SpaceSimCentral

Thought I might post this one, since it's defiantly worth a look. While it might not exactly be a space sim, it's a general open world space trading game all round with a nice slew of features. Found it during one of my aimless App Store safaris... Link: [url]http://www.corytrese.com/games/startraders/[/url] I must admit, I was close to ignoring it when I saw it due to its somewhat... simple interface design, but I'm glad I didn't. Essentially, you're a captain of a ship in a galaxy with several factions, and your aim is to survive, make money through bounty hunting, trading, missions etc. While graphically it's unimpressive, it has a lot of depth that comes with a steep learning curve. Command your spacecraft and journey across the galaxy in this epic Space Simulation / Space Opera role playing game (RPG.) Pick sides in a galactic conflict and play as bounty hunter, merchant, pirate of smuggler. Buy sell and battle with over 150 ship types and land, explore and trade on more than 40 planets in the Free version. The universe is relatively dynamic, factions have relations towards each other, the economy seems to have a solid system and more. You have to worry about crew, morale, supplies, bad guys... oh yeah, combat is reminiscent of the classic space traders. You take turns in firing main guns, torpedoes, dodging, moving back and forth, and even boarding. What's interesting here is that damage is modular, so guns can be blown off, solar sails torn to shreds and engines turned into molten slag. There's also a staggering amount of ships in the game, especially in the "Elite" version, which I recommend... Star Traders RPG Elite adds epic new content including 2,000 new Sectors, 200 ships, 110 planets, 200% rumors, twice as many officers, awards and content. On sale now for $1.99 including transfer of saved games from Free edition. Anyway, it seems to have a strong community. I'll let you guys check it out. 

Looks good TechnicalByte, thanks for mentioning this one. Think this would be everything you would need if you could come across other players in the game world.Here is a video:

Multiplayer would indeed be a welcome addition. The game looks a lot better on Android than iPad... must... resist... offering assistance as... interface... artist...

Thanks for spotting this! Downloaded it to my 'Droid phone to play during idle moments, mostly on the train to work. I've barely scratched the surface so far (just slowly getting the hang of the interface and simple trading) but I like it already - it "feels" like a traditional space sim, in the style of Elite, or the Traveller paper RPG. You seem to be able to land on uninhabited planets and scour them for resources and alien artifacts as well, and even have a "Warrior" attribute to see how good you are at beating up the local hostile wildlife! I haven't quite ventured that far yet  Two other pluses for a phone game are firstly that you don't seem to need to access the network while playing, so will probably work without signal (am thinking of the London Underground here!) and secondly, it responds to my phone's volume mute button so can play silently if needed. Anyway, I'd definitely recommend giving it a try, will probably end up buying the elite (i.e. full) version - it's only a couple of dollars. auryx

Is there anything similar for PC? I love it (having bought the Elite) but wouldn't mind something on my laptop for when I travel and/or don't have my phone.I'm having a hard time building 'my' ship though, is the type of ship on a planet random or is there a pattern? Also, 96 damage for one gun turn? Yeah!

Hmm good question. Not sure celticfang....though I guess you could always find an Android emulator for your laptop and run it on there, maybe? I'm presuming those exist  I've nearly given up on my current Captain, I seem to have unwittingly annoyed every single government in the galaxy, and so blown to bits on every voyage. Might have to start again Not sure about the ships, I've never managed to save up enough money to buy one! I'm clearly a n00b. auryx

I've been upgrading my starting ship and I got an android emulator on my laptop for now.I just wish you could remove or pay to swap out the upgrades, but that'd change the game massively.