posted 06-30-99 09:00 AM ET        

The ultimate goal of the game is to either control 60% of the galaxy, or eliminate your 2 arch-enemies, depending upon which victory condition you choose to play with.

Each of the 5 races has specific strengths. It is MUCH easier if you play a race that matches your playing style. I'll go into the strengths and weaknesses after I explain the game mechanics.

The galaxy map is where you have to manage your fleets. There is no fleet summary screen. Basically, you have combat ships, transports and colony ships. Transports can invade planets, or they can be used to build outposts and starbases. Colony ships terraform worlds within a system or colonize a system. Each type of ship has a different range, short, medium or long. This is not how far it can travel in a turn (that is listed as speed), but how far it can travel from a shipyard, outpost or starbase. Note that you CAN build outposts/starbases in empty sectors to extend range.

Each system is one colony. The number of terraformed worlds effects population growth rate and maximum population, and also some special structures (like Wind Turbines) can only be built on some types of planets. You also don't get a planet's bonus (the little symbol over it) until it is terraformed.

The espionage screen is actually very flexible, but I tend to leave everything on internal security unless I'm either way ahead of everybody or I'm playing the Romulans or Cardassians (who have intel bonuses). Otherwise, sabotage works wonders -- you can even steal enemy ships with a little luck. Just be aware that this will get the other powers angry with you.

The research screen is fairly simple. Each building or ship has a tech level requisite. Once you have that level, you can build it. Basically, just set it to a level you're comfortable with and leave it, unless you really like to micromanage. Energy and Biotech take fewer research points to advance in. Weapons, Construction and Propulsion take more.

The diplomacy system basically consists of making treaties and giving bribes. The manual gives a pretty good description of the different treaty effects. The best thing to do with diplomacy is to get minor races to join you. That gives you their developed system to use without any morale penalties. Diplomacy is also important for establishing trade routes, passage through territory, etc. If you form an alliance with another major power, then the two powers' territories are combined for victory purposes. The best way to win friends in diplomacy is to bribe them, but there are other things like establishing a trade route, which has a cumulative effect over time.

Minor powers add a lot of color. Each is predisposed to one of the major powers, except for the oversexed Edo, who like everybody equally. Each also has a special building they can build which gives bonuses to your empire (sometimes VERY nice bonuses).

The system production screen is best accessed by doubleclicking on the summary screen listing for the system. Doing it from the map is too much of a pain. This is a standard 4X type production queue, mixed in with screens that let you allocate population and energy to your structures. Each structure may require 10 population units and/or a certain amount of energy for it to function.

Note: Growing colonies is a SLOW business. There is no way to transport food or colonists from one colony to another, so each has to be self-sufficient. To increase growth rate, pump up food produciton. You can right click on the food production number to see the maximum amount of food that will have an effect. Each building has different levels based upon tech, but upgrading building types takes a LONG time, because you have to do them all simultaneously. The only way to really build things quickly is to buy production, which takes credits.

You get credits from your population base. Colonize every system you can, and make sure you eventually terraform every planet in the system. Also, make friendship treaties with minor and major powers if you can, so you can create trade routes for more money. Spaceships have a maintenance cost -- if the total cost of your fleet exceeds your population, then the excess is taken from your credit stockpile. Be wary of this. This is another reason to colonize even marginal systems.

Invasions are abstracted like in MOO2. To see the ground combat strength of a transport, turn off tool tips, select a transport on the main map, then put the cursor over the ship's icon at the bottom of the screen. Yeah, I know, it's a stupid way to have to do it. Space combat between ships is based upon a "scissors, paper, rock" system. There are 3 types of manuevers: flyby, circle and charge. Each is best against one of the others, and each ship type has a preferred type of maneuver. Evading gives you a defensive bonus (without any penalty on offense, so it is a good "default" type of maneuver). Torpedoes are long range weapons. Beams are short range.

Morale is very important, because a system's morale is a multiplier for production (usually 50%-150%). If morale becomes too low, the system may actually rebel and break away from your empire.

The races:

Klingons: They are warriors. Their morale jumps when you declare war, bomb systems and win space battles. They have bonuses for ground combat, heavily armed ships (including the only transports/colony ships in the game with weapons), and their ship maintenance drops by half when they are at war. Two of their ships, the B'rel II scout and the K'Vort I/II heavy cruiser can cloak. Cloaking gives you a free attack for one turn. They suck at diplomacy and intel.

The Ferengi make money. They can establish trade routes with anybody they aren't at war wtih. They have many special buildings that enhance their credit flow. They also have fairly decent ships, even though they tend not to like combat.

The Feds are great at research and diplomacy. More minor races a predisposed to them than anybody, especially the Vulcans, Trill and Bajorans. Their bribes are worth more than those of other races. They also have one of the best late-game ships, the Defiant-class heavy escort. Their biggest drawback is that aggressive behavior incurs a serious morale penalty. If you want to fight, you have to goad other powers into attacking you, and orbital bombardments by Fed startships are a no-no.

The Romulans are sneaky bastards. Their ships are at best OK, but they ALL have cloaking devices. This is an important advantage. The Romulans also excel at research and intel due to special structures. The population likes peace treaties as much as they like war. They are not so hot at diplomacy, but not as bad as the Klingons or Cardassians. Weak ships are probably their worst feature, but the cloak compensates for that some what. I think of them as the most balanced race, really.

The Cardassians suck at diplomacy, period. All of the minor races dislike them, especially the Bajorans. They have special structures for subjugating minor races, and you should use them. They also excel at intelligence, they have powerful scanners later in the game, and they have ships with strong hulls, which makes ramming a survivable option.

posted 06-30-99 11:42 AM ET            

More or less true. The best balance for me so far has been to turn off the random events for the first part of the game, until I've grown a bit(maybe 50-100 turns) the flip 'em back on.

Pretty enjoyable game, overall. The Borg haven't shown up every game I've played, either, but the are REAL annoying when they do.

posted 06-30-99 12:59 PM ET            

Other nasty events include the Crystaline Entity and the Calamarain (remember the race that turned up when Q was made human?). The Husnock Raider isn't as tough, but it can easily take out a lone outpost, and no Doud shows up to wipe him out! Sometimes, a rogue intelligence agent will try to assassinate a friend's leader, or some such, and your relationship goes down the tubes. What makes it worse is that there doesn't seem to be any positive random events.

posted 06-30-99 06:09 PM ET            

Crystal Entity
Hit Shield 310 / 1035
2 Graviton Beams 980 each
Speed/Pattern 1/Random

Husnock Vessel
Hit / Shields 155 / 650
1 Husnock Ray ? each
Speed /Pattern 1 /Random

Borg Cube
Hit / Shields 790 / 6100
10 Borg Rays Unlimeted power
Speed /Pattern 1/Hunting
Specials:

Borg
Borg Cubes kill 50% of the population of worlds, and turn them into Barren worlds. Though pre-borg terrain bonuses apply.

Adaptible Shields
The Shields of the Borg Cube are somewhat invulnerable to beam weapons. Borg Shields take a variable amount of damage from beam fire.
Torpedoes are not affected.

Reproduction
Given time and planets to plunder Borg Cubes reproduce more Cubes.