Which Trek Games Are Best in Starship Combat?

[grand_nagus_biglobes]

There are some damage texture mods for BC which follow the same sort of idea, such as the following:
http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/file/_JLS_Federation_DamageFX;90310
Id say that the best starship combat for sure is in BC, with mods. (Although I haven't played Klingon Academy, apart from the demo.)
To me, BC has a sense of SIZE and scale that the likes of Legacy and Starfleet command completley lack. And it certainly has more depth and realism (if I can use that word) than Legacy, with a far more intuitive control scheme. At the risk of offending console owners, I'd say that BC feels more like a PC-only game (eg. a flight sim), whereas Legacy feels more like a console game. (Which, of course, it is.) I can't put my finger of why, but I always feels more in control with BC. Not just because you have the bridge, but for instance the fact that there are no invisible walls in space where the edge of the map is (as in Legacy), and you have direct control over exactly what enemy ships there are. (Which you dont in Legacy, if I remember correctly.)

It does have it's disadvantages though- I spend a fair deal of time faffing around getting mods to work and stuff, rather than playing. (Although there are a few mods around now like Kobayashi Maru where you can get pretty much everything you want in just one mod.) Also, I believe the game's quite hard to find nowadays.
On top of that, most of the mods for BC tend to be based around the TNG/DS9/Voy era. Legacy seems to give more attention to the original series/motion pictures and enterprise eras, which might be an appeal depending on wher eyour interests lie. There's also not much modding taking place for Bridge Commander's Single Player campaign- there are one or two good recent mods that do it, but they tend to require a seperate install. (most mods for Bridge commander not specifically for the SP campaign seem to mess it up.) Ive ended up with 3 seperate installs- one for custom battles, one for the SP campaign and one for Multiplayer. I get the impression this doesnt happen so much with Legacy.

There is a Bridge Commander demo floating around the net somewhere, which is worth a try if you're undecided. (Even though it's only a pale shadow of it's modded self.)

 

[Destructor]

I've really been enjoying DC, but can't get past the mission where the damned Cardie ships blow up Picard's space station.

Do the mods break the singleplayer campaign?

Just bought Legacy in a bargain bin sale. I have the demo and thought it looked really good on the Xbox.

 

[Akiraprise]

The mods do mess up the single player. There are work arounds, but you may have to putz with them.

Legacy is pretty, no doubt. That's about the only redeeming quality.

 

[grand_nagus_biglobes]

There's a great Single Player mod here:
http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/file/BC_Supermod_3;89270

As a general rule, texture mods (eg. Damage textures, uniforms) don't seem to damage with single player, but most everything else does.

 

[Destructor]

There's a great Single Player mod here:
http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/file/BC_Supermod_3;89270

As a general rule, texture mods (eg. Damage textures, uniforms) don't seem to damage with single player, but most everything else does.

Thanks GNB, this is exactly what I was looking for. Do the Cardies have improved models?

I admit I haven't played much legacy so far, but to my mind the major advantage it has is it's three-dimensionality. I know BC has this also (and BC is awesome), but I have tried several time to get into SFC (I have 1 & 3), but I never could, because of the 2D problem- it just felt like I was driving a car around, it felt extremely unnatural to me. Rolling on my axis to bring new weapons to bear is far more satisfying, and realistic. Legacy, for all its flaws, is the 2nd best Trek ship simulator I have played- and the fact that it's on an XBox in Hi-def, with voicework from every Captain in Trek history, is just icing on the cake.