This system is incredibly simple to get into with a surprising amount of depth under the surface. The way that Attributes/Systems can tie in to Disciplines/Departments in any way is clever, and the sheer ease with which you can hammer together a full crew for an adventure is just a delight. The entire system is buttery smooth... for adventures in the mid-to-late 2360s and early 2370s, as a Starfleet crew.

That may be ultimately the system's only weakness--playing outside of that specific time period or as something other than a Starfleet crew isn't covered yet under the creation rules. This is likely by design--lots of systems do this. The core book for Exalted, at least the second edition for instance, only covered rules for playing as the Solar Exalted with some very minor touches of playing as a Heroic Mortal and tantalizing hints of playing as one of the other types of Exalted. If you wanted the rules for the Lunar Exalted, you had to pick up the Lunar Exalted sourcebook.

Now, giving credit where it's quite due, this lets the core book be about the rules of gameplay without unnecessarily bloating it to fill every nuance. A majority of the book covers the system, the equipment, the starships, and creating a character. A clever GM can, thus, use the established rules to create their own rules for other species, such as the Romulans or the Bolians, or even to create their own. So, let's summarize:

PROS Very easy to grasp rules, good for veterans and newbies alike Copious examples given to help mitigate confusion during creation or play Adherence to canon for any sticklers (as best they can adhere, anyway) New characters out the gate feel good at their jobs, compared to graduating the Academy and not knowing a self-sealing stem bolt from a plasma converter

CONS Very little rule-touching for the 22nd and 23rd centuries (though I understand a 23rd century supplement is "coming") Very little rule-touching for the later parts of the 2370s, such as the Sovereign class No rules for the Federation Peregrine attack-fighter? Sad GM. I had to make my own up for my Akira adventure but ah well

All in all, worth the buy if you want to play/run an RPG on the final frontier.

Let's see what's out there. Warp six, engage!