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'Picard' finally shows us how Star Trek’s technology evolves
This article contains spoilers for the first season of 'Star Trek: Picard' up to episode nine. Star Trek: Picard is the show I've been looking forward to for 17 years. Not because I was particularly interested in finding out what happened to Picard, Troi, Riker and the rest. (But don't get me wrong, it's nice to check in with old friends.) Instead, it's because we finally get to see what happens next in the Star Trek universe. We finally get to see it grow, both ideologically and technologically.
The 2800 invade Star Trek Online -- and we have on-the-scenes footage
"Forge alliances... or all will be lost." If those words don't give you chills of anticipation, then perhaps you need to take a gander at the video for the brand-new featured episodes coming soon to Star Trek Online. Titled "The 2800," the video begins by showing an invasion fleet popping out of a wormhole as the Federation and Klingons scramble to respond. During this story, the Jem Hadar will be staging a massive attack upon Deep Space Nine, and it's up to players to warp in and save the game. The 2800 will debut in the game on Saturday, February 11th, following this weekend's second anniversary celebration. You can watch the full video after the jump!
September's Ask Cryptic details STO's F2P transition, new content, and more
In the midst of the recent hullabaloo over Star Trek Online's free-to-play transition, September's Ask Cryptic focuses on what players can expect from the change. Executive Producer Dan Stahl touches on the subject of skilltree revamps, server availability, and much, much more. Space skills are getting a few sweeping changes in order to make them more applicable to players of all builds. As such, skills that "apply only to a specific ship class or energy type" are being replaced with more general skills, such as increased damage, increased turn rate, and so forth. Stahl also reveals that the team has ordered new hardware and made perfomance tweaks to the game in order to allow for a potential influx of new players once the game goes F2P. Players also ask about new content, noting that talked-about post-Season 4 content has not materialized as players expected. Stahl notes that Borg Red Alerts were just released, and work on the Deep Space Nine Feature Episode Series is progressing steadily. The Q&A also details the upcoming Borg Ground Invasion, which assigns players the difficult task of removing a Borg infestation before the Collective can successfully assimilate an entire planet. The Q&A goes on to touch on new social zones, a great deal of "nice to have but low-priority" additions, and oodles more. For the full Q&A, hop your way on over to the full Ask Cryptic post.
Star Trek series coming to Netflix Watch Instantly in July and October
Just because Netflix has licensed new content we're not always sure when it will be available for Watch Instantly streaming, but TrekMovie.com reports it has the dates for Star Trek content covered by a recent deal with CBS. TrekMovie has confirmed it will have every episode of all five live action series -- US only, sorry Canada, enjoy that Iron Man 2 -- with the original Star Trek (in HD), Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise (in HD) available July 1st, followed by Star Trek: Deep Space 9 on October 1st. There's still no word on when Family Ties is arriving, but the two year deal (with an option for two more) should give viewers who haven't already shelled out for the boxed sets (we know you got the HD DVDs) a chance to get all the Trek they can bear.
Video shows DS9 Under Siege in Star Trek Online
While DS9 may well be one of many people's favorite spots in Star Trek Online, things have heated up since the release of Season One, the recent free addition to the game. Part of this new batch of things to do, DS9 Under Siege, lands players in the middle of an attack on DS9 from an interesting quadrant, and is relatively certain to hook you up if you're in the mood for one hell of a battle. For those of you who may not have checked out this new content as yet, we've snagged a shiny HD video of this new fleet action for you from our sister site, Joystiq. With more Cardassians and what appear to be Jem'Hadar ships than you can shake a tricorder at, this seems like an addition to Star Trek Online that players are enjoying. So set your phasers on "cool" and check beyond the break for the shiny DS9 Under Siege trailer -- or let us know how you're liking this particular bit of Season One content in the comments below.
Captain's Log: The advisory council and fan service in Star Trek Online
Hard to port! Disruptors on full! Fire the tachyon beam! Oh, hello again. Welcome back to Captain's Log, Massively's weekly -- y'know what, hang on. These Cardassians are being a real pain in the toukas. Yes, Ensign, some torpedoes would be fabulous right about now. And you wonder why I haven't promoted you. Sorry about that. This is Captain's Log, where I administer your weekly dose of Star Trek Online news, analysis and meaningless conjecture every Thursday. At least until the Massively overlords relegate me to the spice mines of Kessel. Oh, wait... After discussing Season One and the joy of Fleet Actions, I have two items on this week's agenda. First, I thought I'd introduce myself! It's silly to read the Captain's Log without knowing who the captain is, right? After that I'll discuss STO's hot topic du jour, the Advisory Council, and whether fan service will kill or save Cryptic's spacefaring MMO.
Captain's Log: Fleet actions, the Crystalline Entity and you
Ahoy, ensigns and admirals! Welcome back to Captain's Log, our weekly dose of Star Trek Online news, tips and unfounded personal opinions straight from the final frontier. After Friday's look at the ups and downs of Season One, today's Captain's Log assumes its regular Thursday stardate. At least until his masters at Massively make good on their threat to reassign your humble captain to Q-tip quality control. On Ferenginar. This week, let's take a look at Fleet Actions. Some are a rewarding change of pace from the often solitary grind of patrol and exploration. And some -- well, okay, just one -- is the bane of Starfleet's existence. We'll get to that in a minute.
Captain's Log: Pros and cons of Season One
Hailing frequencies open. Testing. Is this thing on? Yes, Lieutenant, I'm pushing the-- ah! Greetings and salutations, fellow Starfleet officers! And a hearty nuqneH to all you Klingons out there. Welcome back to Captain's Log, the weekly Star Trek Online column here at Massively. After a few weeks of tuning down in Engineering, Captain's Log is back, shinier than ever, with a new captain at the helm. Now let's set sail before the admirals at Massively reassign me to replicator cleanup duty. You've never seen a mess until you've seen someone order haggis and Ferengi snail juice. Federation and Klingon captains all over the galaxy have reason to rejoice. Thursday saw the release of Season One: Common Ground, one of the first really huge content patches for Star Trek Online. The patch introduces a bevy of features, including new fleet actions, a new task-force mission and more stuff for Klingons to do.
Star Trek Online launches massive Season One patch
Cryptic has announced via press release that the major Season One content patch is launching for Star Trek Online today. This patch brings all kinds of new free content to the game, causing much of the community to count the days until it finally landed in the game proper. The list of updates is impressively long and several of them address player griefs with areas like Klingon ship customization and mission variety. This is also the first patch bringing some PvE missions for Klingon players, which was a sticking point with many at launch. But Season One also brings captain respecs as well for players unhappy with their skill load-out -- an essential feature that's been sorely missed by many. Find the whole lowdown on this laundry list of new content after the break.%Gallery-86596%
Star Trek Online talks about the Cardassians
In the Star Trek universe, the Cardassians generally aren't listed in the same breath as the Klingons or the Romulans as adversaries. That is, unless you've seen Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Then you likely won't stop going on about the rigid and hidebound social structure and the backstabbing government plots, or even just about Elim Garak. The Cardassian faction was hinted at some time ago in Star Trek Online, but while the official page hasn't yet filled out the page, we do have a fair amount of information on the faction. And while it may or may not satisfy everyone looking forward to the faction, there's plenty for fans of the game to get excited about. At this point, the once-grand empire has been reduced to a difficult existence trying to rebuild the government and society after the events of the Dominion War, recounted on the game's official timeline. The socially-minded Detapa Council, however, is facing opposition from the True Way, an organization seeking a return to Cardassia Prime's more militaristic society. There are also rumors that the Obsidian Order might be still running around, something that almost any fan of the series would have expected. Star Trek Online looks to have plans for the Cardassians, and while it probably won't involve a tailor on the bridge crew, we can only hope. Click past the break for a short official video giving a peek of the Cardassians in action, as well as the in-universe dossiers by Starfleet and the Klingon Empire. %Gallery-83750%
Borg, DS9 and more in this STO dev diary plus trailer double punch
Today we've got a double treat for Star Trek Online fans, as Cryptic has released both a new trailer (with a quick but awesome shot of Deep Space Nine!) and a developer diary that discusses some very cool stuff about the newly evolved Borg featured in the game. Yes, we said "new" Borg -- as in species and assimilation methods never before seen in the Trek universe. You can find the diary as well as the video after the break. Enjoy!
Space combat! Star Trek Online community Q&A answers
It's a little late due to the impending Thanksgiving day gorging, but we've got your second wave of community answers for space combat in Star Trek Online! As this week lands us on a holiday, we'll be putting up the next post for your third wave of questions on Monday, November 30th. For now, we hope you enjoy the answers given by Al Rivera, senior game designer on Star Trek Online.
More details on STO progression and Quarks bar
Ship tiers and player progression were the topics of this week's dev chat for Star Trek Online and it yielded some pretty good results. Most of the new information clarifies some of the areas we were fuzzy on up until now. The piece of news we were super happy to see was the confirmation of DS9 and Quarks bar being in the game. Mmm, space gambling. Getting to progression -- and away from gold pressed latinum -- the rate at which a player gains Bridge Officers should ensure that they always have enough to outfit any ship they're using. We also know that BOs get their own pool of skill points as you complete missions. Additionally, anyone worrying about 'nerfing' themselves as they level shouldn't have to, because the BOs a player brings on a ship will help balance out any missing essential skills for a ship type. That being said, a science captain will always excel the most on a science vessel -- the system merely ensures that anyone can sufficiently fill a role if need be. There's plenty more in the transcript itself and we recommend anyone interested in Star Trek Online give it a look.
Star Trek Online's Vigilant class revealed
Oh, man. We can just hear the cries of Star Trek fans who know they won't get to pretend they're Worf gliding around the battlefield with this new Vigilant class vessel for Star Trek Online. You can bet that we're one of those fans, but who could blame us with this thing's sleek design? If you're a Deep Space Nine fan, then the acquisition of this bad boy is an unquestionable must.Don't let the Vigilant's size belie its deadliness. This is a warship that packs a lot more heat than you'd imagine, which is kind of the point. It's also highly maneuverable because of its overall size and engine power, giving it the very tactical option of firing off a torpedo before turning its strongest shield towards an impending attack. With these traits, it makes a wonderful convoy, protecting all kinds of larger ships against everything from raiders to the Borg. Yep, we think this may be the ship for us, especially since we're all about frontline fights.
Star Trek Online timeline advances to stardate 2384
In recent memory the Cryptic crew has given us a lot of Star Trek Online goodness to chew on. There was the unveil of the NX-91001, an advanced exploration craft in the Federation fleet. There was the tour of the studio, you might remember, or even the news that the game might be coming to the PlayStation 3. One of their other recent features was entitled 'The Road to 2409', and began the process of moving prospective players through the future history of the Star Trek universe. The time after the show Deep Space Nine and the movie Nemesis is completely untouched by official media, so we as Trek fans need all the help we can acclimating to that big jump in time.Their newest feature brings us to the year 2384, a stardate still bearing many familiar faces and names for long-time Trek fans. The bulk of the article concerns upheaval in the Romulan Empire, with political changes still echoing through that body in the wake of the final Next Generation movie. Meanwhile, across the galaxy, the Klingon Empire faces new threats from an old border. Old familiar names from DS9 (Odo, the planet Bajor) are mentioned in passing, and the Federation as always is involved throughout the Alpha Quadrant. Read the full article for details and to make the timeline jump to the year 2384!%Gallery-28615%
The hidden art of Star Trek Online
There is much buzz in the MMOG universe this morning about the upcoming title Star Trek Online. Being absolute fanboys and fangirls of Star Trek ourselves (much like our friends at STO Zone who had the same idea) we wanted to show you a couple of nuggets of interesting art that we've extracted. These two images were taken from the backgrounds of the Cryptic Star Trek Online site that was unveiled last night. The top image shows an Andorian female in the foreground of what appears to be an away team. Some of the staff think that may be either a Bolian, Benzite or an Orion male to her left, but it's very hard to make out. (Not that many people remember the Orion males anyway.) Below that is a Klingon at the helm of what appears to be a Bird of Prey with a Human, Ferengi, Cardassian and Vulcan manning the controls, dressed in Federation uniform, or wearing Federation insignia. Speculation from some blog sites suggest that Cryptic is likely looking at a period of time post-DS9, tied to the Officer Exchange Program that started in the episode "A Matter of Honor" during the TNG series. It seems like an excellent spot in the continuity to place an MMO, we think.
STO UI is modernized LCARS; "think iPhone"
Now that the Star Trek Online nerf scare has passed, it's time to take a few deep breaths of anticipation and soak in STO-related news again. The first news-worthy bit to pop up post-scare is a post by Steve Mason (the lead UI designer) at the startrek-online.net forums.Mason is dedicated to preserving the LCARS look in Star Trek Online. For those who aren't total Star Trek nerds; LCARS is the graphical user interface used by Federation ships in the 24th Century-era Star Trek series (The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager). It was designed by a TNG-staff artist who was trying to theorize what a high-tech GUI interface would be like when GUIs were still in their infancy in the real world.So, there are some challenges in making LCARS useful to modern users. Mason says that STO will use an updated version of the LCARS interface (which won't hurt canon, since the game takes place quite a few years after Voyager left off) that will include all the bells and whistles of modern, cutting-edge UIs. " Think iPhone," he said. There are more details in his post, and he also opened up the thread to questions.[Via WarCry]
