Star Trek Online Guide

Star Trek Online will be the first MMO game to feature both ground and space combat. STO is set in the future of the Star Trek franchise in the year 2409 and will allow its users to establish contact with new races, discover resources and uncover mysteries that will influence the franchise of Star Trek.

The STO universe will expand and allow you to seek out new life and new civilizations and you'll experience totally unique stories based on the characters you know and love and some that you don't know at all!

The basis for STO is in being the Captain of your own star ship and travelling the depths of space looking for adventure (which you can also do with friends!). As the captain you will lead your crew on missions and call the shots, from maneuvering in space, firing your vast array of weapons or entering warp speed to explore unknown regions of space (if there are any left!).

You'll also lead your away team on the ground across amazing rendered terrain, battling enemies and interacting with friends and allies. You'll command five members of your team on the ground all of which can be commanded to do your bidding, however it will be up to you to ensure they make it back to your ship in one piece!

Every ship in STO can be completely customized from its color to its construction. Although it will retain the authentic Star Trek "feel" it will be totally your style!

You'll also be able to create your own species in STO meaning you'll be able to tell your own story about how you came to be in the STO galaxy. You can also pick from the race's that already inhabit the ST universe as well, such as Human, Vulcan, Andorian, Klingon, Orion, Gorn, and several others. It all adds up to a great game that'll let you stamp your mark on the Star Trek Universe.

Cryptic Studios, developers of City of Hero's and City of Villains fame, officially announced its development of Star Trek Online on July 28, 2008, as a countdown timer on Cryptic's web site reached zero and the new official site was launched.

Although no 'official' release date has been announced, it has been reported that the game is likely to be released somewhere around the end of March 2010. Beta testing of STO is scheduled to start at the end of 2009 and a beta testing signup is available on the official STO site.

As with most MMORPG games, frequent updates and fixes will most likely occur from the first day of release.

In Star Trek Online ships are broken in five tiers, which means exactly what you think: ships with higher tier are more advanced. They offer more weapon slots and Bridge Officer seats.

Although it makes a significant different what type of tier your ship is, it does not necessarily mean you are helpless against opponents with higher tier ships. More experienced players will no doubt manage to turn the battle in their favor more than often.

Federation Escort ships are the smallest vessels available in the STO universe, however they are highly maneuverable ships with very strong weapons. They lack decent medical facilities and can't deal well with various science and engineering tasks.

Primary Role: Heavy damage ship, boasting incredible firepower for its size.
Special: Bonus to damage, speed and maneuverability; can load cannons; bonus to weapon power; extra forward weapon slot.

List of available Escort ships by rank:

Lieutenant Commander:
* Saber
* Rapier
* Ushaan

Commander (heavy escort):
* Akira
* Zephyr
* Norway (Oslo re-fit)

Captain (tactical escort):
* Defiant
* Vigilant
* Gallant

Admiral (fleet escort):
* Prometheus
* Phoenix
* Cerberus

The Federations Science vessels are the backbone of the fleet with advanced deflectors and sensors which allow them to detect the weaknesses of other ships as well as reveal the location of a cloaked vessel.

The downside of these ships is their distinct lack of firing power when compared to Escort or Cruiser type ships; however they are great when used for support purposes in a large battle.

Primary Role: Fleet support, ally aid, battle control. Specializes in buffs, debuffs and control.
Special: Advanced shields, innate subsystem targeting, innate cloak detection; bonus to Auxiliary power.

List of available Science vessels by rank:

Lieutenant Commander:
* Nova
* Aurora
* Quasar

Commander (research science vessel):
* Hope
* Horizon

Captain (long range science vessel):
* Intrepid
* Cochrane
* Discovery

Admiral (deep space science vessel):
* Luna
* Sol
* Polaris

Federation Cruisers are the powerhouses of the fleet and the largest vessel currently available in the game. Because of their size they have access to larger warp cores and a much larger crew giving them an increase in energy and overall system effectiveness. The Cruiser class is also good for transporting goods due to their large cargo holds.

Primary Role: Lots of power; large crew complement provides quick repairs and boarding party tactics.
Special: Large Warp Core (power bonus); large cargo space (inventory); bonus to power in all systems; more weapon slots than Science vessels or Escorts.

List of available Cruiser ships by rank:

Lieutenant Commander:
* Constitution
* Excalibur
* Vesper

Commander (heavy cruiser):
* Constellation
* Stargazer
* Dakota

Captain (exploration cruiser):
* Galaxy
* Celestial
* Envoy

Admiral (battle cruiser):
* Sovereign
* Noble
* Majestic

All ships can be customized by players in various ways which makes each one almost unique. You can change your ship's weapons, shield, engine and deflector. As you advance your character in Star Trek Online you of course gain access to better items.

Customizing and upgrading ships is an important factor in your gameplay. Although we'd all like nothing but photon torpedoes it's not actually a very good idea since they have a hard time penetrating your opponent's shields. You can also choose between disruptor weapons and phazers, each with their own pros and cons (disruptors deal more damage, but phazers can disrupt shield and ship subsystems).

Some items are also restricted to certain ship classes, for example if you want to put cannons you can only do so on an Escort ship.

Bridge Officers can dramatically change your gameplay. Each player assigns a number of Bridge Officers depending on the ship, which have a great impact on your ship performance. You can assign these officers to Science, Tactical or Engineering stations, and they can access their skills if depending on the rank of the station as well as rank of the officer.

To give you an example, if a Tactical Officer is a Commander but stationed at a Lieutenant Commander's station on a ship, he'd only have access to his Ensign, Lieutenant and Lieutenant Commander skills.

Station modifications are yet another way to customize your ships. All available upgrades are as seen in the TV shows and movies, for example Tetryon Pulse generators, Graviton generators and Multi-Spectro Scanners.

They don't have as big a difference as Bridge Officers but are still an important part of your ship's effectiveness and can improve Bridge Officers directly.

These modifications can improve different ship elements such as armor, deflector or phasers. Different types of ships tend to work best with specific modifications also: Cruisers are best for engineering modifications, Escorts for tactical and Science ships for science mods. Basically, you can modify your ship to have more damage or specific damage resistances and similar.
Ships Crew
The crew of your ship deals with repairing damaged ship systems and hull, fights in boarding parties (and against them) and similar. Players can't interact with the crew (unfortunately), but can see their status at all times. Often when in battle crewmen will get injured and will require medical services before being sent back. Those who die while fighting can be replaces at the nearest starbase.

Different types of ships can have a different number of crew: as an example, large Cruiser ships can have a thousand crewman on board, while the smallest ships have only a few dozen. Having a large crew means your ship subsystems and hull repairs more quickly and boarding parties (which damage your opponents subsystems) are more effective.

If this lens has whet your appetite for more you can follow the following links!

Star Trek Online Official Site

Star Trek Online Forums

STARTREK.COM : Online Game

Happy Trekking!