Last I played TW2002 it was 1.X, obviously a lot has been added to it. I played on about 47 BBSes, most of them had registered Tradewars.

Bubbles, I am not sure what these are, is it an unstable warp, sort of like a wormhole?

Figs, I think these are fighters, right? We didn't used to call them Figs before.

Gold features, not sure what these are besides some sort of Alien race editor and other things.

Any other new features I should be made aware of? Thanks.

Well to start with Bubbles are just like it sounds once its explained and you understand it, its similar to a dead end but is actually a group of sectors, sometimes even over 100, that can have many dead ends within it and still has only 1 or 2 entrances to those sectors. Gold bubbles, if enabled, start at 100 sectors and go up from there.
Figs are fighters, people have just gotten lazy in typing.
The Gold features will enable you to create and edit your own ships, aliens, and planets, as well as a couple other minor features.
Now with all of that explained you should be well on your way to making new games.

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