Small edit - counter is available through the web. Linked below:
http://sielim.ghost.pl/gk/rotorSTv1.html

Aditionally - I did PDF versions of the counter, so that it can be printed and glued to fit into a paper version of calculator... before posting - I will try out myself on - whether it works fine, or rather not. Will see :) I hope to print it out tomorrow + glue onto some 'solid bases'. And we'll see how it looks / works.

New Stuff!!

This time it has been a looong while. Honestly - my work just eats me up totally. I'm however coming back. For the moment - I already have idea for a next game - strategic play of golf :) with a bit of 'randomness'. Since it is an interesting topic for me - it will be a funny thing to try this out by myself. It will wait a bit, till I'll finish the refubrishment of this Star Trader. Today I'm presenting "Star Trader Counter" - flash version. It is moreless documented at:
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dddnhjg_3kpq23zdh
Idea behind is to have an automated way of calculating... without actually calculating. This time it is 'electronic'. Now - I'm working on a paper version of the same thing, that should not be extremely difficult since the mechanics are already ok with the computer version. Well - but that is the funny part - fresh let's say. In the meantime - I'm preparing all the steps to close this refresh off and play it finally!!! By the way - another request for a printable version has been posted to me. By the way - I just noticed one minor 'mistake' in my refubrished maps!! It was a huge surprise to me to notice, that my remade price modifier is remade wrong!! Holly crap - I'm correcting this ASAP :) Cheers.

Interesting News

The game is nearly refubrished. What is interesting - I did find just nearby a place, where I can make all the board pieces / tokens in the exact way I need them. It was quite funny, since it took me some time to find company... and when I found it is something like 2 km's away from the place where I live. Now I'm negotiating with the producer on - what can he produce and what will be the price. I will anyway take those, but I'm interested in - how much will it cost. Second thing is - on BGG I did put the vector map of Star Trader that I did produce. And I know - already some people did reuse it. But wait until I will prepare the XXI century Star Trader :) In the meantime - I have an idea already on two games of my own. First one - a space adventure but of unknown nature for the moment. Most probably - discovering new space system. And the second is pretty much related to my work... In this game players would become team managers responsible for executing projects. I already have some ideas, some engine idea... but that is still to be written. I should have this soon I hope. Still - for the moment, I'm thrilled with the reedition, especially when I think of additional plantes to be incorporated (two).

Idea - easy game cards translation.

Idea is - how to make the game cards translation without loosing the nice design along with the translation still - keeping it all together without destroying original View. My idea on this one is to:

1. Use Scribus software to recreate all the card descriptions
2. Create printable references, that will fit the original sizes of cards
3. Print what you have on foil
4. Fit this into card sleeves
5. Use freely :)

I will soon post my results into BGG under the Warcraft Board Game Expansion (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/10991), where I did translate all the cards. Additionally - I will recreate the heroes.
In the same time - I did play a bit... and I must admit - I like Agricola... but plying it too much leaves your opponents (that do not play that often) bit behind. And ... that kind of depresses them. Additionally - it is a bit complicated one.
While on the other hand - I must honestly admit - with Warcraft Board Game Expansion game becomes a lot more of a strategy than it was before. Still - it stays relatively simple one. And I say this even without using the heroes! In general than - I will rate it higher than previously for the standard edition.
As last maybe... Star Trader. I'm almost ready to deploy the final solution. For the moment - what has already been completed:

• All the reference cards (Agents, Occasions, Events)
• Most of the tokens used in game
• Designed the non-writing way to deal with the trade
• Completing design for 'star-ships' boards
• Think of redesign of the boards to accommodate current game approach
• Prepare 'cut' lines for boards

What it seems now, that instead of plexa boards it will be foil. Well - will see.

Where are we?

Could not skip it - first 'tranche' of tokens arrived. Is it good? More than good! Excellent! The only difficulty may be, that those are bit round, but apart from that - exactly what was needed. For the moment - goods are ready to use. I have some difficulties in getting the 'plexa' board... since the producer does not 100% follow what I need, but that shall not stop the idea. In the meantime - we had a very enjoy full weekend. Just to mention - "Power Grid" for the first time - I kind of liked it, but randomness was bit of a pain. The second game - "Puerto Rico" with a new impressive score of 59 for a five player game! Still - I'm not too sure of how to play this game. Ah.. one more - MISHA. Full stop.

Refubrished GK Game Board

Well... it took me some time since last post. So the current status is as follows. A lot of tokens are now purchased. I mean - a real lot of tokens. I hope to use them not only in this game, but in others as well. In total - around 1.5k of tokens made of glass jewelery like tokens. In different sizes, different shapes, different colors. At first I did consider to take wooden ones, but seems - the variety is not really sufficient. This is why I went with glass ones. In some time - I will also need some additional ones that are already considered.
And that is of course not the only thing. What you can see is the player board, that will be the future one with the use of tokens. When I did summarize - now I need to find good printing shop, where I will be able to print out round tokens for some other stuff. In the meantime - additional changes will be applied to the reference cards (aa... yes, those are also already created) that will describe different 'tokens'. And the last thing. I can perfectly remember, that most frustrating thing about this game was, that each time game was moved (either way - accidentally / deliberately) probably something like 30-70% of tokens were misplaced. To prevent this from happening, board above should be prepared in a way, that tokens will fit into special 'holes'. For the moment I'm considering PLEXA, but if that will not work - I will use maybe some special paper. Soon I will also produce cards for the agents... but I've never considered this as first thing to do. Impressive? Well - I hope to deploy all together by end of April. We'll see. Ps. When I'll receive tokens - I'll give those a shot.

What a nice surprise!

Well, well, well. It is only few hours since I've posted my work and it seems, that someone looks at this (I even have some recommendations for my work on boradgamegeek.com)! Even if those are 'fake' entries :) I still enjoy it a lot. And you know what? That motivates me even furthermore! So what is next? As wrote earlier - I'll try to customize the game board with related game tokens, so that it is more 'playable'. Let's put it on the paper, in terms of the principles:

1. Simplify the board.
2. Each player will receive own boards, where he will play with his resources and fleet.
   
3. Eliminate hand writing for different activities (that's the challenge).
   
4. Get rid of tokens (1x, 10x and 100x) representing HT's (after all - is there anyone using those? :) )
   
5. Reference cards for each player convenience.

What is the plan than? In few steps, what could be done to re-edit the game and make it easier to play. Maybe points to be done grouped by importance.

1. Move out all the data from board to custom reference sheets.
2. Create player boards for each player to work with.
3. Provide 'rapid' method of resolving trades / price changes.
4. Eliminate paper tokens with some 'nice' bricks / other elements.
5. Provide custom solution allowing players to note deals they will do without using pen.
6. Different way to handle ships (again - no paper tokens).
7. Paper cards representing agents and describing agent abilities.
8. Create reference sheets for players (differentiate ones that will be used often, and ones that will be used rarely).

I think that is a very good plan and will take me some time. At the end - I assume, that this game will be reborn :) And playing it will not take something like 10h but will be rather nice and easy for someone, who plays it for the 2nd or third time in his life (since rules itself are bit difficult). So to speak - aim is to create custom extension, that will speed the game up with additional fun factor increase.