The Nerfing of the Starship Enterprise: Part V

1979 also saw the release of the first Star Trek movie. The franchise had came alive, although it was in this case more as a zombie than a Lazarus. The movie was boring, the costumes dull, and the acting even duller. It wouldn't be until the Wrath of Khan in 1982 that it would pull a foot out of the grave.

The Enterprise herself however got a great facelift. In technology and use she seemed little changed from the original, just updated. But she didn't have a chance to show her stuff outside withstanding an attack that could one-shot the Klingons.

This would the be trend for the 'original' cast movies. The ship was often little more than a set in the movie, and while she would see combat- it would always be under very special conditions making it difficult to grasp what her real capabilities may have been.

On the game side of things, 1982 saw the release of FASA's Star Trek: The Role-Playing game.

It was a somewhat interesting if not completely effective rpg. It did have some of the better setting support and a few nice adventures.

On the ship side of things, it attempted to stay much closer to the original series (and original cast movies). No Dreadnaught to be found here, nor fighter craft. And the Enterprise stood proudly at that top of the mountain in ship design.

However...

It attempted to define away the cubic warp speed, saying that in order to fight ships had to match warp speeds. The original series showed things directly counter to this, so it was a pure game construction to avoid the issue. I reject the handwave here, it's not a warp driven warship unless you show it as a warp driven warship. I'm going to be harsh on this point with the scoring below as IMO a difference that makes no different is no difference.

The Shields (like Star Fleet Battles before it) were ablative although they'd pop back up the next turn ready to absorb what they could again. This too matched nothing in the series.

And again we see ships firing every weapon they can power and bring to bear, in this case because of the free damage bonuses given them if they were powered with at least a single point.

Lastly, the game just wasn't that much fun. Its attempt to split the bridge stations between players were a failure, and the 'up/down/back up' ablative nature of the Shields crippled the design from a play point of view IMO.

To score it:

1. Failure: It was a Warp Speed warship best used in combat at FTL speeds.
2. Failure: Non-ablative Deflector shields, able to withstand (for a time) planet wrecking attacks and completely ignore attacks below certain power levels
3. Success: Shields were divided into at least four 'arcs' that were damaged and reinforced independently
4. Failure: Phasers and photon Torpedos were FTL weapons. There were a number of weapon mounts pointing in different directions.
5. Failure: The phasers were fired 'one bank' at a time in a twin beam using all the ship's offensive power in a single attack. Torpedos were launched in spreads (typically in sets of double launches) and never fired at the same time as the phasers
6. Success: Ship's Power was critical in how the ship operated. Often balanced between needs it could divert for increased offense or defense.
7. Failure: Warp Factors were a cubic conversion times light speed (maybe with a constant added)
8. Failure: It was the fastest ship in Starfleet as warp drive was power intensive. Shuttles were sublight only.
9. Success: The Enterprise was the most powerful, and most versatile ship in Starfleet

Simulation Quality: 3 of 9
Game Quality: 2 of 5
Nerf Score: 3 of 5

Part: I, II, III, IV, VI, VII, Conclusion