Ok, I need help for this because I just don't remember what the name is, and it's driving me nuts. All I want is to locate a copy so that I can buy it and play through it.
The last time I saw this game had to be, oh, 7 years ago? maybe a little more. It is (or, was) a top-down space RPG. Even the details of the story are sketchy to me, but I remember that all action took place in the same geographic scale - what i mean is that instead of cutting away to an arena for the combat sequences, everything was handled in the same window, in a continuous flow.
the number one thing that I distinctly remember was that if you didn't pay the shareware license you could still keep playing, but you'd never find any of the FTL drives. That didn't stop you from playing but it would take you about 2 hours to fly to the next solar system, instead of 5 minutes. the other thing that I remember is that this game was part of a series. I also seem to remember that each piece of hardware in your ship could be upgraded in several different ways, but whether that was done by shopping, collecting war prizes, or discovering artifact is lost to me.
The game was, of course, 2D. It may have been DOS4G/W. I do remember running it from a dos prompt.
I have tried to Google for related keywords, I have tried asking a few of my friends from back in the BBS days. I have had no luck. I thought maybe the collective knowledge of you, the game developers, would be able to help me.
If you can, please tell me what you remember and where I might find any screenshots/exes.

Thank you,

Perhaps Solar Winds from Epic?

GIVE THE MAN A COOKIE! You are correct, sah. Thank you, sah.