Federation

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Description

Federation of Free Traders is a space simulation/exploration game that is quite similar to an earlier title, Elite. The player is able to zoom around in space while trading goods, undertake missions, or simply explore the galaxy (which consists of over 8 million planets).

There is a significant amount of playable options in FOFT and a considerable attention is paid to detail. For instance, if the player becomes tired of roaming through outer space, they can skim a planet or two (which plays in a similar fashion to David Braben's other game, Virus).

During the docking sequence players can create their own programs for automated functions, using a built-in BASIC like language called SIMPLE.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "FOFT: Federation of Free Traders" -- UK/EU title

Part of the Following Groups

• Genre: Simulation - Space trading and combat
• Merchant / Trade-oriented games

User Reviews

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Critic Reviews

The Games Machine (UK)	Amiga	Jul, 1989	93 out of 100	93
The One	Amiga	Jul, 1989	89 out of 100	89
The One	Atari ST	Oct, 1988	89 out of 100	89
Commodore User	Amiga	Jul, 1989	76 out of 100	76
Amiga User International	Amiga	Aug, 1989	7 out of 10	70
Joker Verlag präsentiert: Sonderheft	Atari ST	1990	70 out of 100	70
Amiga Format	Amiga	Sep, 1989	69 out of 100	69
Power Play	Amiga	Sep, 1989	62 out of 100	62
The Games Machine (UK)	Atari ST	Apr, 1989	44 out of 100	44
Computer and Video Games (CVG)	Atari ST	Apr, 1989	44 out of 100	44

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Trivia

Inspiration of Elite

The game's inspiration was an improvement of Elite, what programmer Paul Blythe told The One:

"I love Braben and Bell's Elite. I played it and played it and thought it was brilliant, but there was always a feeling that it could have been taken further - although maybe not within the constraints of 8-bit." (Source: The One, issue #1, 1988/10).

Galaxy size

The galaxy is quite huge. According to the programmer, it would take 65,000,000 real time hours at maximum speed to fly from one side to the other.

Atari ST update

After the original Atari ST release, there were quite some criticisms on the gameplay and reception partly was not very well (i.e. The Games Machine 44%). The major point criticised was the slow pace at moving through space because of the instant stopping of fast travel as soon as a ship appeared in range, which happens very often. This problem was solved in the later Amiga conversion. Gremlin offered an upgrade for the Atari ST version for £1, which contained the changes to gameplay made in the Amiga version.