The 8th Annual Tradewars Awards are here! The Tradewars Awards are back at [The Lost Traders Tavern](https://web.archive.org/web/20050000000000*/https://tavern.homeip.net) Nominations are being accepted from now through Saturday, January 22nd, at 9:00pm eastern time. Please help spread the word, and login to The Lost Traders Tavern to make your nominations!

I'm closing the TWGS effective immediately. If you have a game you still want to play, please email me and I'll find a new home for the game. The reason for the decision is fairly simple... I just think others are far more motivated, and far better at doing this than I am. The website is actually going to benefit from this, as long waiting projects will finally be finished. There are actually a few things already completed, such as an RSS/XML Feed for news, an email list function for the forum and a Tradewars-related internet search (if you want to beta test, go to the [Library](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://www.thestardock.com/category.cgi) and just run any search). For now, the TWGS Gamebox on the left will sport TWGS Search new game data. I'd also like to take this opportunity to remind people... sign up if you haven't already! TWGS Search is extremely popular among site visitors.

BOTE 2004 will open this years tournament at The Stardock on Dec. 1st, 2004! Unlike a certain tournament we agreed to host, this one is run by me, so there will be no problems. Tournament rules, graphics, team pages and registration info will be forthcoming in the next few days. To hold you over, here's some history on the BOTE - - [Original BOTE 1998](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://tradewars.fament.com/original-bote/elite.htm) - [Brief 1999 BOTE info](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://tradewars.fament.com/guardian/bote.htm) - [BOTE 2000](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://tradewars.fament.com/bote2000/index.html) - [BOTE 2001](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://tradewars.fament.com/bote2001/history.html) - [BOTE 2002](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://tradewars.fament.com/bote2002/) - [BOTE 2003](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://tradewars.fament.com/bote2003/) And soon, BOTE 2004!!

I have been a wee-bit slow to merge TradeWars.org and The Stardock, but the big chunk of the work is now done. You can now view a big chunk of Trade Wars history from 1997 to present in the Library. Direct Link: [TradeWars.org History](/category/TradeWars.org) Some interesting articles to start you off - [Is TradeWars Dying? Posted April 1998!](/post/1045)

The BLaST OFF Tournament has found a home for this years 2004 version! Thanks to The Stardock...and EleqTrizi'T this years tournament will be held on a great server with a great sysop. The offical ship/planet settings can be found via the tournament web site at: [](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/<https://www.geocities.com/daniel_e_higginbotham>) This tournament is a solo/unlimited/ladder. Basically the winner advances to another round, while the loser gets eliminated! This tournament is going to be great, alot of players are showing up to see who is really the best in Trade Wars! Slim Shady and Alexio are among the better known. With about eight other traders so far. The start date is still TBA, but it WILL be before the end of Corp Wars, and the begging of BOTE 2004. If anyone has any questions please contact me at [](<mailto:daniel_e_higginbotham@yahoo.com>) To sign up for the tournament go to: [](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/<https://www.dreamlandweb.net/blastoff/signup.htm>) ### Thanks to the following for all their help and support: [Dreamland Web Design](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/<https://www.dreamlandweb.net>) Slim Shady - creator of "Enders Game" edits EleqTrizi'T - host of this years tournament ATTAC - sponsor SWATH - sponsor EIS Online - sponsor Thank you all! and sign up quick, spots going fast!

Re-posted from the forums: >[www.tw-cabal.com](/files/Site%20Caps/TWCabal/index.html) updated. new entries in the tip's section, the glossary, and I fixed the links in the Links and strategy pages. For those of you who don't know, [www.tw-cabal.com](/files/Site%20Caps/TWCabal/index.html) is one of the best sources of information about playing TW. <br> -Traitor One of the best resources, no doubt. I freakin' love that site.

There are hundreds of TradeWars servers scattered across the internet, each hosting a multitude of games. Yet, the designers of the TWGS software have failed to include a way to search them all. Until now, no one has bothered to assemble a single comprehensive resource of TradeWars games. In lieu of such a system, [EleqTrizi'T](/) and I set out to build one. Powered by [PHP](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://www.php.net/), [PostgreSQL](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://www.postgresql.com/) and [Perl](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://www.cpan.org/), the new [TWGS Search Engine](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://www.thestardock.com/twgssearch/) launched today with listings from select servers. Every night, Eleq's search program connects to all of the TradeWars servers in the database and refreshes the list of games. This allows us to index a massive number of games without any (human) effort required. The search engine website, coded by me, allows game searches based on 17 different game settings. Several sorted views are available. An extended display, which lists all of the information about the game, server, and other games on that server, is available, including the raw telnet session converted to HTML. Before this system even gets off the ground, I want to make one thing perfectly clear: We are ** *not* ** in the business of rating SysOps or servers. Our goal is to provide open access to all SysOps and interested players, not to be a [TWLeague](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://www.twleague.com/). We will not take action against cheating SysOps or refuse to list sub-par systems. This decision comes after thorough consideration: We do not want this system to die a controversial death or become so embroiled in TW‑politics that it does not function as intended. Interested SysOps may submit their server for indexing on [this page](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://www.thestardock.com/twgssearch/sysops.php).

BOTE 2004 (that's Battle of the Elite), will be hosted here at The Stardock this year. Finally, one of my life-long dreams, hosting the BOTE, will come to pass. Next, I plan to aquire magical abilities of turning things into beer by simply touching them, and I will be complete! I will be posting registration pages very soon.

The sign ups for the BLaST OFF Tournament have been opened. Sign up at: [https://www.dreamlandweb.net/blastoff/signup.htm](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://www.dreamlandweb.net/blastoff/signup.htm) Check the game settings at: [https://www.geocities.com/daniel_e_higginbotham](https://web.archive.org/web/20040000000000*/https://www.geocities.com/daniel_e_higginbotham) Game start will be announced soon.

Now that BG3.x is over, I will be banging a new game tonight. I'm going to call it Dock Stock, and the modifications are not too drastic. No planet mods, and some simple but popular ship mods are in place. Game will be easy to figure out, no staring through loads and loads of ships trying to figure out what's best. The ships that were good to use before are still good to use, just easier to use. AND NOW THE BIG NEWS!! Tonight I'm introducing the new turn system, to be put in testing at The Stardock! Dock Stock will have a 800-per-day base, and allow you to store up to 7 days worth of turns. Check it out tonight at 6pm Pacific!