Star Trek Online thread

[BarnesSFC]

I have to say thou, whoever these new environment artists are that they've hired, certainly outdid themselves (judging by the pics).

According to Tacofangs they took a lot of inspiration from existing ST designs and:

[3/14 7:52] [Zone] <Dev> Tacoface@nduguid: John, Mass Effect was definitely an inspiration for much of this

[Darkthunder]

I do have one question: In some of the posted screenshots, there seems to be a few chairs. Are they "equipped" with the "sit-in-chairs" tech?

[Tuskin38]

I do have one question: In some of the posted screenshots, there seems to be a few chairs. Are they "equipped" with the "sit-in-chairs" tech?

All of them can be sat on.

[ShaunKL]

I have never audibly gasped at anything before, but that caught me totally off-guard.  That is seriously epic.

[Tuskin38]

Some of my images seem to have stopped working and seem to be minus fault, I'll give it a day to sort itself out.

Also one of my screenshots won the loading screen "contest"

http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1052271

[captain_obvious]

The work certainly looks great, but I'm not a fan of the general feel of it to be honest.  It looks rather like a mash up of JJtrek and mass effect more than any thing else.  The big "atrium" areas and Quinns office are just insanely huge. IMO they could probably cut the size of those areas down by 3/4 and not really miss much. 
I should note that I've always believed that in sci-fi an interior should be as small, functional and efficient as possible (think dark star).  Space is at a premium in space after all

I love the sickbay and the commodities shop.  There's some wasted space in there, but it looks great all the same.  Shame about the shuttle-bay not being in game, because I think they're on to something there.  Though I have to wonder who is the chimp in charge of that deck and why they've let their flight deck fill up with crates and other FOD!

I have to mention that the armoury doesn't look like an armoury to me. There are hardly any weapons in there, no racks and very little security.  It looks more like a (badly) stocked but well lit "mom & pop" gun shop.


I wonder if they'll have big "entrance" events happening whenever they have a new c-store ship going live, where people can gather in that big atrium, watch this big ship come in like in ST3 and maybe have a Q&A with the devs (potential giveaways?).

[Tuskin38]

Regarding the Armoury, this is the 25th century, they probably have some sort of insane security features, the weapons are probably not even armed. Although I do agree about the Mom and pop style of the shop.

[Tuskin38]

Taco posted this helpful image to show where the new interior is. Also I believe hes stated that the interior is scaled to TOS movie era levels, so you won't see a Galaxy class inside or anything that wouldn't fit.

[captain_obvious]

Also I believe hes stated that the interior is scaled to TOS movie era levels, so you won't see a Galaxy class inside or anything that wouldn't fit.

So basically, you won't see the oddy (they'll never not have that in there, it's C-store), Armitage (ditto) vesta (ditto) regent (ditto) galaxy (ditto) or the ambo in there?  All of those are quite a bit bigger than a connie!
So what boats will they put in there?  Sabre class and maybe a centaur?  Hell, the reason all of those boats I mentioned were in there is because they were all "featured" ships for a while (C-store, events, etc)

[Tuskin38]

Maybe I was wrong because the Vesta is in there. But it does look huge compared to the interior.

Taco did say the models were placeholder.

[BarnesSFC]

Maybe I was wrong because the Vesta is in there. But it does look huge compared to the interior.

Taco did say the models were placeholder.

They need updated LoDs is what he said as well

[ShaunKL]

Am I wrong in understanding and being okay with the fact that STO is a more classic MMO?  Not only that but that it was built that way?  The interpretation of something is going to change based on what medium it's being created for.  STO isn't a Star Trek simulator.  It's a game-y game with a Star Trek flavor.  And what started out as a very bland and artificial flavor has turned into a much richer and "real" flavor.

I understand that with Cryptic's kind of MMO primary social zones are going to be large open spaces.  I also understand that a lot of STO's original art design was terribly generic at the beginning and things like this new ESD are such an amazing change.  It'll help new players/passive fans relate what movies or TV they've seen in the past to what they're playing now.

[Joshmaul]

STO isn't a Star Trek simulator.  It's a game-y game with a Star Trek flavor.  And what started out as a very bland and artificial flavor has turned into a much richer and "real" flavor.

It does look and feel a lot better than it did at launch, I'll agree. And it did seem to me that it's "just another MMO" with Star Trek slapped on it. A lot of people have said that about TOR, too.

I understand that with Cryptic's kind of MMO primary social zones are going to be large open spaces.  I also understand that a lot of STO's original art design was terribly generic at the beginning and things like this new ESD are such an amazing change.  It'll help new players/passive fans relate what movies or TV they've seen in the past to what they're playing now.

Also agreed; I kept scrolling up and down when Kori posted those pics. I neither confirm nor deny that drool was involved.

[captain_obvious]

It does look and feel a lot better than it did at launch, I'll agree. And it did seem to me that it's "just another MMO" with Star Trek slapped on it. A lot of people have said that about TOR, too.

Some would say that it's gone that way in recent years, that it's become "just another MMO". 

Also agreed; I kept scrolling up and down when Kori posted those pics. I neither confirm nor deny that drool was involved.

It's beautiful I agree. I don't agree with a lot of the layout/design/art decisions taken on it, but one can't say that they haven't worked hard on it. 

[captain_obvious]

Btw, is it just me, or is that "cryptic account guard" acting up? It's asking me to enter an emailed code every time I log in now. 
annoying.

[Tuskin38]

I have not been having such issues.

It should only ask you for codes if your IP changes or you're on a different Computer.

I heard that KDF players can now use Kit visuals because they're costume pieces now.

Taco says he scaled the Interior dome to match the estimated size Ex Astris gives.

Canon is sketchy on it's size, but I scaled our ESD model to match the size of the dome on Ex Astris, and built from there.

https://twitter.com/Tumerboy/status/445254296427188224

Also estimated the wall thickness on the dome @ 500' (horizontally) and built the interior within that space.

https://twitter.com/Tumerboy/status/445254810179104768

FYI: The Odyssey and the Ambassador are too big to fit through the doors.

https://twitter.com/Tumerboy/status/445255111434989569

Regarding ships in the dock

Yup, the Ship team will take care of that eventually. For now, I just placed what I had access to at ground scale.

https://twitter.com/Tumerboy/status/445255040287002624

[captain_obvious]

FYI: The Odyssey and the Ambassador are too big to fit through the doors.

Despite the fact they got a galaxy in that new one, not to mention the fact they got them all in the current map xD

[Tuskin38]

Despite the fact they got a galaxy in that new one, not to mention the fact they got them all in the current map xD

The current models on tribble are placeholder. He said that hes trying to get properly scaled models for the interior.

Though I wouldn't be surprised if the higher ups will override the scale issue of the ship that is front and centre when it comes to showing off their newest C-Store toy. But all the background ships will be hopefully to scale.

[captain_obvious]

The current models on tribble are placeholder. He said that hes trying to get properly scaled models for the interior.

Though I wouldn't be surprised if the higher ups will override the scale issue of the ship that is front and centre when it comes to showing off their newest C-Store toy. But all the background ships will be hopefully to scale.

I agree. 

[Tuskin38]

First S9 Dev Blog

http://community.arcgames.com/en/news/star-trek-online/detail/3038123