Starfleet Orion is a 1978 science fiction strategy game written and published by Automated Simulations (who would become Epyx in 1983).

The game was originally written in BASIC for the PET, but later ported to other early home computer platforms including the TRS-80 and Apple II.

Another useful strategy is to use the tractor beam to quickly push fighters into range of their targets, at "speeds" their own engines could not achieve.

[1] The game originally shipped on cassette, and required the users to type in the scenario and save it to a separate data tape before playing.

This process was greatly improved on the diskette versions, which had the games saved out as data files that could be loaded up by name.

Connelly had purchased a PET computer to handle bookkeeping during his D&D games, and was interested in finding ways to make some of the money back.

Automated Simulations claimed in advertisements for the $19.95 Starfleet Orion that "game mechanics are extremely simple, but play is exciting, challenging, and rich in detail".

[2] The complex setup and requirement for two players was an obstacle to casual play, which led Freeman and Connolley to quickly release the single-player Invasion Orion.

"[3] Jerry Pournelle praised the Orion games' realism: "Classical principles of fleet warfare work, and strategy and tactics are more important than luck".