Cryptic held a Star Trek Online dev chat yesterday that actually didn't have any developers in it due to a "Lovecraftian plague" that attacked the company. Awen and Rekhan stepped in to answer questions on ship tiers and player progression with a community-driven focus.

One player asked if there will be a disadvantage to selecting a career path and commanding a ship of a different type. "The way the skill system works, it's very hard to 'nerf' yourself," Rekhan said. You'll remain viable if you have the right Bridge Officers and items.

You'll also be able to visit Quarks on DS9. "Our environment team is working very hard to replicate certain areas of the series that translate well into our game," Awen said, which should please fans of the franchise. Check out the full transcript after the jump.

<Cryptic_Rekhan> Hello, and welcome to this week's dev chat! Just in time for Halloween, a Lovecraftian plague has decimated Cryptic, so we lost our developers for this chat. In their stead will be Awen (who also has the plague but has thus far resisted its ... darker effects) and Rekhan, whose immune system will someday be studied by paleobiologists.

<Cryptic_Rekhan> We'll do our best to answer your questions on ship tiers and player progression, but clearly this dev chat is going to take on a more community-driven focus. So ask any questions you like with that in mind. We'll get to as many as we can!

<Cryptic_Awen> Let's get this party started. Please be patient while Rekhan and I work hard to answer the questions that we can.


<Cryptic_Rekhan> <Varrangian> Is there a minimum number of Bridge Officers required to command each tier of ship? If so will we have earn enough of them before unlocking the next tier of ships to command that tier immediately?

<Cryptic_Rekhan> Each ship has a certain number of Bridge Officer stations, which you can fill. You don't _need_ to assign a Bridge Officer to each station, but it's definitely recommended that you do. The rate at which you acquire Bridge Officers should guarantee that you always have enough on hand to staff any ship you can fly.


<Cryptic_Rekhan> <[BETA]MrVolt> on the topic of ship tiers and module customization: Will the different tiers have their own parts or can we use those parts on other tiers too ?

<Cryptic_Awen> That's a good question - you will be able to equip within your ship tier. There are just pieces of equipment that don't belong on the smaller ships right? You're not going to be able to put a heavy cannon on a Science ship. However, in true Cryptic fashion, we make your ships as customizable as we possibly can and still stay true to the canon.


<Cryptic_Rekhan> <BreachAndClear> Can a player invest awarded skill points in a ship type they're not using? For instance, can a player flying in a Sovereign complete episodic content and invest awarded skills into low tier escorts, without ever having touched one previously? Or does the player have to hop into a low tier escort to invest points into those kinds of ships?

<Cryptic_Rekhan> Ship type and skill points aren't related in that manner. You acquire skill points for completing episodes, which you can then spend to increase skills your character has. So if you're completing episodes in a Sovereign and want to use the skill points you receive from that episode to increase your Escort skills, you can definitely do that.


<Cryptic_Rekhan> <Loekii> Q: Does Captain skills affect Space? For example, will an Admiral in control of a Tier 2 ship have more options/power/ability than a Commander in the same ship?

<Cryptic_Awen> Yes, an Admiral will have more skills, bridge officers etc than a Commander simply because he has raised his skill and rank. He's done more work and evolved as a Captain than a Commander has. In any level up scenario - a higher ranking player is going to have an advantage over a lower ranking player.


<Cryptic_Rekhan> <HittingSmoke> It's been said that we can command a science ship and still be a tactical captain, etc. Will there be any disadvantages to this? Will it "nerf" players to select one career path and command a ship of a different type or will they be just as effective as a tac captain commanding a tac ship?

<Cryptic_Rekhan> The way the skill system works, it's very hard to "nerf" yourself. If you're a tactical captain flying a science ship, your skills will obviously be better suited for combative abilities. However, since you're going to have your Bridge Officers with you, and Science vessels tend to have more Science Officer stations, you'll still have a lot of Science-related powers at your disposal. If you don't have Science skills, your Bridge Officers may not be as effective as they would be under a Science-heavy captain, but you'll still remain viable with the right Bridge Officers and items.


<Cryptic_Rekhan> <Admiral-Darren-Wright> Do we know yet when the Captains ready room that Zinc previsously mentioned will be available, if not at lauch do we know when? A lot of players are excited about it. Thanks

<Cryptic_Awen> It's in the noodling stages right now. I don't have a specific date of when that feature is going to be implemented into the game.


<Cryptic_Rekhan> <Vicelance> Are their advantages to getting all your bridge officers up to max rank or if you have one that only sits in a Lt. seat on your bridge would it be better not to rank up that one?

<Cryptic_Rekhan> Generally, you'll want to increase your Bridge Officers' ranks. While they may be limited depending on the rank of a specific Bridge Officer station, as you advance into bigger and better ships, the ranks of those seats tend to increase. So, personally, I'm dumping skill points into my Bridge Officers as soon as I get the points to assign. I don't want to get caught with an under-ranked Boff.


<Cryptic_Rekhan> <Stnet> will we be able to visit Quarks at DS9 ?

<Cryptic_Awen> Yes, You will be able to visit Quarks on DS9. Our environment team is working very hard to replicate certain areas of the series that translate well into our game.


<Cryptic_Rekhan> <CaptLykke> Q: If you use your skill points in one way, and find out that its wrong path you taken, can you reset them, and use them in the correct way you really wanted ?!

<Cryptic_Rekhan> We hope so. "Retcons" aren't an easy system to implement. There are a lot of economic and gameplay factors that go into skill reassignment. We're hard at work on getting a system in place that makes sense within the confines of the game world, though.


<Cryptic_Awen> Vicelance: Can you tell us how many Bridge officer seats are on each tier and maybe their type?

<Cryptic_Awen> This information will become available through our website in conjunction with the other info that we've been putting out as we move forward toward launch. Please just keep checking back there regularly. We are going to try to start adding that type of information to the Ship of the Line feature as well as the game information that we've been adding.


<Cryptic_Rekhan> <OuroborosAgain> When you gain skill points is there a pool so you can either use them for yourself of a BO? or do your BOs have to do things with you to skill up?

<Cryptic_Rekhan> You gain skill points for your captain, and skill points for your Bridge Officers enter a different pool. As you complete episodes, you'll gain skill points for both sets. The Bridge Officer pool goes across all your Boffs, even if they weren't stationed or on the ground with you during particular episode. We did it this way because who's to say your other Boffs weren't contributing "off-camera"?


<Cryptic_Awen> [BOK]Veglargh: are there any ships that only fleets/guilds/houses can make?

<Cryptic_Awen> That's a great question. I was recently talking to Stephen D'Angelo who is right now working on our fleet tools.They really had to sit down and determine which tools and features for fleets were critical to implement. It's something that they have thought of and are interested in considering, but it's most likely not going to make it into launch.


<Cryptic_Awen> [STX]Wagner: Can Fleets be comprised of both Fed and Klingon players?

<Cryptic_Awen> Fleets can be comprised of Federation and Klingon races. However, the Klingon will need to be a part of the Federation faction. As far as I know, we're going to keep the factions seperate.


<Cryptic_Rekhan> <clevere1> Are the rank promotions based on experience points like other games?

<Cryptic_Rekhan> You raise in rank after you spend a certain amount of skill points. So, let's say you need to spend 100 points to raise from Lieutenant to Lieutenant Commander (NOT THE REAL NUMBER). You'd then need to spend 200 points in either your Lieutenant or Lt. Commander skills to reach the rank of Commander (AGAIN, NOT THE REAL NUMBER). So it's experience-based, but not strictly level-based.


<Cryptic_Awen> Thanks so much for joining the plague ridden STO Chat of the week!

<Cryptic_Awen> We apologize for the questions that didn't get answered. If you'd like to put them into a forum thread, we can see if the Devs can do a quick QNA once they are all feeling better.

<Cryptic_Rekhan> Thanks for coming out, folks!