There has been a lot of talk about combat in Star Trek Online, but this week Cryptic has a contest focused on the exploration portion of the upcoming MMORPG. Cryptic is offering up a coveted spot in the beta test for the game in a new contest. To enter you have to come up with a winning description of a ‘strange new world’…details below. Plus we have a new image of the NX-91001 flagship.
Make a planet
If you come up with a creative response to the following challenge, you can win a guaranteed spot in the beta test of Star Trek Online. Here is the contest description from the STO website:
Planet Exploration Contest
Part of the adventure that comes from exploring strange new worlds is discovering that planet’s history and hearing the stories of its inhabitants. Imagine you have just entered orbit around the planet pictured here. Your mind races with the possibilities of what you will find. What is the planet’s name? What or who lives there? Are they peaceful or antagonistic, welcoming or outright hostile? Are they long gone leaving only more mysteries to solve?Tell us about the planet shown here as well as on the Planet Exploration contest rules page. You can tell a story of daily life of the inhabitants, make a scientific survey log entry, or weave any type of tale you choose.
Email us your story of up to 500 words at contest@crypticstudios.com by January 29, 2009.
Orbit established, Captain. What do you think is down there?
Image to go along with the contest
According to the rules, entries will be based on:
• Originality
• Creativity
• Presentation
• Spelling and grammar
Good luck, hopefully a TrekMovie.com reader wins.
New shot of the NX
Cyrptic also released another image of the NX-91001 ship with the following description:
The ship – The NX-91001 is Cryptic Studios’ signature ship for their upcoming MMO Star Trek Online. An updated Sovereign class ship, the NX-91001 is the first of many in a stellar lineup of galactic starships.
Sovereign’s update in STO (click to enlarge)
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.
Can’t wait for STO! Thanks for the update!
No children on my ship, please.
the design of the new ship still bugs me, mostly the…Im guessing weapons pod between the nacelles. Yeah, because when you need to get a crew person there youre going to have them just take a stroll down the nacelles, not like fresh warp plasma ever hurt anyone *cougheyeofthebeholdercough*. Though besides that and the other designs of new ships, the rest of the game looks good so far.
I would love to enter this contest… Having online capabilities however with the stone knives and bear skins equivlent of a three year old cell phone; most online ANYTHING is exempt to me. >=-( My email doesn’t even hold 500 letters – let alone words… I need Fios.
It’s an unusual looking ship, looks like a luxury cruise ship or something. Won’t stop me from playing though. I’m really interested in the contest too. I’m going to look into that.
I’m glad they’ve already revealed that the Miranda class ship will survive into the 25th century in STO. I’m hoping that’s the first sign that the Constitution Refit and Excelsior class make it into STO as well. Those three are my favorites and I want nothing more than to pilot them in STO.
I would love to enter that contest, but I have no talent for writing. Maybe I’ll do it anyway… I REALLY want a spot in the beta…
To me it looks like it’s getting more and more NX-90210 …. :(
That ship has a doubled image.
Wow, take a look at the prizes at their site:
First-Place Prize
The Winner of the First-Place Prize will receive a guaranteed beta slot in our closed beta, a special forum title on their Star Trek Online Forum Account, and their Entry will be featured on the Star Trek Online Website. There is no cash-value for this prize.
Prizes
• Two (2) total Runner-Up Prizes, and one (1) First-Place Prize, as defined above.
• The total value of all prizes to be awarded (“Total Value”) is $0.00 (zero dollars) (approximate US retail value).
So if you win you get a chance to play the BETA version and crash your PC… nice… and $0.00 retail value for all the prizes- pretty much sums up this piece of garbage.
And what the heck is a Miranda class doing in the 25th century? I bet the name of this ship is the USS Has-Been.
Judging from what I can see this game is already a POS- I made a suggestion to Cryptic to retool their campaign to fit in with the upcoming movie but these blockheads want to keep going with their obsolete TNG universe.
I wonder if Rick Berman is in charge of Cryptic?
#9
Such negativity and only 9 posts in, Cheer up mate.
Whats with the TNG bashing, Theres still plenty of interest in that era besides Without TNG is highly unlikely there would be any new movie.
That design gives me great hope.
Starfleet could have built a warp-driven bottle opener that big for one reason, and when the crew encounters that tall frosty, I hope I’m on board.
That design needs another primary hull.
And some flames painted on the side.
#11- You hit the nail on the head- this starship is in the hands of most bartenders on a Thursday night.
“Bud light bottles- ENGAGE!”
Bah I still can’t even try to win…because I’m not in the USofA. Blast!
It’s not fair.
Sigh. It really really worries me that they can get their shit sufficiently together to post a simple ship screencap. The fact that this image was sent to press is shocking, and it bodes ill for their quality control. As #8 pointed out, they cloned the ship on another layer and forgot to delete it. And worse still they didnt even see they had done it.
They really really need to get their act together.
Observing the development of this game is like watching paint dry.
Get their act together ? , maybe they are working on the game and dont have time to worry about their ship pictures till the game is almost finished. Cryptic have a very good record in mmorpgs , and lets be honest a star trek one will be hard to pull of, but i think people need to relax or something. so what they cloned an image of ship , it could have been sent in by a game artist after pulling an all nighter for all you know
#3—-did you ever watch Star Trek: Enterprise? There’s a catwalk inside the nacelles thats protected from the effects of warp plasma…second thats not a weapons port…that looks a lot like the NX-01’s warp reactor module…so here i’m guessing its either a secondary warp core or a hyperimpulse reactor
These new ships look like modified models from the TV series Star Trek: Enterprise. Not a bad thing. It does make me appreciate Enterprise a great deal.
#9 I think it’s kind of nice. The Beta has an intrinsic value to those who are waiting for the game. So if you are not (and it seems you dislike the whole thing) just let other people have their fun.
But I must concur with you in one point: There is no reason for an Miranda-Class Starship to appear in the game. In the real world is there any 100+ year old airplane or ship still in service? I doubt so.
#20 But I must concur with you in one point: There is no reason for an Miranda-Class Starship to appear in the game. In the real world is there any 100+ year old airplane or ship still in service? I doubt so.
Not yet, but it isn’t beyond the realm of reality. The B-52 bomber has been in service for over 50 years and is expected to continue service through the year 2040. If we can get 85 years out of a mid 20th century aircraft, I think we could squeeze 100 years out of a starship by the 23rd century.
You might want to fix that image guys, you’ve messed it up somehow when you’ve posted it. It should look like this:
http://ve3d.ign.com/images/fullsize/43188/PC/Star-Trek-Online/Screenshots/NX-91001
#20 The USS Constitution is still an active vessel in the U.S. Navy. The Iowa class battleships were finally retired from active service in 2006 after entering service in 1939. As is posted above the B-52 is still in service. In the civilian sector, many retired military vessels are sold and rebuilt to serve in the civilian role. Probably the most famous of the recycled ships was The Calypso of Jacques-Yves Cousteau fame. It was a retired WWII British mine sweeper and was finally retired in 1997.
*LOL* Look at that disclaimer on their site, for a contest in which you can’t even win anything of value. It’s a ******* writing contest for a spot in the beta and I can’t partake in it, because I’m not in the US? Sometimes I wonder if enterprises really get, in what century we’re living. I bet we’re good enough customers, when we’re supposed to play the full game. Suck it.
The USS Serious Business puts in another appearance.
#11… obviously, they’re going to engage Brewmeister Lowenbrau of Tu-Borg. :-)
I don’t know yet for sure, I am starting to warm up to the ship’s look, but yeah, that strut between the nacelles sure would be a tough place to get to. It almost looks like a bridge module, not a weapon pod. Second bridge, maybe, for a split off attack section, ala Promethius? Awful vulnerable if that’s the case, I’d think.
As for a 100 year-old Miranda, who knows? I mean, yeah, it’s pretty unlikely, but the ship design is extremely refit-worthy (they were still around during the Dominion Wars, albeit they died like punks).
Remember that episode of the Simpsons, where Homer is tricked into building a nuclear power plant diorama in a children’s contest… He ends up winning the contest by simply taking the old design and painting a stripe on it, and then add racing fins to it to make it “more aerodynamic.”
When I see the revamped Enterprise-E, I think of Homer’s diorama.
wow, how original…
the rollbar between the nacelles is an exact copy of the bridge design…
It’s not a terrible ship design, but they shouldn’t have based it on an existing class. The Sovereign parts make it look kind of “Frankenstein-y”.
Isn’t that the same shot as the original released photo, only they used the mirror function to show it from the starboard side instead of port this time? Its the same picture.
You want a story, here you go:
Captain: Captain’s log, USS OldFart. We are here to establish contact with the martians since we don’t have any fuel left to go outside of our own system-
Helm: Captain! We are gonna crash into the asteroid!
Captain: Well, turn away, you idiotic Vulcan!
Helm: I canna do it, Captain! Our bridge controls are a hundred years old and they don’t work anymore!
Captain: Why. Did. The. Fed. eration. Have. To. Give. Us. A. Miranda. Class. Starship! Up. Yours. Cryptic!!!!!
The NX-Ripoff is not a real Starfleet ship.
This is a make-believe cartoon.
Protest, people.
Protest.
I was about to post something, but I found that #31 did it for me
ROFL
That stuff between the warp nacelles is quite similar to the bridge module.
It could be the battle bridge in case of saucer seperation.
I’m pretty sure you can enter into it if you don’t live in the US, because the cash value of the prize is equal to zero dollars. It says in the contest rules, section 3b.
“28. Joe – January 19, 2009
wow, how original…
the rollbar between the nacelles is an exact copy of the bridge design…”
Yeah I noticed that… then somethign popped in my head…
Possible Seperation? *butthead* … Ehhh
Still i wonder about that. I like the ship butthe rollbar being WAAAAY back there and the fins seem to serve little/no purpose. Maybe if the had moved it foward abit then it wouldn’t look so awkward… I you know what I mean.
Still a nice ship though.
Stilll using Miranda class ships??
WTF, come-on guys!
TNG were stretching it a bit by using them, and now 30 years after TNG they are STILL in service!?
STO designers have a lazy imagination.
pimped up Sovereign and Miranda Class.
Just because it’s Trek, don’t expect the fans to all subscribe.
Rick Berman thought that way and lost.
Miranda Class ships are now 140+ years old.
Jesus.
Perhaps the Miranda class ship in this image is now privately owned. Sold by Starfleet.
There’s no money in the future
Jeeze people! do you really think that starfleet command would really give a cadet fresh out of the academy a state of the art ship to command, i dont think so… they prolly wanna see how you shakedown your fist command in a less powerful ship, more expendable mothballed ship!