Star Trek Online

Blog Post: Boldly going where no MMO has gone before!

Marc K. — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 03:26:00 GMT

Now I am not much on MMORPG's, I will admit. Most of what I play for MMO's is just Maplestory. However, being a Trekkie, I had to give this game a shot when I saw it. I did some research on it before, and liked what I saw thus far. Upon trying it, I am vastly impressed.

Previous Trek titles never ranked very high to most people. However, this game is out to put that myth to an end. Upon the start of the game, you get to create your character. You can choose almost any well known Federation affiliated species to be. Not to mention you can later on unlock the Klingons upon reaching a certain rank with your Starfleet character. If you feel like creating your own race, the game allows as much customization as it can to create your own race of beings. My only dissappointment thus far is not being able to select the Ferengi. Oh well, my latinum stashes were better off. After creating and naming your player, you now get to name your ship, as well as your ship's registry code. If you have no idea on what to name your ship or registry, like most other games, it has the option of randomly assigning you a name and registry.

Character and ship decided on, the game begins. The first thing you see is a detailed backstory of the current conflicts in the Trek Universe, as detailed by the one and only Spock (Leonard Nimoy). The story goes: Romulus and Remus have been destroyed by the Hobus Star. Few Romulans and Remans remain. The after effects of the Romulans endangerment has compelled the Klingons to try to take control of the area. The Federation is trying its best to preserve their alliance with the Klingons, but war seems inevitable. The Romulans want to claim revenge for their lost world. Not only that, but the Dominion seems to be rebuilding its forces, and now the Borg have reappeared and have begun to attack Federation ships. This is where you are dropped into the game.

For introductions to controls, The Alternate Universe's Spock (Zachary Quinto) walks you through the controls of the game, and how things work. Your first mission, save the U.S.S. Khitomer from desctruction by the Borg. Upon completion of the mission, the Federation higherups are so impressed that an Ensign did so well, you are assigned as the "captain" (you are called captain despite your rank when it comes to your ship) of the ship you started on, which is usually a puny Miranda class starship (think U.S.S. Reliant from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). You are then assigned to do different missions and build up your rank. Upon reaching certain ranks, you are allowed to purchase a new starship. Your ship can be equipped with different weapons, hull, shields, and etc to make your adventures even better.

Gameplay wise, the space battles are what we come to expect. Epic battles floating in the void, firing phasers and photon torpedos at your enemies to bring them to their knees. The ground battles seem a bit more dull, dragged out, and boring. Some even seem to drag on forever as it seems a little too easy to get killed sometimes. Overall, the gameplay is decent if you prefer a lot of space battles. There's even a mission in which you get to go back in time and save Captain Kirk and the Enterprise. Sorry, no Shatner here. The only communication with the Enterprise is with the Nimoy Spock. It's fun though. A lot of your favorite species are back in full force as well. The Gorn, Klingons, Romulans, Ferengi, Borg, and more. You can also visit some of the memorable places from the TV series. Wolf 359, Memory Alpha, Risa, and more!

The graphics and audio are very impressive. The same fanfares from the movies return in their awesome glory. The battle music is great (sorry, the TOS fight music is not in this game). The graphics are astounding. Every little detail in the ship is brought out. Including the Ship's name and registry!

All in all, this game is every bit what we want in a Star Trek game. A few loose ends with ground battles and some repetitive missions is all that I find wrong with this title. I reccommend this game, especially if you are a long time fan!

Blog Post: The Final Frontier

DoubleDDaveN — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:08:00 GMT

I have played a lot of Star Trek games. None of them where really what I was looking for. Now that I have played Star Trek Online, I can honestly say I can die happy. It's one of the best games I've ever played. You can customize anything from your characters eyebrows to your ships nacelles to beyond. I am currently a Captain Grade 4, and I have been playing the game for months. It's worth every penny.

Forum Post: Star Trek Online FREE WEEKEND

NEOBarnaby — Sun, 09 May 2010 21:06:00 GMT

I was excited to see that Star Trek ONLINE was finally offering a FREE WEEKEND...but I've been just as frusrtated with the whole excitement of it all...I've been "trying" to download since Saturday at 4pm...I just now shut it down...it was only 70% done...Why would a DEMO of the game take the entire weekend to download...it OBVIOUSLY was not my high speed connection...maybe they shoudl have offered more mirror sites to download from?! What the heck...So now, as excited as I was about giving Star Trek Online a try, I went back to an old MMO instead...sorry Star Trek...

File: Star Trek Online Expanded Content Trailer Part 1

Jeff Cork — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:09:00 GMT

Are you clamoring for more Star Trek Online content? Here's a look at what's to come.

Wiki: Star Trek Online Guides

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:48:00 GMT

Guides for Star Trek Online

Blog Post: Star Trek Online: The Next Ten Hours

Matt Miller — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:20:00 GMT

A few days ago, we reported on the early hours of Star Trek Online, the new MMO from Cryptic that entered into open beta testing earlier this week. We’ve since had plenty of time to dig into the space and ground combat, skill system and upgrades, and even play a little bit of the unlockable Klingon faction. Here is our full report along with screens taken from our time in the game.[Excerpt]

At the end of our last look at the game, which you can read here, we’d completed the introduction as a young Star Fleet officer, having been promoted to our first command during a crisis period for the Federation. Threats lay heavy upon the galaxy – war with the Klingons, the reemergence of the Borg, and deeper, more mysterious dangers that seem to be looming on the horizon.

The early missions that follow the game’s introduction do a fine job of establishing many of the complex and interconnected game systems that govern play. The first and most significant is the skill system – the primary way to build up your avatar’s abilities and have them rank up. Players acquire skill points by completing missions and defeating enemy forces. Once attained, they need to be spent upon various abilities that improve your in-game actions. We initially threw some points into Starship Command for added maneuverability and damage with our ship, and then several points into energy and projectile ship weapons, so that our phasers and torpedoes would pack more of a wallop. With the last skill points we’d built up during the introduction, we fleshed out our ground capabilities – improving our own personal combat skills and our ability to command away team members and improve the use of their skills.

Spending these points helps to ascend the long road through the ranks of Star Fleet, the leveling system of the game. Every rank has 10 grades (levels) that build up as you play. After the introduction, players will already have moved out of their roles as Ensigns to become Lieutenants. From there, the progression is Lieutenant Commander, Commander, Captain, and Admiral. Each new rank brings with it a new tier of abilities, weapons, and missions. However, more notably, it gives players their next tier of ship.

Star Fleet ships are split into five tiers to match the corresponding ranks. Every player begins the game as the captain of a light cruiser. However, at the Earth spacedock that serves as home base for the Federation, players can quickly customize the look of their craft within the constraints of that ship's class. For our ship we changed out the saucer and nacelles, and altered the color scheme for the exterior before heading out for our first major missions. It’s fairly limited this early in the game. It will take many hours to reach the second tier of ships, but at that point the options expand dramatically. Beginning as a Lieutenant Commander, players are able to choose between fast and dangerous escort ships, heavy and well-fortified cruisers, and technologically advanced science ships.

The following hours of play were filled with numerous missions that had us crisscrossing the nearby regions of space. An overview “Sector Space” map allows for easy transversal across the galaxy between systems, but it’s only once you enter a system and its surrounding space that you’ll dive into space combat. In addition, many systems will have ground sections attached to missions located there – requiring you beam down for exploration, negotiations, or most commonly, ground combat. We tackled one mission that had us negotiating to end a work stoppage on a Federation mining colony. Another mission sent us into a heated space battle with the reptilian Gorn after their attack on a science facility. Still another demanded we patrol several separate star systems for signs of Klingon incursions into Federation space.

Along the way we were automatically placed in open instance groups with other players who were attempting the same missions we were. Though this feature can be turned off to play solo, the open instance approach often sends players into much larger and more exciting battles than they might encounter alone. With three or four player ships as allies and a commensurate number of enemy cruisers and fighters, space battles can become impressively explosive affairs. If you like the team you’re automatically assigned to, you can stick with them for several upcoming missions. When you’re ready to head out solo once again, it’s easy to leave.

We also explored another largely group-focused activity called Fleet Actions. These massive battles had us dropping in with a large group of other players to tackle extremely large battles. For Trek fans, imagine the really big battles in the latter seasons of Deep Space Nine or the opening battle against the Borg in Star Trek: First Contact, and you’ll have a good sense of what Cryptic is going for with these sessions. These large-scale battles are objective driven, and can be found scattered about the galaxy – easy to drop into when you want a break from the mission tree.

[PageBreak]

After four or five hours of missions and battles, we’d acquired some significant upgrades to our equipment, both from mission rewards and through purchases at friendly neighborhood starbases. For our ship, we chose to apply some regenerative shields that would power back up quickly after a hard fight. We changed out one of our phaser banks for a disruptor with a smaller firing arc but a higher damage output. Our avatar saw similar advances, with some impressive body armor that helped with her targeting, and a powerful sniper phaser rifle that could start off any battle with a big hit. When extra equipment came into our possession, we’d either sell it off to pay for future upgrades or pass it along to one of our bridge officers, helping to assure they’d be as sturdy in combat as our main commanding officer.

Upon hitting Lieutenant Grade Six, we were well on our way to our next ship, but that benchmark opened up another fun option – the ability to play as a member of the Klingon Empire. The Klingon faction opens up halfway through your progression through Lieutenant. Log out, and a new option appears to create a character from this opposing galactic power. A tweaked visual overlay in the character creator delivers several new allied races currently at war with the Federation. Honor-bound Klingons, violent Nausicaans, sensual Orions, and the reptilian Gorn are all among your options.

Completing our new Klingon warrior, we found that his adventure began on the Empire’s home world of Qo’noS. As an untested battle commander, a Klingon battle master demanded we prove ourselves in arena combat before acquiring our first ship. Bat’leth in hand, we engaged in some melee combat with the surrounding NPCs, and impressed the officer. She put us in command of a fast and dangerous Bird of Prey, and set us loose upon the galaxy to win honor for the empire.

The Klingon faction of Star Trek Online has a fundamentally different focus than the Federation. While you can still rank up in the Klingon Defense Force, upgrade your ship through multiple tiers, and go on missions, almost all of the content is geared towards battle – mostly PvP. Skill points are acquired by winning honor in various space and ground battles – defeating foes for the glory of family and empire. We only got a glimpse of these variations on the gameplay formula, but we played enough to see that Klingon ships handle in fundamentally different ways than their Federation counterparts. Our Bird of Prey was fast and maneuverable, and packed an incredible punch with its forward-mounted disruptors. However, its side and back shields were dangerously weak, and meant for some quick defeats if we didn’t maneuver well through the hail of combat fire.

Logging out after about a dozen hours in-game, Star Trek Online shows some significant promise. No matter your chosen faction, space combat is strategic and fun, demanding a constant juggling of ship systems, defense, and weapon fire. Enthusiasts for Star Trek lore will have little to complain about – it’s clear that Cryptic shares a strong commitment to the deep fictional backdrop established over the last 40 years. Additionally, the game’s characters, ships, and environments all look great.

There are still some significant hurdles to be overcome. Technical hiccups still abound in the beta – perfectly acceptable at this stage, but with a release date looming in early February, it will be surprising to see all the issues addressed. Additionally, ground combat feels too simplistic and unpolished in the early hours of the game. We’re hoping that later game abilities, weapons, and missions help those sections feel more engaging.

Those concerns aside, the game represents an exciting opportunity in the MMO game space. Mixing two fundamentally different combat mechanics, a unique approach to faction play, and a devotion to the license that rivals any other MMO – all are positive signs for the game.

Have you begun to explore Star Trek Online’s open beta? What do you think so far?

File: Star Trek Online Trailer

Matthew Kato — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:07:00 GMT

Check out this action-packed new trailer for Star Trek Online

File: Star Trek Online