Ask Cryptic!

[jsutich]

There are many questions that you have about Star Trek Online and we can answer them.

Post those questions here and we will select some of them to be answered in an upcoming Dev Blog. If your question doesn't get selected this time don't think it wasn't a good one. We will be starting a new Ask Cryptic thread every so often and you should feel free to submit it again.

Please only post questions in this thread. If you want to express an opinion or discuss the questions being asked, please use a different thread.

Ask away! And thank you for your interest in Star Trek Online!

[LunaticFringer]

The biggest question I have is how much of the original code did Cryptic get to "salvage" when picking up STO from the Perpetual snafu?

When can we maybe expect to see it hit Beta?

Then a possible Live launch?

Will it coincide with the new movie coming out?

[Gen00b]

Will there be starship interiors? :D

[Raven0238]

-How will the progress system work out, will it be skill based where specific career XP is gained or a rigid, class Level system like World of Warcraft?

-Will we be able to explore the interiors of our own vessels? If so how detailed will it be?

-How will cryptic be handling travel times from point A - B in space?

Thanks again Cryptic

[Ral]

Will non-human races start at the Academy?

[Noxious]

You mentioned that we will be able to play Klingons and Humans (So far)... Will there be opposing sides within STO?

[Kandor103]

whats the out look on the pvp set up is what i want to know and You say its for console dose that mean it be for the 360 and ps3 ?

[chessmess]

Will you be implementing multi-facing shields, sub-system targeting, electronic counter measures, energy management for ship combat?

[T-child]

Will there be starship interiors? :D

im wondering the same, and if yes, to what extent are you giving player owned ships interiors?
will we just see the most important parts? or will we get jeffreys tubes etc (aka maintence corridors)

or will we maybe see the most important and most visisted areas first and more ship interiors as the game progresses?

[Apolladan]

How will space combat work? Will starships act as hubs for players to work together in unison (one person in charge of engineering, one in charge of the medical bay, one sitting at tactical, etc), or will starships act as "mounts" that you typically see in other MMORPGS from which you can single handedly maneuver and engage other ships?

Will the game be considered canon in any respect? How much of the game will stick to the canon?

Can we get a better idea of system requirements?

To what extent is the game open-ended?

[MillerEP]

I have a TON of questions, but I'll try to list them short and sweet, and will edit as I think of new ones:

1) How many playable races will there be?
2) How many factions/empires can you choose from? And will they be pvp flagged?
3) What types of ships can we expect to see?
4) Will capital ships have to be manned by multiple players or will there be a NPC system in place?
5) What type of travel system can we expect to see? Will it be instant or take a while? How long?
6) What benefits can we get with fleets/guilds?
7) Will there be a player crafting system?
8) Will there be a holodeck?
9) What timeline are we looking at? Post nemesis, Voyager/DS9 time frame, TNG, TOS?
10) Will there be concessions for us RP-PvP lovers? Or just plain PvP lovers...
11) Will there be a Section 31, and can you get work from there?
12) What type of a starting point can we expect to see? Will certain races start at the Academy, and others not, etc?
13) What classes will be available for play? (i.e. not everyone wants to wear the red)
14) Will there be multiple charactcer customization options, such as Perpetual was proposing?
15) How will ship names be decided, can we name them ourselves or will they be assigned?
16) Will ships be customizable?
17) How often can we expect to see updates and Devlogs?
18) When can we expect to see Beta, and how will beta be decided?
19) Will we get to see/go to the Mirror Universe?
20) Will time travel rear it's head in STO?
21) Will we see Q?
22) Will this game be heavily instance based? Will everywhere I go be my own singleplayer instance like CoH/CoV, or will it be multi-server but still instanced like AoC, or free roaming open world like the MMO's of old?
23) What will the game's min and max requirements be? Will I have to upgrade my computer or buy a new one?

[LunaticFringer]

Another item I forgot...

How will Space travel be tackled? One thing that interested me from the Perpetual team when they had it was discussing a new way to make Space seem more... massive?

[MajorGen]

-What kind of interaction will we have with our environment? (Ex. Do we just click on a damaged conduit and watch a timer bar or are we talking mini-game?)

-Will combat be 1st or 3rd person? Both? Will it be RPG based or FPS based?

-Ranking structure? Are we ALL Captains or do we gain rank within our faction?

[Jaz]

Given that the story and character of Star Trek are almost iconic: How will the story element be delivered - Will there be voiceovers or cuts ccenes?

[Sherp]

Will we be able to walk around inside our ships, or will the view be exterior-only, like EVE currently does?

What will the Engineering side of the game be like? Can we play a Montgomery Scott as well as a Captain Kirk?

[Pounce]

1) Coming to consoles?
2) Coming to Mac?
3) Will this also be using the Cryptic engine (like CoX, Champs)?

4) Any plans to include less prominent species for character creation?
5) How will psi-capable characters be handled (Vulcans, Betazoids, etc)

[TheDart]

With a universe like Star Trek's which focuses almost solely on members of various galactic militaries, how extensive will character customization be? Will we have off-duty costumes available to us for customizing in addition to our chosen nation's uniforms? Will we see the same kind of awesome range in character shapes as we're seeing in CO, thanks to the CrypticAR, or will things be a little more based in reality out in the Alpha Quadrant?

[Kazekawa]

1. Is there still a plan for a beta or even a release of Star Trek Online for when the next Star Trek Movie comes out next year?

2. It was mentioned before that Ship interiors would be something the original developers were considering down the road. Is there any chance of CS adding it in with release?

3. What are the current ideas for space combat? As the ships are really big, will it be something along the lines of Star Trek Bridge Commander with a focus on targeting sub systems?

4. I am quite sure that you will not launch STO with only Klingons and Humans, so what other races are on the table at the moment? Anything special beyond the obvious choices like Vulcans, Cardassians and Romulans?

5. What will the economy be like in STO? What is CS going to do to ensure that players have more control over the markets and planets to make a bigger impact? (Yes Q, I know these are 2 questions.)

6. It was asked earlier about factions. Will there be different governments in this time frame beyond the federation and the klingon empire? Will Federation members be able to challange or even declare war on other fleets or members within the Federation? Will there be consequences for doing certain things?

7. What kind of positions/classes are being considered at this current time? Will every type of station be open for play from Doctors to Engineers to Tactical Officers? and will they be balanced enough for single player questing?

These are a few off the top of my head and I am sure most will be answered at one point or another.

[Dustnite]

So is our ship crews pure NPCs or will we have human player crews.

[Twsly76]

im wondering the same, and if yes, to what extent are you giving player owned ships interiors?
will we just see the most important parts? or will we get jeffreys tubes etc (aka maintence corridors)

or will we maybe see the most important and most visisted areas first and more ship interiors as the game progresses?

I also wonder this, also how will traveling over vast distances be handled

[dklkiller]

Several questions.
1) Will you support guilds/clans?
2) Is there going to be any form of command structure between players?
3) Is space combat 2d or 3d?
4) Will there be combat inside ships?
5) Will there be NPC crews or will there be player crews with NPC subistutes?
6) Will there be an ability to use voice chat in game?
7) Will players be able to live on their ships or other peoples' ships?
8) Will ground movement/combat be the same inside of a ship?
9) Will players be able to invade other player's ships.
10) Will players ships ever be truly destroyed?

[JSM3050]

Will anything from Peter David's Star Trek: New Frontier series be featured in the game?

[Thomas45]

How big is the galaxy we will be be able to fly around in?

Will it be Only the Alpha Quadrant or maybe even a bit of Gamma with the Wormhole.

[Quince]

Are there going to be small hubs like the Vulcan library?

How much of a planet can we explore?

[LordDave]

Simple Question:

Is Star Trek Online being designed for console first, then exported to PC, or for PC first, then dumbed down for the console users?

[Arzak13]

My biggest question is how will death be handled. Will you lose your ship? Equipment loss? Experience loss? I would be playing EVE-Online right now if not for the horrible penalties you get when dying. Spending most of my time working at building my ship instead of using it in battle is not my idea of fun.

[Viperisthebest]

Is Star Trek Online going to be cross-platform, to where it will run on Linux and other OS?

[IonParticle]

Will STO be implemented as one giant universe that everyone shares (eg. EVE Online), or as different universes with it's own set of players residing on different servers (eg. World of WarCraft)?

[superzero]

Is STO more economy focused? more PvP focused? or more PvE focused?

[LunaticFringer]

I guess that is yet another question to ask...

Will Cryptic be sticking with the more freedom unrestrictive decision of doing something that occurs after canon material or will this STO be set somewhere within the realm of one of the series or movies?

[Zizi]

I know I caught mention of playable Kilingons, but I must ask after what actually matters--

Romulans? Pwease? Especially Rihannsu-style Rommies, which are FTW.

..also, have you adopted any of the general design decisions that Perpetual had stated for the game(such as larger player-owned ships being guild-based, NPC large ships like the Galaxy-class being more like mission hubs, etcetera)?

..thought of another one: Any chance for a package deal for subbing to STO and CO? I'm hardly a big SOE fan or anything, but as an avid MMO player, the Station Pass has always been one of the things i thought they did very, very right.

[AaronH]

How big is the galaxy we will be be able to fly around in?

To expand on this question:

How large of a launch universe are you shooting for at launch (as far as number of zones, oth ground and space)? What kind of overall size of zones and interactions between ground and space are you hoping to achieve.

[Buzz_McCool]

WIll there be scantily clad green women for us to chase?

[Cyjack]

Will I be able to trick out my Bird of Prey with green flame decals to show off when I de-cloak to "pwn Federation nubs"?

[Zephirius]

Will players earn an income by trading or doing missions or are there also other planned ways?
If there is a player command structure, how advanced will it be? Just a captain and officers and maybe an ensign or four, or all sorts of random tiny seemingly unimportant positions?
Will ship interiors be available at release, if yes how complete will they be?

[Cavedweller]

do we have to go hunt for dilithium in the game

[Captain-Dyke]

Exploration is such an attractive theme for this MMO.

If I'm not in the mood for ship combat, gaining Starfleet's favor or earning credits doing jobs for Quark, in what ways will I be able to advance my charactor doing what I want to do most: Exploring the galaxy?

Will there be enough exploration to go around? Will there be enough to satisfy the detail hungry masses of trek fans who cant wait to sail the stars?

Finally: Can you get me in on a beta? :D

Thanks Cryptic!
-(Soon to be Captain!) Eric J. Dyke

[snowdude]

Will the server population be controlled like EVE (adding more servers to the one cluster as population increases) or like most other MMOs (creating another universe on a separate server when current servers reach limit)? If it’s not too late for votes and opinions I’d prefer the EVE approach.

Also, will there be localised servers for Europe/Oceanic etc regions?

[spaventacorvi]

...
4) Will captiol ships have to be manned by multiple players or will there be a NPC system in place?

Will we be able to walk around inside our ships, or will the view be exterior-only, like EVE currently does?
So is our ship crews pure NPCs or will we have human player crews.

Well, I think that a most important part of the game is the playability of the ships.
A lot of thing are focused on this, It's a fundamental matter.
It's the first question to answer! :)

[pgomez26]

What will the art direction be on the game?

1. I see wonderful realistic screens, will this be prominate througout the game?

2. What type of custumization will be avaialable? Full body, facial and color?

3. Can we be Maquis? Like ST.V , Chakotay.

4. will we meet any NPC original crew of Star Trek, ....

[BitVector]

1. Will everyone be the captain of their own ship, like in Eve Online?
2. Is this game console-only?
3. Which type of player will be preferred - Hardcore or Casual?

[mlongfield]

Hi,

I would really like to know if you have a career path in STO. Like start off as cadet and work your way up the ranks and therefore getting better commands etc.

For example would you be able to work your way up the security rank?
Medic? Engineering? even commander ranks?

Thanks,

[njdss4]

How will space combat work? Will starships act as hubs for players to work together in unison (one person in charge of engineering, one in charge of the medical bay, one sitting at tactical, etc), or will starships act as "mounts" that you typically see in other MMORPGS from which you can single handedly maneuver and engage other ships?

Will the game be considered canon in any respect? How much of the game will stick to the canon?

Can we get a better idea of system requirements?

To what extent is the game open-ended?

These questions are very important to me as well.

Also, Star Trek Online is listed as being for consoles as well as PC. How will the control scheme differ between these two? I would be much more likely to get the console version if the game will control the same way, as I don't want to have to upgrade my PC again.

[JSM3050]

What are the current system requirements (i.e. what do you guys run test builds on)?

I know the game is currently set for PC and console versions. Will a MAC version be available as well?

[Threshold]

What time period? Is it still the 25th Century? After VOY???

What Class of Ships will be available?

Will we see extensive Character customization, such as CoHs Character design system?

Will there be different Disciplines, such as Command, Engineering, Medical, ect?

Will any Star Trek actor reprise their role in the game?

[-oz-]

It was said that there would be "User Created Content" . Would that mean creating our own ships?

[Flatfingers]

Here are some questions I posed to the previous developer of Star Trek Online, but which I think are still relevant to this game and which I'd very much enjoy seeing addressed:

0. Competitive advantage: How will Star Trek Online differ from other current and imminent MMORPGs? What will make it more appealing to more online gamers than other current or announced online games?

1. Star Treky-ness: What features of Star Trek are considered the most crucial for implementation in Star Trek Online in order to maximize the value of the Star Trek license?

2. Worldiness: How much attention will be given to implementing features that support the desire of some to "live in" the Star Trek universe, versus features that implement conventional MMORPG gameplay?

3. Exploration: Jack Emmert said in his introductory letter to fans that Star Trek Online would be as much about exploration as combat. How does the development team plan to accomplish that goal? What forms will this exploration take? How is Cryptic planning to maintain this balance in the months and years after STO launches?

4. Crafting: What form will "crafting" take in Star Trek Online? Is it being imagined primarily as a creative (exploratory) activity, or as manufacturing/sales gameplay?

5. Socializing: What features will exist to allow players to enjoy purely social experiences in the world of Star Trek Online? What about social play with NPCs (e.g., diplomacy)?

6. Project management: What tools and processes are being used to manage ST:O's software development? What roles and authorities exist to control code changes now and after ST:O launches?

7. Storyline: What's the overarching storyline of Star Trek Online? How will that big story be experienced by players? What will prevent Star Trek Online from being just a collection of unconnected missions and random spawns?

8. Economy: What kinds of object trading and/or currency will be implemented? To what degree will in-game items or money determine effectiveness within the game? What steps (at any level from software rules to legal action) will be taken to prevent item/currency farming and external sales?

9. Soloing vs. grouping: What features will support both gameplay preferences? What is the primary intended form of gameplay experience?

10. Command: How will the traditional Starfleet rank structure affect gameplay? What will character progression look like? (Note: I'd actually like to see a MMORPG with no character progression whatsoever, so feel free to surprise me with your innovativeness on this score. :) )

11. Environments 1: How many of the particles and energies mentioned in Star Trek episodes will devices in Star Trek Online be able to detect and manipulate?

12. Environments 2: How "realistic" (within technical reason) will planets and space be? Will different planets have different gravity/atmosphere/hydrography/rotation rates/orbital periods? Will space have lots of phenomena that can affect starships?

13. Music: Who's writing the in-game music? Will it be orchestral or synthesized? How much will there be?

Thanks for considering any of these questions!

--Flatfingers

[CptRanger]

Well I hate to start this off playing hardball, but Cryptic asked for it...

City of Heroes Strategy Guide (the first one) was based on Jack's 'roadmap' he had for the game. Upon it's arrival, it was fairly obvious that the 'roadmap' didn't come to fruition. What is Jack and Cryptic doing to prevent this from happening again, and at the end of the day, will it be a game worthy of Gene's legacy, or dumbed down MMO that will cater to video game demographics and not the fans of Star Trek?

Thank you for your time, and I'm (nerviously) looking forward to seeing the gameplay footage.

[Commander_Daedelus]

Flatfingers, good to see you around again.

I have the same questions but would like to add one more.

will there be localised servers for oceanic players eg.Warhammer online is launching with a physical server in Australia, does cryptic have any plans to do something similar.

[jedeye]

What, if any, death penalty will be implemented? Will it be item\ship\etc decay?

[connobi]

Ooh, Razor!!! You've started sumthing now!! This post will grow quicker in numbers than tribbles!!!

[LunaticFringer]

Heh... another one comes to mind...

Will the forums be getting any additional add-ons? Klingon smilies and the like? :D

[DocSean]

1. Are you a Trekkie/Trekker?
2. Will there be player ship interiors at launch? If not, how would you expect environments like Sickbay, the mess hall or even the holo-deck to be handled aboard player starships? Will those environments even be included or will they be handled with controls and a view "outside of the ship"?
3. Will the graphics be stylized, realistic or a mixture of both?
4. How will economy be handled in a world where most everything that you need can be replicated?
5. How will respawning be handled? (Example: Cloning in SWG)
6. What will the death penalty be? Will you use something along the lines of wounds as was in SWG (close to perfect in my opinion) or experience/skill loss? Something entirely different?
7. Will the game be level based or skill based? Both?
8. Can we see the uniforms yet?
9. Will ground combat be traditional MMO or will it lean towards FPS?
10. What does "unique options for player-generated content set in the Star Trek universe" mean exactly? Holodeck programs, starship designs?

[Tica]

Would it be any kind of voice comunication, will you start your career in starfleet academy, and can you chose wich class you are going to do(science, tactical, con, medical, engenering), would it be able that a lot of players be on a single ship( one in engenering, on on tactic, comand, con, science, sick bay).
Can we edit sam ideas for the starship names like in the old perpetaul forum?

[Admiral_Patrick]

Here are some questions I posted from various users on the startrek.com forums:

Will there be player controlled crews that command starships?

Will there be a pvp system at launch?

Will the missions be an assortment of boring "fed-ex" and collection quests, or will there be various types of quests?

Will players be able to acheive different ranks i.e. Ensign or Commander?

What will the "end game" be like?

Will there be groups, such as Section 31 and the Tal Shiar, that players can be associated with?

What will the system requirements be?

Will you be able to go anywhere? Like go to the Delta Quadrant?

Will there be mini games within ST:O?

What kind of careers/professions will there be in ST:O?

Will there be pets in ST:O?

Will it be actual travel time or sped up travel time?

How much will the monthly fee be?

Will the game be skill based or level based?

What would happen to your character if they died?

What would happen to your ship if it was destroyed?

What types of space dangers will we see?

What kind of currency will ST Online have?

Where will you live in STO?

How exactly will ground combat be handled?

In what countries will the game be released?

How technologicaly involved will the game be?

Space is vast. Will it feel vast in ST:O?

What will this game be rated?

Will food and drink play a role in ST:O?

How Many Characters will be available per Player?

Will this game be released on XBOX(360) & PS(3) too?

How will communication be handled in ST:O?

What kind of advertising of the game will you do?

How much will the game cost?

Will there be different spoken languages?

Will the mirror universe be part of the game?

Will there be in-game cinematics?

Will player controlled characters age?How will the experience system work?


That about wraps up the majority of the questions I have. ;)

[Tica]

Would it be any kind of voice comunication, will you start your career in starfleet academy, and can you chose wich class you are going to do(science, tactical, con, medical, engenering), would it be able that a lot of players be on a single ship( one in engenering, on on tactic, comand, con, science, sick bay).
Can we edit sam ideas for the starship names like in the old perpetaul forum?

[Cmdr_Havens]

In Perpetuals version it appeared that there would not be player crews, ie guilds or groups of friends working on the same ship, is this being maintained in your version or can I look forward to my guild and I working on the same vessel in our departments to complete missions?

[doam]

OK, lots of questions. Hopefully one (or ten) get answered. Some will probably be repeats of other peoples...


Endgame? Jack said he learned his lesson, but that was in relation to CO. Is that lesson going to carry over to STO as well? Because I'd REALLY love to "raid" some borg cubes. Or, you know, whatever...

Loot? If we can make changes to our ships, that opens up things like "reputation" with your faction to get certain upgrades. Or you could build your own, with salvage, or simply through "research." I view "research" as a type of system like in Eve. Where your "phaser research" would increase in real time. But seperate from your level. If there is a level of any kind...

Levels? Flexi-levels? No levels?

User created content! I LOVE IT! But, I'm guessing, it would be the holodeck. And that's cool, but if there is loot in the game, will there be a way to get loot from user created content? Even if there are strict controls in place to prevent abuse. Or, rather, especially if there are controls in place. :p

Manual aim with hand phasers? And, to further that, can we do unique things with our items? Heat rocks with phasers. Explode solar systems with tri-corders. Etc...

I'm assuming we'll start with a "low grade" ship, then upgrade throughout our career. Much like in the TV shows. However, would it also be possible to choose a second ship as the upgrade, instead of a larger/more powerful ship? For example, my favorite ship is the Vor'cha. But it's a medium grade ship. Instead of going to a Negh'var, could I instead have a Vor'Cha and a Bird of Prey? Or, in federation terms, instead of a Galaxy could I have two/three defiants? It would also allow you to add the Promethias to the game without it being over, or under, powered.


I've got so many more, but I'm drawing a blank.

[doktorindeed]

My questions are about what to expect from the developers behind the awesomely creative City of Heroes/Villains.

-Are we going to have ship and character customization on a similar level as CoH/CoV?
-Can we expect free content patches post-release like in CoH/CoV?
-When can I start blasting Borg (favorite nemesis)?

[jfolds1]

mmmm... i'm going to try for something that might go under the radar here but

wouldn't it be so cool... if the galaxy was big enough to have huge sections of space with completely unnamed planets.. and other things

that could be named by the first ship to scan them

;)

awwwww... the night sky is so pretty around archeris prime

lol



any chance?

[Lost]

Congrats on getting the Star Trek license , may you be blessed with the wisdom to find the balance between fans and gamers wants.

1) How will you bring the non Star Trek into the game? For example, will you working on giving the Star Trek fans a wide array of fan experiences , while at the same time trying to bring the non trekkies up to speed on what has happen since Kirk?

2) To what extent does the Star Trek license allow you to use or modify the world / events? For example in Star Wars mmorpg , certain battles have fixed outcomes , and certain things break the experience for both fans and non fans. One example is 100 Jedi showing up to support Rebel forces in battle with the Empire , even the Jedi are dead.

3) Will I be able to own a pet , or robot?

4) Name one major goal you want from owning the Star Trek license.

Thank you for your time and paitence with us.

[Pdt_the_confused]

IMO, one of the things that has made previous ST games failures, is that they were single player, for the most part, and there was no community to go with them.

Star Trek has always been about the people, the community, moreso than the flashy tech.

So: what sort of community interactions are we going to have available?
This question covers the range I suppose...
---starbase hubs for gathering, trade, crafting, events, etc.
---group missions, single player/ship or single ship per group?
---large group (raid) multi-player + multi-ship?

[HailingFrequencyZach]

Courtesy of the community at Hailing Frequency:

Community Submitted Questions for Cryptic Studios Regarding STO


1. What character progression system do you plan or hope to have?

2. Will it be level based like CoH-type games or skill based like EvE and SWG?

3. Will there be Player Ship Interiors?

4. Are you going Skill based or level based in your approach to this title?

5. Are you going to stay true to the feel of Star Trek and give players the feeling of really being in the Star trek Universe (walk around ships, interact with stations onboard, beam down to planet’s take a shuttle for a spin around the solar system, fly the ship through unknown space, act) or are you just slapping a Star Trek skin on yet another Clone of games already out there?

6. PE original had this as a penalty for losing ship-to-ship combat in that if you lose you would have to send multiple teams out in shuttles to nearby planets and/or stations to try and get materials for your engineers to repair the most severe damage on your ship because it couldn’t move due to damage while those who are not on the missions have to help defend it from pirates, are you thinking of including anything like this in your idea of what STO should be?

7. The question I have is how guilds (Fleets?) will be structured within STO.

8. Will we be limited to a finite number of members or will our numbers be unlimited.

9. Will the guild have a customizable area that they can call their own, or will we simply exist in the vastness of space.

10. Another question is how will STO stay true to the boldly go where no one has gone before moto. to that end will space itself be worth exploring and as a result will there be rewards for players to explore new areas of space / Places and Planets, as well as objects such nebulas, black wholes, and everything else.

11. What will you as the new dev teams do to alleviate the fears of the community that we could end up with just another "World of War craft" set in space with the Starfleet logo on it?

12. How important is it to you to continue down the path of an STO set in the future, where canon conflicts could arise with future shows and movies?

13. Has their been consideration given to an STO set in the various Trek timelines spanning from Earth Starfleet up to post-Nemesis?

14. How much of PE's original concept will be reflected in your version of STO?

15. Given the release of Age of Conan, and the many accomplishments and new ideas that AoC sports, how will STO work to incorporate these new ideas, new levels of graphical excellence and new approaches to game play?

16. Given the upcoming release of "Star Trek" by JJ Abrams, what steps will the Dev team take to incorporate the history of Trek as presented through the new film version or will you be following the existing established canon as was developed in TOS?

17. Given the idea of STO being set in the Trek Future, 20 years beyond Nemesis, it seems that you have taken upon yourself a major burden of not only developing the game, but also developing all the story, environment and devices/technology of the Trek future. Why not used established timelines and all that goes with it and focus on the game technology instead, or in essence, why reinvent the wheel?

18. Given what has happened in the last 2 years, many in the community feel a lot of pessimism and general disdain for this project overall, and feel they were let down as a community. What will you as the new developers do to actively engage the community, take on our ideas and hopes for the game we want to play, and in general restore the faith of the fans that have followed this endeavor through thick and thin?

19. Will it be skill based or just another level/class based quest grinder? (aka WoW)

20. Will it be heavily instanced like to many games are these days or will player interaction and community be key? (aka a single player game wrapped in MMO clothing)

21. Will there be working player ship interiors (at least a bridge and a few other key areas) or will we have another 'you are your ship' type space avatar? (aka EVE)

22. Will there be a good player based economy supported by player crafting? (Engineering skills)

23. Will the game be combat oriented or more exploration and 'puzzle' oriented? (aka having to use your brain instead of your brawn)

24. Will there be at least several factions at launch with Starfleet being one of them or will we all be stuck in Starfleet? (aka having at least civilian factions like free traders, miners, pirates, spies, section 31 and so on)


25. If you could have one type of pie, what would it be?

26. Are you planning on having "cartoony" graphics, ala wow and COH, or will it be more realistic, ala Conan?

27. Will players be able to give their ships names?

28. Can you arrange for the MMO to work synchronously with a TV show ala TV show MMO tie in?

29. What kind of features will be available for guilds/fleets/clans?

30. What era will it be set in or will it span multiple eras?

31. If it is set in any of the TV show/movie eras will there be voice acting cameos of Star Trek actors?

32. Will their be multiple factions available at launch?

33. Will players be able to serve aboard famous ships like the Enterprise?

34. With the amount of static canon present in Star Trek's history, explain what time frame the game will occur in, and why the decision was made to select that time frame over all the others. What precautions have you taken to protect canon?

35. What MMOs have you personally played? Developed? Wished you played and/or developed?

36. What MMOs do you hate, not for their success, but just because they were just made poorly?

37. How will the player interact with the starship, whether in combat or exploring the galaxy?

38. How will traveling be accomplished? Will distance limitations come into play? Or will you basically warp out or Teleport to anyplace you desire?

39. Will the original lineup of playable races still be available (Humans, Vulcan’s, Andorians, Tellarites, Cardassians, Klingons and Ferengi) or has it changed at all? Will any other races be playable at launch?

40. What will be the playable races?.

41. What will Starfleet Academy be like?

42. What is the career progression path?.

43. Will the ships and characters be able to be destroyed? (Permadeath)

44. What will the divisions be like? (Science, Engineering, Security/Tactical, Command, etc)

45. Will exploring be just as important as combat?

46. How seamless will the universe be?

47. How will you be handling player to player communication?

48. Will the game be first person or third person? And if first person will you be supporting the head play virtual reality visor?

49. How will you be handling in-game news?

50. How faithful will the game be to ward realistic space environments? Distance from the sun to planets and the sizes of those celestial objects.

51. Will you be going for a realistic look or a stylistic look?

52. Will we have true crafting in STO? Examples being from simple small weapons like phases and blade weapons made by weapons engineers, too the huge Starships in shipyards made by engineering shipwrights, even crafting of civilian clothes to items for your quarters.
I find from all the MMOs I played, there needs to be some type of in game crafting system; it helps to bring the people together as a whole.

53. Will we see 3 factions at launch? An example of that being in the game Dark Age of Camelot, in that game there are 3 realms to play in, and each realm has its own races. In STO you can have a setup of Federation, Klingon and Romulans, and under each banner a select number of races to pick from. You can have complete separation of the 3 governments, and players can get status under the banner they picked.

54. How many other non magazine sources are trying to get an interview, and how many are succeeding?

55. What types of ships are available to players and in what kinds of situations, for example whether the player is either solo or in teams of 2-8 players and at what level (if there are any levels that is).

56. Actually I do have another one, how are ship names being handled, I take it for obvious reasons we won't be able to name them ourselves. However would we be able to suggest names like we did over on the startrek-online.net website?

57. Will missions effect what happens in STO? Meaning if you complete of fail a mission, will the effects of that mission be seen in the game? Example of that can be an escort mission to keep grain shipments going to Planet A, but pirates cut the supply line, and now the planet is in danger of the losing the special grain they need.

58. City of Heroes/Villains added the "Flashback" system that enabled us to replay old content as well as allow us access to "historical" events, will such a feature be available in STO using the Holodeck or something.

59. Are you a Trekkie/Trekker? I believe that in order to please the fan-base of a certain genre you have to have to the same love for it that they do.

60. Will there be player ship interiors at launch? If not, how would you expect environments like Sickbay, the mess hall or even the holo-deck to be handled aboard player starships? Will those environments even be included or will they be handled with controls and a view "outside of the ship"?

61. Will the graphics be stylized, realistic or a mixture of both?

62. How will economy be handled in a world where most everything that you need can be replicated?

63. How will re-spawning be handled?

64. Will the game be level or skill based? Both?

65. Can we see the uniforms yet?

66. Will ground combat be traditional MMORPG or will it lean towards FPS?

[HailingFrequencyZach]

68. Are you aware of the Starship name database that was compiled by the StarTrek-Online.NET community? Do you have any plans on using this particular resource, or in ones like it?

69. Have you the developers given consideration to working with JJ Abrams / Bad Robot so that STO can work WITH the new rebooted franchise rather than against? Any consideration given to an STO which ties into JJ's movies? If the answer is no to these, then please explain why not and why you feel STO should try and stand alone from the franchise.

70. How many people on your staff are Star Trek fans, what are their favorite series, etc.?

71. What are your thoughts on the upcoming Star Trek Film?

72. Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, or Archer?

73. Are you going to stick with any of the ideas that Perpetual had?

74. How far in development have you gotten since you took over in January/February?

75. Why all the secrecy behind you (Cryptic) being the Devs?

76. Are you going to try to get fan input on your game or will you develop the game and let the fans learn to love it?

77. Will you be more informative about the updates to the game now that you are officially the developer?

78. Is there any type of production timetable that you can share with the fan base?

79. Will you be able to complete with WoW and other MMORPGs, even CO?

80. Engineering- how will you keep busy with this profession? Will you be able to physically replace each broken/outdated system? Or will it be a loading bar system when you click "repair"?

Medic- will you be able to choose a method of treatment or will it again be a system where you click "heal" and a loading bar appears?

Science- how will you keep busy with this profession? How will you keep it interesting?

81. How are you going to form tasks on the bridge when there is a battle going on like in PvP. Will the characters be forced to work as a team ala Puzzle Pirates or will it be a more simplified game play?

82. Is Cryptic going to follow an aggressive PR policy and so try to stand up against other big names like EVE and WOW?

83. Do you follow graphics that settle along the current comic style game series that overflows the market these days or are you engaged to stick to "reality" as much as possible?

84. Will you be attempting to include some personalized RP type content like Lord of the Rings Online does with personalized quarters, a home of our own on the planet of our choosing (ala Kirk in Generations and Sisko in DS9), displayable trophies, established genealogy and personal history, etc?

85. How far into development are you currently.

86. How far off are you from an actual playable build?

87. Are you going to make people team-up to get/serve on the better ships while the solo players do not as a consequence of not being a team player?

88. What time period do you plan to set the game in?

89. Can you confirm or deny any ship classes that we have seen on TV such as the Galaxy, Nebula, Intrepid, and Defiant.

90. do you plan to implement ships that are apart of Trek game but have not been seen on TV such as the Achilles and Hutet that were in Star Trek: Dominion Wars as well as Bridge Commander

91. What will the character creator be like?

92. Will we get a starter ship, such as a shuttle or runabout, or will we actually get a starship to begin.

93. How large will the game map?

94. How will professions/careers be handled? How will advancement be handled?

95. Will group play be handled? Will it be a group/fleet of ships or will we be joining the team leader onboard his/her ship.

96. Will race specific weapons (Klingon Bat'leth and others) be available in the game or will they be quest items?

97. Will I be able to play most of or the entire game without flying a ship? I want to become a science officer or Engineer and do not want to have to worry about Conn. I do want to be on a large ship; just I want to play the game as an engineer. The only flying I should do is shuttlecraft.

98. One inherited flaw that I have found in current Star Trek Games is that the ships are not in scale with each other, for example, in Bridge Commander, the Defiant was as large as the Galaxy Class' saucer section which is not cannon. What will the new developers plans be with scaling of the ships?

99. One of the corner stones of Star Trek is interactivity with the environment and is something that almost all star trek games lack. How much interaction will we have with our ships, and if we have interiors, which we should, I would like the opportunity to walk down to an EPS relay and overload the damn thing, knocking something out somewhere in the ship, not that I'd want to but its the point that I can. So in short, what is the level of interaction we will have with our environment.

100. Will ship interactivity be realistic, and how much of it will there be?

101. Will doctors, engineers and science officers have a lot of interactivity with their given profession, so they will have fun tinkering?

102. What type of balance between realism and ease of usage are you looking for?

103. this game be marketed for hardcore Trekkie fans or children?

104. How much can you do on a ship as a member of its crew?

105. How trek is it going to be?

106. Any hints as to what races we will be able to be at launch?

107. Will there be fully mapped out player ship interiors with an accurate representation of the locker rooms and toilets? And what special skills or levels will be needed to flush them?

108. Let’s talk about the geek-factor. A reoccurring and heated topic in the community during the past years where ships interiors and the complexity of crew interactions. Accessibility is a must for the success of any piece of software, without doubt. But how complex do you think can your MMO possibly become?

109. A trend in the MMO genre seems to be the idea of pushing classical RPG elements into the background in favor of easy to handle combat oriented content. The old fashioned RPG fans in the World Wide Web have expressed their concerns about that trend again and again. Just think along the uproar about Sony’s New Gaming Experience or the ongoing crusade of some RPG fans against WoW and all its so called clones. So, do you intent to satisfy the faction of MMO gamers that cry for games that have a heavier focus on role-playing?

110. How will the servers work? One big fast server like in EVE?

111. How well will role-playing work on a ship?

112. What will engineering be like

- upgrading ships/systems?
- repairing damage?
- fixing sonic showers/replicators?
- will there be Jeffries tubes???

113. What races will there be?

114. Will there be an ensign unknown (npc)?

115. Where can I sign up for the beta tests?

116. Will we see Orion as a playable race?

117. Will career professions have mini-games to help keep it interesting? Example: Medical field having to mix meds to find a cure. Engineering fixing a power pathway, before the timer hits zero. etc etc.

118. Will we see ship to ship boarding in combat?

119. Will we be able to land shuttles on a planet?

120. Will there be space walking?

[HailingFrequencyZach]

121. Will we be able to customize Ships? Outside look. And feel, Name, Inside Bridge. Engineering, Medical office.

122. Will players be able to own, or be commissioned to a certain ship or will we have to get a new one each time we play.

123. Will we be able to fly other then Federation Ships? IE being a pirate. A Rogue. Miner, Transporter, Does everybody have to be in the federations.

124. This one is a big one. Can we fly the Ships from inside? Looking out from the Flight deck or the bridge. Or will it be Eve Based looking at the Butt end of your vessel

125. Other question have already been asked. But are important. Skill based level or Time consuming grinding and fighting. I like the Skill based like Eve. It gives the players time to be in Real life not having to sit in front of there computer for 8 to 12 hours a day grinding.

126. will there be player owned Station, ships, Corporations, What as a Player will I be able to own other then the clothes on my back and the Pistol on my hip.

127. Will we have use of NPC red shirts on Away missions, like pets so to speak?

128. Will we see Role-playing Servers?

129. Can we still gain the rank of Admiral, and if so will Admirals get to make their own missions for other players?

130. Will we see player housing?

131. Will Guilds/ Fleet get an Outpost to use as a base, and later be able to upgrade them to Star bases?

132. I assume the Borg/collective will be in this game. Will they be playable? Or will the just be out there for you to find. If so will they be virtually impossible to beat cause of their ability to adapt? [This would be a good challenge]

133. Will it be only 3rd person? Or will you be able to alternate between 1st and 3rd person views?

134. What type of ships will you be able to get your hands on? Will it be possible to design/build your own personal ship?

135. Will your ship come with an android?

136. If your ship becomes damaged will your engineer/s have to go outside the ship to repair it?

137. If you're in the Federation and you break the rules will you be punished?

138. Will it cost to play online? If so how much?

139. When will the official Star Trek Online Web page be up and running?

140. Is there any set release date?

[Captain_Intrepid]

Will the various civilizations of Star Trek be called Species or Races when it comes to differentiating one from the other, such as the Klingons, Vulcans, etc?

Will there be Species/Races to be chosen from, with their various traits, or will there be an open concept of mix-matching characteristics?

If there are Species/Races to choose from, is it possible to have Vulcan/Humans, Vulcan/Romulans, Romulan/Humans, Human/Betazoids, Romulans/Klingons 'hybrids', such as Spock, Lt. Savvik (according to some sources), Commander Sela, Counceller (sp?) Troi, the young woman that Lt. Worf was attractted to at the Romulan prisoner of war camp? The first Star Trek RPG (the one created by the guys who brought the world Battletech) said that if you wanted a character with mixed parentage, that you'd use the stats for the dominant side. How would that be handled?

Is it possible to have a range of Species as seen in the Star Trek universe, and still have room in the character creator for those yet to be seen/lost colonies of known Species who adapted to their strange enviroments? If there are advantages/disadvantages used for each Species, then if a person wanted to create one not yet seen or try to recreate one that had been seen in the TV series (incl. the cartoons)/movies or read in the books/comics, would they be able to pick and choose (with game balancing in mind) to best stimulate them?

What time frame will STO be set in? Will it be 20+ years from Nemesis that Perpetual was aiming for, or will it be sometime earlier? With the upcoming 'reboot/reimagination' (the later term sends shivers, in a bad way, down my spine when I hear it from Hollywood) of Star Trek, would it be set during Kirk/Spock's early days?

Will our characters go through Star Fleet Accademy? I personally hope so, it'd make for a great tutorial, introduce players who haven't watched the series/movies or read the books but wanted to try out the game to the Star Trek universe, and build up the character from scratch in terms of specialization (do you want to go for Command, Engineering, Sciences/Medical, Security, etc.?)

Would we be able to choose if we're stationed on Star Ships, Star Bases, or Deep Space Stations? Will we be assigned on a random or according to our record/performance in Star Fleet Accademy?

[TaiChar]

In which languages will the client be translated?

Will there be servers for english, french, german, spanish speaking folks where the primary language is english, german etc?

I won't buy the game when the german language isn't available!!!!!

[The_Rattlesnake]

MMOs have contacts to which they can get their missions from. Im sure that STO will be no different. My question though is that, will characters from the STO franchise (picard, spock, etc) be contacts too?

[saphi]

all i really want to know is how complex with out being stupidly complicated will the LCARS system be

[Koty]

Will there be some people for repairs each structure of ship after battle like warp or hull damamge or it will be self repairing system ? Will it be hard to work with systems ?! Will there be multi cultural and Many people on board that will be doeing theyre work like Raids ?

[minago]

1. are players able to walk inside space stations or ships? and if so to what extent?

2. how big of a area will players be able to fly ships alpha beta gamma delta quadrant?

3. tricorders anyword?

4.different classes medic, engineer ,security,astro physics,navigator,?

5. coms badges will they be in game?

6. transporters? if so can ya beam to another ship or planet

[Dabruuzer]

Some technology-based questions:

1. Being a next-gen MMO, can we finally expect some decent DX10 graphics, using the latest technologies and shaders/effects? Or will this game be built to run on old, outdated graphics cards? At some point, I am hoping developers stop worrying about 6-year old systems, and develop for the modern technologies that are widely available - and inexpensive - for gamers today.

2. Trek has had some of the best scores and soundtracks ever made associated with it in the past. Can we expect just as much attention to go into the sound effects, music and ambience as we would hopefully see in the graphics area?

3. Will we be able to use user-created UI mods, or at the very least completely customize the UI to our liking?

[afk]

so many questions ... let's wait a little before a lot more :)

[GATEGOD]

Is there Ferengi? And can we play one?

Will the game be free roaming and basically allow you to do whatever you want? Or will you have to do certain things along the way/ choose when you can do them?

[marshalleck]

Sandbox or theme park?

[starbuck1771]

will we be able to be security or enginering on a ship if we dont want command?

[Ignak]

Propably not the most important question, but will there be blood wine? ;)

Edit: Forgot to ask about this: Can you specialize in engineering, medical, or any other departments there will be, instead of going on a command career?

[superzero]

How many phaser settings are available?

:cool:

[hensch]

Can we expect different dimensions or time frames? What about the parallel universe?

[Tuvok]

omg, so much questions, alright here another one:

how many fractions/sides will be available to play: 2 (good and evil = favorite) or more?
no I don't mean how many races, I really mean how many sides can you play on? the most annoying thing with other MMORPGs is the fact that you can only play the nice, pretty and good side against the very cool evil side.


and a second one: what happens if you destroy your ship? do you have to start over again, which I'd favorize

[Jokerkaaos]

Your latinum - where is it hidden?

[natasreborn]

I have, and Im sure many others do to, a almost unlimited amount of questions. Star Trek Online could be huge in every since of the word. So my question is are yalls heads exploding just thinking about what you can do like all of us fans/mmo players?

[Calvert]

What exactly do you mean with "user generated content"? Something like we know it from Star Wars: Galaxies? Create quests and missions for other gamers? Quests and missions for the own fleet or guild?

Would be great if you mean something like that!

Will STO be published in several languages and will there different country servers be available?

[lootra]

i guess ship interiors is the big question right now

[SniperX]

I have one question that I have on mind, and I belive if you anwser it will give us a big light for space gameplay.

Will STO by Cryptic will be more similar to EVE Online when everyone gets own ship and fly it all over the world, or it will be more like SWG Jump to Light Speed, when some ships required multiple players to operate? ;]

[Ulathar]

How will the quests work? Will I be able to make choices during a quest (like shoot or talk)? What effect does that have on this quest and on future quests?

[AxeFalador]

I realize they're not exactly considered canon races, but will Caitians and/or Kzinti be playable races?

Also, what about system requirements? My PC's not terribly old, but it's not top notch, either. And I don't have too great of finances to dip into to upgrade my PC. What can I expect for minimum system requirements? And can I expect the ability to lower the graphics settings of the game to better suit my PC's performance level?

And finally? Free2Play, or Pay2Play? And if Pay2Play, how much? Can we expect competitive rates (i.e.: cheaper than World of Warcraft)? Also, if Pay2Play, can we expect to see game-time-cards in popular stores such as Game Stop, EB Games, Futureshop, and Best Buy? I'd much rather buy time-cards than have to put my credit card info out on the web.

[ArtfulDodger]

With you making this game for both pc and console, i would like to know how this will effect expansions for the game at a later date ?
Every successful mmorpg has had expansions which is easy to do with a pc. But with a console that opens a pandora's box on how you would do this. So with that in mind is the pc version going to play difrent to console ?

[Glavius]

What is that counter on the main page seems to be counting down from 14 days? it's driving me nuts!

[Falin]

noty going to read through 3 pages of this to see:

1) what era are you placing this in?
2) how is movement going to be handld, is there going to be quasi-realistic flight times or are we going to be able to insta travel everywhere?
3) level or skill based progression?


that should do for now. :)

[Bangs]

Probably already been asked, but I'd say it's one of the most pertinent questions, will there only be Federation races available? If so how many, and if possible which ones?

[LunaticFringer]

Someone already posted a thread about Localization...

I guess that is something else I'm curious about.

Will STO have separate launches by localization or will we be able to play together with our friends from across the ponds where ever we may be from?

[AxeFalador]

Another question. Will there be any closed or open beta testing periods? And if so, how would one go about applying to become a beta tester? I, personally, would love to test this game out. I'm a huge Star Trek fan, but aside from that, I'd love to see how well the game runs on my PC.

[Power-Blast]

Please tell me you arent going to use the cell-shading thing.

1. will the game be casual player friendly?

2. will we get to decotate out living quarters on our ship?

3. how will the economy work?

4. will there be crafting?

5. will we have skills to choose from or just a leveling system?

[Sir_Cedric]

Ok here are my question, sorry if they are a repeat.

1. Will Guild/fleets get an outpost/ starbase as a HUB?

2. Will we see Freelancer/ Civilian players in STO?

3. Will there be crafting in STO?

4. Will you be able to board other players ships, even in combat?

5. Will we ba able to visit and play on Risa?

6. Are we going strait to Captain ranks, or will we start off as Ensigns and gain rank to Captain?

7. Will there be any player Admirals, if so can they make their own missions for other players?

8. Will we be able to walk around on Earth? meaning the different cities.

9. Will we see player ship building in STO?

10. Will missions have effects on areas? pass or fail, will everyone see the effects of that mission in the area?

Ok that's all for now, if I think of more, I will post them here.

[Roundcat]

My three questions would be:

What have you learnt from other online games (eg Star Wars Online) that has influenced how STO will be better and bigger?
Will STO cater predominately for the 'gamer' or the 'star trek fan' - and no cop out 'both' answers! :)
Often the fun in gaming is what is happening while your not online eg - auctions, mining or manufacturing etc economic aspects. How will these be applied in STO?

[Roundcat]

This is a funny list of 3...

[Hevo]

1. What types of Ships will there be?

2. What races?

3. What time will the game world be in as far as the Star Trek Time table? (Such as will this game take place during Next Gen time period)

3. Will there be Ship Combat as well as Land/planet combat?

4. Will there be PvP Content?

5. Will there be PvE content?

6. Is combat going to be more turned base/RPG or will you be going with a real time combat where you can actively fly around and attack? Also if you go with a real time combat will movement give a +, - to dealing and taking dmg?

7. Will there be classes/jobs.

8 Will classes/jobs define what ships you can use and cant use?

9. Will there be Endgame, and what will it be based around PvP, or PvE?

10. Will there be neutral factions that you can play?

11. Will this run on DX10 as well as DX9?

12. Will gear, weapons, and armor upgardes mean something.?THe last few MMOS that have come out such as Lotro, AoC have had really **** poor itemzation. Will you guys make gear worth getting? Because what is the point of going out to farm, group, or raid for something if it wont mean a thing to your deveploment of your ship/avatar?

13. When is this coming out?

14. Do you need Mods for your forums?(If you do ;-) )

15. How large of a world/game will there be to explore?

( I will think of more questions later, I know there are more I just cant think of anymore right now!)

[jpoplive]

I am wondering if how far this game is and if there will be a pre-beta or beta signup? Also I am working on a fansite and want to know if there will be a fansite section on the website?

Thank you

[Powerhelm]

Accidental double post. My bad. See below.

[Powerhelm]

You say you're using the Cryptic Engine. Is this the Perpetual Engine that you got when you bought out PE's Star Trek assets a while back or was it licensed earlier for use in CO? Or is this an entirely new engine developed in house by Cryptic? Just wondering because if you have gameplay footage and all these screens at least some of the game had to have been made in that PE engine to have all this so quickly and since you did buy all their concept art and previously produced game assets along with hiring many of the original STO staff. And since the Perpetual Engine was created by PE with the idea of licensing it out to developers to make creating MMOs faster and easier does this mean we'll see alot of stuff coming out of Cryptic in the next couple years aside from STO and CO? Will you be licensing this engine out (assuming it's the same engine) to other companies to increase income?

[Owen-Lars]

Thanks for getting Ask Cryptic! for STO up so early on :) I cant wait to read the answers.

My questions are:
- You mentioned in your 'About Star Trek Online' feature on the main page that one of the features is the ability to collect resources. Does this mean there will be alternative activities to have fun with compared to traditional MMO 'hack & slash' gameplay? (perhaps crafting, ship building etc)

- Player made content is something that really interests me. As one of countless others that would love to create content in STO, i'm wondering if we will have tools to create missions or even 'zones' where we can fill them with history and backstory?

- Exploration is obviously such a massive part of Star Trek and this seems to go against the traditional MMORPG focus (primary combat focused). How do you plan on creating a living galaxy full of planets and places to explore whilst making sure those planets and areas are rich with content?

- What are your thoughts on player created content? Does it have a place in Star Trek Online? And do you think player created content can be harnessed as a route for players to add content into the Star Trek Universe?

Thanks

[CanQua]

The only question that matters....which way to the Orion's? :D and what kind of interaction will be available. :eek:

Just wanted to say thanks for finally bringing this about, we'll try asking all the same questions again, and again. Good luck Razor, you're going to need it with this bunch.

I'll have a few more questions after the Webcast I'm sure. So until then.

Edit one real question. Can you please introduce the entire team that is currently assigned to this project? Even If they do not have the time to do a diary, please at least let us know who to direct our questions to. it really does help to sort out who the answers are from and how they fit into the picture. Are they a differrent team from your other projects, or are they being a bit cross-functiona currently

[Will_Lucky]

Will I be able to have my own say Delta Flyer sized ship? So I can go it alone if I wish of course more importantly I should be able to improve it with say Quantoms ect;).

[Powerhelm]

Couple more questions:

If you are using assets from the PE purchase will we be seeing some of the interior shots they had again or will we have to go online for them or did they radically change?

Will we get to see the player ship that was meant to be an ultra upgradeable starter ship til someone reached a high enough rank to access other ships again or was this changed as well?

Did you upgrade the quality of the art or maintain the same level because I know theirs was pretty high quality before they sold it.

Why did you decide to continue with the same era they had began to build in?

Was this rebuilt from the ground up or was alot of this there when you bought it? I mean it's only been like 6 months since PE was "Looking to transfer STO rights" so I'm assuming if you're this far in alot of the work was already done.

Will the Holodeck be where we can experience player made content? That way players can make stuff for people to enjoy without risking someone finding a way to grant easy XP to friends with a joke of a mission, etc.

[SammyF]

Hmm. Several of the questions that have been asked in this thread already are actually pretty good, and most of mine are already here. So if I ask something that has already been asked before, please just assume I'm reinforcing the importance of the previous question:

1. What is your vision for how this game will play, and how does that vision differ from Perpetual's vision?

2. What lessons/mechanics from your previous MMO offerings will you incorporate into STO (or not incorporate)? Looking at other MMOs, what have you seen other developers do that you think will work well in STO?

3. I observed on your "About Star Trek Online" page (NOTE TO OTHERS: READ THE "ABOUT" PAGE, I CAN TELL SOME OF YOU DIDN'T) that one of the subheaders you describe the game with reads:

You Are the Captain: Command your own starship as a Federation Captain or a Klingon Warrior. Outfit it with the systems that you need to make your mark in the galaxy. Customize your ship as you see fit. Recruit, train and mold your crew into an elite force for exploration and combat.

Should we take this to mean that the focus of the game is putting every individual player in command of a ship, or will multiple players be able to work together to crew an individual ship? Will a new player start the game as a commander or will he have to work his way up through the ranks?

3b. If it is your intention to allow every character to be a command some sort of ship from the get-go, could you please put in some sort of mechanic that allows a player to sign up to serve on a higher-level player's ship as an officer, sort of like the "sidekick" mechanic from CoH/CoH? The ships are exciting and the screenshots look delightful, but Star Trek isn't Star Trek without the friendly rivalry between Spock and McCoy or the friendship of mentoring between Data and LaForge. :)

[Desy]

Will there EU and US players be able to play on the same server at Launch?

[Sortableturnip]

Will Cryptic have the ability to create new worlds/races or are they only allowed to use the ones currently available to them? I know that those that hold the ST licence are very strict when it comes to new content.

[bean]

Star Trek is famous for it's ship-to-ship combat, but it also famous for non-violent problem-solving. Will quests and missions reflect this?

[Falcon4196]

How will the economy be structured since the Federation has no money?

Do you automatically start out with some sort of ship or will that come only at higher levels?

[The_Padre]

How will ship naming be handled? Will it be assigned from a database at random or can we choose the name of the vessel ourselves?

[Jc2006]

One of the things that I know would stop me and some of my friends playing the game would be the cost.

A lot of MMOs require a monthly subscription fee that a lot of people in the current economic times will find difficult to pay if it's too much, also considering the different exchange rates of money in different parts of the world, the UK for instance paying double what the US market would have to pay perhaps.

What will be Cryptic's position on subscription fees and what kind of money are we talking?

[Thorgar]

How will you handle ship to ship actions, and go from being on a ship to planet/station side?

Will we control our own Ships?

how will you handle crews? will you have a small group being bridge crew and others relegated to support crew?

oh and last but not least... can i toss a Red shirt or Gold shirt onto some one i do not like before transport as a form of assassination?

[conllo]

What form will the economy have in STO, durring the series ST had no money to speak of so will this be a barter system using crafted and non crafted good? or

Will STO be introducing a monetary system? such as gold or some other name form?

When you say player contributed content, do you mean along the lines of a sandbox style game?

I have visted Champions and have seen illustrations of work but have not seen any actual footage of completed live game grphics or mechanics, does cryptic have any other MMO that they can offer as an example of the cryptic engine at work?

Will Charactor(s) and surrounding be drawn in a Sir Real (Art imitating RL) images or will it be leaning towards a colorfull worlds that can only exsist in an animated film?

Will charactors have full range of motion runing, walking, jumping swiming?

And if so will they also have penalties Collision, falling, dyeing, broken arm or leg?


Thats about it for now look forward to your responces

[ClickBouyow]

Maybe Cryptic should start a wiki? There are a lot of repeat questions.

[SammyF]

Maybe Cryptic should start a wiki? There are a lot of repeat questions.

Yeah this is pretty much the definition of "how to identify Frequently Asked Questions." A wiki would be good but I'm hoping to come by in a few days and find a FAQ--especially considering the only question answered so far according to the Dev Tracker is "can I be a Jedi?" (answer: no) :)

[Saturas]

What about the structure of the actual "Space" players will find themselves in. Will there be just one Instance or will there be hundreds of instances like in Guild Wars ?

[JonahFalcon]

Can you confirm that this will be taking place in the Picard/Janeway/Sisko timeline? Judging by the artwork, I'd say it's so.

[USSBorden]

While I am very excited to see STo back in bizz, I have played both CoV and CoH and have much dislike for them both. I hope this will not be a reskinned version of those games.

:(

[goldcrud]

Will we be able to own/command a multiperson ship?

[JonahFalcon]

Will Star Trek Online cure warts, herpes, cancer and bubonic plague? :D

[arakkis]

Many have already asked, but here goes:

What platforms will STO be published on?

What are the major factions?

Will starships be controlled by a single player, or a group of players?

Is 2K games going to publish STO?

Will there be a leveling structure, or some other type of advancement?

Will guilds allow different races, or do guilds all have to be of the same race?

Will there be freelance/unaligned ships, or will all players have to be part of an alliance?

[danubus]

Ok one question... Seven of Nine or the Science Officer Vulcan lady from Enterprise? :)

[Kh3ldar]

Apologies if asked already, but 11 pages is too much to read to put a simple question down. Will the console / PC universes be the same or different?

[NCC74656]

How much of the galaxy is open to exploration?

Will all four quadrants be open or will we all be confined to the Alpha Quadrant?

What happens if you encounter Borg can (and will) you be assimilated?

[robtot]

Are we going to see a dumbed down Wii version? C'mon, Nintendo WFC doesn't fail that hard.... oh wait...

And can we hope for something a bit more streamlined than oh say.... Eve Online? As much as I can see why that game gets it's following, it'll never get to WoW status due to it just not being all that friendly in the UI/Game concept department.

[Excalion]

Forgive me if this has been asked already but, how much of the galaxy will be featured in STO will we be seeing any part of the Delta and Gamma quadrant? or will we be sticking to just the Alpha and Beta ?

[Captain-Picard]

How many Star Trek species is there to choose from?

Is Ferengi going to be in this game?

Will you get to create multiple characters?

[Captain-Picard]

How many Star Trek species is there to choose from?

Is Ferengi going to be in this game?

Will you get to create multiple characters?

[robtot]

How many Star Trek species is there to choose from?

Is Ferengi going to be in this game?



I would love to see Ferengis, that's just asking for a whole new era of MMO sleaze which will result in much lulz :P

[KirksOtherSon]

The previous IP holders planned to move the Star Trek timeline 20+ years past the last Star Trek film (Nemesis), in order to give themselves some continuity and canon "breathing room" when creating game content. Does Cryptic plan to do something similar, or do you folks have a new place on the Trek timeline in mind?

Thanks

KirksOtherSon

[ShiXin]

Another question. Will there be any closed or open beta testing periods? And if so, how would one go about applying to become a beta tester? I, personally, would love to test this game out. I'm a huge Star Trek fan, but aside from that, I'd love to see how well the game runs on my PC.

QFE

Beta is top priority for those of us who want to lend a hand zapping those pesky software bugs.

[Cianna]

1. How many characters will we be allowed per account?

2. Is character progression skill-based (a la EVE), or level-based (a la WoW and CoH)?

3. Will characters look "cartoony" (a la WoW), or look more realistic (a la AoC)?

4. How customizable will ships be? I.E. Will we be able to customize them from the keel up, or will we get "cookie-cutter" pre-made ships?

5. Will game-play be linear (a la WoW), or will it be more of a sandbox (a la EVE)?

6. Will there be any type of player housing to store loot (a la Everquest or SWG)?

7. What types of roles are there? I.E. Can I be a doctor or engineer, or will I be forced to be a captain that must be in the heat of combat?

8. How will the economy be handled? Will it be player-based (players create/craft most items like the original SWG), or will the economy be more similar to WoW?

9. What timeframe will the game be held? Post Nemesis, TNG-DS9-VOY, TOS?

10. Will the UI be LCARS-based, or will it be generalized (like WoW, AoC, etc.)?

[DXEndar]

Like some of the other have wondered, I want to know how much ‘auto pilot’ there is going to be in the ships. Are smaller ships more automatic (meaning, one person can pilot and fire) ?

As old school as it was, I loved the mini-games and system management in the old Star Trek game for the original Gameboy.

I’m sure you want to keep the game open to the ‘lone wolf’ type who may not want to be part of a crew, but it would be very cool if individual crew members could take over specific parts of the ships operation when online . . . and when they were offline those parts were automatically operated (rather then just getting a ‘+2’ modifier for having extra people on the ship).

For instance . . .
- an engineer could, in real time, divert power from various systems to give extra fire power . . . and then work on fixing the ship after a fight.
- someone at tactical could operate the weapons in real time
- someone at the helm could pilot the ship

These things would be so much cooler then just getting a ‘+4 to phasers’ when someone is at tactical.

I’m also wondering about the interior of the ships . . . how detailed will they be ?

Can ships be boarded ?

Can you fix localized damage from specific parts of the ship ?

Can the crew hang out together on the holodeck ?

How will the system upgrades work ? (upgrading your shields and engines and such)

How large can a crew be ? Can they take turns operating the same ship (such as the ‘day’ shift and the ‘night’ shift) ?

Can you open a shop on a space station ? . . . can you trade stuff or make ‘money’ at all if you’re in the federation ?

[Roka]

I read everyone gets to be a captain of their own ship, but does that mean their are no promotional ranks?


P.S. I really hope theirs a limit to the size ship we can get for personal use. I want to see the larger ships (Enterprise-style) be used for obtaining missions, socializing, and maybe group missions like Bridge Commander.

[Rilos]

Can I meat Picard in game..please?

[lordwow]

In other MMORPGs, you can often ignore tasks or missions given by the NPCs. However, in a hierarchy like starfleet, would a captain not performing an assigned task have a negative consequence for the captain and or crew?

[Signalsgt@gmail.com]

As an older gamer and after reading some of the posts on this board, I'm becoming concerned.

-How close to Star Trek Cannon are you going to try and maintain?

- What mechanisms are in place to maintain the feel and atmosphere of Star Trek?

-Your creating a game with 10+ movies, 4 television shows, incredible amount of printed material to draw from. There is no need to re-invent the wheel. Your core goal should be to create the atmosphere and Universe.

I swear if I see the U.S.S I0wnJ00 or something along those lines my account will be canceled within the next 10 minutes.

[RandomRedshirt]

I am interested to know what Cryptic will be doing to ensure that the fans of this game, who have been following it for years, who will most likely be the most concrete portion of your subscriber base, will be getting the game they want to play, that they will enjoy and not what we are told we are going to enjoy?

In other words, how much will fan input influence your design and direction for STO?

I am also interested to know how long you are planning before you roll this out? Will you be rushing to try and beat another MMO (6-12 months) or will you be taking an almost Blizzard approach and releasing it when you know it is ready (18-24 months), regardless of the setbacks from the PE debacle?

Thanks.

[IanD967]

how confident do you feel that you can complete Star Trek Online to a good standard of gaming quality and make it fun for all?

[NCC74656]

QFE

Beta is top priority for those of us who want to lend a hand zapping those pesky software bugs.

I agree beta testing would be fun and very helpful :D

[Captain_Intrepid]

1. Will we be able to be crew memembers on other player's starships, or are we all going to zip around in our own starships? I'd rather have the option of both, for those who like to solo, and those who'd like to team together on the same ship rather than be all by their lonesome with NPCs having all the positions onboard.

2. Will we get our own personal warp-capable shuttlecrafts, so we don't always have to travel by capital starships? Would be nice if it started as a stock shuttlecraft and we can get it customized or possibly be assigned a better one down the line.

This would make a great personal craft that could be used for smaller scale combat/dogfights, recon, light troop transport, etc. Plus, it would make for a nice little diversion from the usual when you can do races or stunts with them in space/atmosphere....

3. Could we have assignments on NPC ships (let's say the latest version of the Enterprise), star bases, and space stations? Sometimes temporary reassignments happen in Star Fleet. That way a player can see more ships (possibly see which they'd like to get when they earn the chance to captain such a ship, or see more of the Federation besides starships.

Perhaps some officer exchanges between the Klingons and the Federation?

4. Would we be able to have civilian clothes to wear on Holodecks (if such a feature was part of the game), away missions, or just to hang out in the lounge? And could we be able to go to an interface that's something like the replicator to get the clothes/accesories?

5. If our characters went to a pre-warp planet, or went on a spying mission, would they be able to undergo procedures to disguise themselves? Such as Captain Kirk or Captain Picard altered to appear as Romulans?

[SFOJackReed]

I would like know, how many must i pay to play STO. Must i buy only the game or must i buy the game and pay every month. I know my english is not very good, but i hope your understand the question.

Greetings

Jack

[Kurzon]

First off I want to thank you guys at Cryptic for picking up STO and especially for including us fans in the development through these forums :D. Now on to the questions:

1. Will this game be coming to the Mac? You say that STO will be coming to PC and consoles and frankly I like to play MMOGs on a computer. The interface provided with a keyboard and mouse I find is much more intuitive for an MMO than a controller would be. And frankly I cant stand Windows and I would love to play this game on my Mac. If I have to I will suck it up and buy a copy of vista but if I can avoid it that would be great :).

2. About the game coming to consoles and PC. Will players playing on consoles be able to interact with players on a PC etc. or will there be separate servers to handle the different systems?

3. You say in the "About Star Trek Online" section of the site that everyone is a captain. Does this mean that everyone starts out with a ship and has a choice to do as they wish? For example could I simply be a trader and do cargo runs from system to system and then if i felt like it join Star Fleet and join the academy? Or would I as a federation character automatically start at the academy and work my way from there?

4. In terms of PVP: Will there be "good" factions and "evil" factions? You talk on your site about the Federation and Klingons who are allies with one another and would very rarely if ever have physical conflicts with each other. Will players be able to join the Federation and fight against other players from the Romulan Empire or Dominion? Or will players only take the role of "good" and the "evil" races be NPCs with PvP being handled through the holodeck?

5. Do you have plans to release a beta build anytime soon or at least system requirements for the game?

6. In terms of media: Do you plan to release wallpapers and other concept art as well as the screenshots page you already have up?

7. Will players personal ships be more like the "mounts" of other MMOs and have a smaller form factor like a Defiant Class of ship with larger ships like Galaxy class being a sort of large scale transport or "moving City"? Or will players be able to pilot the larger ships themselves with an NPC or Player crew?

8. What Classes of ships will be available at launch in STO? Will we see mostly new ships and revamped ships from the DS9/Voyager/TNG series or will there be examples of ships from TOS and Enterprise as well?

9. I know you said that you are planning on releasing a developer log to answer some of the questions posted to this forum. How often with you be posting these developers logs (Monthly/Bimonthly/Every other month)? Will there also be new content/screenshots/artwork in these logs as well as answers to fan questions?

10. What races and classes/careers will be available at launch?

I'm sure that most if not all of these questions have already been asked probably multiple times and I apologize, but I feel a repeat only stresses the want for an answer by gamers and Trek fans alike.

[rihannsu]

Is the graphic that depicts a battle between the Federation and the Romulans a hint at faction warfare? Does this mean the Romulans will be a playable race at any point?

[Cianna]

Will we be limited to one type of ship? Or can we "own" multiple vessels?

Example: In EVE, my toon has a shuttle for recon, a destroyer for when I want to do combat missions, a mining barge for when I want to mine, and a freighter for when I want to haul items from one system to another.

[amb]

Hey guys,

just one question for the moment:

Will the console version be any different from the PC version? If yes how does it look like (just thinking of features console players couldn't use)?

Thank you very much,

amb

[Honvik]

Will we see a DX10 Version of STO?

When is Beta slated for?

Will Guilds gain access to Beta?

Any chance for community Reps?

[Greyhawke]

This is a setting all about exploration and discovery, and I am sure we are all eager to see how Cryptic will bring that to STO. Could you share a specific example of how gameplay, missions, etc. will incorporate the less combat oriented style of Star Trek?

[vondemon]

PvP?

What percentage of time will be ship based vs. "away team" player avatar based?

What is you overall design of ship combat?

Can I get tossed around the bridge or trapped in a broken holo deck?!

[wildcat140679]

I've seen the question been asked over and over. It was a hot debate on the old forums, if my memory serves me right.
So I'm simply gonna ask it again, with the hope I might hear an official answer and see it end up in the FAQ or some thing.


As a player, are we the captain of our own star ship and have full control over it (Think Eve-Online or Star Trek: Bride Commander (NPC's doing our bidding)). Each player has its own star-ship to roam about through the galaxy to explore or wage war with and stuff like that.

or

As a player, we are part of a ships crew, being able to take on roles like, helm, tactical, engineering, security or captain of the ship it self. To work as a team to accomplish a single goal. Each player controlling a 3d Human/Klingon avatar repesenting them self, performing a certain role with in the star ship.

[Pounce]

Can you elaborate more on this -

"unique options for player-generated content set in the Star Trek universe"

- How much player-generated content are we looking at?
- WIll there be an approval process?
- How much control will players have on the content (mission text, enemies, goals)?

[Sloan_S31]

What made this game seem so magical was the idea of the possibility of people working together on a ship.
Now the actual functionality of it seemed to create all kinds of issues for Perpetual had decided to limit this "hub" gameplay, but this is how the game MUST BE if it's to be an awesome Star Trek mmo

We need player crews manning ships and not an entire ship to one player or it'll kill the realism of it.

A single ship should still be run as a guild/clan starting with an entry-level vesell and gradually upgrading in class as the guild progresses in experience and accumulates members to staff bigger ships.

[Ric_Adbur]

Will we be able to fly smaller ships?

(Shuttles, Runabouts... especially Delta Flyers?) :)

[slick22]

Will u only be allowed to team up with others during space battles or are able to link up both of your away mission parties?

[Urgelt]

This *could* be the MMORPG to end all MMORPGs. Rich background, enthusiastic trekkie fans, and... user generated content?

I won't duplicate the questions others have asked - though I hasten to add, I'm extremely interested in the answers to all of those questions. But I will pose some questions about user-generated content and farming.

Creating a huge, satisfying ST universe is no small undertaking. There are three broad categories of apprach to the task.

- In-house design. Likely to yield the highest, most consistent quality and the smallest universe.

- Throw open the door and let players create star systems, planets, and adventures for other players to enjoy. Likely to yield the largest universe, but quality will be highly variable.

- Moderated player-generated content. Moderators filter out designs which are inconsistent with the goals of STO. Likely to yield a larger universe than could be generated in-house, while still adhering to a reasonable standard of quality.

Which approach is planned?

Just as important as approach is the question of a toolset for user-generated content. I'm afraid it's a truism that the folks with the deepest passion for Star Trek are mosly not hard-core coders. If a tool-set is user-friendly enough, it will enable those passonate fans to get directly involved in design. What is planned in the way of a toolset?

One last queston. What actons, if any, will be taken to discourage and prevent "farming?" I've seen many MMORPGs essentially ruined by the intrusion of real-world sale of in-game assets. When achievements become a matter of how much you can afford to spend, rather than the quality of your game play, I lose interest in a game. I don't think trekkie fans will much like to see their ST universe dominated by farmers and their customers, and I think it's important to make clear your policy on this question right from the start.

Thanks!

[heldragon]

Will we be forced to be a captain with our own ship? Personally I don't find that part of the game as appealing, and not really immersive either. And I don't really like my characters to being the ones in charge, for the RP angle.

I hope there will be room for other types of characters in the game. Lots of the episodes aren't focused around steering a ship around.

Personally I think it should be possible to be a captain, but with more wide-spread gameplay than that. I never liked those simulator Star Trek games out there, but I loved Star Trek Elite Forces for the "living" in the trek universe feel it had. Ok, that was a shooter and I don't mean such gameplay, but still.

MMOs that feel more immersive are the ones that I stick around to, but I'll probably buy this anyway, since I'm a trekkie.

/Madeleine

[Final_Frontier]

As some have already mentioned, a lot of MMOs today have mostly generic Fed-Ex type missions. This might be acceptable in a franchise such as WarCraft, but as a (mostly) TV franchise Trek has always relied heavily on the stories and characters. Many of the very best episodes have been exceptional sci-fi stories, or involved serious moral dilemmas, or been great character studies - groundbreaking TV in many cases. It's never been about taking the easy route. This is what separates it from a lot of the other stories told on TV today, and indeed a huge part of its enduring success.

Fans come to Trek a large part thanks to this. Understanding that is key. How will you cement the importance of story in STO? Is there a credible way to do that without investing a considerable amount of resources on making truly unique missions?

What will Cryptic do to insure that the easy route is avoided as much as possible? Will Star Trek: Online be the MMO to play when you want not only immensely fun gameplay, but a story to move you? Can it be?

First post here, btw. Hi everybody!

[Captain_Joseph_Baller]

Will we be able to play as our Mirror Universe counterparts at all? That would bre amazing!:confused:

[Tyn]

My question is more cosmetic than technical.

Will we have different types of uniform, like we have seen through the tv series. Or will everyone be in the same type of uniform?

Examples would be Dr Crusher. She had the typical blue 'jump suit' but then she also had the blue coat.

Another would be Deanna Troi. She had a huge amount of uniforms over the course of the show. Will their be options for dresses and skirts for females, and if you have more than just Human and Kilngon (Gosh i hope so!!) Will their be race specific parts of the uniform, like the sash/belt thing worf wore?

Thanks!

[Acidrain]

Pay system - As someone that works allot, working on a masters degree will their be some type of pay system available for those that wouldn't be able to play 40hrs a week? Myself, i would be able to play about 3-5hrs a week and i was hoping that their will be some type of pay system in which would reflect those of us that don't have all the time in world to be able to play all hrs day and night?

Independents Players - Instead of being restricted to group types such as Federation, Klingon will their be types of groups that want to explorer on their own or form small factions?

Cheers,

Acidrain
Owner Operator of OutpostGamez
http://www.outpostgamez.com
outpostgamez@verizon.net

[Peterv5]

Can the player be races like andorian, if so can he be the captain of an andorian ship?

[EbonFalcon]

There have been a couple of posts talking about various aspects of the game...

Could you provide a brief but more detailed synopsis of how you (Cryptic) view game-play progression?

Does play start with Academy training and then lead to a first command? Does play and experience lead to a progression of ships/hulls which can be customized or does a player command essentially the same ship throughout his career?

The implications of humanoid settings like away parties and boarding are a ripe source of speculation... Are the starship and personal aspects of the game linked? Is experience a sum from both or are they tracked independently? Can one aspect of the game be avoided or ignored if a player so chooses?

Since we have been told that the game is being developed on the Cryptic Engine, it is an easy leap to start drawing comparisons to City of Heroes (which is, I believe, the same engine). Can you draw distinctions and contrasts to the features and systems in place in City of Heroes?

[achaney23]

Let the beatings begin! There is nothing I can add to the gynormous anount of questions that has all ready been asked. Maybe one, can I have a tribble as a pet? One that can't breed :p.

The multi post post from Hailing Frequency was just amazing. I imagine he's had that ready for some time. I see alot of familiar names. No surprise there. The highest post number so far that I have seen is 43 from Sir_Cedric. Which is just amazing for less than 12 hours. I wonder how long it will take someone to get to 1,000 without spamming? When I said the world was watching in a previous post. I did not expect such an onslaught of posts and people signing up so soon. But then again, this is Star Trek, and it's fans never give up hope. ;)

[koric]

Will larger starships be available for guilds/crews to man?

Please tell me ship exteriors will actually LOOK like something out of Star Trek. No customization please

Very limited and specified PvP zones please (if there is to be PvP at all) LOTRO did this correctly

Ship interiors should be at least somewhat detailed so players can move around in them

Will there be RP support?

[Bsweet]

Hi, i was wondering if STO was going to be a pay for play game, i know you would first have to buy the game at a retail store, but would there be monthly fees?

[The_Padre]

Is the Luna-class from the Star Trek: Titan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Titan) series of books going to be used at all?

[SammyF]

Should we gather based on the fact that you're using generally the same engine to build STO as CO and (I believe) CoH/CoV that if you can run City of Heroes on your computer, you'll probably be albe to run Star Trek Online? What are your targeted system specs?

[PattonJ007]

Is the Luna-class from the Star Trek: Titan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Titan) series of books going to be used at all?


Id like to see the Luna Class, but could you imagine being the guy who designed a starship for a book series and next thing you know it winds up in a massive Star Trek game? That would be awesome! I wish I was that guy.

[Maziwrath]

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

[TruthSeer]

How much of the work that was previously put into the game has been transfered over? Are the ship designs being brought over (I saw one or two I really liked), or is everything being started from scratch?

How is the mission/grouping system going to work? Will it be in lines with CoX where you can share missions in order for everyone to get completion xp or will it be more in line with other MMOs where you need the same mission?

In the about STO section you say that everyone will be captain, does this mean I can't be Security? or a Doctor? Engineer? Or can you pick a specialty when you are on a team?

[Mysterio]

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

African or European?

[Maziwrath]

African or European?

I don't know that!

[jfolds1]

another question, lots been flying around about ship insides.. was wondering if the main sections such as engineering, bridge and all could be fought over for control.

assuming you can be a security officer, one has to have something to secure.. so like you've got elite force type fighting going on in the corridors, taking sections of the ship.. even if its a small scale internal map..

would be so wild to see borg coming down the corridor towards the bridge lol fall back fall back

this would also work good for beaming over security to other ships

[BananaManUK]

I know its probally been asked, but will player housing be in the game? :D

[TruthSeer]

I know its early but how will borg be handled?

[Daggaroth]

here is my question to Cryptic.


will there be specific ships to accommodate Mining and Hauling?

the Star trek Universe is huge and not everything is about phasers and Photon Torpedoes,

[Efefia]

I don't know that!

They're one and the same, the Swallow is a migratory bird ;)

And a question:

Will there be systems and/or functions ingame that encourage socialisation outside of combat scenarios?

[Squingleberg]

I have tons of questions about this project, but at the request of Cryptic, I will choose the one most important to me (yeah, I know its probably been asked before as well but maybe if enough people ask then it will get answered):

When and how will be able to get our hands on the beta?!

Thanks Cryptic! You guys have chosen to undertake a project near and dear to so many of our hearts, so do it right!

[Dark_MatterTRON]

Are you only playing as a Klingon Captain or Starfleet Captain? Or do other ranks exist as well?

[Jaqknife]

I have several Questions to ask.

1. How will Character advancement be done? Level and Class based or Skill Based

2. How will crafting be implemented?

3. How will PvP be implemented?

4. What will be the death penalty?

5. What other Races can be played?

6. How much of the ship interior can be seen?

7. Will multiple players be able to crew a single startship or is it 1 player per ship.

8. How will the ships crew be implemented? AI controled or multiple player controled.

9. How will crew casualties be handled? A ship is only as good as it's crew.

10. What all can be customized on my ship?

[mintor426]

-How will the progress system work out, will it be like swg career XP is gained or a rigid, class Level system like World of Warcraft?

astart as cadet work way to capt. like star wars galaxy ? ipo of star trek a person start as cadet before capt.

[mintor426]

You mentioned that we will be able to play Klingons and Humans (So far)... Will there be opposing sides within STO?

must be able play vulcan , they were first contact.

[AxeFalador]

Sorry if this has already been asked, but could we possibly expect to make our own "log entries"? Star Trek just isn't Star Trek without log entries. And if there will be log entries, how will they work? Will they be like journal entries that you type up yourself, and maybe share with others? Or will they be automatically composed based on recent activities? Also, if there will be log entries, how will the stardate system work in STO?

[JonahFalcon]

Can I meat Picard in game..please?

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

[mintor426]

With a universe like Star Trek's which focuses almost solely on members of various galactic militaries, how extensive will character customization be like swg ? i hope does like engieer,ensinon,doctor, commucation spec,scientist , etc.

[Gatoros]

1. How much 'instancing' :( is going to be used in this title?

2. How will ranks be handled?

3. Is there any difference to the proposed timeline of this game compared to PE's original story backdrop?

[Ric_Adbur]

The thing that concerns me most is the console version. Please tell me that the console and PC versions won't interact with each other... I don't want the PC STO to be 'dumbed down' because it's gotta work with the console version, wich will have to be dumbed down for the more casual gamers on consoles and the limited console control options. :(

[mintor426]

1. I am tlaking about being able to walk around and live on your starship. Like they do in, what's that called? Oh yeah, Star Trek.

2. well.. if your gonna have security officers ?


3. Ships MUST be manned by crews, ie guilds ?

4. will the game have frieghters and mining ships like in star trek ?.

5. will they have play own house , city and corp ? all throught star trek ppl own city , corps and houses .

6. walk around in side of ships, Visiting engineering, armory, bridge, sickbay, my own quarters, shuttlebay, etc.

7. extensive ship interiors...walking down corridors...in your quarters (which you can customize) engineering sections...full bridge (which has fully usable consoles for helm, tactical, engineering, communications, sensors, computer, astrogation, etc)...restrooms...etc .

8. will their be Human Crew with npc ?

9. will their b e trading , mining and galactic economy ? in the real star trek ?

10.Engineering crafting class .... the shipwright? That sounds awesome!

[Gruug]

I have but one question. It was stated on the new STO site that the game would be developed for both console and PC formats. Does this mean that gameplay will be cross-platform or will there be game servers seperate for each format? :confused:

[Commander_Daedelus]

What type of endgame are we looking at?
Please tell me the game is skill based and not gear based IE you lose because u have green armour instead of purples, i want to see tactics and planning make the outcome not your +damage to phasers

[Highcommander]

well there are 11 pages of questions by the time I post this, so I hope that I am not hashing a question that has already been asked.

#1. What are we looking at for economy? Will it be inclusive in game play (for example purchase items for ships and combat, crafting etc..) Or will it be secondary for non-combat purposes and such. (I am assuming it wont be nonexistent)

#2. Will there be crafting and if so how intensive will it be.. simplified or advanced?

#3. What kind of advancement will be possible, Character advancement? Ship advancement? Guild (PA) advancement? Faction advancement? Economic advancement?

I have soooo many questions, I will see if any of those get answered first.

[Djin]

We need more cow-bells! j/k

More player factions would be ideal! Gotta make Star Trek MASSIVE... it is an MMORPG. And Star Trek in general is a massive feat.

I just hope to see more factions...

[DarkMaiden]

Why only humans and Klingons? Nothing against them, but I usually don't play humans and I don't want to be one of the million other ppl playing a Klingon. What about Vulcan, Bajorans and the other notable races of the genre, and how about races from the past like the Kizinti (sp)?

[Twsly76]

How much of the Prime Directive will we have to consider when making choices in the game, I.e. Hostile ship approaches from far off do we communicate frist and try to make contact, or raise shields, red alert man the battle station we're going to blow this ship up before we Know why he is warping at us wrecklessly.

[Joel_Katten]

I think my question will knockout all the gameplay and functionality questions in one fell swoop.

Describe, using any OTHER Star Trek game(s) OR another genre similar game as a reference, the basic way the Avatar and Ship aspects of the game will play like. For example, "STO will play like [AvCom] Elite Force mixed with a KOTOR system, while the ship combat will be more like Freelancer mixed with BridgeComm." <----Just an example :D

[AaronH]

I am wondering what kind of mission structure are you going for? How will you get missions, will there be contacts? Will there be some sort of mission "scanner"? Will there be noncombat missions? Will missions have multiple methods of resolution?

[Doctorie]

Where will I find the answers to all the questions asked so far?They about asked all I need to know.

[TruthSeer]

Why only humans and Klingons? Nothing against them, but I usually don't play humans and I don't want to be one of the million other ppl playing a Klingon. What about Vulcan, Bajorans and the other notable races of the genre, and how about races from the past like the Kizinti (sp)?

They didn't say humans they said Federation, Federation= Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, possibly Bajorans depending on when the game takes place, and a lot of other species.

[lionatwork]

What will be the server structure? Are there going to be several servers like in WOW, or one big Server cluster like in EVE Online?

[Elfender]

I'm intrested in gameplay, perpetuals ideal of mutiples of playes controlling one ship was intrigueing, i dont really need to see starfleet command MMO, i want an RPG with real elements of star trek, which includes the need for an Engineer, Tac officer, Nav and comm officers etc etc (please no wesley crusher... :P)

im sure i might actually play it anyway, but not for long.

[mintor426]

With the game coming to console too I would think voicechat is a good contender for a game feature. I think it would make playing more easy especially in large scale space battles with a ton of different ships flying by you.

[Wodahs]

Where will I find the answers to all the questions asked so far?They about asked all I need to know.

Read the first post in this thread, sounds like they will show up in the news section of the main site in articles titled "Ask Cryptic"

[AlienOverlord]

How will you handle the 'open world' part of MMORPGs when the setting is the entire galaxy?

Instances for space stations would make sense but what about planets? Will they be treated as 'zones' from other MMORPGs?

I'm interested to see what you do with this game, it sounds like you're off to the right start.

[starbuck1771]

will you be posting on startrek.com as well?

[Slivan]

I didnt read all the posts here but my question is.

What are you guys going to do with combat Away missions or ship invasions.. will it be fast paced fps style like perpetual was going to do. or are you going to go typical target press 1 and watch them die.... Witch in my opinion is just stupid considering how many times have you seen someone take more then one hit from a faser at full power?? apart from the borg?

[leong57]

Why only humans and Klingons? Nothing against them, but I usually don't play humans and I don't want to be one of the million other ppl playing a Klingon. What about Vulcan, Bajorans and the other notable races of the genre, and how about races from the past like the Kizinti (sp)?

Have to agree...there should be a good range to choose from.

[Starhammer]

Will subscriptions/billing/etc. be handled in house as with CO? Will there be any "package deals" available for those who play both games (as most of us can only realistically play one at a time anyway)? Will there be any form of global chat communication between STO ad CO available?

[Skorpios666]

Its good to see the Star Trek MMO finally getting some work done to it again but theres a few questions which id like to know.

How much of perpetuals work and ideas are you taking, or is this a completely fresh start?

Some of the screenshots like the planetary screenshot looks a little cartooish, is this intended? I dont think a WoW graphics style Star Trek would go down too well. ST needs to look realistic, perpetual seemed to be on the right track with graphics in those early screenshots they showed of the Observation lounge etc.

I would love the game to have a strong Sandbox feel I think thats very important with a Star Trek MMO, so will STO have that Open Ended style to it or be more strict with the things were allowed to do?

Will starships be roamable, or will we be stuck in some kind of EVE style combat in space, with views outside the ship? Hopefully not considering we have plenty of Starship based combat games for ST I can go play any day.

Which uniforms will be in use, the canon ones from the future in the TNG Episode "All Good Things" and Voys "Endgame" which were around the 25th century or something like the strange non-canon ones we saw in Perpetuals mock up drawings?

[brius63]

I'm sure it's already been asked but I just gotta make sure it's in here.

Can we get a ball park estimate on how far along the game is?



Also...beta?

[mintor426]

Avatar creation will thier be very good one like age of connan , is best so far in a mmo ?

[nexudude]

I'd like to ask if you would please trash the lense flare camera effect I've seen in the screenshots. I don't want to be looking through a lense, i want to be right there!

Also, what are the ship controls like? I don't think I would play this game if you guys put in click-to-move like EVE.

[Aurelius]

Will there be a Mac version of the client??

[mintor426]

will their be highly developed skill tree system like pre-NGE SWG ?

[swedishviking]

What features from Perpetual's version did you keep and what did you get rid of?

[Snowblind]

How many players will fit on a ship?

Will be possible to run a ship with let's say 5 friends?

Will we be able to fly anywhere we want?

Thanks and GOOD LUCK!

[mintor426]

will we have realistic flight times between planets, with encounters, mini-missions and such along the way ?

[Etapi]

Well, I am sure all of these questions have been asked already, but I will post my own versions for my own satisfaction and to possibly reinforce the importance of them (at least in my opinion).

What will the progression system be like? Sandbox style (like the original SWG prior to the combat upgrade -sidenote, imo the best progression system I have ever seen in an MMO) or level style like WoW and all the other cookie cutter MMO's

Will there be starship interiors? Will there be player housing? Will there be guild support and guild housing? If so, will it scale to the size of the guild? (galaxy class starship for the largest guilds, or perhaps their own starbase)

What will the economy be based on? Will there be crafting systems and if so, will they be as simple as WoW or complex and enjoyable like SWG?

What modes of travel will be available.

What type of pvp will be available, are we going to see some good quality space based ship to ship pvp like SWG allowed?

What sort of questing system will be available?

What timeline are we going to see? Is this going to be set in Nextgen/DS9 time frame or earlier, or later? Or will there be time/space features that allow us to visit different time frames?

Will there be faction based progression as well as skill based progression? Will we have admirals and ensigns?

What is the development time frame? How soon to beta and how soon to the anticipated launch?

When will we see actual screen shots vs. artists conceptions?

I am sure I will come up with more questions in the future, but that is all I have for now.:)

[mintor426]

will we have at lest 8 playable races at start ?

[AnthonySabre]

If there is a beta, how can I get in on it?

Will players have the ability to play together on a single ship as a crew?

[AnthonySabre]

If there is a beta, how can I get in on it?

Will players have the ability to play together on a single ship as a crew?

[Redeemer]

What upgrades will be available for our vessels? Will upgrades we make to our ships be visible on the ship's exterior if this is applicable or will the appearance of the ship not change with upgrades we may make?

[Captain_Intrepid]

Would we be able to see the likes of Admiral Jackelope?

Can we set our phasers to stun?

Can we find/recover/confiscate alien technology, research it and then develop something from it to intergrate into Star Trek technology (like what the original X-COM games allowed the player to do)?

Would we be limited to one character per player or multiple characters? One server or many?

[KypFisto]

Will I get my own quarters?

Will I be able to walk around my own ship's bridge?

How detailed is the character creation system?

What kind of support will there be for roleplayers?

[Lateris]

First off I am really happy to see this game arrive in your hands and relieved. :D

1.) Will we be a ble to walk around in ships?
2.) WIll androids play a role in gameplay?
3.) Will there be pets for gameplay?
4.) Will we have player quarters\rooms\houses\stations?
5.) Can we colonize a planet?
6.) Who willl distribute the game?
7.) Who is the publisher?

[Lenonn]

Will the storyline of the game be the same or similar to Perpetual's plans (twenty years after Star Trek Nemesis, exploring the Beta Quadrant, et al.?

[mobiusptc]

hi thank you for giving us opportunity
here is my list of questions

-will there be a sort of open sandbox-type of game play (kinda like swg in the early days) or will it be very linear as in doctor cant be ship capt or once you decide to go security you cant switch over to medical or engineering. ?
- same type can you switch factions without starting from scratch? going from start fleet to maqui for example or star fleet and going exploring solo in a small runabout-type craft. ?
-decoration of ship/quarters maybe? (would love a disco ball in my ten forward ;p) ?
-creating own holonovel if the holodeck are implemented?
-economy....how do we pay or can we upgrade components on starship or players. (side dealing with a certain ferangi weapons dealer maybe? :cool:)?
- 2D or 3D space combat?
- first person or third person for going exploring a planet?
- can we turn evil so to speak become pirate( if pvp is implemented) or switch over to romulan handing them the newest class of ship starfleet has to offer?
- how extensive can you personlize your player physical features since everyone will be in uniform as to be able to tell players appart?
-will there be developers event or will it be player event?
-will you make time go forward after certain time ( a year or 2 later for example in the real world) or will the timeline not change?
-customization of player clothes when not on duty?

thank you for the time in reading. i realize you will not likely be able to answer most of my question now and will problaby have to wait for beta or hte game to go live. but you might be able to tell im the type of person that doesnt like straight path :D so this is more of a wish list maybe

[TardisCaptain]

I really liked the ability to take my character from ocean (server) to ocean in Pirates of the Caribbean. Will I have this same ability on the ST Online servers if I want to meet a friend who just signed on?

Will we have the ability to control Space Stations as well as Starships? How much customization control will we have over ships/stations?

I would love to have the ability to have a player ability to help repair ships (damage control stations) during ship battles. Any chance of this option?

Thank you again for providing this for us. Can't wait to see it.

[choopy]

Granted, i'm not the ultimate Trekkie or anything, but i was a big TNG buff, and as i recall, the federation didn't use any currency (i assume since they can just replicate anything). How do you plan to address this, if at all?

[Jenkl]

I think the most pertinent question, that has the best chance of actually being able to be answered at this point is:

How much of Perpetual's stuff are you keeping, in terms of art, code, but most importantly game design?

[spartan547]

How much control will I have over my starship? Will I be able to manually adjust the shields during battle or reroute power to weapons and away from life support? And will the ships crews be all AI controlled or will players be able to sign onto other players ships and serve under them?

[mintor426]

will we see Diplomacy used in this game. Would be cool if one path we could choose to become is an Ambassador.

[Lt.Renak]

My questions are:
1.will there be localisation into other languages?
2.will you keep an eye to role play gamers
3. will it be possible to form crews for big ships like Galaxy Class and Vorch' a Class?
4. How will costumization for characters and ships work? As a starfleet officer I have got my uniform so what will you offer to find other/new sensefull and usefull items?
5. Is it possible to choose whether to play starfleet or free adventurer with my own ship as human aswell as klingon?
6. How do you plan to integrate PvP into this game? Will there be a chance to fight historical battles via holodoc or something like that?
7. How do I handle my starship? 3. person? from inside?
8. In what timeline do we play? TOS,ENT,TNG, Future?

[Stephen_P_Hunt]

I, like so many others, have been waiting for what seems like an age for this to be released.

Do you have any release dates for the UK?

Do you know what the online subscription charges will be?

How do I get involved with the beta testing? :D (Not that I'm excited or anything!)

[coyote]

3) Is space combat 2d or 3d?


Add to this: will space be 2D or 3D in general?

This is the most important exploration / combat style question I have. Will space be true 3D allowing for realistic battle maneuvers and space strategy, and giving a sense of how big volume can be with just one added dimension, or just 2D to accomodate our adaption to a flat environment and simplify the user interface (and where, surprisingly, a circle of ships constitutes a perfectly good defensive layout)?

I guess its obvious, but I would hate to see another game where space is watered down to only 2 dimensions.

[Banach]

In my opinion it should be perfect if possible to have both approaches, like watching the main view screen and see a battle in 3d, and look at a panel on your side to view/edit combat manouvers.

[CHN_BEAR285]

You know that you have taken on making a mmorpg for the without a doubt most highly critical and passionate group in the known universe.

I ask you but one thing, stay true to the TREK ideals. Stick to your guns, let us finally play a STAR TREK game worthy of saying to my kids. OMG ya gotta play this.

[psyonic]

Ok, this game is planned to have both starship and humanoid avatars, and have use of both for fighting, etc.

I got a few questions related to that:

1. What is the ratio between, ship to avatar content? do the game have, say, 3 hours of avatar fights for 1 ship, equal, or more spaceship than avatar fighting?

2. How is the planned standard playing loop? Most games got a repeatable "loop" who players run trough when they do a game, as, login, say hello to someone, find a team, go get mission, travel to mission, do mission, fetch loot, go back, sell loot, repeat from the stage relevant(if: if team is disbanded or not).
Will there be a obligatory ship phase, a combat phase in each mission, or, independent ship fighting missions and ground missions?

And more important:
3. will there be borgs in catsuits? Or for that matter Kzin catgirls as in the animated series? :D

[Banach]

*is secretely hoping this game will add some new elements then default MMORPG ones now out, and vouches for Klingon females in armored catsuits*

[admriker444]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My questionfor Cryptic is will there be non-combat classes ?

Star Trek wasnt all about killing things. In fact a majority of the genre was exploration, diplomacy, relationships, etc.

Personally I want a chance to run my own bar on a space station. Or maybe help design ships. How about letting me become a terraforming scientist ?

I know its asking a lot, but look at your target audience. We arent the teen WoW crowd. We want more than "kill 12 and deliver to -" stuff to do.

[Calvert]

German community member Vok´Dal:
Will grinding be necessary?
Will we see and meet star trek chars from the shows?
Will there be missions in space, outside the ship?

Lukas.M
Do you plan to implement more races than the Klingon empire and federation with a patch or addon?

Quentin
What do you think about the Star Trek Canon? Will the STO, planned by Cryptic Studios be Canon?

Stajerc
Did you take some ideas from Perpetual? If yes - which ones?
Which will be the largest ship for command?
Will there be ships, only controllable by fleets (guilds)?
Will there be ship classes which the player isn't able to control? If yes - why? Which classes?
Can players walk through their own ships? Also while flying?
Is support for fleets/guilds/clans planned?

[Redoubt]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My questionfor Cryptic is will there be non-combat classes ?

Star Trek wasnt all about killing things. In fact a majority of the genre was exploration, diplomacy, relationships, etc.

Personally I want a chance to run my own bar on a space station. Or maybe help design ships. How about letting me become a terraforming scientist ?

I know its asking a lot, but look at your target audience. We arent the teen WoW crowd. We want more than "kill 12 and deliver to -" stuff to do.

Ditto. Not everyone is going to want to go to SFA for a captain's chair either. I personally would like to find a quiet, oulying corner of the Alpha Quadrant and set up a trading post next to a Dilithium mine or perhaps run a freighter loaded with Tribbles (LOL @ Klingons).

The ST universe is... or should be a dynamic place...

[Croesis]

You really opened the floodgates on this! I'm awaiting the answers to all the questions so far.

Can I suggest a format to the Ask Cryptic thread. Only the first proper question after the last Dev reply gets answered, that should curtail all of these massive posts and gives you Dev's some time to answer each question thoroughly and appropriately.

[Maziwrath]

A major question I have is if you are always the Captain, of what importance are different professions anyway?

[Banach]

I really am hoping they will add more to that as when everyone player will start as captain with a ship with 100% npc crew this game will hold no interest for me.

[LunaticFringer]

Odd question to ask this late in but...

Have the Devs developed tool sets to make adding to the game over time more approachable than we've seen in older mmorpgs where we often hear about code diving or having to tediously create from scratch because the tools were never part of the original design?

If the answer to this is yes then I think we'll all have more reason to be excited. Why? Because if we have limited character customization as an example at the start but the tools are there for them to tweak it to a widely more available feature after launch we'll know our Devs have a solid base from which to expand with. The easier it is for them to add stuff the more likely we'll see more added over time.

[jfolds1]

question about transporters

if we have ship insides, can i hop into it and transport over to a friends ship.. materalize and walk up to the bridge

;)


that would be so awesome...


oh.. and id rather not start out in a galaxy class, maybe a shuttle.. and lvl my way

and a expanding galaxy would be cool... so like there would never be a completely explored galaxy.. or something spore like where the galaxy is so insanely large that it just works out that way

would also be cool if burned out ships could be tractored in by ferengi players to sell for scrap lol ferengi would love to visit borg attack sites lol oh man.. thats almost enough for me to play ferengi

anyway, i dont post all this in question form but could any of the above be possible?

[RedShirt]

The biggest question I have is how much of the original code did Cryptic get to "salvage" when picking up STO from the Perpetual snafu?


I too would like to see this answered, well not just code, models textures, ideas etc?

Also Were you working on ST:O during the down time or have you just started working on it?

[frostquake]

I know, I know it will never ever happen, but I can dream can't I?

Can't wait for this, but sadly I am so ever ever tired of upgrading my Computers. I now have 8 computers and 2 laptops. To bad they couldn't give away TOP of the line computers for free if you just had to watch a commercial every time it came on, I would sign up!

So I will be playing this on the consoles, and since I own them all I will be looking for the best experience on which ever console offers the best. I just wish, oh how I wish with all of my tiny zebra hearts that the developers would be brave and package this for the consoles with a keyboard and mouse..price it at $89.99, and then I would jump for love of all one horned bi-pedals everywhere. I know it will never happen but I can dream. They could still make the game for the consoles to just use the evil game pad, but having a Limited Edition(LE) that comes with Keyboard and Mouse to hook up to the PS3 or 360 would be Wonderful. I would pull out the old TV Tray and put my Keyboard and Mouse there, Heck I already do that with My Eye Of Judgment Card game for the PS3.

Sadly I don't ever seeing that happen, but one day, just maybe when the moon is that ever so happy color of orange, someone deep in the bowels of these developers will take a risk.

[gothelder]

How is good vs evil going to be handled, Too many of these online games become a place where the strong prey upon the weak. People who find loopholes in the rules just to grief other folks.

How will online (for lack of a better term) ******s be dealt with?
How will player grievances against other players be handled?
Will there be a serious downside to being considered an "outlaw" and an upside to being "virtuous"?
(for example an honest ferengi would be considered an outlaw a pacafist Klingon also an outlaw)

Will there be massive invasions (Wolf-359?)