00:00Hi, I am Tim from GameXide, working as a game designer on the space combat of Star Trek Voyage, across the unknown.
00:11When designing the space combat, we looked at both how it works in the TV show, as well as how other Star Trek games handled pivotal part.
00:20We took inspiration from Starfleet Command, Bridge Commander, and Star Trek Legacy, but also had the central power fantasy in mind, that you are the captain.
00:30You do not fly the ship, you have Tom Paris for it, nor do you manually aim and fire the phasers.
00:37This is Truvok's job. Instead, you give commands to your crew, which enemies and subsystems to target.
00:44You are doing this via the radial order menu, and especially the attack and defend options.
00:50A key point in Star Trek combat is the positioning of your ship in relation to the enemy, as there are different subsystems located on each side, and the shields on each side are weakened, but also recharged independently.
01:03However, in order to hit the respective side, you obviously need a clear line of sight.
01:09By selecting to attack the enemy weapons located in front, your helmsman will try to maneuver Voyager in front of the enemy to give your security officer a clear shot at the desired subsystem.
01:20Note, that while he will continue to fire regardless and hit other sides, he can only wear down the front shield and damage the weapon subsystem once the relative position is reached.
01:31The same, however, is true for Voyager.
01:33If enemies target the ship's warp core and the port shields are close to failing, you might consider using the defend the port order, so your helmsman turns the ship around.
01:41Once your currently selected enemy is no longer able to shoot at your port shields, they will slowly recharge and you can make some necessary repairs to the underlying subsystem.
01:50Again, your security officer will keep firing, but is likely no longer able to hit the enemy's weapons due to a lack of direct line of sight.
01:58So, are you risking taking critical damage to deal the final blow, or will you abort the attack?
02:05While Phaser Fire has a certain bleed-through ratio to deal damage even through shields, torpedoes can only deal devastating damage to the hull once shields are down.
02:13As timing is key to hit the correct side, and supply is limited, you need to order firing torpedoes manually.
02:24Other parts of the raid menu involve the option to flee combat, which is only available once either enemies' warp engines are disabled,
02:32or if your cloaking device is ready, only if you have one, as otherwise they would follow you easily,
02:39or the option to surrender by giving you enemy resources.
02:43However, be aware that not every enemy would accept a surrender.
02:48In addition to the command menu and the manual firing of torpedoes, you also need to give orders to your bridge crew when to use their special abilities.
02:56But for each fight, you select up to three from a broad variety.
03:01Paris, flying an evasive maneuver to dodge incoming attacks.
03:07Elana, overcharging the warp core to give you more energy to use.
03:15Or even seven of nine firing a boar-confused torpedo.
03:19But there are many more to explore.
03:21As skills have a certain cooldown and often work best in a certain situation or order,
03:27for example, unleashing Tuvok's double shot once Harry hacked the enemy shield frequencies,
03:32timing these skills is crucial.
03:36The final piece to survive as a starship captain is managing your energy distribution.
03:41Each combat room you have built is represented by an empty bar,
03:45with the total number of energy bars available depending on your current warp core level.
03:50While at the beginning of the game you still have enough energy to power everything,
03:55new combat systems such as the boar-cutting beam, energy dissipator or the cloaking device
04:00will force you to choose your energy allocation wisely.
04:03To add a little more depth, certain hero abilities allow you to temporarily overcharge systems.
04:12Damage to your warp core, on the other hand, makes your energy levels drop, forcing you to change
04:16tactics on the fly. Luckily, you can pause the game at any time and take a deep breath.
04:23While space combat is only a small part of our game, it is closely connected to your ship build
04:29and develops more depth as you progress throughout the Delta Quadrant.
04:33New technologies and increasing hero abilities keep adding to the options you have at your disposal.
04:39Depending on your specific objectives within a combat encounter, you can employ very different
04:44tactics. Remember that you can always auto-resolve space combat. In this case,
04:49the result is calculated similarly to away missions or points of interest,
04:53with your ship build deciding your chances.
04:55We hope this video has given you a better understanding of some of the inner workings
05:01and design choices for space combat and hope to see you in the Delta Quadrant soon.
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