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Star Wars: The Old Republic highlights bomb(er) ships
Bombers are not the sort of ships that dart hither and yon in Star Wars: The Old Republic. They don't skitter about in elaborate dogfights. No, they are the ships that approach their targets, use heavy shields to weather some incoming fire, and then watch as a field of mines explodes around all those ships with the darting and the skittering. The latest development blog on the official site discusses more about how bombers play in Galactic Starfighter. Various mines are available to bombers, ranging from straightforward damage mines to shield-and-power draining Ion Mines to seek-and-destroy Seeker Mines. Bombers can also field stationary Drones for both offensive and defensive purposes, with Sentry Drones taking shots at enemy ships and Repair Drones fixing up the hull of allied craft. Take a look at the full entry for more details, especially if you think you're the sort of player who might want to drop a bomb on someone.
Star Trek Online spotlights ships for players
Space -- the final frontier. These are the voyages of the USS Why-In-The-World-Are-You-Flying-That-For-Starfleet. The name's a bit cumbersome, but considering the sheer number of different ships you can pilot in Star Trek Online, we think it's rather apropos. Then again, one look at some of the machines on display in the game's newest spotlight video and it's difficult to feel all that bad about explaining why you're flying a ship that belongs to your faction's sworn enemies. The spotlight highlights some of the new ships from lockboxes, ships available from Fleet projects, and those available for direct purchase from the game's microtransaction store. It also shows off the ships in space combat because while scanning a planet for life is all well and good, it's not terribly exciting to watch. Take a look at the full video just past the break, and consider whether one of these ships might make your trek across the stars a bit more stylish.
Star Trek Online answers a fleet's worth of questions
The one-year anniversary for Star Trek Online is just around the corner, and the game has quite a number of irons in the fire to go along with that milestone. Player-generated content and weekly episodes are two of the game's big features on deck for the near future, and the latest installment of Ask Cryptic certainly addresses those, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. With nearly three dozen disparate questions answered, this month's offering covers everything from Vulcan ships to an open PvP environment. Among the more interesting answers is the fact that the development team is looking into ways to model rather unique ship traits such as the multi-vector attack mode of the Prometheus class. The team is also hoping to give players the ability to fly shuttles and yachts, along with reasons to do so. The next minigame after dabo is still on the table, but at the moment the team is focused on more meaty content. Take a look at the full rundown for all of the Star Trek Online questions for this month -- there's plenty of information to be found within the lengthy answers.
Star Trek Online asks players to choose the next ship addition
There have been a lot of ship designs in Star Trek over the years, so it's understandable that not every design was in Star Trek Online at launch. The game's division of ship tiers into customizable batches is no doubt part of the reason, as well. But that doesn't mean that the developers aren't well aware of the gaps in ship classes, and that's the reasoning behind the latest poll on the official site, asking players which ship design they'd like to see enter the game next, quite possibly as a lower-tier ship. Of the classes available, four are past or future designs for the ubiquitous Enterprise lineage, including the often-seen Excelsior class and the rarely-seen Ambassador class. There's also the far-future Enterprise-J design and the far-past NX design, both seen in Star Trek: Enterprise. The other two classes are somewhat less flashy but somewhat more notable omissions -- the Nebula class, a frequently-seen workhorse design that resembles a pared-down Galaxy class, and the Oberth class, a general-purpose medical and scientific vessel from the same area. The Excelsior class is currently in the lead, so Star Trek Online fans are encouraged to vote for their favorites.
Star Trek Online unveils cloaking Klingon warship: Vo'Quv Class
Some of us at Massively are big fans of stealth classes and gameplay in MMOs. When it comes to space combat, even moreso when you can decloak with enough firepower to wipe out an opponent before they realize what's happening and disappear just as fast. However, will this stealth-focused gameplay be viable in the tactical PvP of Star Trek Online? We can't say for sure yet as there hasn't been much in the way of in-game combat footage, but the info they've released on this latest Klingon Empire warship, the Vo'Quv Class, suggests this type of gameplay might just be possible. Of course the ship profile is heavy on the lore elements we're sure Star Trek Online fans will want to sink their teeth into, but the specifications released for the Vo'Quv Class offensive and defensive systems list a "Class 7 Cloaking Device" backed up by a complement of disruptor beams which can fire in any direction taking out enemy shields, while multiple torpedo launchers finish the job.
