LibriumArcana.Games

I've had this in mind for a while now. Basically I want to know what do you think would make a good Star Trek game? What genre would it be in? Also, what era would it be in: TOS, TNG+, Mirrorverse?

• would it be an RTS not unlike Armada?
• would it be a turn-based strategy game? Similar to Galciv 2? The idea is you pick a side and you colonise the galaxy. Make alliances, and all that jazz.
• would it be an RPG like KOTOR 1 and 2 did for Star Wars?
• or an MMORPG?
• a FPS like Elite Force?
• a flightsim like Starfleet Command?

What would you want to play?

An RPG exactly along the lines of KOTOR. I loved those games and would be really interested in a TOS version.

Perhaps something similar to the Bridge Commander or Starfleet Command series mixed a bit with KotOR-style character interaction and perhaps a tiny bit of ground combat in that style. TOS or Movie Era, naturally. TNG is overused.

TBS with 3D realtime elements, the ability to create heroes (diplomatic, medical, scientific, military), let the game span from the earliest days of the federation on to beyond the end of voyager, chronilogically.

An Adventure. Something along the lines of 25th Anniversary/Judgement Rites or The Final Unity. To me, those are still the games that captured the Trek spirit the best.

Adventure style like Final Unity was pretty spiffy, a Flight Sim was nice, and I enjoyed the hell out of Armada and Armada II (so much I started working on a Trek/Wars Crossover for Armada II that I stopped working on when I lost the config files in a accident).


It would be a mix of everything, mostly adventure, with some flightsim elements (you have to pilot a shuttle, for example), and maybe some RTS style management thrown in...

Time Frame could be TOS or TNG

There was one cool TNG game on the Genesis that was well, cool.

You could spin around the bridge, accessing a few relevant stations (sensors, engineering / damage control, communications, navigation, tactical, ready room, turbolift to transporter room, and library computer)

The game starts off with the Enterprise picking up a distress call from a Vulcan scientist, and you are supposed to rescue her from Romulan attackers. You would set a course, randomly encounter other ships that you could talk to (with multiple options to be diplomatic or make them angry), simply open fire, or try to jump back to warp and run away. When you get to the planet, you beam down and take control of the away team who has to shoot the bad guys, solve bizarre puzzles, and talk to people you encounter, with options of what to say.

But what was really cool about this game is you didn't really have to just do your missions and move on. You could set a course for other systems, set your own speeds, and if you go slow, it would take longer to get there, but go fast, and the engines risk burning out. You could go to many different planets, stars, and moons. Most of them had nothing on them (try to beam down and O'Brien and Data complain that it is not safe, do a sensor scan, and Data reports it is just a giant rock in space), but it was still cool to do what you wanted with the ship.

On these random trips, you could encounter other ships in need of assistance, or Romulans trying to spy on you, and you can talk, or fire, then while firing, you can negotiate their surrender.

The library computer was packed with cool text and pictures. Much background info was there (phaser settings, warp speed chart, shuttle statistics), alien and crew biographies (overview on Klingons, Borg, etc, bios on Picard, Riker, and all) and even some real science. That library computer alone made that game worth it.

It was similar to the 25th anniversary game, but next generation (both as in ST:TNG and next gen game platform). 25th anniversary really was a good game, and in some ways better than TNG, but the genesis TNG game stands right up there with it, exceeding it in many ways.

It was game over if you got too many away team people injured (you pick the away team and Picard doesn't like his crew dying), if you have Picard beam down and he is incapacitated, or if the Enterprise is severely damaged in battle.

Now, since the game was a rather low budget, early Genesis game, many things were simple or limited, but if that same idea was redone with modern technology... I'd buy it, certainly.

edit: here is a screenshot of the bridge, and many more, some linkified because I don't think 14 pictures in this thread is a good idea

See you just spin around selecting stations
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Set a course for Codis Nu VI, warp 6.

Captain Picard to always remind you of your mission. He yells at you too if you go off course and really gets mad if you destroy too many ships unprovoked. You can drive him mad (which is game over)
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The library computer is packed with cool stuff.
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A Romulan ship is lost
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But who wants to talk when you can shoot first!

The Enterprise sustained minor damage during the battle.
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And we arrive, time to beam down.
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The away team missions reflect the game's age.

Riker took a phaser shot and had to be emergency beamed to sick bay.
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Let's get back underway.. Christ! A Warbird! Better talk to them.
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The Romulan commander wastes no time.


Well, I won't post any more screenies, but the game is old, but really awesome. I would love to see this again with updated gameplay.

A TBS like Birth of the Federation would be nice, only better crafted along the lines of Gal Civ or MoO II. Hell, a Gal Civ II TOS mod would rock in and of itself, especially if it was stocked with morality events geared toward the setting.

Petrosjko wrote:A TBS like Birth of the Federation would be nice, only better crafted along the lines of Gal Civ or MoO II. Hell, a Gal Civ II TOS mod would rock in and of itself, especially if it was stocked with morality events geared toward the setting.

<Bad event happens, you have to make a choice>

"Take it up the arse like a good boy." <Good>

"Good, bad - I'm the one with the gun." <Neutral>

"I'm so evil. Muahahaha! Twirly moustache." <Bad>

So far I haven't really been bitten by the MMORPG bug, so I'm not terribly fussed about a ST MMORPG. A game that did to the ST franchise what KOTOR did to SW might be good. It could work by fielding it as an away team. Single player has you, the main character, as the away team leader and all the rest are NPCs. Multiplayer would be co-op and you're all members of the team.

System to use: perhaps d20 since that has proven it can work, although I think there is a ST pen and paper RPG with it's own system (I haven't actually looked at it). It would be more skills-based than class-based, but there would be three general classes anyway: Redshirt, Operations (goldshirt) and Science/Medical. But you would want to customise your character by selecting skills anyway.

Other than that, a ST TBS game, basically an updated version of Birth of the Federation, would be extremely kickass. I would set it in TOS, no surprises there. There would be at least four factions: The United Federation of Planets, Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, and the Gorn. Maybe the Tholian Assembly as well. You can have random events occur, like "OMG a giant space crystal has been detected!" Harkens back to the good old days of MOO1... gee i wonder where they got their ideas.

The game would have Galciv moments, where on occasion events would force you to make a choice between morals or short term gain by being a ruthless bastard. Like Galciv there would be three different ways to play a standard game: straight, random star generation; scenarios where the stars are pre-placed and you have a number of objectives to accomplish; and campaigns, which are really shorter scenarios that are linked together.

I'd agree that using the D20 system for a KotoR style of game would work fine. I'd prefer something in TOS myself, though I would geek for a DS9 game too. The engine is already there from KotoR, and most of the non-Jedi skills would translate over very easily, too.

Petrosjko wrote:I'd agree that using the D20 system for a KotoR style of game would work fine. I'd prefer something in TOS myself, though I would geek for a DS9 game too. The engine is already there from KotoR, and most of the non-Jedi skills would translate over very easily, too.

And the melee system can work for TNGKlingon McDropthegun, too.

I think a properly-done FPS could work. Perhaps if done more in the style of Operation Flashpoint or Ghost Recon than Quake or Doom (unlike the Elite Force series, which pretended to be tactical shooters but were honestly closer to the typical Mindless Blast 'em Up). Tactical-based Star Wars shooters can most certainly work (Republic Commando), why not Star Trek, too?

Stofsk wrote:So far I haven't really been bitten by the MMORPG bug, so I'm not terribly fussed about a ST MMORPG.

Aye, I don't think a MMORPG would be worth any time at all. It would quickly be overrun by dumbasses who just want to kill everything. Trying to act like Picard would just get you killed by some random player. It wouldn't be Trek at all.

I don't think there should be very many other Starfleet ships you would encounter at all. Maybe one or two, but in my ideal game, you would spend most your time doing the same kind of stuff they do in the shows - on your own exploring. A Star Trek game shouldn't be a fleet war game.

As to what kind of systems it would have, I see four main important things: moving around the ship normally, ship to ship battle, away missions, and talking.

I think you would probably play as Riker. Picard gives you orders, you decide specifically how to carry them out, and make the quick decisions on the planets. Or Kirk in TOS, since he also has all the fun.

Moving around the ship wouldn't have too much special to it. You would be able to set courses, read the computer, sensors, and talk to the captain, like in the Genesis game above. Perhaps let you wander, but there wouldn't be much to see. If you wander, it would probably be like the Carrington Institute from Perfect Dark (people say hi to you, you can go to the shooting range, the library, or just get to know the place - important because later in that game, you have to defend it).

Ship to ship battle. I see two possibilities: you are either on the bridge, giving orders based on the tactical display, or the game could go to a 3d outer view of the ships and you control it that way. I like the idea of it being on the bridge - you are just an officer on the ship rather than an omniscient third person observer. Yeah, that is how I'd do it, you are on the bridge, seeing tactical readouts, like we see in TWoK and The Wounded [TNG] making your decision about what to do.

Then if you beam somewhere, you pick your team and your equipment and head in. I'm not sure if I would prefer a third person view of your characters, like KOTOR, or a first person view. Maybe a hybrid, like Metal Gear Solid. That would be really cool.

Anyhow, you beam down, and you have no direct control over the away team, unless you are playing multiplayer. What you would instead do is give orders and leave them to do it themselves. ("Mr Data, work on that computer. Worf, you're with me") When they finish their work, they contact you, and it is your decision what to do next.

There would be much more puzzle and dialog action than fighting in my ideal game. When fights do occur, I would want them to be real time. No turns. NPCs would have some stats controlling them (probably accuracy, speed, and discipline), and your own guy has no stats: it is just you the player. If you get shot, even once, it is bad news. You'd want to duck behind packing crates quickly, or better yet, don't get into a shooting match in the first place! Enemies are also taken down in one shot, unless they are armoured and you are set to stun.

But if you set your phasers to kill, it makes future diplomacy with those people even harder.

Dialog would be like KOTOR. They say something, you respond, and if you have low disciplined people on the team, they might say something silly, messing up your talking! You would have to do something about that. Each little talking point can be good or bad: if these people like you (or perhaps fear you?), when you need something, they will give it up peacefully. If they hate you, you can expect to fight. Similar to light and dark side points.

Heh, what if you were pure evil, shooting the peaceful natives because they wouldn't trade you the much needed dilithium, and later on, Picard and Troi are off screen discussing this one time Jim Kirk got sent to a mirror universe by a transporter accident, wondering if the same thing has happened to Will Riker, and if they should relieve you of duty.


You know, for setting, I have been talking about the Enterprise D here, but what might have even more potential is the Voyager. You'd actually be in a hard spot out there: if the E-D can't get fuel, they just set a course for a starbase and try again later. If Voyager can't get fuel, they are doomed. Then worrying about a quick internal mutinity of your plan fails. That could make for an interesting adventure game.

But yeah, that is my ideal Star Trek game system.