Aside from this, the campaign structure just doesn't make any sense. Being allowed to wander all over the map and choose which orders you want to follow while in the midst of an interstellar war is about as comprehensible as "Spock's Brain."The absence of a command system makes it appear like you're commanding a crew of privateers, hiring themselves out for whatever they feel like from moment to moment. There are also no troop or fleet movements to speak of, further emphasizing the lack of soldierly organization. Not too many conflicts are fought like these ones. "The Chocolate War" boasted better military strategists.

This campaign idea would likely work better online as part of the persistent Dynaverse that Taldren planned to set up. Unfortunately, it doesn't work at the moment, and likely won't be up and running for some time to come. Problems with the hosts at WON.net just weeks before the game's ship date left the universe without a home for the present. Starfleet Command II's publisher Interplay is working on the problem, however, and is rushing to have servers online as quickly as possible. The game's release still should have been delayed to account for this problem.

Another serious issue at the moment is the lingering presence of a number of bugs. The cursor is often replaced by a block of graphical refuse from somewhere on a previous screen, making it even more difficult to click on those tiny interface buttons. Restarting the game is the only way to clear this up. Every now and again a mission will begin without the ability to control your vessel. You sit there helpless while the action begins all around you. Forfeiting the mission is the only way to work around this…though typically the game will lock up and force a Ctrl-Alt-Del reboot when this is attempted. I also experienced a number of random hard lock-ups at various times during missions.

Patches are coming out all the time to clear up both these issues and others with the Dynaverse. Use the in-game update feature to check for recent fixes every few days or so. Be warned, though—these files aren't small. At the time of writing, the latest "refit" update was a rather imposing 11 MB. No big deal for those of you with highspeed connections, but a real sore point for people like myself without broadband access.

Starfleet Command Volume II: Empires at War is a rather pedestrian effort that speaks to a lack of inspiration on the part of the designers. It is more of an expansion pack than a full sequel, with no significant alterations in the formula introduced over a year ago. There are no pressing reasons for satisfied owners of the original game to upgrade to this new version, though that might change if and when Interplay and Taldren get the Dynaverse online. There are also no pressing reasons for those dissatisfied with the original to buy this game. In short, you can likely find better ways to spend your money.

Brett Todd
Contributing Editor