Ask Cryptic (March 12, 2009) Volume 9

[nhamlett]

Welcome to the 9th volume of Star Trek Online's Ask Cryptic! In this volume, we talk about Character Customization. Will there be unique races? Will there be limitations? You're going to have to read more to find out! (http://www.startrekonline.com/ask_cryptic_3-12-09)

[topekaguy1988]

It may just be me but I have a feeling this could possibly end badly.

My question is why would anybody play the original races when you could just make a facsimile of a said race but with better stats and attributes.

[Silverspar]

I plan to play a human. That is why the option exists, however, to play whatever you want to make within the game limits. This is Star Trek, where the only limit is really one's imagination.
The answeers were quite good, and I enjoyed them, htough I am still curious about what limitations on the uniform we will have and what alterations we can make.

[Howard22]

Thats great that there will be all this customizing character stuff. Really i do think its great. But I don't care about that right now. Give us something more about gameplay please.

[topekaguy1988]

I plan to play a human. That is why the option exists, however, to play whatever you want to make within the game limits. This is Star Trek, where the only limit is really one's imagination.
The answeers were quite good, and I enjoyed them, htough I am still curious about what limitations on the uniform we will have and what alterations we can make.

Yeah, but I mean how often do you see humans or vulcans serving in the Klingon Defense Force? Well, now there will be some.

[SelorKiith]

For me it sounds good... especially the part with the Tholians :D

[Dahakra]

If, for all intents and purposes and in all but name, you can make a Klingon (and share him with ya buds) then play him as a Fed, doesn't that defeat the purpose of having Factional separation in the first place?

- Dahakra

[TreffnonX]

first page post...:D

[Tumek]

woohoo alot of good info there, thx!

[chrisdanger]

Sounds like a good setup for IP characters..Hoping theres the function to build a hologram from the ground up as both a PC and a crew member...

[phifur]

Nice questions and answers. Thank you

[Deyvid]

Another interesting edition of Ask Cryptic. Thanks!

They're always too short though! We offer pages of questions and only see barely a handful answered each time, so some really interesting or "hot topic" questions get skipped over. Oh well, we still appreciate each answer and the time taken to answer them. :)

I was a little confused or unclear on the answer about the non-organic life forms...

Definitely in the game there will be non-organic life-forms; androids, rock people, Tholians, and so on. In character creation that goes right back to the previous question. You can create a character who looks like an android, or call yourself a hologram, and give that character abilities and traits in keeping with that choice. For example, if you’re an android, you may be able to choose radiation resistance as a characteristic. Additionally, you’ll be able to add bridge officers to your staff who may be androids or holograms, or something new, and they would have special abilities appropriate for them.However, you won’t be able to look like a Tholian; you’ll have to choose a bipedal humanoid.

THE PART I UNDERSTAND: So we won't officially be able to be an android, but we use the custom character creator to make ourselves look like what we think an android should look like, and give ourselves the traits and bonuses we think an android should have, and then while playing we tell people "Hey look! I'm an android" even though technically we are a "customized alien race".

THE PART I DID NOT UNDERSTAND: When we add bridge officers who may be androids or holograms, will they "officially" be real androids and holograms, or will they also be the "make-shift" androids we create with the custom alien creator?



Also the last question didn't address the part of the question about naming our custom races. If I create a custom alien character, do I get to give that new race a name along with the personal name of that individual character? In the case of the Cryptonians (with a C!), is that something that would be recorded in the character's bio or stats -- so that when a player is inspected it would say something like "Race: Cryptonians (with a C!)" or do we just enter a name for that one character and just have to tell people what the name of our race is supposed to be?

[Rekkert]

Thank you!! Yeah Tholians are in!!!:D

[underminer]

Welcome to the 9th volume of Star Trek Online's Ask Cryptic! In this volume, we talk about Character Customization. Will there be unique races? Will there be limitations? You're going to have to read more to find out! (http://www.startrekonline.com/ask_cryptic_3-12-09)

do you get to be "the bad guys" like the borg or not ???

[EbonyBlade]

At this point, No. I found it interesting that you can be a Hologram though. That would mean that opposing forces would have to damage your emitter to hurt/disable you.

[topekaguy1988]

At this point, No. I found it interesting that you can be a Hologram though. That would mean that opposing forces would have to damage your emitter to hurt/disable you.

You can't be a hologram. You can be a character that pretends to be a hologram.

[oleum]

Thanks for the answers you gave Awen. Shame you sidestepped a few things asked so very neatly as ever. I suppose with 10s of pages of questions and just 1 page of answers there were going to be a lot of things like that.

Thanks again though

[Wardog00]

I think it was a good Q & A. The only problem I have is the fact that races from the opposite factions can be made (more or less) in the other faction. It will be kind of strange to see a Human in the KDF or Klingon in Federation (no reference to Worf) given the fact of War or Cold War.

I think there should be restrictions on certain races depending on which faction a player chooses. Just my Opinion.

[Voyager24]

Awesome news thank you! :)

[Deyvid]

Yeah, but I mean how often do you see humans or vulcans serving in the Klingon Defense Force? Well, now there will be some.

If, for all intents and purposes and in all but name, you can make a Klingon (and share him with ya buds) then play him as a Fed, doesn't that defeat the purpose of having Factional separation in the first place?

- Dahakra

For me this is simultaneously cool and uncool, but I'm leaning more toward cool to let there be more freedom for players to enjoy the game the way they want to. But still, it will be odd to see what looks like a human or even Vulcan commanding a Klingon Defense Force vessel. I can totally see Klingon players, especially role-players, choosing to not group up with non-Klingon (or non-Klingon faction) races, particularly Federation races.

It makes more sense for the Federation to include a character from the other faction(s) since they are more about tolerance and acceptance. It will essentially be like Worf, a Klingon being in Starfleet while for a period of time being a social outcast, discommendated from Klingon society and then again when he was stripped of his family honor when Gowron took away all land and assets from the House of Mogh. Now, essentially any Klingon serving in Starfleet during the time of STO (when the two factions are at odds and on the brink of war) would be considered a maghwI’ (a traitor) among the Klingons of the KDF -- a petaQ worthy of death.

QotDI’ gheD tlhejbe’ wamwI’ "The hunter does not lie down with the prey."
The Klingon Way: A Warrior's Guide, p.161


This does allow players to make TOS style Klingons, augment Klingons or the QuchHa’ (http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/QuchHa%27) "the Unhappy Ones", if they are so inclined.

[Commodore_Rook]

You can't be a hologram. You can be a character that pretends to be a hologram.

So what's the point then?

Why have all this customizing? You telling me there will now be literly thousands of different beings/races in Starfleet now? (that normally wouldn't be there). Sounds pointless.

[Sarile]

I really like the idea of creating your own race, taking bits and pieces from other races to create your own and starting then from scratch!

Very imaginative and will add allot to the game rather than having just "cookie cutter" races.

Live Long and Prosper

[Azurian]

Nice, we going to see canonical alien races that we never seen before! And I like you using different colors for the questions Awen. ;)

Hearing all these traits with the character creator has piqued my interest even further. I wonder if you all are going to do like Sony did with EQ2 and send out a DVD with the character creator so we can play around with it before before STO goes live?

I bet many of us would be creating for hours, even days. Even upon launch day, I bet there be some who liked their creations so much, they didn't know which ones to choose. :D

[neon10]

Can you make alien hybrids like Spock

[Wardog00]

My understanding of Star Trek Lore as far as Klingons are concerned is NO non-Klingon race can be an Officer let alone a Captain in the KDF. Non-Klingon races that are integrated into the Empire are considered " jeghpu'wI' " or Conquered People. They are a lesser class as far as the Empire is concerned.

Now with customization all that Trek Lore goes out the door. Someone else on this Thread referred to Trek races as "Cookie Cutter," I'll play my Klingon "Cookie Cutter" race the way it was meant to be.

Customization is a great concept as long as it has some limits.

[RogueEnterprise]

I like the whole character customization thing. Really. But to be honest I'm still as not sure as ever about the create-your-own-race feature. Sure, it sounds like a neat thing to be able to make up whatever you want. I'd love to just play around with random alien pieces to create my own race... but it seems like players might be able to go crazy with a lot of stuff here. Doesn't it make being a "real" Vulcan in Starfleet worth less when you can just rig up a non-official Vulcan to play with the Klingons? Seems like something like this would catch on en masse, with MMO players the way that they are... tons of people joining up with the KDF and choosing Vulcan-like or Andorian-like characters and naming them as such.

I'd also be afraid of stuff like Wookies, Rhodians, Predator aliens, Asari, and other non-Trek aliens making appearances in game thanks to "creative" players who end up forming Wookie-only fleets and end up just looking plain ridiculous framed in the Trek universe. You know it's going to happen.

I really, really hate to make negative posts about info released about this game, since there's a lot of stuff about it I really love. A lot of stuff. But this is one of the only things that really irk me. In a lot of ways it just seems like Cryptic is using the race creator to push their company stance of bringing UBER CUSTOMIZABILITY to every game they put out.

Not to say that I won't play the game. I suppose I can just tune out the silly aliens. =) Just voicing my opinion I suppose.

[Sckullzy]

Wow people in this forum really hate having options.

Everything I read in the post sounds awesome. Limitless creative options and desegregated factions both sound good to me.

And anyone can serve in the Klingon Empire if they can prove their worth. Data was offered a place in the Empire and even Quark was for a short time the head of a Klingon house.

[Loekii]

THE PART I UNDERSTAND: So we won't officially be able to be an android, but we use the custom character creator to make ourselves look like what we think an android should look like, and give ourselves the traits and bonuses we think an android should have, and then while playing we tell people "Hey look! I'm an android" even though technically we are a "customized alien race".
...

Also the last question didn't address the part of the question about naming our custom races. If I create a custom alien character, do I get to give that new race a name along with the personal name of that individual character? In the case of the Cryptonians (with a C!), is that something that would be recorded in the character's bio or stats -- so that when a player is inspected it would say something like "Race: Cryptonians (with a C!)" or do we just enter a name for that one character and just have to tell people what the name of our race is supposed to be?




I guess I am a little confused on how the racial naming is going to work.

For example, if I make a 'Green Girl' and call her an Orion, but she still is really not an orion officially, what will appear under 'race'?

Same thing for creating an 'android' looking toon - pretending he is an android - but wont really be an andriod. What shows up under 'Race' for such creations?

I hope it doesn't scream 'game' and say 'Customized Alien race'. :(

[Trekkie]

I am really glad that we are at the point in the development cycle where the community can start learning more specific information, because this is exactly the kind of thing that gets me more excited than ever to play the game. Even though I will more than likely be playing a pre-determined race, I am still very fascinated by the custom race generator, and I think that creating custom races will be rather interesting!

[handsomelass]

I like what they have done personally. I mean we still have the option of playing by the rules ourselves and going strictly ST, but we can be creative if we so desire. Fantastic. Everyone gets to play the game how they want.

I am a little worried though because I want to be a Ferengi female with the traditional garb... I don't have much confidence in the likelihood of my shortie being able to walk around in her just deserts.

[Deyvid]

My understanding of Star Trek Lore as far as Klingons are concerned is NO non-Klingon race can be an Officer let alone a Captain in the KDF. Non-Klingon races that are integrated into the Empire are considered " jeghpu'wI' " or Conquered People. They are a lesser class as far as the Empire is concerned.

Now with customization all that Trek Lore goes out the door. Someone else on this Thread referred to Trek races as "Cookie Cutter," I'll play my Klingon "Cookie Cutter" race the way it was meant to be.

Customization is a great concept as long as it has some limits.

This is exactly why I am torn over the custom character creation -- players making "make-shift" or "fake" humans, Vulcans, Ferengi, etc. characters in the Klingon faction. Even the inclusion of the Orions and Gorn being captains of Klingon ships doesn't sit well with me.

I love all the customization and race mixing with the Federation, that is to be expected and even admired in the Federation. But it breaks canon on the Klingon side. It will take some very creative storytelling in the Path to 2409 for Klingon purists to accept non-Klingons commanding KDF ships -- and that still doesn't explain away the player-created humans and Vulcans captaining Klingon faction ships.


This is going to be situation where my logical realistic side (that understands the game has to make concessions in order to appeal to the widest possible percentage of players) has to take over and overrule the side of me that thinks only true Klingons should be allowed in the Klingon Defense Force.


The way I would like to see it done, is that only "official" default Klingons should be able to captain the established Klingon ships, and that the Gorn and Orion get their own ships that still operate to benefit the Klingon Empire but would not be considered to be part of the Klingon Defense Force.

[Deyvid]

I guess I am a little confused on how the racial naming is going to work.

For example, if I make a 'Green Girl' and call her an Orion, but she still is really not an orion officially, what will appear under 'race'?

Same thing for creating an 'android' looking toon - pretending he is an android - but wont really be an andriod. What shows up under 'Race' for such creations?

I hope it doesn't scream 'game' and say 'Customized Alien race'. :(


Yeah that's what I was wondering, if we can name our race along with the name of the individual. When they mentioned their created race "Cryptonians", will they actually get to name their race that or only just tell people that's the race's name?

If we can name our race, perhaps we could type in "android" or "orion", that would be cool -- but then it could cause confusion or issues if a Federation character is made to look Klingon and then the player types "Klingon" under race. How would that be differentiated from the "real" Klingons of the Klingon faction, and vice versa with Klingon players who make a Vulcan-looking alien and name their custom alien race "Vulcan"?

[RogueEnterprise]

If we can name our race, perhaps we could type in "android" or "orion", that would be cool -- but then it could cause confusion or issues if a Federation character is made to look Klingon and then the player types "Klingon" under race. How would that be differentiated from the "real" Klingons of the Klingon faction, and vice versa with Klingon players who make a Vulcan-looking alien and name their custom alien race "Vulcan"?

That's one of my concerns. :)

[Loekii]

Yeah that's what I was wondering, if we can name our race along with the name of the individual. When they mentioned their created race "Cryptonians", will they actually get to name their race that or only just tell people that's the race's name?

If we can name our race, perhaps we could type in "android" or "orion", that would be cool -- but then it could cause confusion or issues if a Federation character is made to look Klingon and then the player types "Klingon" under race. How would that be differentiated from the "real" Klingons of the Klingon faction, and vice versa with Klingon players who make a Vulcan-looking alien and name their custom alien race "Vulcan"?

I am sure there will be 'factional' markers, so regardless of the race, you will be able to tell what faction that player belongs to.

What I am more concerned about:

Race being some trivial - lacking racial identity.
Multiple different looking 'Tholians'
All custom races being flagged as 'Custom Race'.


Personally, I wish they would define specific races, limit 'custom' races to unique non Star trek names (ie I cannot make a Pink Andorian looking toon, and call it a 'Breen' or 'Tholian', or make a Green skinned Klingon, and call it an 'Orion'

I want Breen, Tholians, Orions, etc to be clearly defined to protect the canon, and have 'copies or other custom races require a 'unique' name tag -- much like a player name.

I am unclear on the whole 'call yourself an android', but not really be an android in the game thing, and I from what I think it means, I do not like it, to be honest.

[Atavax]

/facepalm

when are they going to release real info that isnt info that someone with alittle bit of general mmo knowledge and a little common sense could reason to on their own? it has been known for a long time that you could create custom races, and the rest of info given by the interview could of logically be deduced from knowing that.

[Shakari]

It seems as though the character creation is leaning a lot more towards the RP of the RPG; Data LOOKED human on the outside, only his actions and skin color set him apart. I think what Cryptic is trying to get at is that you can take the base human, lighten his skin color, and call him an android, because you chose to play as an android. Though I can see you going partway through the game "Eh, I'll just consider myself human now," and stop playing up the android bit.

And because of the mention of rock people, along with Delta quadrant aliens, I now give my Hugh a 50/50 chance. Wish they woulda said if their going to have borg-like parts in the character creator database :( .

[Fvillha]

Hearing all these traits with the character creator has piqued my interest even further. I wonder if you all are going to do like Sony did with EQ2 and send out a DVD with the character creator so we can play around with it before before STO goes live?

I bet many of us would be creating for hours, even days. Even upon launch day, I bet there be some who liked their creations so much, they didn't know which ones to choose. :D

This is a great idea, sort of reminds me of how Spore was released and folks could with with parts of the game until the rest is ready, especially if you could save character templates to use when the game is release, for those of us that sit hours playing with options.

[Reinkaos]

Escaped a borg ship, eh? :D I see many a borg implant in my STO future...

[Rivaris]

hmmm most of this info we already knew about tbh.

but anyways still a good read.

could i get the game a week before release i need at least a week to make my own race and think up a story lol

[TechDragon]

Every single part of this announcement made me happy. That's quite an accomplishment. If I had to pick the parts I'm most excited about, it would be being able to pick racial abilities from a list (like increased strength, radiation resistance, etc) when making my own custom race to make it more realistic, as well as being to name said race.

[greenpuppy3]

It's cool that you can make your own but I think I would like it better if it was just the original Star Trek races; the ones that actually exist in the Star Trek universe now.

[Powerhelm]

I'm guessing as far as race goes we could have a drop down name with all the races and also have an "Other" option wheren we get to write in a name. Perhaps they could keep track of racial names and we could check at starbases to see how many "Cryptonians" have been made on our server, etc How many are serving on which side and so on.

I am really glad that we are at the point in the development cycle where the community can start learning more specific information, because this is exactly the kind of thing that gets me more excited than ever to play the game.

Actually I don't think they mentioned a single thing we either didn't already know specifically or didn't already know unofficially (based on logical assumptions regarding the direction of development in this area).

Really at this point I don't think they're ready to release any more real information and so the Ask Cryptics are now and for some time (til Vegas Star Trek Con or more likely GenCon probably) may be fluff and a consolidation of information you could readily find elsewhere. They've got roughly another 9+ months of work and testing and they're gonna stretch any new ship class reveals out for as long as they can up til then along with story and such. The Path to 2409 is proceeding at about 1 year per month...we still have 24 more years to learn about...

[Interdictor]

Sounds great! Can't wait to try out the race creator!

[Konya]

If, for all intents and purposes and in all but name, you can make a Klingon (and share him with ya buds) then play him as a Fed, doesn't that defeat the purpose of having Factional separation in the first place?

- Dahakra

Nope. Just because you're a Klingon, it doesn't mean you can't side with the Federation-Worf did. And I'm sure humans and Vulcans can enter the Klingon defense force.

[Qnaz]

Wow interesting info. Though I must admit I'm slightly confused now on the point of species aligned to specific factions. I wasn't expecting to see Vulcans on a Klingon ship. The bit about non organic life will that mean that there can be Klingon androids and holograms or just Klingon characters who call themselves androids/holograms?

[MajorD]

Sounds good, except for not being able to make a Tholian. Of course, it's not like Tholians could be part of anyone's crew, not without a special suit to keep them hot enough.

[marscentral]

I was very happy reading this Ask Cryptic. To those complaining about "not getting anything we couldn't have guessed", I would remind you that there is a difference between information we have inferred from Dev comments and specific answers. That brilliant question on androids (which must have been asked by someone very handsome) for instance, we already knew we could make someone called an android, but now we know that there are options to give them android characteristics.

[z22steve]

will this game have voice interface? will you be able to use computer mics to issue command to ship and crew?

[Twist3d_Angel]

hey ive been trieng to find the game ..i just heard about it ....is it out ..yet?? how do i get it ??
:confused:

[jbarker82]

"If we create a customized race from scratch, will we be able to add any traits or abilities to that race? Possibly through the use of a skill points system or something? Or if we don't want an ability like empathy or increased strength (such as with Humans) will there be an option for increasing certain other abilities like diplomacy or tactics for example, to compensate for this?"

My question got answered! :eek:

I thought this Ask Cryptic was a good one as it gave us plenty of insights into what we can do with the character creator and some more information about how we can develop our own races.

People need to remember that this is a game and not a simulator, so having almost limitless options should be considered a good thing and being able to be one of tons of canonical races or created races on either faction should also be looked on as a good thing. During times of war i'm sure either side can use all the help it can get and there are always defectors moving from one side to the other.

It would also be a bit silly if you could only have aliens on your ship if you were Feds. :rolleyes:

[SenshiBat]

Cryptonians.. Do they own Talos NX-01?
IT would be interesting to profile their civilization
Dwell in a Mythical place near Shamballah or Timbucktu
Capitol City: City of Lost Cats
Dwelings: Small to Moderate Cubicals
Transportation: Reserved Parking, multipurpose,organic powered, public Trans
Diet: Choco Cookies, pie caffine
Social Organization: Collective meetings ,LAN,Twitter
Commerce: Tecnologically advanced traders in artificial avatar constructs
Hobbies: Trivia Conventions ,Work Shops and distrubution of Swag
Judicial Police : Well patroled information and data sys to re-enforce proper social mores..
and peacefull interaction.

[marscentral]

This isn't a thread to ask questions so much as discuss the latest answers. I will however, help you out because I'm a nice Martian. :D

will this game have voice interface? will you be able to use computer mics to issue command to ship and crew?

Nothing stated on this so far. It seems unlikely though. There may be third party software out there that would allow you to set that up independently, but nothing specifically for STO.

hey ive been trieng to find the game ..i just heard about it ....is it out ..yet?? how do i get it ??
:confused:

It's not out yet. The developers in various interviews have stated that they are aiming for the end of this year, but there's no specific date.

[Qugie]

Cool Gives me some ideas on what I migth do when the game comes out.:D

[Duckdee]

I liked the bits about skill points and sharing creations, not that I'll be sharing mine. :p

[fablis310]

I like the whole character customization thing. Really. But to be honest I'm still as not sure as ever about the create-your-own-race feature. Sure, it sounds like a neat thing to be able to make up whatever you want. I'd love to just play around with random alien pieces to create my own race... but it seems like players might be able to go crazy with a lot of stuff here. Doesn't it make being a "real" Vulcan in Starfleet worth less when you can just rig up a non-official Vulcan to play with the Klingons? Seems like something like this would catch on en masse, with MMO players the way that they are... tons of people joining up with the KDF and choosing Vulcan-like or Andorian-like characters and naming them as such.

I'd also be afraid of stuff like Wookies, Rhodians, Predator aliens, Asari, and other non-Trek aliens making appearances in game thanks to "creative" players who end up forming Wookie-only fleets and end up just looking plain ridiculous framed in the Trek universe. You know it's going to happen.

I really, really hate to make negative posts about info released about this game, since there's a lot of stuff about it I really love. A lot of stuff. But this is one of the only things that really irk me. In a lot of ways it just seems like Cryptic is using the race creator to push their company stance of bringing UBER CUSTOMIZABILITY to every game they put out.

Not to say that I won't play the game. I suppose I can just tune out the silly aliens. =) Just voicing my opinion I suppose.


I think I would have to agree with this opinion as much as I generally enjoy limitless freedom I often find that I use it far less than I would have assumed. Having seen other games where this amount of freedom I know that it can be an amazing tool for the creative gamers out there and it definitely has its place in certain genre's. I'm not completely sold on using it within the Star Trek realm with such reckless abandon and I know that the developers are going to have their hands full with the number of canonical races that already exist. Assuming this game will take off as much as some other MMOs there could literally be thousands of different races available for the player. I think what will need to happen is they either do away with this feature or modify its use OR the vast majority of players will have to have a "blind-spot" of sorts where they won't be completely thrown out of the moment by the unexpected view of a human or human-like alien commandeering a Klingon vessel. I know that the folks at Cryptic are working hard on making this as great a game as possible so I have faith that they will balance this with the gameplay to a degree where we aren't as bothered by it as first reports might suggest.

[DarkBarron]

Well I think it all sounds great.

The Holograms and Androids can look like any race they like as its silly to assume only
one race would make them and likely to be in their own image. So its just a extra bit of RP.

As for the Klingons called Humans that can i guess be solved by locking specific charistics for
those races to the race descriptions. Also clothing and Uniforms I assume will be locked to the
faction chosen too so no Klingons in Klingon uniform in Starfleet and vice versa.

Also need to be some tough restrictions on Race naming no Numbers or symbols perhaps
and as many variations of the base races locked out Like Humons or Humains.

I am sure the balance will annoy some and give great pleasure to the rest.

D.B.

[Kitsunami]

the most important question wasnt answerd for me...

Caitains.

Yes, no?

:(

There has to be fur and tails in this game. There are too many trek races that are animal like for there not to be.

[DarkBarron]

Also just a thought

If you create a New race I wonder if we will be able to set a list of limits for that race.
for example.
Based on the first Captain created.
Colour pale green to pale bue
Height 1.5-1.7 meters
Hair styles 1,2,5,8 &13
Hair Colour Dark Red to Light Pink
eye size vary + or - 1%
Mouth height Vary + or - 3%
etc

This would be great for Same race crews the Server could create you crew of your own race
using the criteria you have set down so all the crew dont look the same.

D.B.

[Dahakra]

Nope. Just because you're a Klingon, it doesn't mean you can't side with the Federation-Worf did. And I'm sure humans and Vulcans can enter the Klingon defense force.


http://www.startrekonline.com/dev_blog/ask_cryptic_10-27-08
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?

They seem to be contradicting themselves then don't they?

IDK, perhaps it was naive of me to think Cryptic would use some common sense here and make races that are supposed be be part of one Faction not available to the other side.

- Dahakra

[fablis310]

I think we need to just accept that they are trying to make this game appealing to more than just the hardcore fanbase. The more people that play the game the better the chances of this game enjoying a long run and coming out with more and more content.

[CrisNavarro]

I think it was a good Q & A. The only problem I have is the fact that races from the opposite factions can be made (more or less) in the other faction. It will be kind of strange to see a Human in the KDF or Klingon in Federation (no reference to Worf) given the fact of War or Cold War.

I think there should be restrictions on certain races depending on which faction a player chooses. Just my Opinion.

I'm planning to play a human in the KDF. An augment actually. But he's got a pretty good (imho) backstory explaining how he got there. In short, if a FERENGI can end up as the head of one of the Klingon Great Houses, then it shows that there's all kinds of loopholes to not only let non-Klingons into the Klingon Clubhouse, but let them acheive pretty big positions of rank and renown in the KDF.

[Wardog00]

I think we need to just accept that they are trying to make this game appealing to more than just the hardcore fanbase. The more people that play the game the better the chances of this game enjoying a long run and coming out with more and more content.


I was excited to play a "Real Star Trek" MMO not a make what ever you want and play for what ever Faction you want. That is like destroying everything that has been established in the Trek Universe and re-writing it the way we want to sell games to 10-year old random gamers. Please Cryptic don't sell out Star Trek just to expand on the Create what you like gaming. I wouldn't expect to log on to WoW and see a bunch Gnome Horde toons or Dwarf Horde toons. Keep certain races to their own factions.

Please place limits on what races (established or player made) can be in each Faction. Don't laugh away thousands of years of Klingon Tradition.

[fablis310]

I was excited to play a "Real Star Trek" MMO not a make what ever you want and play for what ever Faction you want. That is like destroying everything that has been established in the Trek Universe and re-writing it the way we want to sell games to 10-year old random gamers. Please Cryptic don't sell out Star Trek just to expand on the Create what you like gaming. I wouldn't expect to log on to WoW and see a bunch Gnome Horde toons or Dwarf Horde toons. Keep certain races to their own factions.

Please place limits on what races (established or player made) can be in each Faction. Don't laugh away thousands of years of Klingon Tradition.

That is a very good analogy with WOW. Let's hope they walk the knife's edge, so to speak, well enough that new Trek fans and old Trek fans alike are impressed and continue to play.

[Sckullzy]

There has never been any indication that the Klingons don’t except others in their ranks. They’re an expanding space faring government not a small isolationist ethnic tribe. A Ferengi has been the head of a house, a trill has been a member of a Klingon blood oath and a human has served as Cha'DIch in front of the high council. The fact that you don’t see non Klingons serving on their ships is who would want to other than a Klingon? You sleep on a shelf, eat worms, and have to fight a Klingon warrior any time you want a promotion or basic respect. And being a non Klingon you would probably have to fight twice as often to get half as far ahead. With Martok who was born in the “Lowlands” and Worf being as influential as they are a lot of the old strongly held prejudices would most likely be getting reexamined at this point anyway.

A lot of the story in this game seems to be a campaign of expansion on both sides so at some point the Klingons will have to appoint regional authorities to the worlds that fall under their banner. That would very possibly mean they would have to expand their own feudal house system to non Klingon worlds to insure their allegiance and because of the sheer number involved and the chaos that would come with having no uniform system of governing. The numbers don’t realistically offer a chance that there would only be Klingon captains unless a single Klingon vessel will be in charge of securing multiple solar systems which will be getting farther and farther from their power base. The Klingons can either grow their empire or just spread out one group thinner and thinner trying to hold on to a growing area until they lose all cohesion and collapse in the face of a vastly larger and more adaptable opponent.

It’s the difference between a kingdom and an Empire.

It’s also applies to both the lore of the game and realities of the people who will be playing it. It already seems like there will be more people playing on the Federation side and now people want to start stripping away options that would appeal to a larger audience on the Klingon side? Why not just charge extra to play Klingon while we’re at it? Most people playing Klingon faction will want to play as a Klingon so this just becomes an argument to limit the options of other players who would have been allies.

As for role players not wanting to work with people who went nontraditional and picked a different race to helm a Klingon vessel: That actually sounds pretty realistic under the circumstances. Some Klingons would react that way and others wouldn’t. And the worst that would come of it is hard core role-players and people who aren’t wouldn’t be teaming up, which always makes for a train wreck anyway.

[The_Sisko]

I like what they have done personally. I mean we still have the option of playing by the rules ourselves and going strictly ST, but we can be creative if we so desire. Fantastic. Everyone gets to play the game how they want.

I am a little worried though because I want to be a Ferengi female with the traditional garb... I don't have much confidence in the likelihood of my shortie being able to walk around in her just deserts.

Wait, wait, wait... You want to be a Ferengi female that's naked all the time?

Now I'm having Moogie flashbacks. Thanks a bunch...

[fablis310]

Moogie!! Moogie!!

[jbarker82]

It would be quite funny (and also quite scary) to see a naked Ferengi female commanding a Federation starship or Klingon cruiser! :p

[Drunk1n]

It’s the difference between a kingdom and an Empire.

I agree completely Zombie. One that that has captivated us about Star Trek for so many years was the constant changing and expanding universe. It seems fitting that the universe would become more accepting and diverse over more time.

Also remember Riker was Second in command of a Klingon vessel in cannon, as Zombie said he had to fight twice as hard to get half as far ahead - in the end the Klingons respected him for it. The are not Xenophobes, they are a race of warriors. Warriors do not need to be all one race, in fact smart warriors would realize that some races would be more beneficial to integrate into the the force so that you can learn some of there battle tactics which will only improve your own.

I would still like to know the limitations of design. Are all bipeds going to have two arms, two eyes, with those eyes all being the same shape and distance apart proportionally to the other species? Will there be limitations on uniform, and naming?

I would also like to know what Loekii fears, are all customized characters going to be able to have a race name or are they going to be called customized character - that would be disappointing to run into the 'Customized Race' character.

[Loekii]

I'm guessing as far as race goes we could have a drop down name with all the races and also have an "Other" option wheren we get to write in a name. Perhaps they could keep track of racial names and we could check at starbases to see how many "Cryptonians" have been made on our server, etc How many are serving on which side and so on.

I like this approach better, in the sense it protects the iconic races from being skewed and misnamed.

It also would sort of fit into the 'you can call yourself an android but not really be one' comment in the AC.

So basically the Klingon Faction Race Selection would look like:

Klingon
Naussican
Orion
Gorn
OTHER

So if you made a custom race, the race tag would simply be 'Other', and the player 'RPs' the race they want to be.

[fablis310]

With all the various responses that I am seeing about this very important subject I am confident that a truce of sorts will be able to be made. We also need to realize, I think, that this is an MMO where we will (most likely) pay a monthly subscription fee. These fees allow for dedicated indivuals in the development team to continuously work at making the game better and more far-reaching. I've heard from plenty of friends who have played WOW for years that the game has gone through some rather major changes throughout its run. It will be really hard to say how this aspect of gameplay will be introduced but I'm sure that it will go through its own changes. Maybe they will even have dedicated servers that cater to the true roleplayers within the Star Trek fans who only want to have canonical races. This could be one avenue that they could take.

[Loekii]

I was very happy reading this Ask Cryptic. To those complaining about "not getting anything we couldn't have guessed", I would remind you that there is a difference between information we have inferred from Dev comments and specific answers. That brilliant question on androids (which must have been asked by someone very handsome) for instance, we already knew we could make someone called an android, but now we know that there are options to give them android characteristics.

While that is true, as is offering information to 'new' STO fans, I do not think that means there should not be constructive criticism.

The MMO market is very competitive, so I see negative constructive criticism as being something that might help Cryptic stand out and better target the available market. SWG development, while old, was perfect example of an over confident development team, for example. For all the sycophanting, the game failed.

Just saying that 'complaints' can actually be more helpful than complements.

[fablis310]

While that is true, as is offering information to 'new' STO fans, I do not think that means there should not be constructive criticism.

The MMO market is very competitive, so I see negative constructive criticism as being something that might help Cryptic stand out and better target the available market. SWG development, while old, was perfect example of an over confident development team, for example. For all the sycophanting, the game failed.

Just saying that 'complaints' can actually be more helpful than complements.

I think you make a very good point!!

[Ensign.Ricky]

Tholians? I can't wait to see that in the game. I wonder if crew creation is as detailed as the player character. The options I'm thinking of is running wild right now. I might just have a pet Gorn or Klingon on the bridge for the fun of it.

[Tamgros]

This kind of customization definitely allows for metagaming and things that don't necessarily make sense in the Star Trek Universe. If I really like the vulcans, but want them to have a certain skill they don't posses, i simply make a vulcan looking toon with different attributes. Basically there is really no incentive to chose a pre determined race outside of RP and canon purposes.

UNLESS: they make it so pre-determined races have a bit of an edge in the amount of total skill a player has. We obviously don't know how skills will work exactly. But here's a general solution to all out metagaming. If i play Human, Vulcan, Klingon or any of the pre determined races, i get 100 total skill points, but most are already divvied out. If I chose a custom race, I get 90 total skill points, but I get to put them wherever. Therefore the Min/Maxers of the world will get their customization, but they sacrifice a bit of overall skill to do so.

This system may help a lot of the canon vs customizability disparity that you all are worried about. Persoanally, I'm all about customization so I'm glad they are committed to it, but I think a system like this makes sense.

[Loekii]

This kind of customization definitely allows for metagaming and things that don't necessarily make sense in the Star Trek Universe. If I really like the vulcans, but want them to have a certain skill they don't posses, i simply make a vulcan looking toon with different attributes. Basically there is really no incentive to chose a pre determined race outside of RP and canon purposes.

UNLESS: they make it so pre-determined races have a bit of an edge in the amount of total skill a player has. We obviously don't know how skills will work exactly. But here's a general solution to all out metagaming. If i play Human, Vulcan, Klingon or any of the pre determined races, i get 100 total skill points, but most are already divvied out. If I chose a custom race, I get 90 total skill points, but I get to put them wherever. Therefore the Min/Maxers of the world will get their customization, but they sacrifice a bit of overall skill to do so.

This system may help a lot of the canon vs customizability disparity that you all are worried about. Persoanally, I'm all about customization so I'm glad they are committed to it, but I think a system like this makes sense.

I certainly share your concerns.

Naming is going to be a big issue if left unchecked. I do not want to see blue skinned players with the race name "Vulcan". I really think that they should go with 'OTHER' for the race name of any customized race (maybe allow for 'half-breeds' of the predefined races: ie Half Vulcan/Half Andorian).

As far as Pre-defined vs. Custom, I think that the skills will balance themselves out. Using your above example, you start with a Vulcan, but you want to add say Radioactive Resistance. You would have to remove one of the pre-existing Vulcan Skills (ie Nerve Pinch, Advanced Logic, etc) first, inorder to get the new skill. So in the end, you would have a race that looks like a Vulcan, but has different skills.

Assume we can only have 5 skills, in the end, you Vulcan Looking toon would still only have 5 skills -- just different than the 5 skills set by default for vulcans. So you are effectively an 'OTHER' race that just resembles a Vulcan. Does that make sense?

[Wardog00]

fablis310 said: "Maybe they will even have dedicated servers that cater to the true roleplayers within the Star Trek fans who only want to have canonical races. This could be one avenue that they could take."

I agree with this very much. I love how everyone throws down bits and pieces of old episodes of Shows regarding Klingons...Riker was an exchange officer "Temporarily" on The I.K.S. pagh. He was there to learn about the Klingon's way of doing things aboard their ships. The second Officer Klag (future Captain of the I.K.S. Gorkon) explained how advancement worked thats where the fight ensued. Quark became the Head of Grilka's house out of Klingon tradition because he accidentally killed her husband. Dax became a member of Martok's house out of respect for Curzon Dax who was a FEDERATION Ambassador....Don't twist Klingon culture to fit your arguement.

There has NEVER been a non-Klingon Captain or Officer in the KDF. There has been non-Klingon crew to do low labor jobs aboard ships. All Non-Klingon citizens of the Empire hold NO high ranking positions in the Empire and there is ALWAYS a Klingon Governor on the other species planets.

My point is the character generator is awesome but, should have limitations. I can see where perhaps another species crew would control a certain ship. It could be written in I suppose. However, using the generator to make a Vulcan or Human or other Federation races to play in the Klingon Faction is dumb. What is the point of making a Star Trek game. Why not just make another space based MMO. People want to play Star Trek.

I'm quite sure if this aspect was explained at the Star Trek Convention it would have had many, many questions and arguments. I was there and don't recall anything being said about making random Federation type humanoids to play in the Empire.

[Tamgros]

I certainly share your concerns.

Naming is going to be a big issue if left unchecked. I do not want to see blue skinned players with the race name "Vulcan". I really think that they should go with 'OTHER' for the race name of any customized race (maybe allow for 'half-breeds' of the predefined races: ie Half Vulcan/Half Andorian).

As far as Pre-defined vs. Custom, I think that the skills will balance themselves out. Using your above example, you start with a Vulcan, but you want to add say Radioactive Resistance. You would have to remove one of the pre-existing Vulcan Skills (ie Nerve Pinch, Advanced Logic, etc) first, inorder to get the new skill. So in the end, you would have a race that looks like a Vulcan, but has different skills.

Assume we can only have 5 skills, in the end, you Vulcan Looking toon would still only have 5 skills -- just different than the 5 skills set by default for vulcans. So you are effectively an 'OTHER' race that just resembles a Vulcan. Does that make sense?


Naming is definitely a concern, but my post was more about the ways races are customized. My OP was made with the assumpiton that a vulcan would have to have certain traits such as the advanced logic, nerve pinch, maybe even mind meld... I would think those things couldn't be taken away, maybe one or two, but definitely not all.

You could also break it down into skill points. To use my prior 100 skill points: lets say in order to be a vulcan you HAD to put at least 20 skill points in each of logic, nerve pinch, mind meld, and resolve (a stat about preventing emotions getting the best of you in combat). A vulcan would then only be able to spend 20 points freely in all other skills.

A custom race could put any skill points anywhere, but they would draw from a pool of only 90.

This is just an example to try to illustrate my point, I know the numbers and skills are a bit odd.

fablis310 said: "Maybe they will even have dedicated servers that cater to the true roleplayers within the Star Trek fans who only want to have canonical races. This could be one avenue that they could take."[...]

[...]I'm quite sure if this aspect was explained at the Star Trek Convention it would have had many, many questions and arguments. I was there and don't recall anything being said about making random Federation type humanoids to play in the Empire.

It is pretty much determined that they will only have one server. Because of this they had to make some pretty complex decisions about canon and player bases. They seem to have errored on the side of customization probably trying to appeal to the masses. I think this makes sense as long as it is done well.

Now that i think about it, allowing this kind of customization will probably even out the Fed v Klingon numbers a bit. But, that was just one of their huge amount of considerations.

[Sckullzy]

Quark became the Head of Grilka's house out of Klingon tradition because he accidentally killed her husband.

Yes. Yes that is how it a happened... And? It shows that there is an easy way to join a Klingon house even for someone with limited contact with Klingons. As a member of this house or in this case the leader he would still take on the role and responsibilities that come with the title. Your example doesn’t even discount that in any way. It just says how easily it can happen.



Dax became a member of Martok's house out of respect for Curzon Dax who was a FEDERATION Ambassador....

Once again that is how it happened. How does just stating what happened lessen it in any way? These are the examples from one small sample group, are we supposed to assume that it happened to this one group this many time but never to anyone else including all the non Federation planets that deal with the Klingons? It’s numerically all but impossible.
And as for the limited examples keep in mind it was a Federation show, Klingons were secondary players and if there was a Klingon series maybe there would have been more examples or they could somehow explain how an Empire of one homogeneous group spread out over about 20 colonies could rival the Federation in scope and power.

[KirksOtherSon]

I see the inevitable fistfights have already started. Sigh.

Regardless of that, thanks to the Cryptic folk! I do appreciate these continuing peeks into how things are progressing.

KOS

[Loekii]

Naming is definitely a concern, but my post was more about the ways races are customized. My OP was made with the assumpiton that a vulcan would have to have certain traits such as the advanced logic, nerve pinch, maybe even mind meld... I would think those things couldn't be taken away, maybe one or two, but definitely not all.

You could also break it down into skill points. To use my prior 100 skill points: lets say in order to be a vulcan you HAD to put at least 20 skill points in each of logic, nerve pinch, mind meld, and resolve (a stat about preventing emotions getting the best of you in combat). A vulcan would then only be able to spend 20 points freely in all other skills.

A custom race could put any skill points anywhere, but they would draw from a pool of only 90.

This is just an example to try to illustrate my point, I know the numbers and skills are a bit odd.



I guess I am not understanding why you think that is an issue, unless you are suggesting the different simply to make existing races 'more attractive' to players.

IMO, I think all races should have 100points, and by 'changing' existing canon skills in a race, one changes to an "Other" race.

So a player that has all the skills and looks of a Vulcan, but drops the 'Mind Meld' ability for some non-vulcan skill, is no longer a Vulcan, but an "Other" (aka customized race).

[Hawaiian]

do you get to be "the bad guys" like the borg or not ???
Most likely yes because u can be on either the good side or the bad...

[PattonJ007]

I was sad to see that questions about uniforms were not answered. :(

[Posideon]

Looking forward to playing Klingons!!!!!!

But ofcourse the idea of creating your own crew and race is immense and I am looking forward to this aspect of the game along with everything else

Wahoooo :D

[Powerhelm]

While I'm sure picking Human, Andorian, Vulcan, etc from the big prominent Federation races will be possible and you just customize within that race, already having the racial skills filled out or narrowed to a small group specific to that race from which you pick one or more...I'd like to also have the other races picked out as far as appearance goes and maybe not take the time to give them specific options...

Kinda like the costume groupings that are in CoH now. You can pick "Pirate" and it'll give you a group of costume parts meant to look Pirate-y or "Armored hero" and you get a buncha armored parts...

I'd like to see this for all those minor races we saw in ST...so I goto character creation and instead of picking (for demonstration purposes we'll use the klingon races we know of and then probables):

Klingon
Nausican
Gorn
Orion
Sheliak

We can instead choose "Create Your Own" go there and get an option like this:

Overall
Head
Body

Head and Body lead to various sub-selections which allow us to fully make our own, Overall allows us to pick from the vast library of minor races (none of these would have been fleshed out with pre-determined skills like the main quick selections)

So Overall would allow a drop down menu listing visual sets for Caitians, Benzites, Saurians, Evora, Kasheeta, Mizarians, etc etc

And then you pick abilities you think fit them or that you want...

[Kenderoth]

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

[ethanADAMS]

Awen,

I was doing some reading and I wondered, will there be a "Section 31"? A secret clandestine ops. Whose sole purpose is to protect the Federation at all costs?

[CrisNavarro]

There has never been any indication that the Klingons don’t except others in their ranks. They’re an expanding space faring government not a small isolationist ethnic tribe. A Ferengi has been the head of a house, a trill has been a member of a Klingon blood oath and a human has served as Cha'DIch in front of the high council. The fact that you don’t see non Klingons serving on their ships is who would want to other than a Klingon? You sleep on a shelf, eat worms, and have to fight a Klingon warrior any time you want a promotion or basic respect. And being a non Klingon you would probably have to fight twice as often to get half as far ahead. With Martok who was born in the “Lowlands” and Worf being as influential as they are a lot of the old strongly held prejudices would most likely be getting reexamined at this point anyway.

A lot of the story in this game seems to be a campaign of expansion on both sides so at some point the Klingons will have to appoint regional authorities to the worlds that fall under their banner. That would very possibly mean they would have to expand their own feudal house system to non Klingon worlds to insure their allegiance and because of the sheer number involved and the chaos that would come with having no uniform system of governing. The numbers don’t realistically offer a chance that there would only be Klingon captains unless a single Klingon vessel will be in charge of securing multiple solar systems which will be getting farther and farther from their power base. The Klingons can either grow their empire or just spread out one group thinner and thinner trying to hold on to a growing area until they lose all cohesion and collapse in the face of a vastly larger and more adaptable opponent.

It’s the difference between a kingdom and an Empire.

It’s also applies to both the lore of the game and realities of the people who will be playing it. It already seems like there will be more people playing on the Federation side and now people want to start stripping away options that would appeal to a larger audience on the Klingon side? Why not just charge extra to play Klingon while we’re at it? Most people playing Klingon faction will want to play as a Klingon so this just becomes an argument to limit the options of other players who would have been allies.

As for role players not wanting to work with people who went nontraditional and picked a different race to helm a Klingon vessel: That actually sounds pretty realistic under the circumstances. Some Klingons would react that way and others wouldn’t. And the worst that would come of it is hard core role-players and people who aren’t wouldn’t be teaming up, which always makes for a train wreck anyway.

Amen. And Amen again since the Forum insists my message consist of at least 10 characters.

[KirksOtherSon]

There has never been any indication that the Klingons don’t except others in their ranks. They’re an expanding space faring government not a small isolationist ethnic tribe. A Ferengi has been the head of a house, a trill has been a member of a Klingon blood oath and a human has served as Cha'DIch in front of the high council. The fact that you don’t see non Klingons serving on their ships is who would want to other than a Klingon? You sleep on a shelf, eat worms, and have to fight a Klingon warrior any time you want a promotion or basic respect. And being a non Klingon you would probably have to fight twice as often to get half as far ahead. With Martok who was born in the “Lowlands” and Worf being as influential as they are a lot of the old strongly held prejudices would most likely be getting reexamined at this point anyway.

A lot of the story in this game seems to be a campaign of expansion on both sides so at some point the Klingons will have to appoint regional authorities to the worlds that fall under their banner. That would very possibly mean they would have to expand their own feudal house system to non Klingon worlds to insure their allegiance and because of the sheer number involved and the chaos that would come with having no uniform system of governing. The numbers don’t realistically offer a chance that there would only be Klingon captains unless a single Klingon vessel will be in charge of securing multiple solar systems which will be getting farther and farther from their power base. The Klingons can either grow their empire or just spread out one group thinner and thinner trying to hold on to a growing area until they lose all cohesion and collapse in the face of a vastly larger and more adaptable opponent.

It’s the difference between a kingdom and an Empire.

It’s also applies to both the lore of the game and realities of the people who will be playing it. It already seems like there will be more people playing on the Federation side and now people want to start stripping away options that would appeal to a larger audience on the Klingon side? Why not just charge extra to play Klingon while we’re at it? Most people playing Klingon faction will want to play as a Klingon so this just becomes an argument to limit the options of other players who would have been allies.

As for role players not wanting to work with people who went nontraditional and picked a different race to helm a Klingon vessel: That actually sounds pretty realistic under the circumstances. Some Klingons would react that way and others wouldn’t. And the worst that would come of it is hard core role-players and people who aren’t wouldn’t be teaming up, which always makes for a train wreck anyway.

Thank you for this coherent and insightful post. You've revealed and examined the core considerations here better than I ever could have done.

Cheers,

KOS

[scorpiovaeden]

Im new to this forum, and had a question that may have already been answered... for the bridge crews, are we able to actually create the characters that will be in our own npc bridge crews, or are they pre-created by cryptic.... for example can i create a custom alien character to use as my ships doctor?

I also have sort of a suggestion as well... if we are able to make our own crews and what not... wouldnt it be cool if we could do like crew member transfers? Like if I have an extra science officer and no longer need her... and my friend that I play with often really likes my science officer and I really like one of his bridge crew members, it would be nice is we could trade the characters as if they were being transferred to a new ship/position.

Like I said not sure if this has been talked about yet. Thanks for any feedback :)

[minago]

So what's the point then?

Why have all this customizing? You telling me there will now be literly thousands of different beings/races in Starfleet now? (that normally wouldn't be there). Sounds pointless.

i concur with this statement

i got lost after
"Officially no, unofficially yes. "

oh don't get me wrong the customization is neat and all but....i can see it getting outta hand and kinda cheapening the feel of the game with all the made up custom characters.

because officially they don't fit .


edit: but then again i'm gonna be doing my own thing anyway so it don't bother me

[will82584]

What is the Release date for the Game ?? And are there gonna be episodic downloads online for the game the way they did with GTA The Lost and the Damned ??

[will82584]

:eek:What is the Release date for the Game ?? And are there gonna be episodic downloads online for the game the way they did with GTA The Lost and the Damned ??

[army]

Can you clarify the existance of our favorite ships? I can't think of playing as a Klingon without a K't'inga and a Bird of Prey. Likewise, playing as Fedeation without the reliant and Exselsior classes would be a downer.

Any chance these will be in...even as aging trainers or entry level commands? Or perhaps you have cereated substitutes that carry over the general feel of those great ships?

[RogueEnterprise]

Im new to this forum, and had a question that may have already been answered... for the bridge crews, are we able to actually create the characters that will be in our own npc bridge crews, or are they pre-created by cryptic.... for example can i create a custom alien character to use as my ships doctor?

I also have sort of a suggestion as well... if we are able to make our own crews and what not... wouldnt it be cool if we could do like crew member transfers? Like if I have an extra science officer and no longer need her... and my friend that I play with often really likes my science officer and I really like one of his bridge crew members, it would be nice is we could trade the characters as if they were being transferred to a new ship/position.

Like I said not sure if this has been talked about yet. Thanks for any feedback :)

Welcome, Scorpiovaeden :D

To answer your questions: I believe that yes, you can fully create and customize your bridge crew members. As for transfers... I dont think Cryptic has said anything specific about that concept, but it sounds reasonable to me! Maybe you should post that question in the next Ask Cryptic suggestion thread.

[scorpiovaeden]

Thanks for the reply, :)

Im super excited about this game, and the customization that cryptic will be allowing us to perform. One of the main components to a successful MMO, is the ability to customize, and I'm pleased that they are going in this direction with the game. They need to be able to attract as many players, even those who are only somewhat interested in star trek, in order to create a thriving community of gamers. If the game is good, they will attract even non-star trek fans... who simply want a good sci-fi adventure. Allowing a variety of race/character customization will allow those players the freedom they are looking for.

Don't get me wrong, I got my crew all planned, and only one of those characters will be a customized alien race, the rest are all normal star trek races. But having that customization gives amazing freedom!

[USS_Destiny]

Hi there, I'm new here. :)

I wonder if we will be able to choose between uniforms. In the character creation trailer I saw quite a few aliens wearing starfleet uniforms but also nausicaans with their own individual type of clothing. Will I be able to create a...let's say a Nausicaan or a Ferengi who is wearing a starfleet uniform and what types of uniforms will be available (29th century temporal integrity commission style - see avatar)? :)

In addition, will the choice of my character enable certain character specific abilities like for a vulcan, the mind meld / nerve pinch or for a klingon / jem`hadar incredible strength?

Last but not least: Will there be any cameo appearances like Q, Janeway, Data, good old Ambassador Spock etc.?

[atatassault]

I know there was already a large answer in a previous Q&A, but I had a further question. Are advanced parts (like engines, hull pieces, weapons, dishes, etc) locked in with a certain graphic? I ask because I've played several games where I refused to use a statistically better character, form, piece of equipment, or what have you because I thought it looked ugly or worse than the inferior predecessor. I'd hate to not use (or begrudgingly use) better engines because I think they look really ugly.

EDIT: What I'm trying to get to is, that say you take piece graphic B, it should be that you upgrade its stats rather than being force to use graphic C for the better stats.

[CherryTerri]

I was on the money about having a Fed character but being able to make them look Klingon and calling it that race on their side.

And I can see the iffiness about Klingons going to Fed side. But that is the effect of allowing so many parts ot be able to be used to make a race from a blank template.

As for this Gorn, Klingon faction all the way!

... on that note ... uhm ... GORN PICTURES PLEASE!!! :D

Hearing all these traits with the character creator has piqued my interest even further. I wonder if you all are going to do like Sony did with EQ2 and send out a DVD with the character creator so we can play around with it before before STO goes live?

This was one great thing about EQ2. Not only could you putz with the character creator, but there is even an option to save a template you like for a future character maybe.

I mean, even Spore gave a limited creature creator before the game came out. Might be fun!

This is exactly why I am torn over the custom character creation -- players making "make-shift" or "fake" humans, Vulcans, Ferengi, etc. characters in the Klingon faction. Even the inclusion of the Orions and Gorn being captains of Klingon ships doesn't sit well with me.

I don't want to fly Klingon ships either. But you know what? They pretty much already said that we're gonna. I want my Gorn battlecruiser! Big, clunky, and armed to the teeth.

[CherryTerri]

Tholians? I can't wait to see that in the game. I wonder if crew creation is as detailed as the player character. The options I'm thinking of is running wild right now. I might just have a pet Gorn or Klingon on the bridge for the fun of it.

If you do, may I have the pleasure of chewing your face off?

....

slowly? :D

[CherryTerri]

While I see your points Wardog ...

That makes players like me feel like we are going to be shunned and hated just because we will be in the Klingon faction and not be Klingon.

The one reason I didn't want to play a Klingon is because I cannont be how so many RPing ones want me to be. That is why I choose Gorn, and also because I was happy to see a race I enjoy from ST be in a MMO.

If there was to be all about one side or another mainly, then there would be no creator and options. And I am happy Cryptic is allowing such things.

I will be very disappointed if this creator makes people who play pure races not want to interact with those who made their own, or make Klingons treat other players with disrespect because of their choices. I am having a grand time meeting people on these boards and don't want that all to go down the can when it's game time.

[Ensign.Ricky]

If you do, may I have the pleasure of chewing your face off?

....

slowly? :D

Bad Gorn. No treat 4 j00. :)

[Adamantium121]

On a totally unrelated note, I was lying in bed last night and was wondering if characters while commanding a starship would be able to extend their shields around other objects while of course weakening them in the process...

[Krix]

Iam a little bit confused about this all. I realy didnt wanna see a player createt green race its called orc or a little human race it has the name dwarf or hobbit into the game.



Are there any restrictions ?

Can i realy create a new race it looks like the same like a klingon ?
Can i realy call my race ... Klingon?
Can i create a race it looks like romulans and can i call this race klingon?

If so will my race then be a new one?For what is a race creator good for if peoples start to make duplicates frome star trek existing races? Players shouldnt be able to do that.

Would we realy see green player createt race characters with the name orion simon or oriiion simon on federation side?Would we see characters they looks like klingon but got the name human peter into the federation?

I think players shouldnt be able to use existing race terms for the own createt race.There should be some rules .As example that if you use the race creator then you can only create new races and not duplicates frome known ones.



:Quote:
You can mix and match however you want. You can make a green woman and call yourself an Orion and serve on a Federation ship. The back end of the data won’t show you as an Orion, but you can call yourself an Orion :Quote end:

Who cares about the back end of the data? If your character or race looks like klingon then you will be klingon no matter if you createt the race with the race creator or not.No matter which name or term you will give your createt race and characters.If your klingon has the name humannnn peter then its just a silly joke.If you create a own race it looks like the normal klingons and if you call this race romulan then its a bad joke .

[Kenderoth]

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

[danielm75]

howc do i play the Star Trek on line game

[CrazyVulcan]

There has been talk of ai crew my question is to what extent can we customize them. If we can build our own ship and create our own race then certainly we can customize our crew to what ever extent we want right?

[CherryTerri]

howc do i play the Star Trek on line game

::bites her Gorn tongue to say something very bad about this::

This isn't a place to ask this. It isn't out yet.

[Hoebee]

Hi there,
I like to ask how if you are going online how does it work ?
Do we have to go to the store and buy it just like eve ?
Or can we download it and buy a ticket ?
And how big is the game or what specs do we need ?
And my last question is like how much does it cost or is it like comercial based ?
Sorry if I ask again bud I could not find an answer to the question ......

O I did see the vids and it is great , I like most was the vid with the intrepid class and the defiant ....
Inpresive

Keep up the good work I hope you launch soon ;) ;) ;)

[Hoebee]

He I like to know you told us everyone died like Janeway, Picard, Sisko ????

But I believe Sisko was going holly ghost ....
And Picard ok i can believe that bud what about the android that was there after Data died ???
And Janeway was't that old in Nemises did she realy die or go pension ???

And can you exept for fighting just go haul freights or just explore or do sience ???

:eek:

[CherryTerri]

Hi there,
I like to ask how if you are going online how does it work ?
Do we have to go to the store and buy it just like eve ?
Or can we download it and buy a ticket ?
And how big is the game or what specs do we need ?
And my last question is like how much does it cost or is it like comercial based ?
Sorry if I ask again bud I could not find an answer to the question ......

O I did see the vids and it is great , I like most was the vid with the intrepid class and the defiant ....
Inpresive

Keep up the good work I hope you launch soon ;) ;) ;)

Everything here is unknown as nothing has been announced.

THis also isn't the place to ask use Search function.

[Fencer8]

The amount of thought and planning in going to pick out your self and crew[AI's] is to be considerable. Everyone must complement everyone else.

[Kenderoth]

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

Are they going to answer any of our questions?

[CrazyVulcan]

The amount of thought and planning in going to pick out your self and crew[AI's] is to be considerable. Everyone must complement everyone else.

this relats back to my unanswerd qustion, but yea you crew need to be custumizable to taliar your ship to the game and how you play it

[cptAltair]

i have one Q can u give me an idea about wene it will come out?

[tallguy86]

Well I'm not sure where to post this to ask it but I was curious if you were going to allow multiple characters per account and if so could they each belong to a different faction?

[coonie123]

im going to make a human looking alien with incredible strength and telekenetic abilities

[Kinrove]

im going to make a human looking alien with incredible strength and telekenetic abilities

With races are going to be fix with traits and so on? so you can pic them and use. so you not need to custom to much.
For example: Trill are they going to be fixed or you need to custom from basic?
And if they are fix, are there going to be something special abilitys to them? Like better memory or int..........

[Sumdian]

One thing i don't like about some MMOs (wow for 1) is if you afk for 2 long you get booted from the server will you be doing this in STO ? i realy loved how in EQ you could afk for days and come back and still be in game not that i afk for days at a time but for a few hours hear and there

[Meganux]

i love games like 1person shot, u know with missions , and guns, like rescue or kill our enimies , so in that case i want to know , if that game can give me that tipe of game , i hate the idea to comand a space ship , :(
i want to do and not to reflect my actions

plz dont hate me :p

[Captain_K.C.]

*Vulcan Nerve Pinch on mn*
Uh no I think you're gonna be disappointed. Star Trek Online (STO) is not a first person shooter like Quake.


Anyway... I don't know if this is the right place to submit a question for Ask Cryptic but here goes:

1- what's it like working for a company that is helping to create Star Trek history?
2- do any of you folks have a background in science (astronomy, nuclear physics, aeronautics etc) or creative writing?
3- were you Trekkies long before STO became a concept?

[CaptainLoQTipOfBorg]

I'm not sure If my first entry posted, allow me to post it again here, please. I'm not sure If I'm suppose to post here but my reason for doing so is to request a real time chat room. I come here to this site, sometimes seeking real time company in the form of a live chat room. I'm addressing the "powers that be" including the webmaster & all those involved in making such a decision, would you kindly consider ADDING a real time chat room to the StarTrekOnline forum? Thank you kindly & have a great day.

CaptainLoQTipOfBorg

[ussequinox]

Please have Denobulans!

[reco88]

yeah i would love to be an android or a hologram. Having your whole crew knocked out by some virus or spacial anomaly and you alone can save your ship or fleet!

So i really hope they make android or hologram an actual option.... not just a pretend alien race. That'd be lame!

[USSENTERPRISENCC1701-E]

woohoo alot of good info there, thx!

can you play the game right now online

[STO]

can you play the game right now online

Welcome and greetings from us all :) Please check out the FAQ on the main page at www.startrekonline.com. The quick answer is no.

[Virtous_Amos]

I wonder first off: when will you be able to pre-order.
Second, will you be able to command a small task force of three ships; Like a main sov. class ship with two supporting class ships like a defiant class and a Oslo class? That would cool, espically if if was mentioned that the Oslo class needed an engineering ship around to make some mods: Make mods on the fly with your ships when need be. Ex. Going to stop a star exploding in a romluian system to going against a vanguard force of borg? It'd be like with WOW where you have another bot/guy following you with extra stuff so you can switch armed things and have him on hand to attack things when need be.

Also I really want to know if you could some how draw up your own main ship when you reach a certain (enginer?) rank....that'd be awsome....just some thoughts....

[vnbt4]

will the game be released for xbox 360 and if it is how will that affect character and ship customization?:

[Technoman2]

Welcome to the 9th volume of Star Trek Online's Ask Cryptic! In this volume, we talk about Character Customization. Will there be unique races? Will there be limitations? You're going to have to read more to find out! (http://www.startrekonline.com/ask_cryptic_3-12-09)

Hey i have a question when will star trek online come out in stores?

[Lobo]

So I was wondering if there might be a chance at some point to incorporate mirror universe stuff into the game would make for other plots and story lines as well as the ones that exist

[Exxon]

Welcome to the 9th volume of Star Trek Online's Ask Cryptic! In this volume, we talk about Character Customization. Will there be unique races? Will there be limitations? You're going to have to read more to find out! (http://www.startrekonline.com/ask_cryptic_3-12-09)

really i just want to know the nearest release date its dark and im bored:(:confused:

[dog5898]

When is the game going to be released?

[meep140]

They have NOT set a time of release. it says so in the FAQs, so Please dont ask questions like that.;)

[LittleChief]

I was wondering, does every player have to get thier own ship? Are you able to be one of the officers on a friends ship? like say, thier the captain and your thier science officer.

[picard4president]

Make one or two servers that are more "hardcore" where you are locked to only minor customizations within the predetermined races! and allow the other servers to be more free. that way we dont loose the financial support of people who are not as serious about star trek lore, but create something for those of us who really want the cannon experience.

P.S. allow for people to participate on more than one server so we can experience both creation freedom and serious gameplay pending on our mood that day.

[NephilimNexus]

Q: What races will I be able to play?
A: The plan is Human, Vulcan, Andorian, Klingon, Orion, Gorn, and several others. You will also be able to create your own race with its own custom look and attributes.

There must be some sort of major typo in this, because I can't seem to find the name "Romulan" anywhere in that list. Clearly this is just a simple mistake, as there is no way they would even consider releasing a Star Trek game where one was limited to just playing the Federation or Klingons. Oh perish the thought! That would just be too silly to believe! Ha ha ha! Good one! But seriously folks ... how detailed will the system be for using our cloaking devices and plasma cannons? Will there be roleplaying opportunities for those who join Praetorian Guard or the Tal-Shiar?

Please let us know when the devs get around to fixing out that simple typographical error lest you scare your potential playerbase into a panic, and fill us in on the details for our Warbird ship designs. Thanks!

[T3o4m]

dose any one know if this is going to be a free game or have free play in it if u know tell me

[bitgolem]

There must be some sort of major typo in this, because I can't seem to find the name "Romulan" anywhere in that list. Clearly this is just a simple mistake, as there is no way they would even consider releasing a Star Trek game where one was limited to just playing the Federation or Klingons. Oh perish the thought! That would just be too silly to believe! Ha ha ha! Good one! But seriously folks ... how detailed will the system be for using our cloaking devices and plasma cannons? Will there be roleplaying opportunities for those who join Praetorian Guard or the Tal-Shiar?

Please let us know when the devs get around to fixing out that simple typographical error lest you scare your potential playerbase into a panic, and fill us in on the details for our Warbird ship designs. Thanks!

I think their point is that the Romulans won't be available at release to reflect the utter disarray of the Romulan Empire following the events of ST:N.

[SenshiBat]

Mr Z' Please This Topic Thread had Q's in reply to your Twitter Request for DEV Blog Topic's of interest.


http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=18292

The Prevailing Item of interest. .was surprisingly not ship Interiors !

It was a simple Map .. as other MMO Space Sims have..

and Turning off the Warp trail

Some ask for turn signals and hazard lights..

They may have meant Ships Navigation Lights. that could be used for fleet signals like Morse code?

Brain storming is fun So Ask Cryptic Segweys nicely into DEV Blog
Which you could use for Expanded Answers to Query's..a Graphic Supplemental or Addendum involving Maps and more ship exterior highlights.. Angels and 360 rotation..viewer? This could be similar to the Ships Library of Star Fleet Command.
--------------------------------
Longs de phase et prospèrent

[Kern1701]

Will some races have developed or evoled for explame the Bynars from TNG S1 E14 Title 11001001.

The Bynars work in pairs and are computer experts now they were first introduced in Season 1 which was 2364 and the new game is set in 2409. Thats 45 years now if someone want to play them then they would have to be a pair or would you be developing the race. Now the reason why their are always two is how they communicate using binary code.
So using the data and studies that starfleet did on B4 AKA Data now and the remains of Lore would they have found a way for the Bynars to work serprate from each other and no longer need a pair.

The only reason I bring this up is because this culture use technology in a way that no other race in the federation does the only simiular race would be the Borg.

[NephilimNexus]

I think their point is that the Romulans won't be available at release to reflect the utter disarray of the Romulan Empire following the events of ST:N.

Sir, game interest has just gone offline!

:(

[Trixxe]

Well there be clothing other than the uniforms you start out with? I.E. social clothes? I know it sounds silly, but having my character wear the same thing throughout my entire gaming experience might just lead to absolute boredom.

I like to change things up a bit from time to time, and if I can't do that, it'd be VERY disheartening.

[kirk2062]

Oops forgot what forum I was on.

[Matthewkunx]

hmm...i was reading over all the stuff in the thread.....i was wondering if there was different types of uniforms and also trixxe asked this but ya, are there normal clothes u can wear for example on away missions or shore leave, also i was wondering....theres obviously gonna be factions like the federation and the klingon empire, but can you be a intepentent officer or something like for example in the show ENTERPRISE where they had a cargo ship (which was being attacked but besides thaT) something similar to that....you have your own lil ship with jus about 10 or so crew men and you build your way up from there...something like that..... (ya i have alot of high hopes for the game >.> ):confused:

[marble123456]

will you have to buy this game or will it bea download off the site