Star Trek Bridge Commander

[Martin Madden]

back to the one and only true classic, a veteran of the activision days, star trek BC. id've thought that it would be one of the biggest boards on the gaming portion of this site but i guess that everyone's preoccupied with STO (i still don't understand why everyone's swooning over it, it doesn't seem that great)

So i'm starting the Bridge Commander thread.

 

[daedalus5]

Yay! I love the MVAM Saucer Seperation Mod.

 

[Martin Madden]

it's such an amazing game, the engine keeps getting re-vamped and re-done and it's able to support a helluva lot more than what the original game was designed for.

for example, for players: compare the stock sovereign that was included in the game to the better and overall amazinger (yes i did that intentionally) JLS Sovereign class mod.

http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/screenshots/File/107427/

i mean srsly, check these out.... that's totally not stock. and speaking of not stock
DJ Curtis the master of mod, this man has done almost as much for original design as Matt Jefferies and Andrew Probert.


here's a link to DJ Curtis' BCfiles page with all his designs released so far...
http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/developer/DJ_Curtis;10813

 

[Lor'Vela]

I'm one of the few supporters of stock BC.

Nope, I can't stand modded BC. Hundreds of mods all bundled into one megamod causing stability issues, and not to mention a broken single player campaign as a result. I just don't think the game's engine is designed to handle all the addons. And there's a limit to how much I can just tolerate Quick Battle mode in a modded game before I become bored.
I commend the community for extending the functionality and keeping the game alive, but I just find it cripples my game playing experience.

 

[Chris3123]

I'm one of the few supporters of stock BC.

Nope, I can't stand modded BC. Hundreds of mods all bundled into one megamod causing stability issues, and not to mention a broken single player campaign as a result.

Ok, you explained why you don't like the megamods. But what about all the other ways you can mod the game?

I just don't think the game's engine is designed to handle all the addons.

No doubt.

And there's a limit to how much I can just tolerate Quick Battle mode in a modded game before I become bored.

How is it any worse than stock?

I commend the community for extending the functionality and keeping the game alive, but I just find it cripples my game playing experience.

Have you tried anything other than megamods?

 

[Lor'Vela]

Ok, you explained why you don't like the megamods. But what about all the other ways you can mod the game?

It's generally scripting mods I have an issue with. Individual scripting mods that are not part of a bundle can also cause stability issues if you're not careful. I also have an issue with individual ships not part of a modpack as their stats do not always provide balanced gameplay, especially when ships are created by different authors.

I'm quite happy to try out texture replacement mods, such as E-Bridge retextures, shield bubbles, and starfields etc.

How is it any worse than stock?

I worded that poorly. What I meant was is that I become bored with just Quick Battle mode without single player. A significantly modded game breaks single player mode, and single player makes things interesting; A story to unravel, specific objectives etc.

Have you tried anything other than megamods?

I have tried individual mods before now. Generally, the limit of a my modded game would be the Foundation plugin with ship models created by P81. I may also include unobtrusive modd, such as a numerical display for shields, for example.

 

[nx1701g]

Love it, it's one of the few games I still have installed on my computer and play every so often. A friend even modded my RPG ship for the game for me.

 

[farfaraway]

I want to buy a ST game. No shooter game - more a simulation;
just want flights - no fights. And some research missions maybe.
Now I saw a YouTube video of 'Star Trek Online - Tour of the sol system',
which I liked very much: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KN0_McXG_w
Since this game can ONLY be played ONLINE I'm looking for another one.
Someone recommended BC for such 'peaceful missions', but told me
I would need special mods (missions?) for that purpose.
What would I need and where can I get it? - Thanks!

 

[di_mar]

I would recommend checking out the BC filefront page here: http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/ and having a hunt around. I'd say this section: http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/files/Bridge_Commander/Modifications/Misc_Modifications;1544 is the one you want for what you're looking for, farfaraway.. there are some great single player mods here.

Also, a question for STBC know-alls: When I went onto STBC multiplayer, I pick up no servers. I have not downloaded any patches (have only got the game pretty recently)... why is this? Do I need to download a particular patch to play online?

 

[Ensign Johnson]

Just got this game but I haven't played it much yet. Seems fun so far, its good to be in the Captain's chair.

 

[Lor'Vela]

^ Speaking of which, I think it would have been better if you actually played as a character, rather than a camera. Having the XO do all the talking just doesn't feel right. Perhaps something similar to Elite Force where you could either play as a male or female character?

 

[Ensign Johnson]

They didn't bother giving you a choice to play female in Elite Force 2 and they were pretty lazy with the first one calling them both Alex.

I would have liked a Dragon Age/Fallout approach to Bridge Commander getting you to select responses but no voice acting for them (you could say them yourself if you wanted realism). I figured they didn't give the Captain a voice so you can imagine its yourself.

 

[The Lensman]

Bridge Commander was alright.....but Klingon Academy was better...at least in the gameplay department. Had a little more depth, but more than that was the ability to really use the spatial terrain.

I friggin LOVED fighting over a gas giant, and having the ability to fly into it, risking damage to my own ship in the hopes of the enemy taking more. Or fighting in the acretion disk of a black hole and trying to maneuver my enemy into crossing that point of no return.

And the interior graphics (when someone blew a hole into your ship and you could see interior decks aflame) was oddly superior in the older game. Plus watching chunks of your ship come off, like a nacelle, added to the over all experience.

KA also seemed a more detailed ship sim, as opposed to BC, which was trying to appease the non-gamer Trek fan by allowing them to issue a few commands and just watch the game do it for you.

BC's biggest asset was it's graphic's superiority...And like to many Trek games, it was pretty much about the combat....even the "peaceful" missions had alot of combat to it. In the end, aside from some variance in camera angles and grahics quality, it's pretty much like STO.

 

[daedalus5]

^^^^^^^

Agreed. I also found KA was far prettier to look at with superb damage textures.

 

[Lor'Vela]

Yeah, I definitely prefer KA over BC. Far better story and more satisfying battles, IMO. I also like to turn my hand to mission scripting and create my own missions.
Fortunately, I'm still using WinXP so the game runs pretty well currently, but I know that the moment I upgrade to W7, I won't have much luck.

 

[Destructor]

I got this game, and really enjoyed it, except:

1. For all the talk of mods I couldn't find a single mod that didn't break the game for me. I only play SP and would love one that increased the resolution on the ship models.
2. I could never get past this one (fairly early) mission vs. Cardassian ships trying to blow up Cpt. Picard on a space station. Ragequit about a zillion times, never went back.

 

[Lor'Vela]

^ And precisely for that reason I don't bother with the mods. Even mods interacting with other mods can cause QB to crash. The game is a modding nightmare.

And that mission you are talking about is one of the hardest in the game. Been a while since I played it, but at the start, it is important to target both Galors 3 and 4 right away. That will divert their attack on the station to you. Galors 1 and 2 will engage the Klingons, so be sure to leave then alone.

The Cardassians will warp away once 2 ships have been destroyed. It is very important to then go to condition green and repair your critical systems. Whatever you do, do not follow the Klingons in pursuit of the Cardassians.
Cardassian reinforcements should then arrive a few minutes later. Concentrate your attack on one of them, then move onto another. Since this is the last mission where you are in command of the Dauntless, you might consider ramming as a possibility. Be sure to do it at half speed, and if possible, use aft tractors and see if you can reverse ram to avoid destroying your forward phasers.

 

[CaptJimboJones]

Agreed on the mods - I got a few here and there to work, but most ended up breaking the game for me. And ultimately it's such a great game without mods, I figured it wasn't worth the headache and just stuck to playing it as released.

 

[SPCTRE]

Be sure to do it at half speed, and if possible, use aft tractors and see if you can reverse ram to avoid destroying your forward phasers.

That's some quite advanced manouvering you're proposing there, nice

Ramming as a viable tactical option actually never occured to me during my BC playthroughs, now I may just have to go back and try it out.

 

[SPCTRE]

2. I could never get past this one (fairly early) mission vs. Cardassian ships trying to blow up Cpt. Picard on a space station. Ragequit about a zillion times, never went back.

That is a pretty challenging mission the first time around, I have to admit.

But IMHO it can't compare to that mission in Starfleet Command where you have to fight your mirror universe counterpart, now there's a reason for rage quitting for ya