Grok Trek
A modern take on the classic Super Star Trek computer game. Command the Grokship Wanderlust in an endless campaign against the Glitch Armada, and climb the fleet ranks.
The story
The Glitch Armada keeps pouring in from the rim of the galaxy and from its hidden Nests. Fleet colonies hold the space lanes, and the Waystations keep the fleet flying. In the middle of the map, the neutral Free Ports trade with anyone who keeps the peace. You command the Grokship Wanderlust. Hunt Glitchers with lasers and plasma torpedoes, break sieges before colonies fall, take back the ones that are lost, and run contracts for the Free Ports to earn credits for shipyard upgrades.
The campaign never ends. Waves keep coming and get stronger, colonies change hands and the job boards refresh. Your career runs until you retire or lose the ship.
How it plays
- A galaxy of 16 × 16 quadrants, each one an 8 × 8 grid of sectors. Tap the sector scan to fly by impulse or aim a torpedo. Tap the galaxy map to warp. The Full map button shows everything you have scanned.
- Energy is everything. Warp, lasers and shields all draw on it. Waystations refill and repair you for free. Free Ports sell energy and repairs for credits.
- Glitchers fire back whenever you act in their quadrant. Hits drain your shields and damage ship systems. Damage control repairs them over time, and docking repairs them at once.
- Colonies come under siege. If you don't relieve a besieged colony in time, it falls. Fly in and DOCK to retake a fallen colony once its quadrant is clear. While a Waystation is besieged, it goes offline.
- Free Ports are neutral ground. Every one has a contract board with 3 to 5 jobs: cargo runs, courier drops, bounties, surveys and colony rescues. Each job pays credits and has a deadline. You can hold 3 at a time. A failed or abandoned job costs reputation. If you fire on a Free Port, you are fined and banned there for good.
- Shipyard upgrades at Waystations: Hull Plating, Torpedo Racks, Laser Coils and Repair Drones, three levels each.
- Buttons, taps and keys. The classic orders (NAV, SRS, LRS, PHA, TOR, SHE, DAM, COM, DOCK) are buttons, taps on the sector scan and the galaxy map, and keyboard shortcuts. Whatever the moment offers on top (a job board, the shipyard, the market, a lost ship) waits in the Choices menu. The command reference lists everything.
Career, score and ranks
Your career score grows with Glitchers destroyed, contracts completed, colonies defended and retaken, and stardates survived while your colonies hold. Your difficulty multiplies it. Press SUBMIT at any time to post your career score to the leaderboard. It is also posted when you reach a new rank and when your career ends. The leaderboard keeps your best career.
| Rank | Career score |
|---|---|
| Cadet | 0 |
| Ensign | 1,000 |
| Pilot | 3,000 |
| Lieutenant | 7,000 |
| Commander | 15,000 |
| Captain | 30,000 |
| Commodore | 60,000 |
| Rear Admiral | 100,000 |
| Admiral | 160,000 |
| Grand Admiral | 250,000 |
| Fleet Commander | Reserved for the site owner. It can't be earned. |
Your rank appears in the status line, on the leaderboard and in the chat when you enter the galaxy ("Captain Nova has entered the galaxy"). The title Fleet Commander belongs to the site owner. It is set on the server, protected by a private key, and nobody can earn it or claim it by picking a name.
Away team: the worlds below
Beside a colony, or docked at a Free Port or Waystation, press AWAY and your away team beams down. The bridge panes become the world screen: the town, your team's rank, HP, gear and purse, and a row of place buttons. The selected place (town, wilds, gear shop, healer, inn, bank, master, arena, team) is drawn right in the panel with its own buttons and your last result. Return to ship beams you back. Each world type has its own town, and the wilds outside are home to the local beasts. You get 6 outings into the wilds per stardate. Time only passes aboard the ship.
- Wilds: turn-based fights (ATTACK, BLAST for a ship's laser strike from orbit, or RUN). Wins pay XP and credits into the purse. A knockout costs half the purse and the rest of the stardate's outings.
- Gear shop (8 weapons and 8 armors, with a trade-in), the healer, and the inn with rumors, a bard and a friendly chat with the innkeeper (charm makes shops cheaper).
- Bank: the purse and ship credits are one account apart. DEPOSIT and WITHDRAW move money between them.
- Masters: earn the XP, then challenge the town's master for the next of 12 ranks. Each rank-up adds career score.
- Lairs: every 4×4 cluster of quadrants hides one boss on one of its colonies. Inn rumors reveal it. Beating it pays a bounty in ship credits, career score, reputation, rare tech for the hold, and breaks the colony's siege.
- Lost colonies are ruins: no town, only the wilds. The Arena is a placeholder for team-vs-team bouts in the multiplayer phase.
Careers begun before away teams existed replay unchanged. Their away teams stay aboard until you pick Switch on away teams in the Choices menu.
Difficulty
| Difficulty | Score multiplier | Glitch waves | Glitchers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cadet | ×1 | every 12 stardates | lighter |
| Captain | ×1.5 | every 9 stardates | standard |
| Commodore | ×2 | every 7 stardates | tough |
| Admiral | ×3 | every 5 stardates | brutal |
Losing the ship
If the Wanderlust is destroyed or stranded with no energy, you have two choices. RESCUE keeps the career going: a fleet tug brings you to the nearest Waystation, and you lose all your credits, your best upgrade level, 15 reputation and 250 score. RETIRE ends the career and posts its final score.
Fair play: it all runs on the server
The galaxy lives on the server. Your browser sends one command at a time and shows the result. It never sees hidden Glitchers or the rest of the map, so there is nothing to peek at. Your career is saved after every command, and you pick it up again with Resume career. There are no save slots and there is no going back: what happens, happened. Scores come from the server's own state.
Coming later
- Neutral Zone council seats (add-on). The Neutral Zone and your reputation are already tracked. Council seats will build on them, and they need the shared multiplayer phase first.
- Casino at the Free Ports, with play credits only. It never touches career score.
- LORD worlds: short text adventures when you land on certain planets.
- Shared markets in the TradeWars 2002 style, and global seasons with their own leaderboard.
Grok Trek is an original game inspired by the 1970s Star Trek and Super Star Trek computer games. Its names, ships and enemies are its own, and it is not affiliated with any franchise.
Play at https://rtwl.fun/games/groktrek/
Made by Lawless and Grok