The Cardassians offer the hand of friendship to the Tamarians. Bite it!

It’s a simple strategy – find a licensed property that’s endlessly durable, then milk it for lucrative returns. MicroProse know this only too well, as they launch yet another Star Trek game through Hasbro Interactive…
Andy Smith

Star Trek. Hurrah! James T, Spock, jokes about ‘Canny do it Cap’n’ and all that?
Calm down. You won’t be finding James Tiberius Kirk in here. This particular licensed property is Star Trek: The Next Generation. The new ones. With the bald bloke and a Klingon.

Oh well. They’re still fun. What’s the game called and what’s it all about?
Stand by. The game’s full title is Star Trek: The Next Generation Birth Of The Federation. It’s a turn-based strategy game.

You’ll have to give me more than that…
BOTF features five races: Romulans, Ferengi, Klingons, Federation and Cardassians. The player picks one of those races and attempts to populate space at the expense of everybody else. This is achieved in the usual turn-based strategy game way of exploring, colony-building, resource management and combat.

The Klingons will wipe the floor with everyone!
Not necessarily. MicroProse have balanced the races to ensure none of them has an overall advantage. Sure, Klingons will be tough in a fight, but the Federation will be a well balanced race, the Ferengi especially good at trade and economics, the Romulans the sneaky ones with espionage and stealth bonuses and so on. Each group must play to its strengths to counter the others’ unique specialities.