Captain's Log: More Romulan ships coming in Star Trek Online

Late last week, Star Trek Online community manager Brandon Felczer posted an enormous dev blog delving into the details surrounding the influx of new ships heading into the game the moment the Legacy of Romulus expansion goes live.

So today I'd like to touch on these new ships and the new Legacy Pack and Starter Packs that were announced as being available for Star Trek Online!

A word about ship classification

Although the Romulans were the first species in Star Trek canon to refer to one of their ships as a "bird-of-prey" (especially since a large bird was actually painted on the bottom of the small craft), the developers at STO have (in my opinion) taken a wise step by dropping that moniker in order to avoid confusion with the Klingon Defense Force's use of the very same name for its escort-type vessels.

It was simply a lazy writing error (decades ago in The Original Series) that led to the use of the term for the ships for two different species, and the devs at STO really needed to keep the confusion level down, especially for players who aren't as familiar with the Trek universe as others might be.

So what we all once knew as a Romulan Bird-of-Prey will now be known as a T'Liss warbird. As a matter of fact, all Romulan ships will be known as warbirds. The name may rub some purists the wrong way, but all-in-all it's a small sacrifice in order to keep the confusing nomenclature to a minimum.

Ships and progression

One of the more recent dev blogs regarding the new expansion contained a great new chart that reveals exactly which ship a player will receive as she reaches each successive rank with the Romulan Republic. A player will obtain a new ship, for free, at each level, including a Tier 5 vessel for when she reaches level cap.

You'll also notice that there are a lot of new ships being introduced via the C-Store (ZEN Store). A new fighter and seven new warbirds will be sold in the C-Store store when the expansion goes live. They will be available separately, of course, but they will also be available in the new Legacy Pack, which I will discuss a bit later in this column.

Fleet Ships and Tier 5 access to allied ships

Six new Romulan fleet ships have also been announced. One ship each for tiers 1 through 4 and two tier 5 ships will be available to Romulan captains from the fleet shipyards of their allied fleet starbases. Like the other fleet vessels, the Romulan ships will require a combination of fleet credits and fleet modules (bought in the C-Store) to obtain.

As a matter of fact, a change has already taken place with regard to ship accessibility by Romulan captains. When the new Romulan faction was first announced, there was an idea that Romulan captains would have access to all of their allies' tier 5 ships, but not the other way around.

While Romulan Republic captains will still have the ability to access their allies' tier 1 through 4 ships, they will no longer have access to their allied faction's tier 5 vessels. So if you were someone who was looking forward to playing a Romulan captain flying that Odyssey class ship, I'm genuinely sorry to have to dash your hopes.

The new Legacy and Starter packs

While all of the newly announced purchaseable ships will be available separately in the game's C-Store (ZEN store), last week Cryptic announced that it was selling two separate packages in conjunction with the Legacy of Romulus expansion. These packages are very similar to those packages that have been offered by Cryptic for it latest upcoming MMO, Neverwinter.

The Legacy Pack is being sold by Cryptic for a grand total of $124.99 US. For some, yes, it's a very hefty price. However, for others who are looking for perceived value, it's pretty easy to see that the package offers a significant savings if the contents were all purchased separately. The Legacy Pack includes all eight of the ships outlined above as well as the Scorpion fighter. Along with the ships, the package will also automatically unlock Reman play (an especially nice thing if you haven't been able to reach the highest level of Romulan reputation yet). The package also unlocks the use of a Liberated Borg Reman bridge officer.

In addition, the pack contains a couple of in-game titles and a Reman costume based on those seen in the feature film Star Trek: The Next Generation - Nemesis, but it will also grant the buyer 30 master keys, which are used to open the lockboxes that drop throughout the game.

For those who don't really see the need to have all the ships fill up valuable slots all at once, there is a much smaller (with an easier-to-swallow price of $19.99 US) pack available. The Starter Pack includes one low-level (tier 1) T'Varo warbird, a Liberated Borg Reman bridge officer, an in-game title, and the tier 5 version of the same T'Varo warbird.

Let me clarify a bit more: Unlike the Neverwinter packages Cryptic is offering, the STO Legacy Pack already contains everything in the Starter Pack, so there's no reason to buy both. However, if a player buys the Starter Pack first and then changes her mind and she decides she wants the Legacy Pack, she still can, but what's not clear from any of the release information or FAQs is whether she would receive any discount for the previously purchased Starter Pack. So take my advice: Think very hard before you choose which to buy. If there's a greater chance you're going to end up buying the Legacy Pack, just buy the Legacy Pack and don't put yourself into a position of screwing yourself out of $20.00.

I'm also really excited to see that, according to an answer in this past Ask Cryptic blog, Executive Producer Daniel Stahl confirmed that qualifying players will also be getting the ability to play as a Liberated Borg member of the Romulan Republic.

More content is being released to the Tribble test server all the time, including parts of the new Nukara Task Force reputation system. I'm hoping to catch a lot more over the coming days. Until next week, live long and prosper!

Incoming communique from Starfleet Headquarters: Captain's Log is now transmitting direct from Terilynn Shull every Monday, providing news, rumors, and dev interviews about Star Trek Online. Beam communications to terilynn@massively.com.