I still have the original MT 1 and 2 games myself, on good old 5.25" floppy disks (which my computers no longer can use, LOL). Never did finish the second one, but since it's available at HOTU I think I'll d/l it and give it a try...
There is one thing you'll probably want to do if you play either game, and that's crank your CPU cycles 'way down. Your team will be attacked as soon as they're off the ship in almost every space port you enter, and you need to stop and split everyone up to return fire (with the 'p' key) fast. (The 'p' key is actually the party access key, but it also automatically pauses the game). In fact, IIRC, you begin MT 1 with an immediate shoot-out in a bar, so remember that this game was designed to run on a 386 and set your cycles accordingly!
There are a couple of ways to make big bucks fast without murdering party members. One is to hit the casino and save/restore a lot. Another is to stock up on vacc suits and take a passenger liner (middle passage, NOT low passage) to one of the nearby low-level tech planets (see the docs for tech levels). The markup on a good vacc suit is huge, and you won't risk running into pirates (who will toast your ship until you get a lot of expensive upgrades) if you fly commercial. The team can carry quite a few vacc suits in inventory: sell them off, return to base, and rinse and repeat.
Once you have a ship that can survive interstellar travel without getting reduced to rivets, the abso-damn-lute best cargo run you can make is water from Efate to Louzy. After fuelling costs, the return is in the neighborhood of 36:1. (Yes, I still have my old notes to the game. I never throw anything out)
-- Mal
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