Star Trek Online

[Jae Onasi]

Anyone playing? My handle, not so surprisingly, is @JaeOnasi.

[Ghost]

Eh, sounds interesting, I'll play it

[swphreak]

Man, I was all pumped and hyped for this game, and I don't think I logged in at all this week.

 

Like I said in the LucasCast forum, Cryptic games suffer from a high something to boring ratio. Meaning I get really bored of Cryptic games really fast. I'm shocked it already happened. I at least managed two months for City of Villains.

[Jae Onasi]

If I didn't like Star Trek, or didn't know anything about it, I don't think I'd stay with it long. There is some bugginess right now (I've redone the Beytan quest a good 5 times already and it has not updated in my quest log--rather annoying, although it's really short), but I'm enjoying seeing the lore and what they've done with it, and the space battles are certainly interesting. It's a break from killing Charr in Guild Wars and goblins and orcs in LOTRO. I'm not sure if I'm going to go for a lifetime sub on this game, though. The main reason I want to play it is because my son has turned into a major Trekkie, and this is a way to spend time with him, along with fulfilling my sci-fi addiction.

[swphreak]

If it was free to play like Guild Wars, then I'd be all over it. As it is, it's not worth $15 a month to me.

[Astrotoy7]

Is there a free trial period ??

 

Is it something you can do with non human (AI) players like guild wars? I keep very irregular hours am an infrequent player. I'm not the type that can commit to meet 17 other nerds at Quarks bar at 11pm GMT. I prefer to nerd it up on my own

 

Still, plenty of things still left to do with ME2 atm. I intend on scanning every planet[/scanner OCD]

 

mtfbwya

[Jae Onasi]

You can d/l the client, and if you find someone with a buddy key, you can try it out for 5 days free (my son kindly gave me his). Make sure to d/l the client first--it can take a good day or so to d/l and then patch, depending on your connection and STO's server load.

 

You do get bridge officers, and if you go on an away team mission, the game will give you extra security officers (in red shirts of course) to fill in the party in case you don't have enough bridge officers to fill all 4 slots. You can equip your bridge officers and set up their skills, so it's a lot more like the heroes in Guild Wars, while the security officers are like the henchmen. In space battles, you control everything.

 

In some missions, the game will automatically put you into an open instance and you'll be teamed up with other players who are arriving at the same time. This can be a blessing or a curse--I ended up in an instance with about 20 other players who were part of a fleet with some high-ranking players, and the instance scales with both level and number of players, apparently. When I saw we had to kill 50 Klingon ships, I about died. However, the Captains steamrolled over the enemies, and I kind of was along for the ride in that one.

 

It's more fun to play with Real People, but definitely doable (at least from my limited perspective) on your own.

[JediAthos]

Jae I am playing my handle is @Jureth and my character's name is Jureth. I'm in a fleet called Starfleet Defenders we're a mature players fleet if you're lookin for a fleet. I won't be able to play for a couple more weeks as I'm in the middle of a business trip and moving at the same time (figure that out if you can) but like the third week of March I should be back in game.

[Te Darasuum Mandalor]

can u be a captain of a ship like Enterprise?

[JediAthos]

http://www.startrekonline.com there's a ship database on the website but in short yes. You start out in a starter ship and then as you advance in rank you can get different types of ships including the Galaxy Class (Enterprise-D) and eventually the Sovereign Class (Enterprise-E)

 

There are ground combat missions as well which add to the experience in my opinion.

[Jae Onasi]

I love all the places you can go--it feels like you're indeed exploring the galaxy. Not all the missions are about fighting, which is a refreshing change. There's enough variety in the types of things you have to do for each 'episode' (their term for 'mission') that it doesn't feel like grinding.

 

After some searching about the crafting system, I found some links that I thought I'd share with you all. So many people have so many questions about this.

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=97457

http://sto-intel.org/wiki/Category:Recipes

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ao8VsgbE898udFk4c1V1MHdXTDlXaFVqbml2V1NfU0E&hl=en

 

And for those of you who actually want to breed different kinds of tribbles, here's a guide:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AczhS3xovyl6ZDhnc3Budl8wZHBwczZ3cGM&hl=en&pli=1

And, in case you actually want a wallpaper on this, the Tribble Evolution flowchart wallpaper

https://doc-0s-0c-docs.googleusercontent.com/docs/secure/rb76hs62dof3nkvdingba5cedl9ltjag/grgevu2s3hlbhb208n5d89qiq0kc5c60/1267423200000/05650486603954574300/*/0B9aTgX4X7DWkOTk4MDU1NjctNzE0Yy00Y2I3LTkxYzQtMDZjMDk2YzY4ZjVj

 

 

Hope those help a bit.

[Astrotoy7]

cheers for the links Jae

 

I do like the exploration side of things. I wish I could spend my whole time on a science ship, leave the fighting to the jocks.

 

mtfbwya

[Bob Lion54]

I'm going to pick it up eventually, but I just haven't the time right now. Sigh... I miss when I had time to play games...

 

I haven't been to Middle-earth in a few months, but I have to check out STO.

 

I've somewhat avoided hearing too much about the game because it's just going to make me want to play it all the more, but early on (before Cryptic took over) I read some stuff. I've always wanted to make an Engineer. Is that still a "class?"

[JediAthos]

I love all the places you can go--it feels like you're indeed exploring the galaxy. Not all the missions are about fighting, which is a refreshing change. There's enough variety in the types of things you have to do for each 'episode' (their term for 'mission') that it doesn't feel like grinding.

 

After some searching about the crafting system, I found some links that I thought I'd share with you all. So many people have so many questions about this.

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=97457

http://sto-intel.org/wiki/Category:Recipes

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ao8VsgbE898udFk4c1V1MHdXTDlXaFVqbml2V1NfU0E&hl=en

 

And for those of you who actually want to breed different kinds of tribbles, here's a guide:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AczhS3xovyl6ZDhnc3Budl8wZHBwczZ3cGM&hl=en&pli=1

And, in case you actually want a wallpaper on this, the Tribble Evolution flowchart wallpaper

https://doc-0s-0c-docs.googleusercontent.com/docs/secure/rb76hs62dof3nkvdingba5cedl9ltjag/grgevu2s3hlbhb208n5d89qiq0kc5c60/1267423200000/05650486603954574300/*/0B9aTgX4X7DWkOTk4MDU1NjctNzE0Yy00Y2I3LTkxYzQtMDZjMDk2YzY4ZjVj

 

 

Hope those help a bit.

 

The crafting system irritates me to no end. I've decided that I'm simply not going to do it but instead have taken the role of providing materials to those in my fleet that are.

[swphreak]

I really need to log back in and play more, but I just keep putting it off.

 

I should make sure my subscription isn't set to auto renew...

[JediAthos]

I wish I could play right now, but my desktop is torn down so I can move and the laptop my company gave me won't run the game so I'm stuck until I get back up and running on my beast

[Jae Onasi]

The crafting system irritates me to no end. I've decided that I'm simply not going to do it but instead have taken the role of providing materials to those in my fleet that are.

The best way to get to 7k for that first level is to get some Mark II shield arrays and photon torpedoes and shields. You only need to upgrade a few of those (since the end result is work about 1k each) in order to open up the next level. Those items can be bought in Starbase 1. It beats converting hundreds of medium shield charges to large ones.

[Astrotoy7]

Some of you US folks may be interested to know that you can get access to a free trial of STO if you eat some Tacos !!

 

No, I'm not crazy - apparently Del Taco is giving away a free game trial, an ingame pet for your shuttle if you buy a meal/drink with a special STO cup

 

It started 2/2/2010 and wraps up at the end of March

 

http://www.deltaco.com/coupons.html

 

http://www.startrekonline.com/deltaco

 

No point for those of us outside the USA of course

 

* * *

 

In other amusing STO news, looks like Cryptic snuck in a patch last week that, as diligently pointed out by fanboys would otherwise have caused the creation of black holes and the destruction of entire planets/systems in the Abrams reimagined Trek universe....

 

The special item Red Matter Capacitor now properly triggers its cooldown when you have two so that they cannot be stacked.

 

source

 

mtfbwya

[JediAthos]

I saw that patch...and FYI I have several buddy codes that I would be willing to give to folks who might be interested in looking at the game. I'm on a business trip now, but will be back home next week. I think I have 3 or 4 that came with my collector's edition so shoot me a PM if you're interested and I'll get back to ya.

[Jae Onasi]

@Astro--a few of the folks in our fleet who visit Del Taco on a fairly regular basis have offered to get codes for us who don't have access to that restaurant. If you're playing and want one, PM me and I'll see what I can dig up.

 

Also--if you want a free TOS uniform, check out this link from Beckett's Massive Online Gamer magazine's site:

http://www.massiveonlinegamer.com/game-code

 

If you've always wanted the Wrath of Khan admiral uniform, the code for this is:

JIH MUSHA SOH .

 

To enter the game codes, log in to your profile on startrekonline.com, click 'support', then 'redeem key', and type or paste it into the appropriate spot.

 

Enjoy!

[Astrotoy7]

cool stuff Jae

 

Thank you for your generous offers and info. I myself have a buddy code thanks to another generous member (points above a couple of posts ) and am trudiging through the 8GB client download. It has about a day to go....

 

Now that I've finished AC2 and the ME2 DLC, its perfect timing to do the trial(until my copy of DAO gets here!)

 

edit:

 

10gb of bandwidth later(2GB extra for new patch) - I am finally able to have a go. I'm pretty sure I'm still in the tutorial levels so can't say cant say too much - I really hope there are non combat missions coming up because running around shooting at stuff is getting old ! esp. after playing ME2 and ACreed, its pretty tame combat. I want to seek new life and new civilisations like Patrick Stewart says on TV

 

mtfbwya

[Astrotoy7]

Firstly , sorry for the double post. As these post is slightly longer and has some info other may be interested in - I thought it was worth a bump.

 

I've had a good play - so here's:

A Guide for MMO Newbies That Are Curious About Star Trek Online because they are Trek Nerds

 

I am not a MMO fan nor expert. But I do consider myself a Trek fan of a proportion only outdone by my Star Wars geekiness (eg. I know more SW EU > Trek) - but for most stuff in the Trek movies/shows, I'm pretty well versed.

 

Here's some questions I had going in - in answering them I hope it may be useful to others

 

Does the game feel like Trek?

To a degree. The space combat definitely does. It's pretty cool seeing your ship scoot along and engage in combat. I'm sure it will look even cooler once you upgrade to a nicer ship and can customise it. I'd love a Prometheus class ship - though I'm not sure if they are available - and I'd probably need to give up the next 18 months to earn it The graphics are pretty decent for the space combat bit - I play at 2500x1600 and maxxed settings- I was quite surpised that MMOs allowed for that - for which I was pleased.

 

Ensigns are Captains?!

Yeah. I can see how Cryptic was stuck in this. They could have kept you in engineering made you responsible for recharging phasers for the next 18months, but this would be quite irritating Hence, you are given command even as an ensign. Of course, you get a basic ship with threadbare capabilities - so if you do want something special, you will have to work your way up. Still, an ensign in command sounds weird. I guess 'acting captain' was too convoluted.

 

What's Ground Combat like?

If you think about combat in the Trek series, it was pretty straight forward - shoot phaser, take cover, shoot again! This is pretty much reflected in STO. In places it reminds me of elements of KOTOR - running around with both mouse buttons down for example. I think having just played ME2 makes my perception of this somewhat jaded - ME2 is so darn impressive so that it makes STO look even more limited and clunky than it is. That being said, it's not totally bad - if you can get your hands on some decent weapons and master movement and position, its OK. Still, those wanting something advanced best look elsewhere at this stage

 

Is it really that boring?

There has been alot said about the boring factor - most games involved travel/explore/combat/interaction - but how it's done is the clincher. Despite the depth of Trek lore, the ground missions are pretty simplistic - maybe they will get more complex as my character moves up? There is not much mystery or wonder to exploring and discovering things. Even in KOTOR had that, I remember wandering around in the fog on Kasshyyk and being impressed at how hooked I was into the story. Is this something MMOs can achieve - I dunno!

 

For launch specifically, its not suprising that Cryptic have gone for options that will make it easy for newbies to pick up. This of course will make MMO experts quiet frustrated - hopefully their needs can be satisfied with updates. who knows...

 

Can you play solo?

Yep, though you would of course be slowing your progress I imagine - especially on the space combat side. When you come across an NPC ship that can kick your ass, you simply have to run. If you had a fleet to play alongside with - this wouldn't be the case.

 

Character Creation?

Again, being spoilt by ME2 - the character creations look OK, but somewhat cartoony. Look at my deadly/sexeh femshep(see avvie) - I tried to recreate that in STO, but she looks more like Anakin in the clone wars I think female characters suffer from this more than males. That being said, the degree of customisation is pretty cool, and easy to do. The costumes are great IMO.

 

Leveling up?

I think it's par for the course that this process is time consuming in MMOs. I've put in the same amount as my ME2 campaign(40 hours) and I'm still on my orginal ship, but do have snazzy weapons and armour. I guess you could pay for better stuff - but I haven't looked into it.

 

The Galaxy/Maps

I think this is fairly well done - you can just click on map spots to get to places, or fly their on your own. Ground Maps however are very bad IMO. Maybe I havent selected something right, but it is nice to have rooms and such labelled on your map, particularly after youve explored them! In stardock its not too bad because there are big signs everywhere - but on bases and planets theres nothing to save you from getting lost except your memory

 

Music

This was a surprise. All the netrants Ive read about STO whine on about many things - but none mentioned the music. It's pretty cool IMO. Epic in some spots, quirky in others - one mission had music accented by harpsichord... it might souund out of place for something futuristic but I quite liked it.

 

What, No Bridge?!

This was a disappointment. Apart from the intro level - I havent seen my bridge yet. Strutting around on the bridge is so integral to Trek - how could they leave it out! I know in ship customisation you can choose what your bridge looks like - so I'm hoping a bridge element will come along later. It would be nice to be able to manage certain things from your ship - rather than have to go to the research planet or stardock for everything. There are trading ships floating about on the galaxy map, which help a bit - but walking around your ship would be cool.

 

Conclusion?

If you happen to be a Trek fan, before TOR comes out, it's worth checking out on a free trial. Cryptic will need to flesh things out if they plan to make both Trekkies and more serious MMOers stay on/come back

 

I have some 5 day trials if anyone is interested - PM me if interested.

 

mtfbwya

[JediAthos]

Firstly , sorry for the double post. As these post is slightly longer and has some info other may be interested in - I thought it was worth a bump.

 

I've had a good play - so here's:

A Guide for MMO Newbies That Are Curious About Star Trek Online because they are Trek Nerds

 

I am not a MMO fan nor expert. But I do consider myself a Trek fan of a proportion only outdone by my Star Wars geekiness (eg. I know more SW EU > Trek) - but for most stuff in the Trek movies/shows, I'm pretty well versed.

 

Here's some questions I had going in - in answering them I hope it may be useful to others

 

Does the game feel like Trek?

To a degree. The space combat definitely does. It's pretty cool seeing your ship scoot along and engage in combat. I'm sure it will look even cooler once you upgrade to a nicer ship and can customise it. I'd love a Prometheus class ship - though I'm not sure if they are available - and I'd probably need to give up the next 18 months to earn it The graphics are pretty decent for the space combat bit - I play at 2500x1600 and maxxed settings- I was quite surpised that MMOs allowed for that - for which I was pleased.

 

Ensigns are Captains?!

Yeah. I can see how Cryptic was stuck in this. They could have kept you in engineering made you responsible for recharging phasers for the next 18months, but this would be quite irritating Hence, you are given command even as an ensign. Of course, you get a basic ship with threadbare capabilities - so if you do want something special, you will have to work your way up. Still, an ensign in command sounds weird. I guess 'acting captain' was too convoluted.

 

What's Ground Combat like?

If you think about combat in the Trek series, it was pretty straight forward - shoot phaser, take cover, shoot again! This is pretty much reflected in STO. In places it reminds me of elements of KOTOR - running around with both mouse buttons down for example. I think having just played ME2 makes my perception of this somewhat jaded - ME2 is so darn impressive so that it makes STO look even more limited and clunky than it is. That being said, it's not totally bad - if you can get your hands on some decent weapons and master movement and position, its OK. Still, those wanting something advanced best look elsewhere at this stage

 

Is it really that boring?

There has been alot said about the boring factor - most games involved travel/explore/combat/interaction - but how it's done is the clincher. Despite the depth of Trek lore, the ground missions are pretty simplistic - maybe they will get more complex as my character moves up? There is not much mystery or wonder to exploring and discovering things. Even in KOTOR had that, I remember wandering around in the fog on Kasshyyk and being impressed at how hooked I was into the story. Is this something MMOs can achieve - I dunno!

 

For launch specifically, its not suprising that Cryptic have gone for options that will make it easy for newbies to pick up. This of course will make MMO experts quiet frustrated - hopefully their needs can be satisfied with updates. who knows...

 

Can you play solo?

Yep, though you would of course be slowing your progress I imagine - especially on the space combat side. When you come across an NPC ship that can kick your ass, you simply have to run. If you had a fleet to play alongside with - this wouldn't be the case.

 

Character Creation?

Again, being spoilt by ME2 - the character creations look OK, but somewhat cartoony. Look at my deadly/sexeh femshep(see avvie) - I tried to recreate that in STO, but she looks more like Anakin in the clone wars I think female characters suffer from this more than males. That being said, the degree of customisation is pretty cool, and easy to do. The costumes are great IMO.

 

Leveling up?

I think it's par for the course that this process is time consuming in MMOs. I've put in the same amount as my ME2 campaign(40 hours) and I'm still on my orginal ship, but do have snazzy weapons and armour. I guess you could pay for better stuff - but I haven't looked into it.

 

The Galaxy/Maps

I think this is fairly well done - you can just click on map spots to get to places, or fly their on your own. Ground Maps however are very bad IMO. Maybe I havent selected something right, but it is nice to have rooms and such labelled on your map, particularly after youve explored them! In stardock its not too bad because there are big signs everywhere - but on bases and planets theres nothing to save you from getting lost except your memory

 

Music

This was a surprise. All the netrants Ive read about STO whine on about many things - but none mentioned the music. It's pretty cool IMO. Epic in some spots, quirky in others - one mission had music accented by harpsichord... it might souund out of place for something futuristic but I quite liked it.

 

What, No Bridge?!

This was a disappointment. Apart from the intro level - I havent seen my bridge yet. Strutting around on the bridge is so integral to Trek - how could they leave it out! I know in ship customisation you can choose what your bridge looks like - so I'm hoping a bridge element will come along later. It would be nice to be able to manage certain things from your ship - rather than have to go to the research planet or stardock for everything. There are trading ships floating about on the galaxy map, which help a bit - but walking around your ship would be cool.

 

Conclusion?

If you happen to be a Trek fan, before TOR comes out, it's worth checking out on a free trial. Cryptic will need to flesh things out if they plan to make both Trekkies and more serious MMOers stay on/come back

 

I have some 5 day trials if anyone is interested - PM me if interested.

 

mtfbwya

 

Yes, the Prometheus is available...it is a tier 5 escort class ship. I currently own one in addition to my Sovereign Class cruiser

 

The U.S. Navy actually could actually be a point of reference when it comes to junior officers serving as a "captain." Most frigates and destroyers are captained by Lt. Cdr or CDR officers and in the past more junior officers have captained smaller ships such as PT Boats in WWII.

 

The bridge functionality is available as well though you can't engage in combat or anything from it. You can see your bridge officers and invite other people to your bridge but beyond that it lacks functionality at this point. Ship interiors are in the works from what I understand and there are plans to add them at a later date.

 

In addition to the in game music there is also a music player functionality that you can use to play your own music while you're playing.

 

Look me up in game if you need/want help with anything Astro..or anyone else playing for that matter. My handle is Jureth@Jureth

[Astrotoy7]

cheers JediAthos

 

*how did you get your prometheus - does it actually split during combat - that would be awesome!!

*How do you get to see the bridge?!!

 

mtfbwya

[JediAthos]

cheers JediAthos

 

*how did you get your prometheus - does it actually split during combat - that would be awesome!!

*How do you get to see the bridge?!!

 

mtfbwya

 

I was able to buy my Prometheus from the ship vendor at Earth Spacedock after I made Rear Admiral. Sadly no, there is no multi-vector attack mode that I'm aware of..that would be fun though

 

The bridge is accessible from the menu beside your radar in the top right corner of the screen. If I remember correctly you can right click on the down arrow and "visit the bridge" is an option.