Make love not war: STO's Craig Zinkievich shows off the Federation Diplomatic Corps
As everyone knows in the television business, the second season of a show is usually tons better than the first (unless it's Heroes, for some reason). Considering how well Star Trek Online's Season One update was received across the community, the STO team has a lot of work to do to meet and exceed that standard with the upcoming Season Two. Cryptic plans to roll out one of these bigger updates every three months, which puts Season Two smack in the middle of July.
ZAM caught executive producer Craig Zinkievich on the way to his ready room for a chat about Season Two. The big discussion revolves around the launch of the Federation Diplomatic Corps, an effort to provide an additional emphasis on exploration, diplomacy and anthropology that STO's combat-centric gameplay has so far been lacking. Apparently, players will have to rise through the diplomatic ranks almost like a separate leveling system as they engage in first contacts and the like. We'll just have to wait and see if they introduce a "lengthy patronizing Picard-style speech" as one of the skills.
Zinkievich also pontificated on ship interiors and the new Dabo minigame, both of which are much-requested features to help Star Trek Online feel more, well, Trekky. You can get your captain on by reading the full interview over at ZAM.
