Star Trek: Armada
Activision gets on track....
Still hailed as the best Star Trek game by Activision, trek
looks to the world of Starcraft for its next instalment...
Most Star Trek fans generally recognize that the Borg storylines
have been some of the best in the franchise's history. Activision seems to have
picked up on this, bringing the biomechanical menace to the forefront once
again, with Locutus in tow. This time, however, events are occurring shortly
after the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, with the end of the Dominion War
fresh on everyone's mind. The Federation has sent Captain Jean-Luc Picard and
his crew to aid the outlying outposts in re-establishing themselves, while Worf
has been sent to the Klingon home world to aid the presiding ruler, Chancellor
Martok, in peacefully rebuilding the Empire.
One day, when on a routine mission, the Enterprise becomes
witness to a temporal rift, from which emerges a futuristic Federation starship
and two Borg spheres. After doing away with the ominous pursuers, the starship
reveals itself to be from the future, and that it has come to warn of an
impending Borg invasion which, if unchecked, will spell the eventual end of the
Federation. The Enterprise and others are quickly mobilized to deal with the
threat, and Worf is asked to cull the Klingons' aid. Before he is able to obtain
reinforcements, Worf encounters an old enemy, Toral, who then sets about
stirring up civil war amongst his people in an attempt to wrest control of the
Empire from the rightful rulers. When the Romulans' infamous Admiral Sela enters
the picture, matters begin to look rather grim for the Klingons, and it appears
as though they must decline the Federation's request. It is this scenario that
you are faced with, a situation so grim that you must step into the shoes of the
Federation, the Klingons, the Romulans, and yes, even the Borg, in order to see
it through to completion, in full RTS fashion.
What might not be instantly recognizable, however, is the
array of special weapons possessed by each race. It is these weapons that can
swing the momentum of a particular brawl, and can often make or break a battle
if properly used. For example, the Federation's strategic balance is reflected
in their tendency to attack their foes indirectly. Instead, most of their
special attacks focus on hindering or crippling a starship's individual
components, such as the Shield Disruptor or Engine Overload tools. As time
travel comes to be a major factor in Star Trek: Armada, the Federation also have
access to a variety of temporal effects, such as the Gemini Effect, which allows
a starship to temporarily duplicate itself, as well as the awe-inspiring
Temporal Research Facility, which briefly freezes enemies in time. Along the
same lines, the Klingons have a secret arsenal specific to their personalities,
like the Poleron Torpedo, which travels through an enemy's shields to damage the
starship within, and the Shockwave, which destroys not only the source ship, but
most any ships within its range. The Romulans, being the most subversive and
sneakiest of the four races, can occasionally transport spies onto enemy ships
and starbases, while their psychonic blasts can render enemy crewmembers
temporarily insane, prompting them to slaughter one another for a short period
of time. As you would expect, the Borg specialize in holding, capturing and
assimilating. As a result, they are free to use tools such as the Holding Beam,
which slows down enemy ships and allows for easier assimilation. Other special
tools such as the Transwarp Drive, regeneration modules and Shield Remodulators
are all pulled straight from television and film appearances, often rendering
resistance as futile as you've so often seen. All in all, these tools are
considered to be "top-secret" within their own ranks, and the technology cannot
be stolen or copied by an enemy, rendering each weapon unique to its owners.
A strong and healthy fleet can only survive if its resources
are properly managed, and as such you must keep a close eye on the basic
elements of your forces. First and foremost, there is dilithium, the mineral
that serves as the intergalactic currency. As this precious material comes from
specific moons, you must send out mining freighters to scour their surfaces,
which then return to your mining station. Dilithium is a precious and rare
resource, though perhaps not nearly as important as your crew. Potentially made
of thousands upon thousands of individuals, your crew is the driving force of
your fleet, manning your ships and overseeing the proper functioning of your
shipyards, turrets and sensor arrays. The number of crewmembers that you have
access to depends on two factors: the amount of available commanding officers,
and the slow but steady influx of helping hands into your starbase, which
increases if said structure is built near a planet. It's important that you pay
careful attention to your crew, as a derelict starship can easily be taken over
by enemy forces. Conversely, your personnel can allow you to board and conquer
an enemy vessel, provided you've destroyed their shields and most of their crew
beforehand. To prevent this from being done to you in return, you can transport
any number of people aboard ships that you own, fortifying the vessel's defences
and providing you with a greater boarding party should the need arise. The
ability to transport crew members between starship's and structures can also
improve overall productivity, as a poorly-manned shipyard will function at low
capacity, while a strongly-fortified one will turn out ships at a very
respectable rate. This type of resource is an interesting twist, and adds a
unique flavour to the game.
Without a doubt, Star Trek: Armada is quite a lot of fun. Being
able to lead a fleet of several dozen ships to clash with Borg forces is rather
exhilarating, as is overseeing the Klingon takeover of a Romulan attack force.
Controlling the Borg is equally entertaining, as you finally have an excuse to
coldly utter "Resistance is futile" as you assimilate another unfortunate
Federation vessel. There is also considerable variety between the missions, as
you must perform search-and-rescue operations, as well as extermination and
stealth-based attempts, sometimes within the same mission. That being said,
there are a number of issues that can potentially interfere with the experience.
When Armada 1 was first released there was a LOT of bugs, some
were more applicable to the online game and the online game was the one that
suffered in the early days. Luckily enough though the 2 patches that were
released sorted most of the problems out.
To this day, even after the release of several other large scale
Activision hits, Armada is STILL Activison's top selling Trek game...
Cheat Codes
While playing the game press the enter key and type on eof the
following...
| Result
|
Cheat Code
|
| Mission skip |
kobayashimaru |
| Additional dilithium |
showmethemoney |
| Increase ship AI |
canofwhoopass |
| Enter Gamma quadrant |
imouttastepwithreality |
| Faster ship production |
youstopmecold |
| Faster crew production |
avoidance |
| Boot list in multi-player mode |
screwyouguysimgoinghome |
| Chat list in multi-player mode |
phonehome |
TrekCore Armada Coverage -
http://gaming.trekcore.com/armada/
ArmadaFleetCommand -
http://www.armadafleetcommand.com/afc/
ArmadaFiles -
http://armada2.filefront.com/
|
