Gameplay
The player begins inside a space station orbiting a planet called Arth. The goals of the game include exploration, collection of lifeforms and minerals, and finding habitable colony worlds. Eventually, a larger goal of finding out why stars in the region are going nova and stopping the process, if possible, comes to the forefront.
The ship is initially equipped only with engines. It can be modified into a warship through the purchase of weapons, armor, and shields. The player hires a crew from five species to man the ship's six posts: Navigator, Science Officer, Engineer, Communications Officer, Doctor, and Captain. A crewman's proficiency is determined by the relevant skill: a good science officer can determine more of a planet's properties and detect aliens at a greater range, for example. Skills are increased through training, which must be purchased. One crewman can man multiple posts, but different species have different maximum skill levels.
The hub of the game is Starport, headquarters of the Interstel corporation, and a space station which orbits the planet Arth. Here players sell their finds, buy minerals and Endurium, recruit and train crew members, and upgrade parts of the ship. The main source of income is planet exploration: the ship is equipped with a terrain vehicle that the crew can use to look for minerals and life-forms. The most lucrative source is finding planets suitable for human life. If the science officer's analysis checks out, the player can flag a planet for colonization; this includes naming the planet, though the name has no effect on gameplay.
Starflight has 270 star systems, each with zero to eight planets for a total of 800. All star systems can be entered and all planets landed on, though in some cases this destroys the ship due to high gravity. The science officer can scan the planet for information about it, including temperature, gravity, and atmosphere. When a landing is ordered, pixelated map shows the various topography of each planet, as well as a cursor to select a landing point. A terrain vehicle can be deployed once the ship is parked on the ground, allowing the crew to drive across the terrain and scan for minerals. As is the case in outer space, a heads-up display monitors the Terrain Vehicle's current fuel level, which is replenished by simply re-entering the ship. If the Terrain Vehicle is destroyed or irrevocably lost, a fee is automatically deducted for a replacement.
Space is also crisscrossed with continuum fluxes, coordinate pairs that allow instantaneous travel between them without consuming fuel. Travel via fluxes cuts down significantly on fuel costs and travel time, though it causes all but the most accomplished navigators to lose their bearings. Space is populated with half a dozen spacefaring races, androids, probes, strange singing beings called Minstrels, and a number of random encounters, including the Enterprise.
Aliens may be cautious, friendly, or hostile; the player can influence alien reactions by arming weapons and shields or hailing the aliens with varying communication styles. Alien ships can be also scanned for information. Combat occurs in real time, and involves firing weapons, either instantly damaging phasers or avoidable photon torpedoes depending on how far away enemy ships are, and what the player's ship is armed with. The player's ship has ablative armor and regenerative shields, and can take damage to its hull, crew members, and individual components.
Read more about this topic: Starflight