Reach for the Stars is the earliest known commercially published example of the 4X games (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate) genre. It was written by Roger Keating and Ian Trout of SSG of Australia and published in 1983 for the Commodore 64 and then the Apple II in 1985. Version 3 added a DOS port for the IBM PC, although the DOS port did not share all of the features that the other platforms had. The game was eventually ported to pre-Mac OS ...
more
Reach for the Stars is the earliest known commercially published example of the 4X games (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate) genre. It was written by Roger Keating and Ian Trout of SSG of Australia and published in 1983 for the Commodore 64 and then the Apple II in 1985. Version 3 added a DOS port for the IBM PC, although the DOS port did not share all of the features that the other platforms had. The game was eventually ported to pre-Mac OS X versions of the Macintosh operating system, such as System 6. It was also ported to the Amiga and Apple IIGS, though which version was ported is not known.
The game has a science fiction theme, in which players command a home star in the galaxy, and then expand to form an interstellar empire by colonizing far off worlds, building powerful starship, and researching new technologies.
Reach for the Stars was very strongly influenced by the board game Stellar Conquest. Many of RFTS's features have direct correspondence in Stellar Conquest....
less
