Star Trek Online takes place a generation after the events of Star Trek Nemesis, the last feature film to follow the exploits of the Starship Enterprise. As part of the game’s development, Cryptic Studios has been sharing bulletins that update fans on the intervening history of the Star Trek universe. The latest news:
Starfleet is monitoring the deteriorating state of the Romulan Star Empire, which appears to be moving toward open civil war. Federation ambassadors are consulting with representatives of the Klingon Empire and other Alpha and Beta quadrant powers about a proposed course of action to either bring peace to the Romulans or control any conflict that spills out of Romulan space.
The game will allow players to take on the role of a Starfleet officer or a Klingon warrior, exploring the galaxy and completing missions with away teams. And of course, there will be combat:
Following increased activity by the Borg in the Alpha Quadrant including the possible recreation of a Borg Queen, Starfleet appoints Captain Jean-Luc Picard to lead the defense against the renewed threat. He calls on Seven of Nine to research ways to use technology brought back from the Delta Quadrant by Voyager to either directly combat the Borg or to give the Federation an advantage in the coming battle.
But not all of Starfleet’s energies are directed toward military concerns. On stardate 58839.03, Starfleet celebrates the start of construction of the USS Stargazer-A at the San Francisco Fleet Yards. The Stargazer-A and her sister ships will be the first of a new class of starships designed for scientific research and exploration.
In another news release, the development team shares some insight into how starships will operate in the game:
We’re not using anything like a traditional MMO “mana bar” for energy. Your ship’s Warp Core provides power, and you allocate this power to individual systems – shields, weapons, propulsion, etc. But you won’t “run out” of energy and have to wait to fire phasers. That’s not fun. The more power you allocate to weapons, the more effective your phasers become.
You can read more about Star Trek Online at the game’s official Web site, www.startrekonline.com. Here’s a trailer from Cryptic that consists entirely of in-game footage:
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?umid=292447″ width=”480″ height=”392″ wmode=”transparent” /]I can’t wait to take the helm and see what she can do! Watch out, Klingons!
Images courtesy Cryptic Studios
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‘Star Trek Online’ trailer promises the galaxy
