Star Control

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Star Control title screen for the IBM PC.

This article is about the Star Control game. For information on the Star Control organization, see Star Control (Organization).

Star Control: Famous Battles of the Ur-Quan Conflict Volume IV was developed by Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III. It was released for the PC in 1990 and (in a somewhat cut-down form, and called simply Star Control) for the Commodore 64 in 1991 by Accolade. A port for the Sega Genesis was released by Ballistic in that same year.

Game play is a mixture of action and strategy. Players control fleets of ships and maneuver them about a star map, mining, colonizing, and fortifying planets while building up a fleet. When two (or more) enemy ships meet in orbit around a planet, they engage in a one-on-one dogfight to the death. This aspect of the game draws its inspiration from SPACEWAR! (written for the PDP-1).

Two things set Star Control apart from various other SPACEWAR! 'clones' - the aspect of strategy and the diversity of the ships (leading to higher quality game play). Each ship has a unique weapon and special ability, as well as varied stats that affect its performance in combat directly. Players must learn the strengths and weaknesses of each vessel and how to cope with them.

The game consisted of two sides: The Alliance of Free Stars, the good guys, and the Ur-Quan Hierarchy, the bad guys.

Listed here in the order they appear in the game are the Alliance races, their ships and their ship's value (in Starbucks):

Alliance Race	Ship	Starbucks
Chenjesu	Broodhome	26
Yehat	Terminator	23
Mmrnmhrm	Transformer	19
Ariloulaleelay	Skiff	16
Syreen	Penetrator	12
Earthling	Cruiser	9
Shofixti	Scout	5

Listed here in the order they appear in the game are the Hierarchy races and their ships:

Hierarchy Race	Ship	Starbucks
Ur-Quan	Dreadnought	30
Mycon	Podship	23
Spathi	Discriminator	18
Androsynth	Guardian	15
VUX	Intruder	12
Ilwrath	Avenger	10
Umgah	Drone	7

As shown here, the Earthlings were not the most powerful, nor the center of the game. They were just one of many races. Their Cruiser vessel, though deadly in the right hands, was slow and third to last in sheer value.

Star Control laid the foundations for Star Control II, a masterpiece of space exploration, combat, and diplomacy.

Star Control and Star Control II are full of nods, influences, and references to other science fiction (and some non-scifi) sources.

See also

Star Control scenarios