These battles get intense and drawn out. It's fun trying other big ships from the tholians or the romulans and try their weapons out against some federation ships. For some odd reason you will feel a jolt of joy every time you smash up a huge federation vessel. The Missions are varied and fun. There are a couple that are universally hated by people who play this, but 22 out of 24 isn't bad.
Missions are long and the cutscenes are very entertaining.
You decide how to approach every situation. It may be scripted but it doesn't feel that way. Sometimes you are at a loss as to what to do. This is what the message board archives at Interplay are good for. At least one mission I had to skip entirely because it wouldn't stop crashing at a certain point.