Birth of the Federation

The diplomat · April 3, 2000, 18:33

I bought the game when it came out because it combined Star Trek and space empire building: I just couldn't resist. Besides the previews looked interesting.
I enjoy the game but there are a lot of things about it that could have been a lot better.
The positives:
- the 3-D space combat is a lot of fun.
- the diplomacy is well done. I like being able to change the tone of the message.
- the minor races.
- the interface is intuitive. The "wheel" lets you move quickly between any screen.
- it's Star Trek (for those that like the show, a game that is based on the show is in of itself a plus)

the negatives:
- the starmap sucks! Star trek is about exploring the vastness of space with all its mysteries. The main map in BotF has a grid with the stars and other objects in each square, and everything is static. The map completely reduces the vastness and beauty of space to nothing. The starmap in Imperium Galctica 2 is really good. That is the kind of map that BotF should have had. Imagine the starmap from IG2 with balckholes, wormholes, nebulas and spatial anomalies in addition to the various stars.
- too much micromanagement. the auto build function does not work well at all.

Things I would have liked to see:
- weapons of mass destruction like the Genesis device, Soran's weapon that destroys a star (from ST:Generations)
- a design workshop. It would have been cool to have the basic hull of a Galaxy class ship, for example, and be able to decide what to put in it (weapons, propulsion, defensive systems etc)
- a better starmap that captures the aweness of space.

What do you people think about the game?

------------------
No permanent enemies, no permanent friends.

spyvsspy · April 3, 2000, 19:34

i have it but don't really play it much..... i find it dull

maybe i did't give it a fair shake

The Mad Monk · April 4, 2000, 13:40

My brother (who dosen't own BotF) said that he heard it was meant as a sequel (of sorts) to MoO2; how do the two compare?

Garth Vader · April 4, 2000, 13:57

Moo2 is much better.

The fun of Moo2 is being able to design your own ships and moving up the tech tree for interesting buildings and ship techs.

BotF has no ship design, and the buildings are just factory level 1-9 and research lab level 1-9, you spend most of the game just upgrading your buildings.

The Mad Monk · April 4, 2000, 20:21

Thanks! I'll just stick with MoO2, then.

Hanibal · April 5, 2000, 04:07

I have to confess that I really like BOTF. I get the impression from what I've seen written online that it's not exactly for everyone (in fact not for most). But for me it works. Not to say there aren't things I'd change if I had my way. But it isn't it like that with any game?

But before you go out and buy it keep this mind; I'm also nuts enough to actually like CTP.

shmily_dana · April 5, 2000, 16:12

I just read that the new Star Trek TV series will be called "Birth of the Federation" It will pick up right after the movie "Star Trek: First Contact". Premiers Fall 2001

April 6, 2000, 03:33

One of BotF's failings was it's lack of ability to design your own ships. However from what I heard the developers were not permitted to allow such a feature since all ships used had to be faithful to the Star Trek universe.

Paul Hanson · April 11, 2000, 18:01

BOTF is quite a good game once you get into it. It does have several short-comings, but most of these can be fixed by patchs (ie extra classes of ship like the Intrepid Class, or the ability to add the Furies into the game).

On the subject of the TV series, how come the always seem to represent space as being 2D? All the tactical displays are flat screens, but surely they`d have to 3D?

Hanibal · April 12, 2000, 04:33

Paul the answer to your question is very easy. Even today with every movie studio shelling out multi-millions for movies, television shows (even hi-profile shows) are still produced on a relatively small budget (relative to the cost of producing a movie). And with having to deal with making a dozen or so shows each season the special effects for something like 3-D screens would be prohibitively expensive to design and create.

In other words, they're too dang cheap!

Paul Hanson · April 12, 2000, 17:13

I always thought it was something like that

...

Hell, I`m just a nitpicker.

goofydrew · April 13, 2000, 18:08

about BOTF...

is it a TBS or RTS game?

i'm too old and the reflexes are gone...

no more RTS for me...

a TBS star trek game could interest me...

thanks for any info...

the3.14rt

------------------
how can you be in two places at once
when you're not anywhere at all?
---------------------------------
We now return you to our regular programming...
a thrilling tale from yesteryear...
which is already in progress!!!

goofydrew · April 13, 2000, 18:18

an added word or two...

i still play an older game called -ascendency- every once in awhile.

it has a GREAT star map and the ability to build ships of your own design...

anybody else still play it?

it just didn't have enough info on what you were building on your planets...

it left some things out, but still had a terrific star map, great graphics, and some mega-possibilties for improvement...

unfortunately, the company never made a sequel... more's the pity... it had potential...

the3.14rt

------------------
how can you be in two places at once
when you're not anywhere at all?
---------------------------------
We now return you to our regular programming...
a thrilling tale from yesteryear...
which is already in progress!!!

shmily_dana · April 13, 2000, 19:53

I had that game. I loved the rotatable star maps. I hated that only on ship at a time in each fleet could fire. As soon as I got Master Of Orion II, I never played Ascendancy again.

Hanibal · April 14, 2000, 04:51

goofy: BOTF is TBS
[This message has been edited by Hanibal (edited April 14, 2000).]

goofydrew · April 14, 2000, 07:45

thanks hanibal...

i may have to give it a try.

the3.14rt

------------------
how can you be in two places at once
when you're not anywhere at all?
---------------------------------
We now return you to our regular programming...
a thrilling tale from yesteryear...
which is already in progress!!!

April 15, 2000, 09:36

Ascendancy ? Good game; I liked the simultaneous movement concept, much better then either TBS or RT; good diplomacy; great variation in races; exploring and expanding was fun; the techs were cool too.
But I never play it anymore.
From the moment you had an empire with some size, the micromanagent killed the game and when you had an empire to be proud on, you literally spent 99% of your time on managing your colonies. Automation sucked.
Another thing I hated were the limitations on you fleet size, you could only build a ship per system you controlled. Fleet sizes should be limited by the costs they carry for your empire (as in moo2), not by one or another silly rule.