STAR FLEET II: Krellan Commander Version 2.0

[Kalin]

Sup guys, tried to get this posted as news but Codex mods aren't very cooperative. Anyway, Trevor Sorensen, original developer of STAR FLEET II: Krellan Commander, is actually back in action since 2018 remaking the good old game on his original 486. Yeah, not making this up, and it ain't no graphics overhaul or anything like that, no Sir, no can do, stuff the "enhanced edition" for casual scum up your ass because Trevor, he's only adding straight up new content, improvements to A.I. and bug fixes.

Being a real bro, he also doesn't mind if you play the old game for free. In fact, the original version 1.5b is available on his official webpage and he recommends you grab that one rather than shoddy abandonware versions since it includes the last official bug fixes (game was rushed to market back in the day). But hey now, you might be wondering, what's this game about? Long story somewhat short:

High-powered boarding action!

As Commander of a Krellan Battlecruiser with four destroyer escorts (forming a “battle fleet”), your mission is to explore the star systems of the United Galactic Alliance looking for planets to conquer and Alliance warships to destroy. Your ships are equipped with the latest technology, including phasers, homing torpedoes and deadly obliterator pods. Also at your command are elite shock troops for boarding and capturing enemy vessels, and legions of Krellan warriors for planetary invasions.

Battle with an Enemy Starbase!!

Starting with just a single Krellan battlecruiser, as you rise in the game's seven ranks, you’ll gain more complexity, such as escorts, planetary invasions, and eventually full sector command. Each mission is a randomly-generated galactic war sandbox, and while you have specific objectives, how you accomplish them is entirely up to you. Fight, board, and capture ships, send landing parties and full invasion forces down to planets. Bombard cities from orbit while avoiding planetary defense fire from high technology planets.

Snazzy planetary invasions!!!

Explore uncharted star systems and planets – your landing parties may even discover the ruins of ancient civilizations that may contain beneficial alien artifacts. Attack and pillage planets, wipe out civilizations with a single command, interrogate prisoners from a captured starliner, then beam those prisoners into the sun or empty space to improve your crew’s morale! Who says command can’t be fun?!


Sexy new version 2.0 is scheduled for release on both GOG and Steam on a Thursday real soon. If you want more info, check out the Steam page for development notes and discussion about the remake. Space Game Junkie (boomer streamer who as the name implies plays exclusively space-themed games) is also involved with the remake and interviewed Trevor about the game last year, well worth checking out if you're interested.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

tl;dr but this built on a modern infrastructure might be quite something.

 

[Corvinus]

I never played this back in the day, but it's pretty awesome that new content and new games are actually being made for old hardware.

 

[Joggerino]

Did you play the original version? It looks really interesting but also daunting to handle the 30 year old UI.

 

[Luka-boy]

Yeah I've been following this for a few months.

After they're done updating the original they plan to make a remaster/remake with a modern interface.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

what a fucking retarded crybaby.

 

[DoomIhlVaria]

Can 2.0 still be copied over to and run on a DOS machine?

 

[Jack Of Owls]

If I were to play sn ASCII-based game, it'll probably either be this one (when it hits v2.0 on Steam soon) or Warsim The Realm of Aslona. Some trivia: the original developer, who's continuing to work on it as we speak, is a literal rocket scientist, according to Space Game Junkie aka Brian Rubin. Brian, btw, gave the best, most pithy & succinct review of one of EA's big AAA titles last year, the entire text of which is contained herein this post:

Spoiler

"I'd rather stick a spoon covered in hot sauce up my ass than play Star Wars Squadrons again."

 

[Inconceivable]

I tried playing Star Fleet games a couple of times way back, but always bounced off them. The systems were a bit too deep and the interface too obscure for me to handle.

I totally played the shit out of Star Legions though. One of the classics from my childhood. Still get that itch to play it every time I think about it. Such a great game of planetary conquest - one of a kind. In desperate need of a sequel.
The graphics are primitive, it's an old game! But it has aged quite well, probably because it was designed to be controlled entirely by mouse. Not having to deal with obscure keyboard interfaces really makes a world of a difference.

SCUM OF THE UNIVERSE! PAY ATTENTION, OR DIE!!!

 

[Inconceivable]

And would you check out that sweet box art. Epic.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Star Legions was actually heavily based on the planetary conquest portion of Star Fleet II. Star Fleet intrigues me because it has- well, everything! - from ship boarding-takeover mechanics to strategic space battles to planetary conquests. But yeah, that Star Fleet II UI, like the Rules of Engagement series, looks like an autistic savant's wet dream; very user unfriendly, at least in the way it looks. I imagine once you get over the hideous hump of its learning curve, it looks like it could be pretty engaging. I have Star Legions somewhere in my eXoDOS. Might give it a looksey someday.

 

[TheDiceMustRoll]

This looks like they made a digital version of Star Fleet Battles, the weird-as-fuck Star Trek tabletop game which is just the license for the 1960's show and features conquering planets, a massively different map of the galaxy, tons of different races and the ability to colonize planets by force. It's like, a weird inverted mirror image of the original star trek property.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Crazy. Star Fleet I was one of the first computer games I ever owned back in the C64 days.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

I use to rent most of my C64 games by mail order back then from a place called Centsible Software in the mid-west. Starfleet I was one of those games, and those in the Ultima and Wizardy series, that cost 3-4 times more to rent than any of the others for some reason. Starflight, Dragon Wars or even Pool of Radiance (which came on like five 5.25" floppies) would be like $2.00 for a week's rental, but Starfleet would be something like $8 (!). I felt like I was being gouged sometimes so didn't feel as bad when I used C64 nibbler software to make byte-by-byte copies of the games I rented so I could finish them. I mean, c'mon! How can ya expect me to play and finish 3 or 4 massive RPGs in a week! So I copied them, photo-copied the manuals, quick start guides and copy protection wheels at my local library and played and completed all these great games at my leisure.

 

[SpellSword]

Sexy new version 2.0 is scheduled for release on both GOG and Steam on a Thursday real soon. If you want more info, check out the Steam page for development notes and discussion about the remake.

Glad to hear it is coming out DRM-Free on GOG!

Judging by the information on the Steam page it sounds like there has unfortunately been a delay in the release... but better it comes out finished than in a mess so I'm not complaining. (Just lamenting the wait.)

July/August, 2021 Star Fleet II Development Update


Hey friends, Brian Rubin here, and happy September! Sorry for the delay in this, I had a VERY busy July and August, to the point wherein only now are things slowing down and I have time to update y'all on the latest stuff going on with Star Fleet II!

First off, I wanna talk about release dates. Recently we pushed it back to October, but I'm gonna be honest, with the work that still remains, I'm not sure we'll be ready for October. This is not only due to the work that remains, but the fact that Trevor also basically has two other jobs: College Professor and Rocket Scientist, and September is going to be busy with both. So from now on, no release dates. We're gonna stick with "When it's ready" and hopefully get it out well before the end of the year, but again, we also want to do this right. We want to get the game to where Trevor wants it, feature-wise, and then work to get it as bug-free as possible for launch, as well as updating the necessary documentation. So while I'd LOVE for us to get it out in October, please understand if it's a smidge later than that.

Now, with that all said, let's get to the actual updates! We're now internally testing 1.9, which already has a ton of new features, such as armed freighters, a conditional firing mode that'll try to destroy warships and disable freighters and starliners, and some new toys in the Krellan arsenal. . .

For those who haven't seen it the author has uploaded the original trailer for the game from 1989:
https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/256844639/movie_max_vp9.webm?t=1627505732

The video suddenly ends with a second of Marble Madness, but that is part of the charm in my opinion.

 

[Sotomonte]

Weird that no one has made reference to the release of Star Fleet II on Steam and GOG:


https://af.gog.com/en/game/star_fleet_ii_krellan_commander_version_20?as=1649904300

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1470940/STAR_FLEET_II__Krellan_Commander_Version_20/




I'm very tempted to buy it... but I have to admit that the game overwhelms me

 

[mediocrepoet]

Weird that no one has made reference to the release of Star Fleet II on Steam and GOG:


https://af.gog.com/en/game/star_fleet_ii_krellan_commander_version_20?as=1649904300

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1470940/STAR_FLEET_II__Krellan_Commander_Version_20/




I'm very tempted to buy it... but I have to admit that the game overwhelms me

I've never played this one, but I played Star Fleet I on the C64 for ages when I was a kid. Great times. I'm tempted on that level alone and the enhancements look awesome. Very much an imagination required sort of game though.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

I really want to play this new official release of v2.0 but I feel like it would be a brain-melting experience. I'm too old for this stuff. I can't even muster up the enthusiasm to play Dwarf Fortress, even though I know these are excellent, complex SF & fantasy sims. Therein lies the problem, I think. These games go hard(core)!

 

[Galdred]

Could Star LEgion be played alongside Star Fleet 2 or do I mix it up with something else?

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Could Star LEgion be played alongside Star Fleet 2 or do I mix it up with something else?

You might be thinking Rules of Engagement (-series) to Breach-series crossplay.

 

[Luka-boy]

This fucking trailer

 

[mediocrepoet]

This fucking trailer

I might need to upgrade my rig to run this.

 

[Grauken]

A downgrade might be better

 

[flinar]

I bought this a few days ago, and am having a blast so far. Right now I'm having fun engaging with the systems that I understand. The documentation is well-written, and includes several tutorial missions. Likewise, the early campaign missions are all about navigation and transferring cargo and personnel between planets and ships.

Can 2.0 still be copied over to and run on a DOS machine?

I believe it can. There is a setting in the options menu to disable turbo mode for "slow" computers which are not running within Dosbox.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

The trailer for this is kind of funny (who does the narration?).

-play the bad guy!

-teleport enemies inside stars to boost crew morale!

-blow-up entire planets just because you didn't like the way they greeted you!

It's like delicious evil butter on a tasty galactic bagel!

https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/256977799/movie480_vp9.webm?t=1698424714