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If you’re interested
in learning more about Cryptic Studios’ Star Trek Online,
then you’ve come to the right place. We’ve compiled
the currently known information about the game into a handy FAQ which
covers everything from general gameplay and crafting to social
networking and beyond. Simply click on any of the questions below and
learn all there is to know about the game’s systems and
mechanics.

Do you have a question that you
don’t see an answer for listed here? Be sure to ask it in our
forums and it may even make it into a future update!

General Information

• Who is
  developing
  Star Trek Online?

  Star Trek
  Online is being developed by Cryptic
  Studios, which is known for previous titles such as City of Heroes and
  Champions Online.

• When was
  Star Trek Online launched?

  February
  2, 2010

• Does Star
  Trek Online include micro-transactions?

  Yes, there
  are cosmetic items available but nothing that will provide in-game
  advancement to players, and many items offered through the C-Store will
  be available in-game as well.

• Is Star
  Trek Online Windows 7 compatible?

  Yes, STO
  does run on Windows 7.

• Are there
  separate servers or a single universe?

  There is a
  single server for the game, but many instances. The good news is that
  the single server is set to accommodate both North American and
  European players. You can also easily change what instance you are in..

• Does the
  game support game controllers?

  Officially,
  not yet. However, it is possible to use a 360 controller by manually
  setting keybinds in the options menu within the game.

• Is there
  integrated voice chat?

  Not
  currently.

• Can
  players create or use User Interface addons?

  As of yet,
  the answer is no. Portions of the UI will, however, be open for
  modification such as the various HUD elements.

• Are key
  binding and macros supported?

  Key
  binding is supported, with standard MMOG keybindings included as a
  default. Currently, there is no easy macro support in STO.

• How many
  levels are in the game?

  Currently,
  there are a grand total of 50 levels in Star Trek Online. There are
  five ranks (Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, Commander, Captain, and
  Rear Admiral) and each rank has 10 grades (levels). For example: being
  level 16 would make you a 6th grade Lieutenant Commander.

Lore Connect

• What is
  the time setting for the game?

  The game
  is set 30 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, so around 2409.
  The game is set in the Star Trek universe’s
  “standard timeline” and is not affected by the
  latest Star Trek movie, where an alternate timeline was created.

• Does the
  peace treaty between the Federation and
  Klingon Empire still exist?

  No, it has
  dissolved and the Federation and Klingon
  Empire are standing at the brink of all out war as explained in a Ten
  Ton Hammer exclusive interview with Cryptic Studios.
  
  
  
  “By 2409, the Khitomer Accords have been dissolved; the
  Klingons and
  Federation are at war again. Romulus has been destroyed which you saw
  in the new movie. The Romulans are trying to rebuild and figure out
  where their place in the galaxy is. The Borg, who have not been seen in
  a long time, are starting to reassert themselves. Some lesser known
  enemies that people just weren't expecting are popping back up. So it's
  all kind of combining for a time of turmoil for the alpha and beta
  quadrants where instead of everything working out, everything is
  starting to fall apart again.”

• Are the
  Federation and Klingon Empire the only two factions in the game?

  No, but
  players will only be able to create player characters that are aligned
  with the href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/federation/races/portal">Federation
  or href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/klingon/races">Klingon
  Empire factions. To create a
  Klingon
  character, the player must have a Federation character that is at least
  a Lieutenant grade 5.

• Can
  players create their own custom race, and if so
  how does that fit into the lore of the Star Trek universe?

  Yes,
  players will be able to create their very own
  custom race using the robust character creation tools. In terms of how
  this fits into the lore:
  
  
  
  “In DS9, if they're not from a Federation planet, they have
  to have a
  recommendation from a Starfleet captain. Starfleet's going to be
  looking at expanding those rules in the 30 years between Nemesis and
  2409 just to be more inclusive of who can be in Starfleet.
  
  
  
  We've also never gotten a full list of the planets that are Federation
  members. We've gotten some of the top ones, but we haven't seen a
  comprehensive list so there's always the possibility that some of these
  custom races may be from Federation planets that just haven't appeared
  on a show.”

• Will
  players meet and interact with famous Star Trek characters?

  The time
  of the game is set beyond the "sell by" date of the characters we all
  know and love, but be on the lookout for their children and
  grandchildren. One example is Miral Paris, who is the daughter of Tom
  Paris and B'Elanna Torres of the Voyager series.

• How is
  Leonard Nimoy associated with the game?

  Leonard
  Nimoy, the actor who played Spock (as if you didn’t know!),
  provides voice-over narration for different parts of the game, normally
  when you travel to a new Sector.

Gameplay

• Where
  does the action occur; can I kill stuff on the ground as well as in
  space?

  Missions
  can take place in space or on the ground,
  with many mission arcs containing some combination of both.

• How many
  playable factions are there to choose from?

  Players
  can only create Federation or Klingon Empire characters at the present
  time. In addition, the player must have a Federation of at least
  Lieutenant grade 5 to create a Klingon character.

• Does
  exploration play a role in Star Trek Online? Can players be able to go
  where no man has gone before?

  Yes,
  players will be able to go where no man has gone before. Cryptic has
  created the Genesis System, which created random systems and worlds for
  players to explore and have adventures.

• Are there
  special travel options available to players?

  Yes,
  players can use the Transwarp ability, based upon technology brought
  back by Voyager from the Borgs. Using this ability will warp the player
  back to the Earth Spacedock (if Federation) or Qo'noS (if Klingon
  Empire). This ability has a 30 minute cooldown before it can be used
  again. If you do not see it in your tray, open up your powers/abilities
  menu by hitting ‘P’ and dragging the Transwarp icon
  down to your tray.

• Speaking
  of travel, does Star Trek Online feature ground vehicles?

  Ground
  vehicles are not featured in Star Trek Online at the present time,
  unless you count feet!

• Can
  players upgrade their ships?

  Absolutely!
  There are many different ways to upgrade your ship cosmetically and in
  functionality. You can modify your ship’s appearance by
  paying a fee for each change, usually hull, saucer, and nacelles. To
  increase the abilities of your ship, you can upgrade the various
  systems, such as engines, shields, weapons, and the bridge consoles.

• Do ships
  fly at a set speed or can players control that aspect of gameplay
  directly in some way?

  You can
  definitely affect your travel speed beyond ship upgrades. During
  flight, players can transfer power from other systems to boost their
  speed or transfer power to thrusters for a greater turning radius. In
  addition, certain abilities may grant a temporary increase in speed,
  turning radius, and engine power.
  
  
  
  “There are basically three different speed that you move in
  Star Trek
  Online. You travel at warp speed, and whenever you're at warp, you're
  in the astrometric view. That is, you're never in href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/federation/maps">system
  space
  travelling at warp speed. Your fast mode when you're in system space is
  full impulse. It's kind of like putting all of your energy into your
  engines and so that, you know, you can fly around at faster speed. You
  can go between points of interest within a system, you can go out and
  explore that system at a little bit higher rate.
  
  
  
  That being said, when you are at full impulse, all your power's to your
  engine, so you have very little to your shields, and none to your
  weapons. And transferring power over to them takes time, so you don't
  full impulse into combat. You pretty much full impulse kind of right
  out of range, let your systems charge back up again, and then go into
  combat. But, during combat, you're going at less than quarter impulse
  when you're going into combat. You can change your throttle, you can
  change your speed, you can still transfer energy to your engines so
  that you end up going faster. You get to the encounter, and then figure
  out how fast you're going to go to get into battle.“

• Can I fly
  from my bridge just like in the movies and TV shows?

  No, you
  cannot do so. In space the view is set to third-person so players won't
  be able to control movement directly from the ship's bridge. Players
  can zoom in close to view the ship, but the "positional aspect" of
  space combat requires a more holistic view of the area.

• What is
  the bridge used for?

  Currently,
  you can use the bridge of your ship as a meeting place to see and talk
  to other players. You can go to your bridge by first clicking on the
  triangle icon (listed as “More”) on the right side
  of the mini-map and clicking “Visit the Bridge”
  option. You can invite other players from anywhere in the universe to
  join you on your bridge; they do not have to be close by to your ship.
  Cryptic has stated that they have more plans for bridges in the future.

• Does Star
  Trek Online have PvP?

  Yes, Star
  Trek Online has both ground and space based PvP. Space PvP between
  Federation and Klingon takes place in the Eta Eridani Sector Block,
  while Klingon versus Klingon takes place in the Omega Leonis. You can
  also join a queue to enter into PvP. To join a queue, click on the
  triangle icon (called “More”) on the right side of
  your mini-map and select “Join PvP Queue.” A list
  of events will be shown and you will be able to join any one that you
  wish. Most PvP scenarios require at least 5 players per side before
  they will begin.

• Are
  instances used in the game?

  Most of
  the PvE content is instanced content. The vast majority of the content
  is a 5 player limit instance. For example: if you have a mission to go
  to a specific sector and defeat any enemy ships interfering with
  Federation mining operations, other players can join in the same
  instance as you. When you enter that specific system, if another player
  (or players) are already there, their actions will count towards your
  goal of completing the mission. The same is true if another player
  joins you while you are in the middle of your mission. Note that you do
  not have to team up as a group to complete the mission. A maximum of 5
  players can be in the same instance before another instance for that
  system is created for new players.

• Does the
  endgame content include raids of some sort?

  Yes, there
  are 5 man raids, called Special Task Force missions (originally called
  raidisodes) and require a 5 player team. You will not be able to do any
  of these raids solo. In addition, they require a rank of Rear Admiral
  or Brigadier General to get the mission. Enemies found in the STFs
  range from level 45 to level 47. Cryptic is considering 10 man and 25
  main STFs in the future, depending upon feedback from the 5 man STFs.

• Are there
  crowd control type mechanics in combat?

  Tractor
  beams and other hold abilities are available in space combat. One such
  example is the Viral Matrix ability, which immobilizes a starship.
  Ships are like sharks so they must keep moving and try to avoid
  immobilization or risk rapid shield depletion. Crowd control abilities
  also play a role in ground combat, such as the Draw Fire or Suppressing
  Fire abilities.

• Can I
  escape from combat situations if things get out of hand in space or
  ground combat?

  Yes, you
  can do so, but you have to run really far away from combat, which
  isn’t always possible. If you are engaged in space combat,
  you can warp out of the system if you manage to get away. On the
  ground, you can beam out back to your bridge.

• Is there
  loot in Star Trek Online, and if so, how is it be distributed?

  “We
  end up doing kind of loot sharing whenever a drop
  happens. There's round robin and chancing based on the level
  discrepancies between players. The loot basically drops for a certain
  person within the group. And they can deal with trading or not trading,
  but we kind of round robin it so that it's kind of a fair loot drop. So
  I'm not going to be able to steal your loot.”

• Is Star
  Trek Online an item-centric game?

  Star Trek
  Online isn’t a totally item-centric game. Items that you
  loot, get from drops or buy from vendors do have an impact on your
  character, but your main abilities stem from the skills that you
  purchase in the game. That being said, always make sure to equip the
  best possible items that you have at your disposal.
  
  
  
  “It's
  more item-centric than Cryptic has done in the
  past, but the design approach is that character development and away
  team development would be the primary focus. So as you get better
  ships, it improves your baseline as you go up levels. As you advance
  and improve your skills, you become more and more powerful. The items
  are meant more to augment and be hooks for that. Items are still very
  important, but it's not a design to make them a central focus of the
  game.”

• Do
  players have a bank vault or account-wide vault of some sort?

  Players
  have both a bank vault and their own personal inventory. As the
  player’s character gets higher levels, more slots are added
  to the bank vault and the inventory. Items within the bank can be
  retrieved from any bank location. Items from the character’s
  personal inventory can be given to the player’s character,
  any of the bridge officers, or to the player’s ship. If you
  find yourself running out of room, give some items to your bridge
  officers to carry until you get to a bank. As for bank accounts being
  account-wide, they are currently not.

• How do
  players personalize their characters in terms of skills or abilities?

  Players
  can personalize their characters by spending skill points. These skill
  points are spent in a variety of skills, and having a certain level
  within a skill will unlock an ability that the player can use, such as
  Attack Pattern Alpha. Certain abilities are only available to certain
  classes, such as Tactical or Science.
  
  
  
  Players can also spend sill points on their bridge officers to have
  them increase their skills and unlock abilities.
  
  
  
  “Our characters are a bit more complex than the average MMOG
  in that
  you as a player are playing your own Captain but then you are also
  responsible for your Bridge Officers as well as your crew on your
  entire starship. This means that any given moment that you are playing,
  you are improving all those assets. You have a personal career choice
  as a Captain, which can be Tactical, Engineer or Science. As you
  develop your character and acquire bridge officers they will also be
  either Tactical officer, Engineering officers and Science officers that
  you are developing.”

• Can
  players group up for ground combat and be part of the away team?

  Yes, they
  can. You can have up to 5 people in your away team, which can be any
  combination of players and bridge officers. For example: you and a
  friend are grouped together. When you go to beam down, 2 slots are held
  for you and your friend. You fill the remaining 3 slots from bridge
  officers from your crews.

• Will the
  traditional MMOG trinity of Healer, Tank and DPS classes exist in group
  situations?

  The answer
  to that question is both yes and no. The Tactical officer is built
  along the lines of a DPS, the Science officer is similar to a healer,
  and the Engineer is close to a tank, but there are some differences.
  The line of the holy trinity is blurred somewhat in STO in that all 3
  specialties can be really personalized by their skill choices.
  Following a Tactical path with abilities and skills that enhance your
  damage with phasers will make you a better DPS than an Engineer or
  Science officer, but neither of those two other classes will be totally
  gimped in combat compared to a Tactical officer. Overall, the holy
  trinity is a shadow of itself in STO, but you can see the influence
  upon the three careers.
  
  
  
  “The
  roles are a little more blurred for Star Trek,
  certainly everyone is a capable DPS player, and you have to have that.
  Everyone has the ability to access and equip their ground characters
  with various weapons, there is not really weapon restrictions as to
  “oh
  you’re a science officer so you have to use this,”
  everyone has a wide
  variety of ground weapons and therefore everyone is dealing out a good
  deal of DPS. Now depending on your career choice and the abilities you
  get from that you augment that in different ways. A tactical officer
  does end up augmenting a lot of their capability with more damage and
  variety of delivering damage. The engineer is more about survival, I
  wouldn’t call him a tank, but it’s more about
  survival. The engineer,
  depending on which career branch you follow, that is a control, debuff
  and can potentially offer heals if you follow the doctor branch. In
  terms of strict ok you’re the tank you’re going to
  grab all the agro
  and then were going to burn it down in a kill order, were trying to
  avoid that traditional model."

• Are
  players able to change their character’s path once
  they’ve selected a specific career?

  You will
  be able to change their path to a degree. You cannot change your field
  (Tactical, Engineering, and Science), but you can redo your skills
  through a variety of means. You can spend Merits/Honor in-game to redo
  your skills. The cost depends upon your rank. The higher your rank, the
  greater the cost will be. You can also buy a retraining token from the
  Cryptic store (the C-Store). You also get a free retraining token when
  you level to the next higher rank, such as from Lieutenant to
  Lieutenant Commander. Just remember that you can only have one
  retraining token at a time. If you get another, the old one is lost.

• My UI
  says that I’m an 11th grade Lieutenant; how do I become a
  Lieutenant Commander?
  

  When you
  hit the next grade past 10 for your rank, you’ll be listed as
  an 11th grade of that rank. To become a 1st grade of the next higher
  rank, you’ll need to talk to the brass to be promoted.

• How do I
  level my character?

  To level
  your character, you’ll have to spend your skill points. Each
  grade and rank requires a prerequisite amount of skill points to be
  spent to achieve advancement.

• Do I get
  new ships when I level?

  You are
  able to get a new ship ( href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/federation/ships">Federation
  or href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/klingon/ships">Klingon,
  depending upon your faction) when you hit the next higher tier (an
  example
  would be going from Lieutenant to Lieutenant Commander). Your new ship
  will be equipped, but will not have any bridge consoles.

• Can I get
  more ships?

  Yes, you
  are able to purchase additional ships if you wish by spending Energy
  Credits.

• What are
  bridge officers?

  Bridge
  officers are NPCs who are under your direct command. They will
  accompany you on away missions and man consoles on your bridge. Bridge
  officers can rise in rank and have skills which you can spend skill
  points on. In addition, bridge officers will have special abilities
  based upon their skills and specialty.

• What are
  Fleet Actions?

  Fleet
  Actions are large scale missions that can have up to 20 players per
  side. Fleet Actions can take place in space, ground combat, or both.
  Some Fleet Actions are repeatable, such as “Starbase
  24,” while others are a full episode. At the end of the Fleet
  Action, items are rewarded to the participants, with the better items
  reserved for those who contributed the most to the action.

Social

• Are there
  guilds or fleets in Star Trek Online?

  Guilds are
  called fleets in Star Trek Online. Currently, you’ll enjoy
  standard MMOG guild trappings by joining a fleet, which is a fleet
  bank, ranks, and calendars. You also get an additional costume slot so
  you will be able to have a fleet uniform.

• How many
  ranks are available within a fleet?

  There are
  currently 7 different ranks available within
  a given fleet, and each of those can be modified and given different
  privileges.

• What are
  the benefits to being in a fleet?

  Currently
  the main benefit to belonging to a fleet, beyond easier socialization
  and grouping with your fleet members, is that characters will gain an
  extra uniform slot for their captain so that you may have both a
  personal and fleet uniform to choose from.

• Are there
  fleet announcements or activity logs?

  “One
  of the interesting things we’ve recently put in
  is the ability to see what your fleet members have been doing while you
  were offline. You can see an activity log of what’s been
  going on.
  Major events like boss defeats and leveling up are put in the log that
  everyone can go look at to see what’s been happening
  recently. That’s
  just an example of things we’re adding to make the fleet feel
  more
  alive and a participatory event.”

Crafting

• Does Star
  Trek Online feature tradeskills or crafting?

  “Crafting
  isn't exactly conventional in STO. There are
  really two forms of crafting that fulfill the crafting. There is
  essentially bridge officer crafting. The trade skills are really your
  skills that you are skilling up throughout the game. If you skill up in
  Photon Torpedo for instance, as you get to the end of that tier, you
  get the abilitiy to train bridge officers in Photon Torpedo Salvo or
  Spread or whatever skill it happens to be. If you are a Captain that is
  a tactical officer you are going to be able to be the best tactical
  bridge officer trainer and it you are science officer, you can train
  the best in science bridge officer trainer and then you'll be able to
  trade those skills. In order for you to get the best tactical bridge
  officer skills anywhere in the game you will have to learn those from
  the player trainer who is a good tactical trainer. The tradeskills are
  your own personal skills that will unlock abilities to improve your
  bridge officers.
  
  
  
  Bridge officers start off the game with a certain number of skills.
  You'll find new bridge officers along the way to learn skills, however
  the best trainers in the game will be players. The idea is that you
  will be collecting all of these skills, and trying to make the best
  build, or craft the best bridge officer you can. That is one of the
  major forms of crafting is the building of bridge officers almost like
  commodities and you will trade them among other players.
  
  
  
  The second form of crafting is more traditional, and that is Memory
  Alpha. If you are familiar with the IP, Memory Alpha is a planet, or
  computer, that contains all of the essential core knowledge of
  Starfleet. So we have that planet in the game. It is a hub of knowldege
  in the universe. Throughout the universe as you are travelling you'll
  find harvesting nodes. You'll find space anamolies, pick up some
  mineral samples, alien artifacts and not unlike you see in other games.
  You'll scan for these and then collect them. You can bring these back
  to Memory Alpha and you can use those bits of knowledge to unlock
  recipes. If you have the right components then you can build a super
  tachian rifle with whatever stats you need to put onto that rifle.
  First you'll have to invest in a Tachian Rifle, the samples, and some
  energy and you'll be able to craft that item. As you craft more items
  at Memory Alpha you'll unlock more recipes and be able to craft more
  advanced and exotic items.”

• Can I
  craft weapons or ship upgrades?

  You will
  be able to create numerous types of items in
  Star Trek Online, including things such as ground weapons and ship
  weapons or upgrades. You can also collect different types of components
  which can unlock different paths or types of items that you can create.

• How does
  crafting work, and can I fail at crafting?

  Crafting
  is fairly straight forward in that you'll
  gather components which will then be combined at different crafting
  stations. Clicking on the station will bring up a list of your
  components as well as a list of available recipes for that specific
  station. Crafting an item is an instant process, and you can not fail
  during the process. Basically if you know a recipe, you can create that
  item instantly so long as you own the components and are at the proper
  station.