When I first encountered this RPG, I was blown away. The beauty and simplicity of the dice system hit me hard, and bubbled on my brain for months. Narrowing the scope to just SF officers, and therefore being able to have just 5 stats and 6 skills was a masterstroke, in my opinion. Couple that with this idea of a 2d20 dice system which generated a linear curve of 0-2 successes, and was readable by players right off the dice because you roll to get < stat+skill just blew me away, completely. Add the idea that if you roll near 1 it's a complication and near 20 is an advantage, sweet icing. I was less happy about the core rulebook when I bought it, though, becasue 90% of the book was Trek lore. I eventually got myself the starter set which had the core rules, and gave away the big, hardbound book to a friend who wanted it.