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Star Trek Online posts lore on a mystery object
So let's get this straight. While exploring Star Trek Online's Delta Quadrant, the USS Voyager comes across a mysterious object. The ship's crew immediately brings it aboard and tries to figure out what in the world it's supposed to be, coming to a lot of conclusions about what it isn't while being unable to find many answers beyond "it's probably a communication device of some kind." It also doesn't quite match any of the technology seen from the obvious sources of technologically enhanced mystery objects like the Solanae Dyson Sphere. And yet everyone thinks keeping this on a ship is a good idea? There are a lot of episodes arguing against that. All joking aside, there's a fair bit of lore to be found in the latest official dispatch from Star Trek Online, hinting rather solidly toward potential new encounters for players in the future. What it all means remains to be seen, but you can take a look at the lore and puzzle over what Voyager found.
Star Trek Online: Delta Rising is live today
It's time to start boldly going all over again. Star Trek Online's second expansion, Delta Rising, is live today. That means that players can find their way into the Delta Quadrant, explore an expanded level cap, and take flight in a new set of starships as they take on familiar and yet novel enemies. The expansion also brings in several veteran Star Trek actors to reprise their roles: Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Garrett Wang (Harry Kim), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Tim Russ (Tuvok), and Ethan Phillips (Neelix). Delta Rising introduces captain specializations for leveling past the previous cap of 50, allowing players to reach the ranks of Fleet Admiral and Dahar Master while exploring new specialization trees and unlocking passive and active benefits. But there's no need to take our word for it, as the expansion is live now. Log in, patch up, and head out into the Delta Quadrant.
Captain's Log Supplemental: Exploring the story of Star Trek Online: Delta Rising
If you think about it, Star Trek: Voyager is basically a remake of Gilligan's Island. Ship goes out for a routine trip and gets stranded, and for the next several years the crew of that ship tries to get back home and repeatedly fails. I bring this up because I recently had a chance to to on a tour of Star Trek Online: Delta Rising, and I kept thinking that "going on a tour" was just the first step before being stranded in the quadrant myself. Well, maybe not, but it's as good a segue as anything. Lead Designer Al Rivera and Senior Producer Stephen Ricossa took me on a trip through all of the various systems of Delta Rising and several of the upcoming story elements. If you don't want to be spoiled on the expansion before it goes live, you might want to steer clear, but there are some fascinating developments awaiting otherwise. When players finally warp into the Delta Quadrant, they're going to be seeing familiar faces and facing some old problems -- very old, in one case.
Captain's Log Supplemental: Exploring the art design of Star Trek Online's Delta Rising races
If you asked me about my favorite antagonistic race through all of Voyager's seven-year run, my answer wouldn't have been any of the regular suspects. It would have been the Vaadwaur, and not just because of their funky appearance; the race really twisted the usual formula of a Star Trek one-off villain, and besides that, they had a culture that hinted at something very unusual in the show. I was kind of sad that they never showed up again after their one episode. Obviously, I was happy to see one of my favorite races get the upgrade treatment in Star Trek Online. But that poses a problem just the same because it's not as if the producers on the show detailed dozens of ship classes and a huge amount of culture for a race that showed up for 50 minutes. I chatted with art director Brad Stokan about bringing these smaller races of Star Trek into a fully fleshed-out form in Star Trek Online, discussing both the Vaadwaur and the Kobali and how his team took a one-off guest appearance and made a full race out of it.
Star Trek Online updates Seven of Nine's backstory
Seven of Nine, former tertiary adjunct to Unimatrix 01, is being added to Star Trek Online with the launch of the Delta Rising expansion. It was imperative that Cryptic Studios update the character's backstory to explain where the character has been since the conclusion of the Voyager's eponymous television series and the commencement of game services. To that end, the development team has posted a dossier explaining her activities in full as well as what brought her back into active duty. At the beginning of Star Trek Online's storyline, Seven of Nine was working as a researcher for the Daystrom Institute. She declined to return to Starfleet service after the Borg attacks on the Alpha Quadrant, but following Admiral Tuvok's request for experienced personnel to explore the Delta Quadrant, she accepted a non-commissioned position aboard the USS Callisto as a scientific consultant for the fleet. More details on the character and creating her in-game model may be found in the official entry; you will comply.
Star Trek Online explains the Voyager MSD redesign
If you're even passingly familiar with the various Star Trek shows, you'll recognize the MSD. It shows up on the bridge of every single Federation ship, offering a detailed breakdown of what is where for eagle-eyed viewers. Star Trek Online's next expansion is bringing the game into the Delta Quadrant, the stomping grounds of the eponymous USS Voyager, so it was only fair that the Intrepid-class MSD could get a nice new redesign to reflect the years of upgrades that the ship has received. The new MSD represents a much clearer picture of the ship from the series, with several elements improved to more accurately reflect in-show layouts and incorporating modifications made after Voyager's maiden flight such as the airponics bay. Take a look at the full development blog for a closer look at how much work has gone into what seems like a little detail but still forms a vital part of the aesthetics.
Star Trek Online's Delta Rising arrives October 14th
Cryptic has just announced that Star Trek Online's Delta Rising expansion will be released on October 14th, 2014. As previously discussed, it will not only raise the level cap but jump into Voyager story space with new territory and famous figures from the franchise. Developers have also released a new dev blog detailing equipment in the expansion. One of the simple rules of existence is that when Delta Rising goes live, a lot of your old equipment in Star Trek Online is going to be a lot less relevant. There's no way around it. A jump in the level cap that leads to Mark XIV equipment naturally makes Mark XI stuff less potent by comparison. But rather than forcing you to earn a whole new set of loot, the expansion's upgrade system for gear should allow you to take an old favorite and bring it up to par. Players can buy, trade, or craft upgrade kits, which add a certain number of tech points to an item being upgraded. Once enough tech points are acquired, a small dilithium fee is paid and the item can be upgraded to the next rank, possibly increasing in quality along the way. For more details on how to accelerate the procedure, check out the full blog entry; it looks as if you won't have to say farewell to all of your old equipment after all.
Star Trek Online details the art of the new Intelligence ships
The Intelligence ship designs in Star Trek Online are like nothing else in the game, especially for the Federation. They're dark, angular, and aggressive. A new development blog on the official site sees art director Brad Stokan explaining how the new designs went from concept to finished ships and how the art department juggled the tasks of adhering to the design principles that make a ship distinctly Federation while also making something new and unique. Stokan explains that most of the choices going into the design were weighed against these two rules, such as adding in glowing sensor panels that both highlighted the ships' scanning functionality while providing a distinct silhouette. The design blog also stresses that players can expect extra customization for these ships, including the option to make the hull finish look a bit more typical for Federation craft. Check out the whole process and more bits of concept art in the full blog entry. [Thanks to Lonegun for the tip!]
Captain's Log Supplemental: A look at Star Trek Online's history with lead designer Al Rivera
Star Trek Online is a game that's got some history, not just by virtue of the franchise that's been running for half of forever but because the game itself has a rather madcap development history. Cryptic Studios got the license to develop the game at the eleventh hour, and the caveat was that the game needed to be shipped in the same timeframe as the original developer had promised -- leaving almost no time for development. I sat down and talked with lead designer Al Rivera about the game's history, its development ethos, and where the game is going with the upcoming release of the second expansion, Delta Rising. It's been a long process, but Rivera shed some light on how the game is designed by its modern team, why things launched the way they did, and what players can expect as the game continues toward its five-year anniversary.
Star Trek Online's artist explains Tier 6 ship designs
The new Federation ship designs in Star Trek Online's upcoming expansion are a pretty big departure from the norm. Sure, the shape of the ships is familiar, but instead of the usual bright Federation white and sweeping curves, they're all hard angles, dark shades, glowing lines, and so forth. They don't look much like the Federation. Concept artist Hector Ortiz took to Reddit recently to explain why the ships look as they do and how the design of the new ships ties into their point of origin despite the departure. Ortiz explains that with the heavy emphasis on intelligence operations in this expansion, it was only appropriate to design ships that resembled nothing so much as spy planes: angular, stealthy, and dark. That led to the inclusion of the blue lines to help the ship silhouettes stand out against the blackness of space, with the unique nacelle designs also part of an effort to minimize the ship profile. There's no assurance that you'll like the new designs after reading his comments on the rationale, but at least you'll understand why they look the way they do.
Star Trek Online launches the Delta Rising: Operations pack
When you head out into the Delta Quadrant in Star Trek Online: Delta Rising, you're going to want to be prepared. You'll want the best possible ship, one capable of making use of everything the quadrant has to offer. That's what the Delta Rising: Operations pack is meant to do. It's the equivalent of the Legacy of Romulus pack from the last expansion, a collection of ships, titles, officers, and bonuses to get you going in the expansion when it goes live. Eight ships are included in the pack: four Federation ships, two KDF ships, and two Romulan Republic ships. Some of these ships also come equipped with Intelligence Officer bridge stations, the new type of officer being added with the expansion, allowing you to scan for weaknesses in enemy craft and exploit those flaws. It also contains exclusive titles and officers, three ship upgrade modules, and special Talaxian uniforms. The pack is priced at $125 and is available for purchase now if you'd like to be kitted out and ready to go for launch.
Star Trek Online announces more Voyager cast members in Delta Rising
When you're out exploring the Delta Quadrant, you want people around you who have been there before. It's a big, unfriendly place, after all. Star Trek Online players will have a bit more help than they had previously expected, though. In addition to Tim Russ (Tuvok) and Garret Wang (Harry Kim) reprising their roles from Star Trek: Voyager, Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), and Robert Picardo (The Doctor) will be making appearances in the game. No details on these appearances have yet been revealed, although Neelix is likely still in his role as ambassador, and the game's backstory has Seven of Nine working with the Daystrom Institute. It's likely that more lore will be uncovered as the expansion approaches its release this fall. [Source: Cryptic Studios press release]
Captain's Log: Star Trek Online's expansion and communication
So we finally know what the next expansion is going to be for Star Trek Online, and my speculation regarding the Xindi and points related turned out to be way off. Nope, we're heading into the Delta Quadrant, which is less interesting to me than the Gamma Quadrant, but I suspect the powers that be are exploring all the angles of existing content first. It's coming with a level cap increase, a new tier of ships, a bunch of new tricks, and apparently some bonus communication misses. Delta Rising is really on track to be a pretty divisive expansion anyway. It was inevitable, really; raising the level cap now was going to lead to problems no matter how it was handled. Unfortunately, Cryptic Studios hasn't done a great job communicating what's in the works for players, nor have the first few things that we've heard exactly countered some early suspicions. It was a minefield that's thus far been navigated largely with a push and a blindfold.
Star Trek Online drops a Delta Rising trailer, new ship tier [Updated]
The Delta Quadrant in Star Trek Online isn't a pleasant place. It's filled with many threats, some familiar to players already (the Borg and the Voth spring to mind) and others heretofore unseen. Delta Rising is going to bring players into contact with this violent region of space, and the newest trailer for the expansion shows that players will find no shortage of enemies -- including many races that had faced off against the USS Voyager years earlier. Players who watch the trailer can catch several familiar locations and enemies from Star Trek Voyager, including some minor enemies such as the Vaadwaur. Click on past the break to view the trailer in all its glory. It doesn't have a whole lot of story provided just yet, but it serves as a clear indication that the quadrant hasn't gotten any friendlier since the last time Starfleet visited.
Star Trek Online highlights the path of Voyager
Captain Kathryn Janeway led the crew of the USS Voyager across the Delta Quadrant, traveling 70,000 lightyears in seven years and encountering a variety of species and phenomena during the journey. Star Trek Online's next expansion, Delta Rising, is retracing her steps, bringing players back into the Delta Quadrant to explore both strange new worlds and ascertain the fate of the known ones. The most recent development blog takes a look at Voyager's journey through the region as well as where players will wind up relative to that lengthy trip. The expansion will cover a region of space starting at the Nekrit Expanse and extending toward the Alpha Quadrant, including encounters with races heretofore unseen in Star Trek Online such as the Kazon, the Ocampa, and the Talaxians. Players will also encounter the Borg Cooperative (a splinter group from the Collective) and the Benthan Guard, as well as a mysterious adversary that's harassing the entire region and giving every race pause. Whether you want to see the long-term effects of the Borg's failed Alpha Quadrant invasion or just pick up a Talaxian officer to handle your ship's mess hall, it seems you'll be getting the chance.
