Star Traders

StarTraders is a game of interstellar commerce for 1 to 4 players. Players take two-phase turns: the first phase is movement, the second is buying.

The object of the game is to become as wealthy as possible by trading and merging companies whilst out-smarting your friends and enemies.

The companies are Altair Starways, Beetlejuice Ltd., Capella Freight Co., Denebola Shippers, and Eridani Expediters. On the map, the companies are represented by the first letter of their name.

The Holdings view can be brought up during the player's move by pressing the Holdings button. This view shows the player's name, stock holdings, cash, and total worth.

The company info view is invoked by pressing the Company Info button. It shows, for each active company, its name, price per share, size, and total worth. The company size and total worth are useful in determining the result of a merger.

What to do on your Turn
During the first phase of a player's turn, the game will generate 5 possible moves. These moves are chosen randomly (for the most part). Upon making your move, there are several things that might happen. If you move into a sector that is completely surrounded by empty space, that sector will then contain an infant company. If you move next to an existing company (A-E), that company will expand into that sector of the map. If the new extension of the company touches an infant company, that infant company will also be assimilated.

Given that you're not moving next to an existing company, if you move next to a planet or an infant company, a new company will be formed. You, as company founder, will receive 5 shares in the company for free. For calculating how much a company will be worth, see Company Pricing, below.

Company Pricing
Determining a company's price per share is fairly simple. Generally speaking, a company is worth $100 for every sector it occupies (as given on the company info window under``Size''), plus $500 for every sector it occupies which is adjacent to a planet. Also note that you will not be able to visually estimate a company's price per share if that company has undergone a stock split (see Stock Splits, below.)

Holding Bonus
Immediately after a player's move, he is awarded a cash bonus equal to 5% of the total worth of his complete holdings. This bonus is awarded even if the game ends directly following the move (see Game's End, below.) This is the cash that the player will then use during the purchasing phase (see Trading, below.)

Trading
If any companies exist after a player moves on the map, that player will be given the chance to buy stock. This is where the game is really played. One must determine which companies are going to earn the highest profits in the next round and invest in those companies more heavily than ones that only have a small chance of turning a profit.

Mergers
When a player chooses a sector of the map that would cause two or more companies to touch, a merger occurs. First, the companies sizes are checked and the company with the larger size absorbs the smaller.

If the companies are the same size, the company with the highest total worth absorbs the smaller. (The user can view company size and company total worth on the company. Finally, if both company sizes and total value match, the companies will merge at random If a three or four-way merger occurs, the merges will take place one at a time After a merger, each player will have half the number of shares of held in the vanquished company added to the number of shares held in the still-existing company. The value of the still-existing company's price per share will increase by the vanquished company's price per share.

Additionally, each player receives a cash bonus equal to 10 * stock price * holdings percentage, where stock price is the old price per share of the vanquished company and holdings percentage is the percentage of total stock once owned in the vanquished company.