Star Trek Online

[Pyra]

http://www.startrekonline.com/

Given the amount of Star Trek love on the forum atm, I thought it worth checking to see if anyone is planning on picking this up. I've heard some good things, so will potter around with the beta (when it finishes downloading) and probably play it for a little while after release and if anyone else is it'd be cool if we could share some Romulan Ale (which is probably rare what with the whole supernova thing).

Bonus points in this thread for bringing to attention the Federation's New Slave Market[1].

1.	A passage from the manual reads "New Bridge Officers can be assigned to your crew by Starfleet as a mission reward, or they may be purchased from Earth Space Dock" which is a bit of a dodgy way to word it"

[Phoenix Taichou]

excellent XD I want to give this a try. I'm loathe to pay for online gaming but if it is that good I might

[Pyra]

Well closed beta servers go back up at 7pm today. I'll try and give it a go (with my one good arm) and try and get some pics or a video up to try and give you an idea as to what it's worth. I've already planned which ships I'm going to use as I level on my character when it goes live (Miranda, Sabre, Akira, Promethius) though for the betas I'll probably mess around with other stuff.

[Pyra]

If you want to give this a go I found this which might help.

you can get free keys right now / ( beta forum access)

http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/marketing/comcast/

sign up for that

and then go to

http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/star-trek-online/

put in your email addy and you get a key

and beta forums access~

After you start the download go into https://login.fileplanet.com/subscription/manage.aspx

and cancel the sub otherwise in 25 days or so they will charge you monies

[Pyra]

I knnow I'm multi-posting, but my ship is pretty, even if it is just a (tweaked) Miranda.



Oh and does this place look familiar to you?



Because it rings some bells for me.

[Phoenix Taichou]

Are you controlling Riker there? XD so how does it pan out - you fly the ship but you also control people on the ground?

[Pyra]

Are you controlling Riker there?

That's not Riker, it's the (bearded) Riker inspired Lt. Dude. The game is quite interesting. Basically the tutorial has some stuff happen that isn't good. You're get sent across to a ship in trouble and help it out. Because of the problems the ship had there are no officers left so you take command. Then you repair and rejoin the fight and because of you action get promoted and keep command.

Space is coolest so I'll talk about that first. It's sort of 3D. You can fly up and down but only at 45 degrees. You can't just fly anyway around and you can't loop or roll. I think this was done for the feel of the game. In star trek I can't remember the defiant meeting a Klingon patrol and being upside down in relation to them.

Combat feels authentic to the show. You can manage power so you can take power from weapons and put it in your shields to help reinforce them. Shield are split in 4 sections and the best way to survive is to turn damaged shields away from your enemy. Weapons fire in arcs. With front and aft phaser arrays (250 degree arc) you have a sweet spot where both can hit. Torpedos have a smaller arc and do minimal shield damage but slip one through a hole in their shields and they hurt. Bridge officers grant you "special moves". My Science officer cam use a tachyon beam to disrupt enemy shields. Others grant you weapon spreads and similar things.

Like any good captain you go on all the away teams. Away teams work differently to sspace and so far there is a good mix of both.  Different weapons have diffrent things they do.  Personally space is a lot more fun, but the ground stuff isn't bad. Not all missions are fighty I've flown around a system beaming people from damaged ships and taken them to a medical ship and escorted a ship with sensor problems to the station it couldn't see. On the ground I've talked to people to find a diplomatic solution to the workers problems. In the live game there will be new systems generated and added each week for people to find and explore. The plan is that whom ever finds the system gets to name it.

Combat is a big part of the game but there is the diplomacy and the exploration to make it more like Star Trek. 

[Zirak]

Are you controlling Riker there?

That's not Riker, it's the (bearded) Riker inspired Lt. Dude. The game is quite interesting. Basically the tutorial has some stuff happen that isn't good. You're get sent across to a ship in trouble and help it out. Because of the problems the ship had there are no officers left so you take command. Then you repair and rejoin the fight and because of you action get promoted and keep command.

Space is coolest so I'll talk about that first. It's sort of 3D. You can fly up and down but only at 45 degrees. You can't just fly anyway around and you can't loop or roll. I think this was done for the feel of the game. In star trek I can't remember the defiant meeting a Klingon patrol and being upside down in relation to them.

Combat feels authentic to the show. You can manage power so you can take power from weapons and put it in your shields to help reinforce them. Shield are split in 4 sections and the best way to survive is to turn damaged shields away from your enemy. Weapons fire in arcs. With front and aft phaser arrays (250 degree arc) you have a sweet spot where both can hit. Torpedos have a smaller arc and do minimal shield damage but slip one through a hole in their shields and they hurt. Bridge officers grant you "special moves". My Science officer cam use a tachyon beam to disrupt enemy shields. Others grant you weapon spreads and similar things.

Like any good captain you go on all the away teams. Away teams work differently to sspace and so far there is a good mix of both.  Different weapons have diffrent things they do.  Personally space is a lot more fun, but the ground stuff isn't bad. Not all missions are fighty I've flown around a system beaming people from damaged ships and taken them to a medical ship and escorted a ship with sensor problems to the station it couldn't see. On the ground I've talked to people to find a diplomatic solution to the workers problems. In the live game there will be new systems generated and added each week for people to find and explore. The plan is that whom ever finds the system gets to name it.

Combat is a big part of the game but there is the diplomacy and the exploration to make it more like Star Trek.

That all sounds pretty interesting.

Just about the naming of the systems, though, that's a dangerous move. XD You KNOW there'll be the "Wang Star System", the "Sex Mist Nebula", the "Suck-a-Fuck System", etc. Letting players name things never bodes well.

Out of interest, can you name your own ship at some point? To, let's say, "She's one of ours, sir." ? >.>

[Pyra]

You do get to name your ship at character creation along with your character. It works like Champions Online, so if names are not unique. The ships number is and if you want to keep the same number and name but add a letter when you get a new ship there is that option.

As for sector names I hope they will be policed to stop that. The beta appears to be lax on names but I guess they will tighten up once it goes live.

[red pill]

ive had a play with the beta (thanks!) and its realy good. im not a big mmo fan, but im enjoying it. the system to add you to waiting partys for ship combat is intresting. each descrit system and sector seems to be split in to, what i will call for lack of a beter word "rooms" so rather then haveing descrit wow like servers, everyone plays together, but will be split of in to diffrent rooms.

currently on the maranda-a-like USS kant. its alot of fun gona see if i can work out how to start a fleet.

[Pyra]

Have you had the strange bug where your captain is swimming in space with out a ship? It makes ensign horrible monster acting captain of the U.S.S. Argh even odder.

[red pill]

yes. i did one mission where the USS kant landed on the planet...then it fixed it self, but when the mission was over, the lt was swimming in space.

not very good for her helth. she needs that looked at...

[Jinx]

I to am trying out the Beta and so far I am enjoying it! I haven't had the space swimming glitch though, I have noticed though your asked to help in the battle of Station 13 when on the map it is Station 24.

I am commanding the USS Ajax, because I like that name went for a tactical build so I'm good in combat.

I admit I wasn't to hopefull, one of the things I see in Star Trek is the crew solving problems, coming together to overcome things. While in an MMO its nearly impossible to simulate that I do enjoy what they have done with the MMO and the bridge officers and their abilities is quite cool.

[Pyra]

While in an MMO its nearly impossible to simulate that I do enjoy what they have done with the MMO and the bridge officers and their abilities is quite cool.

At Captain rank you can get the self destruct skill.



Apparently it's quite cool. This game isn't going to be a WoW killer, but I think it'll be fun to play with every now and again and I am liking it so far.

[Phoenix Taichou]

I should have got in earlier... there's no more Beta Keys