Everything we know about STO

[HyorD]

Everything we know about Star Trek Online
...just a Ctrl+F away!

If you find this thread useful, please contribute to it by telling me if I've missed something important, if you think I've misinterpreted something, and how else this post can be edited to provide greater clarity, brevity and searchability.
We'll try to minimize the amount of speculation in this thread; the developers' words are taken as the whole truth and nothing but the truth, until proven otherwise. Brevity will also be a goal; for more exhaustive information, sources are listed. If a source isn't listed on a particular line, scroll down until you get to one; that's the source for that claim.

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The team (not in any particular order):

• Chief Creative Officer - Jack Emmert
• Executive Producer - Craig Zinkievich
• Producer - Daniel Stahl
• Lead Designer - Al Rivera
• Director of Audio - Michael Henry
• Primary Online Community Representative - Joe "Rekhan" Blancato
• Online Community Relations Representatives - Daeke, StormShade, WishStone (German)
• Lead Character Artist - Matt Highison
• Lead Programmer - Stephen D'angelo
• UI Programmer - Matthew Kenneally
• Environment Artists - Sam Rucks, Roman Stepanov
• Ship artist - Denis Korkh
• The Writer - Christine Thomson
• Content designers - Dan Griffis, Josh Ferguson
• Combat Systems Designer - Steve Nicks
• Associate Producer - Andy Velasquez
• Character nerfing and goat management - Craig

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?
WishStone ist die deutsche Community-Managerin und ebenfalls vertreten bei Twitter.

BETA: STO entered closed beta on October 22. Wanna be a beta tester? Check out this article and fill out an application!

General gameplay:

• There will be a lot of references to familiar storylines and characters, and certainly some familiar locations, but mainly this is supposed to be your experience. [CZ1]
• At launch, you'll be a member of either Starfleet or the Klingon Defense Force, but other factions may be added later on, such as "the Dominion and the Romulans". [LVWc] Privateering may be possible later on. [JE3]
• It's possible the two factions will have to cooperate to achieve common goals. [CZ15]
• You might not be able to play a Klingon Starfleet officer or a Human fighting for the Empire, but the character creator will allow you to create something similar. [AC4]
• With Starfleet, you start out with a ship of the Miranda configuration.
• If your whole party is wiped out while you're doing a mission, you should be able to pick up where you left off. [Dc1] You won't lose your ship when it's destroyed. [CZ10]
• You shouldn't have to play for hours on end to be competitive.
• You don't have to be a Trek-fan to enjoy this game, but you'll learn a lot about Star Trek in the process. [LVWc]
• Where possible, the game will provide non-violent ways to resolve conflicts. [AC2]
• Time travel may be in the game, but because each era requires a lot of work, it will be limited. [JE2]
• Crafting will be present in the sense that you can tinker with your systems. [JE3]

Story:

• The game takes place in the classical timeline, not in that of the 2009 movie. [Source]
• The game takes place in 2409; roughly 30 years after Star Trek: Nemesis.
• The Khitomer Accords are "long past". [LVWc] The Federation and the Klingons are at the verge of war with each other.
• Gorn, Nausicaans and Orion are on the Klingon side. [CZ4] Humans, Vulcans, Bajorans, Andorians, Ferengi, and Tellarites are playable Federation races. [GI186]
• An ancient threat out of Star Trek canon will reemerge. [GCI08]
• On top of being at war with the Federation, the Klingon Empire has annexed Romulan space, reclaiming Khitomer, and apparently entering into hostilities with the Gorn Hegemony.
• The Romulan Empire is crumbling, as is the Cardassian Union. Romulus and Remus have been destroyed in an event that also killed the contemporary Praetor along with the ruling council of the Senate.
• Bajor is on the way to Federation membership.
• The production of mobile emitters and Soong-type androids is being researched into. [Path]

Customization:

• There are familiar races to choose from, but you can also create your own.
• You'll be able to edit "everything" about your character; check out the Character editor video!
• You can "mix and match" features from already existing races when creating a new species, but there will also be a lot of original body parts available. [AC4]
• The species and factions will be balanced, even when some would argue that canon suggests they should not be. So, for instance, Vulcans won't be just plain superior to Humans in every measurable sense. [AC10] [AC12]
• When you select a faction, you cannot select a species from the other faction (for instance, playing an Orion in Starfleet will not be a pre-defined option). However, you can create that race in the character editor and call it whatever you want, no matter what faction you're with.
• The character editor does not only allow you to determine what your species looks like, but also what abilities come with it.
• At launch, all characters created will be humanoid.
• When you've created the blueprint for a species, you can share it with your friends, so that they can create a character based on your design. [AC9]
• The three major careers - for both Starfleet and Klingons - are Engineering, Science and Tactical. There is a lot of customization within the career. [CZ10] [AC12]
• You will unlock different starship configurations that encompass several ships of similar design (for instance, the Miranda-class and Centaur-type ships have design traits in common that separate them from many other ships). You can modify all the different parts of the ship, and upgrade the various systems, but you will always be able to tell roughly what configuration it is based on (a Miranda-class variant always looks like a Miranda-class variant, as opposed to a modded Defiant). [AC8] Here is a demonstration of this. [CZ13]
• There will be 16 configurations on the Federation side. [Dc4]
• Your ship configuration determines which of your bridge officers can be active. For instance, an escort-type ship may have more Tactical officers on the bridge than a science ship. [CZ10] It also determines what equipment the ship has. [Dc4]
• There is additional diversity in ship customization on the Klingon side because the different species' (Klingons, Gorn, Orion, etc.) ships are very different from each other. [CZ10]
• You can pick your ship name and registry number. [JE1]
• Uniforms can be customized to some extent. [AC3]
• In the future, players may get access to more of the tools, allowing them to create missions and the like. [JE3]

Canon vs. Apocrypha:

• The shows and films are law.
• Non-canon sources - such as novels and comic books - will also be looked to for inspiration.
• Every member of the team has to watch an entire series; some are reading the books. [LVWc]

Diplomacy:

• A "vital part"; certainly something they're discussing. [LVWc]

Economy and crafting:

• Trade will be flowing within the various factions and between them; the players will be "expediting this".
• You will be competing for resources more than outright fighting other players for them. [LVWc]

Exploration and locations:

• Space exploration takes place on different scales: Galaxy, sector and system.
• On the galactic map, you can see what different sectors you can visit.
  
• Upon selecting a sector, you will be taken to the sector map, where you will see a tactical overview of the sector, with information on the various systems you can visit. Click here for more details on this.
• Once you have entered a particular system, you control your ship through 3D space from a third-person point of view. [GI186]
• 3D space environments have "edges", although they're large enough that if you have two players at different edges of it then they will be unable to detect each other. [Dc2]
• Ship interiors will probably be limited to missions, at start, but hopefully at some point in time you'll be able to bring other players aboard to socialize with them. [CZ3]
• "Infinite exploration", with new worlds constantly being created by the sophisticated Genesis Program. [DB1]
• The game takes place in outer space, onboard ships and planetside.
• Technology and knowledge acquired through exploration will be "funneled back" to your faction. What faction benefits more from a civilization depends on how much "favor" they have with it.[LVWc]
• Travel time will be "semi-realistic". There will be transwarp conduits and wormholes to help you traverse long distances faster. [OFAQ]
• You cannot enter warp at a whim within a star system; impulse is the norm. You can warp between planets within a system, however.
• In the sector view, you will be able to choose a warp factor based on your Engineer's skills and the quality of your warp engines. [AC8]
• The star systems have "edges", but the areas are quite large; if you're at one end of it, you will not be able to detect a ship at the other end. [Dc2]
• The environment will be built to encourage socialization; for instance, some travel routes will be better than others, thus increasing player density through those.
• Many planetside environments will be instanced. [JE2]
• You can name stars and planets you discover. [JE3]

Continued below...

[HyorD]

Fleets - the "guilds" of STO:

• You do not have to be part of a Fleet to gain access to the best ships in the game. [AC12]
• The rank of Admiral will be attainable. [CZ15]
• Fleet-owned ships and facilities will not be in the game at launch. [Dc5]
• Although players in Fleets will likely end up establishing some sort of chain of command, there will probably not be game mechanics in place for ordering other players to perform certain tasks. [CZ8]
• Fleets will have "basically any of the guild mechanics that you are used to". [Dc2]

Missions and events:

• Missions in Star Trek Online will feature a mix of scripted and randomly generated content. [CZ6] These procedurally generated missions are "designed to take you to a number of widely differing environments during a single gameplay session." [EL1]
• You can do away missions with your NPC crewmembers or with other players. Your away team will consist of five characters (PCs or NPCs). [NYCC09] The Captain is always a part of the away team. [AC10]
• You'll receive missions and instructions from central command, but also discover them while out exploring. [AC11]
• Missions are "fully cooperative"; sometimes you'll have to team up with other players to accomplish your goals.
• Select your away team well; you'll be able to make use of the different members' abilities to secure success.
• There are "tours of duty", consisting of several missions.
• There will be dynamic events (such as Borg invasions and the like) on top of pre-scripted missions. [LVWc]

Starships and crews:

• You can keep your old ship when you get a new one. You can keep on upgrading one of your old ships to make it more powerful, but in the end higher-tier ships have greater potential. [AC6]
• Some of the older ship classes, such as the Constitution-class, will be represented in-game. They'll be weaker than some of the more modern ones, but they won't be push-overs. [AC11]
• You will be in control of your own starship, but you will not start out with the rank of Captain. [LVWc]
• You will have a fully customizable and partially controllable Bridge Crew, similar to "pets" in many MMOGs.
• You will also have hundreds of nameless, lower ranking officers; your "redshirts".
• You will receive bonuses depending on your crewmembers' (bridge officers and redshirts) races/species.
• Bridge officers with one ability can train other bridge officers in using that ability.
• Members of the alien races you encounter may join your crew.
• As a general rule, bridge officers can be traded, although there may be exceptions.
• You control how your NPCs progress, and can modify their appearances. You decide when to promote them, but promoting them comes at a cost. [Dc3] [Dev comment]
• No cooperative bridge play, at least not at launch. [GCI08]
• While there probably won't be much conversation with your NPC crewmembers, they'll be the ones keeping you up to speed on what's going on around you. [CZ3]
• Cryptic is looking into how involved your bridge officer will be in mission plots. [Dc3]
• You can transfer power between a ship's various systems, and do things like balance shield power.
• There will probably not be a traditional "mana bar" that controls your base abilities (such as firing phasers and photon torpedoes), but rather a number of cool-down timers. More advanced abilities may have something like a mana bar associated with them. [AC8]
• There may be occasions when you can commandeer a ship of a different faction than your own, but you won't get to keep it. [AC7]
• Although there will be consumables that you can stock up on at starbases, you will not need fuel to keep your ship running.
• You can hit reverse, but it's quite slow. Furthermore, there is no kiting; usually you "move in the direction that you're pointing." [Dc2]

Combat:

• Starship battles are tactical and slow-pace ("like tall ships"); you will be able to give commands such as "Repair a hull breach on deck X" or "Reroute energy from engines to weapons".
• Ground-based combat will be more fast-paced, with both melee and ranged attacks. [LVWc]
• You can issue commands to the individual NPCs in your away team, or manage them as a group. [Dc3] NPCs have different "modes" that determine their behavior.
• You can equip your captain with various kits that give him/her access to different abilities.
• Defensive abilities include taking cover and using personal shields. [Gco]
• There will be subsystem targeting.
• Your systems will function at full capacity until they're disabled. However, your "redshirts" can be killed when your ship is damaged, and this will hamper your abilities. [AC12]
• You can move around and fight in three dimensions, but often players will just naturally choose to keep fairly "level" during combat. Cryptic doesn't "want it to be a dogfight". [CCMG]
• There is also no "rolling" or "looping". [Dc2]
• Positioning is a part of ground combat; you can "flank" your enemies and so forth.
• Positioning is very important in ship-to-ship combat; you don't want to have your weak side exposed to a Raptor's powerful front-on attacks. Diverting energy and balancing shields is part of it, too. [Dc2]
• For this reason, weapon arcs are also very important. Weapons can be placed only in the front and rear of your ship, but can have weapon arcs of over 180°.
• Wider firing arcs typically mean less damage dealt. [Dc5]
• Fleeing from combat will be possible; it involves putting some distance between you and your enemies and then warping out.
• All combat takes place at subwarp speeds. [Dc2]
• Weapons are not "path-based". [Explanation]

PvP:

• Yes; definitely. [LVWc]
• Open PvP only in designated areas (both space and planetside). [AC3] Consensual PvP in contested areas. [OFAQ] [Dev comment]
• PvP is in-between the factions, but there may be wargames/dueling within factions. [JE1]
• The Federation-Klingon Neutral Zone will be "static", but areas near it will change affiliation depending on who's winning. [CZ7]
• You can be a member of a Klingon house, and these houses can fight each other. [AC11]

[HyorD]

Corporate and technical:

• No pricing decisions have been made as of March, 2009. [CZ12]
• The game is slated for release on February 2, 2010 in North America and February 5 in Europe. [Source]
• There are plans to localize this game into French and German. [Source]
• The game's system requirements can be found here.
• This short development cycle is provided by Cryptic's experience and already existent game engine.
• CBS "has been great" working with Cryptic Studios.
• Animation will be done manually, not using motion capture.
• The number of servers has not been decided, but they'd like to have just one big server.
• This should be a game for "children of all ages", although Emmert stresses the importance of parental supervision for younglings.
• At launch, Star Trek Online will be a Windows game; no LINUX or Mac clients. [LVWc] [Source]
• The game is being developed for both PCs and consoles. [OFAQ]
• The development team will stay on after the game is launched, so as to guarantee that post-release content is of high quality. [CZ8]
• Micro-transactions may be a part of STO, although mainly for purely aesthetic items. Any performance-enhancing object that can be obtained through micro-transactions can also be earned in-game. [Dev comment]

Other:

• All controls are completely remappable.
• Although color and audio will sometimes be used to convey information, they will not be the only markers.
• The Bajoran Wormhole is in the game, and you can explore the inside of it. [CZ14]
• With Starfleet, you start out with a ship of the Miranda configuration. [Dc1]
• There are plans to include content related to the Mirror Universe and Section 31.
• There will be some stealth abilities. [GCI08] Starfleet officers will not have free access to cloaking, although they may receive temporary access to a cloaking device to use under certain circumstances.
• There are ways to detect cloaked ships; Science ships will be good at this. [AC11]
• There will be different types of tricorders, and how you can use them depends on you character's abilities. [CZ2]
• Multi-Vector Assault Mode and saucer separation probably won't be in at launch.
• Cryptic has been talking to a few "celebrities" [CZ3], as well as with Bad Robot and IDW [CZ5], although nothing further has been disclosed at this point.
• There will be collision detection both on the ground and in space, although ships will not take damage from accidentally bumping into each other. There is, however, a ramming skill that you can choose; this allows you to do damage to another ship, and the ability to use self-destruct to deal damage.
• There will be a tractor/repulsor beam that you can use. One use of this could be to repel ships that are about to explode, so as not to go down with them. [AC10]
• There will be a "Captain's Log" which contains a lot of info about what you've experienced in the game. [AC8]
• There will be "all sorts of medals and accolades that you can achieve by exploration."
• It does not seem likely that Borg will be playable; definitely not at launch.
• Holograms and changeling have been considered as possible crewmembers.
• There will probably be some sort of "raid" content, although in exactly what form is a bit uncertain. [CZ8]
• There are some very big creatures on the ground, and even larger ones in space. [Dc1]
• There will be restrictions on what names players can use in-game; you shouldn't run into "Admiral XX L33T HAX0R XX". [GM comment]

Sources:

[AC1] Ask Cryptic - August 25, 2008
[AC2] Ask Cryptic - September 4, 2008
[AC3] Ask Cryptic - September 17, 2008
[AC4] Ask Cryptic - October 27, 2008
[AC5] Ask Cryptic - November 26, 2008
[AC6] Ask Cryptic - January 7, 2009
[AC7] Ask Cryptic - January 29, 2009
[AC8] Ask Cryptic - February 19, 2009
[AC9] Ask Cryptic - March 12, 2009
[AC10] Ask Cryptic - April 30, 2009
[AC11] Ask Cryptic - June 23, 2009
[AC12] Ask Cryptic - July 21, 2009
[CCMG] Comic Con "Meet & Greet", February 2009, Transcript
[CPR] Corporate Press Release from Atari, May 2009
[CZ1] Craig Zinkievich interview, August 2008
[CZ2] Craig Zinkievich interview, October 2008
[CZ3] Craig Zinkievich interview, February 2009
[CZ4] Craig Zinkievich interview, February 2009
[CZ5] Craig Zinkievich interview, December 2008
[CZ6] Craig Zinkievich interview, February 2009
[CZ7] Craig Zinkievich interview, February 2009
[CZ8] Craig Zinkievich interview, February 2009
[CZ9] Craig Zinkievich interview, February 2009
[CZ10] Craig Zinkievich interview, March 2009
[CZ11] Craig Zinkievich devchat, March 2009
[CZ12] Craig Zinkievich interview, March 2009
[CZ13] Craig Zinkievich interview, May 2009
[CZ14] Craig Zinkievich interview, June 2009
[CZ15] Craig Zinkievich interview, June 2009
[DB1] Developer Blog, Daniel Stahl, June 2009
[Dc1] IGN devchat, April 2009
[Dc2] Devchat, June 2009
[Dc3] Devchat, June 2009
[Dc4] Devchat, July 2009
[Dc5] Devchat, July 2009
[EL1] Exclusive look, March 2009
[GCI08] Q&A session at GenCon, 2008 - 1, 2, 3
[Gco] Ground combat overview
[GI186] Game Informer, issue 186, October 2008
[GS1] Gamespot preview, May 2009
[GS2] Gamespot E3 article, May 2009
[JE1] Jack Emmert interview, August 2008
[JE2] Jack Emmert interview, August 2008
[JE3] Jack Emmert on Hailing Frequency, August 2008 - Part 1, Part 2, Transcript
[LVWc] Las Vegas Webcast, 2008
[NYCC09] New York Comic Con, February 2009
[OFAQ] Official FAQ
[Path] The path to 2409

[piponolo]

Great idea!

Though wasn't there something confirming cloaking devices for the Fed? Lemme search for it.

[HyorD]

Originally Posted by piponolo

Great idea!

Though wasn't there something confirming cloaking devices for the Fed? Lemme search for it.

Please do; let me know what you find!

[Sevenblade]

Originally Posted by piponolo

Great idea!

Though wasn't there something confirming cloaking devices for the Fed? Lemme search for it.

He's right, though like him, I'm not sure where to cite it from. Also, a few adjustments I'd like to add. According to Craig Zinkievich, the Klingons and Federation aren't fully hostile yet, but "on the verge of all out war", so it's just a matter of time.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/62988

Also, since the Romulans are currently only in a civil war, I think we should specify that, rather than say they're "crumbling". Crumbling implies one government, and that it's failing spectacularly, leading to anarchy or revolution. Civil war's pretty different.

As for the emitters and androids, we have yet to see whether legal issues will stymie attempts to develop either of these, so we should probably say something more like "are new areas of intended research". I don't know, word it how you think it sounds best, but for people who haven't read all of the info releases, I think careful wording in all of these examples is important so that no one is mislead and everyone is on the same page.


Otherwise, absolutely awesome job! It's about time someone did a comprehensive summary, and I'm surprised it didn't happen before, by someone like Flatfingers or the like. Major props to you, sir, and I might just save this thread in my favorites for reference. /tiphat

[Trowa_Barton]

awesome job, lets make this a stinky thread.
I was hoping someone would do this.

[HyorD]

Thanks for the support and the tips, y'all; I'll be needing all the help I can get to make sure this thread is as informative and up-to-date as possible!
I've made some the updates you suggested, Sevenblade, and I, too, will try to find mention of Starfleet cloaking devices.

[Sevenblade]

Originally Posted by HyorD

Thanks for the support and the tips, y'all; I'll be needing all the help I can get to make sure this thread is as informative and up-to-date as possible!
I've made some the updates you suggested, Sevenblade, and I, too, will try to find mention of Starfleet cloaking devices.

Looks good I coulda sworn it was in either an Ask Cryptic or a Path, but I can't remember. Either way, it would be a real early one.

[Sevenblade]

Hmmm...not seeing it. Maybe it was in the Game Informer article?