This week’s update on the upcoming Star Trek Online massive multiplayer game includes the fifth entry on Cyrptic’s ‘Path to 2409’ which shows the story progress towards the setting of STO. In addition we have more views of the NX-91001 revealed last week and a cool animation showing off ship customization.
Story takes step towards STO’s setting
The following story update was just posted (on StarTrekOnline.com):
Path To 2409: 2384
Federation analysts say that a shakeup in the Romulan power structure has left the empire vulnerable to attack from within and without. Starfleet is dispatching additional ships to the border of the Neutral Zone and considers the Romulan situation one of the main threats to Federation safety and security.After Tomalak’s defeat by Donatra and her fleet, Praetor Tal’aura removes him as proconsul, choosing Sela as her right hand and fleet commander. Sela, a human-Romulan hybrid with extensive experience in the military and intelligence fields, has been a part of several major Romulan operations, including a failed attempt to invade Vulcan and coordinating support for the House of Duras’ attempt to take over the Klingon High Council in 2367.
As a gift to Tomalak for his decades of loyal service to the Romulan Star Empire, Tal’aura allows him to “retire” to his rural estates on Romulus.
The Romulan defeat at Xantila has made open war with Empress Donatra unfeasible. Praetor Tal’aura reluctantly agrees to negotiate with the Imperial Romulan State to determine the new borders and the establishment of a neutral zone, but rejects the Federation’s offer to mediate the talks. Donatra says she would welcome the Federation’s input, but that she will defer to Tal’aura’s decision in this matter, and sends Admiral Taris to the Romulan capitol as her representative.
On Stardate 61602.00, Tal’aura is found dead in her private chambers. Tal Shiar investigators report that the praetor appears to have been attacked in her sleep.
The Romulan capitol erupts in a firestorm of rumors and accusations. Groups accused of responsibility for the assassination include a coalition of the noble houses, the Tal Shiar or agents working for Empress Donatra and the Imperial Romulan State.
Donatra denies having anything to do with the murder. “I face my enemies on the field of battle with honor,” the empress announces in an address to her citizens, “not with a knife in the dark.” She recalls Taris from Romulus and orders her to prepare to defend Imperial holdings.
At Tal’aura’s funeral in Ki Baratan, Sela publically blames the Remans and the Unification movement for the attack. “They claim to desire peace,” Sela says, “but ally with the murderers and usurpers who terrorized our planet and led us to the brink of destruction. The blood of one praetor was not enough for the Remans. Tal’aura was the victim of their thirst for destruction.”
But the upheaval in Romulan space is not the only potential war that Starfleet is monitoring. On Stardate 61829.83, the IKS Quv is attacked by a Gorn ship and 207 Klingons die in the battle. Representatives of King Xrathis of the Gorn claim that the commander of their warship was acting without orders, but refuse to surrender the surviving crew of the Quv to the Klingon Empire. In response, Chancellor Martok expels the Gorn’s diplomats from the empire and orders ships to the Klingons’ border with the Gorn Hegemony.
Representatives of the Federation Council are pleased to accept Bajor’s renewed application for Federation membership, and pledge to fast-track the planet’s admission. The increased traffic and commerce that could arrive with Federation membership prompts the Ferengi to open an expansive embassy and gift shop near Quark’s on Deep Space Nine.
Odo, acting as the Great Link’s ambassador to the solids, meets with his fellow changeling Laas on Koralis III. Odo invites Laas to return with him to the Gamma Quadrant. Laas refuses, choosing instead to continue to search for other changelings in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.
And Starfleet decides to transfer the Soong-type android B-4 to the custody of the Soong Foundation. The prototype android was deactivated after its discovery by the Enterprise-E in 2379, but foundation representatives say they hope to restore his full positronic functioning.
So as of now STO is totallly on their own. They have moved beyond the Star Trek books are even now killing off characters. You can see the beginnings of where we will see the universe in 2409, with two major factions, the UFP and its allies, and the Klingon Empire and its affiliated races (either conquered or allied), which will included the above mentioned Gorn.
More views of the NX-91001 plus ‘customization’ animation
Last week’s STO Update revealed the new NX-91001 ship for Star Trek Online, now the Dutch gaming site MMOZONE has some additional larger screenshots of this new ship.
Click images to see bigger at MMOZONE
MMOZONE also has a nice section on the ships of STO, including a cool animation that shows off ship customization (for what appears to be a different ship than the NX-91001).
Click to see more on STO ships at MMOZONE
More STO
For more on STO, see our special Star Trek Online category for our most recent articles and also visit the official startrekonline.com site.
I like the animation and looking forward to STO.
Interesting but with the new Trek timeline, does any of this matter anymore?
Waits for the “is this stuff canon” debate to start……..
Perhaps the more relevant question might be, with all of this, does an alternate timeline movie matter? >:)
Ugly ship designs.
Licensees will not wag the dog – to what extent these products respect and adhere to what’s established is entirely up to the studio, not the fans or licensees.
I kind of expect the studio to shrug and take the money.
For all we know the current change in the TOS timeline alters very little or event RESULTS in the current TNG timeline.
Is this actually an argument on whether a fictional movie alters the reality of a videogame??
Man, I gotta lay off the Saurian Brandy. Dang Lizard Juice is making me crazified!
Dennis — Although I agree that this game appears to be in the fugly category ship-wise, a lot of variations would likely exist in 2409. So, there’ll be pretty ones and pretty ugly ones.
I wonder if anyone has come up with a star trek science explanation for the “cut ins” into the primary hulls we are seeing on ships now– or is just a way to shake up the look
Since all this was set up by the writing of Berman’s people, the same folks who killed the franchise and set up peace with the Romulans on several occasions ( How many of Picard’s encounters with Romulan captains ended with “many someday…”? How many of those captains are now Admirals or Senators?) , why wouldn’t we look at this game plotline as convoluted nonsense?
It seems that the Romulans have become the expanded universe “go to” villains when people have absolutely run out of ideas.
And since Paramount/Bad Robot/particularly Bob Orci have been using this very site to cushion the blow to old-school fans that the new film is indeed a reboot by way of creating an alternate timeline, why would we care what happens in the future of Berman’s version of the Trek-verse?
It’s just not relevant anymore.
Yeah, these are some seriously ugly starships. Just odd Sovereign-class variants, really. Oh well. It’s a video game. :)
SPOILER ALERT
i declare the rest of this thread a spoiler zone for movies, books and comics
In a recent STO Update I argued there should be more coordination between Paramount/Bad Robot, Pocket, Cryptic and IDW. The reasons are becoming more obvious. In 2009/10 we are going to see three different versions of the the post Nemesis future
1. Pocket Books
with the post Nemesis TNG books now moving towards a new conflict with the ‘Typhon Pact’ and shakeup of the Federation and Trek universe
2. Cyrptic
now moving past (and conflicting with) the Trek books to create their own setup for a war between Federation and KLingons (and no mention of a Typhon Pact)
3. Paramount/Bad Robot/IDW
Part of the new Star Trek movie will take place in the post nemesis ‘Prime” universe (dealing with Spock and Nero), before they go back in time. Being that this will be ‘film’ this will be the ONLY real canon post Nemesis. That story will be greatly expanded in the IDW ‘COUNTDOWN’ series of prequel comic books. These may also end up contradicting the Pocket post TNG books. Although comics are not canon, being that the story is coming from Orci and is related directly to the filmed canon, it will likely be seen as ‘more’ canon.
So people will just have to get used to these three different versions of the post Nem universe going forward. Cryptic and Star Trek online are saying they are talking to Paramount and IDW, so maybe we will see at least those two come into alignment. As for Pocket books post Nem stories and the movie, it could be that they dont conflict, even if they dont mention eachother, we will just have to wait and see.
But unlike how it works in Star Wars with their game, comic and book ‘EU,’ Star Trek continues to allow each medium to do its own thing.
So I suggest looking at these game updates as being just that, updates for the game and the story they want to tell to lead to a ‘two faction’ conflict, with each faction having an interesting array of playable races. Which really is the point of all this.
For those who have no interest in playing this game, there really isn’t anything of interest here except maybe idle curiosity since the game is its own thing.
Stop bashing Berman.
RICK BERMAN rules and everybody who says he killed Star Trek must coevally say he saved it.
Sorry, Picard, I’m going to ask you a question, and it is not for the purpose of starting an argument, rather more in Trek exploration style, I am genuinely interested in your interpretation of events –
How did Rick Berman save Star Trek? What did it need saving from?
Is this cannon?
If Rick berman killed Trek…. We would not be talking about Trek Now.
A lot of people seem to be complaining that this game or the novels “don’t matter” because there’ll be a new Trek timeline.
I don’t understand why that matters. Why can’t you enjoy multiple Trek timelines and continuities?
The Dark Knight is set in a completely different Batman continuity than Batman: The Long Halloween, and both are set in a different continuity from The Dark Knight Returns. But so what? They’re all great stories. Isn’t THAT the primary issue?
Looks like 1990s to me…
#9 – Relevant to whom? As far as I’m concerned–and not telling anyone else what they should be thinking, of course–if the movie has created an alternate timeline, going forward, it is the *movie* which will cease to become relevant, not 40+ years of all the rest of Trek.
#11 – I suppose that part of the question will be, how far post-“Nemesis” will the film take place? Another part might be whether the events of the early 2380s in the Pocket version might be over and done with in time to move into a world like that of the game.
A couple of years ago, at Shore Leave, Margaret Clark described briefly why there wasn’t any real coordination at the time between Pocket and Perpetual. The folks in charge of STO at Cryptic seem to be cut from a different cloth, but I haven’t heard whether they have spoken to Margaret or not.
#14 – I think this is a game, not so much a big gun. ;)
#15 – As always, the claims of Star Trek’s death have been greatly exaggerated. It’s not nearly so easy to kill as all that, it would seem.
Shouldn’t we all be happy that we are getting a new Star Trek game that hopefully is better than the last few?
Actually what would make me ecstatic is a Star Trek game along the l ines of Bridge Commander which has updated models, along with the ability to allow you to wander around more of your ship than just the bridge. Then to cap it all, the extra gameplay of being able to put together landing parties, away teams (take your pick) and play out the mission.
Could make for a great single and multiplayer experience.
Sounds great, if only someone would write it.
Actually, If you click the link with my name you may just find something like that is being put together.
12 “RICK BERMAN rules and everybody who says he killed Star Trek must coevally say he saved it.”
Bjo Trimble and millions of other letter writers “saved Star Trek”. Berman had nothing to do with Star Trek, one way or the other.
What Berman DID do, was sustain Gene Roddenberry’s weird offshoot of Star Trek, TNG. And, of course, all the shows that followed were with him at the helm as well. He ran it into the ground with familiarity and arrogance. Good riddance.
Michael Pillar saved TNG.
Wow, Cryptic really gets Gene’s vision. How does it go? ‘To boldly enter into a non-binding resolution as per the Khitomer accords section 12-B to formally condenm the actions of the Preator…wait a minute, you got Tom Clancey in my Star Trek!
Dear Cryptic,
If you can’t make a Star Trek game without reams of sub-fan-fic narative shoehorning the Trekiverse into something resembling an air-port paperback, don’t.
thanks,
A Concerned Trekkie.
After checking out MMOZONE it truely amazes me at how much creative liberty Cryptic is taking with the starship design of the 25th century.
This Star Trek Online stuff is a bunch of BS. But hey, I don’t have to play it, so I’ll just move on and enjoy the series, movies, and the upcoming blockbuster hit.
For myself, when I refer to the “death” of Star Trek, I really referring to the schism created in the fandom after “Nemesis” and “Enterprise”. Surely, we can see the effects of that schism here on the board for this one topic alone.
While Rick Berman did do Trek a massive service in allowing Ron Moore and Ira Steven Behr the freedom to create character-based arc episodes that far exceed the character explorations we had ever seen in Trek before, he did also hire writers who were forthright in their expressing the fact that they did not know, or even like, Star Trek. The prime case being Brannon Braga. I’m not a Braga basher – I think his are the best mind-f**k episodes in all of Trek – even his “Voyager” ones. But, to hire him to create the latest TV series, one that dealt exclusively with the minutia of the founding of Starfleet and the Federation, when he admittedly disliked classic Trek, and wasn’t interested in Trek as a whole, was a spectacular blunder.
Other posters are correct when they say that Trek was never dead, but now we have a Trek that has a horribly fractured fanbase – one wherein no faction of which can ever see eye-to-eye. And, frankly, that’s bad for business.
There are those that simply will not play this game because it is an extension of “next gen’s” most maligned film. There are those who won’t see the new movie because it will wipe away known canonical events in one complete stroke. (Kodos, anyone?) There are those who are angry because there will never be “DS9” or “Voyager” adventures on the big screen. There are actually those who love the Diane Warren song at the beginning of “Enterprise”. There are die-hard Trek fans who have never seen any “Enterprise” at all. There are many who think “Voyager” is the best series of them all. There are many who will not see the new movie merely because William Shatner is not in it, despite thinking of “Generations” as 100% canon. There are those who think the continued use of the Borg on “Voyager” destroyed the Borg as viable Trek villains.
See what I mean?
There used to be a terrific consensus among Trek fans, and now that is gone.
Gorn against Klingons seems to be a cool idea…
#20 , #21 I completely agree.
I also don´t like the designs of the ships.
“Stop bashing Berman.”
…Hell hasn’t frozen over yet, so the answer to your demand is a curt and loud “No.”
It should be noted that John Eaves designed a lot of the ships for STO, Cryptic used his work that he did for Perpetual. Also ships such as the Defiant, Akira and Prometheus-class have already been mentioned in the Game Informer article as playable vessels as well as standard Galaxy-class starships like this one from the trailer: http://to.boldlyplay.com/graphics/ships/galaxyqn6.jpg
typical non-canon-designs, boring and shapeless. You would never see those scrapships in a tv-show or movie.
Im starting to dislike this game more and more.
Only 30 years post-Nemesis, maybe they can get some TNG/DS9/VOY actors to appear (voice/likeness) for special events?
weird… the NX-91001 in the first pic up top looks quite different from the pic from the last article…
Well The Storry makes much more sense then the last one they posted about a stupid Klingon war.
Sounds interresting and the last Ships seen in the Gif Animation
are looking pretty sexy :)
Cheers
TOMALAK is a way better Romulan character than the other two (sorry Sela and Donatra). Why would you ‘retire’ a character like that? I hope he goes all Dukat on their asses in this storyline. If this is just namedropping, and he really isn’t part of the story, I will not be happy.
I’d much rather play a game based in the same era as my favorite Star Trek episodes. It’d be great to command my own Galaxy Class starship, for instance, around the same time as the Enterprise-D was in its heyday.
Or hell, what about a Constitution-refit in the Wrath Of Khan era? Sticking to established eras would allow fans to connect to the characters, tv episodes, and movies they adore so much. That’s good business.
What isn’t good business is taking a chance with a new era based on a crappy TNG film when the entire franchise is moving in a new direction. What were they thinking?!
21. Pat D. –
“Michael Pillar saved TNG.”
Michael Piller killed TNG with Insurrection and Berman and Braga helped by retelling the same stories over and over and over and over until most viewers tuned out. They may have hit a chord with fans early in the TNG days but by rehashing the same stories – and the most mediocre of stories to boot – they proved they really didn’t know what it was they had done to make TNG successful in the first place.
Regardless, I am so bored with the 24th and 25th centuries I look forward to Abrams and co. returning to the frontier days of the 23rd.
# 35
I got the impression that Tomalak had Praetor Tal’aura assassinated after she “retired” him. I don’t think he’s quite out of the game just yet.
#25 I agree with you, Devon. The splintering makes me crazy. I don’t understand the fans who Berman bash, yet speak of so many Trek aliens and plot lines that are Berman-based.
Well 36, the Game was before anything was revealed about the new Movie.
And to the Bermann Fans/Non-Fans… Rick have done a Job, nothing more nothing less. Some of his Job was good, some was great, some was bad. Like all Jobs. Die he rescued Star Trek.. No. But he was the one who gave us Star Trek for nearly 20 Years. Without him there wouldn’t be a new Movie now to hit the Cinema. I don’t know if i like the restart yet. I haven’t seen the new Movie. I dislike the new Enterprise, but that is another Story.
To the Game, i also don’t like what there are doing to the Charackters i love from Star Trek. But are they non-Canon? I think they are pretty much Canon. When i watch Episodes of TNG/DS9/VOY that are Playing in the 25th Century than all of them have one Thing in Common. The Klingons are Strong, The Romulans are Weak or destroyed. Didn’t anyone noticed? There was never a glory Future for the Romulan Empire. So i think this can all be Canon. ;-)
I don’t like all the Concepts for the new Ships of the 25th Century. But hey i dont’t like all Ships of the 22nd, 23th or 24th. I always like only some of them.
My Thoughts to this.
#25: Trek fans were once united? Not during my lifetime, at least.
Indeed, Joan Verba’s wonderful history, “Boldy Writing,” which chronicles the fandom from 1967-1987, chronicles some *major* intra-fandom fighting as early as the late 1970’s with the emergence of “slash” fiction.
Essentially, ever since there has been a fan community, there has been an obscene level of bickering about every point in Trek. Berman was just unlucky enough to become a major target of that spirit of conflict. I don’t think it’s fair to Berman, but he was a Trek EP; it was to be expected.
He *did* save Trek from TNG’s disappointing early seasons, and made TNG the most-watched first-run syndicated show in history after the death of Gene Roddenberry. He co-created DS9 and VOY, two successful shows, and ENT, which failed because of the sinking network it was stuck on. That all could have ended before TNG even completed its run if it weren’t for him.
Now, on topic: I like this background, even more than I like what the novels have been doing lately (although, obviously, comparing a timeline to a novel is a bit like comparing apples and index cards, with novels being much tastier), and I’m still excited for the game. I also like the divergence of timelines in the non-canon universe. We’re not Star Wars, and I’d rather not suffocate like Star Wars has. Hopefully, most players will either won’t notice or simply won’t care. The fans, of course, will know about it, so they’ll be fine. Still looking forward to this game now that it’s being run by a competent studio.
#19: Mark Lynch: thanks for the link. Good to know that Excalibur is still being worked on. Can’t believe LJ’s still sticking to it… Now I have to go find out whether Immersion ever got released for the stock engine.
Can’t say I’m excited about this one. It just doesn’t seem to be a good concept. And the ships just look like rehashed versions of other ships. As much as I like Bridge Commander, Armada, and Legacy, I just don’t think this one will sell. I’m not trying to be insulting, but I can see how it comes off that way.
To those who Berman-Bash, I wouldn’t be a trekkie if it weren’t for Voyager and TNG. Also, it doesn’t make sense to whine about established canon that happened in the later series and then insult their creator.
Ok guys, I’ll let you in on a little secret – *I* saved Star Trek.
You’re welcome.
the ship design is godawful…Cryptic get a clue: get some fans to design them and you’ll probably end up with decent models.
39. rosequartz –
“I don’t understand the fans who Berman bash, yet speak of so many Trek aliens and plot lines that are Berman-based.”
I’ll give you my opinion on why that is (as a person who routinely bashes Berman). Rick Berman, Brannon Braga and Michael Pillar were essentially the caretakers of the Trek franchise and while they enjoyed many accolades during TNG’s heyday they did very little to innovate or challenge viewers in the years following. As much as I loved DS9 which Piller created he personally had nothing to do with the series after the pilot and Ira Behr and his team can take credit for the show. In fact, Pillar’s INS script snubs DS9 continuity throughout. Also Berman had very little interest in DS9 (fortuantely) and allowed Behr and company to make surprising unexpected choices as the series progressed. Piller, Braga and Berman were more instrumental in creating and shaping Voyager which, to me, was tepid, weak, derivative, hokey and safe – the least interesting of the Trek series. Then Berman and Braga created Enterprise and wrote almost all the episodes during its first two seasons. It was only after both of them let go that the series became interesting. Otherwise it was similar to Voyager in that the crew consisted of characters we’d seen before in similar positions (cantankerous Southerner at odds with stiff Vulcan science officer, maverick captain bucking the rules, token ethnic navigator and communications officers, token ‘weird’ alien/comic relief character). The scripts for those two seasons were always rehashes of TNG stories. The same can be said of Pillar’s awful Insurrection script which dredged up concepts from the most mediocre TNG episodes throughout. Lame, weak, safe, clueless as to what exactly made TNG successful to begin with.
So in my mind Berman, Braga and Piller were guilty of serving up the same stuff to us over and over in different-but-similar packaging. I place the blame sqaurely at these three guys feet for running Trek into the ground and taking away it’s ‘relevance’. Yes, we did get the occational interesting alien, character, concept during the post TNG years but mostly we got more of the same. And Trek did not grow with the debut of each new series. It remained what it had been years before even as audiences tastes changed and matured, Trek got dumbed down, simplified, lazy. It never surprised – only always gave us what we’d come to expect. And many of us kept hoping for something more.
I suppose many other fans were quite comfortable with Trek remaining the same so it was easy for them to forgive the repetitiveness. It just got me frustrated. I felt they had become very comfortable and believed they could just reheat the same stories over and over and we’d just keep coming back for seconds. Good riddance.
Ugly is as ugly looks…..and those ships are ugly.
A lot of Star Trek is Outdated as it is goes to TV ! I enjoyed the early Borg episodes in TNG , but in the later episodes , it was ridiculous ! I certainly didn’t imagine that in 300 years time , there would be an expansionist race with tubes running all over their bodies and whirring drills or metal grippers .. I would have thought they would be a lot more like Data !
Or , in Deep Space 9 , the Jem Hadar with their gangly Ketrecel tube feed ! This is not cutting edge Sci Fi !! Star Trek is Nerd Sci Fi !!
I see room for alternate timelines , they’re enjoyable , but I think the long termers like the interaction and the detail of the storyline ! I would say that It’s the episodic nature that attracts fans , the continuity , the canon !!
I think it’s a matter of what you grew up with that defines what Star Trek is for anyone.
I grew up with TOS. When I was a teen, I latched onto TNG. Both of those are Trek for me.
DS9 – To me, Trek isn’t on a space station. I know it has a big fan base, but for me Trek is on a starship.
Voyager – At this point Trek was grasping at straws. What haven’t we done? A female captain and a black Vulcan? Let’s do that. This series was pretty weak, though I loved Tuvok.
Enterprise – Again, what haven’t we done? A prequel? Let’s do that. Again, a mostly weak series.
When it comes to novels, comic books, video games, I could care less what they do. For me, if it’s not on film, it’s not real. It’s entertaining, but not real.
As far as the new movie goes, I wouldn’t be interested at all if not for the fact that they are going back to their roots. Don’t know if it’ll be good or not, but I’m willing to try it.
We all love Trek in some form or fashion, and we can debate all day the pros and cons of any version of it. In the end, for better or worse, at least it’s not forgotten.
Two more things on the Berman et al bashing:
1.) Berman didn’t “save” Trek, he was just its’ caretaker – even while Roddenberry was alive. Roddenberry chose Berman to run the show, not innovate. He chose someone who he knew would never overshadow himself. Guys like Maurice Hurley (because he created the Borg), Ron Moore (who made the Klingons interesting), Behr (who had a genuine vision for DS9) and yes, I’ll admit, Michael Piller for making us care about the TNG crew did more to “save” Trek than Berman did.
2.) As someone who has watched and rewatched every single hour of ‘official’ Trek I think I have a right to be critical of its failings. Obviously I wouldn’t have spent all those hours viewing if I didn’t believe Trek was still entertaining and something I still cared deeply for. It has enriched my life and I’m certain it will again. But when I look back over the years and weigh the good and bad I find there was a lot of junk in there that I had to sift though to find things I really liked. And I take exception with those I blame for producing that junk.
that little impulse engine or whatever it is hanging thinly between the 2 nacelles annoys the crap outta me, it seems totally tacked on and not thought out design wise (How easy it would be to severe it from the superstructure with a lucky phaser hit or something) really bad design for the Enterprise
NOT CANNONICAL