Overview Control on of five major empires: Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Ferengi or Cardassian, each with its own set abilities, strengths and weaknesses. Encounter over 30 exotic races. And beware, there lurks the potential for a Borg invasion-threatening all players!
Game Highlights: Manage a complex economy of empire-level resources, solar systems and trade routes Develop your intelligence and use diplomacy to forge alliances or create enemies. Rise or fall by your ability to develop or acquire technology. Sabotage your enemies-and frame other empires! Construct, maintain and mobilize our starship fleet-and put it to the test as you engage in turn-based 3-D space combat. Features multiple skill levels for long-term replayability Play against human-controlled empires via the internet LAN or modem
BotF is essentially a strategy game, based around micro-management, diplomacy and battle tactics. The single player game has two modes, Domination and vendetta. Domination requires the player to control over 70% of the galaxy alone or 50% as part of an alliance, the parameters of the game can be set by the player with difficulty levels, technological levels and galaxy size/type all optional. The only game really worth playing IMHO is a large irregular galaxy, with all competing empires at an advanced technological stage and the difficulty set to impossible (Random events ?on? is also good) Domination, with ?minor race? set to ?many? By all means practice at the lower levels but I can tell you that generally the AI is not too bright and once you get a hang of the game victory is always yours.
Players You can choose to play as one of the five major empires in the galaxy. If running around declaring war on everything alive floats your boat then try the Klingon's. If you enjoy diplomacy, self-righteousness and loads of research (which is rewarded, believe me) then play the Federation. If you get a kick out of sending teams of spies and saboteurs to bomb murder and maim rivals then the Romulan's or Cardassian's are for you and if you get really excited out of a big wad of cash then I suggest throwing your lot in with the Ferengi. Each empire has a different style design theme and way of playing, some empires are harder to play than others. The easiest to win, on all fronts is the Romulan's followed in order by the Federation, Klingon's, Cardassian's and finally the Ferengi. The last two can be a bit of a challenge and I would suggest starting with one of the easier empires until you learn the ropes.
Objectives You begin with control of three star systems, one your home system, the other two advanced colonies. Scattered throughout the galaxy are many different worlds some inhabited some ripe for the picking, your objective is to populate and control as many of these systems by whatever means possible until you dominate the galaxy and everyone kisses your ass. The only way to win the game, without cheating is to have a healthy economy. The more cold hard cash you've got the more you can arm yourself, this is completely consistent with history ? just ask Napoleon or Hitler ? without heavy industry, there's no cash, with no cash there are no fleets and no armies, no armies? No win! So it all comes down to cash in the end (as always)