Star Trek Fleet Command 12+

Great Strategy Game

I’m comparing the game to other strategy games like it, so the 5 stars is relative. There are things I don’t like about it, but comparatively speaking, it’s the best mobile strategy game I’ve ever played. (I’ve spent a lot of time playing Game of War: Fire Age and West Game as well as STFC.)

First, I love Star Trek, so I’m biased right out the gate. Other things I like that separate it from other games: they give enough free peace shields per day if you do all your daily tasks to stay shielded 24/7. There are limits, especially for low level players, on who can attack you. Until you get higher level, only players within 2 levels of you can attack you. You NEVER run out of stuff to do. In fact, the more you play, it can get downright overwhelming how much there is to keep you busy.

That being said, there are downsides. Like other strategy games, it’s impossible to be a top player without spending. There are a lot of f2p players who enjoy the game a lot, and you can do everything, but it just takes A LOT longer. I’m one of those who spends a little, and I’m in the mid-range as far as power. Of course, there are whales who spend thousands who you’ll never be able to compete with. However, my server, and I believe most if not all servers, have player-organized/enforced Rules of Engagement that limit bullying and sheer domination by p2p players.

Decent game ruined by developer’s optimization for making you pay

I downloaded this game hoping for a nice mobile version of Stellaris in the Star Trek universe and it is a decent version of that, I guess. You get to build and level up a star base and manage and level up your ships and crew. The MMO aspect isn’t terrible, although you seem to get ganked a lot if you leave your ship outside of your station when you’re not logged in.

The problem is that playing it is like watching the home shopping network because you can’t do anything without having to click through a way to pay more money to reduce the pain of progression. Every resource either costs money or is in a random loot box so there is no strategy for resource management other than just keep clicking (unless you want to pay to click less). All the new content is behind battle passes and loot boxes so all you can do to meet your goals is just keep paying.

When I added up all the cost in micro transactions to make this more like a decent PC game, I’d have to pay many multiple times what I’d pay for Stellaris on PC in order to make this game enjoyable. I get that the devs need to make money but I’d much prefer a monthly subscription to a decent game over the constant begging and slot machine mechanics that mobile gaming has become. If I wanted to hang out in a casino I’d go to Vegas.

Game is NOT Star Trek

Biggest problems are that the game is designed to be a predatory, player-eat-player mess. Players that shell out hundreds of dollars will always be able to beat you up and take your resources. Bases are upgradeable to ‘protect’ some of your resources, however the amount is extremely small and only a fraction of what you actually need to save up to do upgrades. If you want to keep people from raiding you, you have to shell out money to buy ‘peace shields’. Also, stupidly, you can’t use several smaller shields at once to have a longer shield, so your 1 hour and 4 shields are useless because you can’t cover a night of sleep or a work day with them. It only takes a few MINUTES for people to raid you and loot all your stuff, so even small gaps in protection will ruin you. Advancement is impossibly slow unless you shell out tons of cash. Upgrading officers and ships will literally take years without shelling out for multiple $99 bundles. Unlocking the base faction ships is doable with many months of farming, but anything above that will take you YEARS to unlock. Keep in mind that the resources you need to upgrade your bases and level are the same resources that upgrade your ships, so you can’t do both. So...years to upgrade base, then years to unlock a ship, then years to UPGRADE the ship. Gaining levels actually HURTS you in many ways. Quests you could complete yesterday are now impossible because the level of your target ships goes up.

Developer Response ,

Hi insertnane, thanks for your feedback. Star Trek: Fleet Command is meant to be enjoyed by many types of players and we have made a lot of quality of life changes recently to help out everybody in our game. Please reach out to us with your specific feedback and we will do our best to address it in the game. Live long and prosper!