StarTrek

Simulation 1991 Dos Stan Warman Space combat Space flight

Startrek

It feels a little funny rating a game I coded myself, but here goes!Startrek is turn-based space battles simulation based on the same-named mainframe game of the early 70s. You are the unnamed captain of the Starship Enterprise and your goal is to rid the 8 by 8 Quadrant grid of all the hostile Klingons. Other enemies will also pop up to attack you, like the Invisible Romulan, who must become visible to attack, the Death Planet, which hits your Shields and your Energy, and the Doomsday Machine, which usually just tracks through the Quadrant doing no damage, but sometimes it will eat a star, or a Starbase, or may grab the Enterprise in its Tractor Beam. The Enterprise has Phasers and Photons, can dock at Starbases to replenish weapons and fix any damage, and has various commands and strategies for staying alive during its dangerous mission.I wanted to see what I could do to "improve" the game, so I wrote a BASIC program that added color, sound, ship icons, new enemies, new ship abilities, simple animations, saving your progress, and more.You'll probably see some things you recognize that aren't from the Star Trek Universe, like the "Death Planet" (a very slight resemblance to the "Death Star" in Star Wars), and the "Death Blossom", taken directly from the movie "The Last Starfighter".DOSBox and DOSShell are highly recommended as emulators to run this game.One thing you should be sure to do as soon as you get the first Quadrant displayed is type SCL at the Command? prompt and enter the maximum scroll speed of 10000 to actually see the animations programmed into the game. You can slow them down even more with the DOSBox key combo CONTROL-F11. If it's too slow, do CONTROL-F12. I think, as a strategy game, it's pretty good. You can also download it from my Homepage at: https://edocs.uis.edu/swarm1/www/home.htm (Click on the "Download StarTrek" link)

Obscure but engaging sci-fi game

The Star Trek universe is comparable perhaps only to Star Wars in terms of the depth of its science fiction setting and both have provided plenty of good (and bad) gaming experiences which have allowed players to explore their wonders. This little game is a fairly obscure one, and while it lacks the scope or graphical quality of other releases, it remains a curious and surprisingly complex experience. Very similar to the equally obscure EGA Trek, itself inspired by a 1970s text-based game, gameplay is command-based, with players inputting their orders rather taking direct control. As you would hope from a Star Trek game, you must explore various sectors of the universe, engaging in combat with hostile ships, discovering new planets, docking with starbases to refuel and re-arm and other such activities. The basic idea of the game is to rid the universe of the Klingon menace within a given time limit and despite the apparent simplicity of the game, this is harder than you might think, given the game's surprising complexity and depth. The game is graphically crude, and lacking much that is recognisably part of the Star Trek universe, which is almost certain to put off fans looking for accurate representations of their idols. Sound too is similarly basic and again restricts this to serious fans and retro gaming buffs, but for those who take the time to explore and become attuned to the game's particular charms, there is some entertainment to be had here. It's a game which requires attention to detail and rewards players who invest the time in it but for casual gamers or those seeking more spectacular sci-fi action, look elsewhere.

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