Attention, cadet!

This is the sequel to the first Starfleet Command, which was touted as one of the better Star Trek games in existence. The games are actually based on a turn-based board game. Empires at War continues the great starship combat gaming experience created by the first. If more of the same is what you want, then here it is.

Story

The game takes place immediately following the events of the first Starfleet Command. The game is set in the very interesting timeperiod seen in the movie Star Trek VI and uses ships and effects from that era. The missing Organians have returned. They have brought with them a new face of terror, the Interstellar Consortium, which threatens to overrun the quadrant. You must stop them.

Game play

The game is played out in two dimensions - not three, there is no up and down Z-axis as in Homeworld despite the illusion of 3-dimensions. You can command up to three starships at a time. There are ongoing single player campaigns as well as very quick customizable, one-time skirmish battles. Campaigns take you through your career. You begin the game commanding a lowly frigate and gain experience (which is the currency you use to buy new ships, supplies, and make repairs). You will be assigned various missions to assign while flying through space on a galactic map (you choose where to go after each mission). Missions are characterized by their terrain (are there planets? asteroids? black holes? are you in a nebula?). Sometimes you'll be given cargo escort duty, monster or pirate patrol, or the generic hostile skirmish. Venture into enemy space and you can make cargo raids, planetary assaults, even take on massive battle stations. Multiplayer is also hosted and the game features an active online community.

The view of space (your battlefield) can be modified. You can view it from above (Highly useful), freestyle, from your ship's perspective, and from your target's perspective. You can enable or disable a "camera lock" on your target, meaning the view constantly shifts to keep your target in view. Otherwise, you face where your ship is facing.

You take command of your starship and are intimately in control of many functions typically seen in Star Trek - as well as a few twists. There are various panels towards the left and bottom of the screen where you issue commands. These include changing your speed, going to "red alert", arming weapons, raising shields, hailing ships, issuing orders to your fleet (formations, weapon settings, etc), using tractor beams, using electronic warfare, using sensors, using transporters, and controlling your ship's energy usage. Everything is designed to have a rock-paper-scissors effect. There is a counter maneuver for every maneuver. The key to victory is knowing when, where, and how to use your energy for speed, attack, and defense because your ship can only produce a finite amount of energy.

There are four general types (more like sizes) of ships available. Frigates are smallest. Light cruisers are bigger. Heavy cruisers are the typical starship (i.e. the Enterprise). Dreadnoughts are massive. There are also divisions in some of the categories (battlecruisers are very powerful heavy cruisers for example). Some ships are carriers, meaning they have the ability to carry fighter support craft, such as fighters and new pseudo-fighters.

Each ship is configured with a different set of weapons (called hard points). Each weapon has what is called a firing arc (which direction the weapon fires) indicated by a circle with a pie piece. That pie piece indicated the directions the weapon can fire. There are a wide variety of weapons to use, some unique to certain races. There are several types of phasers, for example, the most common weapon. Some ships also carry different kinds of missiles, which are seeking weapons, meaning they follow the target. Ships can also drop mines (or beam them in the path of ships, called a Transporter Bomb). Energy based weapons (phasers, photon torpedoes, plasma torpedoes for example) take time to recharge. Missiles and mines (and marines) are disposable and you can only get new ones at starbases.

You can beam boarding parties (marines) on enemy ships to destroy systems or try to capture the ship. This also leaves your ships systems more vulnerable when enemies do the same.

Electronic warfare is designed to fool the targeting sensors of enemy ships, or, to reduce the enemy's measures. Other things make you harder to hit, like evasive maneuvers, a cloaking device, or just being in a nebula.

Juggling all of these things is difficult. Time and practice are the only way to learn, along with constant reference to the manual to acclimate yourself with the details of the game to truly become a master.

RACES

The Federation of Planets

The Federation is typified by well-balanced ships. Their ships are more geared towards scientific exploration and posess superior sensors and more probes. Federation shields also recharge quicker than those of other races. Federation ships also have many redundant systems, making their internal systems tougher to damage.

The primary weapons of Federation ships are the Phaser 1 (the best phaser you can carry on a ship) and the photon torpedo. Photons can be configured in a variety of ways. They can be set to proximity detonate for long-range attack, normal for moderate range, or overload for close range. The Feds also use missiles on many ships, but as secondary weapons, they also carry anti-missile defense (AMD). The Feds also have fighters at their disposal although not many ships are configured to carry them.

The Klingon Empire

The Klingons rely on maneuverability and quick charging weapons for their attack. They rely on the disruptor and the Phaser 2. They also use missiles much more than the Feds. A few Klingon ships can cloak and some carry photons. Klingosn also use fighters, but to a limited extent much like the Feds. The Klingons were first to develop anti-missile defenses (AMD) and use it on almost every ship.

Klingon internal systems tend to be fragile.

Klingon ships tend to have weak rear shields.

The Romulan Star Empire

The Romulan relies on maneuverability and the plasma torpedo - almost exclusively. The plasma torpedo is shot for shot the most powerful weapon. It takes the longest to charge, which explains the need to cloak. While cloaked, ships cannot fire, but are harder to hit. They are still "visible" on the screen and affected by explosions and mines. Cloaking also costs a lot of energy and its effects are diminished at higher speeds.

Plasma torpedoes are seeking weapons and can be configured in various ways, such as enveloping (damages all shields) and "shotgun", where the torpedo breaks apart to damage multiple targets (like fighters).

Romulan ships have excellent shields but fragile interior systems.

Romulans use pseudo-fighters. These are larger craft than fighters are; they even have their own shields. Ships that carry them are called tenders.

The Lyran Empire

The Lyrans use the Phaser 2, disruptor and their own unique weapon, the ESG. This is a weapon that when fired, produces a circle of energy around the ship, used offensively as a ram and defensively against seeking weapons to drain their energy. They also posess pseudo-fighters.

The Hydran Kingdom

The Hydrans have two unique weapons. The fusion beam is a very powerful short-range weapon. To balance this, the Hydrans developed a longer range weapon, the Hellbore Cannon. This weapon damages shields on every side of a ship.

Almost all Hydran ships are equipped to carry fighters. Hydrans also use the G-Phaser quite a bit, capable of firing 4 short-range shots at a time before recharging, useful for beating missiles.

The Gorn Confederation

The Gorn also rely on the plasma torpedo, but not as much as the Romulans. Gorn ships have more secondary phaser-1's. Gorn ships are extremely unmaneuverable but possess superior weapon arcs and are well built, making them difficult to approach and damage.

The Gorn use pseudo-fighters as well.

The Mirak Star League

One of two new races in the game, the Mirak are aggressive predators. They are in bitter conflict with the Lyrans.

The Mirak use the missile more than any other race. They overwhelm the enemy with missiles. They also use the disruptor, AMD's, and fighters.

The Interstellar Consortium

The other new kid on the block, they were designed to be an evil opposite of the Federation - similar in structure but different methods of ruling.

The ISC has well balanced ships, good shields, and durability. They use the plasma torpedo in conjunction with their own weapon, the Plasmatic Pulsar Device, a powerful long range weapon. Fighters are rare, but a fleet with plasma, PPD's, and fighters is one of the most formidable in the game.

Graphics

The ship models are beautiful. Zoom in close and get a good eyeful. Replay your battles and drink in the panoramic beauty of the ships, the weapons and the background.

The weapons effects look like they are straight out of Industrial Light and Magic's archives. Photons twinkle and flicker, plasma ripples and shimmers, and disruptors fly like thunderbolts.

As ships get damaged, you can even see the damage marks placed on the models as well as see their warp plasma vent as they pitifully try to run away...

Explosions are nice and bright and vivid sometimes, other times they seem kind of week.

Sound and Music

Everything sounds the way it does in the movies and on TV. Sounds are crisp. The music is excellent as well. Each race has their own style. The clips are broken down into dozens and dozens of pieces so that as the sway of battle turns, different parts of the music can be heard depending on how well you are doing. The Klingon themes are most fun and appropriate. The Federation has a heroic fanfare while the ISC has a grim fanfare. I miss the Romulan theme from the first SF Command; this one is not as thrilling.

Instructions

The manual is a phone book as far as game instructions are concerned, but everything in there is useful. You get a fold out reference card as well.

The in game training (Federation only) takes you through the basic ship operations, and is voiced by none other than Captain Sulu himself, George Takei.

Problems

Aside from being difficult to learn, there is one problem far worse. Technical bugs. The game is overrun with glitches and problems. The designers, Taldren, have, in conjunction with the distributor Interplay, released SEVERAL, yes several patches for the game. I strongly urge you to find and download the latest patch.

Conclusions

If you can get the game to run on your system, it is a thoroughly enjoyable game. The challenge and the strategy involved is invigorating. The different ships and races should keep you experimenting for a long time.

There's nothing more fun than flinging photons at filthy Klingons!

At ease, cadet!

The Premier
Epinions - October 2002

Note:

This product has already been reviewed by me. In fact, it was my first review. However, when Epinions made drastic changes to their system in early 2001, this product and review was "archived" (taken down), and now the product is back up for review (but not my original review). Go figure. Anyway, I have improved on the essay after having played the game for, well, over a year now. Enjoy.

Recommended: Yes