From Star Trek Game Information
This Interview with Unimatrix325 from Racoon Software took place on the 12th April 2005.
STGU: Can you tell us a bit about yourself, the team making Final War 2, and where you are from?
Unimatrix325: The team consists of two programmers : me and my friend QGJ_19. We are from the Czech republic and we are both studying on technical universities.
STGU: How did you get into making Freeware Star Trek games?
Unimatrix325: I'm a big ST fan and few years ago I simply decided to try make my own ST game.
STGU: Have you made any other games apart from Final War 2?
Unimatrix325: The only serious project was the predecessor : Final War 1.
STGU: Can you tell us a bit about Final War 2?
Unimatrix325: Well, there are many thing that can be told about it :) It's a arcade/simulator game where you control starship and fight other starships. At the beginning you can purchase only one of the weakest ships and during the game you make it to bigger and stronger ships and even to some superships with special weapons like species 8472 bioship. The game will have up to 80 different ships which are from all the series, movies and even some other games so you can easily play any famous ST battle like Wolf359, battles at DS9 or against Borg.
STGU: What sort of features, gameplay and ships does the game have?
Unimatrix325: I have already mentioned ships in the answer above. And to the features : Each ship carries some weapons including beams, pulses or torpedoes. Weapons configuration were made as precise as was possible from any series/movies sources. So you can be sure, that well known ships will have their weapons on proper places. All ships has four shields, armour and of course hull. You can reroute energy between key systems. You can use tractor beams, high energy turns or cloaking devices or even fly warp.
STGU: What races can the player select ships from?
Unimatrix325: There are 6 major species : Federation, Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, Dominion and Borg - each with smaller or larger group of ships. Then there are some "other" ships like Breen vessel, Ferengi marauder and Son´a ships. And finally there are special ships from various species even species 8472.
STGU: Are there any hidden surprises in the game?
Unimatrix325: Well. There are no easter eggs. But I think special ships can be considered to be a hidden surprise. There are also two ships from StarCraft :)
STGU: Are there any map objects that effect gameplay?
Unimatrix325: No. In fact map object such as nebulae's would only make players and AI ships to use it all the time.
STGU: Can you go to warp?
Unimatrix325: Yes. You can move by using warp to get to distant targets. You can try escaping by warp or you can pursue your targets through warp.
STGU: Do you think people will play the usual races like the Federation and Borg?
Unimatrix325: I think so. The Federation is very popular and has the most of ships and the most sophisticated ships. But I think people will play with Klingon and Romulan ships too. There are indeed "play-only-one-time" ships, but even then it´s worth to have the ship in the game. Actually I myself don't like playing with cardassian ships :-)
STGU: What were your main goals whilst making the game?
Unimatrix325: The main goal was to make the game with the best relation between ST reality and gameplay. They are games where you can fire only a few torpedoes even when we have seen on the screen that the ship can fire more. They are games which have a lot of features like "marine transporting" but it's not entertaining (IMHO) and it's not usual ST tactics. We have tried to make all things that was seen on screen. Nothing more, nothing less. And we tried to make it to be well-balanced and amusing. We have tried to prove that a ST game could be made even without ignoring some vital facts, without simplifications and without any non-canon add-ons.
STGU: Will there be any more updates made in the future?
Unimatrix325: I'm working on the English translation and 1.1 patch. There is also a possibility that we could remake FW2 so it has better graphics by using other components. I also already have one request for a StarGate mod.
STGU: Would you describe the game as being similar in concept to the Starfleet Command series which also used prestige?
Unimatrix325: Yes. Starfleet command was an inspiration for me.
STGU: Did you think of adding multiplayer?
Unimatrix325: I'd like to make multiplayer as soon as possible, but this is the hardest work. So for the time being : no :-(
STGU: What do you think about the current state of star trek gaming?
Unimatrix325: Unfortunately I don't have a computer to play the last ST games. But I think that in the past few years the professional scene have done a well job. Games like Armada, Starfleet Command III, Elite Force, Bridge Commander or Away team were damn good games (well, Armada II was a bit of a false step). They were professional and for a certain target group. But on the other side, ST is a topic made for adventures. Any other game style is just a small part of ST phenomenon. We have seen already quite enough of starship simulators and I don't even think that using actual 3D space is a good idea. It's much more complicated to navigate your ship. But as you can see exactly the starship simulators are the thing that amuses me on Star Trek :-) So I'll keep making this kind of games.
STGU: Do you think Freeware games are filling the gap that has been left by no games being released since 2003?
Unimatrix325: Yes it's also interesting, that ST has the most of fan-games of all sci-fi. But they are things, that freeware games could never really have. I mean a sophisticated story, well designed background and all those things, that Paramount has a dozens of well paid people to work on. But I think, that professionals should really play these games and try to get the best experience from them.
STGU: Can you tell us about anything else you are currently working on?
Unimatrix325: I´m working on many school semester works :-)
