Star Trek: The Next Generation, Birth of the Federation

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.


A MUST for every Trekker   January 10, 2000
Robert G. Hall (Tampa, FL)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful

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!


Warning: this game is a time eater!   May 8, 2004
G. Marshall (Hyattsville, MD, United States)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

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.


Chain me to the monitor...   March 30, 2002
Chris Letempt (Marietta, GA United States)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

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.