SPACE TRADER
============

Space Trader is a strategy game for PDA computers
running Palm OS version 2.0 or higher.

Information on playing the game can be found
in the game itself. There is extensive help on
every screen, which can be accessed through the
Help menu, using the option Help Current Screen
(shortcut H). Also, the Help menu contains some
separate entries that explain the overall design
of the game.

The document file SpaceTrader.html contains an
extensive manual on many of the game's particulars,
even those that aren't covered in the Help menu.
It's not really necessary to read this file, but
it can help you to become a successful space
trader.

Space Trader is rather large and complex, and not
suitable for short, quick games. It is suitable
to be played for several minutes, to be picked
up at a later time, though. Those who want a
game like this but which can be finished in, say,
15 to 30 minutes, should pick up Matt Lee's 
DopeWars or Dave Webb's SolarWars.

This game's homepage can be found at:
http://go.to/spacetrader

If you want to contact the author to discuss the
game, file a bug report, ask a question or simply
express your feelings about it, you can do that
by email: space_trader@hotmail.com

This game is freeware and copyrighted by its author, 
Pieter Spronck. It can be freely distributed, as
long as it remains unchanged, and is accompanied 
by the original files it was delivered with:

SpaceTrader.prc (the game)
SpaceTrader.html (the game's documentation)
Readme.txt (this file)

Any references to the classic 80's game Elite are
intentional.

Have fun playing Space Trader.


TECHNICAL DATA
==============

Name:          Space Trader
Version:       1.0.2
Author:        Pieter Spronck
Release date:  Octobre 5, 2000
Palm OS:       2.0 and higher
Size:          167K
Creator ID:    STra
Distribution:  Freeware
Homepage:      http://go.to/spacetrader
Email:         space_trader@hotmail.com


KNOWN BUGS
==========

One beta tester reported that occasionally, 
when starting the game, he gets an error 
message stating "Chunk over-locked", after 
which he needs to do a soft reset. After the 
reset, the game runs fine. I have been unable 
to replicate this error. Besides this beta
tester, only one user reported a problem
which is equivalent to this: he got another
message when starting the game the very first
time, but in the same area of the program
code, and after a soft reset, the game ran
fine for him. At the moment, I can't do
anything about it, unless I get more 
information. I suspect this problem is due to 
some kind of system hack. If I'm right, I 
would like to find out which hack causes the 
problem so I might do something about it. If 
anyone has more detailed information for me, 
I'd like to hear about it.

When tapping between the "Y" and the "W"
shortcut button (on some systems this is: in
the upper right hand corner of the "W" button),
it can happen that the "Tips" page for the
current screen is shown. After the screen is
closed, a small information "i" is shown on top
of the "W" button. I don't know what causes
this, but it is certainly not something I have
programmed. I am still working to solve this,
but I released the latest version already
because it solves a potential crash bug. This
"Tips" page bug is just something unexpected,
not a potential crash.