DEMON WORLD: A bit of a goofy thing that sometimes happens. When you meet the Klingons, it is possible to stun them all, before they even fire a shot. Then, when Uhura calls, asking about phaser fire, it doesn't make sense that Kirk asks about disruptor fire.

HIJACKED: Every security guard looks alike, don't they? Must be clones.

Another thing about hijacked. In the mission, you use the prefix code to beam over to the ship and rescue the hostages. Wouldn't it be more sensible to just use the code to lower the shields, beam the hostages onto the Enterprise, and then blast the ship the Elasi are on to pieces? Why risk the lives of a four man away team?

Oh, and that guy in the transporter room - the engineer or something, why is he not being held hostage? Surely the more hostages you have the better.

Peter.

I've never been able to get past the first mission of this game, and probably never will. The problem is that in order to advance to the second mission you have to win a combat with an enemy ship. The combat system the game employs is difficult beyond belief even to figure out what you're supposed to be doing, much less to win. The game documentation offers little help and barely explains things. The way I see it, you can hardly ever score a hit on the other ships but theu always hit you, your hits do no damage to them but theirs always damage you. I wouldn't have minded it so much if the creators of this game would have devised a combat system that was easy to learn to use, made sense, and was enjoyable and possible to win. I've never been able to win a combat scenario in this game and can't even begin to imagine how I could ever win one. This should be titled "The Kobayashi Maru" because it's a no-win scenario.

Hey Todd!

I haven't played the game in so long, but it was one of my favorites. I wonder if it's possible that the we've become so used to seeing such excellent graphics in games today that the pixelated mess that is supposed to be the enemy ship that you're fighting is difficult to make out. That's kind of interesting in some respect. No wait. No it isn't. Never mind. Sorry.

Anyway, what mission are you talking about? Is it the one where you have to fight Captain Patterson (a descendant of our own Matthew Patterson?) and the Republic? If so, I was never ever able to beat it. My friend told me that his dad did, and he was never disposed to untruths, so I guess it's possible. Anyway, I guess you don't mean that because in the version I have, it doesn't matter if you beat it or not, it's just a wargame, with little or no affect on your point values. But who cares anyway, right? Does anybody play such games for point values? If you lose, you continue on to your first real mission anyway.

What I'm wondering is, are there adjustable difficulty levels in the game? I can't remember. Maybe you're playing at a greater than introductory level? For some reason, I feel that it gave you the option to play on easy, intermediate and whatnot, or some variation of that. I'm guessing that this would not affect the actual story, the planetside missions, save possibly making reaction times of certain baddies faster or something. I'm guessing that this mainly affects space battles. Maybe try setting it down? Or maybe I'm totally misremembering.

My strategy in the battles, I recall, was to wait until the intruder did it's thing where it started to actually face you head on, coming right at you, and I would let lose with my phasers and photons. It was easiest to get a hit that way, because they would stay the course for a bit, not moving from side to side or anything like that, until they got fairly close. Otherwise, I'd just follow the red dot on the indicator between Sulu and Chekov, and try to hit as best you can. You also need to make sure Scotty is on the ball, repairing stuff. Are you using the keyboard as a control? I think you could use the mouse, but I always used the keyboard.

Wow, sorry for rambling. I'd really like to help, but I'm not too good at explaining things. I'm sorry.

Thanks, Bargain. I think that only "Judgement Rites" allowed you to play at different difficulty levels, at least my copy of 25th didn't allow me to do so. I've never been able to beat the Republic in the opening wargame, either, but you don't need to do that to advance. At the beginning of the second episode, "Hijacked", you have to fight an Elasi pirate ship, and this is the one I can't get past. Thanks for the tips, anyway.

A few other, older, Star Trek computer games that aren't on this board:

TREK-80 (1977)
The first Star Trek computer game I ever played, as a kid back in the late seventies. Actually one of the earliest games for personal home computers, it follows the format of the BASIC Star Trek games that had been around in various formats since the show was actually on the air, but is much more sophisticated, featuring real-time action and combat, pretty sophisticated for a game totally based on ASCII art. The games themselves were combat oriented, involving the Enterprise's search through the galaxy for Klingon ships to destroy while using the resources and personnel of the ship. Pretty primitive by today's standards, but making excellent creative use of the then-extant technology. I recently discovered to my delight that TREK-80 can be downloaded as part of a SOL-20 emulator package. Here is the site:
http://www.thebattles.net/sol20/solace/solace.html
Just download the emulator, and TREK-80 will be one of the few programs that comes with it. There's also a manual somewhere on the site that you can download. This game is a lot of fun, and holds up pretty well today. If you enjoy early video games, you might want to check this one out - it also contains a few neat nuances and features that you will discover as you play. Outstanding game for 1977, and it still holds up well today.
NOTE: I understand that there was also a game called TREK80 in the early days of home computers that was designed especially for the TRS-80. I've never played that game, and from the descriptions I've read it was different from the one I'm discussing here.

THE KOBAYASHI ALTERNATIVE (1985)
One of the first DOS-based computer Trek games, this one used pop-up boards that allowed you (playing the role of Captain Kirk) to interact with various crew members and alien representatives. This one required you to search for the missing USS Heinlein, which Captain Sulu was commanding, and to explore various planets trying to come up with clues to find it. The game was partly written by Diane Duane, and includes several of her own creations among the makeup of the Enterprise's complement. Think a more primitive version of Star Trek: 25th Anniversary or Judgement Rites. One neat thing about the game is that you could explore all 23 decks of the original Enterprise, I know of no other Trek computer game where you can do this.
Unfortunately, this game also had several drawbacks, not the least of which was a bug in many versions of the game (including mine) which prevented completion of the game. Also, planetary exploration tended to be rather dull, the landing party would simply wander around nondescript coordinates until they encountered something.

THE REBEL UNIVERSE (1988)
I still have a playable copy of this one around somewhere. This one employed a rather clumsy interface which found difficult to use (choosing from various command options, not all of which could be availible on the screen at once). One area of this game that excels is in its scope, you can explore a galaxy of literally hundreds of planets in your search to find items and clues to help aid you discover why Federation ships are turning renegade and joining the Klingons and Romulans and attacking the Enterprise. Ultimately however, this game can get pretty dull pretty fast if one doesn't have the patience for it.

Well, end of history lesson for today.

Hey again Todd,

I just looked it up, I'm not sure if this will work in all versions of the game, or any versions for that matter, but supposedly if you depress the tildé (~) key, the Enterprise will fly in reverse, and the enemy will not be able to lock onto you. It could be bunkum, but it's worth a shot, if you're not averse to bending the rules slightly (if this could be considered such). Hope it works.

Ooh, and I remember now for some reason, you'd have to use 'D' as a hotkey to get Scotty to focus on damage control.

For anyone who might have downloaded TREK80:

Have you ever tried to ram one of the Klingon ships with the Enterprise? Pretty amusing, although I doubt that modern students of Klingon would approve of the distinctly Terran colloquialism employed. Very good ASCII picture of an original series Klingon, though.