Hi,  I would like to play Tradewars,  I heard of it from a friend a few years back, and he had played it a few years before that.
I like your site, but there is just SOOO much on it.  Can I get some help on where to begin-begin...
what I need to play,  and is there a server list...
I would appreciate any help.
TFM

In order to play you need a telnet client and a server. Check the game bangs here and http://www.thestardock.com for active servers. Servers themselves come and go, look for a new "game rebang" you can join... that's the best way to find games.

That'll get you in. It won't get you much further than that. You need some basic scripts...

Go here:
http://www.navhaz.com/dny_tw_tutorial.txt

While it's for returning players mostly, it's also good for new players. Will give you an overview of what script types are out there so you know what you need.

When getting a "helper" I recommend either Swath or Zoc as a front end, TWX Proxy as the back end and then scripts from http://www.grimytrader.com and http://www.navhaz.com. Once setup with your helper(s) and scripts find a game w/o a lot of activity and get familiar with the menus, get familiar with how stuff works, get familiar with the edit and just get the feel for game play.

From there you need to determine what level and style of play you want to get involved with. What kind of turn base and edit you prefer, etc. Don't be afraid to expand your horizons of course, but start with what you like and work your way out. I recommend a mid-level turns game... 5k turns or so, as a good starting point for most new players. It's small enough that you have to pre-think your actions but not so small that every move limits your play. It'll keep you from falling into the unlim trap and should give you a good feel for the game.

Stay away from unlimited move games for the most part as those are mainly kill fests. I am primarily an unlimited game player as I do not have time to devote to a turns game. This may sound odd that one can have unlimited turns and it takes less time than turn games, but as Sing said, turns games make you think about turn efficiency. When you don't have to worry about turn efficiency, you just run as fast as possible to get things done.

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

Depending on the competition, unlims can be over in a matter of minutes. Most unlims I'm in are done within an hour, some edits done in under 10 minutes. From there it's grid, cash, take the alien planets, finish the grid, get more cash, drop a blockade, ore up the planets and turn on the pdropper.

At that point, by day 2 or 3 (takes a while to do all this, but nobody'll really get thru after the first hour anyway) it's tighter than a drum. Most of this can be done via script, so really all you need is an evening at keys and you can be an effective unlim player. As a turns player you've got to have a lot more keytime to play at the more aggressive levels, but there are still turns game out there were you don't have to be near your keyboard half the day.

You might also be able to find other helpful content at http://www.runawayproton.com.  I also host a No death delay game on my site runawayproton.com port 23 game D.  no death delay means if you make a mistake and get killed, you can jump right back in and try again.  This was intened as a game for people such as yourself to get their feet wet, and see what works, and what doesn't.
Good Luck, and welcome!  If I can be of assistance to you just send an ICQ message.  (another valuable tool of the players)  My ICQ is listed at my web site above.
Also try the Tradewars Academy.  The link to it is http://www.outpost-4.com/tradewars/ Thrawn has done an excellent job putting together training tutorials for people like yourself to learn the game.
 

Wow, you guys make the game sound like so much fun! Over in 10 minutes...SHEESH!!

Well we do aim to please

Laff. Well this is dependent on the edits and the players. An unlim subzero lasts about 10 minutes if everyone plays well. But that's a specific instance.

Unfortunately it's also something that a lot of returning players don't adjust well to, and so games that should end after a day go on and on and on... and people keep coming in and dying, over and over and over.

Yeah, I hate it when that happens. Especially to me!

You're right though, it is a hard adjustment if you've been away from the game for a couple of years. I've been reading through some of the forums in an attempt to re-familiarize myself with the game and it doesn't even seem like the same game anymore.

I just keep chanting to myself 'change is good...change is good...change is good...'