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Starfleet Command 2
by James SterrettThis Guy is Good!
Better still, the AI has undergone a lot of improvement. It shelters weakened shields and moves aggressively to try to gain a firing position into yours. The AI does best with direct-fire weapons; it is still not particularly good at handling plasma ballet or missile dances (the tactics used by ships in duels involving plasma torpedoes and missiles), mostly because the AI will follow you around the map. As a result, you can weave in front of it and rain torpedoes or missiles towards it while it remains somewhat ineffective in dodging them - though it is better than it used to be! Every player is likely to find the AI a challenge at some difficulty setting, and those new to the game may well find the easiest difficulty setting rather hard.
Anti-Missile Defences (AMD) firing
Arguably, the best thing to be said about the AI is this: I’ve learned from it. It’s hardly impossible to make AI that responds perfectly with inhuman speed and pulls stunts a human could never match, and it’s relatively easy to make brain-dead AI that a human can easily pummel into submission. SFC2’s AI is in the difficult middle ground, acting with reasonable cunning at speeds humans can hope to attain. I’ve seen the AI do something clever, understood what it did, and then applied the lesson in future battles. While I can regularly beat the AI, it is good enough that I cannot let my guard down, because it will punish any mistakes. The AI isn’t up to top human standards, but it is very good. As a result, battles are tense and exciting.
All of this ought be be sounding pretty good. And it is! SFC2 is a great tactical starship combat simulator. The fly in the ointment is that all this amounts to little more than an expansion pack to SFC1. In fairness, SFC2 has tried to do a lot more. Unfortunately, what I’ve described above is most of what SFC2 has done well.
Hitting mines is not recommended
The Engines Canna Take it, Captain!
For all that SFC2 has gotten right, it has also gotten a fair amount wrong or broken. One sad decision was the removal of the crew quality/legendary officer feature of SFC1. This was a nice piece of chrome, and legendary officers really did help your ship in combat, though few people understood exactly how they worked in the game. Unfortunately, the other problems are rather more serious.
In my experience (and commentary on the Net indicates I am far from alone), the game is broken out of the box, and those without Net access are going to be quite unhappy until they can get the 2.0.0.4 patch off of a magazine CD. Those with Net access can download the upgrade to 2.0.0.4 and avoid the bulk of the creepy-crawlies.
If you’ve bought a gaming magazine recently, you’ve probably seen the double-page advertisements for SFC2 trumpeting the imminent appearance of Dynaverse 2, a persistent online campaign. Sign in, drive your ship around the galaxy, meet interesting life-forms, and kill them! Unfortunately, the grand vision has yet to fully materialize, for two reasons.
First of all, the persistent online campaign isn’t ready. This is not entirely Taldren’s fault. As can be read in this posting by Eric Bethke, the company that was supposed to provide them with the online servers pulled out of the deal, leaving Taldren hanging out to dry. Interplay has agreed to host the servers, and Taldren is working on getting this aspect of the game up to speed, and have released access to the beta-testing online server, in addition to the files needed to run your own SFC2 server. None of these are stable at the time of writing this review, though it appears they eventually should be.
The Hydran Hellbore in action
The deeper problem with Dynaverse 2 is that it has been oversold. Reading the ads, I expected it to be some sort of strategic overgame in which my ship would take part. Playing in the single-player Dynaverse 2, you soon learn this isn’t so. Dynaverse 2, like Dynaverse 1, is a scenario generator. Your choice of location has some impact on the kinds of missions you get and the enemies you face, and it does provide background to “why I don’t have more spare parts in this mission”. It provides a means for the player to accumulate Prestige Points to spend on new ships or equipment. This is no bad thing. But Dynaverse 1 did all that too, and in both of them, it ultimately feels sterile. SFC2 has more spots to move into, and generates more random news. Yet I'm continually struck by the thought that the strategic overgame could have provided quite a bit more depth. It provides a structure for upgrading and maintaining the player's ship, and for the player to determine the approximate types of missions to apear next - but no more.
Yes, all the black space around that display will be on your screen
In some respects, Dynaverse 2 is an improvement. The means of establishing control of an area is more obvious than in SFC1: win a battle in an enemy-controlled hex to make it uncontrolled; win a battle in an uncontrolled hex to make it friendly-controlled. Territorial borders tend to shift back and forth in a very random way, and you can prosecute a campaign against the enemy of your choice, although it will be a one-squadron campaign and there will be no sign of support from other task forces on your side.
You may or may not get a mission on entry into a given hex. Some missions are required, and can only be ignored at a substantial cost in prestige points and the loss of your best (and often only) ship. Loss of your ship does not mean death, but the demotion to command of a ship one size class smaller, so no result ever entirely punts you from the game. SFC2 varies the enemies you face more than SFC1 did, and you will, occasionally, find yourself facing either overwhelming odds that force you to run away (my frigate once met a dreadnought), and complete walkovers where your heavy cruiser gets to eat a police patrol vessel for breakfast.
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