Gaming Anyone else still play SFC2?

[Staiduk]

Hello!

OK; one of my all-time favourite games is pretty bloody ancient; about 10 or so years old: Starfleet Command 2. (Oh; SFC1 was every bit as much fun but the graphics are better. :lol

Still have it; still play it - I love the cautious planning and careful management required to keep your starship from being pounded into scrap metal. I also like the various storylines; they're quite well crafted, along with the occasional subtle flash of humour. The race and ship-specific strategies are excellent; there's been times I've eagerly taken on a Klingon battlewagon while turning and running in the face of a Romulan light cruiser - all depends on the ship and the mission.
Does anyone else still play this old game? If so; what are your favourite races to play, favourite individual missions? Do you have a favourite ship? My personal favourite vessel is the Federation DER - the upgraded Escort Destroyer. Astonishingly powerful for its size; it's 4-bank Type Ones can blow down shields and paired gatling phasers can seriously chew up a bad guy's hull though it takes nerves to get in close to a larger enemy. I don't like ships that are too powerful; there's little challenge. Though I must say in the Klingon campaign the K'Tinga is an absolute blast to take into battle - pun intended.

Anyone else stil love SFC2?
Cheers! :tiphat:

 

[sputnik]

Oh, heck yeah! Great fun!

I love the Fed drone cruiser, CAD -- but it's too expensive to feed, alas.

I also do SFC-OP, but try to run it mostly as an upgraded SFC2. The Orion pirates themselves and their made-up weapons do not interest me.
From SFC-OP, the X-ships and any ISC are great fun, but too powerful -- it becomes a game of stomping ants. Or, on an equal-BPV basis, every battle becomes a "duel" against 3 x B-10....

Just introduced my son to SFC, as well. Great fun!

 

[Staiduk]

Just replaying the Fed campaign right now and despite my earlier point I'm commanding an SCS; for no reason other than it's such a beautiful model. Commanding a fleet carrier is much different from my usual knife-fighting style; I have to sit back and carefully manage my fighters.
Never did get OP; haven't given up on EAW yet.

 

[sputnik]

The SCS is beautiful and fun, but like the CAD, you spend all your money on consumables (fighters in this case) all the time. It is a shame, though, because the ship is a joy to fly, and it's just the campaign bookkeeping that pushes me toward energy weapons. Anything that's heavy with photons or plasma torpedoes, or (Fed BCF) both!
I do love the BCF for its own sake, too. Great fun.

 

[Staiduk]

Yeah; that's the challenge in commanding the SCS; balancing the need for effectiveness with the use of stores. It's best using it as a defensive platform; it Starcastles quite well and has a reasonably good energy punch; so long as you set phaser recharge to 0 before firing - waiting to recharge until your enemy passes. As for the BCF it's verrrra nice...especially if you cheat a little and put a cloak on 'er. :thumbup:

 

[sputnik]

A cloaked BCF! I never would have thought of that. I also wouldn't have thought the power curve would support 4 photons and a cloak, but again, as long as we're editing the shiplist anyway....

 

[Staiduk]

Actually; while editing is always fun I don't really like going too crazy - dropping a standard cloak into a BCF runs it out of power pretty fast so the tactics take on a 'submarine' approach. Charging everything while under cloak takes a few minutes while you creep carefully towards your target at no more that 5. Once everything is loaded you can increase to around 15. Definitely not an approach for the excitement-minded; but can shock the hell out of your target - for the two seconds or so he's still alive.