NOTREK

You are the sole Federation commander standing between the Empire and total galactic domination.

NOTREK drops you into a 6,000-light-second battlefield where every decision carries weight. Fly a warship of your choosing across a living galaxy of contested planets, an enemy fleet, and vital starbases. Every kill earned, every planet captured, every army beamed down is yours.

The rules are adapted from the legendary open-source multiplayer classic Netrek with the complexity stripped down to one pilot, one mission, zero excuses.

Key Features

Five ship classes. Zero fillers.
Scout, Destroyer, Cruiser, Battleship, Assault Ship: each with genuinely different feel. The Scout darts at warp 8 but folds under fire. The Battleship soaks punishment and dishes it back in kind. The Assault Ship carries three times the troops but moves like a loaded freighter.

Tactical depth, not button mashing
Shields protect you but prevent beaming and repair. Lower them and you're vulnerable but free to act. Manage weapon temperature, fuel burn, orbit timing, and army logistics simultaneously. Warp into battle too hot and you'll be dead before you decelerate.

Capture the galaxy one planet at a time
Beam armies up from friendly planets, bomb enemy defences to rubble, then beam your troops down to claim the soil. Three planet types add resource strategy: Agricultural planets grow armies fast, Repair planets patch your hull mid-battle, Fuel depots top you off when your tanks are dry.

Full-contact space physics
Tractor beams yank enemies into torpedo range. Pressor beams fling them into the gravity well of a planet. Cloak to ghost across enemy space (but your fuel will run out eventually). Self-destruct as a last act of defiance.

You choose the scale

One ship per side for a quick skirmish. Eight for the full chaos of the original game. Unlimited if you think your framerate can handle it.

Play Tips

Early game: earn kills before you beam
Your troop capacity starts at 1 regardless of ship class. Every kill you score adds 2 slots (3 in an Assault Ship). Rush a friendly planet to beam up one army, capture a weakly-defended enemy outpost, then farm kills to build capacity before attempting a serious invasion.

Shields are your most important decision
When shields are up, weapons bounce off. When they're down, you repair, beam, and capture, but one torpedo ends you. Never lower shields in open space near enemies. Drop them only in orbit over a friendly planet or a defenceless one.

Orbit before you bomb
Manual torpedoes waste shots. Orbit an enemy planet, lower your shields, and press B to engage bombing mode. Your ship automatically walks torpedoes into the planet until armies hit zero. Then press V / Reinforce and claim it.

The Assault Ship is a specialist, not a beginner's ship
Its massive hull absorbs fire but it turns like a barge and its phaser range is the shortest in the fleet. Use it for deep invasion runs, escort it with kills from a Scout first, then switch to AS to carry and deploy armies.

Use your starbase
The Federation Starbase in the upper-left regenerates shields, hull, and fuel at six times the open-space rate. When you're battered, retreat, orbit, lower shields, hit R for repair mode, and you'll be combat-ready in seconds.

Tractor beats pressor in a knife fight
When an enemy is closing fast, tractor them — it kills their approach speed. Pressor is best when you're in a tight spot and need to buy separation. Both drain fuel, so don't lean on them.

Cloak for repositioning, not hiding
Cloaking constantly drains fuel. Enemies see a ghost blip offset from your real position, but they know roughly where you are. Use cloak to cross contested space between fights, then decloak to strike before the ghost position gives you away.

Rank up, don't throw kills away
Self-destruct resets your rank to Ensign. Death does the same. Fleet Admiral capacity (75 kills) lets you carry a full army compliment in any ship. Protect your kill streak and retreat to the starbase rather than gambling on a bad engagement.