(continued from previous page) ...relation to the number of research stations you currently control. One of these gauges indicates how much longer you must wait before you can construct one of your factions special weapons. The other bar indicates how far you are from a technological breakthrough. Once a breakthrough occurs, you have the option of upgrading some facet of your faction.

Tech breakthroughs allow you to upgrade numerous different areas of your fleet. You may choose to upgrade the efficiency of your research stations or mining colonies, causing their output to be heightened permanently after the upgrade. You may also choose to upgrade your admiral draft, allowing them to be purchased with pre-set fleets. Finally, you may choose upgrades that affect every ship in your faction. These options include raw speed, handling ability, and turning ability. Each ship upgrade has a palpable effect on battles.

Special weapons add more strategic depth to the game. Depending on the number of research facilities you have, you could see a special weapon once a turn, or have to wait several turns for each one. Only one special weapon can be possessed at a time. Special weapons range from greatly in what they do. The Genesis device, for instance, deals massive damage to all enemy ship and structures in one node. The healing device, on the other hand, heals all your ships and structures in a node of your choosing. The Sub-space Disruptor breaks all connections to a node for one turn, while the wormhole generator allows two nodes anywhere on the map to be linked for one turn. The addition of these special weapons can greatly change the tide of battle if deployed correctly.

We've discussed the basic infrastructure of factional empires. Now its time to discuss core gameplay. Play is broken up into turns on the galactic map. At the beginning of each factions turn, it collects all its income from controlled systems and mining outposts. All research facilities are also tallied for special weapons and breakthrough purposes. If a breakthrough is reached during a given turn, the player is given the choice of what upgrade they would like. These events occur automatically every turn. Afterwards, the player is free to conduct their turn as they see fit. Each fleet a player controls can be moved at least two nodes a turn (a fleet commanded by an admiral with the movement ability may move even further). The player can enter any system he controls to build facilities or ships, or construct turrets for the defense of the system. Special weapons can also be deployed.

When fleets move into neutral or enemy controlled nodes, combat results. Neutral nodes often have random alien ships within them. Thus, if you are battling the Romulans and Klingons in a given game, annexing a new system may bring you into ship-to-ship combat with the Borg, or another faction. If the node is controlled by another faction, you will encounter any ships they have in the system, as well as any facilities they have built.

Battles can happen in a few different ways. Most players will enjoy arcade battles. During these battles, the player takes direct control of one ship, and may issue formation commands to all ships in a fleet. The player controls the movement of the ship with the left analog stick, and targeting with the right. Fleets may assume a defensive or offensive stance, depending on the circumstance. The given stance grants a bonus to either defense or offense, while granting a penalty to its counterpart. Phasers and Photon torpedoes are at the players disposal. Ships have shields in sectors around them that may be depleted in certain areas. An area with no shields left grants a window of opportunity to damage the hull directly.

Direct damage to the hull eventually destroys the ship. The battle is ended when all enemy units in the sector are destroyed, all your units are destroyed, or when one side retreats. Arcade battles are played out in real time. Sim battles, on the other hand, allow the player to "skip" the action sequence, allowing the action to play out. During a sim battle, players can still change their fleet formation and call for a retreat, but cannot directly ... (continued on next page)