Begin	Last Updated 2/27/05 Page Author: Ben Hallert Top Page
A Tactical Starship Simulation

Beginning To Play
I remember first seeing it played on a public computer at the Seattle library in the late 1980s. The first version I got was 1.65, a text only version. I now play version 2.0, released in 1991 (I think) with support for EGA graphics. My friends and I want a newer version, still turn based, that can be multiplayer and maybe even have other improvements to add to the depth of the game. I hope someone running Google searches to find out more about this game will stumble across the page and maybe e-mail me any info they have on the current location of the authors.

Looking for the authors

UPDATE 2/28/05 - Both authors have contacted me! Neither of them knew about how many people still played the game, but Tom Nelson ran a google search for 'Tactical Starship Combat' and this page came up first. Yee-haw! One of the main reasons I put this together was to track them down, looks like they found me first! They've joined the Yahoo! group. I'll find out if they want to let their e-mail addresses out, but they're contactable on the group in the meantime.

I've spent some time in Yahoo! People Search, reading dejanews (now http://groups.google.com), and searching all over for the authors or their company, but no luck. I can't find a website for this company, but if anyone knows what happened, let me know. Hey, if YOU are one of these guys, drop me an e-mail! I'd love to send in that shareware fee, especially if I can get a copy of the 'Advanced Tactics Manual' advertised in the readme!

The authors are listed as 'Tom Nelson' and 'Mike Higgins' of 'Clockwork Software'. Here's the contact info from the game:

Clockwork Software
P.O. Box 610338
San Jose, CA 95161

The Micro Foundry BBS
(415) 598-0498
1200/2400/9600 24 Hours

I'm not the only person looking for these guys. Here's some links to Usenet conversations:

Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3

There are many more, those just happen to be convenient and I am lazy.

Other Sites
There are not many Begin sites, but there is one other fan page I know of:

Begin: A Tactical Starship Simulation - A good data page on the game
The Underdogs' Begin Page - A good place to download abandon ware games.
Begin Yahoo! Group - The Begin discussion group for talking with other players about the game.