Starport: Galactic Empires

Starport: Galactic Empires is a free MMORPG based in a fictional galaxy. Players assume control of their own starship, make money via trading or combat, and form their own empires by colonizing planets.

Description
There are two types of game servers. "Rebangs" end after about 2 weeks; if you are ranked in the top 10 when the game ends, you get a medal which is visible on your profile. "Permaverses" never end, so you never receive medals. Each server has its differences, for example: The Battle Royale server (or shard) has plenty of NPCs (Non-Player Characters or computer controlled players), while many other servers have fewer NPCs. Players are given 2000 gallons of warp fuel that regenerates—up to 5000; different servers have different regeneration rates, and a small amount of starting money with which to build an empire. Players can use their real-life credit cards or PayPal accounts to buy Admiral Tokens from the Admiral's Club; you can use these tokens to buy warp fuel, nukes, credits, or a special ship named the Intergalactic Ship. Starport takes place in persistent real time, meaning that the player must dock at a port or fly to UN Space to log out safely; ships are vulnerable to attack when the player is not logged in and not in a safe area. Your colonies can be defended with many types of defenses, such as Flak Cannons, Laser Cannons, Mines, or a Solar Cannon. There are many avenues to make money in the game such as: trading among ports, bounty hunting, building colonies, fighting NPCs or other players, taxiing people from ports, escorting NPCs ships from ports, or doing favors or jobs for other players.

Starport is sometimes said to contain certain aspects of other games like Elite, Trade Wars 2002, and Star Control 2.



One popular aspect of the game is colonizing planets. There are several varieties of planets that a player can colonize; each type has pros and cons. Players can build structures in their colonies by having the colonists set to construction and by placing resources in the refinery. Players set what type of government their colonies will have; each type has differing effects on the colony, for example: Democracy raises morale the fastest, while prison sacrifices morale rate to increase production speed. Players can invade another player's planet using missiles and special ships (example: Vulture which has surface missiles).

Character Attributes
Players are allowed to control one and only one character per server. You can view your character's status by pressing Alt-P. All characters exist at all times, even when the player who controls them is not logged in. Characters have three attributes decided when your character is created or remade with tokens:

Charisma - Increases the number of colonists you can recruit from ports, makes it easier to haggle with port merchants, and increases morale on your colonies.

Wisdom - Decreases the warp fuel used by 0.2 per wisdom when warping.

Dexterity - Increases turning speed, energy regeneration rate, and thrust acceleration.

Note: Once set, these three attributes along with your character name become rather permanent and can only be changed with tokens, not credits. Its a good idea to start the game on a temporary server. These games will reset themselves after about 14 days, called a Rebang. This will give you time to understand the effect of the three attributes.

Experience
Experience is gained when you: Kill other players, kill NPC's, discover and enter a new starport for the first time, complete taxi or escort missions, negotiate better prices during trading at a starport, and generated from the amount of colonists you have that have positive morale. Experience is important in rebang games, as medals are awarded to the top 10 finishers based on experience ranking.

Reputation
Reputation is gained when you: fight or kill players with opposite reputation, complete taxi or escort missions, provide housing to colonists at your colony, or add to the bounties on pirates at the police station. You receive 1 reputation point for every thousand credits that you add to a bounty. Reputation is lost when you: fight or kill players with the same reputation, fail an escort mission, jettison colonists, or get caught when you rob a port. 1/10 of the killed person's reputation is subtracted from yours, so for example: If the killed person's rep is 15400, you lose 1540. If the killed person's rep is -9270, you lose -927 (in other words, you gain 927).

Government

 * Democracy - Best morale of all types of government, but are banned from producing nuclear weapons.
 * Socialism - Increased population growth. Normally helps morale, although morale may drop at random intervals.
 * Directorship - Doubles the chance to gain a research.
 * Prison - Decreases morale approximately 3 points/hr. +50% construction and Weapons Factory production. Researching does not produce any results with Prison government.

Lounge
Each port has a lounge in which you can talk to the patrons. Some patrons have customers that need a ride to a different port and will pay you $3,000 per hop plus a bonus if you are fast. Some patrons have customers that need to reach a port in dangerous territory and will pay you to escort them. Talking to the barkeep (by buying drinks) will result in various nuggets of information. The barkeep may tell you the last person to visit the port, the location of an artifact or various hints about the game. Purchase the most expensive drink if you want the best information. On average, after you purchase ten of the bars most expensive drinks, you will receive a 50% discount off of the local Inn's regular rates at that starport.

Planets
There are 11 types of planets of which 9 are able to be colonized by a player.

Usable
Players are able to colonize the following nine planet types:


 * Arctic: Arctic planets have neutral population growth; the population will not grow until you have medicine, Weather Prediction researched, or Anarchy government. Arctic planets produce all resources except uranium and spice, and will supply you with plenty of anaerobes and oil. The Arctic planet's unique building is the Heater Core which increases construction on the planet by 50% (was 100%, changed 2/1/05). That means your buildings and Experience will be produced 50% faster. Arctic planets provide more Experience per hour than any other planet type. Arctic planets can produce 843 Experience per hour when set to 100% construction. Arctic worlds have a very high rate of pollution.


 * Volcanic: Volcanic planets have sharply negative population growth; you'll have to replenish your colonists until you get 2000 medicine. Volcanic planets produce all resources except organics and spice, and will supply you with plenty of metal ore and equipment. The Volcanic planet's unique building is the Lava Mill which means the Weapons Factory produces weapons twice as fast. Volcanic worlds have a fairly slow rate of pollution.


 * Desert: Desert worlds have slightly negative population growth. They produce every resource, although this is said to be less useful since the Refinery is now limited to 50,000 of each resource. Desert worlds have incredible spice production, greater than any other type. If you build the Spice Mine, it doubles your Refinery's production of spice. Desert worlds have a fairly slow rate of pollution.


 * Mountainous: Mountainous planets have slightly negative population growth. Mountainous worlds only harvest metal ore, uranium, and anaerobes. Mountainous planets harvest metal ore and uranium faster than any other planet type. The Atom Smasher building lets you transform two tons of any resource plus one ton of uranium into two tons of any other resource. So you can convert 2 tons of metal ore and 1 ton of uranium into 2 tons of spice. Mountain worlds have an above average pollution rate so keep a watchful eye on it.


 * Greenhouse: Greenhouse worlds have sharply negative population growth. They produce primarily anaerobes and metal ore, with some medicine, oil, and uranium. The Ion Tower will completely hide all traces of your biodome and defenses from players with neutrino scanners. The Ion Tower does not hide the tonnage of aliens or artifacts. Greenhouse worlds have a fairly slow rate of pollution.


 * Oceanic: Oceanic worlds have slightly positive population growth. Some players enjoy Oceanic worlds because of their resource yields. Oceanic planets produce every resource, and they are the only planets other than Desert and Paradise worlds to produce spice. The Deep Sea Explorer, the unique building, doubles the research rate on the planet. They have the highest medicine production of any planet. Ocean worlds have a moderate rate of pollution.


 * Rocky: Rocky worlds have moderately negative population growth. Rocky worlds harvest mostly metal ore and anaerobes, along with a lesser amount of equipment and uranium. The Artesian Well is a structure which increases the morale of the planet. This allows taxes to be set higher without losing morale. They can provide more than enough money to cover the costs of cleaning pollution. Rocky worlds have a moderate rate of pollution.


 * Earthlike: Earthlike planets have very high population growth. Earthlike worlds produce all resources with a lesser amount of anaerobes and spice. The Church of Earth, the special building, lowers the pollution rate to very low. Earthlike worlds have a moderate rate of pollution.


 * Paradise: Every server contains three Paradise worlds. They produce all resources. The Intergalactics' Shrine doubles your hourly Experience for owning it. Paradise worlds have no pollution.

Unusable
Two types of planets can not be colonized:
 * Gas Giants - Very large
 * Tiny - Very small

However, these planets may contain artifacts or players who have landed on them before logging out. These players are often referred to as "sleepers."

Titles
Titles - A character's name is usually preceded by his title. Title is determined by a character's experience and reputation. Reputation divides titles into two classes depending on if it's positive or negative. Experience determines the rest, according to the following table:

Similar games

 * Trade Wars 2002
 * Escape Velocity Nova
 * Starscape
 * EVE Online
 * Freelancer
 * Subspace