Star Trek Online is now two months old, and they are continuing to add more content. Today we have details and a promo for a new special task force mission and two new ships to show. Plus Cryptic offers some hope to console gamers. Get all the latest news in our STO update below.
Khitomer Accord Mission Released
Cryptic has released a new special task force mission, "Khitomer Accord", here is a promo video
Here is a mission overview:
Continue the fight against the Borg in our latest Special Task Force – "Khitomer Accord"!
You cut your teeth during the Borg invasion of the Vega system. … Or did you?
The Borg seemed unusually weak, unable to adapt and most of their fleet was already seriously damaged. It seems like someone may have got to them first and softened them up, because if the Borg were at full strength that day, you may not have fared so well.
More questions are being raised as Starfleet intelligence and the Klingon Defense Force have both detected a controlled emission of a massive quantity of chronometric particles in the Vega system. The last time a surge like that was detected, the Borg opened a temporal vortex and attempted to change the history of Earth.
Travel to Vega to investigate exactly what the Borg are up to, neutralize the temporal anomaly and prevent history from changing forever!
Quick "Khitomer Accord" Facts
* Advanced Tactics: Execute advanced strategic decisions to survive your latest encounter.
* Assimilated Danger: Do battle against an assimilated battle ship of long-time renown.
* There and Back Again: Reference your earlier accomplishments in "Khitomer Accord."
* It is a daily repeatable mission.
* Purple Mark X gear drops in the mission
2 new ships
Cryptic has unveiled two new ship classes
Quasar
Named for the distant galaxies that are the most luminous objects in the universe, the Quasar class boasts some of the most advanced technology available for small scouting and science vessels. It and its sister ships are equipped with deflector shields to prevent space debris and objects from damaging the starship
Quasar – CLICK FOR DETAILS & VIDEO
Vesper
The Vesper uses modular construction, so it is ideal for exploration missions. It has the firepower to allow it to perform well in most battle scenarios, but its increased power helps it serve as a support ship during fleet maneuvers. In the absence of larger cruisers, the Vesper also performs well as the lead ship in a coordinated attack.
Vesper – CLICK FOR DETAILS & VIDEO
Zinkievich holds out hope for STO on console
Last week it was reported that a console version of Star Trek Online was "put on the back burner", but in a new comment to IncGamer, STO executive producer Craig Zinkievich explained that they are concentrating efforts and resources on the PC version for now, but did provide some hope for the future, saying:
Because our core tech does run on consoles, and we’ve always had an interest in seeing our titles on as many platforms as possible, we may revisit console releases at some point in the future. Right now, we’re 100% focused on PC.
More STO Links
- Cryptic is offering a 25% "tax day discount" on all items in the Cryptic Store beginning April 15th
- New "Ask Cryptic" focuses on PvP
- New CZ interviews with VideoGamer.com and Subspace Radio
- OutpostGamez has a good summary of upcoming updates to Star Trek Online
Finally, here is a fan video from xCrazyTomx where he and his brother dance in STO to the "Picard Song"
Start Playing
If you want to get into the 25th century and play Star Trek Online it is available at Amazon discounted currently for less than $25 (or $47 for the collectors edition), and that includes a one month subscription.
STO been fun!
When STO shows up on a console (PS3 or XBOX 360) I will try it out. I spend too much time on my computer now between working and surfing sci-fi sites to start playing games on it again. My wife will have me and the computer sleeping in the car.
I’m still waiting to see a decent machinima music video of the Picard Song, the way Star Wars Galaxies has Fett’s Vette
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z9XTeeA43o
Watching 2 guys dancing in place for a minute isn’t doing it for me.
Gotta love the Quasar class. A pimped up Nova class.
I decided a while back to spend my entertainment money on my console and go bare-bones on my computer. I don’t think I’m alone in this.
Is it just me or are almost all of the STO ships bammer besides the cannon classes?
All wonderful content, but when are they going to add diplomacy missions, and more exploration on an individual level? Why does everything new have to be STF missions?
“It and its sister ships are equipped with deflector shields to prevent space debris and objects from damaging the starship”
Huh, you’d think Starfleet would’ve thought of that by now.
Honestly, I think I might have heard that tech idea before…
Hmmmm
HMMMMM
HMMMMMMMMMMM… I WONDER WHERE.
I’m still stuck on Infected; I’ve tried finishing it three times now and each time the whole team gave up because we kept getting our asses handed to us. I don’t mind the occasional challenge to get task force teams to work together, but I hope the newer missions are a little less frustrating.
Still doesn’t seem interesting to me.
I absolutely love this game!!!! I currently command a Constitution Class vessel and I left it just like it’s sister Enterprise 1701-A!!! It’s like flying a classic muscle car in space!!!! If you are a Trekkie and a gamer you will love this game!!!
Gee, it’s a good thing the Borg made allowances for the queen’s bosom. /s
#8: Clearly, “sister ships” refers to every single FTL starship ever made. :P
More combat, more ships, but still no real exploration, no diplomacy, no sense of wonder…
I can plate Elite Force and the Starfleet Command ship-combat games and get EVERYTHING I get out of STO. (Okay, except for the social aspect, but to be honest I am not thrilled with the interaction I’ve seen in STO, either.)
STO might be a great game someday; for now, it’s just a decent one, and not worth a monthly subscription.
#2 – I’m pretty much in the same boat. I grew tired of the never-ending tweaking and upgrading required to get a good gaming experience on the PC. Consoles may be more limited in terms of their capabilites but are so much more convenient: just pop the disk in and start playing.
MMORPGs have traditionally floundered on consoles and despite Cryptic’s overtures and the fact that the engine can probably run on consoles I wouldn’t hold my breath for ever seeing the game released. Part of the problem in bringing something like ST:O to a console is that most console gamers are not used to paying a monthly fee to play just one game. This is especially problematic on the 360 where you already have a monthly fee for Xbox Live; it’s hard to justify being able to play hundreds of games online for only $5 a month (or completely free on the PS3) and then being asked to play $10 or more a month for only one game, no matter how much content it offers.
@ 11
Quote “If you are a Trekkie and a gamer you will love this game”
ahem,
I am both, & I HATE this game!
If you only at Lt Cmdr rank with a Connie class then you have only been playing a few days!
Come back in a few weeks time and review the game, in the mean time enjoy the tedious repetition :)
see, two things have been stopping me from buying this game (despite being a HUGE TOS and Enterpise fan): wireless connection = bad playing experience and the fee vs time. don’t get me wrong, i’d gladly pay for it, it’s just i’m not sure my dedication would be worth it (i’m not really sure how to quantify amount of time and money).
maybe when i start earning more and am able to afford a decent internet connection i’ll check it out.
Well I, for one, think its cool.
I hate those Fed starships… nothing but bad kitbashes. Why didn’t they hire people to design something sleek and new, like the Aventine or the Enterprise-J?
Just traded in my TOS Connie for a modified TMP refit Connie (with a few customizations). Love the space combat and the away missions are getting better now that I’ve upgraded hand weapons and my away team members are gaining in skills.
BTW: With a half-decent video card the game engine looks beautiful and I’ve snapped excellent screen shots of my ships. I use them as wallpapers for my computers at home and work.
“MMORPGs have traditionally floundered on consoles”
erm… Fallout 3? Oblivion? I’m still playing both of these games on my ps3. I would love to see STO on the ps3. In gutted we don’t have ST Legacy and I’m with the poster who said he has a less powerful pc and uses his console for entertainment.
Fallout 3 isn’t actually an MMORPG. It’s a single-player game only.
However, Fallout 3 is the perfect argument for why Star Trek Online SHOULD be available to console gamers. Whether it’s ported directly over as a console-based MMORPG -OR- if it’s ported over as a single-player sandbox game, with AI folks filling in the place of other people in each mission, the core engine of Star Trek Online seems like it’d be perfect for marketing to the console community. Even if it doesn’t make it over to, like, the PS3 or the 360 exactly as an MMO game, there IS enough core game there to script up some AI interactions (like in Fallout 3) and make the game single-player, console-based multiplayer, or co-op.
@5, 14: You guys are a bit out of the loop. You can get fantastic performance in Star Trek Online and virtually every other game just by installing a cheap 100$ graphics card on your PC. Things have changed, you don’t need an expensive PC to play games any more.
@22 – right, that’s true, but Devil’s Advocate here –
I can spend $100 on a graphics card to get superior graphics ONLY, or I can spend $300 to get a high-performance machine geared exclusively towards gaming which integrates superior audio AND video performance into one package.
I used to be a die-hard PC gamer, but I played the same “climb the technology ladder to a superior system with your paycheck” for a looong time…after a while, the appeal of claiming you have a superior gaming rig to your buddies becomes kinda lackluster when you can just bleed your wallet a little bit once every approx. 7-8 years for a new console instead of once every 6 months-2 years for an audio/video/controller upgrade.
For someone who is thinking about playing this game, and hasn’t played any massive multiplayers before….. does it hold up well as a decent star trek game (basicly is it better then 2/3 of the crap currently produced. I would be willing to pay a monthly subscript if the content was updated at the same rate. what do you guys think.
#24 – I was horribly disappointed in the product I purchased. It might make an OK standalone game, but I had far more fun with Klingon Academy.
Honestly, it seems like the game is a ripoff of Starfleet Command.
I deeply regret purchasing the game in the first place for the box price, let alone the lifetime subscription.
#20: Oblivion and Fallout 3 are single player games (and damn good ones too); MMO are Massively Multiplayer Onlines which usually involve ongoing pay to play fees.
#22: I freely admit to not being as up to speed on PC gaming but, as your post itself shows, you still have to crack the case, install hardware, install software and drivers, etc. A far cry from just popping a disk into a console and loading the software up.
New ships? Really? They need a new design team.
the gameplay looks so crap the grahpics are a joke it took them this long to launch this game and i don’t see anything good about it if they mad the ships look as good a star trek nemesis and away teams as good as cryis then this game would be the ultimate star trek game legacy had better ships on it .
i wantewd a game that would do all of the star trek battle that where scene in the series and movie like the battle between the enterprise E and the scimitar. with all te same features being able to hit into the Enterprise E into the Scimitar that would be cool then after that level do write a whole new story go form write storys between the star trek films as well with DX11
8- Yeah… That was really sad. There nothing else about that ship that’s worth writing about? Seriously. Just plain sad.
@23: There is nothing “superior” about a console’s audio,video or gaming performance when compared even with a cheap PC. Plus with a console you get cheap hardware and then you pay through the nose for everything else – games, peripherals, xbox live or whatever. It’s the old “cheap printer, expensive ink” trick and people need to see that. I can understand someone buying a console for the ease of use, but to save money? Not really.