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Star Shipping released for Linux!

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Star Shipping a space trading game has been released for Linux for £3.32.

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In Star shipping Inc. you take the role of the captain of of a cargo ship traveling between star systems to trade goods and commodities in strive to become the richest star ship captain in the galaxy.

Star shipping features high resolution beautiful space backdrops, planets, aliens, nebulae, space ships, items, and characters. The game includes an in game store where you can buy upgrades to your ship in order to increase performance and get a higher score. For example, you can buy upgrades to get more speed, strength, or resilience. The game also features a bank where you can keep your savings and where you can loan cash in times of need.

I love space games so this is right up my street. I always think we need more space games on Linux like this!

If anyone has played it what are you thoughts? Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Misc
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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7 comments

Hyeron Dec 9, 2012
Mh. I'd have bought that. If only they had given me the opportunity to. Having to call a frigging US phone number? And here I thought it was almost 2013. =/
Liam Dawe Dec 9, 2012
Really they make you call a number to buy it?! I checked it out and it asks for card details does it ask you to call after you do that?
Jeffrey Revock Dec 9, 2012
Yes, after entering in your contact information, it definitely asks you to call a US number. A little bit of a deal killer for me.
Liam Dawe Dec 9, 2012
I have emailed them to enquire about this!
Oded Sharon Dec 10, 2012
Hey!

I'm Oded, the developer for this game.
Apparently the 3rd party store service we use - Plimus is having trouble with it's payment methods.
I've attempted to fix this by disabling it completely and integrated a simple PayPal buy button.

I hope this works and that you can play and enjoy the game.

It's also available on the Ubuntu Software Centrer store if our website is still buggy you can buy it from there : https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/star-shipping-inc/
Oded Sharon Dec 10, 2012
Ok, made me a nice fancy user here too :)
Let me know if anyone has any more troubles getting the game.

Oded
CEO, Corbomite Games
Hyeron Dec 10, 2012
Now it works indeed. Thanks a lot. USC isn't a solution for non-ubunteros unfortunately.
I guess the Caravel forums had a history of Plimus threads for a reason in the end. :)

EDIT - Okay. Wanted some thoughts, Liam? :)
Just finished three rounds on Android - I ended up buying both, just because well... I could, and I'm a sucker for trading games. I don't expect the desktop version to be much different: even references to "tap" haven't been changed to "click" so I guess it's a straight port (available in both x86 and x86_64 versions, FWIW).

Star Shipping is the kind of game I'd play on my desktop rather than my phone - not least of all because I don't have a tablet or a phablet but a good old HTC Desire, so it's quite uncomfortable for a first shot at the thing. You can feel it's optimized for large displays, not so much for small phones. But that's not what the game is about, right?

So... Guess everyone's played Drug Wars... So far Star Shipping isn't that different: it seems to be time (or rather round)-limited, as I ended up at Star Shipping Inc. with a little pile of cash and no possibility to refuel, with the button changed to "end game" - even though the game didn't warn me in any way beforehand, and I still haven't found any reference to this limit, or any logic to it (though, far warning: I'm under a fine migraine attack right now, so maybe I didn't see it). It doesn't feel like much of a problem at first, but it starts grating you pretty quickly.

The game is also limited to three planets per play session. Again, it doesn't feel like much of a problem at first, until you want to get some "serious" business done. Still, it has one advantage compared to good ol' Drug Wars: you know what the current prices are before you make your move, showing again that's it's a bite-sized, to-the-point variant of its ancestor. In that, it does well.

Your fuel is limited, and every move you make consumes a chunk of it. So far so good, it forces you to get back to base from time to time to refuel - which can be annoying when there's a huge sale going on on one of the planets, but hey - that's what those games are about right?

Speaking of the base, you'll find your trusty loan sha bank, where you can borrow some money, as well as a shop for upgrades, a repair bay and a refueling bay. So, what's the shop about? Depending on how well you did on your last session, you'll earn a few chips. Those chips can be spent on two different commodities: upgrades, which are found in said shop; and ships, to be found in the main menu. And here lies the true demise of the game. Even though it cost me around $3, the game - on Android, so I'll let Oded specify how it goes on PC - doesn't SELL upgrades and ships. It RENTS them (for a fair amount of chips). To get more chips, you have to play (or purchase them, according to the tips. I didn't find where one could do so to check the prices, but that may be my headache being the root cause here. Couldn't find them in the upgrades shop, so I guess we're talking real money) . The ships aren't unlocked for good. The upgrades aren't unlocked for good. You have to pay to get them again. And again. And again. Or pray that you'll make such a great score that you'll earn a truckload of them. Which looks quite unlikely. Best one so far was in the 17000's, which netted me 7 chips. The first ship can be rented for 10. The last one? 95. Get your calculators. You're likely to spend quite a bit of time with the base ship, de-upgraded (is that even a word? :D)

It's as ruthless as can be expected. My third round began with me trying to reach a planet, only to have their port shut down. Back to base. Once again? Failed launch. Back to based, forced to refuel. Third time's the charm, worked fine, but attacked on the way, so back to base to repair and refuel. It really shines here, as the odds can go from this to (and that's in the same session) another attack where I fended off the opponents, which netted me some goods, some caught bandits in the base, which gave me some more cash, and a rare meteor (or something) which gave me even more resources to sell.

There's quite a bit of bad, and quite a bit of very good in there. The randomized names can be quite funky (buying Unobtainium on Dagobah? Heck yeah). The gameplay is quick and to the point. The game is quite hard.
But it lacks proper help (or a bit more feedback on what's going on and why, in particular re: refuel/end game and chips) and proper unlockables.

Should you get it? Well... If you're on PC, it can't hurt I guess (though that would depend on how the chips go, I'll have to check it tonight after work), and "basic" star trading games are few and far between. If you're on Android... Sorry to say it, but it doesn't hold a candle to the (massive) Trese Brothers' [URL='https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.corytrese.games.startraderselite&feature=search_result']Star Traders Elite[/URL]. Not even close (OTOH it could be argued that STE is another kind of beast entirely).

(I'll probably come back to this thread after trying the desktop version, but that's it for now :))

EDIT 2 - OK, forget what I said about refuel and end game: every ship stars with X fuel packs, and one fuel pack is used every time you use the "refuel" option at the base. You can buy fuel packs for a fair amount of chips in the upgrade shop. The game ends when you're out of fuel packs. :)
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