Star Trek Online

[Cyberpunk]

First of all, I'm surprised there was no thread about this game, seeing as it's five years old. I can't be the only Trekker on the site!

I tried this came when it first went free-to-play about four years ago,and thought at the time it was a fun romp, but nothing I'd want to dedicate a lot of time to. At that time, I played through the single player tutorial,had a bit of a giggle, and left it at that.

I went back to it this week,almost by accident. I was farting about on the net, and came across this article about how Cryptic Studios had erected a couple of memorials to Spock within the game. One on Vulcan, one on New Romulus.

So anyway, I thought this was a great idea, and quite fitting. The memorials will be there as long as the game is running,and the servers are supported. And then I got to thinking I'd like to go see them. A ten gigabyte download later, and I'm running through the single player tutorial again. Only this time it's much different.

You see, STO is done in seasons, with the main story changing every season. The game is now on season 9, expansion pack 2. The main story (Trek Nerdy bit ahead, sorry) is that Captain Harry Kim (of Voyager fame) is heading back to the Delta Quadrant with a Federation task force. The Klingons are at war with the Federation, Romulus has been destroyed (as at the start of the JJ Abrams reboot) and the Romulan Empire has relocated to New Romulus. The Dominion is rebuilding it's fleet, and the Borg have started making excursions into Federation space.

The game itself is split into two play modes. The first it space ship battle, with an emphasis on power distribution within the ship. It is, for example, possible to reroute power to the ships shields during combat, but at the expense of other systems. E.g. your ship might not turn so fast if you use power from the engines, You start with a small ship, of the faction you choose (Federation, Klingon, or Romulan) which will have three weapons slots, and do warp five. During your tutorial, any ship you fight will be within your abilities as long as you keep turning and firing.

The second game mode is a third person RPG/Shooter. Your character (designed by yourself at the start) can beam from your ship to various planets and star bases. At star bases, you get your missions from the Admiralty, and modify your ship, hang out with other players, etc. During your various missions, you'll pick up star ship parts, armour, weapons. You can sell these, or use them yourself. I'll get into the games currency in a mo. Up until this point in my description, no money has been paid for the game. While on planets, you can interact with characters, visit sights, etc. Also, many planets you visit on missions will involve ground based shooter combat.

Now, the main currency of the game is called Zen. Zen can be earned within the game very slowly, or bought with real money. About £4.50 will get you 500 Zen, although as with most virtual currency, it's sometimes better to buy from different countries, or look for deals and codes. Many of the things you can buy will have a lower level cap as well as a Zen price. This prevents a wealthy newcomer buying the most powerful ship in the game, for example. To give you some idea, 500 Zen will buy you a Constitution class ship, similar to the U.S.S. Enterprise as flown by Kirk and Co. Other currencies within the game are Dilithium, Energy Credits, and Gold-Pressed-Latinum. GPL is used for in game gambling. Dilithium is used when buying parts, weapons, etc. It's part of the price of many things, and also can be hard to earn. You can use Zen to purchase Dilithium. But also you can use Dilithium to buy small amounts of Zen. Energy credits are spent when buying stuff, and earned from selling stuff you don't want. It is possible to play the game without spending real money, but it can be a grind to get the Zen, and Dilithium you need.

It also cost money to change your uniform, once you've chosen it at the start. there are some lovely uniforms to be had, with everything from the original series green wraparounds, to custom futuristic uniforms, but most cost money. I think it's the same with every free-to-play online RPG. You get a lot of game for free, but the stuff you really want is paid content.

Onto my personal game. In Star Trek lore, any person in charge of a ship, regardless of actual rank, is called a Captain. My character is a half Betazoid, half Vulcan female called T'Gara. I chose her on the age old principle of if you have to spend hours looking at someone's arse, it might as well be a nice looking arse. She is currently Level 7, a lieutenant, and in command of the U.S.S. Thunderchild, a Miranda class vessel. I have passed the tutorial, and have been playing online missions within my level. There is a story to follow, but you can go anywhere, and do random missions. Each mission takes about 30 to 40 minutes, which I think is a nice time for drop in and drop out gaming. Also, there are fleet missions to do with many online players. A task force stopping a Borg invasion for example. There are the usual clans and stuff if that takes your fancy.

All in all, I've been having fun with this game. I like the way it breaks up the space combat action with away team missions. It's a nice paced game, not overly difficult, but challenging enough in the right places. It looks nice enough in space, although the third person view can look a bit cartoony. But I like it so far, and I might put more time into it. Maybe I'll even lay out some cash.

.

[Manicm]

I always found star trek games to be a terrible representation of the series, I played one FPS one, based on voyager I think it was about 10 years ago? that was good, and then there was an heavy rain style story Next Gen game based on 2 cd's must of been my early pc days.

Really don't want to spoil how I feel about Star Trek with anymore lousy games.

Oh, your not the only one, big trekker here!! Next Gen, Voyager, DS9 and Enterprise not so much the original stuff. Its a shame Enterprise got canned it was just getting a good run going.

[Cyberpunk]

I'd go in order of enjoyment...

Star Trek Legacy - real time tactic/space combat with an epic story that spans all generations of Trek

Star Trek Voyager Elite Force 1 & 2 - first person shooters based on the premise that deep in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway and Tuvok form a special ops team, enhanced with Borg tech from 7 of 9.

Star Trek Armada series - real time tactic/space combat

Star Trek Hidden Evil - third person action adventure, tie in to the film Insurrection.

I've played many others, but like you said manicm, a lot of the games don't represent the series very well. I remember getting really excited years ago when I heard of Star Trek Starship Creator, but I found that after designing and building your own ship, there wasn't much you could do with it. I've had more fun with the Customizable Card Game.

[AndyKurosaki]

I played a Star Trek game on Super Nintendo that was alright, Flight Academy I think? To be honest, I've never really watched the series. Seen the occasional film though.

[Cyberpunk]

It's just been announced that Star Trek Online is coming to consoles this autumn. 

[retroed]

Out now on PS4 and Xbox One. 

 

15.9GB download on PSN. 

[Jimboxy]

Downloading now to have a nosy at.

[Cyberpunk]

I'm just about to try the Xbox One version, although it's been in my PC for ages.

 

Edit: I can't seem to find it on the Xbox store.

[retroed]

1 hour ago, Cyberpunk said:

I'm just about to try the Xbox One version, although it's been in my PC for ages.

 

Edit: I can't seem to find it on the Xbox store.

 

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/store/p/star-trek-online/c3lf9pcrp9rp

 

[Cyberpunk]

Cheers Ed. It wasn't on the console store this morning.