STAR FLEET II - Krellan Commander Version 2.0

It's an old DOS game that was kinda fun back in the day. Oh fine, I'll give it a try. <three hours later> [i]"How dare they refuse to surrender to the mighty Krellan Empire! Strategic control, target their cities. Perhaps they'll be more reasonable after we level a few of them!" "Sir, security reports that a few of the captives have 'died accidentally'." "Aha, music to my ears! Now where was I... oh right, strategic control, open fire!"[/i] Okay, this is still a ton of fun. Such a great space strategy and tactics concept. Could definitely do with a makeover though, a GUI, better graphics, etc, and I'd be on board for a kickstarter for that.

Reject modernity, embrace DOS.

Wow.. Just wow. Who'd have thought this obscure game from 1989 could still be so compelling. I have no history with Star Fleet 2, in fact it was initially released 7 years before I was even born, but despite its age I can already see this game is something pretty damn special. As it is, I'm not aware of any other space sim in existence that has the same feature set, and the fact that this game even existed at that time is pretty astonishing. If you don't mind the ascii graphics, and the initial learning curve (Seriously, make sure you open up the manual and follow the tutorials) I seriously can't recommend it enough.

Krellan Commander's Log.. [list] [*]I kindly asked for the surrender of a lonely Alliance freighter, which their captain replied back with "Go *!&$@! yourself!". So I pummeled their ship with torpedoes and took captives. It's mine now. [*]Noticed ship morale was low so beamed several hundred captured prisoners into a gas giant for the shenanigans, thereby improving morale. [*]I used weapons of mass destruction on a peaceful and low technological medieval planet and obliterated several hundred million people to force an unconditional surrender. [*]The empire gave me a shiny medal as my reward. [/list]

It's niche. It's complicated. The graphics are ascii. If you don't read the manual you will not be able to play it. It does NOT have mass appeal... but it is FANTASTIC and keeps giving the more you play. Why don't they make games like this any more?

(45 minutes spent stuck in space station unable to un-dock) "This game sucks and is frustrating!" (30 minutes later after RTFM and some Youtube videos) "Hmm, interesting..." (2 hours later) "Focus all firepower on that lone freighter, we need to steal their energy cells as our backup batteries are nearly gone. Tell the ground troops they're gonna to have to hold the line for a day - we're going to make a quick run to the nearest fort to get more torpedoes and personnel. Signal the enemy tourist ship that if it moves while we're gone they'll regret it. SET COURSE FOR FORT SS-22 NOW!" Those not used to DOS-based text lags, please be wary of the input pauses. Looking past the ASCII text graphics this game is a hidden gem to behold. Being only on the 3rd mission controlling just one ship, and seeing the wealth of features to come (command entire system-wide armada capital and escort ships, comprehensive ground combat etc), this game is definitely a keeper!

For anyone who played one of the primitive TREK games of the late 70s and 1980s (I played TREK using a DEC VT-100 in a thing called a "terminal room" connected to the main computer at my college in the mid-80s), and any young people who are brave enough to try something in that vein but 1000X more ambitious and FUN, GET IT, do the tutorials, join the Discord, and you won't regret it.

Thumbs the f UP. Get ready, nerds: If this game doesn't rapidly transfer oceans of blood to your nether regions, something is seriously wrong. Do you like Asimov, Star Trek TnG, and Space Shuttle systems management command console interfaces? Do you think people who prefer class M stars are idiots? Do you like commanding space ships and waging war against the puny human space aliens? Star Fleet II should be for you. Let's get the really bad thing out of the way first: It's single threaded, UI blocking, buffers input, and it seems to be cycle-dependent (but at least pausable). That means you have to choose between the game running too slow, or too fast to react to things. It also means it blocks and ignores input events, and has undesirable buffering in cursor movements (i.e. you hold down the key and it keeps moving the cursor for a few seconds after you released the key). Fortunately, this is more of a patient person's game, not a twitchy arcade shooter. Another thing that makes me personally sad, but might not bother others: from a systems perspective, the game SCREAMS for a more flexible (open world-ish) structure, but has a time limited missions in tiers instead. And if there is one thing I despise, it's time limits in my video games. And still it impresses me significantly more than any sci-fi game I can think of. A few loose notes about what I gather from reading the first 50-100 pages from the manuals and playing for three hours: * You fly around the war zone * manage your ship and its resources/personnel * kill or capture enemy ships * send probes to star systems * send teams down to planets to survey, exploit, or conquer them * bombard planets * enslave or exterminate hostile population * manage the war * Search for information in the integrated library * Get promoted to get more/better equipment or more influence on the war effort/the operational layer Considering how little screen space this game is working with, the UI has a remarkable mix of information density and legibility. You'll have to learn quite a few abbreviations in the beginning. After that, it's really well laid out and functional. I feel like I'm not doing a good job describing how cool I think this game is, and focus too much on its problems and make excuses for its age. So, until I am less tired, and can put word gooder: It is one of the best old-school sci-fi video games you can get.

Star Fleet 2 is a classic game of incredible depth and ambition. There's so many layers to its space conquest, but they're introduced only gradually as the player rises in rank. The Operations Manual is 250 pages, but there's also a separate introductory guide with tutorials. I played the original 1.5 version for dozens of hours 20 years ago. The updated 2.0 version (programmed on a 486 by the original designer) adds many improvements to the gameplay and the interface. There is a learning commitment here, but it isn't too bad, and the payoff is worth it!

I wish I had known about this game years ago. This is now the benchmark reference to what I think a 'Space Commander Tactical Strategy' game should be like. Also, when I heard that the developer is still updating the game on a 486 machine, I had a gut feeling that this game is made out of passion. I really have to say the gameplay is really good. 1) This game just uses DOS and ASCII graphics. If you're into Tactical Simulations, chances are this is not an issue for you, 2) The Tutorial / Training Manual is superb. You don't have to learn everything at once. You'll do 2-3 tutorials before you tackle the next mission; Each mission introduces a new set of objectives. The operations manual is also very comprehensive. The developer responds to queries in the forums as well. 3) While initially it looks like a starship commander simulator, this game is much more than that. You rise through 7 ranks. Each rank giving you a new set of responsibilities and command level. You start off as a Captain of your own Starship doing recon, base building, treaties. As you rise through the ranks you become in charge of escorts, then being able to plan out planetary invasions, to finally being an Admiral commanding the ships of the fleet where you strategize the conquest of a number of systems in a region of space. 4) Some stuff you can do? Command a starship. Send out landing parties on a planet. Board enemy ships. Bombard planets. Send out probes. Command escorts. Command and control units on the surface for planetary invasions. Capture prisoners. Command other ships. Interrogate prisoners. Smuggle artifacts to earn more money. 5) Note the Starship combat is relatively much simplified compared to, for example, "Begin: Tactical Starship Simulation". You're basically setting targets, modes and firing. Generalized evasive maneuvers. Turning on and off ECM in general. 6) You play as the 'Bad Guys'. Which means you can have some 'chaotic fun'. 7) There are 35 missions in total. 5 missions for each rank. The objectives for each mission seems fixed. However, theater of operations are randomized. You also have a variety ways to meet the objectives. Overall, there's replayability. 8) One quirk to note about this game is that it does not do input at the same time as output, i.e. half-duplex / simplex . Your inputs are usually buffered until the game finishes displaying output. So it may seem slow and unresponsive especially when the game has to display a queue of messages. If you ever played text based browser games / visual novels before, you know that the web page / dialogue has to load and display before you can send new actions. Something like that, except this game is in (pausable) real-time, updating in ticks of time units, and does not pause (is most cases) to wait for your input.