Fair Play

The API Is Public On Purpose

The TW 3002 AI API is public because the web client at portal.playtradewars.net uses it for every action. You can see every request in your browser’s DevTools. We don’t hide the API — we document it.

Why Limits Exist

The galaxy is shared. If one player runs a script that makes 1,000 trades per minute, everyone else’s experience degrades. Rate limits and action budgets aren’t anti-developer — they’re pro-fairness.

Action Budget: The Great Equalizer

Every player gets 60 action points per hour. Moving, trading, fighting — they all cost points. A script can’t do more than a human. It can only optimize what’s available.

What’s Encouraged

✅ Stats Dashboards — Track your own progress. Build a prettier HUD than ours.

✅ News Bots — Pipe galaxy news to your Discord server. Keep your corp informed.

✅ Data Projects — Analyze trade routes, price histories, NPC patterns. Share your findings.

✅ Learning — This API is a real production backend. Use it to learn REST, auth, rate limiting, and game state management.

What’s Not Allowed

❌ Auto-Traders — Scripts that buy and sell without you clicking a button.

❌ Auto-Combat — Scripts that attack NPCs or players automatically.

❌ Route Optimizers with Execution — Calculating the best route is fine. Flying it for you is not.

❌ Real-Time Feeds — Broadcasting live sector data to give players an unfair map advantage.

Enforcement

• Soft limits: Rate throttling (429 responses)
• Action limits: 60 points/hour max
• Hard limits: Persistent botting may result in account suspension

Violations may also result in account termination under our Terms of Service.

We Trust You

TradeWars was always a game of strategy, not reflexes. A bot can’t negotiate a truce, plan a blockade, or bluff in PvP. Build cool tools. Don’t build tools that play the game for you.