Reach for the Stars was released by SSG (Australia) in 1983 for the Commodore64 and AppleII platforms. A later version came out for DOS. It is a computer version of the classic Avalon Hill board game Stellar Conquest (copies of which I have seen are copyrighted 1985.) The mechanics for both of these versions are nearly identical.
I fondly remember long hours hacking away at sessions of Reach for the Stars. Even that ‘primitive’ version had a high addiction factor, and decent game play.
It was arguably the first of the 4X space games (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate.) As I remember it, the most appealing aspects were the thrill of galactic exploration and the challenging AI opponents.
It has been ages since I played it, but I’ll describe what I remember.
The game board was a two-dimensional hexagonal array of our galaxy, with a few dozen stars scattered across, and some dust-clouds also, which were semi-permeable obstacles. The players (up to four) each started at a random spot. Initial fleets consisted of 35 colony transports, four scouts, and four corvettes. The ‘vettes were the viable warships in the fleet, and the scouts and transports would be vulnerable to enemy warships unless escorted. Exploration of nearby systems was the first
order of business. Though the array of solar systems was always the same, the planets in the systems were randomized from game to game. Initially, it was important to identify and colonize the best of the nearby planets.
Concerning the solar systems, there were five classes of stars represented. Yellow stars had the best chance for terran-type planets. Blue stars had far fewer hospitable planets, but their planets were largely mineral-rich. The orange, green and red stars were between those extremes. Each system could have zero to three viable planets, though most systems by far had one or two. Planets could be terran (which were best for population growth at 20%,) sub-terran(10%,) minimal-terran (no growth,) and barren. It was important to find either a terran planet to multiply your colonists, or a mineral-rich world for good industrial output.
Every fourth game turn was a production turn, in which each of your colonized worlds produced an Industrial Point (i.p.) for each population, or two per pop if the planet were mineral-rich. You could spend these i.p.s on additional warships, scouts, new tech, or colony emigration (new colony ships.) The game had a turn limit, 44 I think, and whoever had the most colonists at that time was the winner.
Tech that you could buy consisted of improved ship speeds, offensive ships, defensive missile bases, industrial ability, and a few other techs. They came in three levels, and you had to have acquired at least one tech in the current level to invest in the next. Your overall strategy dictated what techs were most important initially. As I recall, if you managed to get all of the techs, you either had won the game or had reached a stalemate with another player.
As the game progressed, the players would expand and eventually run into each other. Fleets of warships would clash, defend colonies, retreat, etc. Sheer numbers of lesser warships could sometimes win over advanced and expensive models. It was imperative to recon your opponents position and movements, and to defend your most valuable colonies. With careful planning, you could conquer several opposing systems, though these were usually hard to keep.
It’s been over twenty years, and there have been many great space games since Reach for the Stars. However, it had all of the basic elements of the best 4X games. It was truly ahead of its time.
