Star Trek: Bridge Commander (2002)

[Leonidae]

I know, the game is ancient, and most of you never suspected me to be a Trekkie, but I've watched that show since I was a kid. Anyway, is there anyone else here who still plays this? the game has plenty of mods which have extended the games life a lot, just like CFS3's ETO/PTO/MAW/KAW-addons. if you search bridge commander mods on youtube, you can see that the modded game nearly matches the quality of the movies ( not counting bridge crew scenes though). The ships are stunning, from Constitution-class to latest Sovereign class warship, and naturally Romulans, Klingons, Cardassians, Breen and even the Borg are included. and in this game, you can also pit the Sci-Fi Giants against each other.. namely the four great ones: Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and BattleStar Galactica, and more mods keep coming out.. including our own good old Spaceshuttle Discovery. So, come on.. don't be shy.

 

[FLK]

I own this but I haven't played it for at least a year, it's a good game and the single player missions were quite challenging. Used to play it a lot versus the AI in instant battle mode with mods (remembers large battles with C2X's Borg Cubes ) which I still have about 3GB worth of mods on one of my hard disks.

Shame it was never continued as it had so much potential for many things to be improved.

 

[Leonidae]

indeed. I still do play it, just to see how different fandom ships survive against each other. this far, Stargate has strong lead with the BC304 Odyssey. that pretty little lady easily goes neck to neck with anything that the Borg can throw at it.

 

[Leonidae]

now there's a good reason to install the game.. and yes, that's an ingame shot not on my rig though

 

[FLK]

I've been playing on and off since I last posted and had some great Fed battles with the Kobayashi Maru 1.0 mod after working out how to fix the hardpoint errors with the KM 1.0 Akira (to wean myself off the Sovereign).

I'll try to get some screenshots up in the meantime of some of my fights.

 

[Leonidae]

Sovereigns are overrated..

*cough*Excalibur-class*cough* nice little ship..

 

[Robin]

I also own Bridge Commander, possibly the only great Trek game which ever came out (the 25th anniversary one was also quite good). It even has support for voice given commands but I never managed to get it working.

The scope of its mods is endless and the graphics keep getting updated so they are on par with any other game. They really shot themselves in the foot by not releasing a sequel.

I really need to get my hands on the new Enterprise and Kelvin and have some fun! But I think you need the Kobayashi Maru mod installed which is really hard to download because its huge.

Robin.

 

[Leonidae]

Actually those ships are available as independent packages, KM isn't necessary. However, a good computer IS necessary because 1.) some of the new ships are huge ( for example, the Narada from the ST:XI ), and2.) the textures are something along the lines 2048x2048 or even better. Destruction of 11km long Wraith hive ship or several volleys from Imperial Star Destroyer puts my computer on it's knees.

 

[DustDriver]

Never played this game. Are the battles similar to X3 Reunion?

 

[Leonidae]

Can't tell since I have no clue what X3 Reunion is, but here's a couple Youtube vids.





You can control the ship either from 1st person view on the bridge (There's plenty of those to download so you can match the bridge to the ship it belongs to.), talking to various officers. You can also do this from external view and see how your enemy or your own ship gets hit. Piloting the ship and using/aiming the weapons by yourself is also possible. Mods offer more flexible commands, better special effects etc and since the game is very mod friendly, new mods appear almost weekly. And before you ask, The Borgs are available in all shapes and sizes. Assimilated ships as well. There are also total conversions like Kobayashi Maru etc.

 

[DustDriver]

X³ Reunion is a space trading game.
You can build massive fleets of battle ships. And even buy/build factories in space to get more money/equipment.
My fun with the game was limited due to my aging pc when I played this game.
When there was to much stuff going on it would just freeze up.
The game also has a lot of mods and ships to it's disposal.

If you want to have an idea of size difference in the game here is a screenshot of a 1 person ship flying over 1 part of a solar plant:
http://www.gamershell.com/screenpop.php?id=188557

 

[Leonidae]

There's a guy building the V'Ger from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. You can easily park the Constitution class inside it, and if his ambitious plan gets finished, it will have it's own nebula with it too. Also, the Doomsday Machine and whale probe are among the mods available. Oh, did I mention Battlestar Galactica mod? Includes all Colonial and Cylon ships from Vipers to Basestar.

"Going to Cardassia, BRB!"

 

[Viper_Maniac]

I think I have this game somewhere around here. Never got around to installing it. This thread is definitely making me want to though. Also makes me want to get X3 as well.

 

[Leonidae]

Do iit! oh, and here is the site with all the mods you can think of.

 

[Sniffs]

elsewhere, I've run into someone, lately, that's been designing 2d OM/NG ships...and he's never HEARD of this.

 

[Leonidae]

yet another black screen.. thank god for back-ups.

 

[Leonidae]

Well, I installed total conversion called Kobayashi maru.. and it's so awesome that.. i need to build a new computer. it's Bridge Commanders bodybuilding cousin, full of awesome effects and massive, high detail star systems and ships, including our own solar system. and now I'd go as far as call it simulation, since now I can control which sield sector has most power, which phased has most punch, if the point defense is on or not, how urgent the repairs are.. yup, plenty of things to fiddle around from abandoning ship to power management and fleet commands.. I'm addicted.

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

new rig, new mods = great screenshots

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

Tutorial about how to make great screenshots in the game. Yeah, a thread revival, but a necessary one.

 

[DQuaN]

After seing this thread I was intrigued and got the game. Seems fun so far but I am stuck and only on the 3rd episode!! I rescue a ship from drifting in to an asteroid field using my tractor beam, and then a Romulan War Bird decloaks and attacks me. I have tried everything but it destroys me every time! How do I beat it??

 

[FLK]

Haven't played this game for ages but if you're still struggling you can try using your tractor beam to pin-down the Warbird.

Avoid attacking it when it's facing you as it's weapons are quite powerful (notably it's disruptors) and always try to be behind it. If it does end up facing you try to spread the damage across your shield quadrants by rolling your ship. I'd avoid turning away from the Warbird so you can use your rear torpedoes as this will allow it to turn back on you bringing it's main weapons into play. Alter your speed instead and try to keep behind it until it retreats. I got into the habit of saving rear torpedoes until I really needed them i.e. the other ship got behind me or if I was near to winning the battle.

When your attacking concentrate on the top and bottom area of the Warbird (biggest area of the ship to hit) and always go for the warp core or shield generator, use your tractor beam to help hold it in these positions. You can also toggle your phasers to low power once you've knocked out a shield quadrant as they will do more damage to subsystems, full power is better at depleting shields and damaging the hull. The Warbird will also cloak so be careful as it will try to manouvre so it can bring it's front weapons onto you, be ready to evade it's fire and always keep moving and turning randomly.

It should withdraw once the hull or the two above subsystems get damaged enough / disabled.

 

[DQuaN]

How do I fly behind it while trying to shoot at it at the same time?

 

[FLK]

I take it you're using manual control & tactical mode when you're fighting? Don't use the tactical orders (F2) as the AI is rubbish and will get you killed a lot. Are you also using the engineering management (F5) and boosting weapons etc..?

You can keep some of the phaser banks in range by using the roll commands. The War Bird is quite slow at turning so just keep your speed up until your pass it and then turn to attack. If you stay within 20km distance of it you can use the tractor beam to stop it turning around. Just avoid letting it face you or it will do a lot of damage.

Sorry if I'm not making much sense, perhaps if you explain in detail how you're fighting the War Bird I may get a better idea of where you're going wrong.

 

[DQuaN]

You're making sense. I'm just not sure how to fly the ship where I want it! I've actually beaten the Warbird now but these tips will come in handy as I go through the game.

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

And if you need more tips and know how about mods, just log into BC Central.