"Star Trek: Shattered Universe" FAQ Version 1.0 First made in June 2004 for my own use. Decided later to update, edit and post it for others to use. Last updated: November 2004. Decided to finish the advice for all parts and put the emphasis on entertainment and Star Trek fan interests. Collected and written by Neil Disclaimer and general information: The purpose of this FAQ is partially to collect all of the bits and pieces of advice for the game into a single location and put them in a logical manner. I am also including my own findings from playing the game that might deviate from what others say. I will make this FAQ in a form that hopefully enhances the enjoyment of others and give notes on my preferences. Here is a list of web sites that contain information that are used in this FAQ: http://boards.ign.com/Star_Trek:_Shattered_Universe/b6348/ http://www.planetps2.com/stsu/chatlog.shtml http://dynamic6.gamespy.com/~stsu/index.php?p=livechat (Same as above) http://www.planetps2.com/stsu/tipsandcheats.shtml http://dynamic6.gamespy.com/~stsu/index.php?p=cheats (Same as above) http://www.a2zweblinks.com/cheats-guides/playstation2/s/star-trek- shattered-universe.htm http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/index.php?fn=browse_forum&f=5835 Thanks also for TDK and Starsphere Interactive. Some of the information is paraphrased from their booklet and interviews. The game is rather enjoyable in that it allows you to see graphics of scenes from the original series and movies and fight it out with the most notable opponents. The one part that might get on a lot of peopleÕs nerves is the high difficulty of the game even on Easy mode. Hopefully this FAQ will of use for others. This FAQ will be arranged in rough chronological order. Before beginning, you may want to make sure your screenÕs brightness and contrast are sufficiently high, since there are times when your fighter craft enters shadows of large objects and it can be difficult to see what is going on the screen. Beginning Section When you first get by the title screens you will be given two choices in the lower right hand corner that you can change with the arrow keys and select with the X button. Pressing the Triangle button cancels the selection. New Game: Which is just starting a new game. Load Game: Loads game from memory. Load Game selection causes a diagram of the ship Excelsior to appear with a dotted deflector section lighted up. Press the arrow keys to move among the different saved files to find the one that you want. After that you get to the Main Menu Section. Main Menu Section You will see a scene of the main bridge of the Excelsior. From here you can move with the arrow keys to the different menu selections with a corresponding view of the bridge. In general, the X button selects the choice and Triangle button cancels the current menu location and goes back. Main Screen View (Play choice) While looking the main screen you can activate various codes to help make things easier. When the code has been entered, the name of the code will appear in the upper-right hand corner of the view for a few seconds. They are: All Ships: L1, Square, L1, R1, R1, Circle, Select. All ships give access to all ships. All Missions: R1, L1, Circle, Square, L1, R1, Triangle, Select. All missions give access to all missions and nearly all movies. All Medals and Ranks: L1, R1, L1, Circle, R1, Triangle, L1, Select. All medals and ranks is something that can be viewed in the Options section of the menu. It does not appear to have any other effect on the game. Kobayashi Maru Difficulty Level: L1, Triangle, L1, L1, Square, Triangle, R1, Select. Kobayashi Maru difficulty level is a level of difficulty above Hard. It also unlocks the remaining movies ("4.2 Conclusion" and "Closing Titles"). Invincibility: L1, Circle, L1, R1, Triangle, Triangle, Circle, Select. If you are a dedicated game player it is suggested that the only ones to be used are "All Ships" and "Invincibility" as the others would be gained through simple playing and have no effect on how you play. If you are more interested in just the Star Trek aspects and only expect to be a casual player at most, then it is suggested that you use the rest of the codes so you can see the movies and look at the medals and ranks. Also check out "Mission 5 Š The Way of All Empires" in the walkthroughs for your can just have fun playing with the fighters and training. Invincibility just makes your selected fighter ship immune to standard weapons. Your fighter can still be destroyed by gravitational wells, exploding capital ships, and similar hazards. You can still fail missions easily, since it does not make Excelsior any more resistant to damage. The main use for this is so that you can draw enemy fire away from Excelsior by acting as an aggressive decoy for enemy fire. The Invincibility code must be entered each time that you load the game to function, since it ceases whenever you exit the game and is not stored in saves of the game. If you select Play, you get the Mission Briefing Screen / Star Map. Excelsior makes its way from the bottom of the map to the top. The top of the map has a row of squares that keep track of what difficulty level you have completed in the game. The mission you are currently selecting is highlighted on both the star map and the top row, with the name of the mission in the upper right. You can change the highlighted mission by pressing the arrow keys. Press the X button to enter the mission and choose your fighter and the type. From there you will enter the game. Chair Controls View (Options choice) There are a number of sub-menus in the Options. Some you will only need to check a few times, though others are for enjoyment of fans of the show. Difficulty Setting. You can select settings of "Easy", "Normal", and "Hard". If you unlock it, you can also obtain "Kobayashi Maru" (Very Difficult). Most people will just stick with "Easy" as it is difficult enough for non-dedicated game players. Audio Setting. You can change the volume and stereo for "Music Volume", "Sound Effects Volume", and "Voice Over Volume". "Music Volume" is the background music, and I prefer to lower it from the initial setting so that it does not distract from the fight. "Sound Effects Volume" are things like the sounds of equipment, and I prefer to leave it around the initial setting. "Voice Over Volume" is generally when Sulu tells you about mission updates or the current state of Excelsior, and I normally leave it near the initial setting though it can be lowered a little as the helpfulness of his statements varies greatly in giving you hints on what you should be concentrating on at that time. Do not make set the Voice Over Volume to a level that you canÕt hear it, since there are certain key events that must be done in order when Sulu says to do something. Controller Configuration. You will probably want to test this option on which controller arrangement works best for you. There are three types. I strongly recommend looking over all the controls, since some controls that is very useful to trigger that most players ignore. Configuration is A is the default and may be what most people will be comfortable with. Configuration A is the default and is good for casual players. Configuration C can be useful for more advanced players. The cinematic function is useless, since it only interferes in playing. Target lock on what is nearest reticle is very useful function. Toggle view can be useful. Controller Configuration A: L1: Roll left R1: Roll right L2: Reverse thrust R2: Forward thrust Up button: Next capital Left button: Previous target Right button: Next target Bottom button: Next enemy fighter X: Fire primary (referred to in this FAQ as "primary system") Square: Fire secondary I (referred to in this FAQ as "secondary system" Triangle: Target lock on what is nearest nearest reticle Circle: Fire secondary II (referred to in this FAQ as "tertiary system") L stick: Steering control R stick: R3 button controls cinematic function Select: Toggle view between forward view and "default third person" view Start: Pause Controller Configuration B: L1: Fire primary (referred to in this FAQ as "primary system") R1: Fire secondary I (referred to in this FAQ as "secondary system" L2: Reverse thrust R2: Forward thrust Up button: Next capital Left button: Previous target Right button: Next target Bottom button: Next enemy fighter X: Fire secondary II (referred to in this FAQ as "tertiary system") Square: Fire secondary II (referred to in this FAQ as "tertiary system") Triangle: Target lock on what is nearest nearest reticle Circle: controls cinematic function L stick: Steering control R stick: Roll control Select: Toggle view between forward view and "default third person" view Start: Pause Controller Configuration C: L1: Target lock on what is nearest nearest reticle R1: Fire primary (referred to in this FAQ as "primary system") L2: Fire secondary II (referred to in this FAQ as "tertiary system") R2: Fire secondary I (referred to in this FAQ as "secondary system" Up button: Next capital Left button: Previous target Right button: Next target Bottom button: Next enemy fighter X: Square: Triangle: Circle: controls cinematic function L stick: Thrust and roll control R stick: Steer control Select: Toggle view between forward view and "default third person" view Start: Pause View Starfleet Record. You can look at your promotions (ranks) and medals. Ranks are: Recruit, Shuttle Pilot 4th Class, Shuttle Pilot 3rd Class, Shuttle Pilot 2nd Class, Shuttle Pilot 1st Class, Ensign, Lieutenant Junior Grade, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, and Commander. Medals are: Starfleet Citation for Conspicuous Gallantry, Preantares Ribbon of Commendation, Grankite Order of Tactics (Class of Excellence), and Starfleet Medal of Honor View Ships. You can look at some of the ships in the game and rotate them around to look at them in various views. View Movies. This has the various introduction and ending scenes of nearly all the missions and the overall game. It has some nice graphics that is worth looking at and comparing with the original television show that they were drawn from. See the walkthrough section for where the movies fit into the game. View Credits. To see a list of those who made the game. Exit Game. Deflector Console View (Load Game) Same as the Load Game menu at the beginning. Door View (Save Game) Same as the Load Game menu, except that this saves the game rather than loads. Fighter Ship Types Here is a list of the various fighter ship types that the player can use during the game. The Speed, Hull, and Shield ratings are derived from physically measuring the "measurement bars" during the fighter ship selection screen (14 is maximum, 0 is minimum), and this appears to be accurate in how the ships handle in the game. Note: I call "Secondary I" and "Secondary II", "Secondary system" and "Tertiary system" respectively to avoid confusion within the FAQ. In general, the higher the system type number, then the more powerful it is though the slower the rate of fire or usage. Secondary systems are generally good for damaging capital (large) ships. Guided weapons goes to a target if fired while on screen and target locked. MIRV weapons are guided weapons that can turn into multiple weapons a short distance after being fired. While primary and secondary systems can be used together and the primary and the tertiary systems can be used together, the secondary and tertiary systems canÕt be used together. Name: Imperial Wraith, Type 1 Speed: 13.5 Hull: 7 Shield: 10 Primary system: Phaser Beam 6A Secondary system: Phaser Bolt 1 Tertiary system: Photon Torpedo 1 Name: Imperial Wraith, Type 2 Speed: 13 Hull: 7.5 Shield: 11 Primary system: Phaser Beam 6B Secondary system: Phaser Bolt 2 Tertiary system: Photon Torpedo 2 (2 torpedoes) Name: Imperial Wraith, Type 3 Speed: 12.5 Hull: 8 Shield: 12 Primary system: Phaser Beam 8A Secondary system: Phaser Bolt 3 Tertiary system: Photon Torpedo 2 (2 torpedoes) Imperial Wraith notes: Fastest of the Imperial fighters. It is the fighter that you start out with. Weakest ship design in terms of weapons and defenses. Name: Imperial Spectre, Type 1 Speed: 12.5 Hull: 8 Shield: 11.5 Primary system: Phaser Beam 6A Secondary system: Phaser Bolt 2 Tertiary system: Photon Torpedo 1 Name: Imperial Spectre, Type 2 Speed: 12 Hull: 8.4 Shield: 11.5 Primary system: Phaser Beam 6B Secondary system: Pulsed Phaser Bolt 1 Tertiary system: Guided Photon Torpedo 2 (2 torpedoes) Name: Imperial Spectre, Type 3 Speed: 11.5 Hull: 8.6 Shield: 13 Primary system: Phaser Beam 6B Secondary system: Pulsed Phaser Bolt 2 Tertiary system: Guided Photon Torpedo 2 (2 torpedoes) Imperial Spectre notes: Comparable to the Imperial Wraith overall, trading speed for better weapons and defenses. Name: Imperial Phantom, Type 1 Speed: 12.8 Hull: 9 Shield: 12.5 Primary system: Phaser Beam 6A Secondary system: Phaser Bolt 3 Tertiary system: Photon Torpedo 1 Name: Imperial Phantom, Type 2 Speed: 12.2 Hull: 9 Shield: 13.4 Primary system: Phaser Beam 8A Secondary system: Pulsed Phaser Bolt 2 Tertiary system: MIRV Photon Torpedo 1 (4 torpedoes) Name: Imperial Phantom, Type 3 Speed: 11.5 Hull: 10 Shield: 14 Primary system: Phaser Beam 8B Secondary system: Pulsed Phaser Bolt 3 Tertiary system: MIRV Photon Torpedo 2 (8 torpedoes) Imperial Phantom notes: Best of the Imperial ships. Speed is comparable to the Imperial Spectre. Weapons and defenses overall are among the best of all the fighters. Type 3 is the only ship where the MIRV torpedoes can destroy a fighter in a single salvo if they all hit. The recharge/reload time for the MIRV torpedoes are the fastest of all the fighters. Name: Orion Corsair, Type 1 Speed: 12 Hull: 8.7 Shield: 12 Primary system: X-Meson Beam 1A Secondary system: X-Meson Bolt Tertiary system: Kaon Torpedo Name: Orion Corsair, Type 2 Speed: 11.5 Hull: 9.6 Shield: 12 Primary system: X-Meson Beam 1B Secondary system: Pulsed X-Meson Bolt Tertiary system: Pion Torpedo Name: Orion Corsair, Type 3 Speed: 11 Hull: 12 Shield: 13 Primary system: Pi-Meson Beam 2A Secondary system: Pulsed Pi-Meson Bolt Tertiary system: Guided Pion Torpedo (2 torpedoes) Orion Corsair notes: Overall it seems to perform similar to Imperial Spectre with even more speed being traded off for better weapons and defenses. The weapons appear to perform less than the Imperial Phantom though. Name: Klingon Bird of Prey, Type 1 Speed: 14 Hull: 9 Shield: 12.3 Primary system: Guided Photon Torpedo 1 Secondary system: Disruptor Bolt 1 Tertiary system: Plasma Cannon 1 Name: Klingon Bird of Prey, Type 2 Speed: 13 Hull: 8.9 Shield: 12.5 Primary system: Guided Photon Torpedo 2 (1 torpedo) Secondary system: Disruptor Bolt 2 Tertiary system: Plasma Cannon 1 Name: Klingon Bird of Prey, Type 3 Speed: 12.5 Hull: 9.4 Shield: 13.3 Primary system: MIRV Photon Torpedo 2 (4 torpedoes) Secondary system: Pulsed Disruptor Bolt 2 Tertiary system: Plasma Cannon 2 Klingon Bird of Prey notes: Faster than the Imperial Phantom. The weapons appear to be more focused on fighting capital ships than fighter type targets. Defenses are slightly less than the Imperial Phantom. Weapons are less than the Imperial Phantom. Name: Romulan Shrike, Type 1 Speed: 13 Hull: 10 Shield: 11.5 Primary system: Disruptor Beam 1A Secondary system: Disruptor Bolt 1 Tertiary system: Cloaking Device 1 (Temporarily makes ship "invisible" to opponents) Name: Romulan Shrike, Type 2 Speed: 12 Hull: 12 Shield: 12 Primary system: Guided Plasma Torpedo 1 Secondary system: Pulsed Disruptor 1 Tertiary system: Cloaking Device 2 (Temporarily makes ship "invisible" to opponents) Name: Romulan Shrike, Type 3 Speed: 11.7 Hull: 14 Shield: 13 Primary system: MIRV Plasma Torpedo 2 (5 torpedoes) Secondary system: Pulsed Disruptor 2 Tertiary system: Cloaking Device 3 (Temporarily makes ship "invisible" to opponents) Romulan Shrike notes: Cloaking device prevents usage of secondary systems for some time, and they take a while to "recharge" between usage. Speed is comparable to the Imperial Phantom. If the cloaking device is not used, the weapons appear to be slightly better than the Klingon Bird of Prey, but the Plasma Torpedo is slow in getting to the target. Heads-Up-Display Screen View This description will not be as detailed as the manual, since you will generally be too busy than give a quick glance at any particular information. In the upper-left hand corner is information of whatever is currently being targeted. If it is an enemy it will be given a red surround, while a friendly will be given a green surround. The top bar is the current shield strength. The bar below that it is the current hull strength. The bar below that displays the distance between your ship and that ship. The bottom bar displays the name of the target. In the upper-right hand corner is the information on your craft. The top bar is your current shield strength. The bar below that is your current hull strength. The bar below that is your current mission timer that counts down to mission failure. The two bars below that display the recharge/reload rate of your primary and secondary (and tertiary) systems. To the right of that is your local radar. A target lock symbol surrounds whatever your ship is currently targeting. This symbol changes to triangular arrow pointing in the nearest direction. The arrow is red for enemy, and green for allies. Crosshair is the symbol that is the front of your ship and points to wherever your unguided weapons will go. Target lead is normally a yellow symbol that shows where your currently target locks ship will be for your unguided weapons. Make sure your crosshair is on the target lead for using unguided weapons. Excelsior is given a blue triangular arrow. Crisis timer is something that appears on the bottom of the screen when a capital ship is about to explode. This timer is how long you have to get far enough away from being caught in the explosion. The minimum distance needed is somewhere over 100. Gravity well appears in the middle as a grid-like pocket that deepens as you get closer to the danger of something that has a high gravitation effect, generally planets and stars. If the symbol gets too deep, your ship is destroyed. Your ship gives a smoke-like effect during this time. General Strategy and Tactics It is a good idea to note the three types for each ship fighter and how they affect the performance. Type 3 is the most powerful version, but you may want one with different systems. In particular, consider how the simultaneous firing (holding down the buttons rather than tapping) of primary, secondary or the primary and tertiary, and the individual usage of systems fits into your fighting style of various threats for a given mission. It appears that most weapons have an upper range of roughly 150 as measured by left readout in the upper left corner of the screen, and this rather short range should be gotten a feel of so you know which targets are closer and not require chasing after to attack them. The practical limit of your weapons is closer to 100 for anything that moves with any appreciable speed, such as fighters. Capital ships can hit you from a lot further away than the range of your weapons, and capital ships generally have a range of about 200. Picking up objects is probably best done with toggle view to the forward view, since the default third person view can lead you to miss the target due to the off-center perspective. Watch out for getting too close to "gravity wells". You will see a gravity well symbol appear on your screen with the "depth" indicating how much danger you are in and your ship appears to give a "smoking" effect. If it gets too "deep" your ship is destroyed even if you have "Invincibility" on. Usually you will see a planet or other celestial body nearby that is the source of the gravity well, so you can just change your direction to be more away from it. Enemy fighters and capital ships will normally have shields that form a bubble around them. The shields can regenerate as long as some of the shield is still there, but when the shields are completely damaged then the shields will not normally regenerate. When the shields are down then it is possible to get even closer capital ships. Romulan capital ships will not normally be able to cloak when their shields are depleted. If you are using MIRV type weapons against large numbers of fighter type targets and you are sure a single salvo will destroy one, then here is a tactic to use to speed up your rate of kills: Target lock a fighter on screen, fire one or two salvoes, then instantly switch a different target without waiting for the salvos to hit. It should be noted that torpedoes and similar weapons have a relatively low rate of fire and are rather slow, so be able to hit fast moving targets with beam and bolt weapons too as some missions require that level of skill when you have to destroy large numbers of small targets in a short period of time. For fast moving targets, means being able to aim at the target lead reticle rather than the current position. You will often find it useful to use the button that target locks the nearest ship to your crosshair rather than using the buttons of the next target, which might not be the closest target. Make sure that the targeted enemy craft is not with ExcelsiorÕs shields or hull in the way or you could end up damaging Excelsior instead. Simultaneous continuous firing of the secondary and primary systems are the best way to destroy capital ships, by holding down both of the appropriate buttons. The official best way is to use rapid firing weapons (beams and secondary systems) to take down the shields followed by unguided torpedoes or cannons, but it seems the way mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph is much faster and less complicated. There appears to some limited AI in the capital ships that can cause them to run away by warping out of combat when their shields are completely gone, sustained some hull damage and a short period of time has passed. This action only occurs infrequently so do not rely on it much. It is possible that if you damage the warp engines or the connection points with the rest of the ship that it prevents from being capable of running away, but this is only really known in Mission 8 (From HellÕs Heart). When they warp in or warp out, there is a brief cinematic view that unfortunately takes up time and canÕt be cancelled. If you want to rely on pure skill on fighting capital ships, as opposed to the invincibility code, after you knock down the shields you will need to be able to position yourself at a point where the capital ship canÕt hit you from "blindspots" in the firing arcs of the weapons. This is usually just behind the engines (like warp nacelles). This can be the impulse engines of the saucer sections of the imperial capital ships. In some cases, it is better to position yourself so that the shipÕs own warp nacelles are between you and its weapons. Some people alternate between forward thrust and reverse thrust to help throw off the aim of capital ships. Whenever a capital ship is damaged enough to completely deplete the hull, it will soon explode. This causes a "crisis timer" to appear and you will need to be somewhere over 100 away from it to escape the explosion. When it explodes there is a brief cinematic view that takes up time and canÕt be cancelled. "Invincibility" mode will not protect you from this explosion. The explosion distance can be used to take out other enemy targets if they happen to be close enough. Make sure you are moving in the direction of the next enemy by the time the crisis timer ends so that you can spend the cinematic view time getting to the next target. If you are using the "Invincibility" mode, it is often useful to use the "Reverse Thrust" function to almost "hover" in place when attacking capital ships. When it comes to listening to SuluÕs statements it is best to separate them into two categories. The first category is the status of the ExcelsiorÕs shields and hull and existing conditions. An example is when he says the ExcelsiorÕs shields are buckling or the hull is nearing critical damage. Basically, ignore these statements beyond knowing the ship is taking damage. Similarly, you can ignore when he is telling you the current reading on the mission timer if it is just interfering with your concentration. A gray area is when Sulu announces something is in the area without specifically saying to destroy it. The second category is mission critical statements. Examples includes directions to go after fighters or capital ships. Generally, whenever he says to do something at that time, it is best to do it. This is because the game missions follows a script of certain events that occur in a certain order. Trying to do something ahead of time generally causes a mission failure (Such as trying to shoot the docking clamps in the Renegade mission before Sulu tells you to). Sometimes SuluÕs commands may not make much sense to you, but he is your commanding officer. Aside from that, you are free to do whatever you want. Walkthroughs Movie placement is also included here with the number and title as given in View Movies function of the Option Menu. I will also include mention of scenes that I consider to be good from a fan point of view. If you are just a casual player and want to practice flying various craft, then just go to Mission 5, where I will point out the part where you have unlimited time to practice maneuvering and using your weapons. You can try out your other controls and get a feel for finer points of enjoying the game. It is the one mission that I personally enjoy playing over and over for that reason and is far less stressful than any other mission. Unless stated otherwise, it is assumed that the Difficulty is set to Easy. Teaser movie This is a prologue movie for the story in which an accident causes the crew of the ship Excelsior to be sent into a "Mirror Universe". The scenes of the Excelsior crossing over universes is nice. Opening Titles movie This is patterned after the original television seriesÕ opening title sequence. 0.1 Introduction movie. Until Chapter 2.1 you are within Imperial (Mirrorverse version of the Federation) territory. Checkov, commanding the Enterprise and fighter craft, declares the crew of the Excelsior to be traitors and attacks. Mission 1 - Shattered Universe Attack the Enterprise until the shields are down some hull damage is done to it. The Enterprise will then fire off a bomb and run away in a cinematic scene. You then are given a limited mission time to destroy the 4 fighters that are attacking the Excelsior before the bomb explodes within 4 minutes. Note that the Excelsior will send out some friendly fighters to help you, though you will end up doing most of the work. There appears to be no way to destroy the Enterprise even while hitting it with continuous heavy weapon fire. If you position you ship in the way of Enterprise, you will be bounced off the ship no matter how you position yourself The Shattered Universe is the Mirror Universe of the Original Star Trek Series where there is an alternate reality where the same beings exist except evil. In the missions there will be events that show that there are other differences as well. 0.1 Conclusion movie Excelsior is forced to head to another vortex to return to their home universe. The graphics of the vortex collapsing and the Excelsior heading out is pretty good. 1.1 Introduction movie This gives an overview of the situation in Imperial space. Mission 2 - Fire & Ice You are sent on a scouting mission with a limited mission time. You proceed to 6 asteroid listed as "navigation points". Go to each of them, destroy them at short range and go straight over that location to pick up material for the Excelsior. During this, you will be fighting Klingon fighters in small disorganized groups. A Klingon capital ship shows up, and you just scare away the capital ship by destroying its shields and a little hull. The Imperial ship named Renegade shows up and it will get credit for scaring the Klingon capital ship even if you were the doing all the damage when it runs away. 1.2 Introduction movie The Renegade escorts you to a starbase for repairs, apparently due to CheckovÕs message of ExcelsiorÕs renegade status not yet reaching the starbase. There are some nice graphics of the Excelsior passing by the starbase and entering into the drydock. Mission 3 - Renegade The Excelsior is being repaired in drydock when it turns out to be a trap. While it is being repaired, quickly fly to the starbase and destroy the antenna on top to prevent more enemy fighter reinforcements beyond what is sent before it is destroyed. If you can, destroy any fighters on your way to the antenna but do not let them distract you from attacking the antenna. Then head back to the Excelsior to destroy fighters. Get ready to position yourself to destroy the drydock clamps when the current mission timer gets down to around 30 seconds. When Sulu says that the drydockÕs clamps are holding the Excelsior, you have to shoot the clamps (beam or secondary weapons only) that between the drydock and the Excelsior, above and behind the bridge of the Excelsior. The easiest way is to go in from the ExcelsiorÕs front along its top between Excelsior and the drydock, but you can do this from the rear as well. Do not shoot directly at the drydock. The clamps can become target locked during this time. You can try to use the "target lock nearest target to recticle" button if it will help. It help to use short taps of the "reverse thrust" to allow for better aiming at the clamps. You need to destroy the clamps before the drydock explodes. Do not attempt to destroy the clamps before Sulu tells you to and you can target lock the clamps, or it will just destroy the Excelsior. Then destroy as much enemy fighters as possible before an enemy capital ship (Renegade) warps in. Destroy the capital ship. Then destroy any fighters remaining. The name of the mission is an ironic reference to the name of the capital ship you have to fight and relationship of the Excelsior with the Imperial forces. 1.3 Introduction movie Excelsior is now on the run from a fully alerted Imperial forces. The Excelsior takes a shortcut across a weapons testing area that turns out to have been abandoned due to a deranged AI going out of control. Mission 4 - Tyranny of Numbers (M-5 mission) The M-5 computer in the original series was a deranged combat computer that only controlled one capital ship. In this mission, the Imperial Forces improved on it so that it can control lots of capital ships and fighters. There are many ways to do this, but basically the first major part involves destroying the capital ships under its control as well as the fighters. It should be noted that as long as the M-5 is still operational, it can send an unlimited number of fighters. Here is a quick way to take out the first four of the capital ships. You will need to destroy the first capital ship, identified as the Hood. You can take on some fighters until the other capital ships start to move in, though do not let them get close to the Excelsior. Damage the closest one leaving just enough hull strength above destruction. When all three enemy capital ships get close together, destroy the damaged enemy capital ship so that the resulting explosion destroys the others. While you are doing that, if you have time or need a chance to let your shields replenish during your fights with the capital ships, destroy the fighters attacking the Excelsior. After you are done with the M-5 ships, an Orion capital ship with fighters shows up. Destroy the enemy capital ship and its fighters. Make sure that Orion capital ship is some distance away from the Excelsior or headed away from it when you destroy it or the explosion will destroy the Excelsior. As an alternative, if you destroy all the fighters first, the capital ship will run away. 1.4 Introduction movie Excelsior reaches the border between Imperial and Klingon space where there is an Imperial starbase. Mission 5 Š The Way of All Empires If you are just a casual player then play this mission first for getting the feel of the controls and one for which you are likely to get the most enjoyment for the far less stress. Another mission with a space station. Destroy the 2 Imperial capital ships and then the fighters. At that point, the doors just below the middle of the space station has been opened to form a small corridor with the dilithium crystal at the midway point. At this point, you are free to do whatever you wish for any length of time. You can now just fly around and get the feel for the game and your fighter. The starbase can essentially take any amount of weapon hits from you while still releasing debris from the impacts and it is huge, so you can use it like huge training area for firing weapons and maneuvering with various ships. This is perhaps the best mission of the game. When you are done practicing, make sure that the Excelsior has had time to regenerate its shields if they have not been completely destroyed in the fight. Now, fly in the opened corridor and get the dilithium crystals and head back to the Excelsior. If you are having problems finding the crystals, scroll through your targeting list and circle around the appropriate section of the starbase. You may want to increase the brightness of your screen if the corridor looks too dark. The Enterprise with fighters shows up again. Chase off the Enterpise by damaging it and destroy the fighters as fast as you can. The name of the mission is referred to later in the game in the movie "3.7 Conclusion". "The way of all empires is to fall prey to the next one." 1.4 Conclusion movie It has some nice graphics of the Excelsior. 2.1 Introduction movie. Until 3.1, you will now be primarily within Klingon territory. It has a nice scene of the Excelsior moving through a debris field. Mission 6 - Field of Honor In this mission, the enemy uses more advanced tactics in how they attack the Excelsior. You have to go along 6 navigation points, along which you fight Klingon fighters. Then defend the Excelsior against Klingon fighters. They attack in tight formations of synchronized waves for strafing runs against the Excelsior. Stay close to the Excelsior rather than chasing after them. Hose down the incoming formations with as much weapon fire as you can to disrupt the aim of those you are not locked onto. As an example, between the firing of guided or MIRV weapons on target locked ships, have your beam or pulse weapons spraying the other fighters. As soon as one wave passes, look for the next incoming wave and attack them as they come in the same way. Then defend the Excelsior against two Orion capital ships and fighters. If you destroy one capital ship, the other capital ship runs away. Generally destroy one capital ship first (unless you can target some fighters along the way), then while the other is running away you can spend the time going after the fighters. They will use tight formations of strafing runs against the Excelsior which can deal it lots of damage. Use the same tactics as that for fighting the Klingon fighters. 2.2 Introduction movie The first hints of the Planet Killer is given. The sound of the Planet KillerÕs weapon is heard at the end. There is a nice scene of the Excelsior moving through a debris field. Mission 7 - A Dish Best Served Cold This is an unusual mission in that you are trying to help the Klingons while defending yourself against them. The Excelsior will be towing away two damaged Klingon capital ships before they explode. The other Klingons presume you are the enemy and attack. Ignore the damaged capital ships beyond making sure you are not close to them. Just stay next to Excelsior, preferably on top, and destroy enemy fighters that get close to the Excelsior. A few seconds before the second damaged capital ship explodes, two Klingon capital ships show up to attack you. Destroy one capital ship and the other should run away. Destroy the remaining fighters. If you need help with the capital ships, try hitting the belly of the ship. The mission title is a reference from Wrath of Khan movie. It refers to "revenge". 2.3 Introduction movie There is some nice graphics of the Excelsior passing by a sun and the Planet Killer. Mission 8 - From Hell's Heart (Doomsday Machine/Planet Killer mission) This mission is an intense fight with Klingons, Imperials and the Planet Killer from the Original Stark Trek series. The Doomsday Machine is a large cone-shaped machine that has indestructible armor and big mouth-like projection that destroys targets. The only way to damage it is to shove exploding capital ships into its mouth, though the Klingons will do most of that. There are actually two ways that you can go about completing the mission, though the easy way lets the second Klingon starbase get destroyed by the Doomsday Machine. When the mission begins, the Planet Killer is seen in the area with two Imperial capital ships above it acting as its escorts and controllers as it destroys a base. Two Klingon capital ships warp in. The first Klingon capital ship attacks the Planet Killer. The second Klingon capital ship appears next to the Excelsior and attacks the Excelsior. You have to destroy the Klingon capital ship attacking the Excelsior. At this point the mission diverges and merges back later Hard mission sub-branch: After destroying the Klingon capital ship, chase after the Planet Killer and destroy its two Imperial escorts before the destruction of the second starbase. This is not easy as they are traveling very fast. They take a looping path around a "gravity well". Hopefully the Excelsior holds out against the fighters. The looping path takes you back to the Excelsior. Destroy enemy fighters until you get a cinematic scene of an Imperial capital ship warping in, where the mission branches re-merge back together. Easier mission sub-branch: After destroying the Klingon capital ship, destroy the fighters around the Excelsior until you get a cinematic scene of an Imperial capital ship warps in, where the mission branches re-merge back together. Sulu will tell you to disable the Imperial ship that just warped in. You need to destroy its shields, then disable its warp drive by hitting it just in front of where the struts of the warp nacelles connects to the lower main cylindrical section. This needs to be done before it can try to warp out. Sulu will tell you if you succeeded in disabling its warp engine. Then back off as the capital ship gets in the way of the Planet Killer and its destruction serves as the final explosion that destroys it. If the Imperial capital ships escorting the Planet Killer are around at the time this capital shipÕs explosion destroys the Planet Killer, then they will also be destroyed at that time. 2.4 Introduction movie There is a scene of the Excelsior moving in formation with Klingon capital ships. Mission 9 Š Enemy of My Enemy You will have to destroy multiple enemy capital ships. One way to help is to just focus on destroying the shields of the enemy capital ships first, since they are the portion that regenerates if they are still intact. This will allow your alliesÕ shots to actually inflict some hull damage on the enemies. After all the shields of the enemy capital ships are gone, then you can focus on the destroying their hulls. If your ship is powerful enough, then you do not need to do the above. 2.4 Conclusion movie The Excelsior leave Klingon territory. The graphics of the Excelsior moving with star clusters in the background is nice. 2.5 Introduction movie Excelsior encounters Balok. The scenes of Balok and BalokÕs ship is from the original television series. Mission 10 - Balok's War Balok and the ships are from the Orginal series. The big spherical ship canÕt be targeted or damaged. The first part of the mission is to destroy incoming glowing cubes that are releasing radiation before a set period of time. Stay near the Excelsior and just destroy the cubes that gets near the Excelsior. You will not need to use any thrust, just steer around to position yourself to shoot. The preferable weapons are beam weapons, since they allow you to spray a number of cubes at one time if it is powerful enough. The second part is when Balok sends in fighters to attack the Excelsior. Use the same tactics, except that these fighters move faster and can shoot. Do not chase the fighters since they will all be eventually coming near the Excelsior eventually. 2.5 Conclusion movie There is a nice scene of the Excelsior entering a cloud. 3.1 Introduction movie. Now you will be primarily be in Romulan territory until 4.1. Nice graphics of the Excelsior. Mission 11 - The Excelsior Incident A wave of Romulan fighters attacks Excelsior. Destroy them. Then 4 Romulan capital ships appears with several waves of fighters. All enemy ships can cloak as long as they still have their shields. See the General Strategy and Tactics section for dealing with cloaked ships. Emphasize the destruction of the enemy capital ships, before going after the fighters. 3.2 Introduction movie There is a nice scene of the Excelsior going through a green debris field. Mission 12 - Sight Unseen Follow SuluÕs instructions in going to various navigational points and following his instructions. You will be collecting data and destroying debris. Get ready to suddenly reverse if you suddenly hear and see a "crisis timer" countdown appear on your screen since some of the debris are either trapped or explodes after you do enough damage. This destruction will help clear other debris in one situation. In one case at the end it will be up to you if you want to destroy the remains of a ship when Sulu tells you to come back. When he says to return to Excelsior head back at maximum acceleration and wait for the enemy fighters there, since they are coming at an angle from a distance. Destroy the Romulan fighters until a huge Orion capital ship appears. When the Orion capital ship appears, destroy its shields and bring its hull to just short of destruction. When the capital ship decides to move away, wait until it is a distance greater than 150 away before you destroy it so the Excelsior is not caught in its explosion. Destroy the enemy fighters after that. It is strongly recommended that you have the brightness for your screen set to maximum, since there are gravitation sources that are very dark in appearance making it hard to know which direction to lessen the danger. 3.3 Introduction movie It has some nice graphics of the Excelsior entering a green cloud. Mission 13 - No Immunity Before the Excelsior gets to the starbase, destroy the shields of the two Romulan capital ships. This will disable their cloaking devices. In case that fails, it should be noted that guided weapons can home in on cloaked ships as long as you happen to be faced in their direction when fired. To make it easier, keep hitting the first capital ship until the second capital ship appears (hopefully you are already damaging the hull by that time), then head to the second capital ship and keep hitting it until it is destroyed before going back to finish off the first capital ship. The starbase will then deploy an anti-matter bomb held in place by 5 tractor beams below the starbase. You have to destroy all of the tractor beam emitters in a short period of time. Fly under the starbase until you can clearly see where the tractor beams are coming from. The tractor beam emitters are located at the end of the arms sticking out of the lower-bottom of the starbase along the perimeter. Just shoot up into where the tractor beams are coming from and proceed either clockwise or counter-clockwise in destroying them. You can scroll through the targeting list to target the emitters, but it might be too distracting given the time limit. After you have destroyed the tractor beam emitters, destroy the remaining fighters. This mission is one of the most troubling in terms of Federation ethics. The Romulans attempt to destroy the giant space amoeba would have failed and the Excelsior did have the right plan. The Romulans would not have listened to a foreign renegade ship of an enemy power to do it right. So was it right for Excelsior to do all this destruction to Romulan forces and do would save the universe? In more absolute terms, it was reckless and destructive. Still it was probably the only way under the circumstances. It is fortunate that anyone who could have reported the destruction caused by the Excelsior was killed off by the giant space amoebasÕs life sucking energy field and the Excelsior was the only one left to say how they saved the Romulans, otherwise the Excelsior would be in big trouble with the Romulans. 3.4 Introduction movie There is a scene of the Excelsior entering the giant space amoeba. This is based on the original television series when the Enterprise entered that universeÕs giant space amoeba. Mission 14 Š Antibody (Amoeba mission) For the most part, this is played like BalokÕs War, except that these little amoebas attack the Excelsior. They also are very destructive if they touch your ship, so you may want to use the Invincibility mode. Eventually Excelsior launches the anti-matter bomb, gotten from the previous mission, against the amoebaÕs nucleus. After that you have to destroy the rest of the little amoeba fighters using the same tactics. During that time Sulu will tell you to pick up the torpedo bio-probes. You will only have a limited time to pick up the torpedoes so make sure that you can fly straight through the torpedoes accurately to get them all. After that, finish up destroying the rest of the little amoeba fighters. The giant space amoeba was in the Original series. Basically it gave off a life-sucking energy field and when it gained enough energy it would have divided at a high rate to threaten the rest of life in the universe. There was some fan speculation on what the origins of the amoeba was from, whether it was from some alternate reality or biological warfare agent. 3.5 Introduction movie There is a nice scene of the Enterprise. Checkov plans to attack the Excelsior again. Mission 15 - Sunstorm You will have some Romulan escorts with the Excelsior, but you will need to protect them too. Make sure you do not accidentally target the Romulans. In addition to the Enterprise there will be other Imperial capital ships and fighters. First hit the Enterprise until it is forced to run away. Next destroy the other 2 Imperial capital ships. Then destroy the Imperial fighters. 3.5 Conclusion movie Checkov is sent to Tholian territory for his failure. 3.6 Introduction movie