. Opening "Splash" screen is full-screen at 1040 X 760 ... or something. It automatically changed my default screen from 1920 X 1080. USUALLY not a problem, but the opening screen just hangs there even after adjusting the resolution back to my usual. Then the Game screen comes up to pick ships, etc. and is totally inactive. NOW, it only takes up about three-quarters of the screen, with a grey background to the right side. Guess I'll probably just uninstall it and try again, but this pretty much bites! Anyone else with this problem???


............................Moderator Comment.........................

Not had the problem on either of the two computers I've installed the game to a Win 8.1 and a Win 7 computer. Both work perfectly and there's no changes made to the screen resolution when I shut the games down. :)

Reply   |   Comment by Rixxter67  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#15

Installed easily on my XP3 machine. There is a text file that comes with it explaining the various screens and giving some hints and tips. I'm not familar with this kind of game so I don't have any comments yet. Bit of a learning curve for me.


............................Moderator Comment.........................

I hope you like it. :)

Reply   |   Comment by Linda  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#14

I am a bit surprised to see the negative feedback so far. I admit I've yet to play the game but by the look of it I am definitely looking forward to playing. Granted, it's a niche title but I happen to be in this particular niche. Text-based, space trading and by the look of it a game that I'll be able to play at my own pace without any twitch arcade pressure. Plus, thanks to its small size and modest system requirements I won't have any worries about it running on my creaky old PC.I'm absolutely delighted with this one and would love to see more in the same strategy/simulation vein.



............................Moderator Comment.........................

Nice one Gordon, glad you are looking forwards to it. I personally think its great to see something different here on the game giveaway site. We've suffered Match 3's, TM games and HOG's for far too long (not that there is anything wrong with those genres, especially in moderation). Still, those are the genres that have been the most popular over the last several years, which is why there are so many of them. :)

Reply   |   Comment by Gordon Bennett  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#13

I like this game. The UI is very simple, but that is fine with me. There's a readme text file on the launch menu after installation, which replaces an in-game tutorial. You can also hover your mouse over the menu/text bars to learn what each feature is for while you play. For example, you can point your cursor over the letters in the trading menu to learn that C = Common, R = Rare, and UR = Ultra Rare, etc.

This is a simplified version of the Tradewinds series (except you're on a spaceship instead of a pirate at sea), and a bit like Smugglers V, without the action. When you encounter pirates, you select a weapon (if you've purchased an upgraded weapon), then decide if you want to risk a suicide volley (exploding part of your fleet for maximum damage), and click a button to calculate the results of the battle. I lost all my inventory and credits in one battle, but in the next one, I gained over 20,000 credits. Sometimes the Prime Minister will grant you credits or increase the interest rate on your savings account, depending on the economy.

I haven't played very long, but I didn't notice any glitches. The text is easy to read, and there were no spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. If you like trading and don't mind text-based games, you will probably enjoy Aquarius. I just started playing visual novels, and I enjoy them, so this game is just right for me. Give the game a try to see if it's for you.

Thanks to the developers and GGotD for this game. :-)



................................Moderator..........................


Thank you for your excellent feedback Blooming Lilac :)

Reply   |   Comment by BloomingLilac  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#12

This sounds a lot like the old BBS game "Tradewars" only it's not multi-player. Since a lot of the fun of Tradewars - at least to me - was the interaction with other players, it seems this would get boring pretty quickly. I believe I'll pass, thank you.

Not every giveaway is going to appeal to every individual, but I always appreciate the opportunity to find out for myself without having to reach for my wallet.



................................Moderator..........................


:)

Reply   |   Comment by Guiseppe Madre  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#11

This is basically a text game with a graphics interface. The time for such games passed 25 years ago. Even a free tablet version wouldn't attract much attention.

The game crashed Windows 10 while trying to exit.



................................Moderator..........................


Hi Patrick, some community members actually like this type of game. I found it was okay in short sessions. I would probably play it in between other more in depth and visually more stunning games or during a coffee break for several minutes at a time. :)

Reply   |   Comment by Patrick McNamara  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#10

Hi, WR! Hope you're well.

On the SimProse/Aquarius site, there's a link to download an 'official demo' which they say serves as a tutorial...



................................Moderator..........................


Hi Alexyu, thanks, I'm okay, just tired as usual. I tried the demo early this morning, but wasn't able to get it to work (probably my fault though as i was falling asleep at the keyboard :)

Reply   |   Comment by Alexyu  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#9

Once run the screen goes black and the PC freezes. Nothing responds, even control+alt+delete does not work.


................................Moderator..........................


Hi Giorgos, check out the FAQ's section in the game discussion forums stickies

Reply   |   Comment by Giorgos  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#8

MSWindows 7 64 bit, installs fine. Fun game. A bit of a learning curve, more business oriented game similar to the old space trader game. I'm enjoying it.

Reply   |   Comment by Sol  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#7

Won't install, just runs the activation part. Not leaving a message on the forums as by the time any problems are sorted the giveaway period has expired so can't install anyway.




........................Moderator comment............................

Have you checked the FAQ's section in the game discussion forums sticky section? Also check the event log for any error messages. Try running in compatibility mode as well.

Reply   |   Comment by Gordon  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#6

There is no option menu, which is stantard for most games these days,but more importantly, there is no tutorial to help get you started. Unless your familiar with this format from a similar game, time is needed to understand how to play and enjoy the experience. If the developers had spent time including some kind of instructions or basic tutorial, Aquarius may have got more positive votes.


........................Moderator comment............................

I agree with you, though there is a video available on You Tube; which you can see via the following link:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFi-3Y7hkOA

Reply   |   Comment by ryel  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#5

OMG !!
You call this a game ?
If i want to click around in numeric fields, i can work in a spreadsheet...
If i want to just "imagine" a space battle, i can play a text-adventure...
This is not a game ... it is a joke !

come on guys, modern pc's have 3d graphic cards and a fast cpu... why not use that ???
Wake up ! We have the year 2015 !!!

"shakes head"

InShock



........................Moderator comment............................

Some community members will actually like this game. Not all games need 3D graphics, explosions, puzzles etc to be enjoyed. I recently purchased a text based game that was only released a few weeks ago, prior to that the last text based game i'd purchased was way back in the mid 80's. I thought text based games had died a death many years ago. If you were willing to spend some time exploring this game you may find it okay. I played a game with similar (though better) interface on facebook a few years ago and throughly enjoyed playing it for a few months.

Reply   |   Comment by inshock  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#4

Downloaded and installed quickly, without problems. WHAT ON EARTH IS THIS? I'm 42 years old, been to college and done my business economics exams which included accounting. This is about as interesting as book keeping. I was hoping on some interstellar battles with battle ships or even soemthing similar to ATARI's asteroids or space invaders. This has got to be the most boring game I have tried yet. CANDY CRUSH is more fun. Uninstalled via reboot.


........................Moderator comment............................

Thanks for your feedback. It is one of those games that you'll either love or hate. I find it mildly interesting, though I do prefer playing something with a little more substance.

Reply   |   Comment by Paul  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#3

Awesome, an original space trading game! Strategy games are my passion so I love the fact that I'll have to use a spreadsheet to play this game. I love the old school science fiction graphics. Most of all, I love the humour; the first planet I visited had rocking horses, shaving cream and pyjamas in the marketplace. Fantastic giveaway. Many thanks to SimProse Studios and GOTD.




................................Moderator..........................


:) Glad you like it.

Reply   |   Comment by Julia  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#2

The accompanying screenshots don't really give much idea about the game play. Is it a spacesim, or is it strategy?




..................................Moderator comment..........................


It's an inter-galactic space trading management game. The intro to the game says it's also a space combat game. This is true, but you don't get to fly ships in a 3D world and shoot your enemies; it's all done automatically via buttons.

Reply   |   Comment by Sydney2K  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#1

I'm just going to post some screenies and a you tube video later. got too much to do to spend three or four hours preparing a review of the game. The video should give you a good idea as to what to expect. I wasn't able to install the game till it went live (I usually get a copy before the giveaway starts so that I can prepare a review. I have too many other things to do today to allocate so much time; sorry for the lack of a full review.


Steam have 258 games on sale this weekend including an anime special with 43 titles to choose from. If you like old style shmups try out eXceed - Gun Bullet Children or one of the otherdss from the eXceed trio, if beat Em ups are your thing then try NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STORM 3 Full Burst. If you like vu=isual novels there's loads to choose from. Sale prices vary from 10% to 90% off.




Aquarius:


Installation:

Aquarius downloads to a 33.6MB zip file that unpacks to a read me and a wrapped setup activation file (the orange colored file with the key symbol), plus there's a setup file with security (setup.gcd) that's protected from being hacked. This file may case some security software to alert the user to a possible malware attack, but it will be a false positive. The game giveaway team check all game giveaways for malware using several well known anti -malware suites. There has never been a game giveaway infected with malware since the project started back in Dec 2006.

The installed game is 9.53MB in size and a shortcut is installed to the desktop and an uninstaller to the start menu programs list. you can find the uninstaller in the game sinstalled folder. The default installation path for the game is:

C:\Program files (x86)\AquariuszAquarius.exe


Introduction:


Aquarius is a blend of intergalactic trading and space combat in a randomly generated galaxy

Exciting game of space wheeling and dealing. Fight pirates, trade over 200 items in a widely varied universe. Become a galactic merchant with ever-changing market conditions, side deals, investing in galactic businesses, battle space pirates and more!


Reference accessed HERE 10th Jan 2015



You can see a video of game play HERE






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I thought I'd add the bulk of the information foound in the read me, which can be found in the games installed folder.





Read Me:



Welcome to Interstellar Trader 2, the sequel to the detailed, replayable and hot-selling game of space trading, investing and finance. Even more effort has been put into this version of the game to add spice, info and new interfaces and graphics.
Read further for .





Introduction - Instructions and game playing tips:


If you've played Interstellar Trader, the original, the basic core gameplay is about the same: buy, sell and invest your way into making the goal amount that you set at the beginning of the game. The strategies for each goal amount can be quite different, and its up to you to figure out what that strategy is; Trader is a unique and totally free-form game, with no linear paths to follow for victory. You decide what to do, and in what order.

The Opening Screen
=========================

You are presented with up to 4 options:

Start a new game - Begins a new game, which sets up a randomly generated world, economy and planetary system, each one with different trends, patterns and makeup.

Load a Saved Game - Only lit if there is a saved game to be loaded. This version supports only 1 saved game (and only the full version supports saving games).

Exit Game - Exits Trader back to your operating system.

Buy Interstellar Trader II - Only appears if you are playing the demo version. Click on this (with an internet connection active) to take you directly to the page to purchase the full unlocked version of the game, using a secure online form.


Planet Screen
=========================

You are presented with the 10 planets that make up the planetary system. Each has their own economic health rating, item demand system, gas prices and costs for toll booth rights (explained later). These economic conditions can change throughout the game, so its good to travel to different planets often to map trends. Just click on a planet to travel to its main city.

Other buttons:

Status Report - Gives you a detailed accounting of your holdings, stocks, ship status and a possible newspaper "report" that can give you clues as to what's going on in the galaxy.

Save Game - Allows you to save the current game for playing later. Does not work in the demo.

Exit Game - Exits the current game to the OS without saving.

Main City Screen
=========================

This is the main screen where you'll be doing most of your work. Here you can access all the shops of the main planet.
Each shop and its function are described below:

Trade Center - This is the nerve center of the city, where you'll do all your selling and buying of items. It presents you with 5 items, quantity on hand, and your inventory of up to 15 items to sell. These buying and selling prices can be influenced by the current economic state of the planet (shown on the main city screen next to your credits).

Ship Upgrade Facility - This is where you upgrade your ship's weapons, gas tank, cargo hold and passenger capacity. You can basically craft the type of ship you want to fit your playing strategy.

Investment Center - This is where you can buy and sell stocks of large businesses. New to Trader 2 is a newspaper "clipping" that can give you clues and details that can help you decide what stocks might be hot, and which ones to dump, and a progress meter that gives you the stocks activity in the last fiscal term (which is 7 Staryears, or turns). NOTE: A full Staryear (turn) in Trader is where you travel to a planet, and then leave the planet.

Galactic Bank - This is where you can get loans, deposit and build your savings, and new to Trader 2, invest in special funds. The two funds are: Galactic Fund, which is low-risk, but a lower return fund, and the Starseeker Fund, which can pay off big but is much higher risk.

Prime Minister - You can visit the PM of the planet for 750 credits, where he may help you with a favor of some kind. There are many possible events here (even more added for Trader 2).

Shipyard - Here is where you can buy ships for your defense fleet, buy uniquely generated weapons (new in Trader 2) for your ship to aid in fighting off pirates, and also new in Trader 2, repair your ship, which now has a Durability rating that declines as you use your ship, and can be damaged in combat (more so if you lose a fight). If your ship's Durability hits 0, it stalls and you must have it towed to the nearest planet, at great expense (and in very rare situations, the ship may explode if it nears or hits 0, ending the game). Also NEW, you can purchase a whole new ship with new stats, and even rare ships have special abilities that impact the game. It can be expensive, but uniquely powerful ships are possible that would take a lot of money and time to develop using upgrades. The old ship is discarded when you buy a new ship.

The bottom 4 icons are used for: Pirate Contracts (contracts that reduce the chance of pirate attacks for the term specified), passengers waiting to be picked up, gas station (where you can fill your gas tank), and the cost of a Toll Booth on that planet (where you can collect a fee for all people who travel to that planet; this is paid to you at the beginning of each fiscal term).

Combat
======================

Combat is handled somewhat differently than Trader 1. It has much more focus on ship-to-ship combat than before, and is much more detailed, with more options and control available to you. Also, there are now 4 different Pirate clans, each with different strengths, priorities and behavior. Below is a list:

Krog - The most barbaric of all the clans, with very strong ships. They have little use for money or items; they just seek to cause damage and destruction.

Vell - Nomadic tribe of pirates that seek money from passing merchants.

Mokk - Pirate merchants that are always on the lookout for ships with cargo holds full of items.

Xerus - The most greedy (and the weakest strength wise) of all the clans, they desire money and items from merchants they attack.

The new options include:

Sacrificing Ships - You may self-destruct one (or more) of your ships to cause extra damage to the pirate fleet. The ship does not do its normal damage when you use this option (only the sacrificing damage, which is usually more than it would do normally).

Suicide Volley - A devastating barrage of phaser fire which adds a random multiplier (usually 2X-10X) to your ship's damage this combat. It can wear down your ship's Durability greatly however, so use it with caution.

Using special weapons - You may fire your special weapon to do extra damage to the pirate fleet, if you had bought one from the Shipyard. The weapons are uniquely generated every game and there are thousands of different ones available.

The pirate main ships also appear in a large array of varieties and strengths, with thousands of different types possible. Make sure and adapt your strategies to the strength and type of pirates appearing.

Other new features
===============================

Rogue Merchant - New to Trader 2, a rare wandering rogue merchant may appear from another galaxy to offer you a rare item at a great price, may offer to buy some items from you, or may offer to buy your whole inventory at a much inflated price.

The Galactic Casino - A new feature of Trader 2, these include many different games of chance which are explained on their respective screens. You may win big, or...you may win nothing.

Most of the screens in the game have mouse-over tooltips to assist you with gameplay.






------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Problems:


If you have any problems installing or getting to work today's game please go HERE for help. I've posted all of the common problems and solutions in a FAQ thread, which you can find in the sticky section of the forums by following the above link.


If you are posting late in the day I would also suggest posting in the main giveaway forums, in the game discussion section because I cannot moderate 24hrs a day over the weekend. I've created a thread HERE for that purpose. If you've installed the game but it won’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at another time. Unfortunately if your problem is actually installing it then once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done until the game is given away again (though that isn't guaranteed). Sometimes you can still register the game after the giveaway has ended so long as you managed to start the download before the giveaway ends. I've tested this and sometimes the grace period lasts for up to 2 hours, but more often than not 1 hour is the norm.






If you are posting late in the day I would also suggest posting in the main giveaway forums in the game discussion section. If you’ve installed the game but it won’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at another time. Unfortunately if your problem is actually installing it then once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done until the game is given away again (though that isn’t guaranteed.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
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