Yankee Trader
Encyclopedia
Yankee Trader, by Alan Davenport, is a "door
" text-based game released in 1990 from the BBS
era, which ran on MS-DOS
BBSes. It is similar to TradeWars 2002
and was originally released in 1987 as Trade Wars 1000. One year later, Trade Wars 2002 adopted most, but not all of Yankee Trader's innovations. Each user is the commander of a starship. You travel about the galaxy using modified MUD
commands (instead of moving N,S,E,W, you move to an adjacent "sector" number). The sectors were linked more or less randomly, with a combination of two-way links and one-way links. The object of the game is to dominate the galaxy
. This was accomplished by finding port
s in sectors, buying commodities (ore, organics, or equipment), and transporting them to other sectors' ports and sell them (hopefully at a hefty profit
-- each sector's port bought or sold each commodity for a different price, as their balance of commodities changed with trade. If "Port 1" had excess of "ore" (low price), but no "equipment" (high price), one could stock up on ore, take it to "Port 2" that lacks ore, but has equipment. By selling the ore, buying the equipment, and returning to "Port 1" and repeating, profit could be made. Players could create home bases as well in the form of planets, for stockpiling commodities, money, or weapons.
This tedium was made easier with macros which could be programmed in the game itself, where you could watch many such trips scroll by with each keyboard entry. The size of the galaxy was configurable by the BBS system operator, defaulting to 3000 sectors. A larger galaxy size allowed more players to effectively hide when they logged off for the day. As this was a one-player-at-a-time game, each player was limited to a certain number of "moves" per day, which could be around one hundred or in the thousands, depending on how the BBS system operator configured the game. After you were done with your "moves", you would be left sitting wherever you were—various defenses could be set up just in case you were "found" by another player before the next day. Colonizing planets, protecting them by building massive fleets
, battling with other users' planets and trade route
s were also a major part of the game.
Two types of computer controlled characters, the Xannor and mercenaries, also made moves during a nightly maintenance event. In various ways these computer controlled characters add additional threats to stationary defenses and planets (stealing resources from or directly attacking them), and benefits to active players. Players who locate mercenaries can bribe them to join and players who kill Xannor receive additional charge per day and also generate sales at Earth.
Alan Davenport has relayed that as of 2004, he no longer has the source code for Yankee Trader.
One major unresolved exploit exists in the gameplay. Ownership of "Earth" allows a player to recover 100% of all money spent at Earth. This effectively allows multiple players or a single player with multiple accounts to purchase an unlimited number of fighters, ground forces, and shield batteries because the money is never used up, only transferred back and forth between two accounts without loss. A patched version of the game exists that prevents this exploit.
BBS door
A door is a computer program, on a bulletin board system, that runs outside of the main bulletin board program. Sometimes called external programs, doors are the most common way to add games, utilities, and other extensions to BBSes. From the 1990s on, most BBS software had the capability to...
" text-based game released in 1990 from the BBS
Bulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
era, which ran on MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
BBSes. It is similar to TradeWars 2002
TradeWars 2002
TradeWars 2002, also known as Trade Wars 2002 or TW2002, is a space game developed starting in 1984 and continuing through the 1990s by Gary Martin for play as a BBS door game, with later versions developed by John Pritchett both for BBS and, starting in 1998, a devoted game server called TWGS...
and was originally released in 1987 as Trade Wars 1000. One year later, Trade Wars 2002 adopted most, but not all of Yankee Trader's innovations. Each user is the commander of a starship. You travel about the galaxy using modified MUD
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
commands (instead of moving N,S,E,W, you move to an adjacent "sector" number). The sectors were linked more or less randomly, with a combination of two-way links and one-way links. The object of the game is to dominate the galaxy
Galaxy
A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...
. This was accomplished by finding port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
s in sectors, buying commodities (ore, organics, or equipment), and transporting them to other sectors' ports and sell them (hopefully at a hefty profit
Profit (economics)
In economics, the term profit has two related but distinct meanings. Normal profit represents the total opportunity costs of a venture to an entrepreneur or investor, whilst economic profit In economics, the term profit has two related but distinct meanings. Normal profit represents the total...
-- each sector's port bought or sold each commodity for a different price, as their balance of commodities changed with trade. If "Port 1" had excess of "ore" (low price), but no "equipment" (high price), one could stock up on ore, take it to "Port 2" that lacks ore, but has equipment. By selling the ore, buying the equipment, and returning to "Port 1" and repeating, profit could be made. Players could create home bases as well in the form of planets, for stockpiling commodities, money, or weapons.
This tedium was made easier with macros which could be programmed in the game itself, where you could watch many such trips scroll by with each keyboard entry. The size of the galaxy was configurable by the BBS system operator, defaulting to 3000 sectors. A larger galaxy size allowed more players to effectively hide when they logged off for the day. As this was a one-player-at-a-time game, each player was limited to a certain number of "moves" per day, which could be around one hundred or in the thousands, depending on how the BBS system operator configured the game. After you were done with your "moves", you would be left sitting wherever you were—various defenses could be set up just in case you were "found" by another player before the next day. Colonizing planets, protecting them by building massive fleets
Naval fleet
A fleet, or naval fleet, is a large formation of warships, and the largest formation in any navy. A fleet at sea is the direct equivalent of an army on land....
, battling with other users' planets and trade route
Trade route
A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a single trade route contains long distance arteries which may further be connected to several smaller networks of commercial...
s were also a major part of the game.
Two types of computer controlled characters, the Xannor and mercenaries, also made moves during a nightly maintenance event. In various ways these computer controlled characters add additional threats to stationary defenses and planets (stealing resources from or directly attacking them), and benefits to active players. Players who locate mercenaries can bribe them to join and players who kill Xannor receive additional charge per day and also generate sales at Earth.
Alan Davenport has relayed that as of 2004, he no longer has the source code for Yankee Trader.
One major unresolved exploit exists in the gameplay. Ownership of "Earth" allows a player to recover 100% of all money spent at Earth. This effectively allows multiple players or a single player with multiple accounts to purchase an unlimited number of fighters, ground forces, and shield batteries because the money is never used up, only transferred back and forth between two accounts without loss. A patched version of the game exists that prevents this exploit.