Star Cadre: Team Command is Out Now!

Sunday, 27th September 2026

A new tactical combat game for MS-DOS has been released! Star Cadre: Team Command puts you in charge of a squad of elite operatives in the far future, conducting special missions on behalf of an interstellar civilisation.

The Unity of Free Planets is in a state of cold war against the alien Donos Empire, and also has to defend its citizens against pirates and other enemies. You command a unit of combat and support operatives for the Unity. You recruit these operatives, equipping and training them as you see fit, sending them on various missions. Your ultimate goal is to prove the worth of the team to your superiors by reaching and succeeding at the most challenging missions the universe can throw at you.

You'll spend most of your time commanding your away teams on their turn-based missions, exploring the area, shooting enemies, rescuing hostages, and retrieving loot or special items. There are 24 missions in four different environments, and expansions will add more missions and places. You'll play from six to sixteen randomly chosen missions in a single game, and each mission will be procedurally generated, meaning you'll see something different in every game. The presentation is retro: it needs to be, given the platform that the game runs on.

Star Cadre: Team Command follows on from Star Cadre: Combat Class, a simpler tactical combat game that used the same core mechanics for short games of a single mission. Planning started as soon as the earlier game was released in 2024, but most of the work went on during 2026. This game was completed with the help of a team of volunteer beta testers, along with some helpful people posting useful resources across the internet.

You can play Star Cadre: Team Command on any MS-DOS machine that has at least an 8088 processor, CGA or Hercules graphics, and 512k RAM, and it also plays well in emulators like DOSBox that you can install on most modern machines. Download the game and manual from its web page, unpack the zip archive, and follow the instructions in the readme file if you're running in an emulator. Feedback on the game is welcome, as are donations if you enjoy the game!