Smuggling????? I'm going to call the police if I see ANYONE smuggling!!!

I wish more tycoon games will become available soon, like lemonade or coffee!

Very enjoyable, but ( maybe its just me)found the game very complicated and could do with some hints on the first levels.

To echo some other comments on here, Vista stinks. Microsoft should be ashamed for releasing it (went back to XP on my 64-bit laptop as Vista wasn't just not compatible with too many things).

Having said that, thanks for the free download! The description sounds great. Can't wait to play it...

Hi All,

I purchased this game about 2 or 3 years ago and loved it. The hardest thing to get over was the rapid breakdowns and lower fuel efficiency. I highly suggest running the game with the breakdowns turn off using the cheat in order to get familiar with the game. Otherwise, you might get too frustrated to even get into the game.

Also, do the Freeform game a few times to understand the mechanics. The missions can be frustrating when you don't know how to properly maintain the ship.

Finally, when you can get a Droid do so. Not having to deal with Morale and Wages sure makes the game a bit more enjoyable. Especially, when a crew member you just hired asks for a raise during their first run.

Overall, I highly recommend this game even for purchase. You might still be able to find CDs of it in some stores in the $9.99 shelves.

Will

Bears some resemblance to Gazillionaire. My kind of game. No problems to install or play. Music does get old quickly but can be shut off separately from sound FX.

This is a really cool game and I thoroughly enjoy playing it. Unfortunately it crashes every time I try to save on my Vista Home Premium machine, and it won't load at all on my XP Home system, which really sucks.

First off, I'd like to say I enjoy this game. The graphics are simple and dated, but do add a bit to the "management" aspect of the game. Overall, I've had fun playing it today and will probably keep it on my hard drive for awhile. I like it enough that I'm also installing it on my laptop - which is a bit of an antique.

It's interesting to see a lot of moral crusaders commenting on a game like this. To put aside the point that all the bribery, smuggling, and other illegal and imoral activities take place solely in text descriptions, all these activities are *OPTIONAL* - at least in the free-form, "sandbox" version. (I haven't played all of the missions yet, so I don't know if any of them require illegal activities.) If you want to play the game in a manner that follows every single rule and regulation, you are free to do so.

I have played several Space-transport simulator type games, from Space Trader for Palm OS, to Privateer and Vega Strike for PC. Starship Tycoon is the first I've seen that doesn't feature combat of any sort. Most games of this type even have the option to go "Space Pirate" yourself. To be honest, I find it hard to understand why anyone who would complain about the "imorality" of this game. I suspect we are all being trolled.

The game installed fine on my copy of Vista. It appears to be a fairly deep sim that could be a lot of fun if I had the time to learn how to play it. The graphics are pretty low-tech, I'll agree.

For those who want a game like this with combat, I recommend the excellent Space Rangers 2, which was sold retail, and may still be available online.

I like this game very much. Installation, activation, and gameplay on Windows XP went without any problems.

Thank you for this game. I can't seem to find the quantum drive on any planet in the scenario where it's required. I will probably just skip this scenario.

Having played this a bit more, I like it even more.

The lesser graphics for me, are a plus - download is faster, game moves along. I don't need grapics - gameplay is more important, and the graphics here are okay.

I don't care if the options to be unethical are there - people do them in real life, and if you're in business, you may find a compeitor who "cheats" - and different socities have different mores.

We get what they can get for free licensing. Some it will work on various setups & not others. I'm glad we see games that work on things from 98SE up through Vista, because I know people I've turned onto this site who use any & all of those setups. The games that come here are frequently a few years old, and frankly, games need to work on multiple platforms. As time gos by, more things will work Vista right out of the box, so to speak - heck Vista didn't work right out of the box for the longest time.

At $9.95 you can't expect too much. For the price the game is...Ok.
Thanks to GGAOTD (as always) and Positech.
@ RJB the 3rd, try to remember - A good ya is hard to cumbay!!

to #32...The Alien..from websters..1. a foreign-born resident who has not been naturalized 2. creature from outer space 3. not naturalized 4. foreign; strange 5. opposed; hostile ** seems to aptly fit.....

Chuck comment #46, I very much doubt 'Vista is the way of the future' as you so eloquently put it. Microsoft have already unveiled it's nemesis, which is due in less than 2 years. I doubt many who've settled well with XP will be changing to Vista now, especially with its death knell sounded already (by the way I bought Vista and dumped it quick sharp), XP will do me until the next OS comes out. Vista was just another ME. I do hope the next one works better though as I'm definitely up for a change, just so long as I don't have to upgrade all my stock programs that I paid good money for. :)

I think that #'s 9 and 23 have a legitimate point. After all, it's a well-documented fact that bribery, deceit, and crime didn't exist in our society before video games...

Oh. Wait.

Never mind.

#9, #23 etc. GET A GRIP & GET A LIFE

I am enjoying playing Starship Tycoon. Unlike most star fleet management games it doesn't try to mix it up with detailed commodity trading. I think that may be why most people who are posting here seem to expect a different type of game.

As for the illegal and hazardous items in the game, they make the game more realistic and have been in space management and trading games since the days of boardgames. An example is SPI's Star Trader (1982) which focused more on the trading than on creating a fleet of ships. There are prices to be paid if caught, just like in real life.

Then we come to the question of unlisted options (cheats) which I don't generally use. If I don't like a game I'll use one, I'll just say "I win every game" and never play it again. My opinion is that cheats in games are there either to sell books and magazines, the programmers were too lazy to remove testing code, or the programmers didn't want to take the time to make the options public.

I also think the graphics are perfect for what is actually a computer based boardgame. Play the game on pause except when moving to a new star.

I almost lost my first game due to building up my ship too fast and then a fuel leak so it isn't too easy (and that was on Normal).

My opinion on the music is that I turn off the music in most games.

Starship Tycoon worked fine on my Vista Home Premium, no adjustments were necessary.

Wireframe plain style. Tiny fonts. Now I like a good wae game or
sim. This isn't one. Vista HP ok. Annoying music. Just too dull
to bother with any learn curve. Uninstall works.
Thanks tho. Not something I'd ever consider even as a buy. But GOTD
saves that itch.
How about a strong sports games? Tho are pretty and use
resource mgt we are used to.

#9:

It is fantastic to meet another liberal that looks for opportunities to become a victim, then lay the blame of society on organizations that place REALITY and REAL LIFE in their games.

After all; if it wasn't for such a game, we all wouldn't know that there are ways to be dishonest in this life, and that the choice to do so lies within us.
Damn game makers ruining life and making the news full of death and pain.
If it wasn't for this game, we all would be sitting around holding hands singing cumbaya.

Get a grip on yourself, and stop being a victim.

If it wont work on Vista, I can use it anymore. All my machines have been been upgraded from XP to Vista, except one, and it is too slow. I am so dissapointed that software developers are still writing software for the soon to be outdated XP. Vista is the way of the future!

save bugged, 1 out of 1 times :S, didn't save my money (reset it to starting 6000) (said something about loading from an older version)

resolution's kinda buggy, for my widescreen laptop display anyway

i think its pretty fun though, but its just too buggy still (maybe, i think, or something)... they shouldn't retail such a buggy game :/

I don't see it has a moral issue to provide a wide range of choices. Saying that the game will allow you to place as good or as bad as you want just leaves the moral choices up to the player.

You want to get upset at morally decrepit games, go target the ones where the whole point is to kill people and commit crimes.

At #9 and #23, it's a made up game. Get over it and yourself. No one is stupid enough to actually get themselves a spaceship and be a criminal. Although that does sound kind of fun, maybe you morally superior people have a point......

I don't realy care about the moral issues of this game. Game... that is the key. It's only a game. That does not mean one has to do these things in real life. Maybe that is what makes these games so appealing. You get the chance to play and do things you would never do in real life. For me I am just happy not to see another repeat offer. And for that I thank the GGAOTD team. Also thank you to the publisher, Positech Games for the offering.

I look forward to playing this game more, only had time to play the first level. I like this kind of resource trading game, so i might be the wrong person to ask, but this is a game i could spend many hours playing.

Hi...The game has shut down twice on me, but before i go figure out what the problem is I want to make a comment about the game's content. Yes I will whole heartedly agree this can be a very cruel world. I am in fact a grandmother...This is a game that I really don't think will hone the skills of any present or future criminals. It's for those of us that really don't partake in these activities to just play at being "the bad guys". I don't advocate gore, blood and guts graphics etc.etc. but one of my fav games that I've got from here is Jets n Guns gold. I understand and respect that the content sounds like it advocates subversive activities but we can enjoy the fantasy and maybe even a dumb game can make you a little more aware and knowledge even from the lowest sources still is power.

Game is ok, but about the time I make any progress, the game crashes. Thats on WinXP

Count me among those who do not like even "pretending" unethical behavior.

This is a very fun little game. I can't believe how many bad reviews it's gotten. I'm guessing they're rating it low because of the graphics, which look like they were made 15 years ago. But game-play wise it's a thumbs-up from me.

Graphics are not great. Game play is fairly simple, even though there are a large number of factors to consider, as well as many possible outcomes. Far more enjoyable to play than many that have been offered here. If you are looking for fancy graphics and bling, this is not for you. If you enjoy using your brain in when playing games, you may enjoy this. Works fine with Vista. Not sure what Eric is talking about. The vast majority of games and other software that will run on XP will run just fine on Vista.

not for me - thanks anyway, I too will wait and see what tomorrow brings.

I wished they offered Democracy 2 or kudos >__<

"Sure lets all practice up on our bribery, deceit, and a list of other unethical and morally depraved attitudes and behaviors."


YOU DON'T HAVE TO DOWNLOAD AND PLAY THE GAME.

#9 Its funny how you said that stuff with a name like Renegade. Do you even know what that means? Don't worry I did the work for you -
ren·e·gade [ren-i-geyd] –noun
1. a person who deserts a party or cause for another.
2. an apostate from a religious faith.
–adjective
3. of or like a renegade; traitorous.
Yeah, thats you^^^ I'm applauding at your ignorance right now!

Plady100 - People like you just make me sick. You sound like one of those walmart moms that see's a "cool" video game cover and buys it for your 5yo only to find out its a mature title. People need to take responsibility and raise their kids right and stop asking game devs, directors, and musicians to raise their families. Damn baby boomers, all of your parents were irresponsible horny little bastards anyway, hence the term baby BOOM!

Just re-read "Balance of Trade" by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller which involves the lives of space traders, so I'm right in the mood for a space trading simulation game. I'll give it a try and see how well it plays when one is trying to run an ethical business. ;->

@ #23 Sorry that people such as yourself are unable to seperate fantasy from reality. If there were any notable correlation between doing something in a fantasy video game and doing the same thing in real life, millions of people would have gone out and torn their friends hearts out after playing Mortal Kombat...Its only a game. You are not effecting real people by your actions in the imaginary game world.

Installed fine under WINE on Kubuntu 8.04 but I get a crash report when I try to run the program. Will fiddle with settings and see if I can get it running.

"I did last time I posted a similar comment on another game. Sad point is, ‘we’ are the ones who are always shocked by these behaviors being OK. The ones that say it’s OK are the ones we’ll pay for to sit in jail."

That's the most offensive thing I've read in days. You know there are kids reading this, right? I really shouldn't have to say this, but think of the message you send to them when you, as an adult, label other people who you've never met as criminals just because they have a view that differs from yours. You should be ashamed of yourself, PLady100. :(

Poor game and (sadly) what most have come to expect from this site lately.
Cut from 7 to 2 days per week and still can't supply anything decent.

Oberon media have good games AND my ISP supplies them free, Sure I have to log into my *extras* to play but still even after a format and re-install I can STILL play them.
They're similar shareware games as we see here...Just a lot better!

@9 & 23:

By this logic, Pac-Man condones and causes eating disorders, playing Sonic will lead to illegal street racing, and any tycoon game will incite the necessity for greed.

Seriously. Go find something else to get on your soapbox about. If you want to see sociological problems in action, go to your nearest metropolis, and spend a day in the housing projects. Go tell them everything they're doing wrong, and invite them to meet Jebus. Moral decay stems from a lot of things, but I'm pretty sure that the last fat guy I saw didn't get that way because Pac-Man told him it was ok.

Thanks for another game that I would not have gotten the opportunity to play otherwise.

Hmm... by viewing the screenshots, it looks okay, but I've seen better Freeware games that offer the same as this game.
However, you can't go wrong with free games, so I'll give it a shot. You never know, I could be very incorrect and it may be a great game.

I played something along these lines back in the '80's, when I guess most of this audience were just a twinkle in the eye of their mums and dads.....Trouble is that old game was far superior to this and would run on any old DOS machine. We have not come far have we?

Thank you, Renegade. I knew you would get slammed. I did last time I posted a similar comment on another game. Sad point is, 'we' are the ones who are always shocked by these behaviors being OK. The ones that say it's OK are the ones we'll pay for to sit in jail. It will NEVER be 'right' to put socially unacceptable behavior in a game for play. NEVER.

Works great in vista, as simulations go it seems pretty good. However in a world obsessed with better graphics it probably wont do too good. That being said the lack of graphics is great for me at least too many games now I can't play because while its only a year old my system has already become obsolete.
It's easy to figure out without the tutorial, just hard enough so its not too easy even in easy mode. All in all a great game I suggest maybe adding a map editor.

It says that it is not compatible with vista, but it works on my vista os

Installation was a breeze. The 5.45Mb file installs to the default location:

C:\program files\ Starship Tycoon\

and is 19.3Mb in size once installed.

Quote:

Starship Tycoon is an addictive and deep management/strategy game that puts you in charge of your own galactic shipping corporation. Transport passengers and cargos between the stars, manage your employees, and compete against AI opponents in this cool space game. The game has eight missions, played against the clock or in free-form mode, and a random map generator for unlimited replay. You can even import your windows address book to name your crew. Version 2.29 build 2.4 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.

Reference accessed 19th July 2008 http://downloads.zdnet.co.uk/0,1000000375,39157997s,00.htm?r=2

The game is a simple 2D tycoon game; you can see the description of the game from the above quote. I’m not into this sort of game, so have only done a brief tour of the game. I’ve taken screenshots of every tutorial page of which there are around 50 images. You can find these by following the link below. There is also a tutorial document in the games folder which if you allowed it to install to the default location you can find by following the path above. The document explains how to edit the missions so that you can create new ones. There are nine campaigns and a random map button. According to the developer:
Quote:

You can play either in a mission-based or freeform 'sandbox' mode. There is enough gameplay in Starship Tycoon to keep you playing for months, you can run your company any way you like, from keeping the staff happy and well paid right down to running on cheap fuel, smuggling illegal cargoes, and bribing the customs officials.

Reference accessed 19th July 2008 http://www.positech.co.uk/starshiptycoon/index.shtml
The game is fully mouse controlled though you can also access many of the menu functions and commands via keyboard shortcuts. I’ve captured some of these when taking screen captures, but didn’t make a list because I wasn’t given advanced notice as I usually am. It’s easy to make a list of these if you want by hovering the mouse over any menus or command buttons. A small window will pop up telling you what the keyboard short cut is as well as give you information about the particular function.

I’ve listed several cheats below that enable you to skip levels, stop breakdowns, and run your ship without fuel, plus a few others that can help you through the game. The following link takes you to the developers page, where you can find useful information about your ships crew and ships modules:

http://www.positech.co.uk/starshiptycoon/moreinfo.shtml


I’ve also posted a link to an online review of the game. There were no big reviews, and most game sites that listed Starship Tycoon had no reviews, but the one I did find seemed on the whole favorable.

The game is also free standing, which means that you can play it from a pen drive or even a CD or DVD and you can transfer it from computer to computer once it’s been activated.


Reviews of Starship Tycoon:

http://www.download.com/Starship-Tycoon/3000-7496_4-10264555.html



Images:

All on one page:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Starship%20Tycoon/?start=all&special_track=album_paginate_top_view_all


As a slideshow:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Starship%20Tycoon/?albumview=slideshow

Googled:

http://search.msn.co.uk/images/results.aspx?q=Starship+Tycoon&FORM=MSNH#



Cheats:

While you are in the main menu, enter one of the following codes to activate the specified cheat function. You should hear a sound when you enter the code correctly (assuming you have your speakers turned on).
50,000 credits.…………………………… baconbutty
Level skip.………………………………….. milo
No breakdowns.…………………………. repairomatic
Ships run without fuel.……………… ecoships
Disable morale.………………………….. jezebel
Disable wages.……………………………. bagels


System Requirements:

The system requirements are minimal, with specs that would have been considered high end around a decade ago, and so most community members should have no difficulty playing this game. It’s also Vista compatible for those who find many of these games unplayable on Vista. Does anyone know whether the Service pack fixed any of the major problems? I’ve got the home premium version which I’ve had for almost a year, but uninstalled after the first few weeks due to too many incompatibility issues – I’ll post the query in the forums:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/3614?replies=1



• Windows '98/XP/Vista
• Directx7 or later
• System 64 MB RAM
• 16 MB Video card
• 400 MHZ processor or better.

Conclusion:

This 2D tycoon game looks a little dated (despite it only having been around for two and a half years, (Dec 05); but don’t let that put you off this excellent tycoon game. It doesn’t have the graphics of games like Rollercoaster Tycoon or the simpler arcade tycoon games such as Lemonade Tycoon, but the game play has as many choices; and has enough game play to make it worth downloading, especially if you’re into tycoon games. I like the developer’s addition of a simple level editor tutorial which, as already mentioned, can be found in the installed games folder. Personally I won’t be keeping this one, I already have several tycoon games and space management games such as Genesis Rising, Spaceforce: Rouge Universe and a couple of years ago picked up a tycoon boxed set (Empire Interactive) for less than $10 which included six tycoon games (Industry Giant, Vegas: Make it big, Venture Tycoon, Ski Resort Tycoon {excellent game}, Real Estate Tycoon and Golf Resort Tycoon II). Compared to the playability of all of those and comparing it to the likes of previous tycoon giveaways such as Ice Cream tycoon and other tycoon games that I have, I’d give this 5 out of 10. You can buy the game via Amazon for less than $5 if you miss today giveaway. Also it’s a standalone game (see above for explanation).

@ No. 9: If your logic is correct, then there is no issue. At least until we have interplanetary space craft. Sorry, I don't buy into the "game causes behaviour" argument. Until the is a solid scientific argument for it I stand by my opinion.

Unfortunately, people suck. Even without games people will kill people, smugglers will smuggle, and deceitful people will be deceitful. The world ain't all ponies and rainbows. It is sad, but true...

@ No. 2: Works fine under Vista for me.


As for my thoughts on the game: It is not too bad. Graphics are plain but I have nothing against that. There is a very steep learning curve, and it isn't what I would call a casual game. Will have to play it a bit more, but I am quite enjoying it.

@ #9 - you CAN do all that stuff in real life - surely that makes your God sick / depraved / etc too?? Get a life and save your preaching for someone that cares (no one).

@ nr 2: Works fine on Vista Ultimate x64...

#2 just made me sad :(