In a distant future the human race finally developed the technology to fully explore the universe, meeting other races along the way. After some initial issues and misunderstandings, these alien beings quickly found ways to integrate Mankind into the known universe in a very positive and healthy way. The humans returned the favor by teaching their new-found friends an ages old human accomplishment - democracy. “The Federation” was founded, an organisation not unlike the Terran legacy institution called “United Nations”, in which every member would donate some resources to create enclaves of law and order in a vast and chaotic galaxy. And although The Federation has seen crisis after crisis in its rich history, it still stands firm to ensure the survival of its member species, and gives young space traders a save starting point to develop their galaxy empire.
TradeWars: Rising is a graphical remake of the classic Tradewars massively multi-player online (MMO) space strategy game. Contrary to many other similar browser-based MMO games, there’s no single world here where all player participate in, but every one can create their own game variants from numerous options with up to 150 players per game. Options include, but are not limited to real-time or turn-based play, five different victory conditions, turn limits, alliances and/or team play, and allowing of only a single level of expertise for all participating players. The created games can be public for anyone to join, or private invitation-only sessions.
Another important choice when creating a game is whether it shall be ranked or unranked. At the end of each ranked game, the players’ performance is calculated into an overall score, when accumulating enough points gives access to the next level of expertise. Special achievements will result in certain badges, medals or ribbons awarded to the player. All these performance indicators are shown on the player’s profile. When choosing an unranked game, its outcome will have no effect on the player’s score or profile.
Gameplay itself boils down to firstly accumulating enough money by trading different goods throughout the universe using your starting assets. The earned money can be spent on a variety of space ships, from the quick Scout Marauder to the mighty Corellian Battleship, and on maintaining and upgrading them. Players can then create their own planets, colonize and build them up to defend them against invasion. Due to the presence of aggressive aliens after a few days of play, defense against alien incursion on your trade space must be taken care of as well as competing against dozens or hundreds of players in each game you join. But the single most important thing when playing is, of course, meeting the victory condition(s) of the current game, and the requirements for the awards the player wants to call his/her own.
