Star Trek: 25th Anniversary/Bridge

Bridge

The bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise, controlled by Captain James T. Kirk and his crew. From here the player can check the ship's conditions and issue commands to the crew, each with specific duties.

By default the bridge screen is on normal bridge view and movement/fire mode:

• Normal bridge view shows the whole bridge. The  V  key toggles between it and the full screen view, which disables the bridge to display only the Main View Screen. Note that this is not a zoom of the visible screen, so it improves visibility, at the cost of removing the bridge's ship position monitor.
• Movement/fire mode is used to maneuver the ship and attack when the weapons are on.  Tab  or  F3  toggles between it and crew selection mode, which takes the cursor outside the Main View Screen to select a crew member and select their options. As each option has a hotkey, it is recommended to only use them as toggling between modes during combat reduces efficiency.

Details

Monitors

Name	Functions
Main View Screen	A large screen showing what is is front of the ship, so the player can maneuver the Enterprise with the cursor and target hostile ships. The screen is also used in communications. The screen gets interference if the Enterprise's main sensor array is damaged, obscuring the view.
Status	Above the Main View Screen are three smaller monitors with graphs. The central monitor has four bar graphs. The two top bars indicate the relative power that each engine is producing. The two bottom bars indicate the ship's movement speed, the top bar being the commanded speed and the lower the current speed, which may be lower than the requested if the ship is damaged. There is also an indicator to the right of the graphs that will light red when Emergency Power is activated. The left monitor indicates when each of the phasers are ready to fire The right monitor indicates when each of the photon torpedoes are ready to fire.
Ship Systems	Two monitors to the left and right of the Main View Screen. By default they report the status of the Enterprise. Using the  A  key toggles it to a target analysis of enemy ships during combat, displaying the status of the last ship damaged by the Enterprise. Be sure to turn it off occasionally to check on the Enterprise's status.
Ship Position	A monitor below the Main View Screen displaying the relative position of enemy ships to the Enterprise, acting like a radar. The center dot is the forward view. A ship above the Enterprise appears above the central dot, and so on. Ships behind the Enterprise will show up on the outer edge. When facing multiple enemies, their dots will have different colors, helping the player to tell the difference between ships of the same type.

Crew

Name	Functions
Capt. Kirk	Captain's Log Transporter Options Captain James Tiberius Kirk, the player's character. He is the youngest Academy graduate to be assigned as a Starship Captain, and is currently in the Enterprise's fourth year of a five year mission in space. An idealist, he drives himself hard and is decisive, but listens thoughtfully to his crew. He has three icons: Captain's Log, Transporter, and Options. The hotkey to Kirk's icons is  K . Captain's Log is used to review the performance of previous missions. Transporter is used to have the landing party leave the ship while on a planet's orbit. It cannot be used while the shields are on. Options is used to save, load, or quit the game, to turn on/off the sounds effects or music, and change the text display.
Mr. Spock	Talk to Spock Consult Computer Spock is the ship's Science Officer, a half-human and half Vulcan that adheres to the Vulcan discipline of logic that seeks to control emotion. He is intensely loyal to the captain, implacable in the face of danger, and has a razor-sharp mind. He occupies the science station. He has two icons: Talk and Computer. Of note, the game's manual informs that Spock has three icons, but Target Analysis lacks an icon and is turned on/off by Sulu. Talk is used to obtain advice and information on the current mission, or an analysis on enemy starships during combat. Its hotkey is  T . Computer is used to search information on the ship's library computer, which can be helpful on missions. Its hotkey is  C .
Scotty	Damage Control Emergency Power Lt. Commander Montgomery "Scotty" Scott sits at the engineering station. From there he directs damage control and the ship's engines. If the U.S.S. Enterprise is damaged due to combat, Scotty will direct his damage control teams to make repairs on the ship's systems automatically. His icons are Damage Control and Emergency Power. Damage Control is used to tell Scotty to concentrate repairs on a particular system. Scotty will allocate additional repair crews on that system, repairing it faster. Its hotkey is  D . The options are, from the left: Shields, phasers, torpedoes, sensors, bridge, hull, and engines. The shields are explained on Sulu, the two weapons on Chekov, and the sensors on the Main View Screen. The bridge itself is heavily armored and shielded, but the controls can take damage, making the handle sluggishly as damage increases. The hull (the lower part) is basically the player's life as once it fails, the Enterprise is destroyed, being a game over. The engines (the two pods on the back) provide power for the ship's systems and movement, offering less power and speed when damaged. It is recommended to give priority to the shields, as they reduce the damage taken. The Emergency Power icon orders Scotty to use more power, which only lasts for a short time but improves repair speed. The strain on the engines is such that it can only be used once per combat, being unavailable until Scotty has time to do proper repairs. Its hotkey is  E .
Uhura	Communications Lieutenant Nyota Uhura is the chief communications officer, talking or sending information to a ship or planet. Her only option is the Communications icon, which is used to open hailing frequencies and try to establish contact. Once communications are established, you can have her send computer files and other information by selecting the Communications icon again. Its hotkey is  H .
Sulu	Orbit Shield Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu is the ship's helmsman. His icons are Orbit and Shield. The Orbit icon orders Sulu to take the ship into planetary orbit. The landing party cannot "beam down" to a planet until the ship is in orbit around it due to the transporter's limited range. Its hotkey is  O . The Shield icon is used to raise or lower the ship's main deflector shields, which reduce damage done to the ship. The more damage they absorb, the less effective they become, until they fail completely. The Enterprise has six shields: front, rear, left, right, top and bottom. Each is damaged individually, so if one side is heavy damaged, try to keep that side away from enemies until Scotty can repair it. Their strength are displayed on the Ship Systems Monitors, being bright yellow at full strength and becoming dimmer as it gets damage, until it is totally drained. The transporter cannot be used if the shields are raised. Its hotkey is  S .
Chekov	Navigation Weapons Ensign Pavel Chekov is assigned to navigation. His icons are Navigation and Weapons. Selecting the Navigation icon will bring up the star map, which is used to make the Enterprise travel at warp speed to the selected planet. Consult the star map to find the right planet. Be sure to select the right destination before selecting the Navigation icon (Uhura will remind you of your destination), as it cannot be cancelled, and going off-course always results on a combat. Its hotkey is  N . The Weapons icon is used to activate or deactive the ship's phasers and photon torpedoes. The Enterprise is armed with two of each weapon side by side, which are fired straight forward. The attacks are always straight when moving with the keyboard, but they will be inclined to the cursor's direction when moving with the mouse. After firing, they must recharge before they can be fired again, as displayed on the monitors above the Main View Screen. If one of them goes offline during combat, the monitors will indicate it by blinking red until they are repaired. Their activation hotkey is  W . Each weapon is fired with one of the mouse buttons or with the keys listed in the controls. The phasers are similar to laser beams. Their recharge period and travel speed is faster, but they are weaker and draw more energy from the ship. The photon torpedoes are energy charges that detonate on impact. They use less energy from the ship and are somewhat stronger, but their reload time and travel speed is slower, being more suited for closer targets.

Combat

Sometimes the Enterprise will have to defend itself against hostile ships. When an enemy is detected, make sure to activate the shields and weapons (hotkey  S  and  W ).

Before proceeding with the mission, it is possible to practice space combat by travelling to the wrong system, which will result in a battle against one to four random enemy ships. These combat practices will not affect mission score, commendation points, or final game rating.

Opposing Ships

Constitution Class Starship There are only two battles against this type of ship, and they are the first and final opponents in the game. The first is the USS Republic, a Federation heavy cruiser similar to the Enterprise that is fought as soon as the player gains control of the ship. As it is basically a tutorial, it is easy to defeat, and while winning the mock combat is optional, it is recommended for players to practice until they can win as latter battles will be harder. Spoiler The second is Enterprise-2, an exact duplicate of the Enterprise from Dr. Bredell. Its strategy is similar to the Republic, but one of its photon torpedo launchers was replaced by a plasma torpedo launcher, making it stronger. Also, shortly after the battle begins, two Elasi ships will show up, one of them being equipped with three photon torpedo launchers. Try to cause as much damage as possible in the beginning. If it was heavily damage before the pirates appear, give priority to the Enterprise-2. If not, take down the pirates first so they don't get in the way, starting with the craft with the three photon torpedoes.	Top view	Side view
Elasi pirates A loose confederation of pirate captains that prey on shipping for the most part. Their ships are small and quick, and are equipped with a single photon torpedo and a variety of defensive systems. This makes it hard to pursue and target them, but their hull and shields are weaker, and their shields mainly protect the front and rear, being weaker on the sides. A few hits on their port or starboard side will quickly damage them. Of note, while the Elasi torpedo system has a faster reload time, it suffers from a lower explosive yield.	Top view	Side view
	Captain
Romulan Warbird Romulans are warriors that fought an inconclusive but exceedingly fierce war against the Federation a century ago. A neutral zone agreed by treaty separates the two societies, but violations on both sides have occurred. The Romulan ships move slowly, but they can turn rapidly, have a powerful plasma torpedo that causes heavy damage (but have a long reload time), and a cloaking device that renders the ship very difficult to detect in combat, except that it is disabled when firing the torpedo or after being out of view for some time. Some Romulans also have Klingon Battle Cruisers, which have been retro-fitted with cloaking devices.	Top view	Side view
	Captain
Klingon Battle Cruiser The Klingon Empire is an aggressive culture that extols warrior values. Outright war is prevented by treaty, but the Klingons have been able to provoke more than a few incidents. Armed with two disruptors (their equivalent of phasers) and one photon torpedo, Klingon vessels are similar to the Enterprise, but the single torpedo leaves the firepower somewhat weaker than Enterprise's double torpedoes, and the hull strength and speed are slightly weaker, being outmatched when alone. But as they usually appear in groups of two or three, they can be extremely deadly. In the scenario "That Old Devil Moon" the Enterprise will find three heavy battle cruisers, one of them being the K'lirta, captained by Admiral Vlict Kenka. It has greater hull strength and a special photon torpedo that causes more damage. It is possible to finish the game without facing a Klingon vessel, and it is recommended to avoid them, specially K'lirta as it is powerful and will result in a lower final score.	Top view	Side view
	Captain

Tips

The range from the weapons improve with the full view screen and low magnification.

• Both weapons use energy from the ship, so don't waste it firing like crazy if no enemy is in range. Saving energy will speed up repairs if the ship is damaged.
• If the Enterprise is heavily damaged, try to stay away from enemies to give time for it to be repaired, or use the emergency power if needed. Damage control can also be used to have Scotty focus the repairs on specific parts of the ship. It is recommended to give a higher priority to the shields, as they reduce the damage taken.
  • However, enemies can also repair themselves, so taking too long to attack will extend the duration of the battle. Concentrate fire on one vessel at a time, as spreading the attacks will only give each enemy ship time to repair. Against identical ships, use the Ship Position Monitor and Target Analysis to identify the right target.
• Use the  V ,  <  and  >  keys when needed, which will help with finding and aiming at enemy ships.
  • If no enemy is visible on the Main View Screen, as explained before, the normal bridge view has a Ship Position Monitor in front of Kirk that can be used to find targets. The enemy should be visible on the Main View Screen when its dot is on the center.
  • Cloaked enemies do not appear in the Ship Position Monitor until they reveal themselves when attacking or after some time, but with luck they can be found sooner by spotting their distorted silhouette, which is easier to spot when they move in front of the system's planet. Of note, while cloaking devices are mainly used by Romulans, some of their ships lack it, and cloaking devices are also used by some of the Elasi and Klingon ships.
  • Again, the full screen view is not a zoom of the Main View Screen, it only removes the bridge from the screen, so it improves visibility, at the cost of removing the Ship Position Monitor. If no enemy is visible, toggle on the bridge to reorient.
  • Reducing or increasing the Main View Screen magnification is also useful for locating enemies and aiming.
• Although risky, the fastest strategy against most solo ships is to have the Enterprise stop moving and attack the target head on with both weapons, causing more damage first. Although not impossible, this tactic is less effective against stronger vessels and groups of two or more ships.