STO at Ten Ton Hammer (August 26, 2008)

[Kestrel]

Ten Ton Hammer caught up with Jack Emmert at GenCon 2008 to talk more about Star Trek Online.

To me, even over Star Wars, Star Trek space ships have always captured my imagination. Their shape is unique, it’s more distinctive to me than anything else I’ve ever seen.

Read the entire Q&A here! (http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/41253)

[Sherp]

Dang, y'all don't keep us waiting between updates, do you? :D

I'll admit that when I heard about player-creatable races, my first reaction was Dear sweet Yahvo, they're going to make Deltans (http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Deltan) a playable race! We are doomed! DOOMED!

I must admit, however, that this is a much better way to include customization than Perpetual's model of allowing us to put "bling" on our uniforms.

This interview satisfies me! I will continue to spread the STO gospel to my friends and coworkers!

[lumpking69]

Keep the good coming guys!

[RockyM]

F'n sweet guys !
This is great stream of info to keep on the hook :D

[CaptainBaumer]

Good to hear about customization. We learn more all the time.

[iPond317]

This is flippin sweet! Now start releasing new screenshots with each update! :D

[Axtell]

What map will be used to navigate in the ST Universe? Will Star Trek Star Charts be used?

Looks very promising, well done.

[Sorbek]

My only worry is you running out of stuff that you can tell us before it gets released!! :D

Good info! Any and all information you can give us we will soak up!

[Cyclorama]

I think it's great that the devs are giving us so much info about what they are up to.

[Trekkie]

This is another great update! Thank you for posting this!

[Vicelance]

I like the information on the customization, makes it seem like each side will have their uniforms without too much variance. This gives me hope that the ship customization wont be overboard.

[RogueEnterprise]

I think the most interesting thing to come out of this is that the mission areas on planets with away teams will be instanced. Everything else, I think we pretty much knew already. =)

[Wv65fyNyesWmTy8c]

Will there be a different language for the races or does every one 'speak English' ? Learning new languages in a 'game' wont be new to me anyhow.

Now what it is would be that if you were Klingon, even though you type in English and read it in English others who are Klingon will see what you typed while those that do not know it will see gibberish or nothing but 'they are talking in some language' .

That is what I mean.

[johnny_sisko]

Most of my focus is on Champions. Our Executive Producer Craig Zinkievitch is doing the majority of Star Trek work. My work on STO is mostly support. We sat down, we came up with the initial vision, and now Craig owns that vision - it’s up to him to bring it alive.

Now that it's quite clear that Craig Zinkievitch is running the show, and Jack is only supporting him, I'd like to see an interview done with Craig. He is, after all, the man who will be delivering to us STO. Everything to date has focussed on Jack's vision etc. Whilst it most likely would sync in with Craig's, I feel we need to hear more from him.

Good interview, but can the media's please start to annoy Craig!!!!

And can Cryptic please give us a meet and greet with him as well! Give us an interview, an inkling, something more so we can start to connect to Craig, and the work he is currently under taking.

[mrberrie]

Sorry, this was a wee double posting mistake, cant find the delete button though...

[mrberrie]

Will there be a different language for the races or does every one 'speak English' ? Learning new languages in a 'game' wont be new to me anyhow.

Now what it is would be that if you were Klingon, even though you type in English and read it in English others who are Klingon will see what you typed while those that do not know it will see gibberish or nothing but 'they are talking in some language' .

That is what I mean.


i think the universal translator would take care of this. unless your in some weird "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra." situation.

But thanks for another Q&A guys, keep the good stuff coming! :)

[Reinkaos]

Now that it's quite clear that Craig Zinkievitch is running the show, and Jack is only supporting him, I'd like to see an interview done with Craig. He is, after all, the man who will be delivering to us STO. Everything to date has focussed on Jack's vision etc. Whilst it most likely would sync in with Craig's, I feel we need to hear more from him.

Good interview, but can the media's please start to annoy Craig!!!!

And can Cryptic please give us a meet and greet with him as well! Give us an interview, an inkling, something more so we can start to connect to Craig, and the work he is currently under taking.

Yeah, this made me curious. If Jack's only an "asset" for STO, and Craig's the main man, why haven't we heard more from him, instead of someone who's main concern is a completely different game?

[da_Borgs]

Woohoo! Thanks for the updates!

[Stu1701]

It was said that character's uniform customization probably wouldn't be seen in STO, that character customization would mostly revolve around physical attributes (hair, eyes, skin, etc.). I think we should have a least a little customization in the uniforms. I know the whole concept of a uniform is so to present a level of everything being same, but in episodes of Star Trek we have seen different uniforms being worn in the same time period.

Examples: In the middle seasons of TNG (3 and 4) we saw the early TNG uniforms without the collar, and the new ones with the collar being worn at the same time. Later when DS9 came out we saw a new uniform with the color on the shoulders, but the crew of the Enterprise and other ships still wore the older uniforms with the color in the midsection. Later in DS9 when they came out with the uniforms with the grey shoulders and colored turtlenecked shirt under it, we still saw the older ones at some time or another.

When Voyager's EMH traveled to the Prometheus why didn't Starfleet upgrade his program with the newer uniform for the rest of the Voyager crew? I think the real reason for this is to keep a few differences between the shows that ran together, but it still shows that uniforms did differ between Starfleet officers from one time to another.

This can also apply to Klingon uniforms. Yes, they all did have relatively uniforms, but there were always small differences between each warrior's uniform. Sometimes one would be wearing a sash, some would have writing on their gauntlets, the shoulder pieces sometimes had a few different variations, plus there's the emblem of their house that was usually worn on the arm or a sash.

So to sum up, I think there are plenty of ways to put in uniform customization for STO. Weather it's being able to change your actual uniform, or just being able to add small things like emblems, etc.

[boz75]

Thanks for the update! I also picked up on the fact that he is concentrating on CO primarily. (I hope that STO isn't affected too much by Cryptic working on 2 titles at the same time)
However, he did mention that player crews may be something they consider in the future.

[warp2125]

To be honest... I'm not all that impressed. Cryptic have used this char customizer in other games... City of heros for instance, and the one pilot per ship method has been used by EVE online. I cant see the point of having a whole ship to yourself.

So far STO looks like its a copy of other games.

[Duckdee]

Glad to see the reason they dropped PC crews was because it would most likely be incredibly dull. Disappointed that we'll probably all be lumbered with the same uniform, hopefully the ship customisation will be awesome.

Edit - *facepalm* Forgot there were different uniforms in the trailer.

[SaintFirea]

To be honest... I'm not all that impressed. Cryptic have used this char customizer in other games... City of heros for instance, and the one pilot per ship method has been used by EVE online. I cant see the point of having a whole ship to yourself.

So far STO looks like its a copy of other games.

Can you imagine having a "real crew" it be almost impossible, not everyone plays the same times. You'd have random people filling in positions all threw the ship. I like the idea of "pet crews" just fine. Least a npc crew isn't gonna get drunk and slam my ship into a spacestation lol. I doubt Sto will be like eve, for one eve is friggin hardcore, when you die you lose everything unless your ship in insured, and even than you lose all your mods you put on it. Thankful it been said that the days of extream death penalties are behind us. Which is good considering space isn't exactly a friendly place lol.

[Blackfire2]

Yeah, this made me curious. If Jack's only an "asset" for STO, and Craig's the main man, why haven't we heard more from him, instead of someone who's main concern is a completely different game?


Right on the button there, I was certianly under the impression that Jack was running the show. He certianly gave us a good impression that that was so in vegas. At least to me anyway.

At least some good came out of that interview, regarding uniforms NOT bieng customizable. Now if only they would say the same for the ships too, I'll be all the happier for it.

[Mozbe]

GOOD GOD MAN!!!!! I just can't wait to play this game!! :D

[Tsibao]

thanx for news^^

another thought for customization: although we will be most of our time at duty, there will be times were we are not or?
and also for the Holodeck, i think these are two reasons why an alternate outfit could be implemented if possible for the player to customize^^

[Linton]

The planet instancing is a bit disappointing. I was hoping I'd be able to run into Klingons on the surface. : /

Other than that, I'm still really looking forward to it.

[VainEldritch]

So, when can we hear from Craig Zinkievitch...?

Since Jack Emmert is a "resource", don't you think the head of the project should at least post something or speak to us about his vision for the game.

Jack gave most people a good first impression (seemed driven, intelligent and "on the Star Trek ball"), but he is not the captain of the good ship Star Trek Online - in fact he appears to the a story/dialogue writer and PR gopher...

Any chance of a "Captain's Address", Craig...?

[Rivaris]

not bad 90% of the info how ever is the same info thats been posted in every update tho.

i wish those guys would read the other sites and ask some new stuff.

cant wait for the next update tho

[louthan1]

does anyone know anything about open or closed beta?

[alucard1]

Okay, I read the update, and really liked most of what I read. However, as has been mentioned here a little, the issue of instancing is a little disheartening:


You mentioned instancing, how will Star Trek Online make use of non-persistent areas?

Definitely when you go to a certain planet, it’s just you and your teammates beaming down to it.


I can understand the need for this in most situations, but could their be certain areas that would run the risk of two different groups beaming down onto the same world?

E.g. The Federation has an emergency distress call from a 'colony' on a planet in the Neutral Zone. Upon arrival to said colony, the Feds beam down and begin a 'rescue' or recon of the site only to come upon a group of 'opposite faction' players (be it Klingon, Romulan or various other foe types.)

I think situations like that would be a great deal more dynamic, interesting... and fun.

As I said I do understand the reasoning behind having a planet be a "single instance" for players, but I hope the developers can keep in mind this idea as a sporadic occurrence in specific areas.

Peace

[Richman12]

At least he mentioned that they would upgrade the game down the road. Though I do agree making 5 different styles of game play and combining them all at once is a very big challange in the terms of game mechanics.

As for customization of uniform I highly doubt they will not make it that way form the start because they already got the customization programing thier from CO.
Wouldn't be that hard to design the graphic content for it either would just need to start out with a few small customizations to work with then gradually add more with content pacths.

[Rivaris]

does anyone know anything about open or closed beta?

aye in about 2-3 years less if were lucky

[MagusSchneider]

hum... but what i do want (ok, i'm going to be hammered down) is ship customization. More... much more than char customization.

[Tetracobalt]

Only 1 person to a ship is fine for starters, but I really hope this changes. You could increase pace and dynamic nature of the gameplay by letting people team up. Think of this scenario:

Two fighting ships fly into a nebula, automatic targeting doesn't work or is damaged.

Each ship is manned with 3 players, first player at helm to pilot and manage ship systems, the second player on phasers, and the third player on torpedoes.

The helmsman player would carefully navigate the nebula careful not to go into dangerous sections that can detonate because of weapons fire or engine disturbance.

Two weapons players manually target the enemy ship(s) trying to take them out.

Players should be able to exchange their roles anytime, aka change from helm to weapons or vice-versa. Maybe even add other small subtasks like buffing and debuffing while also handling their primary task. There are so many ship systems that can come into play in combat such as shield management, power distribution, tractor beam, and deflector control.

At any rate, three people teamed up could make that fight go much more smooth and professional then one person juggling so many things all at once. This would be perfect for PvE where one ship is against a fleet of less powerful but numerous enemies. Also PvE where multiple ships are against an enemy that is overpowering like the Borg! I think it goes without saying that PvP would benefit from this kind of rapid teamwork on a single ship.

[CaptainMendez]

I'm really looking forward to this game :-)

[Ensign.Ricky]

I am glad to hear how detailed the facial and body customizationis but I'm a little worried of how visible that will all be. The face isn't the most visible thing on a Character and almost all of the game I will probably be looking at the back of my character :(. I'm also not too thrilled about limited uniform customization since I liked the different uniforms of over the years. Hopefully they will add clothing for off duty to qwell my need.

I think we might be able to accept similar uniforms so long as Cryptic allows minor tweaks and accessories (headbands, Sashes, Visors, Facial tattos) or maybe just updates the global uniforms just like the Series did over time (ie. changing after a couple years).

[archaicx3]

i'm just glad to see how much they have accomplished, yet it wont be out for 2 more years.

it just shows that they dont want to screw up, and launch too early and have lots of game bugs. like SWG did. nothing is worse then getting a whole bunch of people to join your quest and you venture out for an hour or 2 and have the last part of it not spawn.

and i cant stop watching the trailer.

[The_Padre]

Now that it's quite clear that Craig Zinkievitch is running the show, and Jack is only supporting him, I'd like to see an interview done with Craig. He is, after all, the man who will be delivering to us STO. Everything to date has focussed on Jack's vision etc. Whilst it most likely would sync in with Craig's, I feel we need to hear more from him.

Good interview, but can the media's please start to annoy Craig!!!!

And can Cryptic please give us a meet and greet with him as well! Give us an interview, an inkling, something more so we can start to connect to Craig, and the work he is currently under taking.

You mean like this one: Q&A with Craig Zinkievich (http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/startrekonline/news.html?page=1&sid=6195709)

[blackfx]

Sounds awesome!!!

[timhansen1976]

Hi guys & gals. I'm kinda a former trekikie, but I guess we never stop being trekkies. I used to run the website Section31.com while I was in college and once I sold the domain I have honestly have not been interested in Star Trek at all until I heard there was an online game coming out. IIt's about time Star Trek created a game like this because there are so many possibilities involed with the genre. In fact, I gave up running my news website to play Star Wars Galaxies. I had hopes and realized them in making a Dark Jedi Master, which I did achieve before SOE screwed the entire game up and everyone left for WOW on our server.

Truth is this ... World of Warcraft is a grind fest I'm totally sick of it and no longer have fun playing. There are raid schedules you have to keep. Guilds hope you get the 25 players geared for their roles online ... on time and ready to go... as well as prepared ( which NEVER happens ). And if you want to gear doing PvP? ... Takes less help but almost as much time.

I want to experience everthing Star Trek in this game. There are so many possiibilities. It's an endless resource for content... I just want a game that is not a grind fest and totally true to the Trek Universe which offers a hell of a lot of content.

Tim Hansen - Former Section31.com Owner













jedi Mast

[Sacrilegious]

Hopefully they will add clothing for off duty to qwell my need
another thought for customization: although we will be most of our time at duty, there will be times were we are not or?

On certain space stations - I hope.

Thanks for the new info guys.

PS. is that our shoutcasting "johnny_sisko" I see in the thread above?

[Jackalope]

Guys - just to clarify - there WILL be persistent, ground zones. Some missions take place in instances, others don't.

I'll bug Craig to do an interview.

[Kinjiru]

Guys - just to clarify - there WILL be persistent, ground zones. Some missions take place in instances, others don't.

I'll bug Craig to do an interview.

Thanks for the clarification Jackalope. :)

[superbob50]

I really like the idea of boundless territory. Also i like the ability to "Create my own Race." :)

One i would like to mention is that i would like to be able to have other human players on my ship, or me on some other players ship. But one way or another i like commanding a ship wether the crew is Npcs or human players.

I would like to see the training be on the halodeck just getting you and your friends together to have some fun with a battle simulation. Anyway one way or antoher this looks like a really good game so far. :)

[Arch77]

I've always wanted to visit Earth as it is in Star Trek. Visit the Federation Academy...Federation Headquarters...take the tours and see the sights. LOL

Seriously though, I bet it would be fantastic. :o

I hope the devs have similar thoughts in mind as well.

[drmagma]

Only thing I really want to know what we would do for payment. Is it gonna be a pay with credit card:eek:, a buy a card and punch in code, or will they do the uber off chance that we won't pay at all (lol):D.

Either way, looks good, gonna miss the walking onto another persons ship:( but make your own race sounds good :)

[Ptahk]

Just read this and thankfully they have done away with the silly idea of multiple players controlling one ship. It just wont work, I doubt we will ever see it.

[Traynor94]

Hi guys & gals. I'm kinda a former trekikie, but I guess we never stop being trekkies. I used to run the website Section31.com while I was in college and once I sold the domain I have honestly have not been interested in Star Trek at all until I heard there was an online game coming out. IIt's about time Star Trek created a game like this because there are so many possibilities involed with the genre. In fact, I gave up running my news website to play Star Wars Galaxies. I had hopes and realized them in making a Dark Jedi Master, which I did achieve before SOE screwed the entire game up and everyone left for WOW on our server.

Truth is this ... World of Warcraft is a grind fest I'm totally sick of it and no longer have fun playing. There are raid schedules you have to keep. Guilds hope you get the 25 players geared for their roles online ... on time and ready to go... as well as prepared ( which NEVER happens ). And if you want to gear doing PvP? ... Takes less help but almost as much time.

I want to experience everthing Star Trek in this game. There are so many possiibilities. It's an endless resource for content... I just want a game that is not a grind fest and totally true to the Trek Universe which offers a hell of a lot of content.

Tim Hansen - Former Section31.com Owner













jedi Mast
This is exactly why we need individual player ships, lol. Props to you guys for getting that part right. I played Final Fantasy 11 (mmorpg) and loved it... but it was the same way. Couldn't do anything without the help of level capped players... couldn't find people to do missions with any more... updates were rare and when they came out, they didn't balance with the rest of the game, etc.

The playability in STO sounds great, not only because you can do what you want when you want to, but because you'll be able to play solo as much as you want (with the exception of larger battles and instanced events, I'm sure). You can work together when you want to, but you won't have to all the time. This will mean the game will last longer and will be playable even after the initial players stop playing (... if they ever stop playing. ^^ )