Any idea how to beat that mission?

I make contact with the Klingon station, ask for permission to enter the neutral zone, then radio SF the data. Then I warp to the system with the meclanti ship. It fires on the planet (#1) and I do the same, then the Klingons warp in.

There's no way I can "communicate" with the meclanti. I shoot at the planet with normal phasers, disabling phasers, always wait for it to fire 1st, always firing only one shot as they do. I've watched a youtube vid and do EXACTLY as what I see, still no dice.

Any ideas?

EDIT:

Ok, I finally got past the "fire on the planet" scene. The solution was to use disabling phasers and fire exactly after Sturek's comment after the meclanti ship fires his weapons.

But now I'm stuck on the "photon torpedoes" scene. It fires at me, I fire back and BOOM, Klingons arrive, mission lost. I tried automatic targeting, manual targeting, direct hits, shooting past it...

Frustrating since it doesn't feel like a space game but some kind of space riddle where I have to push the correct button at exactly the correct time... horrible mission design...trial and error over and over again...

I'm so glad I'm not the only one with this problem! I played the game on CD back in the 90s, and never got past the communication phase of this mission, but now I'm not sure how to even get there! I'm going to try to not do anything until Sturek actually says to do something, because the instant I fire torpedoes, the Klingons warp in just like the problem you're having.

Maybe you're still targeting the planet? It doesn't matter if you hit the Meclanti or not, or if you're even firing in their direction, but the game does seem to require that the correct target is selected before firing the appropriate weapon. If you don't, they turn hostile and the Klingon start attacking.

Yep - that is the key... It's the target setting. Switch to disabling phasers and TARGET the planet and shoot at it after Sturek says his line about Meclanti shooting it. Then turn and target Meclanti and fire photons when they fire. The fly the ship toward the planet and away from the planet just as the Meclanti does then you should be able to talk to the Meclanti.

Hey there, Check out how I beat it here.

hmm.. I can't post a link. Oh well, Go to youtube and search for
Star Trek Starfleet Academy Mission 22: A World Of Their Own - Star Trek Games

You can also see how I went through the other missions too.

In my case, after several tries and not remembering having any difficulty with this part of the mission originally (I originally bought the old boxed version when it was new), I finally realized that the mission breaks if I use my joystick to fire weapons during the phaser the planet or photon the Meclanti parts. Failed for a good 40 minutes straight until it occurred to me to try using the keyboard instead. Worked every time with the keyboard. Two keyboard phasers, then joystick torpedo - fail. One keyboard phaser, one joystick phaser - fail. Keyboard only weapons - success in getting past that twice in a row.

If this is true, you're my new favourite person on the planet. Has anybody else tried it this way yet?

EDIT: I just found some time to try it this way - and lo and behold: It STILL doesn't work. Damn shame.