IceTraders a heavy duty interactive space opera

designed by John Cooper documented by Jacob Davenport

Why Be Good? All an Evil player has to do is knock any other player out of the game to win, while a Good player has to get rid of all the Evil players and then has to split the win with other Good players. This would make Evil seem much easier. However, Evil players cannot afford to work together for fear of a last-minute betrayal, while Good players have easy alliances with each other. When two or three players gang up against one other player, he's usually doomed. The only reason Evil players ever win at all is because alignments are secret at the beginning of the game. Good or Evil, a win is glorious.

Make Big Ships: To eliminate someone, you need to kill his last large ship. If he has never had a large ship, you have to kill all of his ships. You may think that a good strategy is to never get a large ship and thus be harder to kill. This isn't so, as smaller ships are weak attackers and difficult to defend, and large ships are key for making many moves in one turn. Take the plunge and make lots of large ships.

Diversify: All four technologies are important, and the healthiest system you can have includes one large ship of each color.

Start with Blues and Greens: The most efficient way to grow large ships and diversify quickly is to start with either a blue ship in a green system, or a green ship in a blue system. Grow large ships, change colors, and spread out to new systems.

End with Reds and Yellows: As the game matures, moving and attacking strength are very important. This means growing plenty of red and yellow ships and sacrificing them at the right times for fast, heavy attacks.

Evil: Look for the Quick Kill: As an Evil player you will want to get rid of another weak player at an early stage in the game, before other players can come to your victim's aid. After a quick kill, you might not have many ships left, but you will have won the game.

Good: Build Up and Diversify: Watch your back; protect yourself as you grow large pieces of various colors. Try to get at least two healthy systems as soon as possible. If instead you go for a quick kill, it usually depletes your reserves and makes it easier for an Evil player to come in and crush you. You might take that chance in hopes that the other Good players will guard your back while you regroup.

Look for Potential Concentrations: It's very satisfying to move two or three little red ships into another player's big fat system and watch the whole thing go nova. If that unlucky player happened to have many large ships in the destroyed system, it's a major victory. The same goes for revolts. A system with several green pieces can be quickly taken over. By diversifying your own ships, avoid creating a potential concentration in your own systems.

Sacrifice for Speed: Sacrificing pieces is the fastest way to gain more power. When possible, sacrifice large ships to have the most growth, the most diversity, the fastest movement, the strongest kill.

Monopolize Technology: Hoarding is important, especially in a long game. After you have built up a number of ships in several systems, try to control all the large ships in one technology. Expand to take more systems, even if it requires creating more systems, so that you can hoard more technology.  Hoarding large red ships is particularly crucial.