Template:Realworld
| File:BridgeCommanderCover.jpg | |
| Publisher: | Activision |
| Developer: | Totally Games |
| Released: | 2002 |
| Year: | 2378 |
| Stardate: | 54303.1 |
| Platform: | Windows 95-XP |
Star Trek: Bridge Commander is a space simulation set in the Star Trek universe just after the Dominion War, but before Star Trek Nemesis. It puts you in command of your own Starfleet starship with the ability to coordinate with your senior staff. This game was published in 2002 for Windows PCs.
Story
A Field Promotion
The story's premise, shown in cinematics, is as follows: you play the role of the first officer of the USS Dauntless, a Galaxy-class starship. While your Captain is out in a shuttle, the system's sun destablizes and explodes, damaging the Dauntless and killing your Captain. The explosion also endangers nearby colonists.
You must take control of the ship and solve the mystery. Your mission is to discover what caused the stellar explosion and keep it from happening again. During the game you will interact with Cardassians, Klingons, Romulans and other races, including a new one created just for the game. Several Star Trek alumni provide their voices to the game, such as Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner.
Captain's Log: Stardate: 54303.1 Our new first officer is working out nicely, though midly lacking in experience. The commander will get that with time. My ship has been assigned to the Vesuvi system to investigate the unusual solar activity hampering colonization in the Maelstrom. I hope to learn more at the Vesuvi 4 Terraforming Station, the sole Federation outpost in this region of space. We are also in alert for any Cardassian activity. Despite Starfleet's claims, I doubt we have seen the last of them here.
"Icarus II is approaching the station. Sir, I'm getting some very strange readings from that star."
"Commander! Emergency message from the captain. On screen."
"(garbled)... the star... oh my god! Its core is destabilizing! Get this ship out of here, NOW!" His shuttle is destroyed by a solar wave.
"Sir, Warp engines not responding! Rerouting emergency power to the impulse engines."
"Picking up an unidentified object warping out of the system. I cannot get a good reading on it." The star explodes and consumes a planet.
"We have cleared the system, sir. Setting course for Starbase 12 for emergency repairs as ordered."
Ships
Player-controlled
You will be able to command two different ships in the single-player-campaign:
USS Dauntless (NCC-71879)
This Galaxy-class vessel has been launched from Utopia Planitia Shipyard in 2365 and has joined the Seventh Fleet under the command of Captain Leland Bell. The Dauntless was decorated when it defended a disputed area against an attack of several Romulan Warbirds. After seven years in service, the Dauntless returned to the spacedock to be repaired. By 2372, Captain Bell retired and Captain Robert Wright assumed command of the ship. She fought together with the Seventh Fleet in the Dominion War, including the battles for Deep Space 9, Goralis and the defense of two badly damaged Akira-class starships. The Dauntless got her second award for this achievment. She participated in the assault of Cardassia Prime and was rewarded for backing up the fleet's flagship against Cardassian kamikaze attacks.
The Dauntless was to then sent to investigate the very unusual solar activity from the Vesuvi system's star that had been hampering the dense colonization of the Vesuvi star system in the region of space known as the Maelstrom. In order to investigate the problem with the Vesuvi star furthur, Captain Wright took the shuttlecraft, Icarus II, to the Vesuvi IV Terrforming Station, the system's only outpost in the region. En route, the Vesuvi star destabilised and went supernova, releasing a deadly blast, that damaged the Dauntless, destroying the shuttlecraft, killing Captain Wright and destroying the entire Vesuvi star system, which including the Dragos colony, that the Dauntless was ordered to go to.
With its systems badly damaged, the Dauntless had laid in a course for Starbase 12 for emergency repairs. With repairs completed at the Soho station a few months later, the first officer was promoted to captain and given command. The first mission was to resupply the Haven and Geki colonies in the Maelstrom. Other assignments included the protection of the starship Sovereign in the Tevron system from Romulan warbirds, and Biranu Station from rogue Cardassian forces. The Dauntless crew was transferred to Sovereign and Captain Jae Yi was given command of the Dauntless. While escorting several Federation freighters and transports near Serris III the Dauntless was attacked by a fleet of Cardassian ships under the command of Legate Matan. The crew was rescued by the USS Nightingale. The ship was destroyed in orbit around planet of Serris I.
USS Sovereign (NCC-73811)
Sovereign was created after the Battle of Wolf 359 as a ship designed to defend against the Borg, similar to the Defiant. It featured ablative armor, regenerative shielding, bio-neural gel packs, and an enhanced deflector system. The ship was tested after the USS Pegasus was retrieved, and did poorly because of a power drain caused by the enhanced deflector system, and the malfunction of the regenerative shielding system.
Other ships
Federation
- USS San Francisco (NCC-69480)
- Galaxy-class starship.
- USS Berkeley (NCC-64720)
- Nebula-class starship.
- USS Nightingale (NCC-60805)
- Nebula-class starship.
- USS Khitomer (NCC-71906)
- Nebula-class starship.
- USS Prometheus (NCC-71201)
- Nebula-class starship.
- USS Devore (NCC-64088)
- Akira-class starship.
- USS Geronimo (NCC-69302)
- Akira-class starship.
- Starbase 12
- Starbase 74-type starbase.
Klingon
- IKS RanKuf
- B'rel-class Bird-of-Prey.
- IKS JonKa
- Vor'cha-class attack cruiser.
Romulan
- IRW Soryak
- D'deridex-class warbird.
- IRW Chairo
- D'deridex-class warbird.
Ferengi
- Kravis
- D'kora-class marauder.
Cardassian
Kessok
- Neb-lig
- Kessok-heavy cruiser.
Multiplayer
In Multi-Player and Quickbattle Mode, more types of ships can be played, including:
- Akira-class (UFP)
- Ambassador-class (UFP)
- Nebula-class (UFP)
- B'rel-class (Klingon Empire)
- Vor'cha-class (Klingon Empire)
- D'deridex-class (Romulan Star Empire)
- Galor-class (Cardassian Union)
- Keldon-class (Cardassian Union)
- Hybrid-class (Cardassian/Kessok Hybrid)
- Kessok Light Cruiser (Kessok)
- Kessok Heavy Cruiser (Kessok)
- D'kora-class (Ferengi Alliance)
Due to modding sites, there are now hundreds of ships, star systems, crewmembers, bridges and more that can be added or replaced in the game.
Characters
Crew
- Commander Saffi Larsen, First Officer
- Saffi Ingrid Larsen was born on 12.11.2336 on the Goddard-moon colony and completed her education at Starfleet Academy in 2356 as the best of her age-group's 323 cadets. She served as first officer on the USS Lionheart under the command of Captain Thomas Wittbeck before she was transfered onto the Dauntless.
- Lt. Commander Miguel Diaz, Science Officer
- Miguel Pedro Diaz was born on 23.3.2345 in Sonora, Mexico. Despite the fact that he performed only average at Starfleet Academy, his previous Captain, Didier LaFleur, described him as a fine and correct officer, even though he almost seems to hate the Klingons.
- Lieutenant Felix Savali, Tactical Officer
- Born in Apia, West Samoa, Felix Savali graduated from Starfleet Academy in 2371 and was transfered to the USS Strongbow under the command of Captain Delia Messina before he was assigned to the Dauntless.
- Ensign Kiska LoMar, Flight Controller
- Kiska was born on Sirtor 17, 2356 on Bajor and completed her education at Starfleet Academy in 2377. She was transfered to the Dauntless directly and is now serving on her as conn. Just like most Bajorans, Kiska has a strong animosity against Cardassians, although she seems to control her emotions quite well.
- Bolian Jarso Brex was born on Bolarus IX on 21 Assinian, 2336 and was described as one of the most brilliant engineers, although he never enrolled at Starfleet Academy. His only weakness seems to be that he does not want to go on vacation.
Allies
- Vice Admiral Alice Liu, Chief of Starfleet operations in the Maelstrom
- Commander Graff, Commanding officer of Starbase 12
- Lt. Commander Data, Special Missions attachment
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Introduction to the game, assistant to the bridge during the first few episodes
Notes
Star Trek: Bridge Commander is a heavily-modifiable video game. A number of "mod teams" have altered or improved the game's graphics, characters, and missions, while adding new vessels, bridges, and technologies. One such modification, NanoFX2, was featured in the August 2004 edition of PC Gamer, [1] and few recent reviews of Star Trek: Bridge Commander go without mentioning the still-thriving mod community. [2] The game also has mods of ships from other series' such as Stargate, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Andromeda, etc...
In the game, the Tactical Station was placed on the front right of the bridge where the helm is usually situated. Given the combat-heavy nature of the game, the developers deliberately switched Tactical and Ops to give the player easier access to weapons. This was switched back in 2006's Bridge Plugin modification, giving the player the option of placing Tactical at the traditional position, but selecting the Tactical officer still caused the player to look towards the viewscreen.
Cameo Appearances
- Saffi Larsen was voiced by Star Trek: Voyager regular Martha Hackett, who appeared as Seska on that series.
- Toban Soams, Legate Matan and Capt. Draxon were voiced by Earl Boen, noted for his appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation as Nagilum.
- Miguel Diaz (Science Officer) was voiced by Jonathan Del Arco, noted for his appearance as Hugh in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- Daimon Praag was voiced by Max Grodénchik, better known as Rom from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
- Captain Korbus was voiced by longtime Star Trek guest star Vaughn Armstrong.