Star Fleet Battles Star Fleet Battles ( or SFB ) is a tactical ship - to - ship combat game created by the Amarillo Design Bureau and published by the now - defunct Task Force Games beginning in . Amarillo Design Bureau now publishes the game independently . The principal designer is Stephen V . Cole , an engineer and former US Army military intelligence officer . It has undergone heavy revision and expansion since it was originally released and is the oldest and most thoroughly tested " Star Trek " - based game in existence . While this is a " Star Trek " product officially licensed by Paramount Pictures , it is granted only a partial license , and as such cannot mention specifics of canon " Trek " in the games , save for basic information . This game does not use the name " Star Trek " in its title , but incorporates the design of the heavy cruiser and the uniform s , weapon s , aliens , and some of the terminology of " " era . Part of this license allows the game to depict information from the " Star Fleet Technical Manual " by Franz Joseph ( such as the " Federation " dreadnought and " Ptolemy " tug ) and also information from ( including the Klingon projected stasis field and Larry Niven ' s rarely - seen Kzinti . It should be noted that the SFU Kzinti are very distinct from those of Larry Niven ' s works ) . This game ' s license forbids the release of characters , aliens , ships , or situations taken from any of the " Star Trek " movies or the " " era series ( , , , etc . ) . However , Amarillo Design Bureau has continually added their own ships and races to the game system , referring to their continuity as the " Star Fleet Universe " . While " Star Fleet Battles " is a tactical - level game , Amarillo Design Bureau also published a strategic - level game based on the same " universe " entitled ' in which is similar to a game entitled ' , also published by Task Force Games . The focus of the game involves the eighteen - year long General War fought between the " Coalition " ( the Klingon , Romulan , and Lyran Empires ) and the " Alliance " ( the Federation , Kzinti , Hydrans , and Gorn with the Tholian s as co - belligerents ) . Expansions and updates published in and have greatly enhanced the game and further expansions are still forthcoming to involve races and time periods outside of the General War . A role - playing game has also been created entitled " " which focuses on small , specially - trained and equipped " Prime Teams " , who are sent on exceptionally dangerous missions . Also , a card - based combat game known as " Star Fleet Battle Force " and a new tactical combat game , " Federation Commander " are also produced by the company . Because of the game ' s extensive revisions and high - degree of playability , much of the material from the " Star Fleet Battles " universe was incorporated into video games by Interplay , such as " " and " " . These games were licensed by Paramount and therefore were allowed to feature situations during the " Star Trek " movie era . Amarillo Design Bureau ' s partial license has prohibited them from producing computer games based on their own material and previously published board games , however this has been disputed in the past and is still being contested by legal means .