![]() For the most part, prices are fixed, though in the most recent updates they can shift based on large shipments you are making that meet local demand or deplete local supplies. Each system has the same goods for sale but prices vary based on the local needs and production. Your ship(s) have a number of spaces for cargo and at each planet, you can buy or sell goods. Trading in Endless Sky is a fairly straight forward affair. There are quite a few star systems in the game, and likely many more to come in the future. At this stage of the game’s development, it is worth your while to look on-line if you get stuck or can’t figure out how to get into the larger quest chains. Currently, your only recourse is to start the game over or hack the save files to get your adventure back on track. Since so much of the game’s most compelling content is tied up in the single major story quest, it’s quite easy to entirely miss out on the game’s most thrilling moments. Perhaps one of the games biggest flaws is that once you break the chain of a quest by refusing a request, or abandoning it on accident, there is no way to pick it up again. Generally, the quests are linear, though the game allows for branching narratives and there are a few occasions where key decisions can be made. These are delivered as exposition text while visiting planetary star ports. Currently, the game includes one significantly long and impactful story mission where you end up siding with one of the 4 human factions in an adventure to save all of the human-occupied space from chaos and destruction. Story quests vary from fairly short episodic adventures to long chains of related adventures in which major events unfold in the galaxy around you as you play through them. As your fleet grows larger and your list of victories in combat longer, you will be offered more lucrative and challenging tasks. The game will generate missions for you that are generally within reach of your character’s reputation and your fleet’s capabilities. The generated missions include carrying special cargo, escorting merchants, ferrying passengers, and hunting down pirates. Quests come in two flavors: simple procedurally generated missions and story line missions. This is the sort of thing you see when visiting a planet in Endless Sky. Simple graphics and text are all you get here, but it is more than enough to convey a feeling for the planet and it’s culture. Inhabited systems have planets you can land on which takes you to a management screen where you can make trades, build ships, visit the bank, or see if there are any special missions in the starport. In combat, you will have to sort out how to fly effectively. ![]() For routine operations, you can let the computer land on planets, make jumps, and otherwise maneuver your ship for you. Movement is inertial so a burst of thrust will carry you indefinitely in one direction until you correct. When flying within the system, you can control your ship in real-time using directional arrows and other commands for combat, scanning, and the like. ![]() You begin the game with knowledge of only a small piece of the galaxy, as you explore and purchase maps you discover ever more worlds and civilizations. The network of conduits divides the known galaxy into various regions by way of various choke points so if you want to get to a planet you can’t always take a straight path. The galaxy represents a series of star systems connected by warp conduits through which ships can travel from one system to another. You will spend most of your time in one of four main activities: Completing Quests, Trading, Fighting, and managing your fleet of ships. The graphics are top-down 2D and the pace of gameplay is leisurely except when engaging in combat. That said, while the game is perhaps unfinished, it is none the less very playable with minimal bugs and a good deal of content to explore and play with. As of this writing, it is still in beta at version 0.91. Open-source GamingĮndless Sky is an open-source game, and as such is free to play. From here you will wander the galaxy completing quests, trading, and battling among the stars. Endless Sky is a game of space exploration, adventure, trading, and combat created and maintained by Michael Zahniser. You begin your game in one of three starter ships, a humble but practical shuttle, a slow and vulnerable freighter, or the smallest available combat ship. ![]()
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