What is Star Trek Fleet Command?
Star Trek Fleet Command is a Strategy RPG that focuses on exploration and tactical decision-making. You take on the role of a fleet captain and venture through space, gaining resources and taking out enemies. And throughout, you’ll have to make tough decisions to progress through its intense (and well-written) story.
The Aesthetic and Setting of Star Trek Fleet Command
Star Trek Fleet Command has a very sci-fi and technological aesthetic that’s very visually appealing. A primary focus of this game is the aesthetics and setting, especially compared to similar combat games, making it stand out. The game also goes well with the Star Trek story as a whole–so if you’re a fan of the series, you’re likely to enjoy this game thoroughly.
You’ll find yourself piloting a ship through multiple galaxies and defeating enemy starships, which is on brand for Star Trek. As you play through, you can acquire more ships to build a fleet, allowing you to deeply immerse yourself in the experience of being in command and going into battle. The game has a surprising amount of exploration on different maps, each with its own unique differences, making it feel as if you’re genuinely discovering new territories.
The UI, with its sleek and defined design, also focuses on the technical aspect of sci-fi. One particular area where this game thrives is giving the player an immersive experience, condensing the information into precise areas quite well. This design is important due to all of the information and content the player must take in and assimilate.
As you travel, you can stumble across planets with specific missions you can act on. Sometimes, you’ll even be prompted to decide on that planet, which coincides with certain factions. This gives the game a surprising amount of depth within the story and makes the player feel more involved.
Star Trek Fleet Command’s Resource System
The game has 5 major types of resources, including Parsteel, Explorer parts, Tritanium, Dilithium, Latinum, and Ship and Officer XP.
Parsteel – This is the resource used to build and upgrade essentially all buildings in the games. It’s typically gained through missions, events, and generators you can build in your station.
Explorer Parts, Survey Parts, Interceptor Parts, etc. – These are the key resources for upgrading your ships to different tiers. They all have a very similar purpose. These resources also come in multiple tiers, which you can obtain through events and missions as you progress.
Tritanium– The other main resource used for building and upgrading ships and researching. This resource is gained through missions and events.
Dilithium– The primary resource for research, which can provide passive upgrades in all general game areas. It’s also used for building and creating ships as you progress. You can also gain this resource from events and missions.
Latinum– The paid resource for the game, which can also be obtained through events, specific missions, achievements, and purchased packages. This resource can be used to gain other resources and speed up timers.
Ship and Officer XP – Rather than the traditional XP system, Star Trek Fleet Commander opts for a system that gives XP as a resource. You can use it to upgrade the levels of your ships and officers. You can gain this resource through enemies, events, and missions.
The Combat
The combat in the game is relatively simple. It’s a power-based system that takes the power of your ship and officers and compares it to that of the enemy you’re facing. Then, you select an enemy (which can be found worldwide) and face them in combat. The scenario will then autoplay, which usually takes 4-8 seconds, depending on the level of difficulty.
The Community
The community in this game is quite active, both inside and outside the game itself. You can find discussions about the game on Reddit or Discord forums. However, the in-game chat is also quite active and always available. Unlike similar games, Star Trek Fleet Commander automatically assigns you to join an alliance early on, making it relatively easy to find like-minded individuals to help you.
My Experience Playing Star Trek Fleet Commander
In general, my experience playing the game was quite interesting! From what I noticed, it’s much different than your average game for the genre. I’ll go over the pros and cons of my experience and provide some tips that can also help your gameplay.
Downloading and Starting a New Game
To download the game, I simply followed the link from the KashKick app and was then prompted to download it. The game didn’t take long to download—it only took about 5 minutes—which is relatively quick for a game containing this amount of content. The loading screen immediately shows technical sci-fi themes, immersing you into the Star Trek experience.
General Gameplay
When I started playing Star Trek Fleet Commander, I was guided through a reasonably long but well-done and helpful tutorial. It used voice acting and great graphics to introduce some main characters and the basic game systems. The voice acting eventually faded and became seldom used, but it was nice to experience it early on.
As the tutorial continued and I was introduced to the game’s mechanics, it became increasingly clear that it wasn’t as combat-focused as it appears. Initially, there was a form of combat where you fired at specific spots on a ship, but I hadn’t encountered anything similar since the beginning.
As I continued to play and learn more about the game, the tutorial gradually faded, and before I knew it, I was now into actual gameplay. The game’s mission system makes it very easy to know the next steps to take to make the best use of your resources toward progression, making it feel like you’re on autopilot.
The game drew me in as I explored the maps, each with different planets and enemies. As you look at the entire map, you’ll also notice different sections of space colored off, which contain other alliances. However, reaching that point took quite a while of gameplay and exploration.
The game’s progression did feel slow at times, but the aesthetics and story-telling made up for it. I spent around $20 USD in total to help speed up the process so that I could hit KashKick benchmarks, though I felt more could have been helpful.
Recommended Strategies for Star Trek Fleet Commander
There are certain things you can do to make the most of your gameplay experience and receive your KashKick rewards in time. I’ll explain some strategies and factors you can use to improve your personal journey playing Star Trek Fleet Command.
In-app Purchases
The game has two different playstyles, which players should focus on. I’ll explain both styles and why they’re beneficial.
Spend more, progress faster: This game has several payment options. It’s clear that to make the necessary progress to get paid, you’ll have to make some in-app purchases. If you have plenty of time, you can make less in-app purchases and play at your leisure. However, if you have less time and want to move through the levels fast enough to get paid, I suggest more in-app purchases, significantly speeding up your progress.
Free-to-play, slow progression: The game rewards players for actively progressing, making it possible to move swiftly along as a free-to-play player. However, progression takes a while, and it’s important to remember that this game requires the player to actively interact with the map and buildings, which can take a lot of time. If you have that time available and/or don’t want to spend money, it is possible to reach your KashKick goals without.
Keeping Track of Events & Alliance Tasks
Events are a significant aspect of Star Trek Trek Commander and can be easily missed by players who aren’t paying attention. The game doesn’t notify you often when events are completed, so it’s best to check manually when possible. I recommend checking roughly every 30 minutes to collect any rewards you might otherwise miss.
Alliance tasks are similar and can also be easily overlooked by players who don’t know to check them. Like other games in this genre, the player can ask for help to speed up building progression, and your fellow alliance members will do that as well. It’s good to be active in your alliance so that you don’t get kicked, which could slow your progression.
Summary
Star Trek Fleet Commander has a beautiful design with outstanding graphics and resource development, though it lacks a certain depth–for my taste–regarding combat. The story-telling component and commitment to immersing you into the Star Trek experience make it fun for anyone! It does require your full attention and a lot of time to make fast progress without in-app purchases but can be completed in KashKick’s time allowances for those who do have a lot of time to dedicate to it. All in all, it’s a worthwhile game while looking to have fun while making extra cash!