Introduction
This section is mainly about the FAQ itself and some legalese.
You can read the most often asked FAQs at the end of this
section, or skip right to [1] for the "stuff".
If you like the FAQ, send me $1.00. :-) See 0.3
0.1 A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR
This is a FAQ, NOT a manual. You won't learn how to play the game
with this document, and I'm NOT about to add it to ease the life
of software pirates, no matter how old the game is.
This guide is about SFC3. I also have written guide for SFC and
SFC2:EAW.
Some of you may recognize my name as the editor for the XCOM and
XCOM2: TFTD FAQ's, among others.
If you don't care about all these verbiage (it's mainly for
people who want to redistribute the guide) you can jump right to
the end of this section and read some of the FAQs.
If you like the FAQ, send me $1.00. :-) See 0.3
0.2 TERMS OF DISTRIBUTION
This document is copyrighted by Kuo-Sheng "Kasey" Chang (c) 2003,
all rights reserved excepted as noted above in the disclaimer
section.
This document is available FREE of charge subjected to the
following conditions:
1) This notice and author's name must accompany all copies of
this document: " Starfleet Command III Unofficial Strategy Guide
and FAQ" is copyrighted (c) 2003 by Kasey K.S. Chang, all rights
reserved except as noted in the disclaimer."
2) This document must NOT be modified in any form or manner
without prior permission of the author with the following
exception: if you wish to convert this document to a different
file format or archive format, with no change to the content,
then no permission is needed.
2a) In case you can't read, that means TXT only. No banners, no
HTML borders, no cutting up into multiple pages to get you more
banner hits, and esp. no adding your site name to the site list.
3) No charge other than "reasonable" compensation should charged
for its distribution. (Free is preferred) Sale of this
information is expressly prohibited. If you see any one selling
this guide, drop me a line.
4) If you used material from this, PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE the source,
else it is plagiarism.
5) The author hereby grants all games-related web sites the right
to archive and link to this document to share among the game
fandom, provided that all above restrictions are followed.
Sidenote: The above conditions are known as a statutory contract.
If you meet them, then you are entitled to the rights I give you
in 5), i.e. archive and display this document on your website. If
you don't follow them, you did not meet the statutory contract
conditions, thus you have no right to display this document. If
you still do so, then you are infringing upon my copyright. This
section was added for any websites who don't seem to understand
this.
0.3 VOLUNTARY COMPENSATION
Gamers who read this guide are under NO obligation to send me ANY
compensation.
However, a VOLUNTARY contribution of one (1) US Dollar would be
very appreciated.
If you choose to do so, please make your US$1.00 check or $1.00
worth of stamps to "Kuo-Sheng Chang", and send it to "2220 Turk
Blvd. #6, San Francisco, CA 94118 USA".
If you don't live in the US, please send me some local stamps. I
collect stamps too.
0.4 DISTRIBUTION
This USG should be available at Gamefaqs
(http://www.gamefaqs.com) and other major PC game websites (such
as gamesdomain.com, gamespot.com, etc.). I only release it to
Gamefaqs, so they would always have the latest. If you get it
from anywhere else, beware that it may NOT be the latest and
greatest version.
To webmasters who wish to archive this FAQ on their website,
please read the terms of distribution in section 0.2. It is quite
clear.
0.5 OTHER NOTES
There is no warranty for this unofficial strategy guide. After
all, it depends on YOU the player. All I can do is offer some
advice.
Some bits of information here are condensed, summarized and
adapted from the SFB Tactics Manual (original edition).
PLEASE let me know if there's a confusing or missing remark... If
you find a question about this game that is not covered in the
USG, e-mail it to me at the address specified later. I'll try to
answer it and include it in the next update.
The address below is spelled out phonetically so spammers can't
use spambots on it:
Kilo-Sierra-Charlie-Hotel-Alpha-November-Golf-Seven-Seven AT
Yankee-Alpha-Hotel-Oscar-Oscar DOT Charlie-Oscar-Mike
To decipher this, simply read the first letter off each word
except for the numbers and the punctuation. This is "military
phonetics" or "aeronautical phonetics" in case you're wondering.
This document was produced on Microsoft Word 97, with some note
taking on a Handspring Visor with the Targus Stowaway foldable
keyboard. Some editing was done with Editpad
(editpadclassic.com).
0.6 THE AUTHOR
I am just a game player who decided to write my own FAQs when the
ones I find don't cover what I want to see. Lots of people like
what I did, so I kept doing it.
Previously, I've written Unofficial Strategy Guides (USGs) for
XCOM, XCOM2:TFTD, Wing Commander, Wing Commander 2, Wing
Commander 3, Wing Commander 4, Privateer, Spycraft, 688(I)
Hunter/Killer. Mechwarrior 3, MW3 Expansion Pack, Mechwarrior 4,
Mechwarrior 4: Black Knight, Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries, Need for
Speed: Porsche Unleashed, The Sting!, Terranova, Fallout Tactics,
Battlecruiser Millennium, and a few more.
Most of them should be on http://www.gamefaqs.com, the biggest
FAQ site around.
To contact me, see 0.5 above.
0.7 DISCLAIMER/ COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Starfleet Command III is a trademark of Activision. See
http://www.activision.com
Starfleet Command III was created by Taldren. See
http://www.taldren.com
Starfleet Command III was inspired by Star Trek, which is a
trademark by Paramount Pictures. See http://gaming.startrek.com
for all you want to know about Star Trek computer and console
games.
Some of the information here has been published on Taldren's
public forum
0.8 REVISION HISTORY
01-SEP-2003 Initial Release
0.9 THE MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: Can you send me SFC3 (or portions thereof)?
A: No.
Q: Can you send me the CD key?
A: No.
Q: Can you send me the manual (or portions thereof)?
A: No. It's on the CD!
Q: Can you tell me how to play the game?
A: Read the manual.
Q: What are the keyboard shortcuts?
A: Read the manual or look in the game options
Q: What's the latest version of SFC3?
A: Beta patch V1.01 Build 500 (about 12 megs or so)
Q: Which race should I start first?
A: As the game suggests, play the Klingons.
Q: How many difficulty levels are there?
A: The AI level can be set to 3 levels, captain, commodore, or
admiral.
Q: What is the maximum number of ships I can own?
A: One. You may command more during a mission but own only one.
Q: What do the medals screen really mean?
A: They show what special missions you've "won", in addition to
your rank (which depends on your prestige).
Q: What are some of the terms used in SFC/SFB mean?
A: See the "glossary" at 1.9
Q: Where are the cheat codes?
A: There aren't any. This is a STRATEGY and TACTICAL COMBAT game.
Q: How do I get better crew?
A: You "buy" them at the recruiting office. Though in my
experience you can train them up faster than the good ones are
offered.
Q: But I don't see any good crews available!
A: So take your "green" crew on a few missions. By the end of
campaign they should be near "legendary".
Q: How do I play online?
A: Sign up for Gamespy, which allows you to join the existing
Dynaverse 3 servers.
Q: What is this "Borg campaign" I heard about?
A: It's only included in the boxes sold by Best Buy.
Q: How about the "Nemesis campaign"?
A: You can download that from most SFC websites.
1 Game Information: What is SFC3?
SFC3, or Starfleet Command III, is a starship combat simulation
set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation / Deep Space Nine /
Voyager universe. It is an officially licensed Star Trek product.
It is the third in the series of Starfleet Command products. Set
after Voyager's return from the Delta Quadrant, it chronicles the
attempt by the Klingons and the Federation to build Unity One,
the most advanced Starbase in Alpha and Beta Quadrants, while the
Romulans are watching warily...
The previous two Starfleet Command were set in the original Star
Trek series universe (or as it's sometimes called, the Movie
Series universe), and was published by Interplay.
1.1 BEFORE SFC, THERE WAS SFB
Star Fleet Battles was a board game that was inspired by Star
Trek. Amarillo Design Bureau (ADB) based Star Fleet Battles (SFB)
on the Franz Joseph "Star Fleet Technical Manual" (to Trekkers,
the TOS Tech Manual) where ships such as destroyers and
dreadnoughts were proposed as part of Federation Star Fleet. SFB
was VERY careful not to ever mention Star Trek or use ANY of the
Star Trek-only elements in its materials, as Paramount never
licensed SFB.
The original SFB was published in a small "booklet" format sealed
in ziplock bags. It was first published in 1979 though it was
designed as far back as 1975. It only had the Feds, Klingons,
and Romulans. Some races were added later in expansion packs.
Then came the "Commander's Edition" in 1990. Commander's Edition
had Federation, Klingon, Tholians, Romulans, Orions, Gorns, and
Kzintis (from the animated Star Trek episode, "The Slaver
Weapon", which used the Kzintis from Larry Niven's stories). You
can find more about the Kzintis by reading the "Man-Kzin Wars"
collection in your local library or bookstore.
The final (often called "Doomsday") "Captain's edition" rules
was in 1994. All the rules are now revised properly and swore
never to be changed except for VERY good reasons. Other races
such as Lyrans and Hydrans were added, and later the ISC. There
are also a lot of minor races like Lyran Democratic Republic
(LDR), the WYN, and so on in later expansion modules.
Other expansion modules added carrier operations, PF operations,
very large ships (like battleships and battlecruisers, as well as
heavy dreadnoughts and light dreadnoughts), new terrain types
(radiation zone, heat zone, etc.), more monsters, more auxiliary
units, more conjectural units, more races, and much more.
In time, the SFB universe diverged significantly from the Star
Trek universe. In SFB, the empires continue to fight minor wars
on and off until the General War, where everybody started
fighting. The Organians are missing, off dealing with some other
threats. The General war lasted 18 years. Organians later came
back with the ISC and tried to let ISC enforce peace on
everybody, and initially the ISC were successful, until a new
invader came, the Andromedans.
To learn more about the General War and the SFB universe in
general, please read the "General War Timeline" on the SFB
website at
http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/sfin/general_war.htm.
(In case you wonder what about the Andromedans, here's a short
explanation, in SFB, the Andromedans launched an all-out invasion
of the galaxy right after the ISC Pacification War. They have an
advantage in that they were able to move VERY quickly from sector
to sector. They almost reduced some of the empires to only a few
systems. The galaxy united and in a series of battles, threw back
the Andromedans after discovering how the Andromedans were able
to fly so fast from sector to sector. The pre-surveyed Andromedan
satellite bases serve as special nav beacons. The galactic powers
hunted down the satellite bases, and eventually, launched an all-
out assault on the Andromedan base in the Lesser-Magellanic
Clouds (nebula), destroying it. The galaxy was forever changed,
as the Romulan Empire became a Republic. )
There was even a company or two that creates "unofficial
expansion" for SFB that adds new races in a different galaxy with
completely different combat rules. ADB themselves also published
several "alternate universe" products, including "Omega Sector"
(space beyond ISC) and "Stellar Shadows". They also published
some "minor races" (Lyran Democratic Republic, the WYN cluster,
the Jindarians, etc.) and the "simulator races" (what each
"empire" use as imaginary enemies in their training academies).
Each have at least one or two unique features, and most have a
full complement of ships, from PF's up to at least dreadnoughts.
SFB also has a strategic component called "Federation and
Empire", which is a board game that simulates the General War
complete with strategic movement, supplies, shipbuilding, fleet
battle, bases, and more. You can even generate battles to be
fought with SFB. It has its own set of expansion modules which
adds rules to deal with marine action, carrier battles, detailed
combat resolution with new special devices, more races, alternate
battles and campaigns, and so on.
SFB inspired a pen-and-paper role-playing game called "Prime
Directive", where you command "prime teams", basically special
agents that can handle ANYTHING for your empire. The game
features a "tiered" resolution system where it is possible to
completely BOTCH an operation. Otherwise it's a pretty standard
RPG in a sci-fi setting.
Later, Paramount granted ADB a conditional license that basically
says, "as long as you continue what you do now you are okay with
us." ADB has NO permission to use ANYTHING beyond what they do
now... To quote from ADB website, "We have Vulcans, but no one
named 'Spock'."
Recently, a new edition of Prime Directive using the popular
GURPS RPG system (from Steve Jackson Games) was released. Also,
ADB split from their original publisher, Task Force Games.
1.2 THEN COMES INTERPLAY
When Interplay obtained the license to make computer games based
on the "original Star Trek" license, one of the ideas thrown
around was to computerize Star Fleet Battles, and make it into an
official Star Trek product. Alan Emrich (noted strategy game
designer, contributor to Sid Meier's Civilization) claim to be
the first to submit the idea to Interplay. Quicksilver Software
then produced the product.
The result is "Starfleet Command" (SFC). It featured a full
"career" mode where the player creates a captain for one of the
major races, get a starship, go on missions, win prestige pts,
then spend the points on better crew, bigger ships, and so on.
You can also join one of several "elite" organizations within
each "empire". As a Fed, you can join "Starfleet Special Task
Force". As a Romulan, you can join the "Tal'Shiar" or the
"Tal'Priex", and so on. Membership in the elite organizations
allows you access to even more lucrative missions.
The Lyrans, Kzinti, and ISC never made it into SFC1 though. The
term 'Kzinti' was copyrighted (by Larry Niven's books) and
Interplay couldn't get a release without paying another license
fee. Tholians didn't make it in due to the complexity of their
"web" rules. Orion ships are in SFC, but you can't command one.
They are only there for you to fight against. They simply ran out
of room for ISC.
Keep in mind that SFC is a real-time game, while SFB is a turn-
based pen-and-paper board game. The differences are significant.
While SFC is based on SFB, it is NOT a direct translation.
1.3 THEN WE MOVED ON TO SFC2...
Taldren, with quite a bit of help from former Quicksilver
employees, went on to create Starfleet Command Volume II: Empires
at War, with many different improvements.
SFC2 features several new races: Mirak, ISC, and Lyrans. It also
features expanded ship list for all of the races, plus a whole
slew of neutral ships, planets, and so on. Mirak were the SFB
Kzintis.
Fighters and Fast Patrol ships (gunboats), and carriers/tenders
that carry them have been added as well. However, the individual
crew for each station (captain, science officer, tactical
officer, etc.) have been eliminated in favor of a vastly expanded
"campaign engine" dubbed "Dynaverse II".
The different races have campaigns set in the SFB "ISC
Pacification" period. Basically, the ISC jumped in near the end
of the General and shot at everybody, and was universally hated
as meddlers. They prompted the end of the General War.
Essentially the galactic powers, through separate efforts, pushed
back the ISC on all fronts, and you will discover the fate of the
Organians, and that threat they were talking about...
You can also play as the ISC and fight against everybody.
If you don't like the scripted campaigns, you can play a "pure
conquest" game by doing some unsupported modifications in your
game install directory. Look for two .BAT files in the game
directory and read the file before running it. It is NOT
supported, so don't blame anyone if that didn't work!
A stand-alone expansion pack: SFC2: Orion Pirates was later
released featuring advanced weapons and X-ships, Orion campaigns,
and final bug fixes. You can now finally play as one of the
pirates by joining one of the cartels. However, the individual
race campaigns have been eliminated. You can still play as one of
the galactic races, but you can only play "conquest". OP does NOT
require SFC2 to play and can be installed side-by-side with SFC2.
It has its own set of patches.
A full online multiplayer has been added. You can setup your own
dynaverse 2 server and let other players login and play for a
particular faction, with the server tracking the ebb and flow of
each empire, or you can just join an existing server and serve an
empire of your own choosing.
Interplay does not have the license to make Star Trek: The Next
Generation games. By this time, Viacom (parent company of
Paramount Pictures, owner of Star Trek franchise) decided to let
a single company handle the game business, and Activision won the
bid. So Activision will publish Starfleet Command III.
1.4 SO WHAT IS SFC3?
SFC3 has two parts: a campaign engine and a starship battle
simulator. In that way, it is similar to XCOM, with the
separation of GeoScape (world view of the globe) and BattleScape
(tactical isometric view) or even Fallout Tactics.
In the starship battle simulator, all of the systems on a
starship are at your command, from the sensors to the engine room
(power distribution), from the weapons to the transporters (to
beam out marines), from tractor beams to shuttles, and more. The
battle is on a 2D plane though the ships and other units are
fully 3D.
The starship combat simulator was significantly streamlined when
compared to SFC2. Energy allocation has been mostly eliminated.
Shields have been reduced from six to four. Weapons can no longer
be overloaded, though more "trick" weapons have been added.
Seeking weapons and fighters have been eliminated, as well as
transporter bombs.
Surrounding the battle simulator is the campaign engine, which
works for single-player campaign or multiplayer online. Some
missions are "special" missions and pre-scripted. Others are
randomly generated.
As you win missions, you earn prestige points. You can then used
those points to buy supplies, repair and refit your ship (with
more powerful equipment and weapons), upgrade to a new ship, hire
better officers, and so on. Depending on how well you perform the
missions, your empire can win or lose control of a particular
sector.
You can now REALLY upgrade your ship, by adding or removing
specific components. Want better shields? Add a stronger one (up
to certain limits). Want more firepower? Install a better weapon.
And so on. Each choice you make has an effect on combat. The more
mass you add to your ship, the slow you move and turn. The more
weapons you add to your ship, the less power you have form them
and powering the shields.
Each of the three races (Klingons, Romulans, and Federation) has
its custom campaign with some randomly generated missions and
some pre-scripted missions.
In Multiplayer mode, SFC can be played in skirmish mode (fight a
single battle online) or Dynaverse 3 campaign on supported
servers.
1.5 WHAT IS SFC3'S STARSHIP COMBAT LIKE?
SFC3 combat is VERY different from other types of combat, like
land combat and naval combat. Land combat speed is quite slow
with long range weapons. Same with naval combat. In land or naval
combat, weapons are very powerful and protection is nearly nil.
If you're hit, you're toast. It's almost the exact opposite in
starship combat.
A typical weapon in SFC3 has effective range of 30 (300,000
kilometers) though usually they are fired a lot closer, while a
ship can travel 200,000 kms or more during that weapon recharge
period (speed 20). Shields protect all ships. It will take
several salvoes to defeat the shields on a ship and actually
damage the ship (though there are some shield penetrating
weapons). Firing arcs and maneuvers are very important.
Think of starship combat as aerial dogfights between helicopters
and you wouldn't be far off... Except these helicopters have
energy shields...
1.6 WHO MAKES SFC3? HOW ABOUT EXPANSION PACKS? SEQUELS?
Taldren created SFC3. Activision published SFC3.
The SFC3 sold in Best Buy has a special Borg campaign.
You can download the Nemesis mini campaign from various SFC3
websites.
1.7 ORGANIZATION OF THIS GUIDE
This guide will organized in roughly THREE parts.
Part 1 is a discussion of the battle simulator in SFC3, and the
various "general" tactics that would applies to several races,
not just a specific race or weapon. Things like fleet tactics,
shuttle tactics and so on would be here, as will maneuvers, HET
usage, and so on.
Part 2 is a discussion of the campaign engine, how to play single-
player and multi-player campaign, and so on. The specific
mission walkthrus for the campaign missions would be here as
well.
Part 3 is a race specific discussion on the ships, tactics, and
so on, for each race, a list of their ships, which ships are
good, custom configurations, and so on. There will also be a bit
of comparison among the ship classes and so on.
1.8 HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
This guide was not designed to be general reference, but it sort
of ended up that way.
You will eventually want to read over EVERY section in this
guide, as we discuss tactics, systems, ships, races, special
equipment, weapons, and so on. This guide covers EVERYTHING. Read
the sections that apply to you first. For example, if you are
playing the Feds, read the Fed tactics, Fed ships, read the
section on photons, then read about the general tactics, the
discussion about your enemies. Eventually you'll read the whole
thing.
I don't cover stuff that's already in the manual. If you can't
figure out which buttons are which, you need the manual, not this
guide.
1.9 SOME SFC/SFB TERMINOLOGIES
Alpha strike -- fire EVERY weapon that is currently in arc at the
designated target. Also see "peak output". Put maximum amount of
firepower on the target. (NOTE: this does NOT always mean put the
enemy directly in front of you. Also see "firing arcs").
Anchor -- a tactic where you use the tractor beam to hold the
enemy still, so you can shoot at the enemy with ZERO angular
velocity, improving chance-to-hit tremendously.
Battle pass -- move past the target off to its side, allowing
your rear/side weapons to shoot at the enemy's rear/side shields.
Also see "overrun". Usually used by Klingons due to their "wing"
phaser arcs, but can be used by any one with more side/rear
phasers.
Battle run -- approach the target, shoot, then turn away to
expose rear/side weapons. Also see "overrun" and "battle pass".
Crunch Power -- see "peak output" below
Erratic Maneuvers (EM) -- sometimes referred as "evasive
maneuvers", sudden but small random movements, makes your ship
harder to hit but move a bit slower and makes your weapons less
accurate as well.
Firing arcs -- where the weapon can shoot. Most weapons have
limited firing arcs. Thus, it is up to you, the captain, to
position your ship properly so you can shoot the weapons at the
enemy properly (at his weakened or downed shield, preferably).
Hit-and-Run Raid (H&R) -- raid on specific enemy systems
conducted by your marines/boarding parties. If they succeed, the
system they attack is destroyed. You'll need to drop a facing
shield to do it though, and enemy must have a facing shield down
as well...
Internals -- short for "internal damage", amount of damage that
penetrated the shields. Example: "That salvo did 25 internals."
Klingon Saber Dance -- a tactic favored by Klingons. Basically,
it maneuvers staying just out of overload range to "wear down"
the opponent, who lacks the speed to get into overload range.
Statistically the disruptors have a better to-hit percentage than
other weapons at range 12-15. The superior maneuverability of the
Klingon ships and extended firing arcs facilitates that.
Mizia Concept -- introduced by Walter Mizia, it is an SFB concept
that a multiple smaller volleys is preferred to a single large
volley of damage. Statistically in SFB, a single large volley
tends to kill power but leave weapons, while multiple smaller
volleys kill weapons but leave power. SFC has inherited same
damage allocation routine and thus the same analysis applies.
Thus, the "multiple small volleys of attack" is also known as
"Mizia Attack".
Overrun -- pass right OVER the enemy ship, thus giving you the
opportunity to do point-blank shots, rear weapon shots, mines,
H&R raids, and so on. Also see "battle pass" and "battle turn".
Peak output -- better known as "crunch power", the theoretical
maximum damage that can be done in one alpha strike from a ship
in a single salvo. A Federation ship, for example, would have
higher peak output due to Fed photon torpedoes doing more damage
then the Klingon photon torpedoes. Usually used like "a
Federation ship has higher crunch power than a Klingon ship."
Power Curve -- a measure of how much power a ship has vs. how
much power it needs to arm all weapons at regular power levels
AND pay housekeeping costs. This is a lot less important than in
previous SFC games except when the warp engines take damage and
reduces power output.
Shock -- when internal damage is received, one or more systems
may be 'shocked' into being temporarily disabled. A "shocked"
system will come back online after a period of time without being
repaired, but in the meanwhile you have to do without the system.
Those systems show yellow. You can force them back online by
repairing them but that will use up one of your damage control
teams.
Tractor beam -- a force beam that can push or pull other objects
as needed. You can use it to 1) keep other objects away from you,
or 2) hold the other object there (so it can't get away).
Underrun -- overrun done by a cloaked unit. Also see "overrun".
1.10 RANGE TERMS
Point-blank -- range zero or one, hit probability is 100%... You
can't miss.
Knife-fighting range -- range two or so, very slow maneuvering
battles
Medium range -- range 3 to roughly range 15-20, reduced
probability of hit
Long range -- starts from end of medium to about range 30, or the
maximum range of the weapon(s).
Extreme range -- starts from edge of sensor range to end of long
range.
2 Power, and what it affects
Before we explain the tactics, weapons, etc., we need to explain
HOW the ships actually produce the energy and move around, and
where all the energy would go.
2.1 POWER SOURCES
In SFC3, there is only one power source: warp engines. To get
more power, you mount a bigger engine (subject to a ship's
internal limit).
Power is used to charge shields, primary weapons, and heavy
weapons. If you don't have enough power, your weapons will charge
slower, your shields may be less than optimal strength, and so
on.
2.2 SHIELDS
In SFC3, there are only 4 shields covering the 4 compass
directions.
Shield damage during battle is repaired automatically, but that
takes time.
Shield can be reinforced, but this draws power from the OTHER
shields, depending on how much surplus power you have allocated
to the shields. The more surplus you allocate, the less taken
from the other shields.
Due to the amount of maneuvering in SFC3, reinforcing a specific
shield is generally NOT needed (or a good idea) unless you have
superior turn rate that can keep that specific shield to the
enemy, or plan to use the anchor.
A downed shield cannot be reinforced, but usually your engineers
can bring a downed shield back up in a few seconds.
2.3 PRIMARY WEAPONS
Each race has its own primary weapons. They may look different
and shoot different, but they have the same effect... They take a
little power, do medium amount of damage, and can fire again
after just a little delay. Federation uses phasers, while
Klingons and Romulans use disruptors. Different names, same
ideas.
There are usually 4 levels of the same weapons. The F version
fires faster, but does less damage. Each higher level has longer
range and do more damage, of course.
2.4 HEAVY WEAPONS
Each race has its own set of heavy weapons. They take longer to
charge, but do more damage than primary weapons.
Each also has some "special weapons". For example, Klingon
Polaron torpedoes go through shields to strike at the hull, while
Romulan myotronic beam stuns enemy weapons on a starship. Feds
have Quantum torpedoes and pulse phasers...
2.5 LEARN YOUR POWER CURVE
There are many demands for power, but the source is limited. The
proper management of your available power is the key to success
in SFC3.
Know when to adjust power usage. It is possible to create ships
that needs so much power that you can only arm half of the
weapons at a time. If you manage to charge all the weapons, you
can do a lot of damage if they hit, but it'll take a VERY long
time to them to charge.
You can also alter the ship's power curve by NOT arming all of
its weapons. There's no requirement that you must use all four
disruptors on the cruiser...
Repair power when you can. One way to cripple the enemy is to
strike at the enemy's warp core. While this will not cause a core
breach, it will cripple his ability to put up his shields, much
less to shoot at you.
3 Maneuvering
Without maneuver, you cannot point your weapons at the enemy, or
turn your stronger shield against the enemy. So maneuvering is
quite important.
3.1 IMPULSE ENGINE
A ship has mass, and power must be applied to move it. The
"movement cost" is a ratio of how much power does a ship need to
move at a certain speed.
In SFC3, you can choose how big of impulse engine to fit in.
This, divided by the mass of the ship, gives you the impulse
speed.
3.2 THRUSTERS
A ship needs thrusters to turn. The bigger the thruster, and the
less mass a ship has, the faster the ship turns. However, a
ship's "engine" size is limited and it must fit warp engines,
impulse engines, and thrusters all together.
3.3 TACTICAL WARP
A ship can go into tactical warp after a few seconds of
preparation. This basically sends you flying away at high speed,
but with no shields, no weapons, and no sensors until you come
out of warp.
This essentially allows you to disengage at any time by setting a
course for map's edge and warp away.
It can also be used tactically by finely timing your firing and
warp engines going online to avoid enemy fire.
3.4 HIGH ENERGY TURN
By using the warp field, a ship can make "instant" turns at
impulse speeds, even reverse course 180 degrees. However, this
strains the warp engines, and repeated use can damage the ship.
Best used tactically where you turn around and stay on enemy's
tail, or turn to bring additional weapons to bear, and so on.
4 Ship Systems
These systems are a part of the ship that can be used in various
ways that does not directly affect combat, but are important in
other ways.
4.1 SHIELDS
Shields protect your ship from being actually hit (duh!). There
are four of them, covering the "square" around the ship. The
"front" shield is #1, go clockwise. So left shield is #4.
You can raise shields in two stages... on, or off.
You can reinforce one of the shields with any excess energy you
got. Each pt you use in reinforcement on a specific shield will
cancel one pt of damage applied to that shield. (Exception: you
cannot reinforce a down shield)
For example, let's say you have a 35 pt front shield. You have 2
pts of reinforcement. Enemy fires phaser and scores 8 pts of
damage. Actual damage to your front shield is 6, as 2 were
covered by the reinforcement. Your front shield is now at 29.
However, you cannot read the EXACT strength of any particular
shield. You can read the "original" strength from the ship
descriptions. You can estimate the strength from the shield
colors, which are approximately as follows: 40+ = white, 30-39 =
green, 20-29=yellow, 10-19=red, 0-9=dim red
A facing shield will be automatically dropped for special
transporter activity such as Hit-and-Run raids, beam-in/out, and
so on.
4.2 TRANSPORTERS
Transporters send things out or bring things in. Transporters
have short range (5.99) so you need to be very close.
Transporters can bring up certain items from planets and ships,
or even empty space. It can also send certain items to planets
and ships. In a lot of the special scenarios, this is the only
way you can solve the problem: get to the place, beam up things,
beam down things, and get away.
You can install a larger transporter if you wish. In general,
unless you are in a battlecruiser or higher you don't need those
5 or 6-pad transporters.
Transporters can also be used to conduct hit-and-run raids.
Transporters can also be used to capture enemy ships or bases or
planets.
In SFC3 the number of marines is limited (even on a BC or DN) so
this is no longer as important as it was.
4.3 TRACTORS
Short for tractor beams, these are the force beam emitters that
can exert both push and pull forces.
Tractor beam has a very short range, at 2.49.
Tractor beam can be set to either pull or repel.
Tractor beams can be charged to 5 different force levels,
depending on your tractor beam level. If you have tractor-V, then
you can use all 5 levels. Else, you can use up to what you have.
For example, if you have tractor-III, then you can use up to
level 3.
The higher the level of the tractor set, the longer it takes to
"charge", but the more likely it'll hold an enemy ship for a
longer period (until he charges his own tractor to repel, see
below).
The higher the level of the tractor set, the more energy it draws
from the rest of the ship, including shields and weapons. If you
try to charge a level 3 or level 4 tractor, don't be surprised to
see your shields dim by 1/3 or so.
Tractors can keep stuff close to you (like enemy ships) in "pull"
mode.
Tractors can also keep other ships from tractoring you when set
to "repel" mode. While in repel mode, the tractor will repel all
attempts to tractor up to the force strength it is set to. For
example, if you have your tractor set to repel at strength 3,
enemy tractors set to strength 2 will not be able to tractor you,
but enemy tractors set to strength 4 can. Of course, that means
if you have a wimpy tractor, the enemy will hold you for a while.
One of the most satisfying ways to kill another ship is to
tractor it and force it into an asteroid or planet. However, DO
NOT do this to human-commanded ships while online. It is VERY
rude and is considered VERY BAD MANNERS. Same goes for tractoring
the human-commanded ship and pushing him off the map.
You can only tractor ONE object at a time.
4.4 SHUTTLES
Shuttle panel controls the shuttle bay. A ship can have several
shuttles in a shuttle bay, all regular admin shuttle.
You can launch only one shuttle at a time. It takes several
seconds for the shuttle bay to be ready to launch again.
The regular shuttle will shoot its tiny weapon like a fighter
while trying to follow you around.
4.5 SENSORS
Sensors have two modes: detailed scan (scan button in upper-left
corner), and anti-cloak scan (under science, if you can do it).
Detailed scan temporarily expands your sensor range. If you have
a target specified, the detailed scan will reveal additional info
when you're within range 20 (or so).
Anti-cloak scan is for detecting cloaked ships. It's almost like
a tachyon "sonar". Just turn it on and see who can you find... If
your computer has that capability. (Computer IV and V only).
5 Weapons
While these are the primary ways you do damage from a starship,
they are NOT the only way. (Don't forget hit-and-run raid, and
so on.)
Knowing how a weapon affects your power curve can be very useful.
There are primary weapons, and heavy weapons. We'll discuss each
in turn.
For weapon stats, see the end of this document.
5.1 PHASERS (PRIMARY)
Phaser, the directed energy weapon, is the most popular weapon.
Just about everybody use phasers, including some monsters.
There are four types of phasers, class IX, X, XI, and XII. Each
has a "fast" version (IX-F, X-F, etc.) that recharges faster but
does less damage. The different classes of phasers differ in
range and damage.
The fast version recharges in half the time, but does about 30%
less damage per shot.
There is a fifth type of phaser, type XIII, but that's for bases
only.
Phaser beams dissipate over distance. The closer you shoot, the
more damage you do.
5.2 KLINGON DISRUPTORS (PRIMARY)
Klingon disruptors operate on a similar principle to phasers,
except they shoot green "bolts" instead.
There are four types of disruptors, class I, II, III, and IV.
Each has a "fast" version that recharges faster but does less
damage. The different classes of disruptors differ in range and
damage.
There is a fifth type of disruptor, but that's for bases only.
Disruptor bolts dissipate over distance. The closer you shoot,
the more damage you do.
5.3 ROMULAN DISRUPTORS (PRIMARY)
Romulan disruptors are just like Klingon disruptors, except they
shoot green "beams".
There are four types of disruptors, class I, II, III, and IV.
Each has a "fast" version that recharges faster but does less
damage. The different classes of disruptors differ in range and
damage.
There is a fifth type of disruptor, but that's for bases only.
Disruptor beams dissipate over distance. The closer you shoot,
the more damage you do.
5.4 BORG CUTTING BEAM (PRIMARY)
The Borg uses cutting beam for their combat units. They come in 3
sizes: L, M, and H. In combat, it's a gray/green beam.
5.5 FEDERATION PHOTON TORPEDO (HEAVY)
The Feds invented photon torpedoes, and it does some serious
damage... if it hits. On the other hand, your chance to hit is
not bad out to range 8. It takes a long time to arm.
Photon torpedoes do the same damage no matter the range.
5.6 FEDERATION QUANTUM TORPEDO (HEAVY)
The Feds came up with quantum torpedo, which takes a little more
power to arm, same amount of time, but does 50% more damage.
Quantum torpedo, like photon torpedo, does the same damage no
matter the range.
5.7 KLINGON PHOTON TORPEDO (HEAVY)
Klingon photon torpedoes fire twice as fast as the Federation
version, but is only 30% weaker.
Photon torpedoes do the same damage no matter the range, if it
hits.
5.8 BORG GRAVIMETRIC TORPEDO (HEAVY)
Gravimetric torpedo is somewhat superior than the Federation
photon torpedo in terms of arming time, power use, and damage
caused. Other than that, it's not that special.
5.9 ROMULAN PLASMA TORPEDO LIGHT (HEAVY)
This "light" version of the Romulan heavy weapon does decent
damage, but it dissipates over distance. It also takes a VERY
long time to arm (three times as long as the Klingon photons)
5.10 ROMULAN PLASMA TORPEDO MEDIUM (HEAVY)
The medium version of Romulan heavy weapon does decent damage,
almost comparable to quantum torpedoes in terms of damage and
power, but long arming time is a problem.
5.11 ROMULAN PLASMA TORPEDO HEAVY (HEAVY)
The heavy plasma torpedo does nice damage, more than any other
single weapon in SFC3. The problem again, is long arming time.
5.12 FEDERAITON PULSE PHASERS (SPECIAL)
Federation Pulse Phasers, most recognizable weapon of the USS
Defiant, is a short-range high-power weapon that operates best in
range under 6. It also has a 10% chance of piercing the shields
and strike directly at the hull beneath.
5.13 KLINGON ION CANNON (SPECIAL)
Klingon Ion Cannon has a very narrow firing arc, and a long
arming time (for a Klingon weapon), but it does decent damage,
almost to quantum torpedo level.
5.14 KLINGON POLARON TORPEDO (SPECIAL)
Polaron torpedo pass through shields and strikes directly at the
hull. It should be used under range 12, preferably under range 8.
5.15 ROMULAN MYOTRONIC BEAM (SPECIAL)
The Myotronic beam "stuns" the target's weapons, rendering them
unusable for a while. Arming period is okay, and the "damage" it
does is below average. Also, the beam must hit the hull for the
stun to work. So shoot the disruptors first, THEN the myotronic
beam.
5.16 TACHYON PULSE - EVERYBODY (SPECIAL)
By emitting a tachyon pulse, one can temporarily paralyze the
target's warp engines. It is a point-blank weapon, with best to-
hit chances below range 8.
5.17 BORG SHIELD INVERSION BEAM (SPECIAL)
Shield inversion beam has constant 90% chance-to-hit at any range
(?) but the damage it cause will vary. It's only used to drain
shields (all four at a time). Definitely use it in conjunction
with your cutting beams.
5.18 MINES -- EVERYBODY (SPECIAL)
Mines are stationary explosive weapons you plant via the rear
hatch.
Most empires can also mount "antimatter mine launcher", but that
takes up a heavy-weapon slot. Still, if you have one that is not
in use, like a rear-facing slot...
After deployment, the mine will activate when you get at least 1
unit distance away.
Mines just "stay" there for 5 minutes after being laid and blows
up near anything that comes by (drones, shuttles, ships...)
The AI uses mines pretty effectively, but you seem to need to
"take the lead". Sometimes they use it, at other times they
don't.
Drop mine just before overrun is a good start.
Use mines to encourage the enemy to turn a certain way that is
more advantageous to you. The enemy's instinct to avoid the T-
bomb may cause them to reveal a down shield to your weapons.
5.19 NOTES ABOUT ARCS
SFC3 has quite a few side and rear firing weapon arcs.
In general, 50-75% of a ship's firing arc points to the front, or
mostly to the front.
On cruisers and larger, you may have a heavy weapon mount and two
primary weapon mounts pointed to the rear.
On BC or larger ships, 2 primary weapon mounts will point toward
the sides (3 and 9 o'clock position).
In general, I prefer to get the enemies either in front or
behind. I don't use the side-arcs because the angular velocity
would be too great to get a decent shot.
6 Introduction to SFC tactics
Every action you do in SFC has a "price". It can be energy,
availability, and so on. The decision you need to make is how to
get the most benefit out of that price you pay.
The old adage "apply your strengths to his weaknesses" is the
heart of SFC tactics. Or as American Civil War General Nathaniel
Bedford Forest was reputed to have said, "Get there fastest with
the mostest." (Which is a misquote, by the way.)
To do that, you need to know energy management, maneuver, and
timing.
We will also discuss the difference between passive vs.
aggressive play styles, and how to counter each type in general
terms.
6.1 THE PRICE VS. THE PAYBACK
Everything you do in SFC has a price.
If you fire a weapon, you can't use it until the weapon has been
charged again. If you don't fire, you won't do any damage.
If you use a shuttle, it's taken out of your inventory and thus
is not available any more (though the shuttle may survive). If
you don't use it, you don't get its benefits.
To succeed, you must make the MOST of the price you pay by
knowing what are the prices vs. the benefits, and use proper
timing and circumstances to get maximum effectiveness out of
them.
The new players seem to fall into 2 camps... Either they are TOO
aggressive (they pay the price at the wrong time and thus get
little or no payback), or waited TOO LONG for that "perfect shot"
(waiting for that big payback) and was pecked to death in the
meanwhile.
Or to use another metaphor... The "too aggressive" players are
like school kids fighting... they just get as close as they can
and keep flailing, without regards to circumstances. The "one
hit" type thinks like old Japanese samurais, where one sword
stroke determines the victor. They think that if they get off
that "perfect strike" they'll win the game. NOT!
The proper balance lies between those two extremes.
We'll discuss the two types of players later and how to take
advantage of their tendencies.
6.2 ENERGY MANAGEMENT
A properly designed starship would be SHORT on power. Yes, you
read right. SHORT on power. Why? Because you won't be using all
that power at the same time.
For example, for ships that has weapons facing both front and
back... There's no way you will be shooting both, so technically,
you are charging at most, 67% of your weapons at a time?
That's where energy management comes in. Basically, energy
management is having enough energy WHEN you need it so you don't
have to wait to do something else.
Knowing your power curve would help a lot here, as you need to
estimate your speed, the enemy speed, and plan your engagement
range and which weapons to arm and fire in what mode.
You have to make decisions on these and more during battle in
split seconds. Make the right ones and you'll likely succeed.
Make the wrong ones and you will likely fail.
6.3 MANEUVER
Two things affect maneuver: your turn rate, and your weapon arcs.
Your ship's size, speed, and design affect your turn rate. The
larger the ship is, the slower it turns, so a frigate would
outturn a dreadnought any day. Finally, the faster you go, the
slower you turn (and bigger your turn radius). Yet when you go
very slow, you also turn very slow. You can also change the turn-
rate by installing a larger thruster unit.
Each ship has a "corner speed", where it turns the fastest. Find
it, and exploit it.
Your weapon arcs are very important when fighting, as you want to
put most of your firepower on the enemy while avoiding his
firepower. Most ships have most of their firepower concentrated
on their forward centerline (i.e. when it is facing you
directly). If you are off to one side (the 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock
positions) of the enemy the firepower facing you is vastly
reduced, as most heavy weapons are front arc only.
Maneuvering in battle basically means you are trying to point
most of your weapons at his weakest shield while keeping YOUR
weakest shield away from most of his weapons. This can get tricky
when there are multiple enemies involved, or seeking weapons, or
fighters and so on.
6.4 WEAPON ARCS
(Summarized, adapted, and enhanced from article by Felix Hack,
originally appeared in SFB Tactics Manual)
Maneuver and firing arcs are closely related. Maneuver is used to
get the weapons into range with the enemy in the arc. The arc
then dictates what maneuvers are needed and can be expected.
Most ships can be divided into two categories: forward-centerline
firepower, and FA arc firepower.
The ships with forward-centerline firepower must point the ship
directly at the enemy ship to bring maximum amount of firepower
to bear. I'll abbreviate these as FC ships.
The FA firepower ships can deliver all the firepower roughly
through the entire FA arc. These are FA ships.
The FC ships need to face the enemy to get maximum firepower to
bear, so the best way to fight such ships is to go to the sides
or even to the rear. If you do that you instantly halved their
firepower. On the other hand, the FC ships can choose to fire
half of their weapons, then turn to fire the other half.
The FA ships can use the "oblique pass" (see 8.1.2), which gives
them more options to maneuver.
If you can choose between FA and FC arcs (some ships have 4
forward arcs, 2 FA and 2 FC), choose FA, as it makes your
maneuvering simpler.
With introduction of side and rear arcs for SFC3, there is a bit
more to consider.
The side arcs generally can only mount primary weapons, which are
just enough to harass the enemy, not enough of them to do serious
damage. You may want to keep fast-firing short-range weapons
there to get in a few hits when you can.
The rear arcs generally have only one heavy weapon mount and two
primary weapon mounts. Put in short-range fast-firing weapons to
exploit rear/side shields.
Remember that an HET can be used as a surprise to suddenly bypass
any maneuver and firing arc restrictions.
6.5 TIMING
Timing is basically tactical sense on knowing WHEN to do
something, not too early and not too late.
For example, if you make a turn too late, you may not hit the
enemy's downed shield with your phasers, or worse, exposed your
own downed shield to his weapons.
If you shoot too late you did not catch the enemy at his down
shield. If you shoot too early you don't catch the down shield
either.
In general, you want your weapons pointed at the enemy when the
weapon is ready to fire, with no idle moments. Of course, this is
not always possible. You may be waiting for a down shield to come
around so you can do more damage. Just beware of all these
considerations.
This mainly comes from situation awareness and preparation. It
requires a bit of tactical finesse and experience, so keep
playing and keep learning.
6.6 PASSIVE VS. AGGRESIVE PLAY STYLE
To paint broad strokes, there are two types of play styles:
aggressive, and passive. Aggressive players come after you, while
passive players wait for you to go after them and will try to
keep their distance. A player can be both depending on their
"phase".
The new players seem to fall into 2 camps... Either they are TOO
aggressive (they pay the price at the wrong time for little or no
payback), or waited TOO LONG for that "perfect shot" (waiting for
that big payback). The proper balance lies between those two
extremes.
Most players are aggressive when they have their weapons charged
and "passive" when their weapons are charging.
Direct-weapon users tend to be aggressive, esp. those with close-
range weapons. They have to be aggressive as they need to get
close to you.
Those with heavy weapons in FA arc need to be aggressive, as they
need to point the weapons at you to do damage. This is esp. true
for those forward-centerline firepower ships.
Ships with low crunch power tend to be passive, esp. fighting
high crunch power ships.
To fight aggressive style players, you need to take out their
FRONT shields. This will force them to expose their down shields
in order to hit you.
To fight passive style players, you need to take out their REAR
shield. This will force them to turn their shield 3 or 5 (rear
side) shields toward you, thus allowing you to get closer.
6.7 "USE YOUR TRACTORS, DAMMIT!"
In SFB lore, this slogan was on a plague right above the door to
the starship combat simulator in the Federation Starfleet
Academy.
What it REALLY means is you should use ALL your ship's systems. A
captain who is aware of ALL his ship's capabilities and can use
them at the right time has advantage over the captain who is not.
For example, how many people use the probe at all? Yet using it
can mean the difference between knowing what you are fighting
ahead of time vs. when you get close enough to do H&R raids.
Knowing what the enemy ship carries makes a BIG difference. You
don't want to be surprised when he fires that myotronic beam just
as you're about to deliver your alpha strike.
Tractors can be used to hold the ship AWAY from point-blank
range. Many weapons do the most damage at range 0, and a tractor
will ensure they stay at range 2.5. Turn away and drop the
tractor and you can get away. Tractors are also the foundation of
the "anchor" maneuver.
Transporters can be used to beam up or down items, or transport
marines for raids or captures.
Learn and use ALL of your ship's systems is one facet of a
successful captain.
6.8 SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
Situational awareness basically means being aware of everything
around you. Someone with good situational awareness doesn't need
to take attention off the primary task to double-check.
While situational awareness is not as crucial in starship combat
(i.e. SFC) as in more fast-paced games like space fighter combat
or aerial combat, it is still important. For example, it wouldn't
do for you to line up a perfect pass at the enemy's down shield
if your facing weapons haven't recharged yet, or trying to get
away from an enemy ship only to smack right into a planet.
The control panel indicators are there to help you. All the
indicators have a meaning, and it's up to you to learn them all.
The two ship displays have relative facing indicators, but that
only works on the ship being targeted. If you are fighting
multiple ships you may end up dodging one ship and exposing your
down shield to another. Or worse... fly right into a planet or
asteroid. But that's why there's a tactical map.
Having good situational awareness also helps in the other three
aspects of tactics: timing, maneuver, and energy management. You
would know when to time your burst of speed (based on your ship's
acceleration) to maneuver so your weapons are pointing at the
enemy's down shield with enough power to shoot.
6.9 MIZIA CONCEPT
Mizia Concept was very simple: instead of firing a single massive
volley of all weapons, beat down that shield, then fire several
smaller volleys.
Why is this better? Because multiple smaller hits damage more
weapons, whereas single overwhelming volley damages power and
hull.
What's better... There really is no "defense" against this attack
other than maneuver to bring another shield into play.
It is a bit difficult to execute, but quite useful.
Trivia: Mizia Concept was named after Walter Mizia, veteran SFB
player, who observed this trend in the damage allocation rules
and came up with a way to exploit them.
7 Combat Checklists and some more tips
7.1 BATTLE START CHECKLIST
Here's a list of items you should immediately perform upon
starting a mission
* Red Alert (which arms and selects all weapons)
* Check number of friendlies, note classes and numbers
* Set tactical zoom level to lowest/widest (so you can see
more of the space)
Clearly, there are exceptions to every rule. In some missions,
where speed is more critical, you may want to just go yellow
alert.
7.2 ENEMY DETECTED CHECKLIST
Here is a list of items you should immediately perform upon
detecting enemies on sensors
* Determine enemy numbers and type (use a probe if necessary)
* Determine which enemies your friendlies (if any) appear to
be engaging
* Determine which enemy ship to engage first, or to disengage
* Determine whether to capture or destroy the target if
engaging
* Determine shield reinforcement if needed (usually front
hemisphere shields)
* Determine battle speed (slow, fast, etc?)
* Determine hit-and-run targets if needed
* Charge tractor beam(s) for anchor if needed
7.3 CAPTURE CHECKLIST
Here is a list of items you should check before attempting to
capture an enemy unit
* Check all available marines on YOUR ship (AI friendly ships
very rarely assist in captures. They often RUIN your captures by
blowing up that ship with your marines onboard)
* Count total number of transporters available on YOUR ship
* Check enemy marines on target in the "capture" panel.
* Calculate approximate marines usage.
Marine usage is dependent on the number of transporters you have
available and how fast can you send over reinforcements.
For example, if the enemy has 10 marines, you have only 5
transporters available, expect to use about 30 marines to capture
the enemy ship. (1.5 * 10 * 10 / 5) = 30
However, if the enemy has 10 marines, and you have 10
transporters available, then you can expect to use only 15
marines to capture the enemy ship. (1.5 * 10 * 1 = 15)
* If you have enough marines to do it, then continue.
Otherwise, destroy the enemy ship and don't bother.
* Confirm all your ships set to "very aggressive" and
"capture".
* Make your pass, use just enough weapons to beat down a
shield, and beam on your marines. Fire weapons in single shots.
As the other ships see the down shield they should beam their
marines also. Then repeat sending in marines if necessary.
7.4 CALCULATING YOUR ODDS
You can read enemy ship classes at distance of over 100 kk. You
should be able to figure out how much are you outmatched, if you
are at all.
Here's a rule of thumb to use
Use 7 for DN, 5 for BC, 4 for CA, 3 for CL, 2 for DD, and 1 for
FF.
Total up the "force number" for both sides and compare the
number. That should give you a quick idea on how the two forces
match up.
If the ratio is within 10% of 1 to 1, you should be able to win
if you don't make any mistakes, and not lose any ships. However,
it's a very even fight and there wouldn't be much 'profit' in it.
If the ratio favors the enemy a bit, see if you can even up the
odds a little by using tricks like scatter-pack and anchor to
quickly kill one ship. Otherwise, stay back and kill the smaller
ship(s) that gets close first. You can think about disengaging
later.
If the ratio favors the enemy a lot, run away and pick something
easier.
If the ratio favors your side, blast them.
If the ratio REALLY favors your side, try going for captures to
enhance your prestige.
7.5 LEARN THOSE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS!
Almost EVERY command in SFC3 has a keyboard shortcut. You should
learn them by heart, or at least copy the quick reference card.
They allow you to give orders much faster than going through the
mouse-clicks alone.
If there isn't one, assign one.
7.6 PLAY AT A SLOWER GAME SPEED IF YOU WANT
If you play alone, you can go as low as game speed 6. However,
such a game would be really slow. Default speed of 9 is actually
quite fast. You may want to consider 6 first, then increase speed
when you understand the battle a bit more, then speed up or slow
down as needed.
7.7 A NOTE ON TERRAIN
There aren't that many terrains in SFC, just empty space,
asteroids, planets, dust field, pulsar, black hole, and nebula
(and some planets).
Asteroids are navigational hazards. If you have a heavy ship and
have plenty of tractor power, consider pushing enemy ships into
asteroids. And don't fly into your yourself. If you are
maneuvering in an asteroid field, set tactical map to closest
zoom and keep the viewpoint foward or overhead.
Dust field forces you to slow down and apply reinforcement to
front shields, reducing available power.
Pulsar and black hole only rarely appear in a scenario, and never
in the regular ones.
Nebula means you can't use tractors, transporters, or shuttles,
but otherwise, no change.
Minefield can be considered "artificial terrain", but that's a
separate topic altogether.
7.8 A QUOTE TO DWELL ON
"The only valid test is combat; the only valid result is victory"
-- Adm. Steven V. Cole, designer of Star Fleet Battles
In other words, no matter how fancy of a tactic we can explain to
you, it is up to you to put it into action. You can dream up
fancy tactics on paper, but until you test them in combat, you
would never know if they work or not.
Trivia: this quote was originally attributed to Ardak Kumerian, a
Klingon Admiral, who's S.V. Cole's alter ego in SFB.
8 Offensive Maneuvers
You need to know some of the common maneuvers that are
performed...
8.1 SIMPLE MANEUVERS
These maneuvers don't require any special devices or any specific
setup, and does not involve HETs.
8.1.1 Overrun
Overrun is simple: point the nose at the enemy, shoot at point-
blank, and fly right over the other ship.
Overrun is best done by ships with maximum point-blank firepower,
esp. those with forward centerline firepower.
To exploit the downed shield, overrun should be followed up by
several attacks, such as hit-and-run raids, drop mine, scatter-
pack, fighters, drones, or better... another ship.
You can combine overrun with anchor (see below) for a really
devastating blow.
The overrun is very simple but it usually results in your front-
shield being blown, and that can be bad.
In a cloak-able ship, you can approach until enemy is range, fire
weapons, then cloak as you fly over him. This is called an "under-
run".
The overrun doesn't work against people who know how to maneuver
and avoid the charge. Those who use "saber dance" maneuvers can
avoid the charge easily. The "charge" also usually causes severe
damage on the front shield, leaving you vulnerable to later
attacks.
Higher speed and maneuverability can counter overrun. Then it
turns into a battle pass or pursuit.
8.1.2 Oblique pass
Oblique pass is nearly as simple as overrun. Instead of point
directly at the enemy, you point slightly off to one side. When
you reach weapons range, decide if you want to fire and turn
away, or turn in for overrun.
Ships with FA firepower are best candidates to use oblique pass.
They can deliver the same firepower throughout their FA arc.
This is sometimes called a "battle pass", and it can be quickly
converted to overrun or battle run, or even pursuit.
The oblique pass can quickly turn into an overrun if both sides
turn into each other.
If one side turns in and the other side turns out, it becomes a
tail-chase situation. The chasee can drop T-bombs, etc. to
attack, but can only use rear-mounted weapons. The chaser has
front weapons.
If the Klingon turns in, this maneuver is called "the Klingon
Hook" as the superior maneuverability of Klingon ships makes this
easier.
If both sides turn out, it's time to disengage.
Oblique pass may not be good if your ship has firing arcs that
emphasize firepower to the sides. Oblique pass can halve your
firepower, though you can always maneuver after you fire half of
your weapons.
Beware of the HET following a battle pass or battle run.
8.1.3 Battle run
You approach the enemy pointing just off to one side of him.
After you fire at the range of your choice, you turn away to
expose your rear weapons at the same shields you had hit before.
If you have significant number of side or rear firing weapons,
you are a good candidate for battle run.
8.1.4 The Feint
A feint is basically a maneuver to get your opponent out of
balance. In SFC, it's a maneuver of deception to get your enemy
to commit to countering one of your moves when you really intend
something else.
For example, the HET reversal below [8.4.2] is a feint. He
countered your battle run with pursuit, so you suddenly turn it
into an overrun instead.
There are many ways to do "feints". For enemies who seem to have
an answer for everything, a feint can do wonders.
8.1.5 The Saber dance
The Klingons invented the "saber dance" maneuver. Basically, you
duel the enemy from long range. Many Klingon ships have side-
firing weapon arcs, and your superior manueverability can be used
to bring those to bear, wearing down the opponent. Klingon
weapons are fast-firing and can get off several salvoes while
yours are still recharging, giving them an advantage.
Saber dance requires patience and very good weapon arcs. One
mistake and the enemy may get close enough to do you real damage.
8.1.6 The Starcastle
This tactic can be effective against races that have low "peak
output" and prefer to nibble you at medium range, like Klingons.
This is a counter against the "saber dance" maneuver.
Basically, it means go at speed 4, erratic maneuver (EM), max
shield reinforcements on facing shield, and wait for the enemy.
It's doubtful attack at range 15 will do any damage. The enemy
must close in to do any damage. You can then switch to an overrun
or oblique pass. This turns a maneuver battle into a knife-fight.
8.1.7 The Anchor
In SFC3, the anchor took on a whole new meaning.
In SFC3, angular velocity affects accuracy a lot. On the other
hand, if you grab a target with the tractor, it's angular
velocity is ZERO! THEN you shoot with great accuracy.
8.1.8 The retrograde
In SFC3, you can move in reverse, though the speed is limited to
quarter-impulse. Still, every last bit you can use is more time
to pound the enemy in front of you. You can even drop mines in
reverse and hope the enemy runs into it.
8.2 HIGH-ENERGY TURN, WHY AND WHEN
High-energy turn gives you a sudden change in direction (payoff)
in exchange for some disadvantages (power expenditure) and risk
(possibility of breakdown).
HET uses a significant amount of power (5 movement pts) so you
have to be sure you don't need it for anything else.
Ships that cannot make an HET safely ever (i.e. breakdown chance
of less than 100%) should probably NOT make one, ever. A
breakdown will almost kill that ship for sure.
There are basically three reasons to use an HET: sudden problem,
defensive turn, surprise attack
8.2.1 Sudden problem
An HET can be used to get away from a sudden problem to buy some
time to deal with it. Turn away and you may get some time to deal
with them.
8.2.2 Defensive HET
A defensive HET is using an HET to bring a fresh shield into
play, so enemy won't be able to pound a weakened or down shield.
HET takes time to charge, so you have to plan this ahead of time.
If you suddenly decide you need one, it would have been too late.
8.2.3 Surprise attack
By using HET, you can bring weapons to bear that the enemy would
not expect. One such example is HET reversal [8.4.2].
8.3 EMERGENCY DECELERATION
EmerDecel is most often used to slow the ship immediately. This
also reinforces the front shields slightly.
EmerDecel does NOT conserve power.
EmerDecel DOES slow you down, which may prevent you from
revealing one of your down shields to sides or rear.
EmerDecel can be used when the enemy is closing faster than
expected.
EmerDecel can save you from collisions, planets, asteroids, etc.
The price of EmerDecel is speed 0, which gives the enemy the
initiative. He can take the time to recharge weapons, even
disengage. He can go to your rear shields and pound it. You can't
do anything about it.
Consider how WILL you get back to battle speed BEFORE you use
EmerDecel.
8.4 ADVANCED MANEUVERS
The advanced maneuvers involve using HETs in combination of
simple maneuvers.
8.4.1 The Flanking Snap Turn
This is a continuation of the oblique pass if both sides simply
keep going. Basically you pass down the side of the enemy so your
3 o'clock is at his 9 o'clock, or vice versa. THEN you use an HET
so you can bring your weapons to bear on his side/rear shields,
which are probably weaker than his front shields.
To counter the flanking snap turn, keep your distance in the
oblique pass. Then you can use an HET reversal after you've
damaged his front shields.
8.4.2 The HET Reversal
At the oblique approach, you turn out, the enemy turns in, and
he's now chasing you, hoping to hit your weaker rear shields. You
then suddenly use an HET to bring your front-weapons to bear and
turn it into an overrun.
To counter this, you just have to be careful.
8.5 SPECIAL MANEUVERS
Special maneuvers use specific devices (such as tractors),
weapons, and so on to exploit a specific characteristic.
8.5.1 Anchor
The "anchor" maneuver is very simple: slap a tractor beam on the
enemy ship, THEN shoot.
Why do it this way? A ship being tractored has zero angular
velocity, tremendously improving your chance-to-hit. At point-
blank range, they can't rotate a new shield into play quickly,
being slowed down from their original speed.
Most of the weapons also do the most damage in point-blank range.
An anchor can be enhanced by NOT firing all your weapons in a
single salvo. Instead, fire in several small salvoes to gain
maximum damage from the Mizia attack [see 6.9].
An anchor combined with HET can be devastating. You shoot, you
score, and you turn away in an instant without giving enemy much
chance to shoot back. This requires very good timing though.
Anchor can be defeated by NEVER coming into tractor range. You
can keep the enemy away by using some mines to "encourage" him to
go somewhere else. You may even want to use an HET to turn away
ASAP.
Another way to defeat the anchor is to pre-charge the tractor
beam to REPEL. Choose the strength you want to repel, up to 6.
You can then repel all tractors charged up to that strength.
8.5.2 Tactical warp
You can engage warp to gain some distance from the enemy ships.
It takes many seconds for your warp engines to charge up, so you
need to be prepared for it.
One possibility is charge warp to time it to go into effect right
after you fire off your alpha strike. This can be VERY tough to
time, but extremely effective.
8.5.3 Jousting
Combine tactical warps with alpha strikes, and you get jousting.
While you can joust at impulse speeds, the lousy turn rate of
most ships means it turns into a circle fight. Instead, fire,
warp off, turn around, then repeat.
8.6 "GIMMICK" CONFIGS AND TACTICS
There are some tactics that are interesting but relies on
specific exploits instead of general combat. They are listed here
for tactical studies...
8.6.1 Speedboat
A speedboat config has a huge impulse engine and can achieve
speed of 45+. Some "speedboats" can go speed 60+. Do slashing
attacks. Charge through the enemy formation, shoot, and blow
straight through. Slow down and turn around, then repeat. You
primarily need shields in front and back. You can outrun those
you can't out fight, usually.
8.6.2 Chaser
The chaser config relies on a huge thruster, so you can turn on a
dime and stay on the enemy's tail no matter what he dishes out to
the rear. In case of HET, just go faster and overrun him while he
turns. You need maneuver rating of 1.25 or higher.
8.6.3 Phaser boats
It is possible to create ships with only primary weapons and no
heavy weapons. It would be surprisingly useful since the primary
weapons recharge faster and seem to have a better chance of
hitting their target. By not weighing down your ship with the
heavy weapons you can mount more primary weapons.
9 Offense
There are a lot of ways to do damage to the enemy
9.1 PRIMARY WEAPONS
All ships have a full load of primary weapons, be it phasers,
disruptor bolts, disruptor beams, or cutting beams.
They all do similar amount of damage, come in similar sizes, and
consume similar amount of power.
The trick is mounting them in the weapon mounts that have more
chances of hitting the enemy.
9.2 HEAVY WEAPONS
Heavy weapons have a better punch, but takes longer to charge.
Usually, those are various type of torpedoes.
Minelayer also goes here. It may work against AI, but not against
human players.
9.3 SPECIAL WEAPONS
The special weapons are discussed in each race's section.
9.4 HIT-AND RUN RAIDS
Hit-and-run raids can kill specific ship systems on an enemy
ship, subject to transporter and boarding party availability.
9.5 MINES
Mines, when placed properly, can cause significant damage to
enemy ships, shuttles, etc.
9.6 TRACTOR/TERRAIN
One of the most satisfying ways to kill enemy ship is by pushing
the enemy ship into an asteroid or a planet. This can be hard to
arrange though, and is considered "bad manners" if done in a
Dynaverse battle against human opponent.
Terrain such as dust fields can cause damage to shields, and if
shields are down, cause damage to the ship directly. Therefore,
when fighting in a dust field, you may want to target the front-
shield of the enemy ship(s).
9.7 SHUTTLES
Shuttles have a light primary weapon which can be used to defend
you, defend others ships, or to attack other ships (from long
range or close assault).
10 Defense
How to prevent your ship from being damaged while dealing damage
to the enemy ships is very important. After all, this quote said
it best.
"You don't serve your country by dying for your country. You
serve your country by making the OTHER poor bastard die for HIS
country."
--- General George S. Patton, US Army
10.1 "SPEED IS LIFE"
Speed, when your ship is heading in the proper direction, gives
you more time to deal with the incoming threats. You can run to
keep enemy out of optimal weapons range. NONE of this can happen
if you do NOT have speed!
Speed in the wrong direction can be converted to speed in the
right direction by turning (or even HET).
10.2 REINFORCE FACING SHIELD(S)
You can use any excess energy for shield reinforcements. This
would prevent "premature" wear on your shields when the enemy is
just firing some long-range shots.
Only shields that are still "up" can be reinforced. So if a
shield has been busted, there's no point in reinforcing it. That
energy goes back into "excess" pool in the energy allocation
panel.
10.3 TURN A NEW SHIELD AROUND
If the enemy beats down one of your shields, maneuver and present
a different shield. Use HET if you have to!
10.4 AVOID THE ENEMY'S WEAPON ARCS
If you know the enemy's weapon arcs you know which sides of the
enemy ship to avoid.
10.5 WATCH THE ENEMY SHIP DISPLAY
That tells you a LOT about weapons under repair, being recharged,
and so on. Best time to attack is when the enemy cannot fire
back! You need to be close, or use a probe.
11 Tactics and Counter-Tactics
Here, we discuss some common questions on how to use and to
counter cloaking device.
11.1 GENERAL TACTICS
11.1.1 Target specific areas
Target a specific area of enemy ship and blast it is more
effective than going for the hull.
If they have cloak, hit the cloak (use H&R raids also on the same
targets).
Hit the warp core to reduce their power. Hitting warp core is
easier than killing individual weapons. They can still charge
weapons with reduced power, but they will do a LOT less damage.
Hit the impulse engines to slow them down and restrict their
maneuverability.
11.1.2 Use those special weapons!
Each race has some special "trick" weapons, esp. the Romulans.
The Romulan myotronic beam can "stun" enemy weapons for a short
while. This is great for right after an alpha strike so the enemy
cannot fire back. However, if the enemy has already fired, then
there's no point in shooting the beam.
11.2 CLOAK TACTICS
If you have a cloaking device, how would you use it to your
advantage? How will you evade to recharge?
11.2.1 Underrun
One of the simplest way is approach the enemy, shoot when out of
tractor range, and start cloak. Enemy may be able to shoot, but
he'll do so against big penalties. And he'll fly right over you
as you "submerged" into the invisibility of the cloak. He will be
screaming in frustration and terror.
11.2.2 Hit and Fade
Instead of an overrun, use fade-out on battle run or oblique
pass. This way you avoid getting into point-blank range, where
some of the enemy weapons can still do significant damage.
11.2.3 Mine field
Drop mines, and circle around them, keeping it between you and
the enemy. Make an impromptu minefield to discourage the enemy
from coming too close.
11.3 ANTI-CLOAK TACTICS
There are several ways to defeat the cloak... The idea is to
convince the enemy commander that the cloak's disadvantages
outweighs the advantages it provides, so he won't use it.
11.3.1 Flash bulb
One way to find a cloaked ship is via the "flash bulb" effect.
Basically, you drop a mine near the cloaked ship, right on top of
it if possible. It probably won't go off, but that's all right.
THEN you somehow detonate the mine, using a drone, a shuttle, or
even yourself. That explosion will cause the cloak to temporarily
lose its effects, allow other ships to lock-on. At that moment,
do your alpha strike. Ka-boom!
11.3.2 Visual tracking
Cloaked ships do NOT disappear completely. They are still visible
albeit only when back-lit against a nebula or such. Keep it
within a firing arc and be ready to hit them when it decloaks...
remember, NO SHIELD during decloak!
11.3.3 Launch shuttles
Shuttles can help you hit a cloaked ship decloaking near you even
when your weapons are not in arc.
11.3.4 H&R the Cloak
Hit the cloak when you can to prevent him from cloaking again.
11.4 FLEET TACTICS
11.4.1 Concentrate fire!
Concentrate your fire on ONE target. This may be obvious, but not
a lot of people seem to follow it. They let their ships run wily-
nily and blame the AI when their ships got whacked. You also
need to be aware of your other ships' positions so you can hit
the same shield.
11.4.2 Remember capture!
With multiple ships under your command, captures should be
attempted whenever feasible. It yields bonus prestige (esp.
larger ships).
Just make sure you HAVE enough marines, and you don't
accidentally blow up the ship first (or have someone else blow it
up from under you).
Beware that when in "capture" mode, your ships will NOT use any
"heavy weapons". Therefore, it is best to DISABLE ALL enemy ships
first, THEN worry about capturing them. If you try to capture
during the middle of a heavy battle, the other enemy ships will
pound you.
12 Introduction to Single-Player Campaign
12.1 SIGNING ON
When you start a new campaign, you choose a race and enter your
name. Then you are at that race's capital. You get a new frigate
and 200 prestige, enough for the initial outfit.
Some empires are smaller than others. So your "interior" can be
just a few moves away from the frontier.
You will soon get an order to go to a particular hex.
12.2 LOOK AROUND AND MOVE AROUND THE MAP
You see your race's menu. Not all races have all choices, so if
you don't see the choice I talked about, just ignore it.
[Medals] is where you can admire your own rank insignias, as well
as any special medals or ribbons you collected.
[Officer] is where you can view the crew of your ships, and
replace any department heads by trading with some prestige
points.
[Shipyard] is where you trade-in your ship. Depending on where
you are, different ships may be come available.
[Refit] is where you can install different/better components for
your ship.
[Supply dock] is where you buy the optional accessories
("Commander's Options" in SFB), for things like shuttles, marine
boarding parties, and mines.
[Map] shows status of the galaxy, and allow you to transfer to a
different sector (where you'll find more challenging stuff!)
To move into a new sector, click on [set course], then click on
the sector. You'll move into that sector in a moment.
[Missions] will bring up a list of missions. Choose one to get
started.
12.3 GET A NEW MISSION
Click on [Missions] to see your new mission. If there aren't any,
the [Missions] button will not be lighted.
For notes on individual missions, please see Error! Reference
source not found.
When you have finished the battle, you will exit back to the
"map" screen (if you survived).
12.4 BUYING NEW SHIP
When you have saved up enough points, it's time to buy a new
ship. Buy a new ship at the shipyard screen of a type you want.
Your ship's existing trade-in value is also noted, and whether
you need to put additional prestige is also noted. If you can't
afford the ship, it'll be gray-ed out with the "deficit" listed
as well.
You can own only a single ship, so keep that in mind as you pick
and choose. Save some for the refit.
12.5 REPAIRS AFTER A BATTLE
Remember to repair damage (if any) and buy new supplies in
[supply dock] after each mission. You don't need the maximum on
each one, but having them can be useful in certain situations.
Also update the crew if necessary. If you got additional
prestige, it's a good time to fit better components into your
ship.
13 Some Tips for Your Campaign
13.1 START SMALL AND EASY
Do NOT overextend. You may be tempted to switch to a bigger ride
ASAP, which would be a DD. Think about it before you go, as large
ship means tougher enemies as well. See [Error! Reference source
not found.].
On the other hand, some of the frigates are deathtraps. They
severely lack weapons and shields. In that case, switching to a
good DD may be good early on.
13.2 STAY INTERIOR
Stay in the interior of your empire until you have 1-2 decent
large ships. The interior are usually only menaced by light enemy
raiding units or pirates. You shouldn't see heavier enemy units,
and having 2 CL's or CA's should be quite sufficient to defeat
most threats.
Only venture out to the borders when you are ready in big ships.
13.3 STAY ALIVE
Stay alive by checking your enemies and determine quickly "do you
have ANY chance of destroying the enemy." If you are a frigate up
against a battlecruiser, it's time to run.
See 7.4 for a quick way to calculate your odds of success.
A ship, esp. when you get to cruiser or bigger ships, is a major
investment. A good CA costs around 700. At only about 150-300 pt
per mission, it takes a few missions to build up those pts, and
get a good crew. Therefore, it is ALWAYS better to run away and
live to fight another day.
Consider ending the mission when you are losing. Basically, it
means hit ESC, and select "End Mission". Then select "Play Again"
to retry the mission. Your ship(s) will survive. This is better
than playing it all the way through and take a huge loss when you
lose your ship(s). You can only win or lose a few hundred pts in
a mission, but losing a SHIP is SEVERAL mission's worth of
investment depending on how big the ship is and what kind of crew
you got.
Just remember that it takes a few seconds for the computer to
acknowledge the forfeit order. If a drone swarm is already on the
way, it may be too late.
13.4 STAY POSITIVE
Positive in terms of prestige pts, that is. You need to always
keep a reserve of 50+ pts around.
If you fail a mission, you may need that reserve just to repair
and buy reloads. Some missions also have a penalty if you do
really badly.
13.5 EARN THE EXTRA PTS
Every ship you capture is worth extra pts. If you have a clear
superiority and a lot of transporters, captures can yield extra
pts.
Some scenario have items you can recover for extra pts.
Convoy escort missions yields bonus prestige if you save all the
freighters and esp. if you capture the enemy raiders.
Starbase defense missions yields bonus prestige, esp. if you
capture the enemy ship(s).
14 Klingon Campaign Walkthru
The Klingon campaign consists of 15 missions. You should update
the ship in between. You need a fully-decked-out Negh'Var for the
final mission.
14.1 BROTHERHOOD
After some heart-to-heart talk with your brother Kureth (who's in
a Negh'Var!), you'll get a distress call from a nearby planet.
Set a course, then go into warp to get there. Let Kureth's larger
ship take the lead. He'll beat down the shields and such. You
just pick on the weakened ships. With that big ship around the
other ships should go down in no time.
You get 2200 prestige for this, plus any captures and so on. .
Soon you'll get a message to go to 2,14. Refit your ship while
you're at it. Use up those prestige points for something. Then go
to 2,14 to get your next mission.
14.2 AVAST YE SCURVY TARGS
After arriving, a Klingon freighter says he's under attack by a
pirate. Go to red alert and warp there. Attack the pirate, and do
it quickly.
After a while, the freighter says he's actually a pirate too, and
then he fires on you!
Destroy / capture both of them and you win!
You get 2200 prestige for this mission, plus any captures and so
on.
Refit however you like. Soon you get a message to go to 8,14...
14.3 A BASE TOO FAR
You are here to after a pirate base and the freighter.
Go after the freighter first. Charge in there, and beat down one
of his shields, then beam over marines. Should be easy.
Stay back from the base and go after the shuttles.
After all the shuttles are gone, go after the base.
Capture base and freighter, and you win!
You get about 2600 prestige for this mission. I don't *think* you
get extra for the required captures.
Refit (you will need a better ship) then you'll get a message to
go to 10,15.
14.4 SEARCH AND RESCUE
You are here to find out what happened to the missing ship.
Just follow the arrow and you'll see the BoP, dead in space. When
you get close enough, it wakes up and shoots at you!
As you're in a nebula, you have no tractors, no shuttles, and no
transporters. You have no choice but to destroy the other ship.
You get about 2600 prestige for this mission.
Refit (be prepared) and be ready for next mission.
14.5 WINDS OF CHANGE
Escort the freighters through this section of space.
Follow the freighters through the asteroid field, match speed and
heading. A Rakellian attacker (frigate-sized) will appear and
start on the freighters, though with your abilities you should
destroy it easy enough.
As you go through the asteroid belt, a Rakellian light cruiser
and another attacker shows up. Blow them out of space while the
freighters get away.
When freighters arrive and you capture/destroy the other ships,
you win!
You get about 2600 prestige for this mission.
Report to 17,16 (the triangle).
14.6 ANVIL OF PEACE
Objective: Deliver the ambassador to the new Unity One base and
follow orders
You'll get to meet Picard and Enterprise-E. He leaves Captain
Sherman in charge as he leaves for another assignment. Get to the
base and beam the ambassador off.
The base requests you to check out a strange contact in the
asteroid field. Activate your anti-cloak scan and head into the
asteroid field slowly. When you get close to the edge, you'll
spot the Romulan ship. Talk to him and he'll leave, or you can
shoot at him to convince him to leave faster.
After the Romulan ships leave, 3 Rakelli ships (one cruiser and
two attackers) will arrive and attack Unity One. Join Captain
Sherman in his Intrepid-class starship and destroy/capture the
attackers.
A Ferengi Marauder arrives, and wants the wreckage. In exchange,
he'll give you the location of the Rakelli base. Accept the
terms, and you win!
You get 2200 prestige for this relatively easy mission. Refit and
get your next assignment... Go to 9,17.
14.7 TURNING THE TABLES
Locate Rakelli base, then destroy the base
You have two ways to destroy the base, a subtle way and the
direct way.
The subtle way is for those who prefer not to fight as much as
you can. Capture one of the smaller ships, and use it to send a
fake distress call to lure away the defenders. In the meanwhile,
cloak and move to the base... then BLAST IT!
The direct way is capture or destroy every single ship that you
come across, then with the help of any captured ships, destroy
the base.
You get 3050 prestige for this tougher mission. Refit and get
your next assignment...
14.8 FISH
Destroy the Rakellian shipyard
The shipyard has some defending ships (2 cruisers and 2
attackers), as well as 2 defense platforms.
Fight the ships away from the defense platforms. Take them out,
then take out the defense platforms. Then destroy the shipyards,
and you win!
You get 2950 prestige for this straightforward but tough mission.
Refit and get your next assignment.
14.9 OBEDIENCE
Objective: chase a Rakellian convoy, capture if possible
When you get there, the place is a nebula, with asteroid field.
Capture is impossible. Indeed, you may have problem even KILLING
the four freighters.
Immediately warp in and get as close to the freighters as you
can. Go after the FIRST freighter, blast it ENOUGH to get it to
slow down. Then blast the next one, and so on until all four are
slowed down. Then work on each in turn. Go after impulse engines,
use H&R raid to do the same. Slow them ALL down so you can blast
them at your leisure.
Ignore threats. The Rakellians have no fleet on the other side of
asteroid field. It's merely a delaying tactic so they can get
away.
When you destroyed 2 freighters, Jureth shows up and order you to
leave. When you ask why, he gets angry. So put your ship on a
parallel course and continue blasting, as you head toward the
map's edge... You're leaving, merely doing a little gunnery
practice...That's why you need to slow down the other freighters.
When you exit the map (doesn't matter how many more freighters
you blasted), you win!
You get 1700 prestige for this assignment (more if you managed to
destroy the rest of the freighters).
14.10 DUTY
Objective: follow whatever Jureth says, if you think it's good
for you...
When you get there, Jureth told you that the Feds are behind the
Rakellian attacks. You question his proof, and he orders you to
capture this Federation freighter and see for yourself. When you
demand more proof, he gets mad.
Set course and follow the arrow. You'll get a message that the
freighter has left the sector. Do NOT panic.
Soon after that you'll get a SOS from another Klingon ship(s)
that is under attack by Romulans. Warp there and help out. Best
way to kill a Rommie is hit him RIGHT AFTER he decloaks, which is
when he has NO shields and no weapons.
After defeating the Romulans, you win! You get about 2100
prestige here.
Head to 12,17 after you get the message. Refit your ship. You
really need a BC or higher from here on. Also, get the largest
computer you can get. You need the anti-cloak scans.
14.11 TWO COME BARKING
Jureth is mad at you for not following his orders. He'll go do
the stuff while you sit still and guard this quiet sector and
check the outposts.
Head to the outpost, and the team reports strange findings. Get
as much info as possible, then beam the team over.
As soon as you do, two K'Vorts approach... Apparently they want
your head since Kureth told him that you betrayed your family and
the empire! Destroy them, and when prompted for choices, pick the
first one or the third one (it doesn't REALLY matter, I guess).
You get 5000 prestige for this. Refit or trade up to Negh'Var.
You'll need it.
Move to 7,16 for your new orders.
14.12 FATHER'S DAY
You tried to meet your father at 7.16 and tell him about Kureth's
treacheries.
When you get there, 3 ships attack you first. Should be K'vorts
and BoPs. Destroy all of them.
Your father shows up after the ships are gone, and he believes
you. However, he needs more proof.
You get 5950 prestige for this, definitely enough for a Negh'Var
now, and outfit it well. You need to go to 10,15, on the way to
Unity Station.
14.13 FRIEND OR FOE
You are in a nebula, and as you approach, you find another
Klingon ship approaching, weapons hot. Do NOT shoot at it! He's a
friendly (or at least neutral). He had a big fight onboard the
ship and somehow he won and the original captain lost.
Right after the conversation finish, FOUR K'vorts and BoPs
attack. Destroy them. During the fight, this ship should join you
to attack the other ships.
Destroy all enemy ships and you win!
You get 6000 prestige for this mission. Continue to Unity One
station in 17,16.
14.14 RECALL
You are at Unity One station when you noticed one of the
freighters was actually captured by Jureth's forces before... How
did it get here? Get close to it and scan it... No lifeform
onboard! Kill it! It's a bomb!
Immediately warp in and destroy the other 3 suicide freighters
around the base. Use tractor beam to drag the freighter away if
you need to.
Another freighter will fire a special torpedo at the base, which
went right THROUGH the shields, causing massive damage. Destroy
that last freighter, and you win!
You get 3600 prestige for this, enough for final refitting of the
ship if you haven't done so. Then head for 8,8, where Jureth is
making his last stand...
14.15 TO HUNT ONE'S BLOOD
You arrive at 8,8, an old abandoned base. Jureth is probably
hiding there.
Approach the base slowly. You don't want to fight both Jureth's
Negh'Var and the base together. Once Jureth started to head
toward you, back up a bit. Stay away from the base.
Keep hammering Jureth. Once his hull drops below 1/4th, he self-
destructs, and you win! Then your father shows up and laments his
other son... And makes you head of House Mi'Quoh.
You get 7650 prestige, and this is the end of the Klingon
campaign!
15 Romulan Campaign Walkthru
The Romulan campaign has 17 missions, and some of the are quite
interesting.
15.1 LOOK UNDER EVERY ROCK
Report to 17,17 for your first assignment.
When you get there, Admiral Arai of the Tal'Shiar asks you to
recon the 3 asteroids in the area, do NOT be detected. She
suspects one of them is a listening post.
Cloak and fly to each one separately, STAY AWAY from the Klingon
ship. Your science officer should scan each one. Fly slowly so
you got just close enough to get your scan.
NOTE: It's NOT necessary to press the SCAN button.
SPOILER: It's the one on the opposite corner of the map.
Once you got each one scanned, make it out and you win!
You get a measly 200 prestige for this job.
15.2 SOUNDS OF VICTORY
You now must destroy the listening post and its defender (from
the previous mission).
In general, the listening post itself is easy... cloak, recharge.
Shoot when ready, cloak again.
It's the competition that is hard. Try to arrange for a good
alpha strike. When both are gone, you win!
You get 1750 prestige for this job.
15.3 PROFIT MOTIVE
You are to deliver the vaccine to this plague-stricken world by
escorting the freighter.
When you show up at the planet, two Ferengi Marauders are there.
They are in process of negotiating with the planet for the
antidote... Until you showed up. Apparently, they are the ones
who sold tainted grain to the planet in the first place! Such
lowlives!
Engage the Marauders, pound on one at a time. Destroy one, and
the other one should flee. Destroy it or chase it away. The
freighter should reach the planet, and you win!
You get merely 1200 prestige for this mission. Outfit your ship.
15.4 DARK WATER
You're at this sector escorting this convoy of freighters.
Suddenly the shipyard reports that they're under attack by
pirates! Warp on ahead and help out.
When the convoy asks what should they do, order them to continue
on course.
There's one more Romulan ship (a frigate) at the shipyard, but
he's undergoing repairs, and he won't be able to join you until
several minutes later.
Expect to see one pirate destroyer and one pirate cruiser.
Kill the pirates, and you're done!
You get 2200 prestige for this.
15.5 TIP TOE AMONG GIANTS
You need to get within range 20 of Unity One station to get a
scan. Cloak all the time and sneak in slowly.
There are eight to nine ships running around. They have patrol
patterns, so you should be able to sneak in there. On the other
hand, 2-4 of them sit still.
There should be 2 Norways, 1 Excelsior and 1 Saber, plus a K'Vort
running around. I found it easiest to get through on the "east"
side of the station (south being where you started). As long as
you stay at least range 15 away, any speed, no one will detect
you.
When Unity One broadcasts that they're testing anti-cloak scan,
do NOT panic. It will fail. Keep going. Avoid the ships, get your
scan, then leave. Stay at least range 20 from ships, and go speed
1 or 2 when they're close, full speed when they're far away.
You get 1500 prestige after you leave the map.
15.6 THE ULTIMATE DUTY
Admiral Arai has offered you membership in the Tal'Shiar...
accept it. Now here's your first job... retake the ship
commandeered by the rebels in the system.
When you get there, that ship's captain begs you to let him go.
You can't of course, so blast him. Try to go after his cloaking
device or warp engines to finish him off faster.
When that's done, Admiral Arai shows up, and tells you about the
Romulan part in that attack on Unity One...
Refit and try to fit in a level 3 tractor beam now. You may not
get a chance later.
15.7 QUIETLY I STEP
You think "Tip Toe Among Giants" is tough? This one is WORSE if
you do it wrong. There are TEN ships between you and the planet
on the opposite corner. You need to make it through.
The tough way is have patience. Move at maybe speed 2 or so, come
to full stop if enemy ship come near you. Eventually you'll make
it through.
A much simpler way is get a big impulse upgrade. You need speed
35 or so. Then when you hear the problem, hit cloak, then turn
for the right hand corner, and charge! MAX SPEED along the map's
edge! You need to get to the corner before the Feds got to your
corner. Then just fly to the other planet at whatever speed you
deem prudent.
You get a lousy 500 prestige for this difficult mission.
NOTE: Your ops offer mumbles something about ascertain the
enemy's intentions. I'm not sure if you stayed in the middle of
the fleet you'd gotten any bonus.
15.8 SNEAKERS
This is one of the toughest missions in the game, as there's so
many things to do. You've made your way to Federation world at
19,14, and you need to steal the holo-cloak.
First, plant the explosive on the designated asteroid (the one
arrow is pointing to, shows as "friendly"), then head toward the
base, cloak on, stay near map's edge.
When you're far enough away, your officer will say something
about "charges are degrading"... Answer to detonate the asteroid.
Do so, and the ships will warp to investigate. Continue toward
the base at half-impulse.
Continue slowly, and you'll get a message about dropping sensor
jammers. Do so.
Now approach the base and you'll get the info from the agent
onboard the base. Decloak and beam him onboard, then recloak.
Head for the asteroid field you started in. A shuttle will be
inside. Get in there, decloak, and blast it. And you win!
You get 3750 prestige for this messy mission.
Refit and get at LEAST a level 3 tractor. You WILL need it. On
the other hand, sometimes this can cause a problem. You have a
very tight schedule to get to that next hex for the mission. You
may not make it to the starbase and back in the time alloted.
Sometimes you get "stuck" when a Federation ship choose to
challenge you in a fight. As there's a challenge, you can't get
out of the sector, but the auto-move try to move you any way...
So either the auto-move works and you are able to escape that
challenge, or it doesn't and you can't continue the campaign.
15.9 KLINGON MARU
You got a distress call about a Klingon ship heading into the
blackhole.
When mission starts, hit warp and turn toward the ship. You need
to get there ASAP. When you get close, slap a tractor on him and
pull him away.
The only thing that worked for me is hit the "rotate left"
tractor ASAP. Then just keep flying at full impulse and you
should be safe.
If you failed, 2 BoP's decloak and blame you for destroying that
ship that went in. Then you have to fight them. If you escape,
you are blamed for the destruction of that ship and you fail the
campaign.
Two BoP's (K'Vorts?) decloak and demand that you release the BoP.
Doesn't matter what you say, you'll have to fight them. The BoP
you saved will run off to one side and hide. Destroy the two
attackers and you win!
You get 2000 prestige for this mission.
15.10 GRAY AREA
You are ordered to scan the asteroids in a nebula.
Scan each one by moving within range 5 of each. You science
officer will tell you it's done or not. Some of them will
explode. It's supposed to.
When you got most of scanning done (after 3 of them explode), a
Fed freighter will appear. Hail it and talk to it for more
information.
Three pirate ships will enter the nebula. Fight them or leave,
doesn't matter. You get bonus prestige for kills though.
You get about 3500 prestige (some bonus for kills).
15.11 HERDING CATS
You are ordered to round up the escaping freighters. The Remans
are rebelling!
A big transporter will help, as you want to blast the impulse
engines down ASAP and using H&R raids will help.
Basically, there are SIX escaping freighters. You need to hunt
down at least FOUR of them. They go out in groups of three, so
this should not be a problem.
Target the impulse engines and blast each one until it no longer
moves (or moves so slow you can come back later). Drop off
shuttles and keep them on harassment runs. Use marines for H&R or
capture raids.
When you destroy 4, and the rest warp out, you win!
You get 5000 prestige for this mission.
15.12 THE BARROWS
To finish off the escaping rebels, you need to chase down the
rest of the freighters.
"The Barrows" is an area full of dust clouds and BLACK HOLES.
However, if you don't run into the black holes they don't pose a
problem.
Just hit the impulse engines and watch the black holes suck the
freighters in...
Wipe out all the freighters (2?) and you win!
You get 4000 prestige.
15.13 SHINEY NEW TOY
You get to test the new holo-cloak... Activate it, and now you
look like a Fed Akira! Just follow Admiral Arai's instructions.
When ready, destroy the Klingon freighter to conclude the test.
You get 1000 prestige.
15.14 YOU CAN'T MAKE ME EAT GAGH!
You are to destroy the Federation convoy, and make it look as if
the Klingons did it. Oh, and don't let any of them escape.
The 4 freighters are simple enough. However, their escort is CA
or BC (Excelsior or Nebula). Still, those ships are not that hard
to kill as you should be in a Warbird by now.
HINT: Don't fire until you're about to kiss its behind. THEN
blast the escort so it's nearly dead in the water by giving it a
surprise attack on the impulse engines and/or the warp core. Then
keep going until its impulse goes into the red. Add H&R raids and
mines and such.
Blast each freighter in the impulse engine to make sure they
don't get away. Use H&R to help soften up the enemy. Use mines to
do additional damage. THEN it's a matter of mopping up. Kill them
all and you win!
You get 5000 prestige for this. Repair and resupply. You'll need
some help next.
15.15 IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING
Now it's time to play the Klingons. Disguise as a Nebula-class
ship and destroy the Klingon base.
Get close to the base, then fire EVERYTHING. Another Romulan ship
will join you pretending to be a Saber class frigate. Destroy the
base.
There are 3 other Klingon ships around. Destroy them as well.
You get 6000 prestige.
15.16 TROJAN HORSE
Now you need to blast the Federation Outpost... Same idea.
Get close to the base at full speed, then blast it before its
shields come up. You need to reduce its power as those heavy
phasers dish out a LOT of damage.
Two Fed starships, a Saber and a larger ship (BC or DN class)
will show up. Destroy the ships first, probably the Saber first.
Then the base.
NOTE: If you destroy the base first, Saber will escape, and you
fail the mission.
You get 5500 prestige for this.
15.17 TO SALT THE GROUND
Now it's your turn to really be nasty... escort the freighters
with hypermass detonators to destroy Unity One starbase.
Destroy the smaller ships first, and stay near the other Romulan
ships for mutual support. There should be Admiral Arai's Warbird
pretending to be a Galaxy-class vessel, along with some Hawks
pretending to be Norway-class DD's and such.
You should see a couple B'Rels and K'Vorts, with one Negh'Var,
one Norway, a Nebula, and a Galaxy defending the place. Don't
bother warping to them. They will warp to the convoy. Let them
come, try to get ahead a little so you can hit them JUST as they
emerge from warp with no shields on.
You pretty much don't have to do much with the freighters. Just
keep the larger ships busy and at least two of the freighters
should get to the base and drop off their "black holes". Then
just mop up the rest of defending ships without killing yourself.
A favorite way is to kill the impulse engines and let the black
holes draw the enemy ships in.
Destroy every hostile, and you're done!
You get 7500 prestige, and complete the Romulan campaign.
16 Federation Campaign Walkthru
The Federation campaign features a LOT of different ships, and a
LOT of weapon choices...
You start in a Norway (DD) so at least you get a better ship to
start instead of wimpy frigates the other navies start you with.
16.1 ONE BIG HAPPY FLEET
You are ordered to identify all ships in the sector.
An Intrepid-class ship shows up, weapons hot. His hull is at
about 60%. He doesn't believe who you are since he was just
attacked by another Federation ship. He then starts shooting you.
You have to whack him a couple times, until his hull is down to
30% or so, before he'll listen to reason.
When you do so, the mission ends, and you get 3500 prestige.
Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade! You should be able to deck out that
Norway now.
16.2 RENDEZVOUS AT KHITOMER
You are to investigate with USS Fuller the distress calls from 3
freighters in the area.
You first discover a Klingon BoP. It's adrift in space. Use
"scan" to increase the sensor range if you need to.
Continue forward, and you found the USS Minsk, dead in space. USS
Fuller, also adrift in space.
You got to the planet, and you found the 3 freighters. They claim
that a bunch of Klingon ships swept in and destroyed the other
two ships, and they barely escaped. However, something not quite
right... Why aren't THEY destroyed as well?
Then they want to form up on you... Maintain speed and keep them
beyond range 20. Then after a while, they open fire on you!
Destroy them. It's easiest to tractor one and feed it your full
alpha strike, then drop the tractor and get away, then come back
and try again. Go after warp core to cut their power. Launch
shuttles to surround them (though you need to stay close or
they'll pick off the shuttles one by one).
When you destroy them all, you'll see their mass doesn't equal
their signature. Some sort of holo-cloak?
You get 3850 prestige. You should be able to afford an Intrepid
or Defiant now, even with a few upgrades.
16.3 WARM RECEPTION
You are to escort the ambassador's freighter to the Klingon base.
There should be two other Federation ships as well, a Saber and
an Intrepid (or similar) escorting the freighter.
While on the way, a Klingon ship (B'Rel?) decloaks and starts
attacking the freighter. Destroy him.
Two other Klingon ships decloak and attack (K'tinga and K'Vort?).
Destroy them as well.
When the last enemy croaks, and the freighter reaches the base,
you win!
NOTE: If you are impatient for the freighter to "plod" along at
speed 10, feel free to push it along with your tractor beam. He
won't repel you.
You get 4950 prestige. The CL you got should be pretty well
decked out, so it may be time to trade it up for a CA like Akira
or Excelsior.
16.4 THE STAKEOUT
The Feds are aware of Romulan disguises... You will help catch
them in the act.
You start behind the outpost, powered down. Stay still until the
fake Klingon ships decloak and start attacking the convoy. THEN
go to red alert and swoop into attack. There's 1 Excelsior-class
cruiser with the convoy. You should be in a Nebula-class by now.
Keep the fake Klingons busy. Should be 1 fake Vor'cha and 2 or 3
fake Fek'lars.
More Feds will warp in and trap the enemy ships. You'll see
Norway, Defiant, Galaxy, and Saber... Attack the ships still
concentrating on the convoy.
Destroy all fake Klingon ships and get 4500 prestige.
16.5 TERRAN: INCOGNITO
Starfleet has secured a copy of the holo-cloak. You will use it
to locate the Tal'Shiar information needed to prove their guilt.
You must infiltrate Romulan territory.
Basically, stay at green alert and fly past all the outposts,
bases, and defense platforms so you can scan them all as the
mission needs. Get within range 10 then hit SCAN. Turn off scan
when done. Fly to the next one. Then pick a direction with
minimal weapon coverage, get within range 6, and beam down the
infiltration team. Stay within range.
When ready, beam them back up, then get the heck out of there, as
they triggered an alarm! Pick an empty direction and hit warp!
You get 3750 prestige.
16.6 COUNTER STRIKE
Romulans know the gig is up, and they are no longer disguised in
their attacks on Starfleet.
Four Romulan ships are attacking a convoy. The Romulan force is
composed of 2 Warbirds and 2 Hawks. Just survive and get in a
salvo when you can. Use hit and run. Fire, warp away, turn
around, repeat. You'll get more help in a minute or so. At least
two more ships will be warping in. Then with help destroy all
attackers.
I suggest a Nebula with a LOT of maneuverability, as the Warbirds
can be EXTREMELY dangerous with heavy torpedoes. One good salvo
and you lose the shields and half of your hull, even with level 5
armor. Use maneuverability to stay behind the Warbird, drop mines
periodically to discourage pursuers.
Destroy all Romulan ships and you win!
You get 4125 prestige for this.
16.7 FORCED ENTRY
We are taking down the Romulan outpost and its defenders.
Get in there and start blasting. Enterprise-E is already on the
scene. Stay near it for protection. You should also have 2
Norways escorting you.
Go after cloak and warp engines on Romulan ships. You should see
only lighter ships at first. Go after those. Tell your ships to
concentrate on a single target. Plenty of other Fed ships will be
around blasting.
Destroy the defenders first, then go after the base (capture it
if you can), and you win!
You get 2000 for this easy mission.
16.8 OPERATION ROUNDUP
You are responding to a distress call. Apparently more Romulan
disguised ships are attacking a convoy. A Klingon (real) ship, a
Negh'Var, will also assist.
Help the Klingon ship destroy or chase away the Romulan ships and
you win! There should be four to five Romulan ships, disguised as
K'vorts and K'tingas. Two of them will probably escape unless
you've been bashing impulse engines.
You get 2000 prestige for this.
16.9 ELUSIVE QUARRY
Take out the Tal'Shiar forward command base.
This one is EXTREMELY difficult, as you'll be fighting a base, 4
defense platforms, and 3 Romulan ships at the beginning.
However, you get 2 Norways as wingmen, and a bunch of other ships
like Saber, Defiant, Excelsior, etc. will join the attack.
As you commence your attack, you'll get a message from Picard
ordering you to disengage. It's a Romulan trick. Don't believe
it. Arai will decloak in her Warbird... She was pretending to be
the Enterprise! You'll need to take care of her... If you damage
Arai's Warbird to 50% hull she'll leave. Do it quickly or there
wouldn't be a fleet left for your side.
Capture the defense platforms to help you fight the base. You can
severely damage one platform and beam enough marines to capture
another during one pass. Then make another pass to do the other
two. Once you have the platforms they will help you wipe out the
base and nearby enemies. They wouldn't last long, but they will
be VERY helpful. Those heavy disruptors pack a serious punch!
Once you wipe out all the defenders and the base, you win!
You get about 4000 prestige for this.
NOTE: This is a VERY tough mission. By the end you probably have
only ONE friendly ship left if you can't capture the platforms
fast enough. Expect to retry this 2-6 times.
Even though the post-briefing says you can't resupply, ignore it.
There's a Fed Starbase just 3 hexes northwest of you. Resupply
quickly then wait for the auto-warp.
16.10 A LIGHTLY SCORCHED EMPIRE
Infiltrate the shipyard (2 stardocks and the base) so you can
figure out which ships have the holo-cloak, and destroy all
hostiles.
NOTE: If you go around defending ships and take out the shipyard,
the Romulan ships will self-destruct, and that causes blackholes
to form, which will destroy nearby ships, and that is BAD. With
that many ships to help, destroying the ships should be simple.
Then get to the "shipyard", blow down a shield on the base, and
beam in the away team, and after a few seconds they report
success. Beam them back. The rest of the ships will help you
destroy the shipyard. When it goes, you win!
You get 4400 prestige.
16.11 THE LUDDITE SYNDROME
You need to destroy the factory that's producing the holo-cloak.
However, bases, defense platforms, and no less than 6 Romulan
ships defend the planet.
You get a choice... Go after the defense platforms, the ships, or
the base? I recommend the defense platforms first. Blast one and
capture the other, so they'll help you defend. Repeat for the
other side of the planet and you got it covered. Those platforms
don't last very long but they'll help you hunt down the other
ships.
Lure enemy ships into range of your platforms if they survived.
The 2 Warbirds can be a problem. Shove them into the planet to
kill them quickly. You'll need level 4 tractors. The smaller
ships are easy to kill.
Then take out the base, it's not that hard to kill.
When ready, get in range of the planet, and feel free to blast
the planet while you're at it. When you get close enough, your XO
will beam down and place the demolition charges. Then you win!
You get 4500 prestige.
16.12 POINT OF NO RETURN
The big finale and the big enchilada... This mission is huge and
difficult. Fortunately you get a lot of help, about 5 to 6 other Fed
and Klingon ships will be in the area, including Enterprise-E and a
Negh'var, among other ships.
There's about a dozen Romulan ships defending TWO separate bases and 4
defense platforms around the planet. Most of them are small, but there
are several Warbirds.
Go after the defense platforms first, and use them to help you defeat
the ships if possible. Do NOT beam down the away team until you've
taken out ALL hostiles and have completely restored shields. You will
need the repairs for the second fight.
Capture one or both of the Warbirds during the fight if possible. You
can use their heavy firepower in the upcoming fight.
When you've eliminated ALL opposition, it's time to beam down the away
team to capture Admiral Arai, which also destroys the Tal'Shiar base on
the ground.
Tal'Shiar reinforcements come in... They are comprised of two (three?)
Warbirds and some destroyers. Destroy them with whatever you have
remaining, and you win!
NOTE: You must destroy them. Escape is NOT an option.
You get 7500 prestige, finish the Fed campaign, and watch the end
cinematic.
17 Borg Campaign Walkthru
To be completed.
NOTE: The Borg mini-campaign is only included in the version sold in Best Buy. The campaign cannot be downloaded. So don't ask me where to get it or can I send it to you.
17.1 SPECIES 8251
You start in a Diamond-class ship (CL). Destroy the shield
generators so the specie can be assimilated.
Start heading toward the first generator. It has 2 defending
ships. Use your arcs and destroy the ships first, or capture it.
Rotate to keep pounding the same ship. Defeat both ships, then
blast the asteroid with torpedoes, and it goes poof.
Repeat for the second asteroid.
Then you get a message about some freighters (2) leaving the
planet, and a few defending ships (2). Blast each freighter until
it can't escape in time or capture each. Destroy all defending
ships, then the freighters, and you're done!
This is VERY tough in a CL, as the Borg weapons aren't really
THAT strong.
17.2 TO BE COMPLETED
18 SFC3 ships
18.1 KLINGON
Klingon ships have plenty of shields but seems to have less
engine power than the Romulans. Mount the maximum shields
possible.
18.1.1 B'Rel / FF
B'Rel, i.e. Bird of Prey, is a small Romulan-influenced design.
It has been around for almost 100 years. It is small, but still
works well. It currently serves as a "frigate" in the Klingon
Deep Space Fleet.
Fek'lhr, named after the beast guarding the Klingon heaven known
as Sto'vokor, is the new Klingon cruiser. It shares the same
general shape as K'Tinga, but it's a bit larger, and has a MUCH
larger engine capacity.
Romulan weapons are slower charging, esp. torpedoes. In general,
they also have more engine capacity but less shields than Klingon
ships. To exploit this, mount larger thrusters and impulse
engines and exploit your advantages.
18.2.1 Talon / FF
Talon is the Romulan frigate. It has slightly more engine
capacity than the Klingon B'Rel, but otherwise identical.
Falcon, the Romulan the destroyer, has slightly more engine
capacity than the Klingon K'Vort, but slightly less shields.
Falcon looks almost exactly like Talon, just like the Klingon
B'Rel's resemblance to the K'Vort.
Cueball2000uk has a trick loadout... front and left has level 2
shields (the others have NONE!), 3 phaser-9-S, 1 quantum torpedo.
This specialized design only has front and left shields, but much
stronger than anticipated. If you can keep the shields toward the
enemy the quantum torpedo will be quite a surprise.
A phaser boat config would have 2 ph-10-Fs and 1 ph-11-S, with no
heavy weapons. You'll need a level 2 warp core, fit in whatever
else you want. This phaser boat reloads very quickly and is
EXTREMELY fast.
The limited weapons load is a problem. There's no way to get it
to be exactly like the TV... Since this Defiant has no rear-
facing torpedo tube.
You can fit in 2 pulse phasers and 2 quantum torpedo tubes. You
get LOTS of reserve power if you want to upgrade your warp and
keep thrusters and impulse at level 5 (which makes it fly at
speed of 43+!)
Alternate config is 4 photons and 3 ph-9-F, with level 7
thrusters. You need to downgrade impulse to level 3, but that is
still speed of 32+ and literally turns on a dime.
18.3.4 Intrepid / CL
Intrepid mounts slightly more shields and weapons than Defiant,
but is a much larger package overall.
Most people add 2 quantum torpedoes then whatever phasers and
such they can fit in. You can go level 5 engines all across. You
can even sacrifice a bit of speed for level 7 thrusters, but that
may be going overboard.
If you prefer a phaser boat, fit in level 4 shields, phaser 10-F
in all phaser mounts, level 8 thrusters and level 5 impulse.
Alternative phaser boat config is 4 pulse phasers (ka-pow!) and
whatever else that'll fit. Try to keep level 8 thrusters and
level 5 impulse if possible.
18.3.5 Akira / CA
Akira is a newer dependable cruiser that gets the job done. Its
larger engines allow it better speed and maneuverability.
Excelsior is a workhorse vessel that has seen service for many
decades. Upgrades and several ways kept them on the front-lines.
While not as powerful as Akiras, the still mount respectable
weapons and has more interior room for equipment and armor.
Stick with Nebula-class as it's a better package overall.
18.3.9 Sovereign / DNX
Sovereign, along with Klingon Negh'var, has the most shields of
any ship in SFC3. It also has weird weapons arcs, as it has
potentially EIGHT weapons pointing to the REAR (more than the
front). However, it have horrible turn rate.
You can pretty much mix just about anything here, though some
suggestions are pulse phasers, ph-11s and 12s, and lots of
quantum torpedoes. If you cram you can fit up to 6 quantum
torpedoes onto this hull, but you don't have THAT much room.
Some suggest you max the impulse engines and create a "speedboast
dreadnought", and get the others to chase you while you exploit
your rear arcs to pound them.
The main problem here is power. Your engines are tight enough
that you can't really fit in a class X warp core and still fit in
decent thrusters and impulse engines. You have to stay with class
IX warp core, and that means you're limited to 113 power. If you
add too many phasers or such you'll be underpowered.
One config I found quite good is ph-12-f in the 360 mount, 2 ph-
11-f in the rear-facing mounts, and 2 ph-pulse in the front
mounts, and 3 quantum torpedoes (all forward). Class X shields
all around. This config has enough forward firepower to pound
most ships and bases, while easily discourages rear pursuit with
help of plenty mines.
Note: Klingon photons charge in half the time as the Fed photons.
19.1.4 Klingon Polaron Torpedo
Damage 12 Mass 300 Cost 2200 Energy 9
Notes: The polaron torpedo can punch through the shields and
hit the hull directly.
19.1.5 Tachyon Pulse
Damage 6 Mass 250 Cost 2450 Energy 8
Notes: This weapon disables its target's ability to go to warp,
both tactical warp and to escape off the map. That it does a bit
of damage is a bonus.
19.1.6 Klingon Ion Cannon
Damage 9 Mass 250 Cost 1350 Energy 8
Notes: The extremely narrow firing arc makes this weapon a
close-range punch only.
19.1.7 Antimatter Mine Layer
Damage 15 Mass 200 Cost 1500 Energy 1
Notes: This essentially replace the wimpy mines with a more
powerful mine, but requires power to arm.
19.1.8 Klingon Armor
Level I II III IV V
Strength 9 18 27 36 45
Mass 800 1200 1600 2000 2400
Cost 500 750 1125 1750 2500
Explanation: Damage must penetrate both the shields and the armor
to damage either the hull or the systems.
NOTE: Klingon armor is slightly more efficient tonnage-wise than
Fed armor, but its maximum is less than Fed armor. Just typical
for Klingons.
19.1.9 Klingon Transporter
Level I II III IV V
Rating 1 3 4 6 7
Mass 100 325 650 1100 1650
Cost 500 750 1125 1500 2000
NOTE: Klingon transporter has more pads than Feds or Klingons
(matching the Borg). Definite use those marines during battles.
Capturing ships are easier with Klingons!
19.1.10 Klingon Tractor Beam Emitter
Level I II III IV V
Health 2 3 5 6 8
Mass 100 300 600 1000 1500
Cost 500 750 1125 1500 2000
19.1.11 Klingon Computer
Level I II III IV V
AntiCloak 0% 0% 0% 60% 70%
Mass 100 200 300 500 700
Cost 500 750 1130 2000 3000
NOTE: The higher the level, the longer the sensor range.
NOTE: Klingon Warp Cores are somewhat smaller than others. Power
output above assumes a level 1 engineer. Higher level engineers
can get more power out of the same warp core.
Notes: Klingon Impulse engines are pretty efficient (power vs.
mass), but not enough "health" to take damages. This assumes
level 1 engineer. Higher level engineers can get more power out
of same engine.
19.1.15 Klingon Thruster
Level I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X
Power 130 150 170 195 240 265 275 305 335 375
Mass 350 425 550 725 900 1125 1525 1900 2225 2925
Cost 250 350 450 550 650 750 850 950 1050 1150
NOTE: Klingons have some of the best thrusters available. Use
them. This assumes level 1 helmsman. Higher level helmsman can
get more power out of same thruster.
Romulan disruptors are 20% slower to rearm than phasers or
Klingon disruptors.
Type I IF II IIF III IIIF IV IVF
Damage 5 4 8 5 10 6 12 7
Mass 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Cost 700 850 1025 1175 1300 1450 1600 1850
Energy 3 3 6 6 9 9 12 12
NOTE: Romulan Disruptor do more damage than most races primary
weapons
19.2.3 Romulan Plasma Torpedo
Damage Mass Cost Energy
Light 11 200 800 7
Medium 15 300 1200 10
Heavy 20 400 1600 16
19.2.4 Romulan Myotronic Beam
Damage 8 Mass 200 Cost 2150 Energy 8
Notes: This beam weapon disables (stun, not destroy) all enemy
weapons for a short period of time upon hull impact. It only
works when it strikes the hull. Else, it does regular damage to
shields.
19.2.5 Tachyon Pulse
Damage 6 Mass 250 Cost 2450 Energy 8
19.2.6 Antimatter Mine Layer
Damage 15 Mass 200 Cost 1500 Energy 1
19.2.7 Romulan Armor
Level I II III IV V
Strength 8 16 24 32 40
Mass 900 1350 1800 2250 2700
Cost 500 750 1125 1750 2500
NOTE: Romulans have the weakest armor. Their ships are build for
surprise attacks, and are rather fragile.
19.2.8 Romulan Transporter
Level I II III IV V
Rating 1 2 3 4 5
Mass 100 300 600 100 1500
Cost 500 750 1125 1500 2000
19.2.9 Romulan Tractor Beam Emitter
Level I II III IV V
Health 2 3 5 6 8
Mass 100 275 550 900 1350
Cost 500 750 1125 1500 2000
NOTE: Romulan Tractor systems are lighter in mass than average.
19.2.10 Romulan Computer
Level I II III IV V
AntiCloak 0% 0% 0% 60% 70%
Mass 100 200 300 500 700
Cost 550 830 1250 2500 3750
19.2.11 Romulan Cloaking Device
Level I II III IV V
Efficiency 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Mass 100 200 350 500 700
Cost 500 750 1130 2000 3000
NOTE: Romulan Cloaking Devices are lighter than their Klingon
counterparts.
