Starfleet Command Volume II: Empires At War

Starfleet Command challenged many preconceptions about Star Trek combat games: Unlike many Star Trek-licensed games, Starfleet Command actually satisfied fans of the television series. Older games like Starfleet Academy were criticized because they portrayed Star Trek spacecraft more as fast-moving fighter craft than as the lumbering behemoths in the television shows. So in an effort to more realistically model a Star Trek ship's complex systems, Interplay grafted the detailed mechanics of the board game, Starfleet Battles, onto a real-time 3D engine. The resulting game garnered a widely positive response from reviewers, and it was a strong enough commercial success that Interplay is planning to release a sequel in time for Christmas 2000.

Pity the fool who takes this barrage

Since the release of the original Starfleet Command, the developers at Interplay's internal 14 Degrees East strategy-games division have founded an independent studio named Taldren, and - having signed a multi-title publishing deal with Interplay - have moved across town to settle in Costa Mesa, California. Starfleet Command Volume II is Taldren's natural first effort, but it's hardly the only game based on the original Star Trek series set to come from Interplay this year - in addition to the recently released space combat sim Klingon Academy, Interplay is working on Star Trek: New Worlds, a 3D real-time strategy game.

Starfleet Command Volume II improves on several key elements of the original game, including the single-player campaign, the tactical fleet control, and the graphics. Much of the criticism leveled against the original game focused on the dynamic single-player campaign; critics generally referred to the limited variety of missions and the lack of long-term strategic considerations. While the Starfleet Command campaign was primarily intended to increase replay value by dynamically altering a number of scripted combat missions, Volume II's campaign will introduce a more transparent view of each empire's rise and fall. You'll now be able to capture star systems and see a direct effect on your empire. Politics will also play a new role. To reflect these changes, the campaign mode has had its name changed from "dynaverse" to "metaverse." To complement Starfleet Command's popularity as a tactical multiplayer game, the developers have decided to also make the metaverse mode available for online play. For more details on the metaverse mode, be sure to check out our accompanying interview with Taldren's senior designer, Joshua Morris, later on in this preview.

The ISC aims to protect the galaxy from itself

Volume II brings new ships to all six of the original races, including the Federation, Klingons, Romulans, Hydrans, Lyrans, and Gorn. The new ships include swift fighters, patrol craft, and escort vessels that will protect larger ships and help balance the threat of missiles. Taldren has also added two new races to the game, the Mirak Star League and the Interstellar Concordium (ISC). Read on to find out what role they'll play in the game's campaign.