I found that not to be case anymore (playing BotF on contemporary systems).
Anyone still play BOTF?
- Thread starter GeneHunt
- Start date
I still have that problem, even with the latest patches and add-ons but never mind. I can live with that.
I don't seem to have a problem with waiting between turns after reaching a high number of turns themselves.
On the other hand, this can happen on rare occasions if you are playing the game and suddenly switch to desktop mode (that is if you are in the main menu beforehand).
I just go to the desktop with the galactic map in front of me, and I don't experience slowdowns.
Although, I have to admit that I would have preferred if the modding community found a way to replace the 3d engine with another one that is newer/stable and capable of doing a bit more than the old one.
Nevertheless, the new 3d models of ships are far better than the stock ones.
Higher in poly-count and textures. Increases the quality of this old game regardless of how you look at it (plus the menus are slightly revised)
On the other hand, this can happen on rare occasions if you are playing the game and suddenly switch to desktop mode (that is if you are in the main menu beforehand).
I just go to the desktop with the galactic map in front of me, and I don't experience slowdowns.
Although, I have to admit that I would have preferred if the modding community found a way to replace the 3d engine with another one that is newer/stable and capable of doing a bit more than the old one.
Nevertheless, the new 3d models of ships are far better than the stock ones.
Higher in poly-count and textures. Increases the quality of this old game regardless of how you look at it (plus the menus are slightly revised)
This is a problem with the 'window interfaces' that the game uses, (this is an old DirectX interface problem I discovered way way back when). It's a memory leak that occurs when it creates a 'clickable window' and it slowly builds up. The more you bring up sub-interfaces, the more it craps out and the slower the game gets.
Easy fix, find a turn you're comfy with, exit out, then restart and 'continue' the game.
I used to love this game, I remember buying it in a four-pack of Star Trek games and just leaving the other three in the box while I played BOTF. Fantastic game. Unfortunately I loaned it to a friend and never got it back. It was only last year that I managed to acquire another copy of it and I gave it a go. I was playing as the Rommies and was doing quite well, I had two or three member planets and about 10 colonies. I bordered with the Cardies and the Klingons.
Bam! A Borg cube attacks one of my outlying planets. I don't have a large enough fleet to deal with it so I decide to just let them destroy the colony and I build a colony ship to repopulate it once it is gone.
Bam! A second Borg cube attacks a planet nearby. Well this is peculiar, I remember seeing the Borg with two ships on the same map before, but normally they never attack the one empire at the same time.
Bam! A third cube shows up on the other side of my empire! I have never seen three cubes in a game before, and now they are all attacking me? The first two cubes finish of the planets they were attacking and move onto two of my other worlds, taking out the colony ships I had built to repopulate.
Bam! A FOURTH BORG CUBE?! You have got to be frakkin' kidding me! This one appears on the planet where my main fleet is and manages to wipe them out.
In the face of a full scale Borg invasion the likes of which I had never encountered, I quit the game in disgust and never bothered going back to it.
Bam! A Borg cube attacks one of my outlying planets. I don't have a large enough fleet to deal with it so I decide to just let them destroy the colony and I build a colony ship to repopulate it once it is gone.
Bam! A second Borg cube attacks a planet nearby. Well this is peculiar, I remember seeing the Borg with two ships on the same map before, but normally they never attack the one empire at the same time.
Bam! A third cube shows up on the other side of my empire! I have never seen three cubes in a game before, and now they are all attacking me? The first two cubes finish of the planets they were attacking and move onto two of my other worlds, taking out the colony ships I had built to repopulate.
Bam! A FOURTH BORG CUBE?! You have got to be frakkin' kidding me! This one appears on the planet where my main fleet is and manages to wipe them out.
In the face of a full scale Borg invasion the likes of which I had never encountered, I quit the game in disgust and never bothered going back to it.
^ That happened to me once, I loved it 
Most fun ever, my people basically became nomadic, colonising worlds only as fast as the Borg were destroying them, couldn't rebuild ships very fast at all as they were all fairly new systems, so it was very BSG 
To answer Anthony's question, yes, I run into the same problem with the Fed. The only way I've found to win is to make alliances with powers who are aggressive enough to do the domination for you, or to build up enough of a strike force that wars are very quickly over. Wars in themselves are usually OK, I find - but they have a real problem with planetary bombardment, which annoyingly is usually necessary to win anyone other than minor races to your side.
Most fun ever, my people basically became nomadic, colonising worlds only as fast as the Borg were destroying them, couldn't rebuild ships very fast at all as they were all fairly new systems, so it was very BSG To answer Anthony's question, yes, I run into the same problem with the Fed. The only way I've found to win is to make alliances with powers who are aggressive enough to do the domination for you, or to build up enough of a strike force that wars are very quickly over. Wars in themselves are usually OK, I find - but they have a real problem with planetary bombardment, which annoyingly is usually necessary to win anyone other than minor races to your side.
Oh yeah, I really don't like it when the Borg show up prematurely and wipe you out and you don't have a large enough fleet to defend yourself with.
Ever since that happened, I make it a policy to construct an outpost in every system I colonize and construct about 2 or 3 fleets of surveyors for protection.
So when the Borg show up, they focus their attack on the outpost and not the ships.
You know what I do next?
I set all ships for a ramming maneuver and they wipe out the Borg ship like that.
If the outpost has not been upgraded to a type 2 one, then I loose it along with several ships.
But the Borg eventually end up destroyed and my system is intact.
If my development is fairly new, then it's a problem to develop big enough fleet for defense.
Which is why it's very important to have as many minors to join up as possible.
Also, don't waste your time with systems that provide poor population growth.
Anything above 3% should be suitable enough and provide a decent speed for development.
I just love it when the Borg show up and I have just enough of larger ships to deal with them ... it becomes a game of chase.
I don't like it when they attack a minor race though and I haven't been able to construct a decent defense yet.
Which is why shield generators are important to minimize the casualties in terms of industry and life (they also apparently limit sabotage attempts).
Ever since that happened, I make it a policy to construct an outpost in every system I colonize and construct about 2 or 3 fleets of surveyors for protection.
So when the Borg show up, they focus their attack on the outpost and not the ships.
You know what I do next?
I set all ships for a ramming maneuver and they wipe out the Borg ship like that.
If the outpost has not been upgraded to a type 2 one, then I loose it along with several ships.
But the Borg eventually end up destroyed and my system is intact.
If my development is fairly new, then it's a problem to develop big enough fleet for defense.
Which is why it's very important to have as many minors to join up as possible.
Also, don't waste your time with systems that provide poor population growth.
Anything above 3% should be suitable enough and provide a decent speed for development.
I just love it when the Borg show up and I have just enough of larger ships to deal with them ... it becomes a game of chase.
I don't like it when they attack a minor race though and I haven't been able to construct a decent defense yet.
Which is why shield generators are important to minimize the casualties in terms of industry and life (they also apparently limit sabotage attempts).
The Borg wiped me out some years ago when I played the game but so far I haven't encountered them after the "relaunch" I've recently made.
But it can be other irritating things, like in the current game when the Cardassians, the Romulans and the Klingon all have declared war against me (I have the Federation) and I can't get any help fro the Dominion despite attempts to bribe them into a war alliance against the Cardassians.
In a few turns, I've lost half of my territory.
Not to mention that the Crystalline Entity did show up shortly before that and took out many of my ships plus most of the population in two systems.
I haven't decided if I should fight to the bitter end or simply start a new game.
And the worst thing is that I still find the game funny and entertaining!
Anyway, thanks to Deks for tips about downloads, website link and tips for how to get the game work properly!
But it can be other irritating things, like in the current game when the Cardassians, the Romulans and the Klingon all have declared war against me (I have the Federation) and I can't get any help fro the Dominion despite attempts to bribe them into a war alliance against the Cardassians.
In a few turns, I've lost half of my territory.
Not to mention that the Crystalline Entity did show up shortly before that and took out many of my ships plus most of the population in two systems.
I haven't decided if I should fight to the bitter end or simply start a new game.
And the worst thing is that I still find the game funny and entertaining!
Anyway, thanks to Deks for tips about downloads, website link and tips for how to get the game work properly!
You can destroy a Borg cube with a fleet of around 12 Sovereigns - or 8 (IIRC) Defiants. Sadly, it takes ages to develop the technology to build these super duper ships! Its also a shame the AI is so pants when you play another race that the Feds never develop Sovs/Defiants.
I do like it - especially when I've got notheing much on (sadly not so lucky to have loads of time to play games these days. Damn working!)
My tip for defeating the Borg: Build a massive fleet of Constellation class ships, or just whatever destroyers you have handy and can build quickly and a smattering of capital ships. I've noticed that the Borg go after the small ships first, so that should buy you enough time to be able to finish off the cube.
Using small ships (such as 'fast attack' types, then also 'troop transports' or 'colony ships') to force the Klingons and Romulans to decloack in battle (instead of them running away if they are faced with a superior force) is also a good tactic when you have a big enough fleet to wipe them out and reduce other incursions into your territory.
As for BOTF, have anyone tested the Delta Quadrant Mod?
Could be interesting but I read somewhere that there were some serious bugs in it and no one is working on any updates anymore.
Besides that, I'm quite happy with the Ultimate Dominion Mod which is a masterpiece.
But as a Voyager fan, it could be fun with some action in the Delta Quadrant too. I might try it on another computer, we'll see.
Could be interesting but I read somewhere that there were some serious bugs in it and no one is working on any updates anymore.
Besides that, I'm quite happy with the Ultimate Dominion Mod which is a masterpiece.
But as a Voyager fan, it could be fun with some action in the Delta Quadrant too. I might try it on another computer, we'll see.
Its an all time classic in my mind despite its flaws. I haven't played it since I installed vista on my machine, but I think it should work with no problems.
Admittedly I haven't won a game with the random events on (that's your borg cubes, crystalline entities and the like) because they allways screw up my long term strategy against the main factions (unmodded BOTF).
The only thing I would change about it would be to stop the the innevitable ship spamming by the AI, and the diplomacy fuction which becomes irrelevand once your chosen faction becomes the biggest. Your allies will allways rebel against you no matter how happy they are with you. But it is an old game (probably close to abandonware soon) so it is allways going to be flawed compared to more modern turn based strategy games.
I'd reccomend every trek fan has this in their collection, and it is so great to see fans keeping this wonderfull game alive and not forgotten.
Admittedly I haven't won a game with the random events on (that's your borg cubes, crystalline entities and the like) because they allways screw up my long term strategy against the main factions (unmodded BOTF).
The only thing I would change about it would be to stop the the innevitable ship spamming by the AI, and the diplomacy fuction which becomes irrelevand once your chosen faction becomes the biggest. Your allies will allways rebel against you no matter how happy they are with you. But it is an old game (probably close to abandonware soon) so it is allways going to be flawed compared to more modern turn based strategy games.
I'd reccomend every trek fan has this in their collection, and it is so great to see fans keeping this wonderfull game alive and not forgotten.
^ Thanks for that bit of info, Deks.
I had a pretty good idea that it probably would work, but hadn't tried it yet.
Do keep in mind though that I'm utilizing the latest Ultimate Dominion Mod along with Joker's patch that makes the game functional under XP SP3 (this type of config seems to be working in either Vista x86 and x64 ... and Joker's patch will work with vanilla game as well).
One other thing:
Some of you may experience crashes in 3d battles.
This is because Joker's patch incorporates Hades patch to force enable hardware acceleration in battles which seems to have issues with some of the newest cards (such as my 9600m GT in my new laptop).
8600m GT for example is compatible (most of the 8xxx Nvidia cards should be ok on both desktops and laptops ... but some might experience crashes).
Bottom line is, if the game crashes and you are expelled to desktop during battle, then go into BOTF install directory and modify stbof.ini file.
Under '3D', replace the '3DFX' or 'hardware' (I think) line with 'SOFTWARE'.
That way, you should be able to avoid crashes during battles (if you experience it to begin with).
Unfortunately, battles can slow down extremely when shields and phasers are shown in software mode (obviously), but be patient and get used to it.
Also, if you have a less powerful fleet going up against a more powerful one, I wouldn't recommend you click on 'auto' because the computer can make errors in calculations as it's mostly sizing up who has more ships.
I was able to win one of those battles easily when playing manually ... but when I had the computer do it on 'auto' ... heh, I lost big time.
Completely unnecessary.
Some god advice there Deks.
I haven't played it with any patches at all since I first got it years ago, but I do remember modding it myself to update some of the images for the races (like putting apic of Kira in for the Bajorans, altering the colours of one of the factions because of my danm colour blindness). I also remember a small fix where you can change the setting in stbof.ini to use opengl, but that was in the days I was running win2k.
I'm quite surprised that botf needed a patch for XP, because I had it working myself with XP SP2 without any need for one.
Definately right about the auto-resolve issue, I once clicked on it by accident and a squadron of about 40 or 50 ferengi scouts managed to wipe out a fleet of my soverigns.
I haven't played it with any patches at all since I first got it years ago, but I do remember modding it myself to update some of the images for the races (like putting apic of Kira in for the Bajorans, altering the colours of one of the factions because of my danm colour blindness). I also remember a small fix where you can change the setting in stbof.ini to use opengl, but that was in the days I was running win2k.
I'm quite surprised that botf needed a patch for XP, because I had it working myself with XP SP2 without any need for one.
Definately right about the auto-resolve issue, I once clicked on it by accident and a squadron of about 40 or 50 ferengi scouts managed to wipe out a fleet of my soverigns.
CaptainHawk1
Commodore
You know you can turn the Borg off, right? I don't even consider that cheating because they are ridiculous in that game.I play it occasionally when I'm really at a loose end. But I've never been good at at, and when the Borg come, it all goes horribly wrong.
My problem with BoTF is that it seems that no matter what you do to build your empire, the only way to win is by completely destroying the other races. Where's the strategy in that?
Correct me if I'm wrong on this but I played it for like two years straight and I never found another solution.
-Shawn
Just a question: What's a "vanilla game". I've seen that term on some other forum as well but I don't understand the meaning of it.
As for "replacing the '3DFX' or 'hardware' (I think) line with 'SOFTWARE' ", I did it when I re-installed the game a month ago or so just to be sure and I've have had no problems so far (I've installed Joker's patch and the Ultimate Dominion Mod as well).
As for the game, it rocks!
As for "replacing the '3DFX' or 'hardware' (I think) line with 'SOFTWARE' ", I did it when I re-installed the game a month ago or so just to be sure and I've have had no problems so far (I've installed Joker's patch and the Ultimate Dominion Mod as well).
As for the game, it rocks!
