Star Trek: Online - First Screenshot

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I'm not a fan of Star Trek but that looks very nice. They haven't made an acceptable space sim since freelancer, so hopefully this'll be my next fix.
 
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Heh, it took 'em long enough to show more than the odd diagram of a Sovereign-class ship, or a pic of the observation lounge, etc.

I was pretty hyped for ST:O when they originally said that away missions would consist of fps-style gameplay, but I believe that they've, since, axed that idea. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what other ideas they had in mind.

I shudder at the fact that I know both where the names "Locarno" and "Marcus XII" are taken from, though...
 
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looks nice. Big fan of star trek so I can't wait to play this.
 
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In all optimism, I hope this doesn't suck.
 
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I'm not a fan of Star Trek but that looks very nice. They haven't made an acceptable space sim since freelancer, so hopefully this'll be my next fix.
I dunno, I really like EVE Online, especially since the Trinity graphics expansion came out a few days ago.
 
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If we'll be able to work as crew on a ship and perform tasks that actually matter, like maintain an engine core or fire phasers or fly off with a shuttlecraft, I'm game. o/
 

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Hola, STO fans, and welcome back to the DevLog! There's something darned cool lurking in this entry, so let's skip the endearingly goofy banter and get right to it...

Over the past few DevLogs we've primarily focused on a sampling of the low-level processes of STO development, taking a peek at terrain generation, object design, and version testing, among other things.

Today we'd like to seriously shift gears, and start revealing a little bit about the actual game systems themselves. We'll start with a deceptively simple game mechanic that's deucedly difficult to nail down: the Interaction System.

What's the Interaction System you ask? In a nutshell, the Interaction System controls every non-combat, player-to-NPC interaction in the game. If you want to talk to a Ferengi shopkeeper, it goes through the Interaction System. Need to get some additional phaser training at the local Starfleet Academy? That's the Interaction System. Want to beam down to a planet? Interaction System. Responding to a distress call from a crippled starship? That's the Interaction System, too. In fact, when one is done tallying up the mission givers, trainers, vendors, Transwarp Terminal operators, Dahar Masters, helpful cadets and informative colonists, you'll find that there are just about as many peaceful interactions in Star Trek Online as the phasers-and-bat'leths variety. Put plainly, the Interaction System is the glue that holds all the other systems of STO together, transforming a bunch of disconnected (though spectacularly well designed and balanced) phaser fights into an actual game, so it's vitally important that we get it "just right."

As we design, implement, and refine our Interaction System, we're trying to keep a few basic goals in mind:

* Keep it Simple - The less clicks and extraneous buttons the better.
* Keep it Intuitive - The best Interaction System is one the player can figure out without any instruction.
* Keep it Consistent - No matter where the player is (ground, space, another dimension) or what kind of interaction he's engaged in (dialogue, buying, training, obtaining missions, etc.) the widgets of the Interaction System's interface should behave in a consistent manner.
* Keep it Trek - A blanket goal of STO, but one that bears repeating.
* Keep if Fun - You'd be surprised how often this gets forgotten.

So, what can you interact with in STO? A better question might be: what CAN'T you interact with?

When playing on the "ground" (the surface of a planet, the promenade of a space station, or the interior of an "abandoned" Borg cube, etc.), players will use the Interaction System to chat with terrified aliens, order cups of Earl Grey from station replicators, launch games of chance from charming Dabo girls, and get missions from Starfleet superiors, among scores of other activities. All of these interactions, from the mundane to the sublime, will be launched by the most casual of mechanisms ("Keep it Simple"): a single right-click of the mouse on a neutral or friendly NPC.

While flying through space in a starship, players will use the Interaction System in exactly the same way ("Keep it Consistent")... but the NPCs the player will interact with will reflect more of the awesome diversity of the Star Trek universe. In space, players can respond to hails from officials on distant planets, or get orders from the commanders of besieged space stations, or do business with the owners of untrustworthy Orion shipyards, simply by right-clicking on those planets, space stations, or shipyards in exactly the same manner as if they were on the ground. In fact, the Interaction System is often the key to the player's ability to transition between space and ground, as ably illustrated by our VERY FIRST RELEASED IN-GAME SCREEN SHOT:
Already posted the screenshot.

Unfortunately, while the Interaction System of Star Trek Online may be nigh-infinitely expandable, our blog space is not, which is why it's time to bring this DevLog entry to a close. Please stay tuned for the next DevLog, which will reveal even more interesting tidbits about the development, systems, and content of Star Trek Online.

On behalf of everyone here at STO, thanks for the continued enthusiasm for Star Trek Online,
Mike Stemmle, Story Hologram

PS Big thanks to Greg, Steve, Daron, and Sean for helping to get this DevLog together.
Source: http://www.startrekonline.com/devlog/#entry5
 
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I dunno, I really like EVE Online, especially since the Trinity graphics expansion came out a few days ago.
That's out now? I may have to give it another shot, space type games are right up my alley.

Any tips on getting into the game? It was too open ended to really get into during the short window I had to explore the game, but it looked pretty neat.
 
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There's... something... interesting... about this game.
 
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This looks very interesting, I've been always a fan of Star Trek. I assume this will be p2p? (Pay to Play)
 
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That's out now? I may have to give it another shot, space type games are right up my alley.

Any tips on getting into the game? It was too open ended to really get into during the short window I had to explore the game, but it looked pretty neat.
Well, after you gain the skills required to upgrade from a little dinky frigate to a destroyer, the progression starts to suck you in. It's sorta' a "fire and forget" kind of game considering how skills are gained by a dedication of time instead of sheer effort. The only reason you typically go out doing missions in the game is to increase your reputation with certain factions, and to gain cold hard cash.

I'd reccomend finding a corporation to join, just because it's a lot more fun to do stuff with friends than to solo. And the later missions pretty much REQUIRE help from other people. At least if you don't yet own a big ol' blitzin Hyperion Battleship like I do, and even then you've got to watch your HUD. Also, in corporations there's a chance that another player corp. might declare war on you. THIS...IS...FUN... Well, it's not fun to get jumped at a stargate by members of the opposing corporation and have you ship destroyed, your body podded and a lot of your assetts stolen...But the tension of knowing you can be attacked at any time by a human enemy is exciting. And if you love running the gauntlet like that, then I reccomend low security (lawless) space XD

One aspect I really love is how you can warp in a solar system to anywhere you choose. Just for fun, I've even warped into orbit around the system's star for a closer look. And the fact that you SEE the warping and experience your ship moving past celestial objects to your destination lets you know that other than distant stars and nebulaic dust, everything you see is NOT a backdrop. The massiveness of the scale blows your mind.

It's such a deep game I could go on for several minutes. The Trinity expansion seriously overhauled the models. The ships all have a new crispness to them, and space stations which looked low poly and unimpressive in Revelations II now truly look like living breathing habitats for humans. The only disappointment is that Trinity seems to have sarificed anti-aliasing, which mildly marrs the otherwise superb graphics. It takes a modest bit of power from even a high power PC like mine, but even at max settings the worst that's ever hapenned is a flicker or two of lag from FPS loss.

It's really worth getting into, and the best part is that unlike most MMO's you don't have to be on for hours at a time to progress.
 

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