Topic: 4 years of SFC! (Read 7758 times)

Lieutenant_Q · « **on:** September 28, 2003, 08:04:48 pm »

This month marks the 4 year anniversary of my love for Starfleet Command. And to celebrate, I just want to revisit how we first met.

I was running the Recieving office for Prevo's Familly Market in Cascade Michigan, when the latest shipment for our newsstand came in. While checking over the shipment, I noticed something that caught my eye: A PC magazine that had in big letters near its spine, 80 Tips and Tricks for Windows. I looked at that and thought, wow, maybe I can get my computer to run for more than 5 hours without crashing. I set one of the magazines aside and went back to sorting through them. At the end of the day, I took my magazine through the checkout line and headed home. At home I sat down on the couch and started flipping through the magazine, when a CD fell out of the middle of the magazine and into my lap. The CD: 8 Demos on 1 CD. I started looking through the list, the only one on that disk that even held any interest for me, was Star Trek: Starfleet Command. Immediately I threw the magazine aside and placed the CD into my computer, within 20 minutes I had the demo installed and ready to go. At that point in time, I had only a passing knowledge of Starfleet Battles, I saw it on the shelf everytime I went into the gaming store, picked it up and thumbed through a couple of pages several times, but each time, I didn't buy it. Not because it didn't interest me, but because I could never find someone who wanted to give it a try with me. The first time playing the Demo, I didnt even bother going through the tutorials first, I just wanted to get in and blow something up. I figured, its a Star Trek Game, how much different from the 25th Anniversary could it be? The first skirmish I played I set it to Captain level, and was in a F-CA vs a K-D6, i figured intuitively how to shoot and how to raise shields, but I never figured out how to turn the ship, I looked up at the upper left corner and said, that must be how I steer the ship. Well after clicking it twice and breaking down on the second HET I said to myself, uh maybe I better do the tutorials. After doing the Tutorials I finally figured out how to fly the ship, and blew through all three difficulties on the demo, for both sides. After I was done, I just had to get the full game, So being as close as it was to christmas, and being that it hadn't been released yet, I put it on my Christmas list.

Christmas day I opened the box up, pulled out the instruction book and thought...I've got TEXT BOOKS that were smaller than this. After my first run in with the demo, I decided that reading the entire book was a must before even trying to play it. So on the 26th of December, I plugged the SFC CD into the drive, and have had years of fun ever since. Unfortunately even after getting my friends to purchase SFC, I still couldn't get the interest in any of them to get Starfleet Battles, a year later I heard that Interplay was releasing SFC2:EAW, once again, a christmas time release, so on the List it goes. Empires at War did not dissapoint me in the least, once again another game that I could enjoy, but alas, still could not get enough people willing to give SFB a shot.

When Interplay announced that they were releasing Orion Pirates, I balked, an Expansion? what could they add to the game to make it any better than it already is? For once in 4 years, Starfleet Command was not on my christmas list that year.

While I was still enjoying EAW, I had not heard anything from Interplay about releasing another SFC, it was only while checking for a current patch for EAW did I stumble upon news of a Starfleet Command 3. Only Interplay wasn't releasing it, the hated Activision was. That made me balk a second time. I have hated Activision since they released that god-awful excuse for a game MechWarrior 2:Mercs. While certainly the most stable of the MechWarrior Series, I had in me a passion about BattleTech that rivals some of you SFBer's passion for Starfleet Battles. I had never forgiven Activision for that game and had made sure that I never bought another Activision title again. Fortunately, or unfortunately, my love for the SFC series had won out and Starfleet Command 3 was on the List. Now once again, my hatred for Activision has been vindicated, and enhanced, as they are now dragging my favorite series down with them, I can look beyond what's happening with the SFC series and place the blame solely on Activision, but there are others who can't and see Taldren as the responsible party.

As I look into the near future, I see a patch eventually coming out, not a final patch yet, but once Paramount crushes Activision, Taldren will be free to do as they please with the SFC3 patching. A few years down the road, I do see SFC making a comeback, as what? who can really say now. But this year, Starfleet Command is again on my Christmas list, as I am going to make up for almost 2 years of denial, and going to get Orion Pirates.

Dash Jones · « **Reply #1 on:** September 28, 2003, 08:34:35 pm »

Hmm, I hadn't realized it had been quite so long...but it HAS! I can remember the first time I got SFC as well...hadn't realized how long it had been.

My parents aren't really big in allowing me to play computer games...in fact you could say they are really against it. They aren't big into allowing me on the internet, and a whole bunch of other things...however, thank goodness for relatives. I was a starwars fan...and liked playing games when I could get my hands on them (which is why I love being at my relatives). One of them was wondering what to get me...and I guess they didn't know much of the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars. They got me Star Fleet Command. I also got X-Wing Alliance. After trying out X-wing Alliance, and loving it, I started a little on the SFC thing. I played and won a few battles on Captain level, and then went back to X-Wing alliance.

However, 2 months later, I started playing SFC once again, just for the heck of it. Started it...and got hooked in the campaign. My grades undoubtably dropped a few points. I played it all evening, snuck downstairs and played it after my parents were asleep, and when I slept, I dreamed of the battles. It had me stuck, hook, line, and sinker. Ever since I've been a huge fan. SFC2, SFC:OP, and now SFC3 all have been great joys for me to play...however, nothing has yet beaten that magic that SFC had. Great Game...and I guess, yes, it has almost been 4 years now. Wow...it transformed me into someone who liked Star Trek and got into all the Star Trek trivia (my father actually DID like Star Trek so I finally understood some of the stuff he talked about). Great fun.

DONOTDELETE · « **Reply #2 on:** September 28, 2003, 08:46:20 pm »

Nov 99 was when my addiction began......It took me almost two weeks to survive a mission unscathed....

jualdeaux · « **Reply #3 on:** September 28, 2003, 09:37:34 pm »

Quote:

Nov 99 was when my addiction began......It took me almost two weeks to survive a mission unscathed....

I know what you mean. I don't even remembe when i first heard about SFC but I do remember that I heard a rumor that someone was going to make a computer game based on a Star Trek turn based game. I knew immediately that it had to be SFB. That moment was when I was hooked on it. I started out downloading the demo as soon as it was out and playted agaist my brother in Virginia via the IPX option. That hooked me even more.

Dogmatix! · « **Reply #4 on:** September 29, 2003, 11:51:40 am »

I can't even remember how I heard of it. I might have been playing another InterPlay game at the time and just stumbled across the bit on their website about Starfleet Command. I remember seeing cool screenshots when the game was in development. I remember following along in the old I-play fora (I used my "real name" back then). I think I was at my friend's house in New Jersey while on vacation when the demo came out. IIRC, you could only fly a F-CA. We immediately downloaded the demo with his 33.3K dialup connection--- that took a while. I also got on the phone to my brother and told him about the demo. We three had played SFB a lot together during the 80's.

I pre-ordered SFC1 and the day I received it was a very happy day indeed. I've been around here and hooked on the game since then. In SFC1, I mostly played (and completed) all the single player campaigns. I played fairly regularly on MPlayer, but never joined a fleet or took part in StarLance. I followed with great anticipation the development of SFC2 and, of course, pre-ordered it, as well. When I received it, I played it a bit in single-player and online, but I really wanted to play on the dynaverse and that just wasn't available at the time. After a few weeks, I shelved the game until the following spring when the dynaverse went into public release. I started playing on D2 on the very first day and I really haven't left since then. A few weeks after D2 came, out, I was invited to join my first fleet, The Klingon Black Fleet and I accepted.

I have never enjoyed a computer game for more than a few months, let alone be an avid, active player of a game for YEARS. At this point, I'ver spent far more time playing and talking about SFC than I ever have in two decades of owning SFB.

Eltanin · « **Reply #5 on:** September 29, 2003, 11:55:10 am »

I'm just bummed it's been so long. I was an SFB nut with nobody to play with (small town thing). I ate the rules but there was simply nobody to play with. The last few years I've been doing the RPG thing the the exception of Freespace 2. Didn't even notice SFC...any of them until 3 weeks ago. Normally, I wouldn't have given it a thought because every ST game review I've ever seen said SUX. Picked up SFC: EAW for cheap cheap...and then went bananas!!!! This isn't ST this is SFB!!!(or pretty close).

I now realize the last 4 years of gaming have been utterly wasted...years that could have been so much more. Now, I'm left to relentlessly scrounge the grungy bottoms of overflowing bargain bins throughout southern ontario hoping against hope a copy of OP has been quietly neglected in a dusty corner of a broken down gaming store waiting for me to liberate it.

Eltanin · « **Reply #7 on:** September 29, 2003, 02:13:57 pm »

Thanks for the offer! But I checked interplay and they've got it and payday is tomorrow

You better save that copy because I may be late for the party...but I certainly can't be the last!!! (I hope...)

kziti kat · « **Reply #8 on:** September 30, 2003, 07:00:34 am »

You will be pleasantly surprised... They are selling the last copies of the game for only $2.95 !!!!

Jester_OC · « **Reply #9 on:** October 11, 2003, 02:32:39 am »

I know this is not a competition but you sparked my now nostalgic memory of SFC from my point of view.

How about finding after finishing an infotainment port of "Timeless Math the Mayan adventure", and the cancellation of a spy game. I ended up working on a game based on Starfleet Battles. A game I played a lot of in High School. Not only that, out of the many names suggested by other team members mine is the one approved! Then I get to work with the Designer to throw out months of design by committee crap to develop and sell the new interface (which becomes the interface we use) to Interplay's producers. Then halfway through the project I become lead programmer. I get huge amounts of influence on the design and get to write most of the damage routines, weapon systems, the networking to game interface, the entity manager and basic physics of the game. I lost a few battles over game design but for the most part I can say that SFC was nearly exactly how I wanted the game to play.

How's THAT for a trip down memory lane! And I think it has been 6 years for me.

Jester.

P.S. I must say that I think that without Erik's "think BIG" ideas my original vision of SFC would have felt much different. Erik's big influences was the camera style (Too much SFB blinded me into thinking top down should be the main view mode) and I wanted planets and other items to be scaled much smaller with the idea that the ships where just an advanced form of Icon and that the ships were much farther apart from each other than it looked. While that jives with SFB's logic, it is just too esoteric to explain to someone new, and while some people did not like the fact that our ships pushed through each other and did not RAM each other, the feel of the game became much more visceral with those changes.

VelvetAcidChrist · « **Reply #11 on:** October 11, 2003, 02:15:32 pm »

i found out about sfc in a pc magazine where it got a 70% score.i never played or heard about sfb before but this alien lookin ships made me buying a original north-amercan versionof sfc,and i live in germany.
i also had just bought me a ok pc with 400 mhz and 32 megs ram 8 mb vid and i finally got an phoneline with isp!
then i logged on mplayer.com and saw like 150+ people playing sfc and chatting and all had strange letters in their front.
well KNF-SylaStingray helped me setting up the game and signed me into starlance,actually i joined a fed fleet although i never liked fed.and my 1st game ever on mplayer,200l speed 7,me and my loved l-bch lol.from now on i was known as KNF-LestatEvil and also called "DJ Evil" for playing music in the rooms quite often.
i made friendship with cpt kirk icop,voidwar and jolley rogers quite quick and discovered my love for small bpv s and ships.
starfleet command is a part of my life for 4 years now *wow* and i wont miss a single day of it.
thx tadlren for providing me so much fun and joy during the last 4 years!

Komodo · « **Reply #12 on:** October 11, 2003, 08:45:29 pm »

I still can't get over it- 4 years!

I still remember the first time I went online- I was scared to death! LOL
I really didn't know what to expect...And so much that has happened since Dec 99 that first time! I've met so many people, and learned so much. You know what the best thing is? Making new friends online. Heck, I even made the trip to Missouri this summer to meet someone who's become a close friend over time- Mr. Nannerslug! And his pop Oldbuzzard too

The trip is something I'll never forget, that's for sure! It was an honour to spend some real time face to face with a fellow junkie

Captain Ron · « **Reply #13 on:** October 11, 2003, 10:00:09 pm »

Just thinking has it really been that long?

Checks when he registried here and goes yup!
Man I remember playing tech support at the Interplay forums as well.

FFZ · « **Reply #15 on:** October 12, 2003, 09:40:58 am »

It seems kind of odd responding to this thread, seeing as I only bought these games a few weeks ago, yet SFB ws as dear to me as any game I ever played.

Back in the days before PCs became popular, in the late 1970s, cardboard games were what we did for fun (I was a teenager back then) and I remember when a small outfit from Texas realised a game based on Star Trek (yet they couldn't say Star Trek, as they didn't have a license).

It had a few ship types, Federation CA, CL, Klingon D7, D6, Romualn Warbid and War Eagle, and some frieghters, that was about it!

The game's designer was a professional engineer (Steve Cole) and the game was from an outfit called Amarillo design bereau(Never could spell that damned word

)

Before long, it had a deluxe edition (more ship types, more counters, introduced the Kzin, Tholians and Gorn) and then in the early 80s, the game started to grow. At first, there were expantion books (which often had unclear, and even contradictionary rules) three in all. They added PFs, fighters, more ships, the Lyrans, the Hydrans, the Andromedains (It's a shame the Tholians and Andromedians never made it to SFC, nor did the WYN).

Before long, they had a campaign game which I still have somewhere,with a hex filled galaxy (but it was incomplete) and you could use it with SFB to create grand campaign games.

I remember so much fun out of those days, so many battles and campigns, it was a great series if you had a good gaming group, into the system. But eventually, real life made it's insidous way into things. A more demanding job, than a wife, and eventaully a son ended those great gaming days of yore. I had a personal computer from about 1998, but it wasn't very good, and I couldn't play advanced games on it, so I completley missed SFC's introduction. I had read several unfaltering reviews of it, but I was undaunted by them, the critics had hated SFB also, it was always to complex for the usual simple minds of reviewers.

So, that brings us to the present time, just recently, I finally built a good computer, and looked to add some nice games, so I looked at SFC. The screen shots looked excellent, and the price of the various games was not excessive, so I bought all four of them, and have started playing from SFC I Gold. I haven't regretted it at all, they were well worth the money. My only regret is I missed out on the last four years of talking about the game at sites like this!

Chris Jones · « **Reply #17 on:** October 12, 2003, 12:01:07 pm »

In the Summer of 1999 I was looking for a Star Trek game to play on the computer - I had Starfleet Academy - but it just didn't cut it. My brother told me of this cool new demo for Starfleet Command. The first mission I ever played was from that demo where you have to defend the freighters, IIRC. I was instantly hooked. At last there was a Star Trek game that was fun. I approached it from a Star Trek standpoint, rather than SFB. Has it really been 4 years? I imaging we'll be here a year from now and so on..

My first modded ship in the game was the stock Federation Battleship with shields off the scale and more weapons than you could count. A monster was born.

Novae · « **Reply #19 on:** October 13, 2003, 12:26:43 am »

i downloaded the sfc 1 demo the first day it became available online, strangely enough by accident. I had just got my first computer (home made by a geek friend), was working in North Dakota on an archaeology dig, staying in some strange hotel, and got internet. being an avid star trek fan, did a search online, and found the sfc1 demo. downloaded it all night, installed it the next day after work, and have been a fan ever since. granted, i havent been playing much lately, though have been an elite player, fleet leader, major points scorer in a ladder league, created the NT Ship Guide and other guides to the multitude of ships, and generally felt welcomed by the community at large. A good home overall, even with some occasional drama and disappointment. Jolan Tru my friends,
novae (a Nexus Traveler)

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Topic: 4 years of SFC! (Read 7758 times) var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true};

Lieutenant_Q

Dash Jones

**DONOTDELETE**

jualdeaux

Dogmatix!

Eltanin

Dogmatix!

Eltanin

kziti kat

Jester_OC

Captain KoraH

VelvetAcidChrist

Komodo

Captain Ron

3dot14

FFZ

Captain Ron

Chris Jones

Dash Jones

Novae

Topic: 4 years of SFC! (Read 7758 times)

DONOTDELETE