UPDATED: 11/26/08 – Skewed & Reviewed Interview in Bold UPDATE 2.0: Now with shiny new info from Cryptic’s Q&A in blue. UPDATE: Now with shiny new info from Cryptic’s FAQ in red.
The Star Trek Online presentation from Las Vegas has just wrapped up, and if you didn’t have the chance to see it then you certainly missed out on a whole hell of a lot. I shall do my best to try and break down some of the facts that were learned about STO during their showing in Vegas:
General Information
Star Trek Online is set in 2409, roughly 30 years after the events of the 10th Star Trek film, “Star Trek Nemesis”. In the 30 years since the movie, many enemies have become friends, and some friends have become enemies. Specifically, the Federation and the Klingon Empire are at each other’s throats once more — as it should be.
Since the game takes place in 2409, fans shouldn’t expect to see too many of their favorite characters from the series’.
Anything considered canon in the Star Trek universe (i.e. live-action TV, films) will not be altered, but STO will take “inspiration” from some of the non-canonical Trek lore (i.e. novels, comics, etc.)
There will only be two factions to play as at the game’s launch: The Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets. However, Cryptic has promised that other factions such as the Dominion and Romulan Empire will become playable in the future.
In addition to the MMO-standard of world (galactic?) exploration, there will be lots of “story-based episodic content”
There will not be separate servers for PvP, PvE and RP. PvP will be restricted to certain sectors (open PvP in unclaimed territories,consentual PvP in neutral zone, etc.).
Competitive PvE will occur in the neutral zone, with both sides fighting over the same resources and territories. There will also be a PvP option for these instances.
Guilds will be included. They will be referred to as “Fleets”, and as your Fleet grows in size and posterity, your Fleet will eventually be able to build their own shipyards.
The world of Star Trek Online will be dynamic, meaning that your actions will affect the world for everyone around you. So please, don’t be a d-bag.
You won’t have to have a top of the line PC in order to play Star Trek Online (JW: But it’ll help).
Unfortunately, no Mac or Linux support at this time. But they certainly made it sound like they would add it later on.
As of now, Cryptic hasn’t decided on how much green we’re going to be charged each month.
Cryptic Studios is working with former Star Trek writers to help pen some of the missions and events in the game.
Cryptic Studios used almost nothing from the Perpetual Star Trek MMO project
PC and Console gamers on the same servers? It’s a distinct possibility.
We can expect to see Star Trek Online in “less than 3 years”.
Character & Ship Creation/Customization
When you begin your game as a new Ship Captain, you won’t automatically be given the rank of Captain. You will have to earn your rank through play.
Your first ship will be rather small, and as you play through the game and complete assignments, you will be able to obtain larger vessels.
When you create your character, you will be able to select from a list of different species that include Humans (duh?), Vulcans, Bajorans, Ferengi, etc. If you want to try your hand at creating your own race for your character, you are able to.
Customization translates over to your ship, as well. As you complete missions and build up the skills of your character and crew, you will be able to customize aspects of your ship that include the ship’s nacelles and saucer, amongst other things.
You will be able to customize your ship’s geometry, color, fleet insignia, and even add decals. At long last, the USS Excelsior WILL have flames and racing stripes.
Every Ship Captain (aka your character) will have a specialty, much like games like WoW have character classes. You will be able to specialize in things such as “Medical”, “Diplomacy”, “Navigation”, “Combat”, etc.
STO will not be a level-based MMO that will take hours upon hours of mindless, pointless grinding that would go against everything Star Trek stands for.
When you get your first ship, you will have to recruit your bridge crew. Your bridge crew plays a lot like pets play in other MMOs. They will be AI controlled, and as you play with them, you will have to increase their skill sets.
You will also be given a general crew which will be made up of several species. Depending on the race and position of certain crew members, you will get small bonuses towards your ship (i.e. smart races as engineers, strong races as security).
Exploration
You won’t be confined to the already discovered universe. With Cryptic’s “Infinite Exploration”, you will actually be able to discover never-before-seen races and make first contact.
Exploration is an integral part of STO, and those of you who choose to explore rather than engage in combat will not be penalized
As you discover more races, you will get the opportunity to recruit them to your crew. Once they are a member of your crew, they could potentially “buff” your ship with upgrades to your shields, weapons, etc.
The Space/Planet split will be about 50/50, meaning that you’ll be commanding the U.S.S. Bootyshaker (please don’t name your ship that) half the time, while the other half will have you exploring worlds
When you beam down to the planet’s surface, you will have to select which members of your bridge crew to take with you. Depending on the members of your Away Team, your mission will either go smoothly or be a terrible pain in the ass.
No word on whether the Prime Directive will come into play.
Combat
STO will have you fighting in space, on the surfaces of planets, and possibly on-board ships.
The space battles will be much more tactical than the MMO standard. You will be able to issue orders and target specific ship systems to disable the enemy vessel.
Planetary Combat will play in a “fast-paced, run and gun” style.
PvP? Hells yes!
The game will be designed so that those of us with lives will be able to hold our own against those sad, sorry individuals who sink 60+ hours a week into their MMO.
“Outrageous death penalties” will be done away with. In other words, if you die or your ship is destroyed, you won’t go through hell and high water solely to get back to where you started.
Certain actions in the game may trigger dynamic events. In short, expect random events like a Borg invasion, or an outbreak of plague, or… something.
This list will be updated as more knowledge becomes known, and some things already listed will probably change as details become more readily available. The trailer will be up shortly, but until then here are a few screenshots that were originally posted at the Star Trek Online website by user “On_Demand”.
A full-time writer and editor, James Walker has been covering the video game industry since 2005. In addition to writing, Walker is an avant fan of Detroit and Michigan sports teams, Camel cigarettes and games by Peter Molyneux.
So this is the first MMO I’ve heard about that I’m remotely interested in a long time. I played EQ for bit, got sick of it, played Dark Ages of Camelot and dug that for awhile, then I played the beta for Star Wars Galaxies. UGH. I just got sick of the whole paying a monthly fee thing. This game though… man.. might win me back to MMOs
Having played CoH before and after the NC acquisition, I’m both excited knowing what Cryptic is capable of, and worried, since they lost some of their best talent. I’m also a bit worried that Jack Emeret will get his crazies all over it.
But it’s Star Trek, so if it gets published, it’d have a hard time NOT being cool.
I’m sure they’ll add on other aspects of the universe once the core players are there.
I also fully admit that the only reason I want to play as a Gorn is that it’s LIZARDS! WITH PHASERS!. They could be the best or the worst race in the game and it wouldn’t make any difference to me at all.
I feel the same way about the Kzin. I’ve been a Niven fan since I was a kid, and if I’m reading the wiki right, their homeworld is canon, but “Kzinis” (Trek plural) wern’t schedualed to appear in canon until Enterprise season 5.
At first I was disappointed to hear that it’s set after the dissolution of the Federation/Klingon alliance, but then I realized that this will make playing my heroine of the Klingon Empire just that much more glorious. Qapla’!
I was pretty ambivalent towards this game when I first heard about it and even after I watched the trailer. But reading the list of possible features has me really excited for this game. Hopefully it doesn’t end up as another Age of Conan. I’ll be following this one closely!
They will be referred to as “Fleetsâ€, and as your Fleet grows in size and POSTERITY, your Fleet will eventually be able to build their own shipyards.
My personal view on Star Trek includes the Gangster Planet, the Landru Planet, Gorn and Tholians, pirates and naval officers, the Russian Klingons and if possible, Kizinti. Screw your spacegoing technomagic SUV’s.
The character models in the trailer are kind of disappointing. I hope they look more natural (or stylized, stylized is good too, just not the generic strangely postured crap they are at the moment) when the game comes out in 3+ years.
I’m guessing these are just placeholders, and that in 2011 they’ll have good motion capture, nice models, and nice shaders.
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Man…. will this be.. the first MMO game I ever play!?
It is looking like it. I might have to take a day or two off of work.
Yeah, that reminds me — when this game finally does come out, y’all won’t see me ’round here for a good month.
You mean you might have to take a day or two off of work *a week*, right?
Thanks, that sounds and looks Good, can’t wait for more.
So this is the first MMO I’ve heard about that I’m remotely interested in a long time. I played EQ for bit, got sick of it, played Dark Ages of Camelot and dug that for awhile, then I played the beta for Star Wars Galaxies. UGH. I just got sick of the whole paying a monthly fee thing. This game though… man.. might win me back to MMOs
Aww..no Interstellar Concordium? Well I hope they put the Romulans in and not as an expansion.
Sounds like what Earth & Beyond should have been, or like Homeworld 2 with MMO added.
Either way, I agree with Mike & Paul, this is the first MMORPG I’ve been interested in playing in a long, long, time.
Having played CoH before and after the NC acquisition, I’m both excited knowing what Cryptic is capable of, and worried, since they lost some of their best talent. I’m also a bit worried that Jack Emeret will get his crazies all over it.
But it’s Star Trek, so if it gets published, it’d have a hard time NOT being cool.
“But it’s Star Trek, so if it gets published, it’d have a hard time NOT being cool.”
I lol’d…
The FAQ line about separate servers was much narrower than portrayed above.
It does not say there will be no separate servers at all, just that PvP, PvE, and RP players won’t be segregated.
It’s been corrected. Danke for the correction.
No it hasn’t. Just adding “MAY CONFIRM” doesn’t make it any less of a false statement.
Man, I want to play a Gorn.
Gorn would be interesting, considering how little we actually have seen of them in Trek.
Personally, I want to see STO expand to where you can play as, say, a Ferengi merchant or Orion Pirate. Time will tell with those aspects, I suppose.
I’m sure they’ll add on other aspects of the universe once the core players are there.
I also fully admit that the only reason I want to play as a Gorn is that it’s LIZARDS! WITH PHASERS!. They could be the best or the worst race in the game and it wouldn’t make any difference to me at all.
I feel the same way about the Kzin. I’ve been a Niven fan since I was a kid, and if I’m reading the wiki right, their homeworld is canon, but “Kzinis” (Trek plural) wern’t schedualed to appear in canon until Enterprise season 5.
At first I was disappointed to hear that it’s set after the dissolution of the Federation/Klingon alliance, but then I realized that this will make playing my heroine of the Klingon Empire just that much more glorious. Qapla’!
I was pretty ambivalent towards this game when I first heard about it and even after I watched the trailer. But reading the list of possible features has me really excited for this game. Hopefully it doesn’t end up as another Age of Conan. I’ll be following this one closely!
A lot of this sounds like the promises made by Star Wars Online, yet the end product fell quite short.
Only time will tell, but I predict nothing amazing.
They will be referred to as “Fleetsâ€, and as your Fleet grows in size and POSTERITY, your Fleet will eventually be able to build their own shipyards.
I resemble that remark!
Not a star trek fan but as an MMO this looks awesome
My personal view on Star Trek includes the Gangster Planet, the Landru Planet, Gorn and Tholians, pirates and naval officers, the Russian Klingons and if possible, Kizinti. Screw your spacegoing technomagic SUV’s.
Kzin! [/Nivin Fanboy]
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Kzinti
I want my shipyard to be a Niven Ring, just to make the halo fanboys cry.
The character models in the trailer are kind of disappointing. I hope they look more natural (or stylized, stylized is good too, just not the generic strangely postured crap they are at the moment) when the game comes out in 3+ years.
I’m guessing these are just placeholders, and that in 2011 they’ll have good motion capture, nice models, and nice shaders.
You may need to check your dictionary for “posterity”, since there’s no way it can be used as you do above.