Released at the end of 1978, Starfleet Orion was the groundbreaking sci-fi strategy game that launched Automated Simulations — the company that would soon become Epyx. Widely regarded as the first space-themed wargame available for home computers, it pits two players in tactical starship combat between the Stellar Union and the Confederation of Orion. Battles unfold on a 32×64 grid, where players input commands for their fleet each turn and watch them execute simultaneously. Each of the 22 ship types has limited energy, requiring strategic power distribution between propulsion, weapons, and shields. Beam weapons degrade over distance, missiles strike grid locations, and torpedoes detonate near targets. Some ships even launch starfighters or use tractor beams for advanced maneuvers. The game features 12 pre-designed scenarios and a scenario editor for custom battles. With no AI, Starfleet Orion emphasized head-to-head strategy and simulation depth, laying the foundation for both the Orion and Dunjonquest series that followed.

Starfleet Orion was the very first space-themed simulation for home computers, and ushered in a completely new era. Because the computers were so limited in both storage and processing, the coding was concise, and the richness of the stories came almost entirely from the documentation. In fact, the first versions of these titles shipped with only a cassette tape and a manual. One of Epyx’s co-founders, Jon Freeman, was a prolific writer, and his ability to craft a rich narrative around all of the characters and scenarios made all of the original Epyx titles much more than computer simulations; they were true stories, with protagonists, antagonists, character arcs, and descriptive details that helped define the emergence of fantasy RPGs. The 34-page manual for Starfleet Orion had more characters of text in it than could fit in four of the computers that it was designed to run on. We’d be very interested in working with a visionary partner who’d like to revive this title in some fun form; either as curriculum for teaching basic software design, or as a graphic novel, or as a re-imagined and updated simulation to play on mobile devices. We’ve even floated the idea of making a tabletop game or card game out of it. There’s lot of room for creative freedom to narrate the original manuals, animate them if appropriate, or something that might make for an interesting and fun offering.