Maf: Starfleet Battles - Premise of the game is that a group of humans left Earth in the 21st century to escape the violence, crimes, prejudices, wars, hatred and biases of Earth to build a paradise beyond the stars.
They arrive on a huge planet they originally call "New Hope," but that the local inhabitants call "Maf."
The humans, whom are eventually known as the "Original Colonists," land in year 1893 on Maf which is strikingly similar to 1893 on Earth. Human scientists speculate on a theory of "parallel development."
From 1893 to 1988, the Original Colonists expand across the continent, introducing new "inventions" as they go via their megacorp, LMT, - pushing the limits of the assimilation of new technology by the local population. Of course, all these inventions were prevalent on Earth they left behind.
The game begins in 1988, one year after the conclusion of World War 3. Anti-gravity has just been discovered, but is not yet in use. Spacecraft and space stations are being built by various nations in a wide-ranging "space race."
The focus of 1988 to 2000 is the expansion of the gamescape from solely planetary nations into a space-going society and the rivalry between nations and factions as they strive to accomplish this.
Technology used to reach orbit is rockets with reaction drives (rocket engines).
Several companies are racing each other to build the first gravity-control based lift and propulsion systems. LMT left Earth before anti-gravity was discovered and thus is racing as hard as the other companies to produce gravity drives.
In 1989, gravity propulsion is discovered by a handful of corporations (including LMT) and becomes prevalent by 1990. In 1991, most governments begin retiring their navies because the gravity drives permit small manned and unmanned craft to travel and fight anywhere across the planet and to loiter for lengthy amounts of time.
In 1991, the first Planetary Assault occurs when forces led by Gen. Perold Jonas assault the nation of Zambetq from space.
During this time, players can build their own space stations or spacecraft accumulating wealth, experience, structures on ground or in space, create corporations and create or conquer solar systems.