· WELCOME
· MANUAL
· ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND APOLOGIES
· PLAY · HIGH SCORES ·
Manual
The object in SpaceTruckin is to make money by buying and selling cargo while
warping around the solar system.
Controls
On the bridge the following controls are used to operate your ship:
- Cargo (sell / buy)
- Enter an amount in the text box to the left of the button to sell or buy
that amount. By default the maximum amount that you can sell or buy is already
filled in. Entering an amount greater than the maximum will automatically assume
the maximum, this is also goes for all other amounts (Bank & Corp.).
The maximum for buying cargo depends on how many free cargo bays and the amount
of cash you have and of course the item's availability. If an item is not
available the sell and buy buttons will not appear, however the sell text box
will always be visible to show you how much you have of that item.
- Bank (withdraw / deposit)
- This allows you to withdraw and/or deposit funds from your bank account. If
you use this while on earth, there are no surcharges. If you use this from
anyplace else, there is a 30% off-earth surcharge that is removed from the transaction.
For example: if you withdraw $1000 from the bank while on another planet, you
will actually get $700. If you deposit $1000, only $700 will go in.
- Corp. (repay / borrow)
- Repay you debt to the Corporation as soon as possible, the interest is
murder. If, after your 60 day tour, you have a negative net worth - ie. you still
have a debt - the Corporation repossesses your ship.
The Corporation's offices are on Earth, you can only repay or borrow there.
However, in emergencies, if your ship breaks down and you can't pay all costs
from your cash or savings, the remainder will be added to your debt.
- Navigate (warp)
- Click on a planet's name to warp there. This will decrement your time
remaining counter. Fuel use is one for the first hundred bays and one per 80
additional bays (also see "Fuel required"). If you do not have enough fuel all
destinations will be grayed out
- Cargo bays (buy)
- On Mars you can extend your cargo capacity with 40 bays for $20000. You can
buy as many extra bays as long as you have the cash, but keep in mind that every
80 bays require one extra fuel.
- Guns (buy)
- For $10000 you can have your ship oufitted with guns on Pluto. These can be
used to fight space pirates.
- Casino (play)
- If you have at least $2,000,000 in cash, and you go to Neptune, you can play
double or nothing. You have a 60% chance of losing. If you win, you get double
your cash, cargo, and cargo bays. If you lose, you lose your cash, cargo, and
your cargo bays are reset to 100.
- Start over
- You can occasionally get stuck on a planet without fuel and insufficient
cash to buy more. Should this happen you can start over. To prevent this make
sure you deposit some money in the bank as soon as possible. You might incur the
off-earth surcharge when withdrawing the necessary funds from the bank, but at
least you can continue playing.
- Back
- To return to the front page click here. As long as you don't close your
browser you can resume your game by clicking on play.
Status
You have several indicators of your current situation:
- Cash
- The money that you have on hand to buy and sell cargo, cargo bays, or
guns. Carrying money is dangerous because, if you get boarded by space
pirates, they will take half of the cash you have on hand.
- Debt
- This is money that you have borrowed from "The Corporation". You
can borrow up to 10 times your net worth (described below). You don't want
to hold on to debt for very long as it accumulates 12.5% interest per day.
- Savings
- This is money you have deposited in the bank. The bank is the
"safe" place for your money as it cannot be touched by pirates. You
earn 6.5% interest on the balance per day. The only cases in which money can be
taken from your bank account, occur during the IRS Audit and the Broken Ship
events (described below).
- Net Worth
- This is your calculated net worth. It is calculated like this:
(items in cargo * their current value) + cash + savings
+ (cargo bays * $500) - debt
- Fuel required
- This is the minimum fuel required for one warp. If you do not have enough
fuel all destinations will be grayed out and this indicator will turn red.
- Guns
- When you buy guns - which you can only once - they'll show up here.
- Time remaining
- This is the number of days remaining in the game. You start out with 60 days.
You can pick up, or lose three days on certain events. (Described below)
Events
During the game several (special) events may occur. You will be notified of
these by displays that will come up on your viewscreen.
- Derelict ship
- You stumble upon a derelict ship and salvage 80 cargo bays and some random
cargo!
- New Colony
- A new colony is being built. Normally there are several items on a planet
that are not available. When a new colony is built, all items are in demand at
at least four times their normal price!
- Wormhole
- Pesky things, but mostly beneficial. You pick up three more days of play
time and your interest on debt is reduced by 3 days. Unfortunately, so is the
interest on your savings.
- ERS Audit
- Every time you visit Earth, you stand a small chance of being audited by the
ERS (Earth Revenue Service). They will take 30% of all semi-liquid assets
(cargo, cash, savings).
- Ship breaks down
- You didn't think that you could just use your ship and not maintain it, did
you? If your ship breaks down, it will cost you $25000 and three days of time.
The $25000 is first drawn from your cash, then your savings if you do not have
enough, and finally just added to your debt. Note: any withdrawals from your
savings are also subject to the 30% off-earth surcharge. Interest on debt and
savings is also calculated for those three days.
The chance of your ship breaking down increases with each warp. After repairs
your mileage is reset, though.
- Space pirates
- Space Pirates may confront you if you are carrying any cargo. You
have two choices. Run is usually the better choice, the odds are better that you
will get away. If you have purchased guns while on Pluto, you can opt to fight.
There are five pirate ships total. During a fight, you each get a shot. If you
get shot (or caught when running), you get boarded and they take half of your
cash, and all of your cargo. If you destroy all five ships, the Pirates will not
darken your viewscreen again for the rest of the game.
Cargo, prices and availability
Pricing and availability for cargo is randomly determined every time you visit a
destination. Except fuel, some cargo may not be available at some locations some
of the time.
Item |
Baseprice |
Best buy |
Best sell |
Fuel | $500 | Jupiter, Saturn | Mercury, Venus |
Helium | $19000 | Uranus, Neptune | Mars, Asteroids |
Ore | $2000 | Asteroids | Mars, Neptune |
Food | $400 | Earth, Mars | Uranus, Neptune, Pluto |
Water | $150 | Earth, Saturn | Mercury, Pluto |
Meds | $7500 | Mercury, Earth | Mars, Asteroids |
Weapons | $950 | Pluto, Saturn | Earth |
Holos | $20 | Earth | Mercury, Pluto |
At best sell locations there is a 10% chance of an item being unavailable. At
all other times this is 20%.
The price is calculated as follows:
- the price is randomly in- or decreased by 0-25%
- the price is then randomly in- or decreased by 0-25% based on location
(increased for best sell and decreased for best buy locations)
Additionally there is a 2% chance of a cargo event occuring for every item.
· WELCOME
· MANUAL
· ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND APOLOGIES
· PLAY · HIGH SCORES ·