SFC: Any Fans Out There?

[Togakure]

One game series that I don't recall seeing mentioned in here much is Star Fleet Command (SFC). There are 3.5 releases out, SFC, SFC2 Empires at War, SFC2.5 Orion Pirates, and SFC3. I've played all but SFC3.

The tactical battles are a lot of fun, even though they take place on a plane rather than in 3D space. There are several different races and a LOT of different ships for each race. There are many different kinds of weapons too. Managing everything you need to on a ship in real time as you're fighting can be quite challenging. The AI fights anywhere from OK to very deadly depending on the diffculty level you play on.

The game's campaigns are bad. One word comes to mind: BORING. You start as a Lieutenant Commander with a pretty basic ship. As you move from sector to sector, you are offered missions, and when you successfully complete them, you earn prestige with which you can purchase a better ship (and you can eventually have up to 3 ships under your direct control). But, the mission types are fairly limited in numer, so you end up playing the scenarios a lot. Granted, they are against different opponent races and ship types, but still, this gets boring after a while. The campaign also runs in quasi-real time, and on my PC it REALLY starts to bog down towards mid game--eventually getting so bad that I quit and start a new one because don't like waiting several minutes for a "turn" to process (the game freezes on the campaign level as the news window is updated, the available ships list is refreshed, and AI-controlled ship positions are updated). Whoever was responsible for designing the campaign gameplay REALLY dropped the ball. The tactical battles are this series' saving grace.

One friend has raved about playing SFC3 online, which I have not yet done. Has anyone played any of these games, and if so, have you played online? What do you think about the games in general, and the online experience in particular?

[The_Doctor]

I think SFC1, SFC2 and the OP add on are excellent games. It liked the campaigns, though they can get a bit boring. I like the way they are set a period of star trek that not much is know (After the original, and before TNG)this gave the creators of tabletop game a lot of freedom.

NEVER, EVER PLAY SFC3.

They killed SFC with that game. Here's why:
-Slow turn rates
-Very few weapons on ships
-only 4 shield facings
-Customising ships is boring and there is too many phasers, 10 I think to chose from, half are normal fire, half are fast firing.
-The campaign is mind numbing boring. You have to do the same mission, like 20 times before you can get a good ship, then you need to assemble a fleet(normally tiny ships and freighters) by asking people to join your fleet, then you can't do missions, except attack planets and ships.
-There is only 4 factions
-The campaign map is massive, you would have to spend months, yes months trying to conquer it all.
-The whole thing has been dumbed down, you can no longer convert shuttles, transport mines, overloading weapons has gone, the power tab has 3 bars the primary weapons, heavy weapons and shields, speed no longer effect power, fighters and missiles have gone, plus a lot of other things. This limits you to firing at the enermy.
-The missions go on too long.
-There is a lack of tactics and options in battle.

The list just keeps going.

On the plus side there is:
-Officers that gain expirence
-cloaking devices make the disappear completely, unless you have a special type of scanner
-Better graphics

My advice would be to borrow the game off your friend.

[Togakure]

Thanks for sharing your SFC experiences, Martinus. I'm surprised, given the nature of the games, that more patrons here haven't commented, being competitive tactical battles, etc.

Your opinion about SFC3 coincides with what my friend said, in that he felt the SFC games prior to SFC3 were too complicated. I'm one of those that needs a high degree of complexity to enjoy a game of this nature. More details and options mean more potential strategies/tactics. I'll probably give SFC3 a try, just because I'd like to battle online with someone and my buddy isn't really interested in playing any SFC games prior to SFC3. But my guess is, given what you've both said, I'll grow weary of it quickly. I'm also a diehard fan of the earliest Star Trek scenarios. New Gen was the last of the various series to which I paid much attention. Hence, SFC3 might be set in a period more modern than I'd prefer.

Peace. Live long and prosper. ~:)

[Nelson]

I bought Task Force Game’s Star Fleet Battles back in the 70s when it was cardboard counters on a hex map. We played it a lot and there were many expansions for it.

The SFC computer games are very faithful to the war game regarding tactical battles. However, the campaigns are miserable and since no one has convinced me that the next iterations are any better, I haven’t played SFC2 or 3. I would prefer the game to dump the personal role playing aspects and let us build and control fleets anywhere. There is no excuse for the lack of a good dynamic campaign in any sort of flight sim.

[The_Doctor]

I would recimend SFC2 to anybody who enjoyed SFC1. The campaign in SFC2 is a lot better than in SFC1. In SFC1 the campaign map sucked. In SFC2 it is huge and can you can conquer planets and destory space stations, it is non-linear and you can play for as long as you want. You get bigger ships faster as well. There are a lot more factions all with there own fighting styles. There are fighters and PT boats, AMD systems and shuttle conversion. You can command a fleet of 3 ships plus any that are in the mission.

That board game you spoke of is on the CD.