Cosmic Chaos! So much and yet lacks something.
The Good
From what I've seen of other Star Trek games, they seem to have a fairly uniform following, beautifully rendered ship turns and fires Phasers a bit, battles lasting way too long and not really having any impact. In conquest, thats changed. Outward beauty has been sacrificed for a more engaging game play. The skirmishes are addictive, and you're the boss with them as always. The battle engine itself has changed too. The ships are no longer as detailed as they were, but they also don't take up the whole screen, you get to fly your ship through the region without it just being ' the ship tilts and the background changes'. These ships actually fly! Whats more it allows you to quickly whip around the ship and expose a hole you may have poked in their shields.
The conquest game play is much more casual, which is excellent in itself. You can choose between Easy, Medium and Hard, and play against up to 7 races. Initially, you have to kick other races out of their space, such as the Xindi and pesky Ferengi. Once the locals have been evicted you can then set up a starbase and a research facility (which will let you prime a special weapon more quickly) or a Mining colony (which lets you get money faster, letting you buy that NegVah Cruiser you've been pining for)
There is also much variety with each race, for example some species have more defense admirals whilst others have more movement admirals, and each race has a different combination of special weapons and upgrades for your starships.
The Bad
The equality the game has makes it a bit unchallanging sometimes. Take for instance the Borg. They are the most malevolent race in the universe. In skirmish you can whip them soundly in 2 minutes with one Galaxy class ship.
Large battles also have the most annoying thing in the world. Lag. LAG! My God Bones, LAG! If you're engaging 7 dreadnoughts against 7 dreadnoughts then you're in for a slow battle, until mercifully some of the ships miraculously get destroyed. This is even more annoying in campaign when you can't pick and choose. My best advice for this scenario is switch to a scout or cruiser, that should make it livable.
The Pity
It's a shame really, Bethseda. If they'd only marketed this title, some people may actually know it exists, this is a good game, through all it's flaws (which actually, there aren't many). Now, if only one of them had payed attention in Business Studies, they'd know you need to advertise a product to sell it! For shame.