There is an issue with FCBs in DOSBox 0.74(-3) that causes save files in the game to become corrupted. The issue has been fixed in SVN; however, if you ever ran the installation in 0.74 then you'll need to start over with undamaged files in SVN.

Hmmm... Which SVN? I'm currently using 4057. Still, this is also a fresh install, and I cannot even get to save game creation

There may be some issue with CYGNUS.COM, not sure. Instead, start with BEGINS.EXE (small choice) or BEGIN.EXE (large choice).

Edit: CYGNUS.COM changes the default drive to A:, so it forces you to play from the A: drive; and it will cause a crash if available memory is not as expected. So, the workaround is to simply not use this problematic launcher program and instead run the chosen executable directly as mentioned above. Alternatively, use the batch file in the attached archive to start the game, you'll hardly notice the difference... except it works. 😉

OK, that allows me to bypass the problem. Still wondering what the exact problem is. BEGINS.EXE & BEGIN.EXE do the exact some thing if I play from disk, instead of copying the files onto the HDD. So, if CYGNUS.COM didn't force A: Drive, it might work as well. But the BATCH file accomplishes the same thing.

BEGIN.EXE and BEGINS.EXE are not identical, they do something different, but I haven't analyzed what exactly. Maybe different system configurations regarding available memory (256K vs. 512K, etc.), but the manual probably makes it clear. Again, CYGNUS.COM will crash while loading either executable if memory layout is not exactly as expected, which is the other reason besides forcing A: that the launcher program is problematic.

Probably has the same issue with floppy access that a lot of other games have. If I manually build a "boot" disk like the SETUP.BAT file tries to do, it will work just fine with the BOOT command in DOSBox. Have to use DOS 3.0 or earlier, as there just isn't room on the 360 K disk the game comes on. May work fine if migrated to a large disk size as well, haven't tried that. The game seems designed around DOS 3, which makes sense considering its release date.

EDIT: On a related note... Does anyone know of a DOS version that will install the SYS files without the COM file on the SYS command, when there isn't actually room for the COM file? The SETUP.BAT file seems to expect this behavior. Every DOS I have access to (Including 3.0,) will abort the entire procedure if there isn't room for all 3 files.