How to play

[Tijn]

#4842

Ok, I’ve started the game without reading the manual, just to check out what it’s like and well… that didn’t work out haha

This game is impossible to play without either reading some instructions, or tediously pressing every key to see what happens and figure it out that way.

You can find the manual here: http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/359650/manuals/startrek25th_manual_enhanced_cd.pdf?t=1431036108

What’s already a massive help to me is to read how you can press the TAB key to switch between controlling the ship and selecting crew members. By clicking various crew members, you can give them specific orders about their field.

They are: Kirk (you, captain, bottom center). Click yourself allows you to view the log, transport down to a planet, but also to go to the options screen and for example save or load your game.

Spock (science, top right): talk to Spock for advice. He can also use the computer, but you’ll have to query it yourself by entering keywords. The manual says to take notes during the game to know what to enter, and also take notes on what the computer tells you. Spock can also give an analysis of the enemy during combat.

Scotty (engineering, left): you can tell Scotty to repair systems when they are damaged. If you don’t provide directions, Scotty will automatically repair whatever is damaged though. You can also ask him for emergency power, which can provide a short boost.

Uhura (communcations, bottom right): you can tell Uhura to initiate communications with other vessels or planets and also allow to send and receive files.

Sulu (helm, left of captain Kirk): you can tell Sulu to take the Enterprise into orbit, which is required before being able to transport down. He also controls the shields.

Chekov (ensign, right of captain Kirk): you can tell Chekov to navigate somewhere by bringing up the star map. He also controls the weapons (phasers and photon torpedos).

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There are a lot of keyboard shortcuts which help you control the ship, especially during combat.

The ship’s speed is controlled by the numbers 2 through 0. 2 is the slowest setting, 6 is half speed, 0 is full speed. 1 is full stop and ` is reverse.

W toggles weapons on/off. Left click to fire phasers, right click to fire torpedos. Alternatively you can press enter for phasers and spacebar for torpedos.

S toggles shields on/off. You can’t transport down if the shields are up.

A toggles target analysis of enemy ships and shows the status of the last ship that was damaged by the Enterprise. I think by toggling it off, you can see your own ship status.

D brings up the damage control screen, which allows you to tell Scotty which damaged section to focus his efforts on.

E activates emergency power if it’s available.

V toggles between bridge view and full screen view.

TAB toggles between ship control mode and crew selection mode.

< > these reduce or increase the main screen magnification

Numpad 0 to enter or exit orbit
Numpad 5 to center the view screen

N shows the star map

K opens Kirk’s options
T to ask Spock for advice
C to use the computer
H to bring up communications

Ctrl+p to pause the game
Ctrl+e to toggle sound effects
Ctrl+m to toggle music
Ctrl+q to quit the game

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I hope this helps. If anyone has more tips, please share them because we need all the help we can get with this one haha

[Katsumoto]

#4845

That’s a great summary of the manual, thanks!

If anyone knows how, on initial startup, to load a previously saved game without having to click through the whole introduction first, that would be a great additional tip :).

[Pix]

#4849

You are stuck with clicking through every time – much like Simon The Sorcerer. You’ll also need the map in the manual if you want to fly to the right place for each mission.

At the end of every mission you are awarded with up to 4 commendation points, which improve the performance of your ship/crew. There is a really tough battle at the end of the game and you allegedly need something approaching a perfect score if you are actually going to win. This wouldn’t be so bad if you could keep track of your score throughout the mission but you only get to find out right at the end… A few general tips on scoring well are, always research the mission using the ships computer at the start, make sure your red shirts don’t get hurt, use tricorders on everything and generally be diplomatic. This is probably my least favourite aspect of the game – I replayed the missions until I got at least 3 out of 4 in the past before moving on to the next one. If you’ve ambitions to get to the end, I’d make sure to keep savegames and go back if you do any worse than that.