BeeBS

BeeBS now hosts the Java edition of Trade Wars 2, not to be confused with Trade Wars 2002 (et al.), and thanks to general hackery and misusing a feature in Synchronet (again) it’s been possible to add Mode 7 graphics. I’ve taken this opportunity to also update the ASCII version “graphics”.

On entering the game, you get a message check, view window and menu. The view window is a bit of trickery I’d not appreciated would be possible in Mode 7 below are the two files used to create the image, the “main” view and the port and fighters overlays.

There’s a few more overlays but I’ll leave those as a surprise for when you play! The magic was using VDU11 to move the cursor up one line (x9) to get back to the start of the viewport.

SPOILER: I think I’ve made a mistake here, and that all the different viewports should be able to overlap e.g. there could be a planet (overlay1) with fighters (overlay2) and a ship (overlay3) all occupying different areas of the viewport.

You can buddy up with other plays to take on cartels using the Team Menu or team up against other players.

The idea of the game is to continue making trades as you traverse the galaxy, buying and selling goods. When you have enough credits you can upgrade your ship, expand your cargo storage or even buy a planet.

The “Computer” menu allow you to view various reports about your game, other players , information about a sector you’ve visited or message another user.

Here’s an example of a player report detailing their cargo, turns left (each player has a limited number of turns per day), their number of fighter units (which can be used to protect goods, ports or planets) and credits.

All of this information combined, plus your ships, fighters planets and their trade will increase you value against other players.

...ready to conquer the universe?