@Fnor: I heard that each player would be a captain and your crew was npcs. I'm not exactly positive on this though.

TheRemedy

Star trek MMO, awesome.

Make it so, Number One.

暇人

@freakout: Not a Sovereign, the saucer section is different and the stardrive has a lower profile.

Right, I'm a huge nerd.

@Bynoe, Schmatz: Nemesis was the (really unfortunate) "end" of the Next Generation.

Anyway, they had bridge interior fights. That means ship interiors, which makes it likely, to my mind, that there will be ship/crew "guilds." If the game is a passable MMO, space combat is decent, and you can make a ship manned by your friends, I'll have my next MMO.

Fnor

Star Trek was nice and all, and I've always played most of the games growing up, but I'm just not excited as I thought I'd be. Maybe Trek has been out of touch for too long for me. And Enterprise sucked, so no help there.

NumberFiveIsAlive

@Schmatz: IIRC they may be using some "World Generator" software I read about a while back. Apparently, similar to what Perpetual was using, it makes creating entire planets with ecosystems fairly easy.

mtheumer

@Bynoe: Someone said it was 30 years after Nemesis, and I'm not sure but isn't that after TNG?

I have a feeling a lot of the "instances" will be exploring new worlds, and chances are running into a hostile race.

Schmatz

@WatershipDown: Notice they were all armored cubes. They Borg can learn a few new tricks as well.

mtheumer

@Bynoe:

Naa it's set 30 years after the last film or so they said at the unveiling of this game.

scroll33

@Bynoe: My mistake, I thought it was set afew generations after the last series as in after Enterprise but it's after the last movie so the Borg being there makes sense.

Bynoe

@Bynoe: Set 30 years after the last movie Nemesis so the Borg are well known by then.

mtheumer

Fails for having the BORG all over the place. It worked in the early years in Next Gen because they were a rare, all powerful race. By the time it got to Voayger they were in every 3rd episode and were declawed.

Also fails for not one shot of the DEFIANT class.

WatershipDown

It seems pretty easy to destroy a starship with hundreds of people on board. Wouldn't there have been advancements in autonomous or remotely operated vessels by then?

klew

Hmm, I'm not a hardcore Trekkie so I could be wrong here, but as I understand it this game is set before the Next Generation and the Borg don't discover humans until Q transports them to the oterh side of the galaxy so they shouldn't really be there, but then they're an awesome enemy and it'd be a shame if they weren't in it so I guess that's forgiveable. Also looked like there was a bit too much of an emphasis on war and combat, again, I guess because it's a game you can kind of let that slide because a game purely about exploration probably woulnd't be as fun. Meh, my PC is a piece of shit and I doubt it'll come out on console (and it'd most likely suck if it did) so I won't be gettign it anyway.

Bynoe

Dibs on the USS Homestar Runner.

FightingChance

Looks interesting, will be following details of this game.

Tr4iLbLaz3r

Ok, I think I am more excited about this game. This and KOTOR 3 or whatever they will call it, might break my anti-MMO stance.

neojames82

I am not too fond of the style of Star Trek now. The destroyed a perfectly good design model with the next generation/voyager series and made it"darker". Like a mix of borg tech. Did going back in time change everything? Heck now the past in Enterprise is an echo from the style in First Contact. I just don't see the correlation between the two styles, except for the basics. The ships need more white panels or something.

Oh well as long as it feels like Star Trek then it should be good. I am curious about this MMO and how/if they put the different alien and ships from different generations together.

Looks fun.

Netnavi

YES! YESSSSSSSSSSSS!

FeatherNET

Forming raid on Borg Cube! PST need 39 more!

TheRemedy

Are games like these, along with the new Codemasters Jumpgate and bolstered by old stalwarts like EVE online, heralding the return of the space fighter/ship games?!

Engage, I say.

pylon_trooper

Holy shit, it's even going to let you travel through the freaking Bajoran wormhole!

[www-waa-akam.thomson-webcast.net]

(that links to the webcast of the announcement).

@Touy: according to the webcast it's "thirty years after Nemesis."

freakout

Huh. A good Star Trek game? Is such a thing possible?

I could see this doing for Star Trek what KotOR did for Star Wars (namely, making the brand feel new and fresh again).

Of course, I could also see this doing for Star Trek what Star Wars Galaxies did for Star Wars. It's really disturbing to think of a Federation officer clicking his comm to state, "ExC LFG, max Fed DPS!!!11" or trying to start a "guild" or crying about aggro Ferengi or something. Voice chat would help limit the alphabet soup that plagues most MMORPGs, but then we'd have to deal with swearing 12-year-old captains, instead... hmmm.

I'll go with "cautiously optimistic." Seems to be a good position on a lot of stuff that's coming out soon.

alaren

Wow, i couldn't be more excited right now, as long as the combat systems are "Good" and the gameplay meets the "average" score with a star trek theme and the ability to do most of the stuff you see in the series, i am completly hyped.

ryivanV2

Man that's gotta be one bitch of a corpse run with you die.

*snicker*

Captiosus

Wow I'm actually very impressed. Interest is definitely piqued.

QualityJeverage

@Bluecell: I plan to get my own wheels - the U.S.S. Enthusiastic Superlative will trek out alongside you. ;)

freakout

lol
the voice sounds like an advertisement for a Disney movie. It looks sorta interesting but they should've been able to do better with the graphics. It looks too colorful like WOW.

lancaster1

@freakout: A hundred years after or so.

Touy

I need a good Star Trek game.
Who's going to join me on the U.S.S. Awesome?

Bluecell

Yay, starships! Prayers have been answered. Now they just need a decent combat system - somewhere between the hardcore sim of Bridge Commander and the arcadey goodness of Legacy, please!

Also, the nacelles on that Sovvy in the trailer look... odd. Modified variant? This is meant to be a few years after Voyager ended, right? Maybe it's a new ship. Ooo, the excitement! But I didn't spot any Intrepid or Defiant-class ships. :(

freakout

That surprisingly looks pretty awesome...

Blind_3

hmmm. do we fly the ships? 'cause that'd be cool. "warp speed!" "where to?" "does it matter? just engage damnit!"

islandknight

Red shirt better be a playable class

taftsearlobe33

Yeah... the Borg are so tired out now I really don't want to see them at all. Voyager completely fucked that one up by turning them into comedy fall guys. I have a feeling they're going to be nothing but NPC's here for players to chew through.

How good this game is pretty much turns upon how encyclopaedic the lore in it is. If its just about phasers and borg it'll grow old fast.

Cultivar

Well, there goes my social life, grades, money.

As long as I can fly a Defiant (hopefully with a cloaking device). Or join section 31. Or go into the mirror mirror universe.

My nerd meter is going off the charts.

robbie158

@pylon_trooper: I hope it does too.

Gunloc

@Fnor:

Actually, I think its a modified Sovy. They mentioned that ships can be customized aesthetically and refit. It looks like new nacelles, and some added armor to the saucer and stardrive, along with a rollbar rear-torp launcher.

SnakeCL

Not a Star Trek fiend, but it surprisingly looks awesome.

Teh_Volz

@Touy:
2409 to be exact..It's only like a couple decades after Nemesis..

enewtabie

@TheRemedy:

You're the captain, your bridge crew are NPC pets.

SnakeCL

Can I get a Borg-free version/instance/shard/whatevs?

Evil Tortie's Mom

Im not even a Star Trek fan, but that looked pretty impressive.

JustJake

Away Team was my favourite Trek game, hands down.

ヨシダさん 25

Thank christ and a sandwich it's not trying to put itself into the TOS or before era.
That's what's going to make that new movie a heap of crap.

TOS = TOSuck.

TNG and DS9 = <3

otimus

Star Wars Galaxies was not a perfectly good game. It did some things great, but about 50% of the game was absolute shit. The new version sucks a whole lot harder, but the old version was not very good, despite many great elements.

Also, am I'm pissed at common knowledge for saying that Nemesis was bad. That movie was great, fuck you all.

About this game however: I've had a vision. A game like this could be awesome. Command, piloting, engineering, weapon control, navigation. Each played by a person, making up the crew of a ship, facing different encounters. The formula used in so many episodes of the OS and TNG, (fly into space, find something, and deal with it) could be used for a perfect mission structure for "quests." Larger faction battles, comprised of fleets of ships, could make for the coolest "raids" ever.

Class roles, operating together as a single ship... that could be so cool. But it doesn't sound like that's their plan. Too bad.

Jawajoey

Ehhhh, it looks no different from when SWG first churned out SS and videos. Check out CGW's exclusive when SWG was first announced; looked 100 times better then this trailer and still couldn't hold on to it's sack.

But you know, can't really argue with a Borg insta-warp.

PsycheE

They look very Barbie/Ken doll-ish.

Aethyr

It looks cool but as much as I think star fighting and phaser battling is cool, I hope the game places just as much emphasis on exploring.

thereallawrence

@prizm:

They scrapped "no man" in TNG. And frankly, I agree with you. Man works better in terms of the sheer poetry of the phrase, but TNG was a much more politically correct series than the original.

I would have loved to have seen Picard be a womanizing Captain like Kirk. <<

tzaketh

Characters look like they need more textures. MMO's suck the Life from you, I'll only play if I can play as a Ferengi !!! Merchant class FTW

Kaijumaster

I'll never play an MMO, but that looks pretty cool. Hopefully no Ferengi episodes, cause those all sucked.

TrueCrime

Patrick Stewart as a playable class please - Magneto's power combined with Picard's leadership bonuses with a slight touch of Romanesque majesty courtesy of Enobarbus.

AlbenoEpiX

@moonwaltz7: Of course! That's what I meant by "imploding in on itself." My mind still boggles how LA could take a perfectly good game with a solid community, and then proceed to fuck said community up the ass. HARD.

JustThisGuy

Oh lawdy, that looks incredible.

However, I am a little disappointed that Cryptic arn't sticking to the original designs that Perpetual made, those looked awesome.

I'll survive

Flakor

@JustThisGuy:

I hope you mean the original Galaxies. The "shiny new" version they switched over to is just a very poorly done WOW clone.

moonwaltz7

Wild.

Hope this is good.

Might buy this...

sir_carrot

*fruitless

:P

AlbenoEpiX

Have Star Wars games started to suck yet? Or does the fact that Galaxies imploded in on itself (despite being a solid MMO) count?

I distinctly remember a fairly specific pattern among ST/SW games--when one series sucked, the other tended to rock. A brief history: when LucasArts was pumping out titles like Jedi Knight and X-Wing, the Trekkies had... well... completely unmemorable crap. Then, when LA was pushing out tripe like Force Commander and those godawful Ep. 1 games, the Trekkies had great titles like Armada, Starfleet Command, Bridge Commander, and Elite Force.

Nowadays, after LA finally got their groove back, diehard Trek fans had--what--motherfuckin' Legacy? Anything else I'm missing from recent history?

Here's the question: will this break the pattern? Herald in a new age of quality Trek games? Cause the SW games to take a mysterious dive in quality? Who wants to take odds? C'mon, folks. Pool's open.

JustThisGuy

For such early footage it looked great. In the Q&A at a Las Vegas convention they mentioned that they'll probably be working on it for another three years.

That's a recipe for success in my book.

CapnHulk

Really, really not impressed, at all. An MMO trying to mix up third person PC combat in ships, on planets, then gives you control of ships, in space? Tough to do, even tougher to do well.

Then the entire premise of Star Trek, to explore, sure you'll fight a few people along the way, and you're alone most of the time, but it's fun. The MMO seems to be combat based and fleet based. Star Trek universe sure, but it seems like a secondary setting.

Also what's with the phasers tracking body movement, those Klingons seemed to shoot at the chest, then the beam seemed to be tied to that point til the red shirt dropped to the floor. Lame. But hey, early development stage no doubt.

Sword_Monkey

Will Star Trek Online live long and prosper, or will it prove to be a fruitful enterprise for both fans and developers?

See what I did there?

AlbenoEpiX

@TheRemedy: I really hope that's not the case. They would lose the entire feel of star trek, just having parties be a collection of ships and not an actual crew going through encounters.

Fnor

man I love that theme music! That's the first time I've heard it in quite a while, and it gave me chills, even though I'm not a big trek fan. TNG was the last show I regularly watched (I've never even seen a full episode of DS9, Voyager, or Enterprise), but that music has stayed with me.

jimb213

i hearts some trek. i didn't think it'd translate well to this format.

and even after watching, i'm still a little shaky, but convinced enough to give it a play at least..

joerocks1981

"To boldly go where no one has gone before"

Kinda missing that "no man" ring to it, doesn't it?

prizm

This game looks pretty good. I only hope they don't ruin the new movie in some effort to make it a jumping off point for the MMO (I'm looking at you Matrix Online.)

Wait, unless they already did that with Nemesis. That actually explains a lot.

moonwaltz7

Some quick question I don't know if there are answers to, yet:

Can I say take a Galor class cruiser and stick Federation Phasers on it with a Dominion Polaron emitter and Breen energy destabilizer?

What's the PVP gonna be like?

Will it be possible to make a Galactica and really piss off the purist Trekkies?

Is Data back yet?

Will there be temporal disturbances leading to cameos by all the characters we love?

Is the Federation allied with Species 8472?

Do they have an official name yet?

Those were all i could think of on short notice.

BoringJob

@JustThisGuy:

Agreed. Star Wars Galaxies was by no means perfect, but it was one of the few MMOs to actually try a different take on how MMOs should work. It was awesome to have multiple useful non-combat classes that created useful socialization areas. The player economy was a good idea that had some rough spots.

It makes me sad that the MMOs genre competition had a similar result to the medium competitions (VHS vs. Beta, etc.) Now that WOW has been wildly successful everyone tried to make a better WOW instead of being truly innovative.

moonwaltz7

@Jawajoey: Also: yes, this title would be completely awesome if it worked like that. In fact, I think a lot of the components you suggest were in the original Perpetual design doc. It's a shame they're not handling the development anymore.

JustThisGuy

@Sparx:

From what I've read, everyone can or will captain their own ship. As for the video, color me impressed.

mrdietsoda

@Jawajoey: Whatever, dude. SWG will always hold a special place in my heart because it let me be a Wookie hairdresser. An absolutely hideous Wookie hairdresser in eye-bleedingly neon furs.

...

Christ, I'm way too easily amused.

JustThisGuy

nvm, disregard my previous post

Sparx

Ok I admit this look interesting but I'm still a little confused on something. It seems as though you can create your own character (duh) but do have to join a crew (clan) on a ship or do you get your own or how does this whole thing go down?

Sparx

I've been avoiding the MMORPG genre for years... alas, with ship-to-ship, planetside AND inner ship combat... I can't resist. I will need this, and thus my social life will fade.

Klingon 4 life!

~19

Black_Ops_19

Damn, this looks pretty sweet. I might just have to play it. As much as I like WoW, I wanna stay away from that genre of MMO's for a while. This is like a breath of fresh air!

HoxtonHero

I'm really attracted by the fact you can land on planets and walk around in ships but Star Trek just puts me off, I absolutely hate the art direction in it.

Majorasblaze

Is it me or is that Tim Russ of Tuvok doing the announcer voice?

The trailer looks awesome, by the way. :D

Which makes me think... This or Stargate Worlds? >.>

Mikolai

Space dogfights bore the hell out of me. But the on-foot stuff looks neat.

justhesh

@taftsearlobe33:
I'm suprised to go through so many comments before finding something about redshirt.

Channing

They had to end the clip with this:

+ Watch video

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

@BoringJob: 42.

Hope that answers everything for ya!

sarcasmOD

One more: How are hull numbers determined? Can we have NX designations?

Ok, it was a 2 parter.

BoringJob

I watched the webcast when it aired earlier and I gotta say that it sounds like the design team is really passionate about it. I'll take a game by an impassioned team over a team cashing a paycheck any day. Been waiting for this for 2-3 years and Perpetual hardly put out any news on it when they were working on it. I'm glad that Cryptic seems to be cracking the whip and really making an effort to get this going, and with quality to boot. Color me excited!

Taurus_McGee

@justhesh: Really? you think the on the foot stuff looks great? I know this game's early in all but I'd have to give this game a craptacular award.

nerdBOY01

So in 150ish years we travel at the speed of light. I don't recall but I think the first Star Trek was dated really close to the OUR near future. Sadly we won't be having sex with green alien chicks any time soon. :(......

nerdBOY01

DO I like Star Trek? Yes.. Do I like this Shitastic game? NOPE!

nerdBOY01

@MisterMcThursday: maybe this will fill the void of dissappointment seemingly created by Conan.

Pfft. That void will be filled in 30 days with the release of WAR. The only game threatened by STO is Star Wars: Galaxies... if it's still around. Anybody?

baberg

Mood: cautiously optimistic.

Reading through the comments, I'd like to agree that a MMO where each PC specializes in a certain aspect of the ship (engineer, science officer, captain, helmsman, tactical, etc.) and you "group" together to go on a mission on a common starship... that would be a fantastic game. And I think you could make it interesting for all involved.

Still, if STO is all we're going to get, and if it can live up to half the hype... I'll be there for the free month at least.

baberg

This definitely wont make the nerds happy. They kind of people interested in star trek probably won't be to happy about this action-heavy "looking" MMO. What the hell would I know? I watched and enjoyed the TV show in the past but the name star trek is enough to keep me away knowing the "kind" it gathers. I swear I'll never have anybody spite at me while talking in Klingon ever again :( Enjoy your game nerds! O_o

okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under)

@Bluecell: Me!

budash2

maybe this will fill the void of dissappointment seemingly created by Conan. There are a lot of anti-wow folks waiting on the dawn of a new mmo that can hold our attention. cool vid (as long as you didnt watch the laggy game videos version).

MisterMcThursday

@nerdBOY01: It's warp, not speed of light. Warping is when the space around you moves and you stay motionless. Hence space time is "warped" allowing you to pass the light speed barrier.

Or so says some scientists on the science channel.I could see it happening in 150 years. If we we don't blow up the planet (or create black holes somewhere in Europe)

Netnavi

I've never been a fan of Star Trek. But still, this game looks pretty epic.

Now, if they somehow snag Will Shatner for a VO performance, I may have to demo it.

Thorax

looks good, cant wait for the console release
**runs from pc gamers carrying keyboards of death and flesh-eating mice**

schizorogue

I'll captain a Romulan Warbird, the Blue Tit

osteofight

it's going to be really hard to hide my liking of star trek from my friends now...damn I was doing so good the past 10-12 years...oh well had to come out eventually

d-guy

This trailer needs Shatner voice.

Spartan1308™

@okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under): yeah, your sternly-worded post on a gaming site sure showed those damn nerds what side of the fence you're on!

Fnor

What's the developers previous titles? This is a pretty huge undertaking so I'm concerned if its a new studio.

GreyFoxV1

This game is looking pretty great. Like someone said earlier, this and KOTOR might break my anti-MMORPG stance.

Off Topic, but important (maybe): I'm sure it was posted on here, but I haven't had time to keep up with these guys, will EA release a cover for Madden where Favre is a Jet? Kinda like Capcom did with OKAMI, I guess, right? /pray

AcidCrownie

@okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under):
obvious troll is obvious.

roflwaffles

I hope its like EVE, in the economy and community side.
also i wonder if were going to have to partner up on ships until we get higher leveled, in which case mutiny would be awesome.

roflwaffles

@Fnor:
@roflwaffles:

*face palm*

I'll try to be more obvious next time. I guess the internet is just one giant raw nerve of exposed feelings. It's a well-known fact that a fail at humor but I try to at least humor myself and people, though not amused, generally understand hyperbole and sarcasm enough to not take it to seriously. May lieutenant Warff and Diana Troy's unborn fetus have mercy on my soul! My god people are sensitive :(

BTW...

I've been seeing this "obvious troll is obvious". Is that like a new thing on the internet or something? Can I abbreviate it safely like so(?): OTO? See what I did there? I know Deep Space 9 is like sacrilege to you nerds but I enjoyed that serious even though the Doctor there was a prick.

okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under)

@nerdBOY01: Yes, because I care more about characters than dumb old space ships.

justhesh

GOD! it looks so toony! I'll stick with EVE thanks.

ffmusicdj

@freakout:

Like a line right out of Galaxy Quest.

SeedyROM

@JustThisGuy: Is it too much to ask for both? I've got fingers crossed for Force Unleashed and this game both being worthwhile.

I've been waiting for a good sci-fi MMO for a while. I can't get into EVE*, I never played Galaxies and that's been run into the ground for a long time now, and Tabula Rasa is mediocre by all accounts. Hopes are pinned on either this or the Warhammer 40K MMO.

*Tried three times. I dig it from the outside looking in but it's just not my game.

Avrithor

Anyone for a glass of Kanar? I hear its going cheap at Quarks!

shaunomacx

@GreyFoxV1: City of Heroes and City of Villians and maybe a few other things.

Also, I hope there's some sort of Time Travel mission or something to fight alongside Piccard and Kirk on the old Enterprises.

BlackMage66652

@SeedyROM: Lol. Yeah. But this is the fucking Internet. A Internet video game site. If you can't geek out here, where the fuck can you? :P

freakout

Those space bits are very Freelancer. I loved it! I wonder how many real people will you need to populate a Federation starship... and will we all die whrn the shisp explodes after we meet and greet a Borg cube!? Ah, so many questions, so many possibilities...

Shiryu

Alright. So we start a Kotaku guild (fleet?). I'll join in with the USS Missouri.

Maverick128

This sounds pretty cool. Although all they showed was beam weapons. I wonder if it is more strategy based than shooter. I hope so as Star Trek always seemed to me to be about violence being the last resort.

Awoken

It's always weird to see Star Trek played out as an Action-Adventure deal...

...with the exception being First Contact, where it was welcome.

MoaM

@SnakeCL: that sucks :\

0xC001D00D

I wanna hang at 10 Forward with you, Owen.

Spoony Bard

Yeah, well, I wanna know how the character creation is gunna work. I'm assuming we'll have the standard mix of Klingons, Romulans, Humans, and Vulcans. And that blue guy with the antennas. Yeah. Can't forget them.

But I'm wondering if they'll put in Caitians. Eh, who am I kidding? Caitians being in the game is about as likely as... I'm not sure I can even calculate those odds without Data's help on this one.

Salen

Geek nit-pick alert!
The trailer says that exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilizations is the mission of the United Federation of Planets. Incorrect! That is the mission of Starfleet, a subsidiary agency of the UFP. Obviously the guys who made this are total n00bs. :P
Still, this might be the game that finally gets me to try a MMORPG.

maltesefalcon42

Well I gotta say, I'm pretty pumped after seeing that trailer. I especially appreciate that it's clearly stuff we could/would see in-game as opposed to proof of concept CG animations and the like.

MSUSteve

Well this is going to have to be terrible to stop me from buying it. I wanted to like Eve, but like many others wasn't able to get into the PVP enough to make up for the uninspired PVE.

Starship Combat with Star Trek ships? I miss Starfleet Battles and Starfleet Command so much.

Mind you, I know it is possible for a company to mess up a license so much that even diehard can't play it (Galaxies). I just don't think Cryptic are that ridiculously stupid.

So roll on release please!

Niallo

I'm releived it's going to use the cool TNG/Voyager style as opposed to the horrendous look of TOS (I was worried initially when I saw the font for the title). Having seen this trailer, I am 100% on board.

vyrus

@GreyFoxV1: If I remember right, Cryptic did the City of Heroes and City of villians MMOs. The record is pretty good. :D

Zekk

Klingon weapons don't have stun settings. Those Starfleet Puh'tak should be vapor after two shots. I wonder if they'll have Wide beam settings for the phasers? Do I get assimilated if I get beat by the Borg? I WANNA BE CYBER SHATNER!!

gemetzel

Execution is where nearly every Star Trek game falls flat. I hope this will be an exception.

You think U.S.S. R. is taken? Jam packed with red shirts, we would never stand a chance.

If only the game was classic ST. That's my only complaint so far...

ComradeLewis

What is known -

Development:
The game will be built for PC, and possibly one of the consoles.
Game is being designed form the ground up by Cryptic
The Trailer is not render it is in game play.
They plan to stay true to Star Trek, they are in the process of hiring a Star Trek writer to help with this.
They want to make the game accessible both for casual player and in the sense of hardware requirements.
They will be using hand drawn animations.
The ETA for the game is less than 3 years (he said 4 years than corrected to 3).
They want to make a casual friendly game (no getting pwned by 15 year olds with 80 hours to play).
Server set up has not been determined, but the preference is for one large server.
There will be no support for Mac or Linux at launch.
PC's and Consoles can technically play together, but there are no plans as of yet for console development.
In the future they would like to be able to turn some development tools over to the players (create missions, planets, ect...)

Setting:
Timeline is set after Nemesis
We will probably not see Kirk or Picard
The game is set in a section of the Alpha quadrant.
Year date of ST:O is 2409.
They will be posting a year by year history update starting with 2380
The addition of more factions after launch is expected (Dominion and Romulan were mentioned).
Relations between Klingons and UFP are tenuous at best, Khitomer Accords may be defunct.

Player Characters:
Races will both be pre-existing and customizable.
There will be a form of Rank progression
It is confirmed that you will not start as a Captain in rank, but in control of ship.
A Captain can specialize in a field (examples given were Janeway as a scientist and Picard as an Archaeologist/Diplomat.
You will probably start at a higher rank than Ensign, but still work your way up the ranks.

Crew (NPC's):
As players progress in rank the can gain more crew.
NPC's and PC (the bridge crew)will have their own ablities
Crews are made up of bridge crew which can be (equipped and "leveled") and a General crew (red shirts as Jack put it).
You will need to select the right crew make up for missions (this can include a group of PC's)

Ships:
The starting ship is a smaller ship.
You can earn larger ships.
Ships are customizable.
Ship customization will be limited to retain the "essence" of the ship type you have.
Ship interiors are include Jack mentioned (Decks, medical, engine room) There will also be a degree of customization.
They plan to have access to ships interiors as a social aspect.
Some ships will require a Fleet (guild) to make
Ships will have customizations including "Decals" (we are unsure what decals encompass at this time).
Ships will be customizable by retain their "Trekness"
You will be able to customize with Fleet emblem and specify name and designation of your ship.

Game play/Content:
You start with you own ship
The two confirmed factions are UFP and Klingon
Content will be in space, on planets, and shipboard.
Abilities will be augmented by equipment.
PC must be either UFP or Klingon, there is a possibility for civilians and other factions post launch.
Guilds will be fleets. They can build things like Space stations, possibly ship yards satilites
There will be content that is for guilds only. .
Trans Warp conduits will be a form of travel available.
Time travel is possibly included.
The team focus is going to be something Cryptic believes has never been done before.
Collaborative ship content is not included, but is a possibility for future content. . .
Space combat will be tactical in nature, but the view will be from behind the ship.
Ground combat will be fast paced.
The game will include PvP.
The game will have non-combat aspects (exploration)
Discovery of new races and technologies will be important to building new items and recruiting new crew members.
Galactic economy will be important as will competition for resources, but you will not fight out right for them.
Player death has not been decided, but punishment will likely be minimal.
The game will not be "level" based.
All missions will be issued from Command (the computer). .
There will be dynamic events (the example given was clearing the Borg out of a sector).
Missions will be cooperative and some things will require groups or guilds.
You will be able to name things you discover, if you are the first to discover it.
The game engine will be dynamic enough to allow for new worlds to be discovered by players and new things will continually be added.
There will be melee combat (at least for Klingons) for sure.
Will use the Champions Online Engine.
There will be trade in the game and an economy, but officers will not get paid for service.
Crafting will be in game.
Fleets are infinite in size.
Space Combat is "Bridge Commanderesque" (More tactical and slower than ground)
DS9 Will probably be in the game.
They are looking beyond the traditional "fantasy" group structure for both Space and ground play.
Game play will be faction oriented. I.e. "The ships, races, abilities, and technologies are all different. The flavor and tenor of the content will also be drastically different"

Sorry for the long post. Seems the clarification was needed.

mtheumer