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Finally, a good Star Trek game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 19
Date: April 25, 2000
Author: Amazon User

OK, I'll make the first paragraph of this review for non-trekkies, and the second paragraph for trekkies.

Non-Trekkie: This game is like Civilization II, only instead of two enemys bumping into each other and one loses, there is a tactical combat screen. This is so much more fun! Your can give your entire fleet a command or give individual ships different commands. The graphics for this part are real cool. It's way better than bumping into the other guy and then the battle is over in two seconds. Even though you don't know all the "trek talk", the manual will explain everything, so don't worry. In short, BUY THIS GAME!

Trekkie: Your knowledge of Technobable will make this game easy to learn. The races are true to their reputations. The Ferengi are always bribing others, the Cardassians can't be trusted, the Klingons are war-mongers, and so forth. This is truly a great Star Trek game. I'm sure you will love it, I know I did.

This game rocks!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 19 / 21
Date: November 11, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I'm not the biggest of Star Trek fans but this game rocks. You get to control all aspects of your empire. You can build ships, outpost, and other builds. You can build spies, gain tech, and a whole lot more. The best part is the combat. The battles are great. (Watch out for the borg and other killer creatures)

A MUST for every Trekker

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: January 10, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Microprose earned my loyalty on this game. I LOVE IT! I've played this game a hundred times, yet each time the versatile AI guarantees a completely new gaming experience. Though the game had several bugs initially, Microprose has a patch that pretty well takes care of them. The 5 empires are so much like what you see on the episodes that playing the game is like entering the Star Trek Universe. The oddest thing about the game is its name. Each empire you play is the central empire of the game, and it's no more the Birth of the Federation than the birth of the Klingons, Cardassians, Ferengi, or Romulans. Watch out for the BORG! They are devastating! I highly recommend this game!

Very good ST sim, with a few minor problems

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: December 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I've been interested in the Star Trek genre computer games for some time, but it seems that, with the exception of STV: Elite Force, they all stink. Every review I've ever read has rated just about every ST game in the cellar, to the detriment of my enjoyment. I was hoping for a quality sim, and it's here. BotF is a gem, with a few minor problems. First off, understand that I picked this up at a Best Buy for $2.99. (No, that's not a typo.) I hadn't read anything about it, and figured if it was as bad as its predecessors, for $2.99 I wouldn't be out a lot. What a deal I got. The game is worth ten times the price I paid for it, maybe more. If you want a turn-based, stratiegic empire-building game with Star Trek as the background, this is for you, period. The game allows you to choose between five races: Klingon, Federation, Ferengi, Romulan, and Cardassian. You can choose the level of technology that each empire begins with, in effect choosing a difficulty level. Choose the size of the universe, the number of minor races (which is always enjoyable to have many of), and a few other things, and off you go. You start at your own corner of the universe, and you find yourself frantically trying to expand while increasing your technologies for the unavoidable contact you'll be making with minor races (unless you choose to not have any at the game's set up) and the other major powers. Eventually, the colonization/assimilation will end, and you'll be swept into a wave of diplomacy, military strikes, upkeep, and espionage to help continue to carve out your niche in the universe. One of the shining examples of this game is how it makes you stick to the doctrine of your chosen race by rewarding you for playing "in role" and greatly penalizing you for not. For example, if you choose the Feds you are gifted with great diplomatic powers and are expected to use such at all times. Making contact with a minor race or a major power should result in diplomacy. If, however, you choose to be a warmonger, you will find the minor race populations very annoying and the other powers banding together to destroy you. So, you are rewarded with increased diplomacy and are expected to go that route, as the Federation would. If you are the Klingons, you are gifted with a strong (and eager!) military, and entering into diplomatic agreements are seen as a sign of weakness. The other major powers fall somewhere in the middle of all that: the Ferengi are excellent traders, the Cardassians are good at controlling populations, and the Romulans are good at spying and internal security. Use your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. Combat is incredible. You issue orders to your ships, then sit back and watch the action as if you were in a movie. You can move your view all around the screen and zoom in and out to get the best views possible. Then the turn ends, and you can change orders if you wish. Even the Borg are in this game. They will appear as a random event, and if they do...well, reset the game if you're not at the pinnacle of your technologies. I played as the Klingons in a small universe, and went rampaging across the galaxy. Within a hundred turns, a Borg cube appeared in orbit around one of my conquests and proceeded to dissect it. My huge Klingon fleet went to fight the cube (about 12 ships in all), and in one turn they were shredded like yesterday's newspaper. Oops. Reset! Okay, so now to the niggling little points. For one, the entire game is in the Star Trek: TNG format. So, even though you choose to start as the Federation and only have Earth, you don't start with the older ships. You have weaker versions of something you'd expect to see on ST:TNG. You start, in the lowest tech setting, with three ship types - colony, transport, and destroyer. They are all TNG-style ships. I would have liked to see the older Constitution-class heavy cruisers (the original Enterprise from the 60's series), then be able to upgrade as the series did, ultimately to the Galaxy-class ships. It's a minor detail, but one that would have made this game even more enjoyable. Otherwise, if you are a turn-based strategy/Star Trek fan, pick this up. You shouldn't regret it!

Warning: this game is a time eater!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: May 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game was the first turn-based strategy game I ever owned. My roomate played Master of Orion 2, but I never got into it because it seemed like it had a high learning curve and seemed kind of boring. However, as a Star Trek fan I heard of this game and somehow got a copy of it cheap from an auction site way back when (good luck doing THAT now. My original copy shattered in my CD drive and I was SHOCKED to see how much an original copy of this game is going for. Microprose would do a lot of business by re-releasing this sucker). The learning curve here was steep as well, but the tutorial and a highly-recommended walkthrough on the Internet written by Cadillace helped me to get the hang of it (if you're interested in this game, look this walkthrough up; it is better than the manual or the so-called "official" strategy guide). After that, I was hooked.

The basic plot of the game is simple. You choose one of 5 Star Trek TNG empires; the Federation, the Klingons, the Romulans, the Ferengi, or the Cardassians, and TRY TO TAKE OVER THE GALAXY! This is easier said than done, since whichever galactic power you choose, the other 4 will be there with the same aims as you. Each galactic power has its own distinct style and game display appearance, special abilities and weaknesses in both technology, intelligence, research, diplomacy and ships. The game parameters are highly variable, and no one game is the same; thus replay value is pretty high. Overall, it is a tossup between the Federation and the Romulans when it comes to picking the best empire to play as, followed by the Klingons, Cardassians and Ferengi (in that order). The Federation have some of the more powerful ships (and the greatest number of ship types to choose from) with strong shields and armor, good diplomacy with most minor races, great research capabilities and decent starting cash. Their negatives include a really liberal and cheese-eating population, so doing what you need to do to win, like subduing and bombing planetary systems, will piss them off. You'll have to be judicious in massaging their moods, and it won't be to your advantage to subjugate minor races. Also, their initial intel setup is attrocious and will need major upgrading once you meet the Cardassians and/or Romulans. However, with time and maybe a few minor races, you'll be able to hold your own with those guys. The Romulans are very good or decent in all categories, but they don't hold the top points in any. They have decent diplomacy and research but not as good as the Feds; they have very good intel but the Cardassians have a slightly better initial setup; all of their warships cloak and thus have a free attack in any fight where they are cloacked from the beginning; however their warships are also the flimsiest in the game and need that cloak in order to survive. It takes a lot of ships to attack a protected system, but at least you can choose between subjugation or diplomacy, your population doesn't care as long as you're not losing. The Klingons are warlike and have really tough ships, some of which cloak. Declare war often and win, you'll be fine. Intel, research and diplomacy are not their fine points...The Cardassians have the toughest ships with the heaviest armor which can fire from pretty much all directions; however they have the smallest set of ships to choose from and their ships are also the slowest. Don't even try to use diplomacy unless you have a whole lot of money; if you want to play as an evil empire then the Cardies are the ones to use. It may come back to haunt you though...And the Ferengi, although they have the most powerful warship in the game, are still very tricky to play and you don't get that warship until you've achieved much research. What you do have is cash, tons of it, and the sooner you learn to handle it, the sooner you can whack those who underestimate you.

Other factors influencing game play include:
A)Minor races with varying special structures that can aid your empire. You can either sweet-talk/bribe these races to join your mighty empire, or you can swoop in and force them to join your mighty empire. You can play the game without them, but it won't be as interesting. Diplomacy relates your empire to both the minor and major empires.
B) Random events. These can be turned on or off. If you're a beginner then start with them turned off, but once you've gotten the hang of the game they can add a bit more excitement to the game. These events can be sometimes good, mostly bad. Good random events include positive planet shifts say from desert to Oceanic(increasing population and allowing construction of various structures). Bad random events include (but are not limited to) negative planet shifts, earthquakes and plagues, warp anamolies, and various alien creatures wandering the galaxy and interacting negatively with your ships and planetary systems. The worst alien creature you may encounter are the dreaded Borg. A Borg cube can assimilate a system in at least 5 turns, and when a system is assimilated a new cube is formed which begins assilating elsewhere, and so on. You better have a huge fleet to blow them away Admiral...

There are two ways you can win and you choose the conditions at the game's beginning. You can either win by domination (control 60% of the galaxy by yourself, or 75% if you are in an alliance with another major power) or by vendetta (where you have to wipe out two of the major empires who are your blood enemies). Whichever you choose, strategy is quite important. Know when to fight, when to make peace, and be ready at all times. Also, when starting the game, you can choose from 5 technology levels to begin at. Level 1 is pre-warp stage with only your home planet developed and all your research tech levels at 1 (out of 10). The other extreme is level 5 where you have all your tech levels at 8 (out of 10), all your home planets developed, and 2 advanced colonies adjacent to your home system. It is best to play from level 5, it gives you the best chance to win against the computer and your aim is to end up with higher levels anyway.

Issues with the game involve memory hogging, slow and jerky motion as the game progresses, frequent crashing, and the cheating of the computer players.

This game got me interested in other turn-based strategy games, and so far I have Star Wars rebellion (a much steeper curve than this game, i still do not know how to play it), MOO2 (seems interesting, still trying to figure it out) Space Empires IV and MOO3 (haven't gotten to play them yet). So far, i still recommend BOTF. Check it out if you can find it.

Added on Sept 14, 2006:
There are a couple of bugs that should be noted. Firstly, if you accept any treaty except a non-aggression treaty from a rival empire, you will lose the ability to have diplomatic relationships with any minor races under their control. For example, if the Fereni offer you a non-aggression treaty and you accept, then all of their territory will be out of bounds to you and you won't know anything about any of their systems that you have not yet explored. If they offer you a friendship, affiliation or alliance treaty however, then the names and populations of all of their planets will be available to you, INCLUDING all minor races under their control. Thus, if they have subjugated the Bynars and you did not make contact with the Bynars before accepting the treaty, then you will have lost the chance to make contact with the Bynars. If relations deteriorate and war breaks out between your empire and the Ferengi and you liberate the Bynars, you still won't be able to form any type of relationship with them. They'll tell you thanks for freedom, but that's it. You will not see them in your list of minor races to offer treaties to. You CAN subjugate them nstead of liberating them. This issue affects you mostly if you are playing as the Federation, since they are the only ones with a negative view of subjuagation. The only way that I have seen diplomatic ties established in these situations is if the liberated race is one of the few minor races with their own spacecraft. If you free one of these races and leave them alone, they may in time build their own spaceships. If your ships encounters these ships, then you have contact established. This, of course, limits potential contact to space-faring minor races like the Vulcans and Bajorans, among others.

Also, I have noticed that if a subjugated race is able to rebel and regain its independence from another empire, they no longer accept treaties from my empire. No matter their mood towards me, all overtures sent to them by me are automatically "withdrawn."

Another bug deals with the upper limits of productivity for any system. If you have a system with a large population with many manufacturing units, there seems to be a cap to the production possible. I have had about thirty Level 8 production units churning out starships and credits, and when I try to upgrade them all to level 9, it does not happen. If I try to purchase the upgrade, the computer takes my money and the levels stay the same. If I let it run through the number of turns needed, it does not go on to the required number. Generally speaking, if your productivity is running above 5700 units, it's pretty close to the cap. The highest i've ever been was 6333 or thereabouts.

Finally, a very neat trick that saves a lot of time. If you group a colony ship with a troop transport, the group is referred to as "2 supply ships" and this group can terraform any terrestrial planet in one turn, regardless of planet size.

So much potential.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: December 09, 1999
Author: Amazon User

A Master of Orion type game set in the Star Trek Universe! When I first heard this game would be coming I was thrilled and impatiently waited for the day it would be released. Unfortunately waiting for the game was the most exciting thing about it.

Now don't get me wrong it is a "good" game but it is not great or fantastic in any sense of the word. If it had been released a few years ago it probably would have been received better but the truth is that this game is simply Master of Orion with Star Trek names and graphics. There was no real improvement or innovation in this game. Star Trek's rich background and history are given short thrift. The Diplomatic system is shallow and uninspired. The combat system held the most hope but it simply becomes a battle of the strongest fleet wins, with little chance for tactics or strategy. One of the worst features is trying to navigate around the map. You can't simply scroll with the mouse pointer like in MOO but have to zoom and unzoom between different map settings.

In the end if you really love Star Trek and simply can't get enough this game will probably interest you. But if you are a serious gamer looking for new challenges, wait for this game to hit the clearance rack.

Very Enjoyable

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: October 08, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Birth of Federation is a really neat strategy game set in the Star Trek theme. Like many great microprose games they did a great job with this game too.

The game is very dynamic allowing you to play either the Federation, the Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, the Cardassians or the Ferengi, plus whoever you play you are able to interact with a variety of many minor races. Minor races can be won to your empire through diplomacy or conquered and in one of these two events the minor races resoures are added to your own as well as starships, and territory. The management of empire must follow through with the governments philosophy or morale will suffer. For example if you act like a Klingon while playing the Federation your people will loath you and the federation will come to grinding halt. On the other hand if you are a Klingon and remain to stable without war and dishonor your promises your empire will come to grinding halt. The game requires you to find the balance in whatever empire you play.

Space combat is great, setting you up in a "OK" 3D looking environment where task forces of individual ships duke it out while giving you feedback on their status during battle. Ships can range from simple science ships to the heavy escort which is the defiant class.

The only thing I found irritating about the game is when your empire is growing in size that micro managment becomes nessacary as you manage each star system's economy and production. Furthermore newly colonized planets start at the lowest technology level despite having researched higher tech levels. If that is not bad enough you have upgrade everthing one level at a time as the game becomes a constant tedious excercise of mouse clicking back and forth.

The game in my opinion as it is stands could use additional features to achieve 5 stars. More minor races, more ships classes, more variety of sound clips for each race, start new colonized planets at the current tech level and an easier management system to cut down on all the mouse clicking.

Chain me to the monitor...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: March 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the best ST games out there. It is replayable in so many ways and is always fun. It is a lot of fun to build up your favorite race of the ST universe and then bash heads. Micromanagement is a must and fairly enjoyable in this game. Diplomacy can be tuff but so can a fleet of starships.

I wish they would've come out with some expanison packs for this game. It seems a shame not to add to it.

If you love Next Gen, then you will love this game. Have hours upon hours of fun.

Great visuals, slow pace

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: December 07, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I am a huge fan of both Star Trek and sci-fi empire games (like Master of Orion 1 and 2) but I was disappointed by BOF. It feels a lot more like Star Wars: Rebellion than the classic Master games. The ability to choose which race you play is excellent--each race has its look and feel as well as game mechanics. Unfortunately, it gets boring fast. You must micromanage each and every system, ship, tech advance, other races, pretty much everything. Also, once you get a bit ahead, the computer-controlled races have no chance. And if the Borg show up, forget about it.

I'll stick with Master of Orion 2

Good for Warp 7, but shakey past that.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: January 31, 2000
Author: Amazon User

We've seen them all; turned based games pitting you vs. the almighty AI, but somehow this one is different. As a trekker, I can honestly say that I was pleased with the game and most of the major glitches were solved after downloading the patch. What were you to expect? MS Windows has enough problems but we keep on running it, fix after fix, after patch, after...

I am waiting for a possible upgrade (read as "Give me more of the current stuff...") but as it stands beggers can't be choosers. I will say this for the game, make sure you have a system well beyond the requirements. Myself, equipped with a P1 166MMX and 80MB of RAM sure find the going slow when your empire gets up there in the turns. (To give an indication of how long it takes per turn near the end; I can go off and boil a pot of water!) But that aside, for a first crack at a game in this area of sci-fi, Microsoft does an adequate job. The major races at the hihger difficulty levels pound you to bits leaving you wondering if computers can actually think! Good for a whirl if you're a die-hard and even an arm-chair trekker.

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