This game is really challenging and complex if you get into it. Some of the complaints about buttons due to not knowing what they are and not being able to mouse over buttons is not really warranted for this style of game. If this feature is a requirement by some then make it something that can be turned off.

Exprienced players do not need the hints as stated on some of the other reviews. There are 3 buttons on the bottom of the screen that give the player global view and control of the game. They list everything you need in a turn and you can be filtered for idle etc. These are the research, ships an planetary list buttons,

All in all I think this is a decent port that can only get better over time,

I like this game & really enjoy playing it. It's nice that you don't have to be a single faction but you control 3 of them, trying to get them to survive & work together as well has having to defend against aliens too. There is a lot of customization. The Empire Summary Page is nicely done. The Advisor can be helpful also.

Likes:

Can change Planet Names

Change Ship Names

Change the order of jobs in the Colony's build queue


If you liked Star Traders or if you like 4X games in general then you should try this game. It's fun & enjoyable.
I Highly Recommend this game !!!

I have been playing this on my android tablet since alpha and I decided to try it out on my PC; go to the big screen. The gameplay is still solid. I love the unique political system. The developers do have some more work to do on making the UI better for PC users, but I have faith in th Trese Brothers. I have been playing their games for years on android and they update regularly and strive to improve. In fact they just did a complete overhaul of the main scrren UI of this game for all platforms and have pushed out two skin packs for ships. Right now I would give it a 7/10 Solid Gameplay. Good retro style artwork, but a ways to go on making the UI and controls better and more intuitive for PC players. It's a rough diamond at the moment there is a great game in there.

Are you thinking, Just give me the facts and I’ll make up my own mind? Hopefully I can answer this question.

A blend of complex strategic development of technology, star system colonization, war and politics. The remnants of the human race must survive and hopefully flourish in the face of enemies within your society and aliens bent on total final destruction. This is not a casual game. Where Masters of Orion and Civilization cross paths you will find Star Traders 4X Empires.

To get a small demonstration of real time game play take a look at these two YouTube videos the Developers have published.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNjjENqwt1E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Uxg1iZXRY

Pros
1. Documentation Score 5 out of 5.
All the rules are contained inside the game by clicking on the Advisor Library. I wish more games would do this! During this Steam holiday sale I’ve picked up inexpensive games then thrown in the deep end, especially the “oldies but goodies”. In addition you can find the ST 4X rule book online at https://www.tresebrothers.com/star-traders-4x-empires/game-manual
The in-game rules get updated as new content is added

2. Technology Tree 5 out of 5.
Close to 100 separate categories each one providing multiple benefits. One box might give you access to 4 different weapons and a new ship class. Another might give you a Spice den to increase morale while unlocking a big money making trade option.

3. No IAP 5 out of 5
The Elite version contains all 8 of the factions and syndicates, and you don’t ever pay for new releases as the game expands.

4. Ships 5 out of 5
You can design your own ships, name them and train captains as specialists in planetary invasion, gunnery, or repair to name a few. The tactical battles involve whole fleets where every ship is controlled individually. Being turn based you get a chance to really think about what will happen on the next move.

5. Hot Keys 4 out of 5
Having them and the mouse wheel zoom functions really speeds up game play, touch screens always seem to slow me down. More keys need to be added so that’s why I gave it a 4.

6. Artwork and Atmosphere 5 out of 5
It is important to compare this with games of similar type not Skyrim! The ships are very detailed when you zoom in. The sound effects are great. There is an Ethereal soundtrack that currently has a bug but will be fixed soon.

7. Game design and play 5 out of 5
You cannot play as a Tyrant warlord. Refugees are landing all the time. The morale and political development tree are just as important as designing and launching warships. If you can’t manage the human side the economy will crash, people will riot, syndicate rivalries can result in war, and your research will stagnate making you easy pickings for the enemy.

Cons
1. Difficulty 4 out of 5
There are multiple difficulty levels. All Trese Brothers games set on Normal are meant to be challenging. The game does not cheat it just opens a can of whoop-♥♥♥ on me every time I play. I’m not the most skilled player in the world so it will take several months to get the hang of it. You aren’t going to see comments like “I beat it in 4 hours at Impossible level”. If you are looking for a solid challenge you just found it.

Comments
The Trese Brothers have looked forward to building this game for years and the dedication shows. After purchasing if you don’t like it come back and play 30 to 60 days later new releases are coming out like clockwork and you may find your opinion obsolete. I participated in the Alpha, this game just keeps getting better all the time. The $9.99 is a small price to pay for so many weeks of play and I would buy it again.

This is a horrid game.

-There is no tutorial which in and of itself is not a BIG problem if you have played enough 4x style games.

-There are no tooltips or any info gained by hovering over an object.

-You have to click into every single ship to find out if it needs "fuel" which just adds a level of tediousness that turned me off to this game right away.

-The start of the game is REALLLLLLY slow. You start with 3 colony ships and then have to wait and wait and wait until you have the ability to build more. This means a lot of just hitting the enter button to pass turns at the beginning of the game.

-Exploring is very slow and tedious.

-There is no options button to lower the sound it is either on or off and let me tell you when it is ON it is loud. The sounds for the animations are very loud and jarring. They really distract from the game and do not make the game more enjoyable. I found myself cringing every time I cued up a building to be built because of the sound. Also it says there is music and you have a button to click and mute the music but there is no music. I am not so sure this is a bad thing.

-There are a lot of astroids that require you to fly out and around them to explore. For some reason you can not fly through them which is not to frustrating. The issue comes when you find an anomoly but have run our of fuel to explore it. Then you have to go all the way back to one of your planets and this means navigating back around all those astroids. This just makes getting to a from a place VERY tedious.

-Then there is the issue of once you get a ship that need to be refueled back to a planet. As I said above there is no torurial so I had to sit there for a second and think how to fuel my ship because if you click on the ship it highlights the ship, if you then click on the planet it just highlights the planet. It took maybe 15 seconds to think it through and realize that the areas that are green around your planet must be resupply zones. Then it was turns and turns and turns of sitting there while my ship regained 10 of its 90 fuel a turn. There was no way to accelerate this process that I could find. At this point I became very bored and quit. As it stands I will never play this game again, it is a waste of time. If the game is updated and made better I will try it again. They could not pay me to play it again let alone do I recommed you pay money for the "privilege" as long as the game stays like this.

-One good point to this game is that the developer does seem very interested in reading reviews and making changes so my review could change in the future.
Nate

This is a game that combines very clever complexity and balance, within seemingly straightforward strategy of colony

survival. Unlike most 4X type games, you aren't controlling a single empire, but rather three disparate factions. They

each bring strengths to the table to help you succeed, but they often don't see the big picture, and bicker like children,

hindering your chances. I like the turn-based approach, allowing you to really think out your strategy, and the fact that

the research paths are so diverse. There isn't a "one path to success" approach in this game - trying different things

nets different results, with some being equally as successful as others.

I would recommend this game to those who enjoy turnbased 4X games, and who love to challenge themselves with a brilliantly

thoughtout game design. It's hard to believe it's made by really only two brothers, who also develop multiple other games

of equal quality. If you do try the game and find some aspect not to your liking, good news, the developers actually

listen, and work tirelessly to improve the games they develop. The community forum that they run is also fantastic

because no question bad or trivial. Learn from other players and get advice directly from the developers!

At first glance this seems to be a very simple 4X game. And while it's true that the interface, graphics, and sound are extremely simple, the game does offer a competent AI, in-depth gameplay, and its own unique twists to the formula.

If you're in the market for a simple 4X game, Star Traders delivers.

The one major missing feature which more complex games do have is a notification system. While ST4X does have advisers and alerts which can tell you if a production on a planet is complete, it will not alert you if the queue is now empty. Likewise ships require fuel which automatically is restored in owned (green) territory, but it will not alert you when a ship is beginning to run out. Thus it requires you to constantly keep track of production queues and ship capabilities.

That minor issue aside, ST4X definitely has the depth you want from a title like this, and the fact that it is a relatively simple game and of course turn based, like all 4X games, means it can easily be played on the side while you do something else.

An interesting blend of turn based ship combat and a building / farming game. I've played it before on other platforms, but I think I'm going to play on my Mac now. I appreciate the support for both mousewheel and two finger swiping. At first I was a bit confused, but the help file was very ... well, helpful.

It has some rough edges, however, juding by their other title players can expect lots of updates. I would like to see more special attack options for the ship designer and the ability to build planetary weapons to repel invasion ships by damaging them.

My tip for anyone playing is make sure you build Cruisers/Carriers and get them as much XP as possible. Fighters are great for soaking up damage but they don't get the attack bonuses from XP like the bigger ships do.

This game has an awesome old school vibe. I've played their earlier game Heroes of Steel and enjoyed that a lot so I came and tried 4x Empires. I wasnt dissapointed. This is a game I know I could happily sink a lot of time into

Sorry about the first version of this review, which consisted of two words. Let me try again.
First off, the game is very light, which is cool. The UI scales to a big screen well. The tech tree is ginormous. The gameplay is very promising.
But it does not feel right playing on PC.
The main concern that I have is the interface. It feels a lot like a lazy port from a smartphone game. There is no option button if you want to adjust screen size, volume, hotkeys or whatever. Everything is a click. Right click has no function at all. No mousehover, no tooltips. The tech tree is huge huge huge, and to know what each one is about, you have to click on it, which brings you to a different window and you have to press Esc to return instead of being able to simply and quickly view mouseover tooltips like other PC games. The same goes with planets, ships and buildings. The Help button from the main menu took me to a website that doesn't work, for me at least. Information on mechanics are hard to find in-game. The tutorial offers almost no information. To top it off, trying to open up the library from the Esc menu consistently results in a crash.
It unnecessarily takes a lot of time to learn about the game.
The game is costly in terms of time and money. Games like this would cost around 3-4 dollars on a smartphone.
tl;dr: too pricey