Embark on a journey through uncharted territories!
Here's the "official game trailer" for Star Trek: Infinite, the new strategy game that was announced a couple days ago. Looks like it comes out on PC this fall.
Okay, so as someone who is has been playing Stellaris for years now... the user interface and what we've seen of gameplay looks very familiar. This looks to be a mix between BOTF and Stellaris. I like!
I appreciate the apparent Birth of the Federation aspect as briefly seen in the trailer. I loved BotF and I've missed it terribly. However, I am still irrationally annoyed by the note that this game takes place "decades" before TNG, yet Galaxy-class, Intrepid-class, and other newer vessels are featured. (This would have been the best opportunity to feature ships from the "lost era" between the Kirk feature films and TNG, such as Ambassador-class, Constellation-class, and any number of ships seen as wreckage at Wolf 359.)
As others said, maybe that's just the starting point. Botf didn't get Galaxy class until I think tech levels 3/4, and Defiant class was near the very end.
I wonder if you start with the older ships and then as tech progresses, upgrade to newer classes? It looks heavily based on Stellaris (mixed feelings about that) so it might follow that trajectory.
If you're a Stellaris player, you would probably be interested in the huge Star Trek New Horizons Mod, which basically integrates all of Star Trek into Stellaris. It's a complete gameplay redesign. There are a few rough edges, of course, but the mod is pretty comprehensive. They even have a gameplay mode that matches BOTF.