Yesterday Atari and Cryptic opened up their beta test for Star Trek Online to thousands of more players. The buzz on this MMORPG is growing, but some are just starting to take a look. So today Cryptic have provided us with a closer look the Federation faction in the game with a new gameplay video, some screenshots, and intel reports. And for those having trouble getting into the beta, there are more keys out there. Find out more below.
Federation Faction video
Star Trek Online Intel Report: The Federation
TrekMovie has been provided with intelligence reports (via Cryptic) on the United Federation of Planets, one of the two factions in Star Trek Online. One of the reports is from Starfleet Intelligence, and the other from the Klingon Empire
The Federation – by Cmdr. Bradden, Starfleet Intelligence
The United Federation of Planets is an alliance of hundreds of different species, all working together towards a common goal. As one of the greatest servants of the Federation once said, it is "a dream that became a reality and spread throughout the stars."
We uphold the rights of all species to justice, equality, and liberty. We also believe in the pursuit of knowledge and exploration. To that end, we created Starfleet. It serves as our peace-keeping and exploratory arm. In times of need, it also serves as our defense.
In 2161 Vulcans, Humans, Andorians, and Tellarites joined together into an alliance that later became the Federation. What began as a pact for mutual protection against the Romulans became something far greater. Since that day, we have encountered and initiated diplomatic relations with countless new species. We have advanced scientific knowledge within the Alpha Quadrant. We have also reached out the olive branch of peace across several quadrants.
We have faced dark times, however. We have warred with the Klingons upon several different occasions, although there have been times when we reached an alliance of mutual respect. We have faced threats from the Romulans, although today we aid them in rebuilding after the loss of their planet. We battled against the implacable forces of the Borg, although we have also given succor to those who were once Borg. We have proven our ability to put aside grievances and work for the good of all: we united with both Romulans and Klingons to protect our quadrant from the ravages of the Dominion.
The Federation will always, must always, fight to protect the rights of all species.
The Federation – report by Cmdr. Korak, Klingon Intelligence
They call themselves the United Federation of Planets. In reality, they’re the United Federation of nosy, gossipy, meddlesome do-gooders! They claim everything they do is for the greater good, to promote "peaceful exploration." Never trust a species that claims to put the interests of others first. It means they’re either selling something or trying to steal your bat’leth.
The Federation will boast about the vast number of planets and species they represent, but make no mistake, it is the Humans who control the Federation. The center of the Federation government is on the Human homeworld. For a wonder, the current President of the Federation is a Suarian and not a Human, but I doubt he does anything the Humans don’t approve.
The Vulcans are the other great power within the Federation, and the Humans are absolutely in awe of the passionless bastards. The Andorians and Tellarites co-founded the Federation with the Vulcans and Humans, but their influence is not so great in comparison.
Starfleet – the military arm of the Federation – claims to observe a "Prime Directive" not to interfere with other species. But all they do is interfere. They involve themselves in conflicts that don’t affect them, like our war with the Gorn or our battles with the Romulans. And what a mess they made between the Bajorans and the Cardassians! The Bajorans are calling for vengeance on all of Cardassia, and the Federation can’t provide it. Somehow, even under Federation surveillance, the Cardassians managed to misplace every last "war criminal." And let us not forget it was the Federation that brought us the Borg!
The Federation has been a thorn in the side of the Klingon Empire for longer than I care to admit. But not for much longer, I suspect. Not for very much longer.
More Open Beta Keys
Open Beta for Star Trek Online started yesterday. As we previously reported, you can get an open beta key by pre-ordering the game. You can pre-order the game from TrekMovie’s preferred retail partner Amazon (where you can select either the Standard or Collector’s Edition). The Amazon editions also include am exclusive Borg bridge officer. Cryptic also has a list of additional retailers at their site.
Cryptic also have updated their list of available sites for beta keys, here they are:
- FilePlanet
- Shacknews
- Zam
- Hailing Frequency
- inc gamers
- WarCry
- Alltern8
- Game Informer
- Ten Ton Hammer
- Massively
More Star Trek Online Coming Later this week
Tomorrow we will have our intel reports, this time on the Klingons. Plus we have exclusive video interviews and more.
Mac Version please….
@ 1
ahahah, yea ! I only have a mac also. But remember, Mac’s also run Windows nowdays too !
“.. In reality, they’re the United Federation of nosy, gossipy, meddlesome do-gooders! …”
Am I the only person who doesn’t think that sounds very.. Klingon-y? Just an opinion.
The ships and graphics look really good, and I like the variety of alien species put into the game. My only beef is that the movement of the characters seems a little… static, if you get what I mean. I might expect a little more from something I’d shell a good chunk of money out for. Could just be the trailer, though.
Other than that, everything looks great. Maybe one of my guy friends will get it, and I can see what their versions look like.. I’m not much of an MMORPG-er myself.
What’s with the warped “Star Wars” music??
@ 2, its the principle of the matter.
Andorians look sharp in Science Blue!
Port it to PS3 please.
Wow! Nice! More screens and a video.
Thanks!
Could we get a TOS game? Please? One of these centuries? Is it really that much to freaking ask for?
I’m starting to worry this is going to fail as badly as the Star Wars MMO. The fact that they haven’t even announced pricing plans less than 3 weeks from release is a bad sign, especially when the game itself is so unbelievably expensive. £50 for a Steam pre-order? Unless they tell me that includes 6 months of gameplay, there’s no chance.
# 7 There will most likely never be a console version. It would be too expensive and time consuming to rebuild the game from scratch. The number of copies sold would have to justify this. Even then, that is a tall order. Star Trek has never sold well on consoles and likely never will. Trekkies make up just a tiny fraction of gamers in general. On the other hand, Star Wars fans make up the majority of gamers. Even gamers who don’t like Star Wars often play Star Wars games. Star Wars is a lot more accessible to non-fan gamers than Star Trek is.
A Star Wars version of this game would be available on consoles the same day the pc version is. Cryptic has already taken a huge (and quite possibly fatal) gamble in making this game. 2010 will be another year with more layoffs, budget cuts, and reduced number of games being published.
#9. I still wish they would relese Secret of Vulcan Fury…but I guess they aren’t around anymore. :(
I still reject the Klingons being the main bad guys in this game. After the Dominion war, the Federation-Klingon Alliance would have been stronger then ever.
I bet someone said/thought that about the USA and the USSR in 1945 to be fair.
Actually the music in that video reminded me a little bit of Galaxy Quest.
It’s a good game. Fun, solid, and only going to get more fun in time.
But as a Trekkie, I have to put an asterisk on that and pick a couple nits:
1. Planets are too limited. I came down to explore. Not to run along a very precise and pre-determined path with no outside influence.
2. Weapons on away missions are too weak. When the defense shield on a person is down and a shot is fired, they should be vaporized. What’s this with three or four shots to drop a goon??
3. All the ships are the same size. Maybe this will change as you level up and progress… but it feels awkward.
4. Which brings me to the issue of ships being too equal… Starter ships are able to take on the Borg? Seriously?
5. And why can’t we all just get along?? (Granted, there ARE diplomatic missions, but..) This game’s back story is so un-Star Trek … Some races are having a fight and then some diplomats come to bring peace between them, but those negotiations fail and a whole new, bigger fight breaks out… which causes some more people to start flinging poo because the original combatants are now stromping on their grass… Eck. Give me a break.
But fun game. I look forward to the final release and the way it grows after the beta. This is the best ST game ever.
Yes that was warped Star Wars Music!!!
Couldn’t they have made it more Trek-like?
so…i don´t get it….is this like “second life” in trek unsiverse, or what?
What about the fifth founding members from Alpha Centauri? :p
<>
No, you’re not the only one. None of it sounds Klingon-y. “gossipy?” What the hell?
Just my opinion, but the writing is pretty terrible.
The game, on the other hand, looks pretty durn great.
There’s that stupid Robot Chicken-esque rehash of Star Wars music. They REALLY aren’t winning any points with me for that.
I love playing this game and beging a part of the action but my biggest problamo would be the super massive size of the ship’s doors. I understand why they have to make the doors to turbolifts and such so big but I’m nitpicky I guess.
Still waiting for the download to complete.
So far the game has been eqaul parts pleasure and pain. It’s awesome to be able to beam down and find yourself on an away team, but so far it is very scripted.
The real pain is the constant server delays and crashes. I understand that Cyptic/Atari might have under estimated the number of people interested in this, but come launch day I fear that the whole thing is going to implode. They need to get more game servers online ASAP.
I thought it was amusing that the took the whole system down at 9 PM EST last night for 2 hours. After launch day they can’t do that, or their going to be losing subs left and right.
Downloading the beta client that is seemingly taking forever, but looking forward to it!
Like the screen caps and video, minus the trashy Star Wars fanfare music; Star Trek’s musical history (Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Michael Giacchino, etc.) stands far above that of Star Wars, no need to sink to its level nor tarnish it with bad and superfluous music.
Wow! So much whining is going on here. I’m glad I’m not a game producer trying to please this group of genera Nazis. Yes, it would be amazing to have a great Jerry Goldsmith, etc,etc, score, but this is an MMO. Give the game a chance: wait a month until the reviews are all out and people have had a real taste. The game actually looks like it’s shaping up, though I am not getting my hopes even off the ground.
If you want to play games on your computer, don’t buy a bloody mac. Come on! You could always just load windows–windows 7 is blissful.
The beta keys are already gone as of last night. I was going to have a friend get in on it, but I guess he’s out of luck. :\
@16 Pretty much nailed it. I was thinking the same thing on all of those points, particularly starter ships being able to take on anything from the borg with ease. The ships also feel pretty small too, and the size differential is very off scale.
I’m also confused as to why all the corridors and hallways are super huge, and why people can jump off of ledges and railways without taking any damage. Ever see Picard survive a straight 20 foot drop without so much as a bruise? I don’t really understand why there’s a jump function in the game at all actually.
@9 – I know it may not be TOS, but there are Time travel missions where you go back to that era.
@10 – They’ll announce the monthly pricing by the end of next week I would assume. Also, chances are really really good it’ll have the same price point as their other game, “Champions Online” which is 14.99 USD.
@16
1. I wouldn’t be surprised if down the road (or possibly much sooner, as we still haven’t seen all the starting content yet) some of the unexplored sectors will have fairly open worlds to explore. They wont be incredibly large areas, but big enough that it’ll take hours to explore every aspect of the world.
2. Well, you can vaporize someone if you crit, but the overall weakness in damage is for game play purposes. It wouldnt be much fun to get toasted every time your shielding went down.
3. The ships do get bigger as you gain rank (LCDR, Cpt, etc). But mostly for the cruiser class of ships. But, apparently you’ll always feel small next to DS9.
4. As you gain rank you get to really customize what you can do through mods and bridge officer abilities. Space combat also get quite hard. Its just the tier 0 (noob ships) are designed to make it fun and to keep you playing.
@24 – Its not that they underestimated the number of people, they just need to find out the servers weaknesses. They patch, then we load it up and break it. They fix that issue, then we do it again. This allows them to make sure the server is as stable as possible at launch. Once they get the software issues fixed that cause crashes and lag, they’ll take a look at adding more hardware if need be. Just adding more hardware with out the software fixes is like fixing a leaking pipe with some gum, sure it makes it better but the leak is still there. Give it till the end of this weekend and it’ll be running pretty smooth. Then they’ll focus on content fixes.
Downloading the pre-order right now!, another 2 hours to go!!!
please be good!
please be good!
please be good!
More Beta keys please my kids @ grandkids are driving me crazy!
#28, my educated assumption on the fact that the response was overwhelming is based on the numerous people that are taking 2 + days to down load the beta client. That really isn’t a software issue is it?
Also the fact that the authentication server 10 to 20% of the time denies you access, and mid way through scenarios it says that connection to server is lost. Those don’t strike me as software issues, but over taxed hardware issues. I realize it’s a beta, heck I beta test for Microsoft all the time, but these seem to be more Hardware issues.
So my brood can pre order from Amazon? Great!
32 @ Losira
I think Amazon may only be dispatching a hard copy of the game.
If you want a pre order key then go to Startrekonline and click the download option.
D2D will download the game directly to your computer and provide you with a pre-order key by email
Seems like the overall verdict so far is rather negative.
#34, please don’t take what I said as negative. It’s a beta, and I’ve only devoted 2 or 3 hours to the game play, it is attractive, and it plays well, though so far not very challenging. But that’s what newbie levels are for, to get you use to the control scheme.
Their are some software issues, but so far they are minor and they don’t detract from the experience. My concern centers on the hardware side. But I’ve already voiced those.
I will for sure give it a few months to see if it grows and evolved. And if it’s $14.95 a month then I am on board!
This is just a stunning game. If they use game gift cards, (so you don’t need a credit card), I will defiantly give this game a spin. Incredible.
@ James Durdan
After playing MMOs and reading their forums with all the complaining about speed, the servers crashing and what not during betas over the past 13 years, you get a little jaded and just assume people don’t understand what is going on behind the scenes. I apologize for jumping to that conclusion with you.
In my response, I was keeping it simple. You are right. Some of the instability can be caused by the hardware and that would need replacing. Switches, and such, for the servers, HDD and ram with bad sectors, processors frying under the heat, etc.
As far as the download speeds, from what I understand, the Cryptic downloader is based on a torrent. And since most don’t know that, they shut it down and begin to install the client. I’m not sure about the other DL methods, as i used the cryptic one and it took me a good 12 hours to get it myself.
Loving the game though. Hope you are too. Just got my HD projector in the mail today. going to have fun tonight.
Now i just need to finish the ‘stop the signal’ mission so i can blast some feddies out of space… er, i mean fight with honor :)
Got this last night through steam, paid $59.99 for the “deluxe” edition. AKA you get Voyager suits … erm .. thats about it.
Installed, went to login and the game server was offline. Went to the website, and it confirmed that the servers were offline ..
Logged on this morning, but lo and behold … the servers were STILL offline .. No words on the forum as to why… no news bits, nothing ..
If this is how testing is, you can expect tons of unexplained downtime when it goes live ..
why do the aft torpedo launchers light up as impulse engines? aren’t voyagers impulse engines near the warp nacelles? i think they mixed something here! suggestions?
i’m referring to this intrepid class vessel.
Not that anyone cares, but when I went to pre-order my copy at GameStop, I used a 50 dollar gift card. The problem is the final price was $53.99. I paid the rest with a 20 and my change was $17.01. I though that was funny.
#41 Hopefully, the $17.01 is a good omen!
If anyone with a Mac is running the game, please contact me and tell me how.
Thanks!
@34
shhh
u havent played
it yet
we have!
#41. Pyork (JE) Productions – January 14, 2010
Nice. You got a good deal.
When I talk about gift cards, I am referring to the pay-as-you-play cards. Many games offer an alternative way to pay for your monthly fees, so you are not using up a credit card. You can only pay for what you use. Its a good way to keep control over what you spend.
yo people playing the beta this is not the full experience this is a test run, a specified list of things they want us to do in this stress test.
That said I was impressed at the amount of improvement the initial patches did, not really bearing witness to whats going on server side.
As far as the game content goes in beta, well there needs to be a TON of things changed and improved to keep (trekkies their core subscribers happy) Believe me when I say Ive played pretty much every trek game and lived star trek practically my whole life.
This game is so very very basic and gimped game to what I expect a good Star Trek MMO to be. That might not be cryptics fault. That might be the licence what they were giving and what they can spend pre-retail.
So I hope we can expect alot alot more to come I hope they do good on subscribers I will certainly subscriber for a few months, then maybe go back to it a year later if the pace of improvement is slow.
But believe me Cryptic needs to do a massive massive amount of work to make the current form of STO better, and also lose the ship trails and champions feel to the game yeah sure same engine but hey cryptic wants my money then make it a good Trek Game.
and yeah sure they dont have the same engine but look at Star Trek: Bridge Commander and tell me you want to play that as an MMO
and another thing
Can you honestly tell me if they re-released Star Trek Bridge Commander and put it on same shelf as they’re selling Star Trek On-line which one would sell?
I have been playing the Open Beta sence it came out. And everything that everyone said is very valid. Some one said, that the missions itself feel very scripted, which they do. But in reality isnt that what the federation really is?? After one mission they just give you another that is somehow tied in with a bigger event?? I do agree that a bit more freedom in missions should be involved, but they may/will fix that as the game goes along. Also, as for planet beam downs, I also agree that it feels very restricted. I am a 4 year Star Wars Galaxy Player and I know there are alot of WoW players and other MMO players in here as well. And Im sure we can all agree that many of these games did a very good Job of having the plants/cities have very good exploration. You were really able to explore and in my opinion SWG and WoW did and fantastic job of this. At The moment STO does not have that, but I believe that STO will have to expand its planets seeing as how Star Trek itself is all about the “Exploration Factor.” Again, I go back to SWG because thats the game I have played the most. And when it first started it, it was horrible. Waiting 9 to 10min for a transport, could not explore space, stuff was laggy as hell. It was an utter mess, but during the time where the game was actually good, lol it was really good. They fixed alot of the problems and I believe that STO will be doing the same thing. And we gotta remember that this is the BETA. Though Im not expecting a complete 360 between now and the day of release, I think/hope some of the issues we are presenting will be fixed. Other than that the game has a good base to start out with, and hopefully it can only go up….
I noticed in zone chats that alot of people were playing and whining that ST isnt like WoW… that amazes me, they try a new game and want it to be like another game and complain when it isnt the same gaming system …if you want world of warcraft…go play it for petes sake lol
For ST i think the UI can use a little bit of adjusting, and i do like that you can adjust and move the HUD around, but the ship controls are just a little bit to get used to in battle but those low level ships can hold their own and im just loving every bit of it and hoping to see it succeed. I think they have a winning start and can live long and prosper!