It is not so much that the game is an unofficial sequel to that classic space strategy game, but more that both games borrow so many features from Civilization. In many ways, Birth of the Federation is the next in the long line of MicroProse strategy games, breaking little from the mold set by Civilization and cemented by Master of Orion and Master of Magic.
While each had its own distinct flavor, all these games shared many qualities. Birth of the Federation is no different. The options in the game are as robust as any other MicroProse strategy title.
You can vary your starting conditions in the game setup menu, but in general, you get a barely developed starting solar system and an imperative to conquer the rest of the galaxy. The options you can adjust include the starting technology level of the five major empires Federation, Cardassian, Ferengi, Klingon, and Romulanthe number of minor races in the game such as Vulcans, Nausicaans, and Betazoidsthe shape of the galaxy, and the size of the galaxy. Once in the game, you have to manage and guide your empire through technological research, diplomatic relations, espionage, military buildup, internal production, exploration, and outright ship-to-ship combat.
The game starts off simply, as do all these games, but can get very complex and overwhelming. I did appreciate that the different races do act according to their Star Trek personae. The Klingons come off as aggressive warmongers, and the Ferengi sure sound like sneaky bastards. Both the Romulan R'derex -class cruiser and the D'dredar -class battle cruiser can cloak. All warship type ships have an upgraded version.
The upgraded Klingon K'vort -class Bird-of-Prey can cloak. The strike cruiser carries less beam weapons than warships in exchange for a large and powerful torpedo loadout. These ships excel at assaulting systems but are usually outgunned if they have to engage in close range combat.
Strike cruisers are slow and cumbersome in and out of battle. They all are short range ships. The Romulan R'tan -class starship can cloak. All strike cruisers have an upgraded version that is faster, more powerful and better able to fight in close range combat. An empire's upgraded strike cruiser is arguably their most powerful ship in the game. Command cruisers are the most well-known class of starship. In the game they are meant to lead fleets into battle. In battle they allow the targeting of individual enemy ships rather than types of enemy ships.
In battle command cruisers are heavily armed and shielded, but slow and unwieldy. They are generally more powerful than light warships, but less powerful than heavy warships. Outside of battle, all command cruisers are short range. The Federation is the only empire that fields a heavy command cruiser. The Romulan D'deridex -class Warbird can cloak. All command cruisers have an upgraded version that is faster and more powerful.
Colony ships terraform and colonize uninhabited planets. They work faster in groups although you only lose one ship from a group when you colonize a system. They are slow and cumbersome in battle, but are medium range ships out of battle. The Klingon LI'wI' -class colony ship is armed and can defend itself in battle, although it can't defeat a combat ship on its own. Romulan D'retex -class colony ships can not cloak. All colony ships have an upgraded version that are faster, better shielded, and terraform more quickly.
Troop transports are used to capture enemy worlds, build outposts and upgrade outposts to starbases. They work more effectively in groups although you only lose one transport if you capture a planet or build an outpost. Troop transports have a ground combat strength that depends on the race of the transport.
The Klingon Chowghwl -class transport is armed. The Romulan R'daran -class transport can't cloak. All transports have an upgraded version that has a higher ground combat strength, is faster, better shielded, and can build more quickly.
In Birth of the Federation , you will also encounter many minor races which you can either conquer or have voluntarily join your empire through diplomacy. Like each empire, each minor race also has a race-specific structure that you can construct once they become part of your empire, which will bring you a significant bonus. These bonuses include increased production, research, intelligence, morale, and defense.
Each minor race also has varying opinions of each empire. For instance, warrior races such as the Nausicaans and Chalnoth tend to favor the Klingons, whereas research-oriented species like the Vulcans and Trill favor the Federation above all others. You will see a sympathy meter when you first contact a minor race, and from that point onward, in your Diplomacy Screen database under that race's record.
Races that have high opinions of your empire make diplomacy much easier and cheaper and lessen the expense and need for conquest. Also, having a minor race join your empire through diplomacy generally means greater morale, and thus increasing production and research, and also reduces the susceptibility of being bribed away by a rival.
Once you've gotten everything set up, you're ready to jump in and start playing. After being treated to an intro sequence that reflects the basic beliefs and goals of the particular empire you've selected and these are quite nice by the way you are shown the main star map with your starting planets and ships.
From here the game plays out a lot like Master of Orion and other turn based strategy games - you move your ships, visit each of your colonies and choose what structures or starships they'll build, pick which technologies your scientists will focus on, engage in diplomacy with other races, and keep an eye on your spy network and internal security.
In the early turns of the game, this setup is fine. You don't have but one or two start systems to keep up with, and you'll spend most of your time sending out scouts to explore the systems around you and colony ships to terraform and colonize the planets in those systems.
Sooner or later you'll come into contact with one or more of the game's minor races which will force you to start paying attention to your diplomacy screens and eventually you'll find another major race who will force you to start arming yourself and setting up outposts and starbases to guard your frontiers. Eventually you'll have a thriving empire with several colonies, a strong navy and loads of potential allies and enemies.
This is when the game take a turn for the worst. Birth of the Federation features some really cool-looking interface screens that are designed to match the culture they represent. The Federation interface uses the same screens that we're used to seeing on board the Enterprise, the Klingons use a spiky multi-level interface that looks just like what we've seen on board their ships over the years and so one.
Unfortunately, while each of these interfaces do a fantastic job of looking good, they're not worth a damn when it comes to controlling large fleets, massive amounts of resources or the demands of an army of diplomats.
As the game approaches it 70th or 80th turns, you'll find that each round takes you about fifteen minutes to go in, watch what each one of you planets is doing and to move each of your units to where you need it to go. While the developers were kind enough to include a button that is supposed to automatically take care of production on a planetary level, the AI used to determine what should next be built is not reliable at all and will often build structures that you don't need while your people are starving.
The movement set-up is particularly bad, and you'll often find yourself clicking on a group of ships just to see what they're doing and then unable to unselect them so that you can go on about your business. This same problem was also responsible for me moving my fleets when I didn't want to a number of times.
Worse still, when you order a ship to move, you see no route path, but rather a green dot on the intended destination. After you've ordered a number of ships to move, you are confronted with an entire system of green dots, but have no real idea of who is moving where. But wait, there's more! Moving away from the simplicity of having an automatic report on the actions that take place during a turn, Birth of the Federation has a summary button that must be clicked each turn to receive the data.
Only issue is that the reaction time to the mouse is painfully slow BOTF Fan 0 point. There are still sites like armadafleetcommand who have mods and tweaks for the game.
JeanLuc 0 point. JeanLuc -4 points. I need to know how to run on Android with Exagear But to be sure How DO you do it? Klingons4Lyfe -1 point. Any advice as to how to make it work? I haven't really been a PC game guy since the early 's so I'm not sure what to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Ensign Tom 1 point. Got it to launch, but as soon as i went into options or start a new game, the game crashes.
I installed using daemon tools lite, then update, then copied cracked file and renamed to trek. Endy 0 point. It installed fine, but didn't run.
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