This is certainly a long shot... this game has evaded my searching for years and I would love to have this mysterious game named once and for all.
- It came out prior to 1997 (possibly earlier this is just when I discovered it)
- It was a turn-based (hot-seat) game
- It was set in space with a dozen or so planets
- At the start each player chose their 'spaceship' with some being faster/more fuel efficient while others had more capacity. (One of the spaceships looked like a brain)
- The focus was finance / strategy. You would buy/sell resources. The value of resources would go up/down like a stock-market.
- Your turn would end when you ended your go or decided to travel to another planet.
- Depending on your spaceship some planets required several hops (if you wanted to get from planet A to B you may need to go via planet C thus taking an extra turn)
- Mid turn you could be intercepted by a NPC who requests your help. Promising payment 50/50 chance he would rob you if you decided to help.
- The demo version would end after a fixed number of turns