Star Command

Star Command is a video game in the role-playing (rpg) genre developed by Strategic Simulations, Inc. and published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. originally released in 1988. It is currently playable on DOS, Amiga.

Star Command is a science fiction role-playing game set in a vast fictional universe and featuring tactical space and squad-level combat, similar to SSI's Pool of Radiance released the same year and other games in the Gold Box series. The game has nothing to do with Star Command Deluxe or Star Command: Revolution.

The game takes place in the distant future. Earth is a distant memory, having been destroyed long ago. The sparse human population is concentrated in a small portion of the galaxy, called 'The Triangle' because of its shape, and is threatened by its neighbors: The Alpha frontier is plagued by pirates, recently united under one 'Blackbeard', the Beta frontier is frequently ambushed by an intelligent insect-like alien race believed to be planning all-out war. The third frontier leads into largely unknown territory, with space robots of uncertain origin. The only hope for humanity is the Star Command, the headquarters of the military forces. The player controls the crew of a spaceship, which tries to secure peace by completing missions given to it by the Star Command.

The game begins on Startport Luna, where you will first have to assemble and equip your crew and purchase a spaceship before rushing off to save mankind. Crew creation, i.e. character generation, is quite detailed and is done by first recruiting and then training the characters. Each character has seven basic stats, such as Strength and Intelligence. If the stats seem okay, one of four classes is selected (Pilots for flying ships and communicating with aliens, Marines for espionage, Soldiers for fighting, and finally Espers with strange psi powers). The character has to be trained for eight years; each year, you select a skill to train, and, if you are lucky, the character increases his skill -- he may also learn nothing. Skills can be trained more than once, increasing the effective level of the skill. In total, there are 18 skills, with a different set available for each class. Some training does not improve skills, but basic stats -- Special Forces, for example, increases speed and accuracy.

Characters usually start as privates, but can increase their rank by going to officer school. There are 13 ranks up to Grand Admiral, with increasing pay -- money is tight, so it may be a good choice. But it also may not be. Later in the game, with sufficient funds, you can create clones of your character to replace him when he dies. Characters also age during the game.

After creating your crew, it's time to spend your money. First, you need a spaceship -- there are nine different ships, with different attributes such as armor or fuel capacity. The ship can be upgraded with various systems, from engines, weapons, shields, dropships, computers, etc. Finally, you have to equip your crew, again choosing from a wide selection of armor, weapons and miscellaneous items. With a fully equipped crew at your disposal, you are now ready to get some Space Command mission and launch your ship.

While in space, you are shown a view of the environment, with commands at the bottom and crew or ship status on the right. The galaxy is quite large, consisting of 32x32 sectors, each of which contains several systems, and each of which has up to 10 planets. You can select the view, changing from Galaxy Scan (showing the entire galaxy) to Long Range Scan (showing 8x8 sectors) to Sector Scan (all systems and starports in a sector) to System Scan (the star and its planets) to Visual Scan (direct view of a planet, starport or space station with its statistics).

As you travel through space, you may encounter ships. The game then moves on to turn-based tactical combat, which may include peaceful interaction. Each turn, you first have a choice of communication strategies - negotiating, pleading, asking, demanding, even impersonating a deity are possible. Then you can move and rotate your ship, and finally, you can fire. In some situations, for example when boarding an enemy ship or while traveling over land, you can engage in squadron combat, which closely resembles spaceship combat, but is influenced by gravity, atmosphere and terrain.

In some missions, you will have to explore subway complexes, which may contain traps and other special events. There are 17 missions in total, but they are not limited to a single mission.

It is possible that we have multiple downloads available when different versions exist.