"Pirates and Traders" on amazon appstore?

[azira]

Just curious if anyone else saw this. maybe I'm being paranoid, but I would hate to see cory & andrew get ripped off.

The amazon app store recently launched and this particular game looks a LOT like ST...

Pirates and Traders by MicaByte Systems

-Text based RPG
-Ships, ports, battles (w similar button layout)
-stats on ships (hull sails etc) look the same

[sgtcookie]

Yeah, I saw the pictures. It looks almost exactly like Star Traders. Cory and Andrew should ask for the app to be removed as it is quite clearly just Star Traders but set in the past. Star Traders has clearly been around allot longer than that.

[spike]

I can't download the app because Amazon App store is US only. But I don't think this app is a hacked version of ST RPG. It looks like an independently developed game. The UI elements look similar to ST RPG, because they are standard Android UI elements. The gameplay elements are similar because both games - ST RPG and Pirates & Traders both - are heavily derived from the "Sid Meier's Pirates!". ST RPG has evolved away from Pirates! more than this new game has, is all.

I don't think there's a case for asking Amazon to take this game down. Hopefully it will create a "street corner" effect which pushes up the sales and downloads of both games. After all there are not that many Android RPGs out there. It's a small segment that can afford to grow.

www.amazon.com/MicaByte-Pirates-and-Traders/dp/B004MCFLM4

[Cory Trese]

Both games come from the same exactly family tree -- lovingly crafted clones of old PC games.

I've talked to the developer of the other game a bit -- we didn't exactly get along, but he is very passionate about his game and I hope he does well.

Thanks!

[azira]

Awesome, good to know that I was wrong.

Star Traders is my first RPG, and I love it so far

[Cory Trese]

So glad to hear you are enjoying our game. We will try to make you proud with the next one

[rudeboy]

I actually found Pirates & Traders first, and played and enjoyed it quite a bit. Used to bounce around between the free versions of both P & T and ST:RPG.

But it was the constant added content, updates & efforts on Team Trese's part that eventually sold me on buying Elite, and I have to admit I haven't touched P & T in months. Watching this game unfold through the updates and the forum has been a great experience.

Cory: sorry to hear you and Team MicaByte didn't hit it off - such is the price of fame?

[Cory Trese]

There is another one on the market -- called like "Dark Elite" or something, I'll have to dig up the link. It is space based too.

[spike]

I downloaded P&T from Android Market. It seems well made but the play options are pretty limited. I do like the Upgrades set. I guess it's closer to the original Pirates! than the 2004 reboot. It's clean and well made but ultimately it doesn't look like it has long term play value, basically because your tactical options are limited.

Dark Nova www.amazon.com/Dead-Jim-Studios-Dark-Nova/dp/B004RJ810Q/ says it is an Android conversion of "the classic game, Space Trader", which is open source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Trader_(Palm_OS)

Strangely enough both ST RPG and Dark Nova come up in Android Market when you search for Pirates and Traders. Google must understand they are similar (clever Google!).

[spike]

Hmm Space Trader is released under GPL on condition of free release, so if Dark Nova is derived from that source code, it may be violating the GPL to charge for it. So maybe Amazon should take down Dark Nova.

Edit: no, it's fine, they're allowed to charge for it as long as they make their own source code available for free. Which they do.

[Cory Trese]

Dark Nova, yes, that is the one I was thinking of. I contacted them too to say "you game is nice" however, I never got a response. Pirates and Traders has a neat blockade system too

[spike]

So I've been playing Pirates and Traders a lot over the weekend and I'm liking it. I thought I would try to summarise what I like about it, in case that can help ST RPG. There are some shortcomings it has compared to ST RPG - a smaller world and a lot less bells and whistles - but here are some of the things I like about it:

Combat is hard but you do have a lot of options. With these options you can usually find a relatively weak spot even in a tough enemy. The options I like are:

For some reason the "step ladder" of seizing ships seems more pleasing. You start with a Sloop and then to a Brig, and a bigger Brig, then to a Frigate, maybe by way of a Galleon. Sorry that's not actionable. Maybe it just feels better because these are real world historical ship types so you know the 'story' of them better?

I like that none of the upgrades are mutually exclusive. I can get the complete set of upgrades if I hunt long enough. But (like ST RPG) I have to start again from scratch when I change new ships (except sometimes the ship you seize already has upgrades, which I also like).

Upgrades to enhance fire against Sails/Rigging (chainshot) - in ST RPG you can select to fire against Sails but no specific upgrade benefits you on this.

Upgrades to enhance fire against Crew (grapeshot) - again ST RPG has an option for this but not an upgrade. There are boarding-related upgrades but none for firing on Crew from a distance. P&T has multiple boarding upgrades, like ST RPG, though again you can have many of them installed at the same time.



The marketplaces of most all a country's colonies are closed to you very quickly and more or less permanently if you attack shipping of that country (= Faction). I like that.

I really like the fact that you can raid and ultimately conquer ports and cities. This gives the end game a discernible difference from the early and mid game. In the early game you try to find your feet and have enough money to have a ship that can be a reasonable privateer. Then in the mid game you go up the "stepladder" of ships through privateering. In the end game, you get a warship with a very big crew so you can start to raid and then conquer ports.

The conquest game interacts nicely with the trade game, because hostile acts lock you out of valuable markets, but then conquests slowly bring more markets back into play. This is good because this is what the historic privateer wars were about - fighting for markets and trade routes.

I like the fact that it's easier to be a merchant than a privateer/pirate (opposite of ST RPG). Of course in P&T I play the privateer/pirate role!

The surplus and shortage price multipliers are only about x0.5 / x2.0, compared to x0.2 / x5.0 in ST RPG. This seems a lot more realistic and balances the play better. It's still easy to be a successful Merchant in P&T.

[Cory Trese]

I'm not sure this is the best place to post a review of P&T -- they might have a forum as well.

I appreciate the idea of comparative analysis between similar games but I have a very different perspective on this discussion than I think most people.

I will continue to work to differentiate ST RPG from other games in the genre by adding new challenges, game goals and player trade offs.

Ship Progression: If ST RPG had 10 ships it would be a "more pleasing" progression.

ST RPG is a new game universe for most players and as we go, hopefully you will come to love the mythology and universe of Star's Edge as much as I do.

Upgrades that don't change the nature of the ship make 0% logical sense to me. I don't like it and I think it reduces depth -- it certainly reduces maximum permutation counts.

There are upcoming upgrades for specialized target upgrades. P&T seems to have many fewer upgrades anyway.

My honest analysis as a player of P&T is that blockades mess up my RPG. Other people (who will like P&T more than STRPG, and I salute them) will consider it a welcome type of play.

Anyway, that game does not inspire me and if I'm coding stuff that isn't inspiring me the code quality drops and I won't/can't/don't do that.

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