Questions
by Kestral, Cryptic Community Writer

style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">
Answers
by the
Star
Trek Online
style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> development
team



Development of href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/117"> style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek Online
is progressing at warp speed thanks to Cryptic Studios, as the media
has received developer
interviews
and href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/43114">fiction updates.
Even so, it feels like moving at impulse speed to the legions of fans
who love the franchise. To whet the appetites of those dying to drink
in new data on the game, Cryptic has released a new Q&A with
the development team that addresses the vastness of space, Gene
Roddenberry's vision of the future, and even "pew pew."


Star
Trek

are almost iconic, how will the story element be delivered? Will there
be voiceovers or cut scenes?

Cryptic:
Star
Trek Online

takes place about 30 years after the events of style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek: Nemesis
and Star Trek: Voyager,
in the year 2409. Many of the characters have retired, passed on or
otherwise evolved. Certainly, some characters have very long lifespans,
and many will have had children. Expect to see the descendants of some
of your favorite characters, old enemies return and friends evolve. And
definitely expect to visit familiar locations like Starfleet Academy in
San Francisco, Deep Space 9, Qo'noS, Vulcan and many others, as well as
strange and entirely new worlds.

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style="font-style: italic;">Set phasers to fun in Star Trek Online

How will
psi-capable characters be handled (Vulcans, Betazoids, etc.)?


Cryptic:
Expect to see some of these abilities represented in style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek Online.
Some psi abilities are easier to represent than others. For instance,
Ocampan or other telekinetic species present obvious gameplay elements.
Others are much more challenging and are often simply used as plot
devices on the series. It's not unreasonable to expect a Vulcan to be
more resistant to psi attacks and control, or a Betazoid to have a
bonus with NPC interaction.

Space is
vast. Will it feel vast in STO?


Cryptic:
Very vast! As we are constructing Star
Trek Online
, it is sometimes amazing to experience just
how vast space is. We are paying close attention to the fine balance
between delivering the true experience of vast space and keeping
gameplay fun and engaging.

One inherited
flaw...found in
current Star Trek
games is that the ships are not in scale with one another. For example,
in Bridge Commander,
the Defiant
was as large as a Galaxy class saucer section, which is not canon. What
will Cryptic's plans be with scaling of the ships?

Cryptic:

We have been working on that recently, and we are in the process of
defining ship scale and size ratios. Most of the time it is not a
problem. But there are a few exceptionally small ships, such as
shuttlecrafts, that become problematic. At true scale, they become
nearly [imperceivable] when you are flying a ship the size of a Galaxy
class, and that's simply not fun.

We want to deliver a canonical Star
Trek
experience, but we also want to deliver a fun game,
so we have to find a balance. Expect larger starships, from escorts to
battle cruisers and Borg cubes, to have their scale represented fairly
accurately. There will also be some small ships in STO – take a close
look at the trailer and you may see some.

Could we possibly expect
to make our own "log" entries? Star Trek just isn't Star Trek without
log entries.


Cryptic:
Yes – log entries
are an awesome idea with many cool applications. We've got a lot of
ideas on how we can do this and to what extent you'll be able to view
the logs on and offline – but the details are still to be determined.
Make sure you tell us what you're interested in seeing out of this
feature on the forums!

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Players will see familiar places in the game, but they'll also explore strange new worlds.

The Star Trek universe is
based fundamentally on "we are better people in the future and work
toward peace." Nearly all (successful) [massively-multiplayer online
games] currently have conflict at the heart of the game. How will you
balance the (very high) ideals of Star Trek with
most
people's need to "pew pew" the first person they see?


Cryptic: As
we looked closely at the [intellectual property] and built our story,
we realized there were certain truisms we needed to honor. The
Federation is an idealistic society that seeks to better themselves and
others. It is a fundamental part of Gene Roddenberry's vision – the
future will be brighter. Other societies like the Klingon Empire or the
Romulans are not evil, but they are different. They are motivated by
different values and handle situations very differently than the
Federation.

But even in an idealistic society, there will always be conflicts and
there will be those who seek to undermine those ideals. Conflict is a
vital part of any drama, whether it is television, film or a game. Some
of our favorite moments in Star
Trek
were in Star
Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
and the Dominion War and we
want to capture the drama of that type of conflict. But wherever
possible, we will offer alternative ways for players to solve conflict
– as long as it's fun.



To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Star Trek Online Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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