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.center; How to Beat Startrek
.center;by James B. Young
.center;Department of Chemical Engineering
.center;The Ohio State University
.center;Columbus, Ohio 43210
.center;614-422-6591
.p
The game Startrek is very entertaining, enjoyable, and downright
addicting.  Many hours can be spent at a time before one realizes
that he should have been at home hours ago.  Once at home and asleep,
the user will dream of the game and invent new strategies to save the
galaxy from the Klingon invasion fleet.  This article will give the
user a strategy to do just this, destroy the Klingon invasion fleet.
Moreover, once the user masters the strategy, he can retire as
Commodore Emeritus and write his own Startrek game.
.p
The first point to make is that an Emeritus game is difficult to win,
and the odds of winning are about 3:1 after the strategy is mastered.
Expert games are only slightly easier.  The odds are so poor because
there are so many Commander ships which all seem to want to pull you with their
tractor beams at the same time.  This article is meant mainly for 
Expert and Emeritus players for Short, Medium, and Long games.
.p
The first item in the strategy and perhaps the most important is to know
where you are at all times.  It is not easy to survive without the
Long Range Scanners (LR), and it is almost impossible without the Short
Range Scan (SR).  Every time you enter a quadrant, do LR first, even
if you have been there before or if there are Klingons waiting for you.
.p
The next item to consider is to conserve both time and energy.  To
conserve time, move at warp 6 at all possible times right from the
beginning of the game.  If the engines are damaged, repair at a base
and move at warp 6.  To conserve energy, there are many things you can do.
First, keep shields down at all times except just before jumping into a
quadrant with Klingons or when being tractor beamed.  Next, move to where
you want to go in a straight line.  If you want to stop in a quadrant before
attacking Klingons to put your shields up, stop at the point closest
to the Klingon quadrant from where you are, not the middle of the quadrant.
This avoids moving out of the way of black holes and stars.
Finally, when you are at the point closest to the Klingon quadrant, put
shields up and jump into the quadrant to sector (4,4),(4,7),(7,4), or (7,7),
whichever is closest.  Nothing is gained by jumping to the center of the
quadrant, instead, energy is wasted to get there.  More tips on saving time
and energy will be given later, but these are the main ones.
.p
The third item to consider is the opening game.  After changing to warp 6
and scanning the adjacent quadrants, the general strategy is to slowly
work your way toward the nearest base and kill some Klingons along the
way.  However, if there are quadrants that have only one Klingon in it
and it is a little bit out of your way, go to it and destroy the Klingon.
It is sometimes a Commander.  The less Commanders around, the easier it
is to win.  Don't be afraid to be bold and jump into a quadrant with 8 or 9
Klingons at the beginning of the game, if it is adjacent to your base.  If
the base quadrant also has Klingons in it, you will probably have to attempt
a rescue to get to the base.
.p
The next item to consider is the middle game.  After you have successfully
made it to a base (one way or another) have refueled, and have scanned the
adjacent quadrants, attack the adjacent quadrants with 7 or less Klingons
in them first (Emeritus) and 6 or less Klingons (Expert).  Jump in as described
above and see where the Klingons are.  If most are close to you, you should
use phasers.  If some are close and some are far, use 3 photon torpedoes on
the close ones then phaser what is left.  If all are far from you, phasers
must be used.  Always use manual phasers.  When there are 7 Klingons in the
quadrant, fire 250 units at the first six and 50 at the last one, 6 Klingons-
250 units each, 5 Klingons-300 units each (or what it takes), etc.  Do not
try to use more than 1550 units on one blast!  For 8 or 9 Klingons in a
quadrant, fire the same as for 7 Klingons and let the last 1 or 2 go for the
second round.  If there is a Commander in the quadrant too, first find out
what it takes to destroy it.  To find out how much it takes to get any
Klingon without firing at it or being fired on, enter zeros for the amount
to fire at all Klingons and Romulans in the quadrant.  If it takes less than
1350 units to get the Commander, fire at it on the first round, otherwise,
fire at the other Klingons and Romulans in the quadrant, except, use what
it takes to kill them (not 250 or 300 each).  If it takes more than 1550
units to destroy the Commander on any blast, get all the other Klingons and
Romulans first.  Then, to get the Commander without overheating phasers, move
toward it to about half to two-thirds the original distance from it and
get it.
.p
When all the Klingons and Romulans in the quadrant have been destroyed, put
your shields down.  Shield energy left will probably be low especially if
a Commander was in the quadrant.  The key point is to replenish the shield
energy to over 90% by transferring energy from the ship.  This will protect
you in case you are tractor beamed on the way back to your base.  Your ship
energy will be low, but this is a safer play than to have low shield energy.
You will survive!!  Your ship energy should not be so low that you cannot 
get back to base though.  You must make a balance:  try to have at least
1500 units in the ship and the rest in the shields.
.p
The process of going back and forth between a base and a quadrant with Klingons
is repeated as necessary.  Toward the beginning of the game, try to get
only 6 or 7 Klingons per trip back to the base since you will need the
extra energy in case you are tractor beamed.  Keep track of the number of
Commanders destroyed.  For Emeritus Short through Long, expect 5 to 6, 7 to 8,
and up to 10 Commanders respectively.  For Expert Short through Long,
expect 5, 6,
and 7 Commanders.  When most of the Commanders have been destroyed, the game
can be easily won by the tactics outlined above.  10 to 12 Klingons can
be destroyed per trip back to the base if no Romulans are around and no
Commanders are expected to be left.
.p
Now that the beginning, middle, and end games have been described, a few
other points need to be made.  The Super-Commander will usually show itself
by the time you get to the first base.  It is not easy to destroy it before
it destroys a base, especially with the Commanders pulling you all over the
galaxy.  A certain amount of luck is needed to get to the quadrant with the
Super-Commander in it whether it be by moving to the quadrant or by rescuing
to the quadrant where the base is being attacked.  The game plan described
above must take a time-out just to get the Super-Commander.  You must usually
fire over 1550 units to get it too.  This isn't bad when you are in a base
quadrant.  If the phasers overheat, you can repair at the base.  Try not to
have to fire over 1850 units to get it.  Instead, move in closer and take
another hit first.  If you rescue into the quadrant with the Super-Commander,
do so with your shields up.  If not, when you put them up to move away from the
base and fire phasers, the Super-Commander will usually escape from the
quadrant.
.p
The Klingon base is established as a penalty for not killing Klingons
quickly in the game, which makes it all the tougher to win.  The base
is usually established in an empty quadrant, but not always.  To destroy
the base, jump into the quadrant as before, except jump into the middle!
This will minimize the fire power needed if the base is in the corner
furthest from you.  If the base is not immediately adjacent to you, fire
1550 units at it on the first shot.  If less than 1550 units are needed
to destroy it on the second shot, then destroy it, otherwise, take three
shots.  If the base is adjacent to you, kill it in one shot and then go
to a base to repair phasers.  If many Klingons are in the quadrant with the
base, you should save this quadrant for last, then kill only the Klingons
to win the game, or get everything if you have enough energy to do so.
Another suggestion for this situation is to try an armed Novamax missile.
It is better to avoid the Klingon base quadrant with Klingons in it than
to go for it.  If the Klingon base has made 2 new Super-Commanders, it is
usually exhausted of power and will take but one photon torpedo to destroy
it.  If the Klingon base and a Romulan are in a quadrant, the usual
warning is given and you won't be fired on.  In this case, forget the 
Romulan on the first round of fire only.
.p
If you happen to find a planet with dilithium crystals, the immediate
instinct is to get them right away.  This, however may not be wise, especially
toward the beginning of the game.  When mining crystals, a Commander
may tractor beam you to its quadrant and either strand Captain Kirk in
which case you automatically lose the game, or not strand Captain Kirk
in which case you dont't get the crystals.  The best strategy to use for
these planets is to just keep track of where they are with the PLANET
command.  Later in the game when there are fewer Commanders, you may
want to go back and get some crystals.  If you do get them, you can have
the power to kill nearly twice as many Klingons, before needing to go back
to a base.  Exhaust most of your power by destroying 8 to 10 Klingons as
described above.  After replenishing your shields to 100% or as high as
possible, give the CRYSTAL command.  You may have to fire phasers into
empty space to get to code yellow.  If so, fire 1550 units or less each
time until you are just under 1000 units of ship energy.
.p
Undoubtedly you will be tractor beamed at some point in the game.  If
you were just at a base, you were lucky and you will easily be able
to destroy the Commander and all else in the quadrant.  However, if
you just killed 5 or 6 Klingons plus a Commander, you may not have the
energy to get everything in the quadrant.  In this case, you have to
assess the situation.  The main objectives in this case are to kill the
Commander and stay alive.  Both might not be possible, especially if the
quadrant has 5 or more Klingons firing at you.  One possibility is to just
walk out of the quadrant.  Do this if you don't have the power to get the
Commander, but do have the power to take a hit and move.  Take the
shortest path out of the quadrant and move so that you are just out.
Another possibility is that you have the energy to get the Commander
and take a hit.  In this case, get the Commander
then fire torpedoes and/or phasers at all or some of the other ships,
or just get the Commander and leave the quadrant.  The worst possibility
is that you can't get the Commander or leave the quadrant alive.  In this
case, attempting a rescue is the best alternative.  Abandoning ship
and Deathraying are the worst alternatives.
.p
A few of the finer points in saving energy are as follows.  If you are
in a quadrant with say 5 to 7 Klingons in it and you have already fired
1500 to 1550 units of energy at them, check to see how much you need to
fire at them to destroy them.  If the close ones take 40 units or less,
the medium ones 100 units or less, and the far ones 200 units or less, you
can safely put your shields down and take a bunch of small hits before
wiping out the rest of the Klingins.  It takes 200 units of energy to just
use your phasers with your shields up,
so if they hit you with a total of less than 200 units,
you have saved energy.  Another way to save energy when you jump into a
Klingon quadrant is to kill all the closest Klingons first with phasers
and then fire torpedoes at the far ones until you can lower your shields
and destroy them with phasers.  This may seem contrary to what was given
earlier, but it really isn't.  Phasers are more effective weapons than
photon torpedoes and consequently it is better to use phasers in the
general case even though they use more energy.
Experience and the situation will tell you
what you should do in each case.   When you jump into a Romulan neutral zone
quadrant, don't put your shields up.  If the Romulan is close, fire 2
torpedoes at it then phaser what is left.  If the Romulan is not close,
fire 50 units less than what it takes to destroy it on the first
blast.  This will probably destroy it.  If not, get it on the second round.
Another finer point is that you don't have to fire all the units to
destroy a ship.  For instance, if the computer says it will take 1223
units to kill a Commander, put in only 1215.  The Commander will be
destroyed just the same.  Put in 5 units less than it says it takes to
kill a Klingon on the first round of fire at it.  If you've already
hit it once, use 1 to 2 units less than the computer says.  Finally,
when scouting the galaxy to find Klingons, always jump into a known quadrant
at the point closest to where you were on the move before and adjacent
to the unscanned quadrant.  If you know for a fact that there are Klingons
in the unknown quadrant (last unknown and unconquered quadrant on the
board) jump to the point closest to the unknown quadrant and continue as
described previously.
.p
When playing the Expert and Emeritus games, you will probably take some
critical hits at some point and suffer some damages.  You must know how
to move manually to survive if you computer goes down.  Also, key items
to repair are the short range scanners, phasers, torpedo tubes, warp
engines, shields, and shield control.  The semi-key items are the computer,
subspace radio, long range scanners, and life support.  All else is
unnecessary to repair.
You can leave base with .05 stardates more at base necessary
to repair phasers, shields, photon tubes, and shield control since they will be
repaired by the time you are ready to use them again.
.p
A score of over 5000 points can be attained in the Emeritus Long game
if your kill ratio (Klingons killed/stardate) is high enough.  The
ultimate score is to get 4.5 to 5 Klingons per stardate or more and have to
rescue zero or one time during the Emeritus game.  In this case, you
will get an amusing message which says that your skill level has
exceeded the capacity of the program and you can retire as Commodore
Emeritus and write your own Startrek game.