Star Trek Online’s first major content upgrade went online today. The "Season 1: Common Ground" patch includes new content for Klingon gameplay, Federation PvP, and more. Full details below, plus we have a new video showing off the "Special Task Force: The Cure" special task force mission.
NEW Special Task Force Mission Details & Video
from Cryptic release
Special Task Force Missions
If you’re looking for a challenge, look no further than our upcoming “Special Task Force” Missions – Raid Episodes, which combine bold storytelling with our toughest five-man missions yet. These are just a few of the Raid Episodes we’ll be rolling out over the coming weeks, beginning a week after launch. Raid Episodes are available to both Federation and Klingon players.
Special Task Force: The Cure
The Klingon Defense Force has been conducting its own investigation into the Borg advance, and they believe that the Collective’s next target is the Vorn system. Enemies may have to unite when confronted by a greater foe.
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Assist the I.K.S. Kang in a desperate battle with the Borg.
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Explore a planet that has been completely assimilated. Can you rescue the warriors before they are taken over by the Borg?
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Fight at the side of Ja’rod, son of Lursa.
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Free Klingon ships from Borg control, and gain their assistance in a final battle with a Borg fleet.
VIDEO
Season 1: Common Ground Fact Sheet
Lifetime Subscriber Perks
We’ve put together a special thank you package for our Lifetime subscribers:
- Classified Access Codes – A free C-store item.
- The Captain’s Table – A special social area exclusive to Lifetime subscribers, available to both Federation and Klingon captains.
- Special In-Game Title – “Career Officers” are those who’ve joined Starfleet or the KDF for the long haul.
PVP Updates
- Wargames – Federation players can now participate in PvP against one another to better prepare for the dangers of the battlefield.
- New PvP Map – Explore “Shanty Town,” a brand new Ground Assault map available for both Klingon and Federation players.
Customization
- Off-Duty Uniforms – Experience Risa in style! Starfleet officers will have the option to change into off-duty outfits to enjoy more casual attire.
- New Stances and Hairstyles – Further customize your Captain by changing his or her hairstyle, or adopting two brand new stances: Stern and Relaxed.
Ships
- A New Klingon Battle Cruiser – The K’Tanco Battle Cruiser has been made available to Klingon Lieutenant Commanders.
- Klingon Ship Customization – Use the ship tailor to customize your Bird of Prey or Raptor.
- Respec Is Here – Unhappy with your Captain’s loadout? Use the respec tool to change things up.
Missions
- New Fleet Actions Everywhere!
- The Big Dig – Available in Romulan space.
- DS9 Under Siege – The True Way has attacked and boarded DS9. Repel the invasion to save the day.
- Klingons Can Play, Too – Klingon Captains may now access the Crystalline Entity, Big Dig and Breaking the Planet Fleet Actions
Skills
- New Skill: Starship Attack Vectors – Improve your ship’s accuracy and critical hit chance.
- New Skill: Combat Maneuvers – Improve your ship’s evasion and turn rate.
- New Skill: Starship Battle Strategy – Improve your ship’s critical hit severity and damage resistance.
In The C-Store
- New Bridge Variants – All new ways to update your Bridges’ look, available for a low price in the C-Store for both Federation and Klingon ships.
- Federation Ship Variants – New takes on your old favorites, available for a low price in the C-Store.
Start Playing
If you want to get into the 25th century and play Star Trek Online it is available at Amazon discounted currently for $28 and that includes a one month subscription.
I’ve seen a great deal of elaboration in the last several months and it seems that there is care taken to preserve the in-universe integrity of STO. All this is very encouraging to me.
looks well cool
I’m too dumb to play these video games.
Cryptic needs to realize thats these videos do little to make me want to get this game. Every video always has the same obligatory space/ground combat shots. I just get the feeling these are not much more then some patch updates.
When I see trailers the quality of Blizzard, then I’ll know that there is some major new content for the game.
#4
They’re working on it
I can’t wait to play this game. It looks better each video I see
#4 – Every video shows the same space/ground combat stuff because that’s all the game is at this point. Even when you go to a “new” world to “explore,” you’re usually visiting the same map with the same look and the same basic shoot-then-click-on-computer-then-shoot-then….nonsense.
If you like your Star Trek to be about violence and repetition, STO is great. Otherwise, I’d wait a year or two until they add some “Trek” to this world. Right now, it’s more Starship Troopers than Star Trek.
#6, actually Starship Troopers Online m ight be kinda cool. At least then its not meant to be something more than violent.
Each new thing that comes out here makes me more and more glad, though, that I’m not playing STO. It looks like its made by people that have no clue about Star Trek, just building MMO’s.
I stick with WoW because my kids have loads of their own characters on my account.
My kids are young, seven and nine, and I supervise their time, their on-line friends, and their play on-line. To them, it’s important to have access to pets, mounts, seasonal festivals, and the chance to be silly.
I move up my own characters (who are also over-burdened with pets and mounts, thanks to my kids), and I know many adults have the same experiences. WoW provides the chance for a good hands-on family friendly experience when an adult is present.
If Trek could do something similar, I’ll give it a whirl.
#7
But to be honest, how could anyone build morale, ethics and diplomacy missions into a videogame and still make it this mission fun to play? its not really possible. Because it would end up in click until the mission is over. So basicly, it would be the same as now, but without the fun part.
A video game is somethin interactive, something you have to do yourself. And the majority of players (hell, humans) have more fun shooting stuff in videogames than just plain talking to npc’s.
Just a thought: I bet there’s lots more playing as Federation then Klingons in the game.
I wonder if they changed it to Federation vs Terran Empire (from an alternate alternate universe where they never fell) things might balance out more. They’d have to double the size of the game world (good and evil versions of everywhere). Maybe the Guardian can be used as the gateway between universes?
A story based on the DC comics mirror universe saga would work really well, transplanted to the 25th century.
#9 – That’s the puzzle. But look at Bethesda Softworks for your answer. When I heard they had the rights to Star Trek games and passed on producing one in favour of Fallout 3, frankly it was depressing. Because Fallout 3 had those moral and ethical complications, as well as the complexity of story-line and character that ARE Star Trek. I wish they had made a Star Trek!!
Like Fallout 3, Star Trek games should measure and balance your EVERY choice on a scale. Everything you do in Fallout 3, every act you commit, every sentence you say in conversation – all of it impacted your character and the way your character fit into the world. There was a sequence where a guy in a bar is talking about eliminating someone in one town. At first, it seems pretty clear — either tell the sheriff or don’t. But the complexity went so much further than that, actually. If you do tell the sheriff, the sheriff walks into the bar to apprehend the man and GETS BLOWN AWAY. The Sheriff was a good guy, too. One of the ones you are kind of fond of and respect. When I watched him fall in a flash of gunfire, I was stunned. But it made me see so clearly that the game knew how to be complex. I could potentially shoot the no-good rascal as soon as he stands up to take out the sheriff. I could even kill him without bringing anyone else into the picture, just because he’s up to no good. I could let the sheriff die, of course. Or I could get in the way of the bullets meant for the sheriff…. All of it changed the game in wonderful and unknown ways. All of those things were possible and they all fell on separate spots on the moral scale. Things in Star Trek games have to be like that! Not so black and white, not so cut and dry, but more ambiguous and complex and adjustable. When aliens are dying on a strange world, you have to have as many choices and as many solutions and impacts for solutions as possible. Fallout 3 doesn’t have the hope or colour or charm of Star Trek — but it gets the depth of morality absolutely spot on.
Bethesda’s Oblivion had a better sense of the positive and colourful Star Trek universe idea, but that company has proven they can incorporate subtext and depth. We are too used to game-makers not trying hard enough — #9 it IS possible!
GET RID OF THE RANK CAP!!! You can max out in no time. Why not introduce new ranks and roll back the current Rear Admiral lvl 5 0rank to Commodore lvl 5? This way you can align the flag ranks to the more traditional Navy ranks. Then you can have TEN levels of Commodore, Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, Admiral, and Admiral of the Fleet. Each with 10 levels, and making each level harder to achieve, will give longevity to the game.
What do you think?
RAdm5 Bill Adama of the USS Overlord E
(on STO, that is :) )
No exploration and discovery missions? It’s only wartime conflict?
What about insights into larger concepts, such as humanity, sentience, the impact of technology, social consequence… anything?
Whats that noise? Coming from Gene’s grave?
Sounds like someone spinning violently…
#8 xD your kids are seven and nine xD LOL nice Voyager joke xD but seriously this game is a yawnfest…
Ray Wilkins is now borg?
@9 Fallout 3, Mass Effect 1 &2, and to a more limited extent BioShock 1 and 2 implemented a great system of morality and diplomacy.
The key difference is that STO doesn’t have the complexity in terms of gameplay and interaction between characters to utliize it to it’s full proper effect yet. Hopefully that’ll change in the future. There’s a sampler of it during one of the missions you get from DS9 (I won’t spoil it for you), but there’s no real consequences to what decision you make.
STO with the character interaction, ground combat, and decision making/consequences of Mass Effect would make this game sell like hotcakes.
An overhyped game with a lot of senseless shooting.
Nice game for twelve year olds…