Sins of a Solar Empire II's Star Trek: Temporal Cold War Releases Its First Playable Build

You can assemble an impressive Star Trek fleet in Temporal Cold War, but if your ally's homeworld falls, your campaign is over. Doesn't matter how many powerful ships you've got elsewhere. You've lost.

That's one of the more unforgiving rules in Star Trek: Temporal Cold War, a total conversion for Sins of a Solar Empire II from Swizzlewizzle that has just released its first public playable build. The project brings together six major powers spanning eight eras of Star Trek history, with more than 240 playable ship hulls according to the creator. It's an impressive collection, but the ships are only part of the story.

The mod also replaces the game's usual economy with a system built around a Time Rift, making control of that location central to your campaign. Lose the Rift and you're eliminated. Your choice of ally is permanent, too, and their homeworld becomes another location you absolutely cannot afford to lose. Building a powerful fleet is still important, but keeping that fleet in the right place becomes a much bigger concern when one poorly defended objective can end everything.

It's an approach that should give campaigns a different rhythm from the usual scramble for resources and territory. You have to think beyond simply expanding your empire, balancing whatever offensive plans you've made against the need to protect locations your survival depends on.

Temporal Cold War is still an early release, and players will need Sins of a Solar Empire II and its Harbinger DLC. There's plenty of development ahead, but Star Trek strategy fans can finally get their hands on the project and see how its unusual rules change the fight for control of the galaxy.