Star Trek Online

This week I was looking forward to writing about all of the wonderful stuff coming out about the coming this May in the Legacy of Romulus expansion in Star Trek Online. Unfortunately for me, that subject has been swept under the rug while I write about what happened to my fleet during this past week and expose our failures in order to provide valuable lessons to others.

This week my fleet was "stolen." Everything that we have worked so hard in building over the past 14 months was taken away by one person, a person none of us knows, and we were forced to begin anew. The lessons here are hard, bitter, and frankly embarrassing to discuss, but they are important to learn from, and I hope others use the advice to avoid our fate, regardless of whether you're in a fleet in Star Trek Online or a guild in some other game.

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Star Trek Online producer Dan Stahl sounds off on a variety of expansion-themed topics in the latest Cryptic dev blog featuring a series of questions by Massively's own Terilynn Shull. He devotes a particularly lengthy wall o' text to player concerns about the new Romulan faction being forcibly aligned with either the KDF or the Federation.

"Just like the other two factions, Romulans have exclusive species, costumes, and starships that cannot be used by the other factions," Stahl explains. "While these citizens will start out in old ships they've managed to come by, they'll eventually gain access to new Republic ship designs and, when they've achieved proper rank in the Fleet, famous Romulan Warbirds such as the D'Deridex."

Stahl also clarifies how STO can go about unlocking the new Reman species once the Legacy of Romulus expansion launches. "All accounts will have the ability to unlock the Reman species, which is an exclusive species to the Romulan Republic, in one of two ways: they can either purchase the species unlock, or they can earn it by achieving maximum tier in the Romulan Reputation with a captain of any faction."

Captain's log, Stardate 86253.9. After collecting stolen goods from several Ferengi traders in the area, the USS Xiang Yu has been sent on a dangerous mission to retrieve a defector from the Klingon Empire. The only expected resistance is a handful of ground forces and a lone potential cruiser.

Following this mission we are set for shore leave for at least a week, which should give the crew a chance to relax and unwind. Unfortunately, our shore leave will be confined to a dingy and unpleasant trading station, thus rather curtailing my hopes.

Morale has been low following an escalating series of minor incidents, including a shipwide system failure caused by my first officer attempting to rewire the internal chronometer. As it turns out, she was submitting her latest duty officer report one day late and was worried I would have her demoted. I've asked my chief engineer to put together a fashion show in the hopes that it might distract the crew.

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A little confused as to how the Romulans fit into Star Trek Online now that their homeworlds have gone kablooey? Cryptic Lead Content Designer Scott Shicoff wrote a new dev blog to explain the setup for this May's Legacy of Romulus and how players fit into the scheme of things.

According to Shicoff, following the supernova that destoyed the Romulan homeworlds, the population split into three factions. The Tal Shiar is a dangerous sect led by Empress Sela that has no problems aligning itself with bad seeds. The Romulan Republic is a more peaceful group that seeks reunification and the end of xenophobia. And the final are survivors -- the players -- who are scattered everywhere and have yet to align with either of the two other factions.

Read up on the three factions over at Star Trek Online!

If you believe the Star Trek franchise, April 5th will be a very important day in 50 years as the day that humanity makes its first contact with the Vulcans. It's definitely an important day in Star Trek Online as a result of the lore. To commemorate the in-universe historical event, the game will be hosting a special event from April 5th until April 11th. Players will be able to visit the Utopia Planitia shipyards orbiting Mars and celebrate Starfleet's legacy by meeting its latest and greatest ship.

The latest incarnation of the Enterprise will be docked at the shipyards during this time, allowing players to meet the crew of the NCC-1701-F and pick up a non-combat replica of the Phoenix. Klingon players won't be left out of the celebration, as the Day of Honor will be running concurrently around Qo'Nos and players can pick up a special bat'leth. So whether you're part of the Federation or the Empire, it'll be a week of celebration for days that aren't very special now but will be in the future.

On the heels of last week's revelation that Star Trek Online will be releasing its first ever expansion, Legacy of Romulus, many people were apparently waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop so they could rage when their expectations weren't met. That happened within seconds after the release of a special Ask Cryptic blog written by Executive Producer Daniel Stahl last Friday.

Massively received a tip or two informing us that there was a Thread of Rage on the Star Trek Online forums, one that arose after the Ask Cryptic revealed that characters in the upcoming Romulan faction will be forced to choose to ally with either the Federation or the Klingon Defense Force and share in their fleet capabilities instead of developing fleets of their own.

With the help of my accountant husband, I took on the challenge of dissecting this alleged Thread of Rage to determine how many people really did express feelings of rage, anger, or even disappointment with the news. You might be interested in the results of our analysis. If you are, take the jump!

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If knowledge is half the battle, what's the other half? Winning, duh. It's certainly not flaky pastries or erotic roleplaying. You got to win the game's face off, and when you're done, you should pose for a commemorative photo like Reader Ralph here:

"This shot was taken just minutes from the end," he wrote to us. "After several fierce battles, our team of AFS soldiers succeeded in taking over the last Bane encampment! The Earth was ours again! WE WON! And then our universe winked out of existence, and Tabula Rasa was no more."

You won and you lost? Ralph, you officially broke the universe with that. Read on for more exciting player screenshots in today's edition of One Shots.

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Do you have a burning question about Star Trek Online: Legacy of Romulus? Get in line behind pretty much every single STO player, pal. But while your specific query may not reach the ears of top admirals, Executive Producer Daniel Stahl created a special edition of Ask Cryptic devoted to answering the most common questions out there.

So what's included with the Romulan faction? Stahl says that there are three races (one free, one unlockable or purchasable, and one for subscribers only), adding, "The Romulan Republic was created from the ground up as a complete new faction. They have their own backstory, their own exclusive missions and episode series, exclusive costumes, faction-exclusive social hub, unique playable species, a full ship progression line from level 1 to 50, unique HUD UI, and more."

While Romulans will be an independent faction, Stahl explained that these captains will choose to ally with either the Federation or Klingons for the purposes of storylines, PvP, and starbases.

I vividly remember a conversation I had with my then-girlfriend's parents back in 1996 about the potential of this growing "internet" phenomenon. With my limited understanding, I made it sound downright noble, a Library of Congress available at the fingertips of the average Joe or Jane. What I really should have said that it would be a tool for the distribution of pornography, nerd rage, and cute animal pictures.

I have no idea how big the cute animal picture industry is, but there have got to be millions of aspiring photographers daily who prod little baby critters with encouragement sticks in the hopes of eliciting a few "awws" out of strangers. Even when the serious business of MMOs came a-calling, cuteness infested fantasy lands near and far.

Whenever I see something absurdly cute in an MMO, I always smile because I know that somewhere, some uber-elite, way-too-serious player is developing facial tics from being in the same game world as it. So twitch away, as here are 10 of the cutest critters as seen in-game!

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Captain's log, Stardate 86234.1. The USS Xiang Yu is reporting back to Starfleet Headquarters for a debriefing following a mission containing a cascading temporal anomaly linked to the ship's warp signature. My first officer has been asked to give a report on the observable effects of the phenomenon and what might be done in the future to prevent a similar incident from reoccurring.

During what should have been a fairly simple search and rescue assignment, the Xiang Yu was trapped in a repeated cycle of destruction and temporal displacement. Upon closer examination, my chief engineer identified a concentration of chroniton signatures that corresponded with the impact points of torpedoes during an earlier engagement with the Orion Syndicate. Her theory is that these weapons were somehow responsible for this phenomenon.

My first officer, meanwhile, is convinced that interpersonal relationships are in some way connected to this incident. I am occasionally unclear why Admiral Celeste encourages her in this fashion.

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Fleets in Star Trek Online can put together all sorts of interesting projects. The update for Season 7 added the ability for fleets to establish embassies on New Romulus, a way to reach out to the Romulan people despite the fact that you were inevitably playing a traditional enemy of the Romulan Empire. But there are more projects involved beyond simply crafting the building. The latest special project has just been revealed, and it's all about plant life.

The project will be available for a limited time, from March 28th to April 11th. Fleets which successfully complete the project will find ivy growing along the columns within the embassies, as well as additional plant life in the facility. It's a small thing, but it does brighten up an otherwise utilitarian facility. So if your fleet has an embassy, it's time to work on your gardening talents and green up your building.

I don't think many Star Trek Online players really believed it was possible. To be honest, I'm not sure many of us yet believe, but late last week the powers that be over at Cryptic Studios and Perfect World Entertainment let the countdown clock on the teaser page expire to reveal the first ever expansion that Star Trek Online has seen.

The Legacy of Romulus is scheduled to be released on May 21st, 2013 and contains what appears to be a mountain of new content. Best of all, the new expansion is absolutely free to all players. Let's get to the overview, shall we?

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All those, ahem, Cryptic hints we've been receiving about something Romulan-related making its way to Star Trek Online have finally been revealed this morning thanks to the unveiling of the game's first expansion.

It's called Legacy of Romulus, and it's coming your way on May 21st. Features include the ability to play as a Romulan and captain one of the empire's fearsome Warbird-class vessels. Cryptic and Perfect World are also tweaking STO's trait system and its UI. And of course there will be plenty of new story and mission content in the offing as well.

[Update]: The expansion will be free according to a Cryptic forum post.

Captain's log, Stardate 86215.3. During a mission of exploration in the Regulus Sector, the USS Zhuong Zhou once again encountered the Borg. While the ship was successful in preventing a large-scale Borg assault, we were forced to evacuate to avoid an imminent warp core breach. No hands were lost, which was sufficient for Starfleet to grant me a full command aboard the USS Xiang Yu.

For our first mission, the ship has been dispatched to the Regulus Sector in the hopes of facilitating long-term peace negotiations with factions of the Klingon Empire. The ship's array of powerful phaser cannon and high-yield plasma torpedoes serve as a testament to the fact that the Federation is aware of many different definitions of "negotiate." We are currently en route to the Arucanis Arm nebula to help defend colonists from raids by Orion pirates, and I have instructed my first officer to be prepared to use both tact and diplomacy in this situation.

My chief tactical officer has nicknamed the two cannon arrays "tact" and "diplomacy."

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