Ask Cryptic (February 19, 2009) Volume 8

[nhamlett]

It's that time that you've all been waiting for. Exciting new questions with brand new answers! I bring you, Ask Cryptic Volume 8. Have you ever wanted to now how Ship Modification will work? You're going to have to read more to find out!

Read it all here! (http://www.startrekonline.com/node/176)

[knightofhyrule730]

WOW!

This was a great day! Lots of brand new info. I love Cryptic!!

[Voyager24]

Thanks for the new info Awen.! :)

[Hagon]

Nice. Just the right amount of new info and much left to tease. :cool: I'll never get a question answered, but I'll keep asking. :p

[JanWillem]

Awesome read, thanks.

[CinC-UFPForces-Cardassia]

That's an exceptionally informative, and pleasing, answer regarding ship customization. I suspect many people will be very happy. Thank you!

[Mattastic]

This may be the best Ask Cryptic yet. The ship customisation sounds awesome and I can't wait to try it out!

[justicenic]

nice much more descriptive and detailed than the previous ask cryptics :D

[Vorador]

Yay, more info :D

[RogueEnterprise]

Awesome selection of questiosn answered. What, they have a theme??? :eek:

Keep up that information flow.

Oh, and I think I finally "get" how ship customization works. It sounds like each "configuration" or silhouette of ship takes a bunch of parts for the physical aspect of the ship... ie all existing parts of ships from that general type (like Miranda and Centaur as specified in the Ask Cryptic) and probably an assortment new ones... and tosses them into the pool of available parts. Then you can proceed to kitbash them together in a way that is to your liking. Sound accurate?

[Nytok]

Thank You! Awesome info.

[cv_coco]

Thx a lot! Ship customization looks interesting and can't wait to see some in game ground combat footage.
Just had a minor eye brow raise with this
How about when you create your ship, you get your registry number, and then we tack on a -A, -B, -C, etc to the end each time your ship gets blown up =).
That's ok if you hardly ever get blown up, but PvP oriented players might not have enough with the alphabet...

[CherryTerri]

Argh, it's so annoying that I keep missing WHERE we can ask the questions ...

Oh well.

Glad to see about rerouting power to other places. One of the most important things in ST!

[ivan50265]

Sounds great seems to me ship customization will be in depth and fun.

[willriker09]

One of the best Ask Cryptics yet! Don't stop now, keep the info flow...flowing.

[IpsoFacto88]

Hey, that’s like a Nebula, so I know it’s an advanced science vessel”, or ”Hey, look at that cool Prometheus variant!”

Oh yes, Prometheus is in...........SKADOOOO!
thanks for the info guys keep up the good work

[Rgoodfel]

Simply mind blowing awsome! I am so excited about the ship system in general. Thanks Cryptic

[Dext]

This was a good read. Thanks for this.

[EremiticWolf]

Thanks for the info, it was great!

[whatinblueblazes]

This is easily the best and most informative "Ask Cryptic" session yet. Great stuff!

[Thalasi]

This was the best Ask Cryptic yet. It answered alot of the questions I had and I cant wait to hear more.

[cheifno]

I like the customization for ships and wondered how they would implment enhancements..and so far im liking what im hearing.

[Aq3nt]

OMG!!!! totally forgot about the forum, I guessed thats what happens when you're sick/under the weather. Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you for answering those questions and mine. Hehe :D Happy to be apart of it! ;) thanks again :)

[Loekii]

How is Cryptic going to handle warp in STO? Is warp going to be instantaneous travel or is it going to be more like a sprint with various speeds allocations from 1 - 10?

When traveling within a system, you will not be able to travel at warp. Impulse speed is the norm here, but you can travel impressively fast at full impulse speeds. You can warp to another planet in a system, which is basically instantaneous. However, when travelling from star system to star system (or other points of interest in the galaxy), you will travel at warp speed. You will be able to set your warp factor and the quality of your warp engines and your engineer’s skills will determine your maximum warp speed.

For clarification, is traveling in between systems (ie Orion to Alpha Centari) is not instantaneous, but rather is a variable speed travel system (ie like riding mount or sow in EQ)?

[SirReginaldo]

This is all super interesting, however, I wish he had mentioned if someone can over take and fight you in warp (like the borg in voyager, when they got into some fights). If they have answered that then I am sorry for not noticing :D

[Trekkie]

I totally agree that the installments of Ask Cryptic seem to get progressively better, mostly because more concrete information is given in the more recent editions. This edition in particular answered quite a few questions that I had lingering in my mind, and I hope that future installments are this informative!

[Gizmo]

Wow, thanks Awen!

That was a pretty awesome little Q&A Devs. I'm loving how we'll get a lot of control over the energy allocation within the ship, and on top of that, redistributing shield power around the ship. I've been hoping for at least that much control so these kind of tid bits make me very happy.

I do have to echo if we could get a little clarification on the warping aspect. The in-system impulse speeds is great (hopefully each class of ship will have different maximum impulse speed), and from the answers we got, I assume that the distance to the destination system, as well as the warp factor are all used in calculating the travel time.

[Kelesh]

thanks , nice session !

[Vicelance]

nice info this time. Any chaance we can get a ship customation video like the character creator one?

By the sounds of it Warp won't be instananeus, but will depend on the Warp speed we select, though I would like to know if there is any tning to keep people from just going at the maximum their ships are capable of. In the shows they rarely went anywhere hear their ships top speed unless it was an emergency.

[Varrangian]

Cool stuff thanks for the info.


Nice. Just the right amount of new info and much left to tease. :cool: I'll never get a question answered, but I'll keep asking. :p

Man they answered like three of mine in a row and then stopped. I think I've done something to upset them :D

[callsign11b]

Right on cryptic!!! Good info.. Keep it coming ....

[AaronH]

In regards to ground manabar: I think going the route of having cooldown rather than a manabar is probably the best effect. I mean, power management rarely came up in ground combat in star trek, and I can't imagine any of the missions lasting that long that the supertech of the trek era would have to worry about battery life. Especially when you can just beam down a replacement.

From the description of movement, it sounds like we will be able to visit all planets in a solar system (if not on ground at least in orbit) which sounds cool to me. I wonder if we will be able to beam down to barren planets or planets with no intelligent life or missions? On the one hand it is cool, on the other hand I would rather that time be devoted to varied mission content.

Stats and history and captains log: How about number of times in spacedock? Or number of times refit? Or even just a ship history (or captain history) ALA the species history in spore? I think that is what I would like to see.
Might even be cool if you could set your history to public or private and other players could get a history on your captain, like what ships they have commanded, battles lost, ships commanded, crewmembers added and whatnot.

[PaperBackHero]

Well I guess that if I play badly, then I will be subjected to the wrap around method of vessel numbering.lol:D

[Sullen]

Anyone notice the typo?

It's that time that you've all been waiting for. Exciting new questions with brand new answers! I bring you, Ask Cryptic Volume 8. Have you ever wanted to now how Ship Modification will work? You're going to have to read more to find out!

[Azurian]

Finally, some real meat on this bone. :D

Collisions, Warp clarification, Ship Customization!

(Though, I hope they were joking about taking on A, B, C. I hate to see someone with so many Z's that it won't fit on the hull anymore. :p)


But one thing confuses me:

When traveling within a system, you will not be able to travel at warp. Impulse speed is the norm here, but you can travel impressively fast at full impulse speeds. You can warp to another planet in a system, which is basically instantaneous. However, when travelling from star system to star system (or other points of interest in the galaxy), you will travel at warp speed. You will be able to set your warp factor and the quality of your warp engines and your engineer’s skills will determine your maximum warp speed.

Awen, your comment contradict's itself. You say that you can not warp within a system, but yet you can warp to another planet within the system? :confused:

[USS_Parallax]

I'm not looking forward to another cooldown timer abilities bar thing that's in every MMO. I want to look at the action, not those stupid bars and cooldowns.

[JMD10222]

Great info in this one:D Keep it coming:p

[JMD10222]

I'm not looking forward to another cooldown timer abilities bar thing that's in every MMO. I want to look at the action, not those stupid bars and cooldowns.


Better than watching "Mana" bars . I guess with any MMO that uses abilities there has to be some way to balance their use, so some type of indicator or timer has to be applied for balance. Doesn't really bother me at all if the UI is done right.

[miqrogroove]

In regards to ground manabar: I think going the route of having cooldown rather than a manabar is probably the best effect. I mean, power management rarely came up in ground combat in star trek, and I can't imagine any of the missions lasting that long that the supertech of the trek era would have to worry about battery life. Especially when you can just beam down a replacement.

In The Siege of AR-558 they did distribute battery packs behind the lines as a form of ammunition. Though TBH, I can't recall anyone experiencing phazor fizzle in the middle of a firefight.

[Flatfingers]

[This turned into another long one. My apologies to anyone annoyed by the length of this post; please feel free to skip past it if you'd rather not try to follow all the details.]

Thanks to Cryptic for this latest "Ask Cryptic." This was without doubt one of the most specific regarding planned features that we've seen yet, and this willingness to communicate with us is very much appreciated.

As other commenters have, I liked most of the things I saw. There were a few things that I wasn't wild about, and I hope it's OK if I address them, too, but for the most part the items mentioned seem like appropriate gameplay ideas, and I'm glad to see them.

For whatever they're worth, here are some of the specific reactions I had, which I offer in the hope that something in them might be useful along with the comments of others here. No one should read too much into them; they're simply the opinions of one person and deserve to be held in no higher (or, I hope, lower!) regard than anyone else's opinions.

Good things:

All cryptic games have always had entity to entity collision. Star Trek online will continue to make use of this tech both on the ground and in space.

Good. That way we can dispense completely with the "aggro" concept, which has value only when mobs can pass through each other, which was only necessary in the 20th century when even bounding boxes ate too many CPU cycles.

You will be able to set your warp factor and the quality of your warp engines and your engineer’s skills will determine your maximum warp speed.

Good, although I would hope that there's a dynamic element at play here -- I'd like to see my Chief Engineer constantly tinkering with all my ship's systems to get the most out of them. (When they're not being blown up, anyway.) (The ship systems, that is, not my Chief Engineer.)

When you have a ship that is a certain configuration, you will be able to modify all the parts – the saucer, the nacelles, the pylons, the primary hull, etc. You will also be able to modify colors, decals, and other bits. However, the configuration will remain recognizable.

Good. "Recognizable" is an important goal in extracting maximum value from the Star Trek IP.

"Hey, look at that cool Prometheus variant!"

So, you're saying that the Prometheus class will be in the game?

Eeeeeeeexcellent. :)

You will also be able to modify the ship's systems. You will modify and upgrade primary items like your weapons, shields, deflector dish, impulse and warp engines, etc. You will also be able to add lots of enhancements to your systems, such as targeting computers for better accuracy, EPS conduits upgrades to improve power transfer rates, better biobeds for your sick bay, etc. Different ships will have different enhancement slots (so an escort vessel will have more tactical upgrade slots).

Good. This is both good Star Trek and good gameplay.

Will our upgrades be better if our character has Engineering skills and does the work personally? Or will that even be an option?

Finally, the primary way you will customize your ship is by what Bridge Officers you assign to your duty stations.

Nothing inherently wrong with this as a concept.

Implementation-wise, however.... (See "not-so-good" below.)

You will be able to transfer power between your weapons, shields, engines or auxiliary power systems. Additionally, you can balance shield power to your fore, aft, port and starboard shield emitters.

I'm glad to see this. I do wonder: will applying power to a shield take full effect instantly, or will the strength of the shield determine the amount of time required to fully charge that shield?

We have considered some game stats, like kill counts, but have not given more thought to the matter at this time. It is an interesting idea and we will consider it.

Good. I hope it's not overdone; mindless chest-thumping posturing is not something I'd like to see encouraged by any game or support system related to Star Trek Online. But some aggregate statistical info could be fun to have.

How about when you create your ship, you get your registry number, and then we tack on an -A, -B, -C, etc to the end each time your ship gets blown up =).

Sounds good to me... but what happens after "-Z"? ;)

Not-so-good things:

Your Bridge Officers will come with unique skills that can only be used if they are at a duty station.

So, clicking on a name or 2D drawing and dragging it into a slot on a graphic UI overlaying an exterior image of our ship, then....

Again, I don't mind the concept; it's the probable implementation I find uninspiring.

We are still working with different models for ground combat, but it will not be complex.

I'm trying not to be catty here, but I honestly can't help feeling that this suggests that somebody has decided that all gameplay throughout Star Trek Online must be scaled down to whatever console users with controllers are capable of coping with. A, B, triangle, square, win? Say it ain't so!

Before I get jumped on, I am absolutely not saying that I think ground combat (or space combat, or any other play activity in this game) should be complicated just to be complicated. I'd like Star Trek Online to be welcoming to relatively casual players; that's a worthwhile design goal.

My viewpoint is that there should be some systems in this game that have depth, that the environment in particular needs to be sufficiently full of detectable and interactive phenomena to enable interesting tactical choices. It's OK if the control scheme for getting at that depth is relatively streamlined; what's not OK is to rip environmental richness out of the entire gameworld under the theory that having different ways to solve a problem will scare people away.

I don't want to assume as a certainty that that's what "it will not be complex" means. What I'm doing here is expressing the hope that "it will not be complex" is simply a reassurance that combat will be fun and not overwhelming for new and casual players, and that it does not mean the gameworld itself will be stripped down to the point that only range and line-of-sight matter.

Right now we are experimenting with no mana bar for ground at all, and simply limiting certain abilities with cool-down times alone. Another possible model may be a simple power bar for advanced weapon attacks (like a wide beam cone attack) but no cost for basic shots and no cost for special abilities (except cool-down times where applicable).

Sigh. I dislike cool-down timers almost as much as I dislike buffs; both strike me as cheap hacks used as quick and mindless fixes to get past the requirement of structuring gameplay actions, rather than making an effort to conceive and implement mechanics that are actually pertinent to the game being developed.

Sadly, when dealing with powered technological systems, "cool-down timer" and "recharge time" are basically synonymous. One just sounds less like an artificial imposition and more like a reasonable technology-based limitation on action.

So I guess I can cope with this, but I hope some active thought is being given to other ways of managing character actions than just reaching for the "cool-down timer" mechanic.

Things apparently intended to drive poor Flatfingers directly into the looney bin:

Altogether, ship customization will be an important part of the game – both visually and strategically.

No. No, no, no. Not "strategically" -- not unless being able to apply customizations to our ships will depend on our entire faction locating, acquiring, harvesting, transforming, distributing, and defending finite resources scattered across many sectors for real-time months.

If the intention is instead to say that ship customizations will affect individual ship capabilities in solo or small-group ship-vs-ship combat engagements, that is a tactical application -- NOT strategic.

If I seem like I'm being a bit of a pest about this distinction, it's not because I'm one of those people who frets and complains over every misuse of terminology by other people. I'm not. (If I were, you would have seen many, many, many posts by me before now pointing out that the word is "canon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonical)," not "cannon.")

I'm continuing to point out the persistent misuse of the term "strategic" because it suggests a misunderstanding that may lead to Cryptic's missing a great opportunity to create enjoyable high-level content in this game.

"Tactics" is about local fights. Tactics is about short-duration conflicts between small groups of warriors across a limited space where local environmental features can be used to affect the outcome.

"Strategy" is about theater-level struggles. Strategy is about long-duration conflicts between very large groups of diverse combatants and support staff across enormous areas where resource management and logistical advantage determine the outcome.

To put it simply: "Tactics" win battles, and "strategy" wins campaigns.

(And "grand strategy" wins wars, but I wouldn't expect or want to see players acting at that level in a MMORPG.)

I point all this out because calling tactical-level gameplay "strategic" implies that developers actually think they're creating strategic-level gameplay when they're not. It's OK if they're not... but the thing is, they can't create the kind of thoughtful, planning-oriented, high-level gameplay that truly is strategic play as future content if they think they're already doing it!

So, Cryptic personnel (you know who you are!): go ahead and keep saying that "everyone will start out as a captain" if you feel you must. I've become resigned to that one. But please, if my sanity means anything to you, please -- stop saying that any ship-vs-ship combat will be "strategic" in any way.

Unless when you use the word "strategic" you really do mean "long-term wide-area logistical planning and resource management" gameplay.

In which case... never mind. :)

...

Sincere thanks again for this very detailed "Ask Cryptic," and for allowing folks like me the privilege of commenting, I hope for the most part, constructively.

--Flatfingers

[moxion2386]

Great read. THanks for the information!! :)

[Druid666]

Great read cant wait for teh next one :D

[Eidolonael]

It seems there is a lot more customization of ships than we originally guessed, and it looks like the bridge crew discussion is still a bit vague...

I was hoping that there would be the option of a Flagship for Fleets that members of the fleet could man the duty stations of... that sounds like it might be a big expansion though... I would still like to see this possibility addressed and come to eventuality where a ships entire critical crew could be manned by players.

Nice read and nice release of detailed information. I remain hungry for more.

Flagships for Fleets Cryptic... Say that over and over and imagine the possibilities and the guild vs guild pvp ramifications that would have... Flagships for Fleets...

Flagships for Fleets...

[Whisky]

Great info. Can't wait for the next update.

[loyaltrekie]

It seems there is a lot more customization of ships than we originally guessed, and it looks like the bridge crew discussion is still a bit vague...

I was hoping that there would be the option of a Flagship for Fleets that members of the fleet could man the duty stations of... that sounds like it might be a big expansion though... I would still like to see this possibility addressed and come to eventuality where a ships entire critical crew could be manned by players.

Nice read and nice release of detailed information. I remain hungry for more.

Flagships for Fleets Cryptic... Say that over and over and imagine the possibilities and the guild vs guild pvp ramifications that would have... Flagships for Fleets...

Flagships for Fleets...

While I love the idea of Flagships, not in the way you are describing it.

It should be more of a "morale boost", when you get a flagship style ship on the battlefield every in that fleet gains a bonus to something.

Eve has something similar I believe, but don't hold me to that.

What I would like to see is their be multiple "Flagship classes" built by fleets of course, and can only be one flagship class in the fleets "party", and when that flagship is present it gives various bonuses, like a warship type flagship would provide a bonus to the combat abilities of the ships, a science vessel would do something more sciency. I would think flagships as the "Relics" "God gear" "etc" type deal, the ones that are going to be very few in the game.

Alternativley they could make it where any ship could serve as the flagship for the "fleet your traveling with" and depending on the class/configuation of said ship it would give bonuses to the others.

As for everyone manning a station on one ship, I honestly don't mind if its there, I just don't see it being implemented, I mean really...that just seems boring to me out of RP reasons of course. I think it would make a much better different game altogether, rather then tacking it on here.

[Dominion1971]

Awesome Thank you tytytytyt for this new info.. Love hearing it.. Um.. 1 question I have.. about the Warp stuff.. I am a little confused about the Warp speeds.. If Warping to a different System will be instantainious.. then what does it matter what speed of Warp we goto...

Alternatively, does this mean.. that the further away you warp.. there will be a definate time delay to get there rather then instantly warping there?

Also.. I am not sure if its been asked.. but will we have the ability to wander around in a first person mode on our ships.. We customize the outsides and add different stuff inside.. will we be able to walk around inside our "own" ship.. to see points of interest.. like Engine room, our quarters and the like.. to help with those of us that love to roleplay completely immerse ourselves in this wonderful universe you are creating? I would like a Dev if Possible to answer these things for me.. Thank you :))

[Maxazlo]

U cant go normal way of warping...**** !

[Bladerunner1701]

I remeber seeing some starship recognition books when I was a kid that had alot of variants in it like a Constitution class that had a completly different saucer from the Enterprise as we know it. So I think the customization thing they are talking about will work perfectly well.

[loyaltrekie]

I remeber seeing some starship recognition books when I was a kid that had alot of variants in it like a Constitution class that had a completly different saucer from the Enterprise as we know it. So I think the customization thing they are talking about will work perfectly well.

The constitution variants never had a radical change in saucer sections...unless it was some fan fiction one.

Edit: http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/scans/constitution1.htm the differences are minuscule.

[Tomkan]

Hmm, interesting :)

[Thoth]

This sounds like it is going to be really cool. I can't wait to get my hands on it!

I also appreciate the guys taking the time out to answer questions. They are busy and yet they still find time to keep the community informed. Kudos!

T

[HyorD]

Awesomeness in a jar, guys; I can't wait to set sail in my "cool Prometheus variant!" ;)How about when you create your ship, you get your registry number, and then we tack on an -A, -B, -C, etc to the end each time your ship gets blown up =).I wonder who will be first to get a second letter? Are we going to get to see the U.S.S. Fabulous, NCC-11826-Y-M-C-A come in and save the day?

[Teleon]

I finally got my question about Ship to Ship combat answered. Although I think the developers meant to say ship to ship combat will be more tactical in the positioning of ships and what not, not strategic.

[kingblackthornjr]

Interesting information posted. Keep up the good work.

[General]

Thank you for this most informed Ask Cryptic to date.

"We are still working with different models for ground combat, but IT WILL NOT BE COMPLEX."

As much as I want this to be intuitive I hope the ground and space combat isn't TOO simple.

Nothing wrong with having to think about getting out of a tight situation in my book. ;)

[Anichent]

"When you have a ship that is a certain configuration, you will be able to modify all the parts – the saucer, the nacelles, the pylons, the primary hull, etc. You will also be able to modify colors, decals, and other bits. However, the configuration will remain recognizable. If you are in the light cruiser configuration, you can make it look just like a Miranda, a Centaur, or something completely unique. The combinations are massive, however, you will not be able to have 4 nacelles or make your light cruiser look like a Galaxy class ship. So your ship will be unique, but others will be able to recognize its general capabilities. People will be able to look at someone’s ship and say, “Hey, that’s like a Nebula, so I know it’s an advanced science vessel”, or ”Hey, look at that cool Prometheus variant!”


I love how Cryptic is well known for their customization. And knowing that the ships in STO were going to be customizable was great...but this isn't just customization. The words "ship class" no longer have meaning. Now Cryptic seems to be saying only ship types matter, and that theoretically you could take a "light cruiser" type and it would not look like any class. Esentially, there are no classes any more except for those few people who choose to make their "configurations" look like a Centaur or a Miranda.

Losing the idea of ship classes is a big loss for me. Sure I can make my ship configuration match existing classes, and I will, but STO will lose a lot of its feel for me whe I can see Klingon and Federation ships in unlimited combinations. Thats not Star Trek....Thats Star Wars!

[MagusSchneider]

customization, customization, customization...

[osena]

Hey, that’s like a Nebula, so I know it’s an advanced science vessel”, or ”Hey, look at that cool Prometheus variant!”

Oh yes, Prometheus is in...........SKADOOOO!
thanks for the info guys keep up the good work

sweet i love that ship the Prometheus owns

[Revod]

First let me say...

Flatfingers, where DO you find the time for all that writing?! :)

Second, and more to the point...

Hull letters might be better used when a player wishes to apply an already used ship name to a different class ship. Every Enterprise that had a new hull letter was also a different class ship. Yes, it is true that the 1701-A was identical to the 1701 refit, and got the -A by virtue of having been destroyed, but if I remember correctly, the new ship was Constitution II Class. Following that, 1701-B was Excelcior Class, -C was Ambassador class, -D was Galaxy Class, and finally -E was Sovereign Class.

Since this is a game, I doubt having one's ship 'destroyed' will be a rare occurrence, so it stands to reason that perhaps the ship would not be destroyed per se, but rather damaged to the point of needing to be towed back to a starbase and reassembled. If a player wanted to keep a given name for a new ship of a different class, then add a letter. I don't see people having 26 different ships all with the same name...but I could be wrong :p

EDIT: Just noticed several posts with this same idea in the Discussion forum...great minds think alike :)

With regard to ship customization, it would be fun to go to a spack dock to do ship refits. Internal system changes would use a more mundane interface, but the external refit system should be more cinematic! Meaning that the player could be positioned outside the ship and could maneuver the camera around the ship allowing the player to click on the ship parts and install new components and get to see them 'installed' rather than seeing the ship on a computer screen and flipping through new parts as it was with the Starship Creator software. This cinematic aspect would truly add that awe inspiring atmosphere that is one of the hallmarks of Star Trek. I don't know about you, but that scene of the Enterprise leaving drydock in ST:TMP put shivers down my spine! I know I'm probably asking too much especially for the initial launch of STO, but it would be nice to see later :)

[Nonderyon]

Awsome :) thx for the info Awen.i like the cooldown idea :)

[Manx]

So I can be flying a Centaur right from the start? Sweet :D

Thank you Cryptic for the great info.

[Paulo999]

wow thats pretty cool.. dont suppose we could get some scrennies on what you got ground side so far ? (like some cool rifles) :P

[chrisdanger]

This is the kind of "ask" I like seeing, this answers questions ive had about the design/implementation of ships in game alot of us have been curious about...

[RogueEnterprise]

I love how Cryptic is well known for their customization. And knowing that the ships in STO were going to be customizable was great...but this isn't just customization. The words "ship class" no longer have meaning. Now Cryptic seems to be saying only ship types matter, and that theoretically you could take a "light cruiser" type and it would not look like any class. Esentially, there are no classes any more except for those few people who choose to make their "configurations" look like a Centaur or a Miranda.

Losing the idea of ship classes is a big loss for me. Sure I can make my ship configuration match existing classes, and I will, but STO will lose a lot of its feel for me whe I can see Klingon and Federation ships in unlimited combinations.

I kind of have to agree with this to a certain degree. I like the fact that we're given lots of customization options, but the fact that in-game ships will be identified by type ("Look, that's a Tier 1 Light Cruiser... err, of some kind") instead of by ship class ("Look, that's a modified Miranda class... which I know is in the Tier 1 Light Cruiser category") is a bit disappointing. I was envisioning something along the lines of: Ships are classified by Tier first, then class second... with each "base" class having its own base stats before modification.

I'm not even exactly sure why it's that big of a deal... just some weird part of me that wants to ID ships by their class, just like in the shows. Call me crazy! :eek:

I think this would also explain why the NX-91001 isn't given a class name in the post about it. According to this, it might not even have a class name and is simply of the Tier 3 Battleship configuration, or whatever the name is.

[denster]

After constantly reading through these very cool and informative Ask Cryptic updates...I find myself still asking the same question:

What will ship internals be like? Will there be just the critical areas like the Bridge, Engineering, Sickbay, etc. Or will it be more involved? (ie. visit one of the nacelle control rooms, take a tour of the ship from stem to stern, log some time into the jefferies tubes, etc.) What I want is to be able to spend my very first few hours in the game doing nothing more then exploring the ship before she even leaves space dock.

PS. To all the people saying the ship customization ruins the trek experience for them...you obviously haven't been reading. You'll be able to customize the ship to a certain degree. Like the TNG Nebula class and the DS9 war-retrofitted Nebula class...only more involved then that, but you get my drift. You'll still be able to recognize a ship class...it will just be a bit different then your use to. Take a look at the screen shots and the trailer, you'll notice a Sovereign variant...a Miranda variant (which I think is actually a MK II)...a Galaxy variant...a Centaur variant...etc.

[Drunk1n]

That sounds great - can't wait to customize my ships. Thanks for the great 'Ask Cryptic' Awen!

[mchapman]

I have to say that it was a good read the only thing better would be more screenshots i enjoy those the most

i have high expectations for this game and i hope cryptic will pull through

[Posideon]

Great updates thanks team!

Looking forward even more to playing this now... if thats even possible!!!! :eek:

[Rivaris]

Great update cant wait

[RyceSTO]

You can warp to another planet in a system, which is basically instantaneous. However, when travelling from star system to star system (or other points of interest in the galaxy), you will travel at warp speed.

I dont understand this snippet. Does this mean that warp travel is NOT instantaneous when moving between systems - but IS when traveling between planets in the same system?

I don't think it should be instantaneous, it never was in the show ... but that statement seems to say two different things - that warp is instant, but its not. ?

What is the experience of warping between systems like? We set a course and a speed, the engines rev up, the stars streak past us, and we kinda hang out in 3rd person view above our ship for a while? What will we as captains be doing during this time? (Don't get me wrong, I dont think this should be instant, and I do think we should have travel down time ... just trying to envision how its working).

[neotekgeek]

Excellent information. It got me excited enough to make my first post. :D

*goes back to clicking refresh on sto main page, hoping for more updates*

[Aelendris]

I dont understand this snippet. Does this mean that warp travel is NOT instantaneous when moving between systems - but IS when traveling between planets in the same system?

I don't think it should be instantaneous, it never was in the show ... but that statement seems to say two different things - that warp is instant, but its not. ?

What is the experience of warping between systems like? We set a course and a speed, the engines rev up, the stars streak past us, and we kinda hang out in 3rd person view above our ship for a while? What will we as captains be doing during this time? (Don't get me wrong, I dont think this should be instant, and I do think we should have travel down time ... just trying to envision how its working).

Play StarTrek: Bridge Commander. Warp drive will probably work in the same fashion there as in STO.

[BigEPratt]

"Capt Picard... nice to hear from you..."

"You want to what?"

"Capt... why on earth would you want to put the nacels on the bottom of the Enterprise?"

"To look cooler?"

"Sure... just go ahead and dock into pimpmystarship bay 3, we will spend plenty of resources and man hours... so you can look cooler..."

II hope there are massive limits.... I don't feel like seeing a purple and yellow mod on the galaxy class starships, as if Starfleet is a massive gang of mercanaries devoid of any military structure.

Structure means I can't paint my starship whatever color I want... it means there is a standard color for all starships....

[sgtchoice]

Tis lookin good. Really happy with all the new info Cryptic has been providing.
Much better than the sit and wait for nothing that has been the past.
I can't wait to give STO a whril! :D

[arakkis]

Wow, FANTASTIC Ask Cryptic this time. Not a single filler question in there. All 100% quality. Thanks!

[The_Padre]

I dont understand this snippet. Does this mean that warp travel is NOT instantaneous when moving between systems - but IS when traveling between planets in the same system?

I don't think it should be instantaneous, it never was in the show ... but that statement seems to say two different things - that warp is instant, but its not. ?

What is the experience of warping between systems like? We set a course and a speed, the engines rev up, the stars streak past us, and we kinda hang out in 3rd person view above our ship for a while? What will we as captains be doing during this time? (Don't get me wrong, I dont think this should be instant, and I do think we should have travel down time ... just trying to envision how its working).

Actually it should be fairly instantaneous when traveling from one planet to another in the same star system simply because of the speed involved, if you watch the DS9 episode "By Inferno's Light" the Defiant has to risk engaging it's warp drive inside the Bajoran system so it can stop the Bashir Changeling using the stolen runabout, the USS Yukon from detonating the explosive device composed of trilithium, tekasite and protomatter inside the Bajoran sun. The Defiant reached the Yukon instantaneously in this instance.

[Gilznet]

Will there be web cam & mic support for ship to ship comunications?

Incoming message; ON SCREEN!

[Temtavia]

I get the impression from the information presented in the Q&A that the bridge crew stations operate as passive enhancements rather than active skills. For instance, if your tactical officer has skills relating to torpedo control/configuratuion then you will receive a bonus to torpedo performance in battle, but only if that officer is present at an active bridge workstation. This would preclude the possibility of player characters assuming the role of a non-commmand bridge post, simple because the skill is a passive modifier and not an active skill. Naturally this is pure speculation on my part, but reading between the lines I get this impression.

As for ship customisation, I'm a fan of galactic civ II so if the customisation is even half as good as that then I shall be happy. Although I dont have really find it a problem personally I wondered what people think about the ability to reconfigure the ship. Traditionally, from watching the films and television series, the ship's engineer is able to make minor redesigns and tweek the configuration of equipment aboard the ships, but I have never seen a starfleet engineer swapping nacelles or making major design changes. Would starfleet allow a captain to reconfigure his ship and fit lots of alien technology? Just a thought for discusion

[Temtavia]

I imagine Cryptic could build in an optimum operating range for ship components that dictates how they perform and for how long. For instance, if you travel at maximum warp the engines are effectively running at their design limit and like any machine will wear out faster. The longer you travel at max warp the more wear is cause to the engines and related system, which ultimately will cause them to fail. Perhaps this can be used to limit player use of maximum warp. If you stress your engines too much the ship could be restricted to a low warp speed until your engineer has effected repairs or you visit a maintenance facility and have them overhauled. Naturally, if you operate the ship at its optimal warp speed then the wear is minimal and might take a long time before you require maintenance or suffer any penalties. All this would encourage players to reserve max warp for situations that endanger the ship, such as ambush by evil space pirates or encountering a dangerous natural phenomina. Additionally, similar effects could allow players to "over power" their weapons for a short period to allow them to destroy a dangerous oppponent at the expense of have limited weapons afterwards. It is a gamble since if your "over powered" attack fails you will face the enemy with the odds stacked against you, but that can lead to lots of fun situations and allow player to be creative, turning a formerly limited ship in a briefly powerful one.

[matstar]

It's that time that you've all been waiting for. Exciting new questions with brand new answers! I bring you, Ask Cryptic Volume 8. Have you ever wanted to now how Ship Modification will work? You're going to have to read more to find out!

Read it all here! (http://www.startrekonline.com/node/176)

i have a question! do you have to pay for star trek online?

[sorsor1]

iIcan't wait till this game comes out, finally a mmorpg worth playing cuz after playing wow i have been turned off to mmorpgs until i found out about this. One thing i would like to see in this game is the Q continuum. I think it would be fascinating to see how they interpret the Q into a mmorpg.

[Crux]

Cryptic has mentioned there will not be a traditional "mana bar" for ships, but what about a player's individual character? Will a security officer have an energy bar for his equipment? What if he has psionic powers (Vulcan/Betazed/ etc), will their biological abilities be independent from their tech/branch skills?

We are still working with different models for ground combat, but it will not be complex. There will not be separate energy pools for weapons and abilities (like the psionic powers you mentioned). Right now we are experimenting with no mana bar for ground at all, and simply limiting certain abilities with cool-down times alone. Another possible model may be a simple power bar for advanced weapon attacks (like a wide beam cone attack) but no cost for basic shots and no cost for special abilities (except cool-down times where applicable).

Whoo Hoo! I finally got one answered! This was a very good Ask Cyptic all around though. The ship information is really shaping up. Thanks again Cryptic.

[CherryTerri]

iIcan't wait till this game comes out, finally a mmorpg worth playing cuz after playing wow i have been turned off to mmorpgs until i found out about this. One thing i would like to see in this game is the Q continuum. I think it would be fascinating to see how they interpret the Q into a mmorpg.

I have a feeling if they do place the Q in any form in the game ... it will be GM or Dev driven characters. Such as for events that bring in both factions and the like.

....

Has anyone else noticed Q (http://forums.startrekonline.com/member.php?u=2908) is a moderator for ALL these forums??

[Flatfingers]

I get the impression from the information presented in the Q&A that the bridge crew stations operate as passive enhancements rather than active skills.

That is a very interesting observation. Now that I think about it, I'm getting the same impression, in which case this becomes a candidate for the "not-so-good" category.

This is why I disapprove of buffs: they're passive gameplay. Passive gameplay is the easy way out of the need to create gameplay features. You just create a button that, when the player mashes it, applies a +/-10% change in some numeric value for some random length of time. Hey, presto -- Content!

Certainly that's "better" in the sense of costing less developer time than working up an imaginative yet practical design for some kind of active gameplay feature. But is "easier for the developer" really the definition of "better" that should be preferred over "more fun for the players"?

Bridge crew assignment isn't all bad as described so far, since one component of it will apparently be deciding which skills to give our bridge officers. That's an opportunity for a form of active gameplay.

But how useful that will be if putting those skills to work is a sort of fire-and-forget exercise in dragging a name or picture into a slot? That, I don't know.

Making a MMORPG is about having to make a million tiny decisions, each one of which is guaranteed to be described by someone in highly unflattering terms. In a way, creating a MMORPG is a kind of Kobayashi Maru: there's just no way to really win. Someone's always going to be unhappy with your creative decisions or your implementation of those decisions.

That said, there really are some principles of game design that just make sense. And one of them is that active gameplay is more valuable than passive gameplay. It's definitely more expensive to make active gameplay, but the upside is that every piece of active gameplay you create lowers the odds of people canceling their subscriptions after complaining, "But there's nothing to DO!"

For that reason, I hope we'll be able to interact with our bridge officers as characters, as people with names and histories and goals and fears and quirks, each of whom has interesting stories to tell as the co-stars of our Star Trek adventure. I believe that would offer considerably more value than implementing bridge officers as passive buffs.

Flatfingers, where DO you find the time for all that writing?! :)

Passion for Star Trek + passion for game design + preference for Explorer-oriented game features + serious lack of sleep + an apparent love of the sound of my own voice = eye-glazingly detailed analyses in support of a game that no one will ever make.

;)

If only these powers could be used for good instead of evil....

--Flatfingers

[Temtavia]

Immediately I agreed that passive bridge crew is essentially a bad thing, but then I gave it a little more thought. When a captain assigns a crew member to a post he/she is confident that that person is both capable at their job and the best person available for that job in the current situation. I believe that the crew member would perform 95% of their duties without direct intervention or orders from the captain. After all the captain is a busy person and has to take a hollistic view of any given situation, the rest of the crew are there to carry out their commands.

However, every good captain consults their bridge officer at specific instances to gain their input, which is the hardest part to encorporate into an MMO. Again all this is pure speculation since it is not confirmed that bridge crew are passive enhancements. I will be very interest to see how Crytic tackles this balance between crew member autonomy and interaction with the Captain. In real life the Captain would define this balance with their personal leadership style, some people like to be hands on with involvement in even the smallest decisions and others perfer to let people "do their jobs" without continually monitoring their progress. Some more food for thought.

Tem

[Kico]

Intrepid class , can they land on the planet?

[Delta4Elite2]

I'm so excited for the game that it's driving me crazy!
Too bad I'm not Vulcan eh!
Thanks though

[Loekii]

Thank you for this most informed Ask Cryptic to date.

"We are still working with different models for ground combat, but IT WILL NOT BE COMPLEX."

As much as I want this to be intuitive I hope the ground and space combat isn't TOO simple.

Nothing wrong with having to think about getting out of a tight situation in my book. ;)
I agree.

I would hope ground combat is atleast as complex as WoW --- and far more challenging. Being coddled is far less enjoyable than being challenged and actually losing in a good fight. Leave 'baby mode' to WoW pls.

[Loekii]

I love how Cryptic is well known for their customization. And knowing that the ships in STO were going to be customizable was great...but this isn't just customization. The words "ship class" no longer have meaning. Now Cryptic seems to be saying only ship types matter, and that theoretically you could take a "light cruiser" type and it would not look like any class. Esentially, there are no classes any more except for those few people who choose to make their "configurations" look like a Centaur or a Miranda.

Losing the idea of ship classes is a big loss for me. Sure I can make my ship configuration match existing classes, and I will, but STO will lose a lot of its feel for me whe I can see Klingon and Federation ships in unlimited combinations. Thats not Star Trek....Thats Star Wars!

I am worried about this as well. Ships should be recognized by their general profile -- which is what I am hoping is what the AC was basically saying.

I am hoping that basically it means that the "enterprise" still retains its basic profile:

1x saucer - forward and above hull body
2x nacels - upward 'V' formation above and slightly behind hull body
1x hull body - located below nacels and saucer section


Basically you should be able to tell a ship from is shadow outline.

[Qnaz]

When they say ground combat won't be complex I have a worried feeling it will be under balanced from Space combat. I know they don't want it to be difficult but I hope its at least tactical and not (for the lack of a better phrase) "button mashing".

All the customization and power balancing is excellent news. I love what I see so far. However I notice a significant tendency to pass along info in the "Federation" sense. "Miranda", "Saucer section", "Registry Numbers and letters". I know Klingons might be slight less in numbers but the lack of info on the Klingon side of the table is a bit worrying. Any way we can flesh the Klingon side of things? Is there just no info yet or has there not been enough work on the opposing faction to give out that info? I just feel like there is so little facts on the other side I don't even know if the "light cruiser", "science vessal", "science lab", "duty station" (are they the same stations for Klingons?) stuff even applies to both sides or if its strictly Federation.

[Temtavia]

It is likely that battles would be simple in star trek because phasers have no recoil and are energy weapons and therefore not subject to the feeble gravity of a planet surface. Hence firing a phaser is both direct and accurate, which would make combat more simple and very deadly. The only component that would add complexity is cover, if you can hide behind obstacles made from a material impervious to phaser fire the battle will be prolonged and more complex.

On the other hand, Klingons tend to favour edged weapons in close combat, which should add yet another dimension, but any sensible star fleet combatant shoots deadly holes in Klingons long before they reach melee range. It will be interesting to see how Cryptic handles this. As a personal preference I would prefer ranged weapons.

Tem

[Qnaz]

It is likely that battles would be simple in star trek because phasers have no recoil and are energy weapons and therefore not subject to the feeble gravity of a planet surface. Hence firing a phaser is both direct and accurate, which would make combat more simple and very deadly. The only component that would add complexity is cover, if you can hide behind obstacles made from a material impervious to phaser fire the battle will be prolonged and more complex.

On the other hand, Klingons tend to favour edged weapons in close combat, which should add yet another dimension, but any sensible star fleet combatant shoots deadly holes in Klingons long before they reach melee range. It will be interesting to see how Cryptic handles this. As a personal preference I would prefer ranged weapons.

Tem

I'll pretend I didn't read that bit about the Klingons ;)

[sorsor1]

will someone pleas tell me how i can join a fleet?

[Capt._Owens]

This may have already been covered, but while ship customization will be allowed, how customized can the ships get? I am part of a forum that basicaly RPs the voyages of our won ships... the one i've been able to design is a modification off the Sovergn class... but, taking a page or two from "all good things" (TNG) was granted a third nacell. While i'm sure this is a common question, but what about the registry number? I'd love to replicate this ship (Dual-warp cores and all) in the game. Would there be a way to TRUELY re-create this starship?

[CherryTerri]

will someone pleas tell me how i can join a fleet?

Don't be afraid to search the forums and read descriptions.

But go here (http://forums.startrekonline.com/forumdisplay.php?f=26) and look at the fleets listed. See what ones you like and contact them in their threads.

[Angelphoenix12]

another cool faq.

[Sorayn]

How far will Shields play a role in battle?

The question may sound stupid but looking at DS9 and the later TNG movies I've noticed that phasers and especially Torpedoes impact almost immedietly on the Hull without any visible Shield impacts. Following up on that question: WIll there be Shield-bypassing weapons or will we have the classical "Destroy the SHield first and then go for the Hull" Battles?

[Scars]

[QUOTEIs it possible to purchase, capture, or steal ships of the opposite faction? For example, can a Federation officer acquire a Klingon Bird of Prey, or maybe even a Romulan Warbird or must you be a member of those factions to access those ships?

There will probably be episodes where you get to commandeer starships from other factions. But you don’t get to keep them. You can’t, as a Starfleet officer, get a Klingon Warbird and pimp it and then go jaunting around the galaxy doing your Federation work. You have to use the ships that belong to your faction.

Okay, now one moment please...

Of course this game will be different from EVE. However the prestige in that game comes from the ships you fly, the ships you sport.

With regard to STO... I think perhaps the capture of enemy faction ships can be turned in for a MASSIVE amount of credits. This could be a daily PvP activity (maybe).

Now... I love the federation. But I also LOVE trophy ships. I understand if the devs won't let us keep opposing faction ships because that is in line with the ST Universe. However what about Shore leave, or extended leave time from the service? Are these options where we are exempt from Star Fleet responsibilities. Can there be the purchase, capture, or even attaining of "trophy" ships that we can float around in just for prize, or even ships that have special abilities (i.e. ships geared for archeology, or science, or even luxury vessels).

As a side note... TNG was bomb because i mean hey... a Galaxy class ship commands your attention. Bless Janeway and her voyager, but a ship with a compliment of 40 some torpedoes is laughable. Perhaps some would disagree, but I think that size DOES matter in the TNG Universe. It was a disappointment after TNG that things just kept getting smaller and smaller in the other series (with the exception of DS9 in which we were big... but stationary... then dinky and able to go places).



I like this idea Alot I'd like to see some kinda shore leave to do what we wish away from starfleet to be able to have a non-starfleet ship an be able to take over another ship i love doing that stuff ( NPC only of course ) but to take over another ship an sale it or keep it as my own ( is one of the HUGEST reason i want to play ) that an i like star trek or even to be able to BUY the plans for another faction ship would be great ( taking it by force would be better ) but a to be romlane an fly a starfleet ship hell ya you could even do it where if that faction finds out there gunning for you or you take it from the people that took it in the first place to return the ship the the faction that owns it an get some mass cash from it or the right to fly that class of ship

To be able to have my own ship outside of starfleet would allow me to fly to place that starfleet ships can't / couldn't go with out war or battle

Like me the first thing i plan on doing with a non-starfleet ship would be to set course for the dalta quant. i'd like to be able to go an lol meet the borg queen lol an a few other races that are only there or take an pick a place as far out as i can go an go there just for the hell of it

Star trek wasn't about JUST starfleet or the borg ect.. it was also able the everyday people an there lives so to have some kinda shore leave would be great an to have to plan for a retirement ( if you ever wanted to leave starfleet but still play ) would be great to able to go to a starbase an not have to report in have some kinda civilian playable toon where you can deside to play by the rules or not where your not bound by the laws of starfleet an can do what ever you wish Hell ya take over ships,smuggle guns / info,to follow a borg ship for days on end,to be able to become a borg with out it staring a war with starfleet,to be able to beam down to a planet an steal some tech. an see if you can get away to do whatever you wanted as long as you don't get caught but if you do get caught your game is over for that toon would you risk it i no i would. I think that when it comes right down to it there is going to come a point were we'll get tired of playing by starfleets rules an just want to play an explore space with out being ordered to this area or were we MUST go to a call for help at some point i'm not going to want to play a starfleet capnt. or even be in star fleet a time were i can still play an have fun an just flat out relax an enjoy the game

the biggest thing i'd like to see is a PLAYABLE BORG i'm all about knowledge an learning so to me a borg / exborg would be the mother load of knowledge to have to really LEARN or at least feel i am learning alot of what the borg know idk how this would be done maybe you find your self on a planet an not part of the borg Collective anymore ( if your ever turned into 1 ) to be able to see better to have the knowledge of the borg an a few of there upgrades would be great

I'd also like to see a story that gose on an on another words if i get caught by the borg i don't want to wake up in sick bay like it was all a bad dream i hate that or if i run outta anit-matter in deep space in a black zone a planet magicly shows up on my long range. so many games do that an i hate it like in WoW you die an run back thats just stupide to me if i die by god i should have to be dead.... for at least a min. if i get hit by a sword i should bleed so.. to me with STO if you get taken by the borg then i should have to see or play the borg not magicly show up in sick bay let the story play out no matter what happens code in 50 ways the story could / can go

Heres my idea for a playable borg :
your flying along an a borg cude shows up you end up being assimilated you HAVE to watch for 5 min or less what your toon is doing out of your control / or with your control either 1 the ship your on is attacked an is badly damaged an starts to crash on some planet you wake to find that only a few are still alive an no longger part of the collective as your memorys starts to return you get more an more control of your toon after you have totaly control of your toon you find that your on some planet in the far reaches of space far from home ( you still have all of your borg inplants ) now you must deside do you

A: start your own collective ( with a max set # of real players / NPCS exp. if your part of a guild you can only turn your other guild members into Playable borg if your not in a guild then you have to go to the nearest borg area an find others that will join or that you can join get a ship an invade your first Npc base / ship )

B: find a doctor to remove the inplants an a ship to try an return home ( the amount of inplant removed would depend on the doctors skill lvl )

C: rejoin the collective (as a playable borg that must only do as your told )

D: find a way to make the borg PAY FOR ALL THAT they have done

See all that could an can be done outside of starfleet the above idea would require you not to be in starfleet for a time.
The Npcs that assimilated would follow the same code as the Npcs of the borg with a max # of drones that you can have i think this would be base on the # in your guild say like for ever 10 real players you could have 1 Npc drone or if not in a guild an far from home say it would take at least 2 real players to have 1 drone
Playable borg can be done with out messing the WHOLE game up i think that a playable ex-borg would be easyer to do but still i hope to see some kinda playable borg :D

[journeyman]

There are bunches of replies for me waiting to read and be answered. Does anyone know how to access the replies? :confused:

[SenshiBat]

Q: Do you have time to smile?:cool:

Or Could you make Wolf 359 a launch mega event?
Tnx if you can and ah well if you can not..;)


Being based in lost cats caly

Does this mean you know where all the kzinti went?

Los Gatos ? [sorry the cats...forgot esp for a sec in coffee withdrawal frenzy]
SO Cryptic Def knows the way to San Jose!!!
But
Q: Do you know Where Have all Tribbles Gone?
Long Time Passing
A:.....?
Q:maybe we could have a where do you live country wise as a poll for dev to see demographics?

[Wyrven]

It is likely that battles would be simple in star trek because phasers have no recoil and are energy weapons and therefore not subject to the feeble gravity of a planet surface. Hence firing a phaser is both direct and accurate, which would make combat more simple and very deadly. The only component that would add complexity is cover, if you can hide behind obstacles made from a material impervious to phaser fire the battle will be prolonged and more complex.

On the other hand, Klingons tend to favour edged weapons in close combat, which should add yet another dimension, but any sensible star fleet combatant shoots deadly holes in Klingons long before they reach melee range. It will be interesting to see how Cryptic handles this. As a personal preference I would prefer ranged weapons.

Tem

Hmmm I hate to tell you this but unarmed combat has been around a long time. And I would like to point out that it has also been apart of every generation of Trek.
I would pick a squad of MACOs over a squad of Klingons any day.

[Wyrven]

I have a question, just how serious is Cryptic about the console/pc hybrid........
Can we PLEASE just have a pc only server at least. I have serious concerns about this.

[CaptainChristopherPike]

Talk to me.

[jbarker82]

Nope, he's very much long dead by 2409 I should imagine ...

... Although I guess there's no reason why you couldn't create a human character and call him 'Christopher Pike', unless the name filter won't let you use existing Star Trek character names.

[Kenderoth]

Will Empok Nor or anything relating to the Pah-Wraiths be in the game?

[Loekii]

There are bunches of replies for me waiting to read and be answered. Does anyone know how to access the replies? :confused:

Do you mean the private messages up in the right corner?


Click on the PRIVATE MESSAGES: text. It will take you to your messages.
click on the messages you want to read.


Not sure if that is what you were asking.

[journeyman]

Thanks Loekii. That's what I was asking.

[fablis310]

It's good to know that you guys are thinking about all the small stuff that will go into making this game great. I'm really looking forward to it.

[CaptainChristopherPike]

Nope, he's very much long dead by 2409 I should imagine ...

... Although I guess there's no reason why you couldn't create a human character and call him 'Christopher Pike', unless the name filter won't let you use existing Star Trek character names.

OK, OK ... enough already. Pike is a freaking war hero. We need to get him in SOL somewhere, somehow. Does anyone know how many ships, buildings, etc where named in his honor? I know they named the medal of valor for him. Pretty much the ST equivilent of the medal of honor.

[Fire-914]

will the achilles class star ship be available along with the retractable armor like on voyager final episode

[romulan09]

Will this game be both pc and mac compatible?

[CrazyVulcan]

will you be able to chose from many difrent coponets and morph them into shap ala spore? if so how many and to what extent

[trekkieunite]

will you be able to put holodecks into your ship cos if u can u could do training simulations which would be cool :)

[GoranAgar]

I highly doubt that it will be multiplatform with mac and PC, it does sound like it might come out on XBOX though.



Will this game be both pc and mac compatible?

[jad594]

It's that time that you've all been waiting for. Exciting new questions with brand new answers! I bring you, Ask Cryptic Volume 8. Have you ever wanted to now how Ship Modification will work? You're going to have to read more to find out!

Read it all here! (http://www.startrekonline.com/node/176)

I don't know how to play, i've signed up but i cant play. Do i have to pay for star trek online?:confused:

[jad594]

How do i play? do you have to pay for it? I mean i have signed up for it.:confused:

[Lanzero1]

I know I'm a little late asking this, but I have a good question.

When we use our weaponry to fire upon other ships, will the range between our ship and theirs affect the damage, and will range make a difference to our accuracy?

ie, will we hit them harder if we are 20KM away as opposed to 200KM away?

This is something I see in a lot of space games (Such as EVE) so I wanted to know if STO was different in this.

Thanks

[Lanzero1]

How do i play? do you have to pay for it? I mean i have signed up for it.:confused:

The game itself is not out yet. It is still under development.

As for playing fees, they have not yet revealed whether it will be free or P2P

[ansom25]

i have to say cryptic. i love that little thing u put in there about adding an A- B- C-... to the end of ur ships name, representing the number of time u have been blown up. its a great idea