Star Trek: Infinite

Star Trek: Infinite is a licensed grand strategy game based off of the iconic sci-fi franchise Star Trek. It was developed by Nimble Giant Entertainment, also known for a shooter Quantum League, and published by Paradox Interactive who specialize in strategy games.

Plot

Star Trek: Infinite is set in the sci-fi universe of Star Trek, in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants of the Milky Way. The player must lead one of four factions - the United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire or the Cardassian Union - to dominate the others.

Depending on our chosen faction, we'll gain a different perspective of events and encounter different characters. Leading the Federation, we can recruit such captains and officers as Picard, Janeway, Sisko and Data, while other factions feature such characters as Gowron, Makbar and Garak.

Mechanics

Star Trek: Infinite is reminiscent of Stellaris. Its individual systems, however, have been modified and/or simplified to better fit the franchise.

We start the game by choosing our faction. The factions' politics all determine our possibilities. For example, the Federation can't wage wars and can only develop peacefully, the Klingons focus entirely on their fleet, while the Romulans can only field few units, though immensely powerful ones. Our possibilities are also determined by the so-called traditions - whether we'll focus on defense, conquest, industry, science or wealth and trade with other factions. Speaking of those factions - aside from the four main ones, there are plenty smaller ones; it's up to us how we'll approach them.

The player must handle their faction in its entirety, taking care of resources, technology, nurture relations with neighbors, conduct espionage and field a powerful fleet to come out on top during military operations. Our fleet's strength depends on our ships' quantity, quality and crews. Space-time jumps also play a major part in the game. Friendly neighbors will let us use a sort of space highway, making our fleet move significantly faster. As for the ships themselves - the game features units known from the original series, like the Intrepid, Defiant, Galor, D'deridex and Negh'Var class vessels. The most iconic one is, of course, Enterprise-D.

Technical aspects

Star Trek: Infinite makes use of an appealing, colorful artstyle. Most of the time, we'll be watching the interface and the map, with key locations and faction influence zones marked.