In an earlier post about Empty Epsilon, I said the open-source bridge simulator looked brilliant — but I’d never actually played it properly. It needs a few players, and rounding up a spare crew (and a spare bridge) isn’t something that happens every day. Turns out owning a computer shop full of spare machines solves that problem nicely. We turned the computer shop showroom into a star ship command deck for the night, roped in a full crew, and finally found out what Empty Epsilon is like when every station is manned. If you walked by 85 Main Street last night and looked into the window you may have been confused

Old iMacs Did the Trick

Empty Epsilon doesn’t run brilliantly on macOS, but it’s right at home on Windows and Linux. That made a stack of old 2011–2015 iMacs — the kind sitting around with at least 4GB of RAM — perfect candidates. We wiped a few, put a lightweight Linux Mint build on them, and installed Empty Epsilon on top.

Networking wasn’t really a problem either. Empty Epsilon can be played over the internet, but it’s much better with everyone in the same room — trust me, it’s a lot more fun that way.

One trick borrowed from the old LAN party days: set aside a couple of the older machines purely as a shared display screen. That way anyone can look up from their own console and see the full tactical picture without craning over someone else’s shoulder.

The Learning Curve Isn’t as Steep as You’d Think

One of the things I like about this game is that it genuinely rewards a bit of skill — and that skill depends entirely on how well the crew works together. A weapons officer isn’t much use alone, since the beam weapons fire automatically once a target is in range. Helm has to get the ship into position. Science has to feed weapons the right frequency to calibrate shields and beams before any of it actually works.

Playing Captain and Weapons Officer

Playing weapons officer, like I mentioned, is high stakes — you’re juggling missiles, mines, shield calibration, and constant chatter with the rest of the bridge to get the power and information you need. A couple of things I picked up:

• Calibrating the shields takes them offline — don’t forget to bring them back up.
• When you’re calibrating against two ships at once, splitting the difference between their frequencies sometimes works better than locking onto just one.

Captain is a completely different game. You need to understand every role on the bridge and be able to give orders the rest of the crew will actually understand — taking in a wall of information and still coming up with a workable plan. I found both roles genuinely fun, in very different ways.

After the Learning Curve, We Just Clicked

There’s definitely a learning curve, but once everyone got through that first game, we started to know what to ask of each other. A lot of us were offering up the information the rest of the crew needed before anyone had to ask for it.

Communication is the whole game. You can play Empty Epsilon online, but I don’t think it’s the best way to experience it — it really wants everyone in the same room.

Building Our Empty Epsilon Full Crew

We’ve started a local Facebook group for our Empty Epsilon full crew nights. We’re always after new players, but for now the way in is simple: come into the shop and ask to be added. Have a look at what else we get up to while you’re at it.

Empty Epsilon isn’t really a roleplaying game — you don’t have a character beyond the job you’ve got on the ship — but we couldn’t resist a few Star Trek-style call-outs when giving and responding to orders. Half the fun is that everyone already knows what those commands mean. Mostly.

At the end of the day, this is just the old-fashioned LAN party with a Star Trek coat of paint — and honestly, you’ve got to love that. If you fancy getting your own Empty Epsilon full crew together, check out our original Empty Epsilon review for the basics, or come say hi at the shop.