Ask Cryptic (October 27, 2008)

[jsutich]

Ask Cryptic returns with answers on ship controls, melee weapons and Craig’s goat. Thanks very much to our development team for taking time out of their busy schedules to answer these!

Your skills will determine how effective you are with melee weapons – a Federation character may be able to pick up a bat’leth and use it, but without training he or she will be less effective than a Klingon who has studied the use of the weapon. And certain martial arts may be limited by faction or race – not everyone can perform a Vulcan nerve pinch.

Read more here! (http://www.startrekonline.com/dev_blog/ask_cryptic_10-27-08)

[Varrangian]

In the new Ask Cryptic (http://www.startrekonline.com/dev_blog/ask_cryptic_10-27-08) we have been given some new information and one piece we've all been waiting for. The name of Craig's Goat - Snowflakes!

Also it appears there will be many many options on the custom species creator.

[iPond317]

Sweet! Thanks for the update Razor!

[ajaco3025]

In the new Ask Cryptic (http://www.startrekonline.com/dev_blog/ask_cryptic_10-27-08) we have been given some new information and one piece we've all been waiting for. The name of Craig's Goat - Snowflakes!

Also it appears there will be many many options on the custom species creator.

A few questions answered, yes. Nothing of interest to me, so no "WE" do not have an answer.

At least something was given though. :(

Yes, thanks Razor.

[Thing]

Each time i read the new game info i still need more, but hey something is better than nothing.

[Qnaz]

Interesting. It looks like I'll have to include Federation folks into the first Bat'leth tournament. Heheh but sounds like the devs are gonna give us the upper hand....or at least we better.

I'm a bit disappointed in the choice of questions though. I remember a lot more in the original thread.

[djnattyd]

New Ask Crytic = Good times
No new gameplay vids/screens = Bad times
Snowflake = Queen of the Goatian Empire

[Keldaria]

Will a Mention of Craigs Goat be in STO ether in a rare mob or random quest?

sweet their working on content for this... thx for answering my question hopefully that agent of hers will call you guys back.

Poor Craig :o

[ParkerHayden]

Awesome, my ship control question was answered! That was the main one I was hoping for.

[SAMEET]

Nothing really exciting there. I have no interest in the goat. Question could have been used for something relevant.

I really did not get anything out of this Ask Cryptic. Guess I will wait another month and a half for a new one.

[Varrangian]

We apparently as a forum have no sense of humor :mad:

[walltar]

GREAT. new ask cryptic THX guys :cool:

[ParkerHayden]

Nothing really exciting there. I have no interest in the goat. Question could have been used for something relevant.

I really did not get anything out of this Ask Cryptic. Guess I will wait another month and a half for a new one.

Could you stop complaining for one day? You got what you begged for.

[seventodark]

this was a great thing to read and they asked some good questions

[Keldaria]

Nothing really exciting there. I have no interest in the goat. Question could have been used for something relevant.

I really did not get anything out of this Ask Cryptic. Guess I will wait another month and a half for a new one.

Hey I had 2 questions I can't help which they choose to answer =P altho I'm happy that they answered it =)

We apparently as a forum have no sense of humor :mad:

tell me about it lol... I'm really hoping to see a planet of half humans half goats called craigians ... if they don't exsist yet i plan to explore the galaxy untill i can make them

Long live the goat Queen Snowflake

[maserati813]

Interesting. It looks like I'll have to include Federation folks into the first Bat'leth tournament. Heheh but sounds like the devs are gonna give us the upper hand....or at least we better.

I'm a bit disappointed in the choice of questions though. I remember a lot more in the original thread.

sounds like they may have some type of holodeck training good for both sides i guess?

[Keldaria]

Hey Razor whens the next Ask Cryptic Topic gonna open?

[Bartoromeo]

The info about spaceship control is somehow the only thing of real interest to me in this Q&A.
As a long time Eve player it is good to know that it will be different in ST:O. But somehow i don't know how i should imagine it in an other way than in Eve Online. Do i need a Joystick to fly my Starfleet vessel or what?

Nethertheless... i want pics, vids... something realy moving!

[capgjt585]

What I want to see is more Path to 2409. When's the next installment going to be?!? :mad:

(does not get goat, figures there is some injoke I missed... >.>)

[Varrangian]

What I want to see is more Path to 2409. When's the next installment going to be?!? :mad:

(does not get goat, figures there is some injoke I missed... >.>)

Watch the Vegas Webcast. It is not so "inside"

[Magnuson]

Thanks to Razor and thanks to the Devs for taking time to answer a few questions. Keep those answers coming!

[phifur]

Thanks for the information guys :)

[greendoc316]

Thanks for the information. It appears that we can create just about anything for a race. Basically we can copy a race of Romulans as Vulcans that have more emotions and call them something else, like Rhiansu.

I've already got my new species ready to be worked up, I just need the game to fill in the particulars.

[Captain_Intrepid]

Can a Federation player choose to be a member of the other faction, like Worf?

Worf is Klingon, but he joined Starfleet at a time when the Federation and Klingon Empire were allies. Races at odds with the Federation, such as the Romulans, have historically not been allowed into Starfleet. Because of the political situation in 2409, it may not be possible for races from one faction to be a part of the opposing one. But with the species creator you will have access to a wide variety of racial pieces so you can create the character you want. How about a person of Klingon-Vulcan ancestry with some telepathic abilities?

At least this sort of answers my question about if I could make a Romulan-Vulcan (like Saavik) as a member of Star Fleet.

[Vicelance]

nice to see some more questions answered, but now I have even more questions.

[MishraArtificer]

What I want to see is more Path to 2409. When's the next installment going to be?!? :mad:

(does not get goat, figures there is some injoke I missed... >.>)

Watch the Vegas Webcast. It is not so "inside"

I, too, want to see more backstory, as long as they follow the storylines closer to the books, as people seem to expect. And I don't have access to the Vegas webcast on my dialup connection. A little help?

[vp21ct]

How alien will our aliens get, will they be all humanoid? Or will things like Horta be allowed?

[amb]

Why does this remind me of Gary Conti from Star Trek Legacy?^^ Nice stuff guys, thank you very much!


------------------------------
For all German people we''ve translated this stuff into German, hf. (http://www.st-galaxy.de/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=449&Iemid=220)
------------------------------

[Varrangian]

I, too, want to see more backstory, as long as they follow the storylines closer to the books, as people seem to expect. And I don't have access to the Vegas webcast on my dialup connection. A little help?

Craig Zinkievich the executive producer (I think that's his title) owns a goat. Jack mentioned it at least once in the Vegas webcast.

[reiththestud]

Who picked that question? I didn't even remember anything about a goat. Is this something people have actually been curious about? I'd like to be able to attack the whole article, but there were actually some great questions answered(ship control, cross-species creation). But really, was anyone actually curious about this goat thing?:confused:

[Varrangian]

And another person with no sense of humor. Personally I was over joyed to learned the goat's name is snowflake.

[aguila432]

<---- not too concerned about the goat, no.

[CaptainLynch]

Snowflake can go and have a great life, without me! :p

[LordDave]

Meh.
After struggling through question after question from people who want to read the design documents rather then wait for the game's release, ya need some kind of comic relief.

[MoppyCGDaniels]

I look forward to see the factions Dominion & Romulan empires in the game. Also I'm eager to control a ship from the inside on a bridge along the crewmates.

The goat still looks great!

[OrabIbo]

We’re still trying to get in touch with Snowflake to talk about likeness rights. Her agent has not been returning our phone calls.

I'm thinking his Goat ate the phone. Better check to see if his tummy is ringing! lol

I have a small concern about the creature creator. Creating other species. By the sounds of his comment. It sounds like you can create a Klingon looking species and put it in the Federation. So in other words there is work around. I like the possiblities but it may break down the factional destinctness that Cryptic has worked hard trying to create.

Though I do think it would be awesome to see a Guild create awhole new species and require all guild members to make their characters similar to create a whole new playable race for ppl to play. If they choose to join. Sounds interesting. I'm interested on how far ppl with take this. or abuse it :(

[Eagleheart]

Well yeah goodie to have again some good info :)
Very good character customization is excellent!

Very good to hear also that ship control is not just click and move style..But better :)

[KO_Gilligan]

But really, was anyone actually curious about this goat thing?:confused:

Goat thing? How many rediculous assumptions about the game have we beat to death around here? Cryptic shares with us about the games they are making, and behold, the trolls sing their two favorite songs:

1. This is Bad, Bad, Bad...
2. We want more, more, more....

This thread is Flamebait with a capital F. But worse than that, people have no respect to share a little inside joke. Goats are cool... face it and get over it. The fact that we know Cryptic staff ribs Craig about a goat is there for our amusement. Until some creep ruins it. It's those that ruin it for everyone that make me ashamed of our crowd. Some call it elitist, some just think it's ego. I guess because we need an excuse when we find out an actual adult acts this way. But, by example, you can surely see that it is just immature, anti-social behavior.

Countless other fan groups, from all walks of life, have hardly a single member that would think of slithering to the lows of Star Trek Trolls. Frankly, they aren't really loyal Star Trek fans, they fell into it. Like the punk kids in online games...

If it wasn't the Federation flag they were waving, they would find some other group to plague with their anti-social behavior.

I was curious about the Goat... does that make me some kind of game killer?

[jwick4471]

Goat?? Maybe I haven't been flowing..

I think good questions that were answered were, "Will there be Klingons in SF (and vise versa)" and they talked a little bit about the character creator. Overall it was kind of Blahh though :[

Also good to hear Romulan and Dominion Empires will not be ignored.

[Hagon]

Every little bit more info helps to fill in more and more of the puzzle. This is excruciating waiting though. hehe

Thanks for another instalment, and please more more more.

[Merius]

Thanks Cryptic! Though I hope were not throwing away questions on comedy like Craigs Goat!

I want all the early details I can get!

My next question is on character geneation. I can create any race I want for my captain. But what about my crew? Can I establish what race they are and customize them too?

Or do I have a preselection of crew or senior staff members that I choose?

Thanks!

[Merius]

if I expect cryptic to put up with my practical jokes, or fleet/forum members to put up with my silly sense of humor.....

then I can put up with the goat thing...


This thread is close to a flame thread, I think people should avoid it...

[damo]

Sounds great. Keep it coming guys :)

[Trekkie]

It is very nice to get some new information! Thank you very much for posting this!

[Trekkie]

I really didn't mind the reference to the goat and I can definitely see it becoming a sort of in-joke among the Star Trek Online community for years to come.

[Michell]

don't these type of threads always get closed?

[Veglargh]

thank you for the info

[boydyma]

Im sitting in the forums today and im asking myself? is this thread actually relevant to the game? it seems you are full of contradictions, you are curious about the goat thing, yet you dont want to hear about said goat in that Q&A..... what is it you actually want lad?

if the goat was irrelevant as you seem to think it is then why does it warrant a thread started by yourself to validate this irrelevancy.


this thread reply was brought to you by the letters S N O W F L A K E I S A G O A and T...... The numbers 6 and 9 and ME.
:cool:

[damo]

I didn't get the goat thing either but hey whatever makes people laugh. People shouldn't take things so seriously, it's just a bit of fun :)

[dwarner]

Seriously, lighten up a little.

Obviously the joke was the Cryptic team's little effort to help develop a community feeling around here. Inside jokes like that are what it's all made of. We all want new information, but geez. The difference between a civilized person and a barbarian is the civilized person can WAIT to get what he wants. Patience. And lets try not to be huge jerks to the devs or the web team making our game, What say?

[Bladerunner1701]

Snowflake! I knew it.

[arakkis]

Wow, very interesting answer on the ship control question. I wonder if the normal WASD controls will be used and if a joystick is possible.

[Keldaria]

Who picked that question? I didn't even remember anything about a goat. Is this something people have actually been curious about? I'd like to be able to attack the whole article, but there were actually some great questions answered(ship control, cross-species creation). But really, was anyone actually curious about this goat thing?:confused:
If your really that in need of someone to attack then go ahead and pin it on me. I made the question I put it in my post infact it was only 1 of 2 questions I posted.


Will a Mention of Craigs Goat be in STO ether in a rare mob or random quest?
Post Located Here (http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?p=206217#post206217)

However what differance does it make. I'm not ashamed they picked it and I actually feel abit honored to be lucky enough to have 1 of my questions answered in the last 2 ask cryptics but are we all so wound up tight on this board that we can't sit back and laugh at a joke or 2 that comes up along the way. Seriously tho this is supposed to be a game. Games are supposed to be fun. I'm not quite sure why people are making this into a life or death senario with the utermost seriousness.

Beyond that I have a feeling the goat question was just a replacement when they couldn't get the permission to answer the other question they wanted to answer in time. Notice my other question was about beta start time. While I don't expect anyone else to feel this way but I'm feeling they probibly were tring to get the ok from upper management to release a genaric date for beta start since we all know they are getting closer by the day and likely already have a date in mind but the higher ups probibly siad no on that answer after taking 3 weeks to discuss it and they stuck that one in as a replacement cause it was fast and easy and they already had us waiting 3 weeks.

But hey read into it as much as you like and relax alittle, This is an internet forum after all and sometimes we tend to all get abit silly. Flame me as much as you like but leave the people at cryptic outta it, they held up their end of the bargin and answered questions put forth.

[SoongType]

Joy stick would b ineresting,good info though!

[Nimisis]

I am starting a Snowflake activists rights movement "all those for Snowflake follow me!".

No, really I thought the interview was great, to me it's just getting better and better...

[RanizMurjuri]

i'm just not a goat fan.. sure they make fun jokes....

ok so they dont make fun jokes, unless you...errr nevermind.

[Triatom]

Seriously, lighten up a little.

Obviously the joke was the Cryptic team's little effort to help develop a community feeling around here. Inside jokes like that are what it's all made of. We all want new information, but geez. The difference between a civilized person and a barbarian is the civilized person can WAIT to get what he wants. Patience. And lets try not to be huge jerks to the devs or the web team making our game, What say?

Exactly.

Why are some people so worked up over a little joke? Are people claiming that the goat question took up another question that could've been answered? If that's the case then, lets look at it a little bit closer. Cryptic answers which questions they choose to answer. If the goat question were not there, then you would have every single question you see there minus the goat question. I am happy that Cryptic answered a light-hearted question, and I also thank the poster who put up the question.

So in reality, we shouldn't really be looking at whether or not we care about the goat thing. We should be looking at how Cryptic Studio treats its community, and for me, they're treating us quite well. If you remember the Perpetual days, how long did it take for an update? By just throwing in a funny factoid about the goat like that, Cryptic shows the community that they too are just people and enjoy having a good time. Don't you want people who have a good time making your games for you?

[Hagon]

I think that the question was just fine, and it's nice to see that they're willing to inject a bit of the human side of things, and add a little humour to the proceedings. In fact I think it bodes well that they're having a bit of fun with each other, and sharing it with us. To me that's a valuable piece of info right there.

I'd hate to think there's a bunch of people working on this game that have no sense of fun.

[SIMONLEV]

I am amazed at the amount of info cryptic is giving us so early on. Anyone know a ball park figure of how many people visit this website? im guessing that it's a big, and info hungry, community ... and i love it :D

[The_Padre]

Who picked that question? I didn't even remember anything about a goat. Is this something people have actually been curious about? I'd like to be able to attack the whole article, but there were actually some great questions answered(ship control, cross-species creation). But really, was anyone actually curious about this goat thing?:confused:

If that's not looking for things to complain about then I don't know what is. Trying to start a flame war isn't a very bright idea.

[Nagilum]

Thanks Cryptic. Great info on the Character creator and the hand to hand combat part

[IanD967]

hmm im pretty happy about these questions :D mainly the bit that tells you that you need to "train" before you can use stuff properly :D

[DFawkes]

Nothing especially concrete, but as ever I'm thankful that the guys at Cryptic are making an effort with us all, so thanks very much :D

[Phlashman]

Y'know now that I think about it, I don't even like goats. Now wheres my damn phaser....!!!:p

[Duckdee]

Yay for melee! I have no idea what weapons are in ST, (bar Bat'leth) so just gimmie a space-agey broadsword. :D

---


My next question is on character geneation. I can create any race I want for my captain. But what about my crew? Can I establish what race they are and customize them too?

Or do I have a preselection of crew or senior staff members that I choose?
From the previous Ask Cryptic:
You will be able to fully customize your Bridge Officers' race, appearance, gender, name and physical appearance. It wouldn't be a Cryptic game if you couldn't. You will also train and customize their skills and abilities throughout their career.

[shagah]

Actually, this question and answer segment, actually in my opinion even explains some of the ship designs...purposly I don't know. But it seams that the saucer section on many of the federation ship designs would in fact help protect the vital systems. By allowing the saucer section to take most the damage in a frontal engagement. 8)

[Thibor]

Goats are fine, occassionally amusing.
Sheep are waaaay sexier though.
Wonder if there'll be any green skinned sheep species for my captain to discover ... :p

[miqrogroove]

Hey guys, we all certainly want the community to be fun, but one should not be given the impression this game is all about FAQs, concepts arts, and pet goats. We are looking for Cryptic to build confidence and October has been weak. It's 2008 afterall. Where are the leaked YouTube clips, playable minigames, and B-E-T-A?

[Kirky]

I don't know about the rest of you, but i'm definitely gonna be creating a goat species when I get my hands on the game.

Long live the nerf-goat.

[Ensign.Ricky]

They always toss in a funny question. Nothing new. Chill-ax my friends.

Besides I wanna hear about this Goat Planet. Gilligan's long lost home?

[KO_Gilligan]

They always toss in a funny question. Nothing new. Chill-ax my friends.

Besides I wanna hear about this Goat Planet. Gilligan's long lost home?

Stranded in deserted space....

Nearly devoid of fellow Goats :(

It was supposed to be a three hour tour....

[M_Wagner]

Stranded in deserted space....

Nearly devoid of fellow Goats :(

It was supposed to be a three hour tour....

LMAO good one...

I thought the whole goat thing was funny but then again I actually pay attention around here unlike those who start threads like this one...

[Sythian]

mmmmm, Lamb chops. :p

all this goat talk is making me hungry.

Good thing the flame in here is just the right temperature.

[jonleach]

I love the answer about the ship control. Thanks for the up date.

[CasiusOntius]

Thanks for the new info! :D

[DFJKHSDJFDF]

how do u play this game

[RedSonia]

Can a Federation player choose to be a member of the other faction, like Worf?

Worf is Klingon, but he joined Starfleet at a time when the Federation and Klingon Empire were allies. Races at odds with the Federation, such as the Romulans, have historically not been allowed into Starfleet. Because of the political situation in 2409, it may not be possible for races from one faction to be a part of the opposing one. But with the species creator you will have access to a wide variety of racial pieces so you can create the character you want. How about a person of Klingon-Vulcan ancestry with some telepathic abilities?

Okay, great, we can create our own races. I love this idea. It's a much needed thing in a Star Trek game and also means that Cryptic don't have to get entrenched in so many minor races and can focus on making the rest of the game better.


The question I still have, however, (where is it that we actually ask cryptic, by the way? link pls) is what happens to all those people who want to be Dominion, Cardassian, Romulan or other Race who aren't (or shouldn't be) part of Klingon Empire or Federation when they finally CAN be one of those races?

Say I customize my character so that it's basically a Romulan and under Race Name I put 'Rihansu' and I play with that character as part of the Federation until the Romulans appear as a faction in an expansion pack - what do I do then if I want to change to what I would have begun playing as if it had been available at the beginning? Do I keep my character as Rihansu (NOT Romulan as far as the game is concerned and therefore with different abilities, etc) and simply change factions with no loss of stats or ship class ability

OR

Do I have to essentially start again if I want to be part of the 'new' faction?

If the latter is the case, I can imagine many people will be disappointed and perhaps will wait (provided it's not toooo long) for the expansions to buy the game - which will make people unhappy because the people playing as Fed and Klingon will have a massive advantage over them. I personally would prefer to wait, albeit painfully, another year for the game to come out with four or five factions included.

I appreciate all of the factors that go into the production of a video game and I really am not having a go at anyone, but I think this is a serious issue for many fans and I don't think I'm alone in my concern by any stretch of the imagination.

Maybe a little more detail of how character creation is going to work would help me here.

In the case that I don't want to make my own race and I want to be an actual pure 100% bona-fide non-customized Klingon like the ones we see on TV - for example, will there be something like a 'faction select' menu with a submenu for species select and then I customise the skills (NOT the appearance - I know I'll be able to make my character look however I want it to) of my Kilingon within certain parameters (20 customization points for all but Klingon has more base strength/melee points than Human, for example)? or will all just begin with a blank character and basically customize our character's attributes to be those of a klingon as we see fit without the use of such menus?

[NorwayClass]

I am glad they are limiting the races that can do the Vulcan nerve pinch, nothing more humiliating then being taken down by the pinch from a Ferengi half your size with the strength of a little girl :D

[Duckdee]

mmmmm, Lamb chops. :p

all this goat talk is making me hungry.

Good thing the flame in here is just the right temperature.

Since when did lambs grow into goats? :p

[zus]

Is the game joystick compatibly :)

[achaney23]

Good Job. So Far...

That's encouraging news. I hated the EvE orbit and shoot combat. Nice to see they will do something more interactive.

Keep up the good work!

[OrabIbo]

Good Job. So Far...

That's encouraging news. I hated the EvE orbit and shoot combat. Nice to see they will do something more interactive.

Keep up the good work!
OMG OMG it's Chaad! about time you posted!

Only thing I hope they put sufficient amount of in Starship combat are counter measures. Not everything has to have an equal counter measure. some may just stem the max damage you might incur.

but I hope they can use Reverse Tractor beams in game to either break a tractor beam or push somebody away. Let's say from ..... Ramming!

After all, Craig did say that he may resort to ramming if things are looking bad. :) I'm okay with it as long as I have an option to possibly prevent it.

[Sab]

Ask Cryptic returns with answers on ship controls, melee weapons and Craig’s goat. Thanks very much to our development team for taking time out of their busy schedules to answer these!



Read more here! (http://www.startrekonline.com/dev_blog/ask_cryptic_10-27-08)

Hi all new hear.But bin trek fan long time.Um not realy got much to say about this part from friking sweet. But i do have one idear 4 u to think ov.If ur ship is badly damiged do's that mean the big "OH NO" come's up.Warp brech and then u have to E-jekt the warp core in to space?"BIG BOOM".And then u have to send out a destres signl to ur frend 4 help.And then thay have to come tow u to a star base with traktor beam fro repair.And the reson for this i coz the ship will have only inpuls engins. Is there eny typ of this thing in the game?If not could it be a pozabiltyt???Thank u 4 ur time.Sab

[Captain-Picard]

Good Job. So Far...

That's encouraging news. I hated the EvE orbit and shoot combat. Nice to see they will do something more interactive.

Keep up the good work!

That goes the same for me.

[trekkie92]

I think this is awesome how we can not only make our own races, but mix and match current ones! Awesome!

[MajorD]

I'm glad ships control will not be point and click.

How will melee weapons be used in the game, if Klingons have them will the Federation have access to the same weapons or their own?

Klingons will be more melee-oriented, but both factions will have access to hand-to-hand attacks using either martial arts or weapons. Our plan is to allow all of the melee weapons to be available to both factions, but it may be more difficult for a Federation character to obtain a bat’leth or a Klingon Empire character to acquire a lirpa.

Your skills will determine how effective you are with melee weapons – a Federation character may be able to pick up a bat’leth and use it, but without training he or she will be less effective than a Klingon who has studied the use of the weapon. And certain martial arts may be limited by faction or race – not everyone can perform a Vulcan nerve pinch.

This concerns me most out of the entire interview, because it can easily be handled very badly and because it can end up as a pretty awesome feature if handled just right. Hand to hand combat is certainly a big part of Star Trek, but only in certain situations, they're either forced, ceremonial, or some situations that's 'just right'. The Klingons try to force melee combat but even they generally know when a gun is the better choice, and opt for a bat'leth mostly for when combat is going to be extremely close quarters.

If I'm not mistaken, in TOS, many, if not all, of the situations where hand to hand fighting is used revolve around the crew's weapons being taken away by a higher power, be that a stronger group, or a godlike being. This results in Kirk having to steal a weapon or use his fists if no weapons are around.

Then you have various ceremonial challenges where only bladed weapons are used. Kirk versus Spock immediately comes to mind, in counter to that to some extent, is Captain Archer on Vulcan, when he enters the desert where technology can't be used, thanks to a natural phenomena, Vulcans chase him with a lirpa of a more sane size, also indicating that the mating ritual lirpa is a purely ritual weapon.

For the Klingons, when General Martok was revealed to be a changeling, not a single Klingon ran at it with a bladed weapon. After a second's hesitation to comprehend what was happening, every Klingon in the room with a clear shot fired their disruptors at the changeling.

When Klingons boarded DS9, they transported in in groups of about five, and only one out of five had a bat'leth, some might have had a mek'leth (http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Mek%27leth). In this situation it made some sense because there was a good chance of being transported in right next to an enemy, where a bladed weapon could be quite effective. However, the majority of combat was still at range. Many of the fights did break down to hand to hand, after a while, because of the chaos of the randomly space transports in.

Melee combat can be forced, but it needs to be forced in a way that makes sense. Secondly, melee combat can happen without being forced by the plot, even with ranged weapons around. The danger is in getting over eager for melee combat and designing the ground combat system so melee combat is a frequent occurrence, the worse thing that can be done is to make melee equal to ranged combat.

My point is, in the normal course of ground combat, melee should be rare. What melee is going to be useful for is the situations where you find yourself unarmed, or ambushed at extremely close range. It can definitely be a life saver, otherwise soldiers today wouldn't learn grappling and get a combat knife. A knife doesn't run out of ammo and unarmed fighting skill is always immediately at hand.

As for weapons, as part of Starfleet, you should be able to get a combat knife if you want one. You should also be able to use your phaser rifle, if you have one, as a blunt melee weapon. Lastly, every group should have some sort of unarmed fighting style. One thing to consider is how phasers have been focused to a knife like blade, Riker's transporter clone did it with his phaser to carve art from stone; anyone with a phaser could have a handy bayonet or knife just by pressing a button to automatically make those adjustments on a Type II or Type III phaser. For a bayonet this would be pretty good, but it wouldn't replace a combat knife, remember, knives don't run out of ammo, not that we've ever seen a phaser run out.

Also, I don't see why a starfleet officer wouldn't be able to get a bat'leth or any other Klingon bladed weapon, it's just a hunk of sharpened metal. Any replicator should be able to easily make a bat'leth or mek'leth. There should be replicator patterns on record for enthusiasts. There are also various Earthly swords. But I think that's getting silly, anything larger than a combat knife I think is silly for Starfleet personnel to carry. The real limit should be your rank, because if Indi taught us anything, don't get into a gun fight with a sword.

[VainEldritch]

... Yay!

Seems ship-to-ship combat is heading towards a system that requires some thought - I was dreading some "quick adrenalin fix" arcade style combat, but thankfully in this area Cryptic appear to have engaged brain before making choices.

[A-British-Ferengi]

I completely agree with SAMEET the goat did use up vauluble question space, but the odd joke is aceptable and somtimes need

As for the news with all these new races cryptic will have to force the old ones in somewhere other wise it will not be the same star trek were here for.

[SoongType]

More controlls for the ship=awesome,hope noone has Data hands:eek:

[KirksOtherSon]

Great news, Razor, thank you! Nothing surprising to me in the revelations, but I know some people have been wanting Official Confirmation(tm) on certain things mentioned for a while now, so it's good to have that for them.

And for those folks so incredibly angry that Snowflake the Empress of Goats got a mention: Cryptic answers what they want to answer; talking about Craig's goat did not "take up a question slot". If the ongoing goat joke had not been mentioned, then there wouldn't necessarily have been anything else in its place.

To put it more directly, if Cryptic had wanted to answer an additional question (or ten dozen additional questions) they would have done so. They're not bound by the format, they _control_ the format.

KOS

[treknerd]

A goat lol cant wait to save a goat from the klingons!

[FelixTX]

How alien will our aliens get, will they be all humanoid? Or will things like Horta be allowed?


I wanna create the gas-monster's offspring that married Cochrane in "Metamorphosis". He will be named "Stinky" (like Lt. Reed...)

[Pontious]

I have been a Star Trek fan since TNG, but really have had a hard time getting excited about STO. Maybe it's because it's had such a hard time getting going ... but this interview has really peaked my interest and gotten me going.

I am excited about the melee combat, but still have questions about balance. My biggest concern is that a bat'leth is great, but any child with a phaser can wipe out a squad of Klingons (if they are only equipped with bat'leths). I am a bigger fan of the k'ting'a (I believe it's called), the Jem'Hadar melee weapon of choice.

I am very interested in being able to customize my own ship, drawing upon other classes (classic and otherwise) to customize my ship. I am a big fan of the Akira-class (who isn't), but not so much the Escort (improperly known as the Defiant-class)-class and Sovereign or Galaxy-class ships, which, I think, will make up 89% of all Federation ships.

I am disappointed is the relatively small number of races that are able to be played. I feel as though the Gorn are just included because of the popularity of the Trandoshin in SWG. The Gorn have not been a big part of the series, and neither have the Orions (only their women ;o) ). And I'm still trying to comprehend what a Ferengi brings to the table (besides Latinum). I am not in favor of excluding these races, I just feel as though if the devs could include these races, why have actual major races been left out.

I am in big support of having Romulans, Cardassians, Jem'Hadar, Bajorans, and Vulcans. I can't understand Vulcans being left out, and if given a choice I'd play as a Romulan.

Time travel is something I'm not sure about .... it would be cool to go back and see some of the older stuff, but wouldn't the people of the time you are visiting be concerned about a Klingon, Gorn, or Ferengi just wondering about?

I am stoked about exploration, meeting new races or at least visiting NPC known race's homeplanets. I hope that STO includes a SWG type "tag" system where you gett a tag on your bio for famous places you've visited.

All in all I hope to create a repatriated Romulan, trying to learn Surak's peaceful ways, but pretty much failing all in all. And, of course, isn't it just creepy when a Romulan smiles?

[Jenkl]

cool beans

[prime7619]

Can't wait till game time.been waiting for something like this for 20 years. woooooo:D

[Junkyard]

I played CoH/CoV awhile and in the end I was just making alts for the fun of creating them, but never got them past 15ish. While I feel that the customization of characters is awesome and I want it in this new game, the lack of high end content in CoH was the thing that drove me away. STO must have enough content and enough layers of content to keep people going. It also shouldn't be slow and tedious. Take a page from the MMORPG with 11 million subscribers and make ease of access and a low barrier to success the mantra during development and this could be the new king of the hill.

[warbot7777]

It all sounds great, I think they should add in Betazoid race, along with all the others someone listed above. They should remove the custom race idea imo, no need. ST has plenty of races to pick from. Anyway on to my question:

If my RL friends and I want to work together all on the same ship can we? I'd like to be his tactical officer while he sits in the captain's chair. The plan would be to get us all in the same ship, each of us controlling a specific part of the ship. Will this be possible? Can my other friend work down in engineering while another takes the helm? I want to work with people, not as captain, but as an officer in a specific spot. If you remember throughout the shows the crew has always become more like a family. This idea would be promoted, as we would all work together to ensure that one ship would survive, thus we would grow closer.

Although the above said is great I would like to retract that as my question.

My question is:

Will Majel Barrett-Roddenberry be preforming again as the Federation computer? (This is very important to me).

She has done a wonderful job all along and I have tons of wav files of her voice on my computer. If not then please use sound files of her from the past. She's amazing really, perfect federation computer voice. I think alot of star trek fans (including myself) would be sad If not. I played Star Trek Legacy and I was disappointed that they had some random guy do it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majel_Barrett

[Bartoromeo]

Will Majel Barrett-Roddenberry be preforming again as the Federation computer

Because you ask that, i would like to know if the computer in ST:O will have a Avatar like Cortana in the Halo Trilogy or Aura in Eve Online?
I had this question suddenly on my mind. We will be in the 25. Century in the game and nethertheless the A.I. theme was always a special topic to discuss in Star Trek, i simply like the idea of an holografic personal assisstent, of whom i could get mission updates or who simply keep me informed about different stuff in the game universe.

[A-British-Ferengi]

And I'm still trying to comprehend what a Ferengi brings to the table (besides Latinum). I am not in favor of excluding these races.

So i herd you dont liek ferengi?!?!

Well im damn glad there in there, im just confused why there in the federation(or thats what i've heard) i wanted them to get more evil.

[bmtphoenix]

ME NO LIKEY GOAT! ME WANT MORE GAME INFO! DOESN'T MATTER GAME CHANGE WHILE DEVELOPED AND GOAT STAY SAME! NO GOAT! RAAAAAAAWWWR!

Yep, that's my first post.

Anyway, nice Q&A, and inside jokes make MMOs a LOT more fun...so kudos to Cyrptic for building the goat thing up in any way.

LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY!

[MishraArtificer]

Anyway, nice Q&A, and inside jokes make MMOs a LOT more fun...so kudos to Cyrptic for building the goat thing up in any way.
Kinda like the nonexistant Secret Cow Level in Diablo I...and the slightly more existant Secret Cow Level in Diablo II!

[A_Dark_Knight]

i was curious if there was any consideration to a native port to mac OS X for this game. i play EVE online cuz it is the closest thing to star trek for a mmorpg for now till STO lauches. also cuz it is at this time one of the few games that does run natively. makes life easier we i don't have to boot to windows for my favorite game.. what do you think?

[deathjam4]

bla a goat

[Erised]

How would someone go about submitting a new ship design that they have created? This is something that I am beginning to get into and would like to see some of the designs in play if possible.

Thanks

[tzu-theory]

Futuristic MMO's have been needed for such a long time that I think Star Trek will blow up when it is released. Look at the success of Eve; I think people are getting tired of Medieval Fantasy-- I know I am.

[Admrl.Escudero]

Hello Cryptic I'd like to know if I can add ships from TMP era. If yes what format will I be able to add the models ingame? My reson for asking is I still play Starfleet Command II and I downloaded some really cool ship designs and would like to port them ingame when STO if possible I'm not really into TNG ships.

Thank You:)

[surfer55]

Ask Cryptic returns with answers on ship controls, melee weapons and Craig’s goat. Thanks very much to our development team for taking time out of their busy schedules to answer these!



Read more here! (http://www.startrekonline.com/dev_blog/ask_cryptic_10-27-08)

Is there a release date yet???????????

[msbglarry]

When will the game be completed, or begin beta testing?