Starlane
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About Starlane
Starlane is a space trader in the style of the 1984 game that started the genre: the same loop of buying low, jumping to the next star and selling high, with a pirate or three in between. You fly a small trader called the Kestrel through Sodieson Reach, a sector of six star systems with their own economies, governments and tech levels. Everything in space is drawn as glowing wireframe, the way the original looked on an 8-bit micro.
Each system has one station and one market. Agricultural worlds sell food, textiles, liquor and furs cheap and pay well for computers and machinery; industrial worlds work the other way round. Prices shift a little every visit, and a green price in the market means it is cheap for this sector. Firearms and narcotics pay best of all, but customs in the orderly systems search ships at the dock, seize contraband and fine you twice its value. The chart shows the economy, the government, the pirate risk and the customs odds of every system.
Out in space you fly with six degrees of freedom: roll and pitch, throttle up and down, and a laser in the nose. Pirates come in three kinds: the quick Wasp, the Dart that runs when it is hurt, and the heavy Lance. Each kill pays a bounty and counts toward your rank, from Rookie to Legend. The station turns on its axis, and docking means lining up with the slot, matching its spin and coming in slowly. A docking computer does it for you, for a tenth of the score.
Three contracts come up during a run: a grain run after the first jump, a sealed crate the pirates want after the fourth, and a bounty writ after the eighth. A run ends after 12 jumps, when you reach 3,000 credits, or when the ship is lost. The run title sums up your rank, credits and contracts in one line you can copy and share. The ships, the station, the planets and the dashboard are drawn in code.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Starlane like the 1984 game Elite?
It plays the same loop: trade between star systems, fight pirates in wireframe 3D and dock at a rotating station by hand. The sector, its six systems, the ships and the code are our own. The sector is generated with the same kind of seeded procedure the original used for its galaxies, and a run is cut down to 12 jumps so it fits in a coffee break.
How do I dock at the station by hand?
Fly toward the station until the SAFE ZONE message shows. The slot is the rectangle on the face that points at the planet. Come in straight at the slot, roll until its long side is level with your view, since the station spins, and keep your speed below 20 when you cross the slot. Too steep, too fast or out of line and you bounce off and lose shields. Pressing C (DOCK) uses the docking computer instead, but the score then counts at 90 percent.
What should I trade in Starlane?
Buy food, textiles, liquor and furs on agricultural worlds and sell them on industrial ones; carry computers and machinery the other way. A green price is cheap for the sector, a gold price is dear. Furs and computers give the biggest margins on a full hold. Firearms and narcotics pay even more, but customs at Communist, Confederate, Democratic and Corporate worlds may search you, seize them and fine you twice their value.
How does a run end and how is the score counted?
A run ends after 12 jumps, when you reach 3,000 credits at a station, or when your ship is destroyed. The score is your trade profit plus bounties, contract rewards, 150 points per rank and 300 for bringing the ship home. Autodock multiplies it by 0.9. If the ship is lost, the score counts from your last dock at 80 percent. Your progress is saved at every dock.
What are the three contracts?
After the first jump a station offers the Grain Run: 10 tons of food loaded free, to deliver to Tesois within three jumps. After the fourth comes the Sealed Crate for Zariceso, where hunters wait for you. After the eighth comes the Bounty Writ: destroy three pirates within three jumps. Each contract is offered once, and your run title shows how many you finished.
Can I play Starlane on my phone?
Yes. Hold the phone upright: the stick on the left rolls and pitches the ship, FIRE and the throttle buttons sit on the right, and JUMP and DOCK appear in the middle when you can use them. The docking computer is on by default on touch screens, and you can switch it off in the menu to dock by hand for the full score.
