Star Trek Online, the free-to-play MMO, has launched its season 6 update. Titled "Under Seige" this new update adds many new features for player fleets, including ability to build your own Starbases. And players and fleets will now have to deal with the Tholians! More details plus screenshots and a new trailer below.
Tholians and Player Starbases Introduced in Star Trek Online Season 6: Under Siege
Perfect World Entertainment Inc. today announced the release of Star Trek Online Season 6: Under Siege. This latest major update to Star Trek Online introduces the Fleet (Guild) Advancement System, which allows Fleet members to construct, level-up and defend their own Starbase. Alongside new Fleet events and additional end-game content for max level players, with Season 6: Under Siege, the free-to-play MMO sees its first major Foundry update since launch.
"Our primary focus with Season 6 is to have fleets become a more central and fundamental part of the Star Trek Online experience," said Dan Stahl, Executive Producer of Star Trek Online, Cryptic Studios. "Fleets may now work to improve their Starbase category, unlocking additional functionality and increasing the size and grandeur of the Starbase itself."
Season 6 trailer
Star Trek Online Season 6: Under Siege key features include:
Fleet (Guild) Advancement System
Fleets construct their own Fleet Holdings with Starbases. Fleet Officers assign specific Fleet Projects for members to carry out in order to build their Starbase and master three specialization tracks: Military, Engineering, and Science.
Fleets can also improve Starbase specialization through five tiers of design, unlocking new Fleet Projects to earn more Fleet experience points and rewards. Functionality items to Starbases include Transwarp gates that allow for rapid access to different sectors.
Fleet Starbase Defense Missions
New missions and events that call upon Fleets to defend their Starbases include a five-man Starbase Alert, two five-man Fleet Sorties, and a 20-man Fleet Action. Some of these will be available at all ranks, while others will only be available to Vice Admirals (Federation Faction) and Lieutenant Generals (Klingon Faction).
Foundry Updates
New features to the Foundry, Star Trek Online’s popular user-content creation tool, include an improved user interface, which makes it easier for players to identify items prior to map placement. Players will also be able to find additional items such as vivid backdrops, as well as new ground and space maps in the content library.
Fleet Rewards
Unlock the new Starbase Exterior and Interior options as your Fleet advances in the aggregate Starbase track. In the other tracks, stores that sell ultra-rare Fleet Rewards, such as new high-end gear, starships, costumes, materials and various tactical assets, can be unlocked.
Fleet UI Redesign
Expect a new Fleet Home Page and Fleet Holdings Page, which has been created to provide information on Fleet Status, Projects and Contribution Leaderboards.
New Max-Level Content
New missions, events, challenges, and end-game content designed specifically for max level players are also included in Season 6: Under Siege. Try "No Win Scenario", the five-man space challenge, or "Colony Rescue", the five-man ground challenge.
For more details on Star Trek Online Season 6: Under Siege and to download and play Star Trek Online for free, please visit: http://www.startrekonline.com.
More screenshots:
Tholians would be great in a movie…. ;)
I really liked the new Romulan ships from Nemesis. Another model on my wishlist right along with JJ’s Enterprise & Kelvin
Old news
I want to see this Enterprise in a movie. Great design…
A part of me wants to play this again because it’s Star Trek, but then I remember how little fun I had when actually playing the game. They haven’t raised the level cap in well over a year, which is direly needed. That would be something that could draw me back in for a short while.
So the whole thing is about fleets, the most annoying aspect of the entire game. What a waste.
Star Trek online has been very slow and almost nonreponsive on both of my computers since the big update. Every time I warp it takes 10 Minutes to load the next sector. I also keep getting booted off the server.. I never had these problems before. I hope they get things repaired soon. I can’t wait to play some of this new content. Other than thetechnical issues that I am having I want to stress that I love this game, it is the Star Trek game of my dreams.
@#6 – It’s an MMO, lots of people. Hence, FLEETS.
I was never fussed about the fleets but now im finding it enriching the whole game in general. helping to slowly construct a SB is exciting and im involved in PvE more than ever before.
“Tholians are the bad guys.”
Boo!
This game doesn’t even work. I’ve tried installing it on 3 different computers. Hmmmmm yes i’ve got the latest graphics memory etcetcetc
@10
in this game everyone are bad guys!! It’s just a cash cow with a star trek tatoo.
All these great ships and starbases, why are none of them available as Micro Machines or Titanium?
You know people would want “their” ships, but with all the customization of the ships in the game, people will actually want multiples of the same ship.
12
That’s a little unfair. It’s considerably more Star Trek than any future Star Trek movies will ever be. It respects the universe and tries to build on what came before faithfully., within the constraints of game design. It’s not perfect, but it actually does a pretty good job of fitting the world, and many of the things you might want to do in it, into an entertaining game play experience. Your mileage will vary though.
I really wish the Tholians would have come back for TNG!
@12 & @14 STO is definatly a fantastic story driven game. The only reason everyone is the enemy is because the Iconians are turning everyone against each other. Deep Space Nine did the same thing to a lesser degree and it’s reguarded as the best Trek show ever.
All this fighting. Does anybody remember when Trek used to be about exploration?
@16
The game started over 2 years ago with a fair story that has not changed much except Klingon’s are our enemy but our friend’s when it come to most new content because they are not really making Klingon only content which makes the Klingon war meaningless.
Feature episodes were great but the are not doing those until at least season 7 of at all. The fleet starbase feature it just a multiplayer version of of their duty officer system.
The foundry is the only feature worth playing as there are great fans who put in a lot of work and have made some of the best missions in the game but its not the developers who make it and they are the people who profit from it.
It looks like the developers but is just as much work into their new tholian lockbox as they did in season 6
I love Tholians, the Gorn and of course, its always nice to see Mugato. I would love to see these aliens in a movie or in TV series one day.
agreed, spooky. j.j. should use the tholians in his third film, if he decides to make another.
#8 Yes, but if you’re an individual player and not interested in fleets, then this adds absolutely nothing to the game.
Impressive…MOST impressive!!!! Add me to the list of those who have long wanted to see the Tholians and GORN as major villains in a new series or film!! That’s why I get so pissed off when we keep getting Klingon, Romulan, and Borg stories!!!! And…ugh…threat of more Khan.
Star Trek is rich with potential adversarial races that could be used in new films or series and it really makes me mad writers and producers keep going back to the same old tired “well” of material!
@17 – Yeah, Trek was *partially* about exploration… But video games pretty much never were. Especially MMOs where the whole universe has to be mapped out beforehand. So many people seem to forget that this is a GAME, and therefore has to fit into the parameters and expectations that comes with that. Sorry if it’s not “Trek enough” for you, but Star Trek: The Pinball Game wasn’t really about exploration, either. ;)
And, in fact, there ARE exploratory missions. There are whole “uncharted” sections devoted to that. They just don’t look cool in a trailer.
Look at dayz for a recent example of players not just being about instant action.
I believe there are allot of smart people out there and allot of people still into science fiction.
Cryptic are trying to appeal to 12 yr olds with their champions in space engine (thats what i hate the most).
(not to insult 12 yr olds, poor example of a group of people wanting to play super hero games)
Still not available on a mac. *sigh*
26
There are emulators you can try or you can do what I do and just start dual booting with Windows 7. Since I only use Windows for STO and Broodwar, I only partitioned 50 GB of my hard drive. Plus with the way Apple dual boots, you can also access your Mac content on your Windows partition.
Shame it really boils down to combat. Where are the options to play Cyrano Jones or Harry Mudd?
Um, well, those two are kind of dead in the time the game is set. There are however Mudd cargo vessels. And there are still tribbles, so I’m sure there is some Cyrano Jones spin-off company selling those too! And don’t forget the fact that you can even pilot a cargo vessel (if you’re lucky enough to be rewarded with one).
Bottom line is, there is absolutely something here for everyone. It IS a game, and games do get tiresome to some people after varying amounts of time. Just be thankful for the fact it’s there, use it for what it is, and move on when you’re done. I intend to still be playing. ;-)
I am having a great time playing STO and really enjoying the adventure on Planet Hell, the focus of the Tholian incursian into the Klingon Neutral Zone.
Starting today, there is opportunity for players to obtain ultra-rare Tholian ships, (as a result of endeavors by the Ferengi Lobi Consortium).
[There are soooo many ways to role-play in this game.]
The reason I love STO is that I’m a professor so I don’t have a lot of free time to play and this game is right up my alley. It’s like this game is designed specifically for the casual player and I love that in this game.
Whats sad is that barely any of that is actually from the real game…
@11
“This game doesn’t even work. I’ve tried installing it on 3 different computers. Hmmmmm yes i’ve got the latest graphics memory etcetcetc”
You’ve got the latest “graphics memory”? Oh dear, clearly you know absolutely nothing about computers. Making it much more likely that your “issues” are down to your ineptitude and/or hardware/software than with the game itself.
#17 – I agree. I have been wondering that myself.