Starships are automatically upgraded to the next technological level in between strategic turns. Upgrading occurs when you empire has all the technological requirements necessary for the next level of star ship. All Star ships under construction will be upgraded, with an additional construction cost to be paid before the star ship can be used. The earlier level of star ship will no longer be available at the shipbuilding window. All star ships are also automatically repaired when they are damaged. The rate of repair is determined by where the star ship is located and the experience level of its crew. For instance, star ships at outposts and starbases repair themselves faster.

The experience levels of a starship's crew are green,regular,veteran,elite and legendary (green being the lowest level and legendary being the highest). While only Klingon's can train to legendary,all other empires can reach that level through combat experience. The higher the experience level,the more efficient the star ship in battle and in repair operations.

Colony Ships Colony starships are intended to teraform uninhabited planets. As a result, they have terra forming equipment, but carry no armaments (with the exception of the Klingon colony starships). Although they are medium-range starships, they cannot outmaneuver starships designed for combat and are dependent upon an escort for protection. Romulan colony starships cannot cloak. The Ranol class is a colony starship for the Cardassian's, the Edward for the Federation, the Tomax for the Ferengi, the LI'wI for the Klingon's and the D'retex for the Romulan's.

Command Ships Command-class starships are built to lead Warships into battle and are often the best known starships of each empire. While they have capable weapons systems, they also have better drive systems and navigational arrays to make them more maneuverable in battle. On the Tactical Combat screen, they allow targeting of individual enemy starships. Battleships are included in this classification. All command-class vessels are short-range starships. Romulan command-class starships can cloak.

Raider Ships Raider starships serve as medium-range escort vessels for other,less protected starships, as they combine speed with reliable armaments. Destroyers are considered to be Raider-class starships. Romulan raider-class starships. Romulan raider-class starships can cloak. The Netel class is a raider-class starship for the Cardassian's, the Miranda for the Federation, the Ngort and Tokorn for the Ferengi, the May'Duj for the Klingon's and the D'ridren for the Romulan's.

Scout Ships Since scout starships are designed primarily for exploration,they are long-range starships with more accurate sensors than most other vessels. Romulan scout-class starships can cloak. On the Tactical Combat screen, you can use scout starships to view the statistics for enemy starships. The Nerok class is a raider-class starship for the Cardassian's, the Oberth science vessels for the Federation, the Bronta for the Ferengi, the B'rel for the Klingon's and the D'renet for the Romulan's.

Strike Cruiser Ships Strike cruisers carry large-scale long-range torpedoes, which are powerful enough to destroy and enemy starship with one successful hit. With such effective firepower, these starships are useful for planetary bombardment when attacking an enemy solar system. However, strike cruisers are short-range starships. Romulan strike cruisers can cloak.

Troop Transport Ships Troop transports are intended to follow other combat starships into battle by ferrying troops for planetary combat. Troop transports can also build outposts and starbases. As medium-range starships, they are dependent upon an escort starship for protection since they carry no armaments (with the exception of Klingon troop transports). Romulan troop transports cannot cloak. The Ranol class is a troop transport for the Cardassian's, the London for the Federation, the Tomax for the Ferengi, the ChorghwI' for the Klingon's and the D'retex for the Romulan's.

Warship Ships Warships are designed to perform one function"to destroy enemy starships. Heavy destroyers and heavy cruisers are included in this class of medium-range starships, which are given the best weapons,armor, and shields to carry out their intended task. Romulan warships and Klingon Bird of Pray can cloak. The Neterok and Telok class are warships for the Cardassian's, the Ambassador, Constellation and Galaxy-X for the Federation the Goront for the Ferengi, the K'Vort Bird of Prey and K'Tinga for the Klingon's, and the D'dredar and R'drex for the Romulan's.

Structures Basic These structures are self-powered but require 10 available units of population to operate. These structures supply empires with five resources:food, industry,energy,intelligence and research. Each basic structure only supplies one of those resources, with the amount varying according to the specific resource, the structure's technology level, planet type and empire type.

Defense Structures Defense structures are structures used to conduct spy operations and, as such,supply intelligence points to empires. Advanced defense structures produce more intelligence per structure. Shadow teams are defense structures for the Cardassian's, databanks for the Federation, data brokerages for the Ferengi, security centers for the Klingon's and Intel centers for the Romulan's.

Development Structures Development structures are buildings that make raw materials into finished products. As such they supply empires and races with industry. Development structures with higher technology levels produce more industry per structures. Industry production is also increased by a population with a positive morale. Assembly yards Are development structures for the Cardassian's, mass Replicators for the Federation,machining guilds for the Ferengi,foundries for the Klingon's and fabricators for the Romulan's.

Energy Structures Energy structures are structures that produce energy to power other structures. Advanced energy structures are able to supply more energy per structure. Fusion plants are energy structures for Cardassian's,plasma reactors for the Federation,power exchanges for the Ferengi, matter furnaces for the Klingon's and Gravitic turbines for the Romulan's.

Food Structures Food structures supply populations with food, allowing empires to increase their population size. The therefore supply empires and races with industry. Advanced food structures supply more food per structure. Hydroponics farms are food Structures for the Cardassian's, automated farms for the Federation, grower's markets for the Ferengi, hunting grounds for the Klingon's and Organics plants for the Romulan's.

Research Structures Research structures explore scientific theories and expand understanding of the universe, as such, they produce research for empires. Advanced research structures produce more research per structure. Research production is also increased by a population with a positive morale. Science centers are research structures for the Cardassian's,universities for the Federation, research labs for the Ferengi, halls of learning for the Klingon's and laboratories for the Romulan's.

Special Structures These structures provide services such as scanning,planetary defense or starship construction. While special structures do not require a population to run, they do require outside sources of energy, such as energy structures, to function.

Dilithium Refineries Dilithium refineries are built in solar systems where dilithium is located. These refineries are crucial in the construction of starships, since without them, it is not possible to use dilithium in building starships. Each empire's home world starts the game with this structure.

Orbital Batteries Orbital batteries are designed to attack enemy ships that attack the solar system the batteries are located in. Multiple orbital batteries work together to defend against invading starships. Until orbital batteries are destroyed, a solar system is difficult to invade.

Scanners Scanners search nearby sectors of space for enemy starships and display their location on the Galactic Map. Enemy starships in unscanned sectors are not shown on the map. Depending upon their technology level. Some scanners might be able to detect cloaked starships.

Shield Generators Shield generators reduce the damage caused by starships bombarding a solar system. These structures also reduce the amount of troops that can be deployed by a troop transport for a ground invasion, making invasions difficult until they have been destroyed.

Shipyards Shipyards are facilities that allow an empire to construct starships. To build them, construction is the require technology field. Each empire's home world starts the game with this structure. A shipyard cannot build starships unless there is sufficient dilithium available. Active shipyards also extend the range of a starship and enhance the rate of repair to damaged starships docked there.

Race specific and Other Structures Depending on the empire you play and the planets that exist in your solar systems, you may have several other structures available to you that enhance the output of system level resources, such as aquiculture centers that can be built on aquatic worlds. These will appear on the Build List when available. Their are structures that are unique to each empire or race. Their benefits, therefore, vary from empire to empire, race to race. These structures can be enhanced versions of basic structures, such as the Utopia Planitia Shipyard, or can provide bonuses to resources, such as the Romulan Astrophysics Academy. Others can train starship crews, such as the Andorian War College, or improve morale, such as the Bajoran Jalanda Forum. Each empire has five race-specific structures it can build, and each minor has one race-specific structure that can be built by an empire that controls it.

Structures every race can build Aquaculture Center Charge Collectors Communications Grid Dilithium Refinery Listening Post Orbital Battery Shield Generator Subspace Scanner Wind Turbines

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)

This chart details the number of minor races that you will find in a given galaxy for each minor race setting. This information was collect from http://www.geocities.com/maasenstodt/ credit goes to him for chart.

Start by going to Birth of the Federation's installation directory (Default is C:botf) and locating trek.exe

Right click on trek.exe and select Sent To > Destkop (create shortcut)

You should now have a "Shortcut to trek.exe" on your desktop, right click and select Properties

Under the Shortcut tab change the Target line to this:

Make sure that -MUDD is OUTSIDE the quotes, capitalized (especially in XP) and seperated from the closing quote by a space!

Under the General tab rename the shortcut to something like "BotF Cheats" and click apply, then ok. (If Apply is grayed out, just click ok)

Now you can either keep the shortcut on the desktop, or if you're like me, move it somewhere else by clicking and dragging the icon to a folder, the start menu, or the Quick Launch toolbar.

You have to use this shortcut every time you wish to play with the cheats enabled