Star Trek Online

[Mark Fox]

... has been confirmed for a release date of February 2, 2010 (subject to change, of course).

I plan to play. Will I be running into any Trekspacers out there in the galaxy?

[Mark Fox]

Starting off as Starfleet, or jumping right into a Klingon ship?

Of course I will start off as a Federation captain, but perhaps create a Klingon character later after I get the hang of the game and been there long enough to look for more variety.

In the STO forums there are posters proclaiming to be nothing but Klingon, sounding like they can't wait to take a bat'leth to anything that moves. Dangerous people there. ;-)

[Andrew Simms]

I too will be joining STO and of course will at least start off as Federation. Though only Starfleet and Klingon will be available at the start, I hope that the developers consider expansion packs or updates allowing other well versed races to be played as so many have had a lot of background history and character development to ignore them, such as the Romulans, Borg, Dominion, Cardassians etc.

[Mark Fox]

More news... All this time Cryptic Studios has been saying that there wouldn't be any ship interiors (bridge, engineering, etc) available at launch, but something they planned to implement later on. On Friday, it was announced that due to the overwhelming requests from their forum community, they have been able to make a version of the Bridge available at launch after all:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h65h8ZE89edX2nR7x...

It wouldn't be a fully-functional bridge, but more of a social setting where other captains can "hang out" with you on your ship, and you can visit others. When you design your vessel, you will have about 20 different bridges to choose from (some of those might be Klingon).

The bridge is one of the most important parts of the Trek lore, and I am glad they were able to work something in right when the game is released. I had no problem waiting until later if it meant being able to design a bridge and actually access the various consoles (similar to what Starfleet Academy, Klingon Academy, and a player-modified Bridge Commander let us do), and I hope that kind of functionality is what Cryptic has in mind for later on.

I don't know exactly what kind of bridges will be available (aside from the Defiant version in screenshots from the article), but if I can, I would prefer something along the lines of the Enterprise-A from "Star Trek V." That happens to be my favorite. I happen to be a traditionalist when it comes to bridges (circular layout, no stand-alone stations, single captain's chair, twin forward consoles) and I liked what Zimmerman did with the Trek V bridge with its warmer colors and carpeting. A bridge in that style, especially with the separated ops/con controls like on the Enterprise B and C, would be my default bridge if I could have it that way. :-)

[Zero Kid]

I'ma hopin' ta be able ta play in the galaxy. Mer dan likely, I'll probably be wit da Federation as well, er eventually create a new species. I'ma very much lookin' forward ta dis.

[Michael Solano]

I would like more info on this and yes I will be with the Federation after all without the Federation there be disorder throughout the galexy.

[Mark Fox]

http://www.startrekonline.com/

There are numerous video clips out now which show starship combat, planetside combat and the new variations of ships you can have. One video even confirms a Galaxy-class bridge set (Generations version). Despite the focus on combat in these videos, there will be exploration and diplomacy involved as well.

Your bridge crew is made up of non-player characters that follow you on missions like "pets," but can be designed by the player from the ground up. You decide what specialty your captain has, like Kirk and Sisko were soldiers, Picard was a diplomat, Janeway a scientist. Your captain's background choices (Tactical, Engineering, or Science) can determine what ships you have as well as any special "abilities" the ship has. You can team up with other players for joint missions. They say it will be just like acting out real episodes, with plot threads that intertwine with each other.

I'm not much of an RPG online player; I don't do World of Warcraft but do play "City of Heroes" so I am definitely looking forward to a "Star Trek" version.

[Commander Tiberius]

I have been waiting for this game for more than 2 years... I don't usually purchase games the day that they come out but this is one of the ones that I plan on... most likely will start as a federation character.

Commander Tiberius

[Joshua McCoid]

I've been paying a lot of attention to this game as well, which isn't a normal occupation. I've been working to get a few friends together so that we could all get the game (and possibly lifetime subscriptions) and form our own "mini-fleet."

I'd probably start off as Federation simply because of the ships. Klingon technology has never really appealed to me like Starfleet's has. Now I have a question though... what class of ship would you prefer? Cruiser, Tactical, or Support? Personally, I'd be one to look at the Support because it is built for exploration, but I've been curious to see what other people want to command.

[Andrew Simms]

Being in Law Enforcement I am leaning in the direction of Tactical / Security. Would love to command a Defiant class ship, it might be small, but packs a punch.

[Mark Fox]

Since I will end up soloing most of the time (unfortunately I wouldn't have twelve hours of constant play time to commit to a team very often!) I would probably try to "round out" the entire ship to handle just about any kind of mission. The Enterprises were built for exploration, diplomacy and defense so I hope to build a ship that handles all of those. That would mostly depend on the crew you pick I believe, so I would distribute the skills as evenly as possible during each upgrade.

Since we get to keep any previous ships as we advance in the game, I would most likely gear different ships toward different situations and switch out as needed. The ships I plan to fly would include the Miranda, the Nova, the Excalibur (the 25th-century version of the Constitution class) and eventually a Galaxy or Sovereign, despite the fact they may be designed for different career paths. :-)

[DarkShinobi]

Two of the ships I saw look like uber upgraded variants of the Sovereign and Intrepid Classes.

I'm sure they look much better "in motion" than as stills, so I really haven't much thought into which ship I would want yet.

[Nephila]

Gasp! Star Trek MMO! Oooo it might finally be able to get me away from Wow. Though, I doubt it. I'm pretty much hooked on that game. I'll have to buy it though to give it a better look and reserve judgment until then. I looked it up on youtube and I'm not sure I understand the ship battle part of it. If anything that "race generator" Looks like it'll be some fun to make some characters with.