Star Trek: Armada

Did You Know?

• An initial run of Armada boxes contained an exclusive playable card, the USS Jupiter, as a cross-promotion with the Star Trek Customizable Card Game.
• On December 13, 2021, Armada and its sequel were re-released on GoG.com.
• Voice actor Richard Penn, previously unaffiliated with Star Trek, voiced characters in the game.

Gameplay

Armada is a real-time strategy game in which players choose a faction from the Star Trek universe, build fleets of starships and space station bases, and conduct battle. The four playable factions are the Federation, the Klingons, the Romulans, and the Borg. Ships from other races such as Ferengi, Cardassians, Dominion, and Breen appear in campaign missions. Each faction fields six starship classes from scout to capital ship, each with a unique tactical ability. Players can capture enemy ships and stations. Two primary resources are used: crew, generated automatically by starbases, and dilithium, mined from moons by resource gatherers. The campaign has 20 missions split into five parts, one per playable race and a fifth where the player controls an alliance against the Borg. Multiplayer allows skirmish battles against the computer or other players. Games take place on a scale roughly equivalent to a planetary system, with celestial bodies such as planetoids, asteroids, and nebulae affecting gameplay.

Plot

After the Dominion War, the Federation is rebuilding when a timeship, the USS Premonition, appears from the future under Borg attack. Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-E aids it, and the Premonition's captain, Thaddeus Demming, warns of an upcoming Borg invasion. Picard repels an initial Borg attack on a Federation outpost. Commander Worf helps defend the Ba'ku homeworld from the Son'a, then learns of the Enterprise's discovery. On his way to Qo'nos, Worf is ambushed by Toral, who uses a fake Sword of Kahless to seize control of the Klingon Empire. Toral ambushes Chancellor Martok after a Borg incursion, sparking another Klingon civil war. Toral is defeated over the Klingon homeworld and retreats to the Neutral Zone, revealing Romulan support. The Romulans discover a stable Omega Particle, a source of limitless power, found by a Ferengi mining guild and about to be sold to the Cardassians. Admiral Sela secures it for the Tal Shiar, then allies with the Borg, promising the particle after they destroy Toral's forces, but betrays them. The Borg assimilate a Dominion cloning facility to create Locutus, Picard's former assimilated self. Locutus leads the Borg to take the Omega Particle from the Romulans and assimilate Ambassador Spock, who was mediating between Klingons and Romulans. Without Spock, the two empires go to war, allowing the Borg to enter the Solar System. Locutus defeats the Federation fleet, kills Worf and Demming, and assimilates Earth. Picard and the Enterprise escape through a temporal vortex created by the Premonition.

Reception

The game received average reviews according to GameRankings. Greg Kasavin of GameSpot praised the graphics for accurately replicating ships from The Next Generation and noted twists in resource and unit mechanics, but called the game a standard RTS. Mark Asher of IGN criticized a formulaic approach that did not distinguish the game from other RTS titles and found the single-player game boring. Both GameSpot and IGN reported bugs causing video and sound problems, and alt-tabbing causing crashes. Greg Orlando of NextGen said the prime directive compels buying the game even if one thinks Picard was the best Enterprise captain. Nick Woods of AllGame gave it four stars out of five, saying it keeps the pulse moving and the mind working. John Brandon of GameZone gave it eight out of ten, calling it an excellent RTS that immerses the player in the Star Trek universe with an arcade feel. In 2016, Tom's Guide ranked it among the top ten Star Trek games. In 2020, Screen Rant ranked it the 9th best Star Trek game and praised Patrick Stewart's voice work as Picard.