08/29/08 Update Timeline

Startrek Online Official Timeline

What we know and don’t know about Star trek Online – Created and Produced by Cryptic Studios. They are the producers/creators of City of Heroes / City of Villains.

We will have a series of Q&A below of the most up to date information regarding what we do know about Star trek Online.

So I wrote up a transcript from it to answer the questions that a lot of the threads popping up, are asking.

Q: What can you tell us about player made races?
A: Yup, you can create your own race. We’re giving tools so that people, your skin your eyebrows your antennae your hair, everything, we’re doing everything we did with Champions, but we are adding to it to make sure that we can allow players to really bring to life any sorta race they can imagine. Maybe its something mentioned in ST but never shown, maybe its something they’ve added in their own fan fiction, whatever it is.

Q: Humanoids only or can I have tentacles?
A: Uh,I think yeah just humanoid is where we’ll start, we’ll eventually go to other places, but uh I think, uh pretty much we’re going to be aiming at just humanoids for launch. Luckily thats mostly ST, very few non humanoid races. I wonder why?

Q: Can you customize your ship?
A: So uh, in terms of customizing, you can customize your ship exteriors, the geometry, you can add colors, decals, uh even come up with the name of your ship, the serial number, but also the interiors, we will allow players to do some level customization, now admittedly we are going to have this within some limits. Federation ships for instances have a certain kit, in other words, a certain look, a certain feel, but within those limits we’ll have the ability for players to tweak them. It’d be great if we could alow people to customize the decks and their layouts and where the rooms are, but im not sure whether that will be in the release or not.

Q: Which Factions are in at launch?
A: Starfleet and Klingon. So two factions, full PVE content and those two factions will compete indirectly for resources and directly in PvP.

Q: Will PvP be Starfleet vs. Klingon only?
A: Yeah Starfleet vs. Klingons. Uh, maybe we’ll do some sort of wargames where you can fight agaisnt people within your faction, that’s certainly within the Canon. Uh, I can think of a Next Gen episode, in fact where Picard and Riker face off. That’s something we might do.

Q: And Klingons?
A: Yeah, War games would be part of their lifestyle I’d imagine, so there might be some sort of dueling within faction but the primary focus of pvp will between Starfleet and the Klingons.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about how Cryptic acquired the rights to make the Star Trek MMO?
A: Well Perpetual faced some hard choices and they were in a position where they knew they couldn’t complete the game and they came to us when it was their decision not to move forward or find funding in other ways and we purchased the license from them and the rest is history. We had pretty friendly cordial relationship with them and so that led to us always being in communication, so when the opportunity came up we took it. I mean ST is such a great IP that it makes perfect sense for an MMO.

Q: How much of an influence will Perpetual’s vision for STO influence Cryptic’s game?
A: I’ll be honest, I really didn’t read any of their documents. I talked with their team briefly, for about an hour but that was months and months and months ago. Everything we’ve done, if there happen to be resemblances, great, cause Perpetual guys were really cool, they were really into it, they uh, I’m sure great minds will think alike, but we didn’t consciously lift anything.

Q: Cryptic acquired the rights less than a year ago. How is it that production has moved along so quickly?
A: Well see there is a big difference between cryptic and other MMO companies,that we’re starting with an engine. So the minute we got the license we can start working on in game assets. We’re not spending a year or two years building an engine or porting, licensing and engine and then trying to port it to do what we want it to do. And I think that’s usually the reason that an MMO company takes so long to make something. It’s not necessarily the game or the content, you have to do that plus the infrastructure, the pipeline, the tools, to enable people to do that stuff. We already have it with Champions Right? We’re shipping next spring, boom. All right ST,Whoom! We just use the engine make some tweaks to make it appropriate for ST, done.

Q: Does the inclusion of starships pose additional challenges?
A: Well yeah, but we already have flight, its not like we weren’t already used to players working in 3D. Now that isn’t to say that there aren’t things that we need to do for ships, but at least we had a good starting point.

Q: Can you tell us about the combat system?
A: I think that ship combat is going to be very tactical, its going to be more like, well kinda tall ship combat and not really dogfightering. But I think the ground combat, at least as we have it now, is much more fast paced then a typical mmo. Its not a console like action like champions, but you’ve phasers, you have energy weapons, disruptors, shields and so I think that right now the pace we are looking for is far more rapid.

Q: Will you be developing STO for the XBox?
A: There’s nothing preventing it, except for business.

Q: Is that a factor in the Game’s design?
A: Yeah, we’re always thinking about going to console because we have the technology to do it and very very few companies have that and so it would be silly for us not to consider it, but I don’t really consider it a limitation because we didn’t have to dumb down Champions even a little bit for the console.

Q: Will combat look more like combat in a traditional MMO or will it look more like an action RPG?
A: There are a lot of really good games that did some things that uh, Mass Effect, Tabula Rasa, HellGate, that have introduced some kinda cool mechanics that maybe we’re going to look at for inspiration to make some not quite so straight forward because we want to bring ST to life, I don’t want to just create an MMO that happens to have a ST skin on it and thats something that I really want to avoid.

Q: Will a monthly fee be required to play?
A: We haven’t decided on pricing plans yet.

Q: What is Cryptic using from the previous development?
A: Star Trek Online is entirely based on Cryptic’s design and built entirely using Cryptic Studios’ technology and assets. The former studio that we acquired the Star Trek game rights from had a huge amount of concept art created for their game – much of that is applicable, and we are taking advantage of it. But Cryptic’s engine, technology platform and content pipelines have become so mature that with a small team we can quickly ramp up a project.

Q: Will there be PvP?
A: Yes. We plan for a faction vs. faction PvP ruleset, but there are also plans for a competitive PvE mechanic.

Q: Will there be PvP, PvE and RP rule set servers?
A: There will not be separate servers. Open PvP will be restricted to designated sectors of space (far-off reaches of unclaimed territory). Consensual PvP and competitive PvE will occur between the realm borders (the Neutral Zone), where players will be competing over territory and resources with the option to PvP.

Q: Will there be an economy?
A: Many of the details are still in the works, but yes, there will be an economy that makes sense in the Star Trek universe. Since the Federation has explicitly done away with money, expect bartering and trading of goods to be an important part of the economy. Less tangible forms of economics such as Reputation are also not out of the question.

Q: What are the system requirements?
A: We haven’t finalized this yet. Suffice to say, we want to make a game that looks great and can run well on a wide variety of systems.

Q: Will you need to have to have an internet connection to play Star Trek Online?
A: Yes.

Q: When does the game take place?
A: Approximately 30 years after the events in Star Trek Nemesis. The game starts in 2409. Technology has advanced and the galaxy is a much more volatile place.

Q: What races will we be able to play?
A: The plan is Human, Vulcan, Andorian, Klingon, Orion, Gorn, and several others. You will also be able to create your own race with its own custom look and attributes. You will start off with two factions only playable Fed or Klingon. As time goes on you will be able to choose other factions, you will also have the ability to create your own race within these two factions until which they add more.

Q: Will everyone be the Captain of their own ship?
A: Yes, but you will have to earn the responsibility and skill to command larger and more powerful vessels. Remember, in Star Trek as well as naval tradition, whoever commands the ship is the "Captain," even if it is not your current rank.

Q: Can I play something other than a Captain like a Doctor or an Engineer?
A: Everyone is a Captain, (remember, if you command a ship, you are automatically a Captain), and you will command a crew, but that does not limit your role. Your character will still be able to choose from a variety of career paths, such as Engineer, Tactical Officer, Doctor, Science Officer, etc. Your career path is your root, and will affect your skills, and how you command your crew. Consider Jean-Luc Picard, Beverly Crusher, Worf and Kathryn Janeway. Picard was an archeologist and diplomat, Crusher was a doctor, Worf a security/tactical officer, and Janeway was a scientist. Each eventually choose a career in command and became ship captains. This does not mean the game will limit your ship choices based on your profession – far from it. The examples are simply an example of how the game design was inspired.

Q: Do I need to be well-versed in Star Trek lore in order to play Star Trek Online?
A: No, even the most casual Star Trek fan will enjoy and appreciate the world. For those not familiar with the Star Trek universe, Star Trek Online will be a new experience with as much depth as each individual is comfortable with exploring. However, the world will be rich with lore from every series and movie that will satisfy even the most devout Trek fan.

Q: How will I be able to play with my friends?
A: In space, you can form teams and do missions together. Space battles will occur between multiple player and NPC vessels. When you do a ground mission, the mission owner can build an away team that consists of other players. Outside of combat, there will be numerous community building features, locations, hubs and events that will bring players together.

Q: Will console and PC players be on the same servers?
A: We would like that to be the case. There is nothing technologically keeping us from making it so.

Q: Will there be realistic travel times in space?
A: Travel times will be semi-realistic, with a focus on fun. Space is big, and it can take a very long time to travel great distances. That travel time can be impractically long. We will introduce transwarp conduit technology and worm holes to allow players to travel to distant sectors of the galaxy without needing days or weeks of gameplay to do so.

Q: What Platforms will you be able to play on?

A: At the moment we only know that PC is confirmed, 360 they are looking the ability to introduce and allow for Console community to participate. Jack in a few interviews have indicated that they would like to bring it to PS3, Xbox360.

Q: Linux and Mac Users

A: At the moment they don’t have any plans to Linux and Mac compatible at launch.

Q: When will the game be released?

A: Some websites have projected aprox or around August 2009, Jack in several video interviews have given mixed messages such as “sooner than you think” to less than 3 years.

Q: How long as it been in Development?

A: Originally, STO was being developed and produced by the now gone under company Perpetual Entertainment. Cryptic had close ties with PE and at the time of PE failing they were given the opportunity to purchase the rights and artwork, though no code and in December of 2007 shortly after PE closed its doors Cryptic obtained the game and started work on it right away.

Q: What time period will Star trek Online take place?

A: Game set 2409 30 years after Nemesis (Universe changed, old empires still exist, new ones risen, old conflicts rekindled, etc. No Kirk, Picard.)

Q: Will Cryptic give us a timeline of some sorts?

A: Yes, website will be updated over the course of development with the game story’s Timeline to bring players up to date with the new lore

Q: How do you control your Players and your Crew?

A: Yes, you start out as a Captain of a small vessel, small crew. Ships crews will be AI controlled “Pets”. They will level up, attribute etc. Two different Kinds of Crew, Bridge Crew, (NPC officers).

Q: Will the game have space travel, how will that be explored?

A: Yes, Space Travel, Planet Exploration, Aboard Ships, Third Person View while flying in space.

Q: How will ground play, play out on the ground?

A: It will be fast paced, phasers, ducking, personal shields, melee, and ranging combat.

Q: Who will issue commands to you or the fleet for missions etc?

A: You will receive command instructions from Central Command such as Starfleet or Klingon to captains.

Q: Will the game be more about infinite exploration of systems?
A: Game not just about combat. INFINITE EXPLORATION system: new planets, new civilizations, etc. Players will be able to discover and study new cultures, new worlds, etc. Planets will offer new technology, resources, etc. ALL DATA funneled back into Central Command. New races might become available for recruit as crewmen.

Q: What rule will Fleets/Guilds play in Star trek Online?

A:  There will be economies, trading between all major empires; this will mean that Guilds will be called fleets, which will be able to create mining platforms, stations and shipyards etc.

Q: Will there be Holograms on our Ships?

A: Yes, possibility of bridge crew being Holograms.

Q: Will we be able to customize our ships facilities?

A: Yes, customizable options will be available for medical, engineering, holodeck, decks, layouts.

Q: How will death occur within game?

A: Player Death is still under discussion. They don’t want to have major penalties for such death.

Q: Will we see any major events in game?

A: Yes, you will witness many different events during missions and other times such as an Borg Invasion and etc.

Q: In game animation, how will this work?

A: Hand drawing animation, not motion capture.

Q: Will your player character have specialty abilities?

A: Yes, Captains will have specialties such as Engineering, Science, Archeology, Security etc.

How many Servers will you have?

A: Cryptic is hoping to have one large server instead of a few, if the Technology is available to them at the time of launch.

Q: Will Diplomacy be part of the game?

A: Yes, diplomacy will play a major rule just as it has within the Star trek Genre.