Thoughts by BootSector (28 Aug 2016) – PC (DOS)
Star Fleet II provides a good deal of depth in taking on the role of a commander of starship in a tactical combat role. This includes exploration, navigation, combat, crew morale, supply management, outpost establishment, and other aspects. Many different functions are available from the bridge which are used in various capacities to complete different missions which involve flying the spacecraft into enemy territory with ultimate goal of conquering the region space. This includes navigation and strategic displays as well and communications and weapons console. As the player progresses through the ranks additional functions become available such as the ability to command a “battle fleet” including the player’s ship plus up to four escort destroyer ships.
Even further up the ranks the player earns the ability to command troops on the group as they invade individual planets. This invasion module is entire sub game in the real time strategy genre where the player lands troops from drop ships from orbit and then command individual units to destroy enemy units and conquer cities. Eventually, the players earn the ability to directly command all allied ships in the entire region of space with the ultimate goal of destroying or capturing all enemy ships, planets, and installations.
Overall, this game is a solid 4 possibly a 5. The depth of the simulator has provided many hours of enjoyment coming back again and again flying my ship into enemy territory for exploration and for combat. Navigating the ship to explore star systems and then attack and capturing enemy ships is really satisfying. The number of options available from the bridge command is really extensive and it takes a long time to explore all of them and really master all the things that you can do with them.
The invasion module is interesting but is probably simplistic when compared to most standalone RTS games. My favorite part of the game is really the starship over the invasion RTS. Interesting though, this game’s RTS module is actually the basis for the standalone Star Legions game. The major detraction to this game is that it contains a fair number of bugs which cause the game to break in the middle of missions resulting in the ability to complete the mission for various reasons which leads to frustration.