Starfleet Orion

_Starfleet Orion_ is a science fiction-based wargame, and is the earliest
known game of its kind sold for home computers. It depicts battles between
fleets of space ships belonging to the Stellar Union on one side, and the
Confederation of Orion on the other side.

The game requires two players (there is no AI opponent) and includes 12
increasingly complex scenarios and 22 different ship types. The battles take
place on a 32 x 64 grid. Players enter their commands one after another, and
the turns are then executed simultaneously. A scenario ends when one (or both)
party’s ships are destroyed or have escaped the play field.

Each ship has a limited energy supply which must be divided between systems,
including propulsion, weapons and shields. Armaments include beam weapons,
missiles and torpedoes. The beams’ effectiveness decreases with distance.
Missiles are targeted to a specific grid location and then explode, regardless
of whether a target is present or not. Torpedoes can only be targeted in a
general direction, and explode if they pass within two grids of a possible
target. Some ships also include squads of smaller starfighters that can be
launched. Another useful tool is a tractor beam, which can be used to push
other ships into or out of the way of launched weapons, or can accelerate
fighters towards their target.

In tape versions of the game, the scenarios have to be typed into the included
scenario editor from the manual and saved to a separate tape before playing,
whereas disk versions include the scenarios as finished files. The editor can
of course also be used to construct new scenarios.