Players got to see their first glimpse of starships like the Akira-class as well as interior layouts of the large ship hubs. It's actually a huge landmine of problems."īy 2006, the team had moved into production and was frequently showing Star Trek Online's screenshots and demo to press and fans. "At first glance, Star Trek seems like the perfect setting for an MMO," said former systems designer Eric Heimburg, "but appearances can be deceiving. One major feather in Star Trek Online's cap is that it secured the help of Michael Okuda, well-known for being the technical design wizard behind the look of The Next Generation and its spin-offs.Ĭreating an MMO to emulate the unique and specific model of the Star Trek franchise was a massive headache to some of its devs. Jean-Luc Picard was rumored to be an ambassador NPC, and Miral Paris (who is in the current game) would have been a significant character as well. It's hard to say how many of the ideas kicked around during the pre-alpha period would have made it into the live game, but one tantalizing feature was the suggestion of using the holodeck for player-created stories and PvP wargames.Ĭonnecting the online game to the franchise was a high priority for both Perpetual and Crytic. It wasn't all going to be non-stop combat with brilliant laser light shows Perpetual seemed committed to emulating the spirit of the show with activities such as planetary surveys and diplomatic missons. If you've ever wondered (or complained) about why Star Trek Online's space portions are rainbow-tastic, the genesis of this design decision started long before Cryptic. Outer space was designed to look visually stimulating, on par with what players would encounter on the ground. To seek out new life and new civilizations Both the character and ship would have had a standard MMO avatar gear screen, with slots for items such as "super boots." The proposed solution was that players could own smaller ships like fighters and minor spaceships, but the big ones - like the Galaxy class - would instead be adventure hubs with explorable, detailed interiors. The devs were obviously torn on the desire to push group-based activities as being more in the spirit of the ensemble shows and to allow players a more solo-friendly path based on the MMO trends at the time. While starships hosting several player characters was mentioned, it also looked as though STO would allow a player to own his or her own ship. A wider variety of classes was debated (including medical) before being boiled down into the current trio of tactical, science, and engineering roles. Many species were bandied about as potential player races, including Human, Vulcan, Andorian, Bajoran, Tellarite, Bolian, Klingon, Cardassian, Ferengi, and Trill. Players would have taken on the role of an officer who would be part of a crew of a starship. Much of what we know of Perpetual's Star Trek Online comes out of a few interviews, mock screenshots, and concept art released from 2004 through 2007. Romulans, Klingons, and the Federation would have been getting along well enough to shift efforts into exploring the beta quadrant instead of fighting wars. USS Akira article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.While our current iteration of Star Trek Online takes place 30 years following the events of Star Trek Nemesis, Perpetual's vision was only 20 years afterward.Standard class III heavy cruiser configuration No specific history or definitive final fate was established for this vessel in SFC3 as its name was selected for a ship by the game developers, and is placed randomly when the ship appears. This ship was in active service around the year 2379. ( SOTL - Ships of the Line calendar: 2021 October image: "The Dominion Conflict Goes Hot") During one engagement, the Akira fired its phasers on a Jem'Hadar dreadnought pursuing the USS Centaur. This starship class was named after the anime film Akira, according to The Star Trek Encyclopedia. The Akira was also designed to perform border defense duties, which many vessels did during the brief conflict between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. The hull configuration of this new breed of starship was based on the design as a homage to some of the earliest Starfleet exploratory vessels, such as the NX-class.
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