star trek online player base

Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online

February 2010 (14 years ago)

Star Trek Online is a premier free-to-play MMORPG from Cryptic Studios and Perfect World Entertainment set in the famous Star Trek universe. Don the official uniforms of the United Federation of Planets or the Klingon Empire, choose the path of Tactical, Science, or Engineering specialties, command Away Teams, captain your very own starship, avoid Borg assimilation, even breed Tribbles, all in Gene Roddenberry’s larger-than-life space epic, and all for free.

Estimated Daily Players

We estimate that Star Trek Online has currently approximately 9.9k players daily .

Estimated Total Players

We estimate that Star Trek Online had approximately 2.9m players total .

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Star Trek Online

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Star Trek Online Review: A Voyage Worth Embarking On in 2024?

Posted on Last updated: January 11, 2024

Categories Articles , Reviews , Star Trek Online , What MMO Should I Play?

Star Trek Online

• The Star Trek Universe
• Engaging Space Combat
• Extensive Character Customization
• Strong Fan Community
• Free-to-Play
• Dated Graphics
• Lackluster Ground Combat
• Pay-to-Win Elements

Star Trek Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Cryptic Studios and published by Perfect World Entertainment. Released in 2010 for Microsoft Windows and later for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the game allows players to explore the vast Star Trek universe, command their own starships, and engage in both ground and space combat.

Despite some issues, Star Trek Online has managed to maintain a loyal player base and is often regarded as an enjoyable experience for fans of the franchise.

A Familiar Universe with Infinite Possibilities

One of the primary attractions of Star Trek Online is the opportunity for players to immerse themselves in the beloved Star Trek universe. Set approximately 30 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, the game’s storyline spans across various series and films, allowing players to engage with familiar characters, iconic locations, and even participate in major historical events from the franchise.

The game features several episodic story arcs that are structured like traditional Star Trek episodes, complete with voice-overs from actors who have appeared in the series, such as Leonard Nimoy (Spock), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), and Michael Dorn (Worf).

While the game’s narrative is engaging and provides an authentic Star Trek experience, it occasionally suffers from pacing issues and a lack of cohesive storytelling. Nonetheless, the overall experience remains enjoyable for Star Trek fans and newcomers alike.

Star Trek Online’s gameplay can be divided into two main segments: space combat and ground combat. Space combat is undoubtedly the game’s greatest strength, with players able to command their starships in epic battles against various enemies, such as the Borg, Klingons, and Romulans.

The ship customization options are extensive, allowing players to tailor their vessels to their preferred playstyles, whether focusing on firepower, defense, or support roles.

Navigating through space in Star Trek Online is a thrilling experience, with the game’s expansive universe offering plenty of opportunities for exploration and discovery.

The game’s space combat mechanics are deep and rewarding, requiring players to manage their ship’s power distribution, shields, and weapon systems, all while positioning themselves strategically to gain an advantage in battle.

Ground combat, on the other hand, is often criticized for its clunky mechanics and repetitive nature. While improvements have been made over the years, it remains one of the game’s weaker aspects. The third-person shooter gameplay can feel slow and unresponsive at times, with enemies often lacking variety and posing little challenge.

Despite these shortcomings, the game’s ground missions do offer some entertaining moments, particularly when playing with a group of friends or fellow Star Trek fans.

Character Creation and Progression

Star Trek Online offers a high level of character customization, with players able to choose from various Star Trek races, such as humans, Vulcans, and Klingons, or even create their own alien species. The game’s skill system allows for a diverse range of character builds, providing players with the freedom to explore different playstyles and choose between various career paths, such as Tactical, Engineering, or Science Officers.

As players progress through the game, they will earn experience points, skill points, and expertise, which can be spent on improving their character’s abilities and unlocking new skills. Additionally, players can collect and equip various items, such as weapons, armor, and devices, to further customize their character and improve their performance in both space and ground combat.

Graphics and Sound

Considering its age, Star Trek Online’s graphics are somewhat dated. However, the game’s art direction and design capture the essence of the Star Trek universe, providing an immersive experience for fans. The various alien worlds, space stations, and star ships are all rendered with attention to detail, and while the visuals may not be cutting-edge, they still manage to convey a sense of wonder and exploration that is central to the Star Trek experience.

The game’s sound design also plays a significant role in enhancing the overall atmosphere. The voice acting, featuring iconic Star Trek actors, adds an additional layer of authenticity to the experience, making players feel as if they are part of an actual Star Trek episode.

Community and Population

While Star Trek Online’s player base is not as large as other popular MMORPGs, it boasts a dedicated community of fans who are passionate about both the game and the Star Trek universe.

The game has a healthy mix of solo and group content, with the latter being accessible through various in-game tools, such as the Looking for Group (LFG) system, ensuring that players can find others to team up with for challenging missions or large-scale events.

The game also features several social hubs, such as Earth Spacedock and Deep Space Nine, where players can interact, trade items, and participate in various activities together. The community is generally friendly and welcoming, making it easy for new players to find help and advice as they embark on their journey through the Star Trek universe.

Free-to-Play vs. Pay-to-Win

Star Trek Online operates on a free-to-play model, with an optional premium “Lifetime Subscription,” granting access to additional content and perks. The game’s in-game store, known as the “C-Store,” offers a variety of items for purchase, such as ships, costumes, and convenience items. Some pay-to-win elements exist, such as purchasing powerful ships and equipment, but they are not necessary to enjoy the game’s core experience.

Players can also earn a premium currency called “Zen” by participating in the game’s “Dilithium Exchange,” which allows them to trade in-game earned Dilithium for Zen. This system provides a way for dedicated players to access premium content without spending real money, although the exchange rate can be subject to fluctuations based on player-driven supply and demand.

Star Trek Online is a solid MMORPG that provides an engaging experience for fans of the Star Trek franchise. While the game has its flaws, such as dated graphics, lackluster ground combat, and some pay-to-win elements, its space combat, character customization, and vast universe more than make up for these shortcomings.

If you can overlook these issues and are willing to invest time in exploring the game, Star Trek Online is a journey worth embarking on for both Star Trek fans and MMORPG enthusiasts.

Star Trek Online offers a unique and immersive experience for those looking to explore the final frontier. With a wealth of content, a passionate community, and a strong connection to the source material, this game remains an enjoyable option for fans and newcomers alike.

Have you tried Star Trek Online? What did you think of it? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below!

Wednesday 21st of February 2024

For proof of allowed Bigoted comments, just head over to ESD-Earth Space Dock, or risa or the winter event area. spazz@theapocalypse and his crew of bigots hang out usually during mid day to evenings U.S. Eastern standard time

You forgot to add how the game devs allow Bigoted comments from players and even allows players to threaten minorities.

Friday 16th of February 2024

cryptic loading screen has issues almost daily. sometimes forcing computer restart. devs cant seem to fix it, so I quit playing the game because of the issue.

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Star Trek Online will make free to play switch on January 17

Star Trek Online will be go free to play in the new year on January 17. Massively mention that Cryptic are planning to move the current test build to live servers in the first week of December in preparation for the full switch over, and they're starting the monthly in-game currency wage early for gold members.

In the free to play version of Star Trek Online, subscribers will get 400 Cryptic points a month. Even though STO will go free to play in January, subscribers will get some bonus credit in December. "We are starting the Gold member stipend early as a way to thank our loyal customers during this transition period prior to the launch of Free-to-Play," say Cryptic on the Path to F2P blog .

The move to free to play will divide Star Trek Online's player base into two tiers. There's free players, who will have access to every level and zone, but don't get the Foundry mission creation tools. If you become a gold member, you'll get extra inventory slots and unlimited access to in-game chat and mail. For a full run down of how free accounts will differ from paid ones in Star Trek Online, plug yourself into the Free to Play Features Matrix .

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CombatLogReader

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CombatLogReader (CLR) is a parser which has been created and is constantly maintained for Star Trek Online by Lea@omegashoker who created this for free in his own time.

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DPS-League can be found in the CLR. A web version from the league table is available from our good friend Danfai here: http://sto-dps.danfai.de/

Feel free to take a look into our FAQ about the CombatLogReader and you should disable rotating log files .

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Welcome to our build section! We have a wide variety of builds across any number of classes, build types, and budgets. Each of our authors has contributed their best builds in their own unique style! Our builds are established, tested, and proven to be Elite-capable across a variety of build archetypes. The table below is sortable and searchable for fields like class, DPS, author, and build type to assist with navigation.

Additionally, we have other areas worth exploring, which details the basics of ship building, ship build types, and even ground builds!

Ship Build Types Explained

Ground Builds

Build Chart

Quick build glossary.

You can find a full definition on our build types page. 

Energy Builds

Energy builds use beams, cannons, or a mix of the two for their primary DPS sources. Sometimes they include a single torpedo. These builds are subdivided based on the primary firing mode and energy flavor (e.g. Phaser):

Beam Overload (BO) is a single target beam firing mode

Cannon Rapid Fire (CRF) is a single target cannon firing mode

Cannon Scatter Volley (CSV) is an AOE cannon firing mode

Exceed Rated Limits (ERL) is a single target firing mode that applies to all energy weapons and causes very fast attacks

FAW or Fire at At Will (FAW) is an AOE beam mode

Surgical Strikes (SS) is a single firing mode that applies to all energy weapons and does more damage with greater critical chance but attacks slower

Reroute Reserves to Weapons (RRW) is a single target firing mode that applies to all energy weapons and causes very fast attacks at the cost of engine power

Exotic Builds

Exotic builds primarily focus on weapons, abilities, traits, and consoles that scale with the Exotic Particle Generator skill.

Exotic or EPG builds use exotic-scaling torpedoes alongside their other exotic abilities for their primary damage source. This is the main variety of exotic builds.

DEWSci builds mix energy weapons and exotic abilities for more sustained DPS

TorpSci builds mix kinetic torpedoes and concepts with exotic abilities 

Projectile Builds

Projectile builds focus on damage dealt directly by torpedoes and mines

Mixed builds use a variety of projectile flavors like photon and quantum. This is the main variety of projectile builds

There are builds that focus specifically on a single subtype like Photon or Quantum . These are a small subset.

Minelayers are extremely niche. While most mainline mixed builds will incorporate mines, using them for primary DPS requires some shifts in focus and build.

Carrier Builds

Carrier builds are focused on amplifying and boosting hangar pet damage. Some capability should still be retained from the launching craft, but the emphasis is on boosting the pets.

Support Builds

Support builds are AOE energy / DEWSci builds that are built to debuff enemies and amplify their allies into dealing as much as damage as possible. They are not needed for general play and are mostly used to help others set DPS records. We subdivide these into Anchor Supports more focused on control and having Gravity Well III and Spotter Supports that emphasize having a Commander Tactical Seat for Attack Pattern Beta III along with more debuffs.

Tank Builds

Tank builds are Fire at Will builds that additionally emphasize drawing enemy attacks onto themselves away from their team and thus additional survivability as well

Heavy Tanks attempt to draw as much fire as possible while also surviving and dealing as much damage as possible. 

Support Tanks are also built to draw fire and survive, but also devote considerable build space to adding consoles and traits that will debuff enemies and amplify the capabilities of the rest of the team.

Detailed Build Table

This table reflects scores on the Infected: Space Elite (ISE) or Hive Onslaught Elite (HSE) maps for the following performance metrics:

All builds but especially damage builds are evaluated for damage-per-second (DPS). We list the record maximum DPS

Tanks are evaluated for the percentage of total enemy attacks they draw for the team (% atks)

Supports are evaluated for the team's highest debuff percentage (% DB) as well as the number of team personal best records that were achieved alongside that build (PBA). 

You can find more detailed performance metrics on the individual build pages, including on other maps.

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'Star Trek Online' Season 32 arrives today, starring Denise Crosby as Romulan baddie Sela

The hit MMORPG launches its new season with 'Star Trek Online: Unparalleled.'

"Star Trek Online" (STO), the free-to-play MMORPG available on PC, PlayStation and Xbox, blasts off into its 32nd season today (May 28). 

For this dynamic sci-fi adventure, Arc Games and Cryptic Studios are bringing back a compelling character from " Star Trek: The Next Generation " in the form of an alternative universe version of Sela, a Human-Romulan hybrid played by Denise Crosby.

Crosby will provide vocal work in "Star Trek Online: Unparalleled," where she’ll play Captain Sela of the U.S.S. Enterprise emanating from an unfamiliar parallel dimension . This is a " Star Trek " homecoming of sorts for Crosby, as she previously voiced both "TNG's" Tasha Yar and Sela for "STO" way back in 2013.

Related: 'Star Trek Online' teams with IDW for more dark adventures in the Mirror Universe (exclusive)

"Star Trek Online: Unparalleled" also provides a new story event on top of the continuing  Aetherian and Mirror Borg plotline, an interesting gender/race swap feature and upgraded options to the Infinity Lockbox. 

"Unparalleled" arrives today for PC, and then on June 19 for PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

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Check out the official synopsis:

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"In 'Star Trek Online: Unparalleled,' the Borg threat to the multiverse continues as the player's Captain discovers a last stand between a new, peaceful alternate universe Iconians and a new type of Borg, infused with a mysterious nanite technology. The player's Captain must work with allies across the universe including Enterprise Captain Sela from this parallel universe and Aetherian ally Captain Grendat-Bex to defend the Iconians against this new Borg threat and their queen."

Another "Unparalleled" extra is a 12-round Task Force Operation called "Borg Battle Royale," showcasing a holodeck simulation of fighting waves of Borg that allows captains to gain experience in small teams fending off increasingly dangerous gangs of Borg foes in all flavors.

And in the special Season 32 event, "Delete Alt Control," gamers can play selected content to score some sweet rewards, like a Dimensional Hypermass Torpedo Launcher, Type 14 Shuttle Support Squadron, 500 Lobi Crystals, 1 Phoenix Epic Prize Token and 30,000 Dilithium Ore.

To download "Star Trek Online" for free, visit www.playstartrekonline.com .

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Jeff Spry is an award-winning screenwriter and veteran freelance journalist covering TV, movies, video games, books, and comics. His work has appeared at SYFY Wire, Inverse, Collider, Bleeding Cool and elsewhere. Jeff lives in beautiful Bend, Oregon amid the ponderosa pines, classic muscle cars, a crypt of collector horror comics, and two loyal English Setters.

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Star Trek Online: Unparalleled & Denise Crosby's Captain Sela Are Now Playable On PC Now

• Star Trek Online: Unparalleled featuring Denise Crosby as Captain Sela is now playable on PC.
• The new STO season introduces a gender/race change feature, a new event, and updates to the Infinity Lockbox.
• Gamers will join forces with Aetherians and Captain Sela to battle the multiversal Borg.

Star Trek Online: Unparalleled featuring Star Trek: The Next Generation 's Denise Crosby as Captain Sela is available to play now on PC. Arc Games and Cryptic Studio also announce that the 32nd season of the long-running MMORPG will launch on PlayStation and Xbox consoles on June 19, 2024. Star Trek Online: Unparalleled continues the previous season's Mirror Universe Borg and Aetherian story content, featuring a new event, a gender/race change feature, and updates to the Infinity Lockbox.

Denise Crosby, who played Lt. Tasha Yar on Star Trek: The Next Generation, voices Captain Sela in Star Trek Online: Unparalleled. Captain Sela is a parallel universe's Captain of the USS Enterprise-F . In Star Trek Online: Unparalleled , the Khitomer Alliance tasks gamers and a new Aetherian ally with answering a distress call from another universe under attack by a multiversal Borg in control of a massive Dyson Sphere. Watch Star Trek Online: Unparalleled 's launch trailer below:

Check out screenshots from Star Trek Online: Unparalleled here:

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What To Expect From Star Trek Online: Unparalleled

The 32nd season of sto has exciting new features.

In Star Trek Online: Unparalleled , PC players can go up against a new Borg enemy in the new featured episode, “Situation Under Control”, as well as participate in a new TFO, “Borg Battle Royale.” Check out the new Star Trek Online: Unparalleled features and content below:

A huge part of the fun of Star Trek Online: Unparalleled will be interacting with Denise Crosby's Captain Sela. To battle the Borg threat to the Multiverse, the player's Captain must work with Captain Sela and Aetherian ally Captain Grendat-Bex to defend the Iconians against this new Borg enemy. Crosby's new iteration of Sela, who was the half-Romulan daughter of an alternate reality Tasha Yar , is a compelling new twist. Sela is the Captain of the Enterprise in Star Trek Online: Unparalleled, which allows Denise Crosby to once again play a heroic Starfleet Officer that ties back to her original Star Trek: The Next Generation character.

Source: Star Trek Online

To download and play Star Trek Online today for free, visit www.playstartrekonline.com .

Star Trek Online

Playable starship

• View history

Federation Ship Requisitions Screen on PC

Playable Starships in Star Trek Online are as much a part of a player's avatar as their Captain .

Players are granted ships by their faction as they progress in rank . At each new rank between Level 10 and Level 40 , players are given a free starship token for the respective tier . The last token they get, at Level 61 , is for a Tier 5 ship which can be made Tier 5-U .

The abilities and stats of a starship are determined by the starship's tier, type, the equipment loadout, traits , bridge officers and power system management .

• 2.3 Bridge Officer Stations
• 2.4 Subsystems
• 2.5 Starship Mastery
• 3.1 Tiers 1-4
• 4.1 Summary
• 4.2 Detailed table
• 4.3 Type notes
• 5.1 Free starships
• 5.2 Dilithium and Zen
• 5.3 Fleet Credits
• 5.4 Lock and Promotional Boxes
• 5.6 Exchange
• 6.1 Material Types
• 6.2 Visual Slots
• 8 External links

Starship control UI on PC

The operation of a starship covers various key mechanics. Notably, the innate stats of your starship, your subsystem power allocation and your loadout.

The following basic stats outline the innate combat strength of a starship:

• Hull: This is the overall health of your starship, and refers to the actual body of the ship itself. Once the shields have been drained from a certain area, any damage to that area results in damage to the hull. Most shields have a "Bleedthrough" percentage, which is the amount of damage from any enemy's weapons that cause damage to the hull instead of the shields.
• Fore/Rear/Right/Left Shields: These are the first line of defense for your starship. Shields are energy barriers placed around your ship to repel enemy fire and take the brunt of the damage initially. Once your shields are down around a certain area, any damage there will directly affect the Hull. Shields also have a "Bleedthrough" rating; if the Bleedthrough rate is 10%, then 100 Phaser Damage to your shields will result in 10 Phaser Damage directly to your Hull.
• Crit Chance: This is the chance that each shot you take has of critically damaging the target. The modifier for Crit Chance is [CrtH].
• Crit Severity: This is the amount of damage that a Crit shot does. If the Crit Chance is 5% and Crit Severity is 75%, then you have a 5% chance, with each shot, of doing 175% total damage to the enemy vessel. The modifier for Crit Severity is [CrtD]. It should be noted that this damage bonus applies at the same time as other bonuses, which may lead to you not seeing the full increase noted.
• Inertia: This is a number that determines how sluggish your ship is to respond, for example, while turning. The lower your Inertia rating, the slower your ship is while turning. Cruisers , for example, have low Inertia ratings, which make for low turn rates, and low maneuverability. Escorts on the other hand, have high Inertia ratings, making for high turn rates and maneuverability. Science Vessels typically fall somewhere in the middle.
• Resist: Your starship has a number of resistance types, which indicates how resistant it is to certain types of damage (e.g. Physical, Kinetic, Phaser, Tetryon).

The following stats were removed in 2015:

• Crew Complement: This is the maximum number of crewmembers (non-Bridge Officers) that can serve aboard your vessel. Your Crew count affects hull and subsystem repair rate, as well as the effectiveness of boarding parties, the engineering team and crew-based skills your captain may have. Certain types of damage will temporarily injure Crew. Your current Crew count is indicated by a row of white figures below your Shields/Hull UI (injured crew are yellow-orange, disabled crew are grey).
• Crew Recovery Rate: This is the number of Crew that will recover per second.
• Alive Crew: This is the number of Crew members that are currently alive.

An example starship loadout screen

Similar to Bridge Officer stations, different ships have varying room for special modifications that can be added to the ship to increase its effectiveness. Similar to slotted gems in other games, mods provide small passive bonuses that affect game play and can be interchanged at will.

The differentiation isn't just between the Escort/Cruiser/Science categories; each individual configuration offers disparate settings for players to choose between.

• Fore Weapons - These weapons fire from the front, usually within a certain arc width. For example, 45°-arc fore weapons fire in a 45-degree cone area in front of your ship. All Ship Weapons other than mines can be placed here. Turrets were originally excluded, but are now allowed to be placed in the fore weapons slots.
• Deflector - Ship Deflector Dishes can be inserted here.
• Secondary Deflector - Most Science vessels (those that have both Sensor Analysis and Subsystem Targeting) can install a Secondary Deflector ; other ship types do not have this slot.
• Shields - Ship Shields go here.
• Warp Core - a Warp Core (on Federation or Klingon Ships) or Singularity Core (on Warbirds) goes here.
• Impulse - Any one of a number of Impulse Engines can go here.
• Aft Weapons - These weapons fire from the aft, or rear, of your starship. Any weapon other than cannons and dual beam banks can be placed here.
• Experimental Weapons - Experimental Weapons are available to Tier 5-6 Raiders and those with a Tactical Commander seat, 7 weapons, and 1 or fewer Hangar Bays.
• Devices - Any Ship Devices can be inserted here. To use them, drag them to your shortcut bar while in space.
• Engineering Consoles - Engineering Consoles go here.
• Science Consoles - Science Consoles go here.
• Tactical Consoles - Tactical Consoles go here.
• Hangar Bay - Hangar pets go here.

Tier 5, Tier 6 and many Zen Store Tier 1-4 ships come with a unique Universal Console (which can be put in any console slot). These consoles can sometimes be used on any ship, or often only ships of the same type. Typically, consoles from similar ships have synergies granting bonuses when the player slots them together.

Bridge Officer Stations

Bridge officers assigned to stations

All starships have a number of bridge officer stations permitting each officer to use 1 to 4 of their abilities. The higher tier starships offer more seats with higher ranking abilities than lower tier starships. The starship has access to the space traits of any bridge officer who is slotted, regardless of how many slots they have.

Tier 1-5 starships have seats classified as Engineering, Science, Tactical and Universal; the latter being a seat that can sit an officer of any of the main three careers . Tier 6 starships have access to specializations : namely that some seats on each ship will be combined of one of the four main options listed above and a specialization such as Intelligence Officer and Miracle Worker. An Engineer/Intelligence Bridge Officer Seat can seat an Engineer, but if that officer has been trained in the Intelligence specialization then they may use Intelligence powers in place of some or all of their standard Engineering powers.

Subsystems for a starship are split into four sections: Weapons, Engines, Shields and Auxiliary. These subsystems share an overall basic amount of 200 subsystem power that all starships have, and increasing the power level of one subsystem will reduce it in another. Players are able to use presets to quickly reconfigure the ships power levels to focus on specific areas or balance power between more than one subsystem, even whilst in combat.

The highest a player can manually set any of their subsystems is 100. The lowest a player can set these systems is 15. The exception to this rule is running at Full Impulse which will lower all systems except engines to 5.

Starship Mastery

The Mastery progress bar for a Science Vessel

Each Tier 5-U or Tier 6 starship has its own "levels", called Mastery. Starship Mastery progresses as a character earns skill points while using a specific ship in combat (end-of-mission rewards do not apply). Levels 1 through 4 each unlock a passive bonus which is only active while flying that specific ship. The bonuses are specific for each ship type, e.g., Science Vessels , Warbirds , Birds-of-Prey . Tier 6 non-fleet ships also have a 5th mastery level which unlocks a Starship Trait . Different ships unlock different traits, of which 4 to 5 can be used at any one time by the player, regardless of the ship they are flying.

A Tier 4 Tactical Escort Refit

A ship's capabilities are largely defined by its tier, which determines the number of bridge officer stations, the rank of those stations, the number of console slots, and other factors. Except for Tier 6, that can be played from tutorial through to endgame, specific tiers are intended to be played at a particular rank and cease to become competitive beyond it.

A T5 Fleet Negh'Var Heavy Battle Cruiser , which can be upgraded to T5-U.

A Flambard Science Dreadnought Warbird (T6) from the Zen Store

The current highest tier in the game, Tier 6 ships are a moderate improvement over Tier 5 starships, featuring additional console slots, bridge officer abilities, and scaling hull strength. They also come with a unique ship costume, a unique Universal Console , and can be played from level 1 (with its capabilities scaling up as the player increases in rank).

Compared to a Tier 5-U version of the same hull, the Tier 6 version will have the same hull strength and other hull-related stats, and console slots, but one more bridge officer ability, one or more bridge officer specialization seatings, and a Starship Trait as its fifth Starship Mastery level. Like T5-U ships, T6 ships can be upgraded to T6-X with an [ Experimental Ship Upgrade Token ] , which grants them the same additional benefits.

Each faction has unique types of ships that favor different styles of gameplay. Generally, there is one type of ship for each type of career, but a player character can captain any type of vessel, regardless of their career choice. Below is a list of each type of ship, and their (endgame) capabilities, though there are a few ships that don't follow this template exactly. A ship's type also dictates its Starship Mastery package . Many ship designs come in different versions. While their outward appearance might be mostly identical, they may vary substantially in combat strength according to their Tier.

• Cruisers have a Commander Engineering Bridge Officer slot, access to Cruiser Commands , and are generally more durable and less maneuverable than other types of ship. Endgame Cruisers can equip eight weapons, most often evenly distributed between Fore and Aft.
• Escorts and Raptors have a Commander Tactical Bridge Officer slot, the ability to use Dual Cannons , and are generally more fragile but the most maneuverable vessels available to you. Endgame Escorts can equip seven weapons, more Fore than Aft, and can also equip an Experimental Weapon .
• Science Vessels have a Commander Science Bridge Officer slot, the ability to equip a Secondary Deflector , and access to Sensor Analysis and some built-in Subsystem Targeting abilities to help provide support. Endgame Science Vessels can equip six weapons, most often evenly distributed between Fore and Aft.
• Carriers are exclusively available at the endgame level, and have two hangar bays from which they may launch fighters, shuttles, runabouts or even frigates to combat their enemies. These large and slow vessels can come in Engineering, Tactical or Science Varieties, which determine their Commander Bridge Officer slot and weapon hardpoints.
• Dreadnoughts are also exclusively available at the endgame level, and have a hangar bay (or two). Like Carriers, they tend to be larger and slower and come in different varieties; see below for specific examples.
• Warbirds They equip Singularity Cores instead of matter-antimatter warp cores, and all have access to Singularity Core abilities . All warbirds may equip dual cannons.

While there are are many varieties of the above classes available at the endgame, there are also several variations on these basic ship classifications, some available more early on:

• Battle Cruisers , which lose the ability to Attract Fire and often a device slot in exchange for the ability to equip Dual Cannons.
• Dreadnought Cruisers , which have both a hangar bay and the ability to equip Dual Cannons, but again only two Cruiser Commands.
• Flight Deck Carriers , Cruiser-Carrier hybrids with two hangar bays, but only two Cruiser Commands.
• Heavy Dreadnought Cruisers , a variant of Dreadnought Cruisers with a second hangar bay, bringing them up to Carrier-tier capabilities.
• Frigate , an Engineering-focused variant of the Raider.
• Strike Wing Escorts and Flight Deck Raptors , which are enhanced with a hangar bay.
• Destroyers , which are more durable and gain an extra device slot in exchange for the loss of some maneuverability.
• Warships , a subset of Destroyers which exchange the Experimental Weapon slot for an eighth standard weapon.
• Juggernauts also have eight standard weapons, and are even more bulky and durable while sacrificing much maneuverability.
• Raiders , which exchange a weapon—bringing them down to six—for Raider Flanking , the ability to deal more damage to enemies along their rear shield facing. They also have mostly (or all) Universal Bridge Officer seating, allowing extreme flexibility. Raiders are maneuverable but fragile vessels that require experienced pilots to be effective.
• Multi-Mission Science Vessels , which are enhanced with a hangar bay.
• Science Dreadnoughts , larger vessels with a hangar bay comparable to Dreadnought Cruisers, but with a Science focus.
• Science Spearheads , which are effectively Science Dreadnoughts without the hangar bay.
• Scout Ships , a Science-focused variant of the Raider.
• Tactical Carrier Warbirds , which also have a hangar bay.
• Engineering Warbirds , also known as Warbird Battle Cruisers , have an Engineering commander bridge officer.
• A Heavy Dreadnought Warbird , the Valkis , has two hangar bays.
• Explorer Warbirds , which also have a hangar bay.
• Science Carrier Warbirds , which have two hangar bays.

Ships can be broadly categorized by their Commander seating, and how many hangar slots they have.

Detailed table

• Power bonuses vary considerably. For a given type of ship, every single member may have a different power configuration, such as with Warships and Multi-Mission Science Explorers. There are too many to enumerate here. See individual ship type pages and ship pages to compare them.

• Federation Raiders are known as "Light Escorts", such as the T6 Shran Light Pilot Escort and its fleet variant .

Anomalous bridge officer or console layouts:

• Some starships with a Commander Engineering bridge officer seat have 5 Tactical console slots despite this normally being restricted to starships with a Commander Tactical seat.
• Likewise, some starships with a Commander Tactical bridge officer seat have 5 Engineering console slots despite this normally being restricted to starships with a Commander Engineering seat. This includes the Jem'Hadar Dreadnought Carrier when upgraded to T5-U.
• The T6 Flambard Science Dreadnought Warbird and its T5 version have 5 Science console slots despite having a Commander Tactical bridge officer.
• The T6 Khlinae Tal Shiar Adapted Battlecruiser and Tholian Jorogumo Carrier have a Commander Universal seating, but the usual stats of their class, including their Starship Mastery package. The same is true of their now-retired T5 versions. The Tholian Carriers' Admiralty cards are Engineering rather than Science, also.
• Jem'Hadar Light Battlecruiser
• Kelvin Einstein Heavy Destroyer
• Kelvin D7 Heavy Destroyer
• La Sirena Heavy Raider
• Mirror Constitution Warship
• United Earth Defense Force Vessel

Exceptions and unique cases:

• Starfleet Tutorial Starships may equip dual cannons despite being Cruisers, though they lack the corresponding cruiser commands . This is likely to simplify the initial experience.
• The T1 Oberth -class Light Science Vessel does not possess the built-in Subsystem Targeting abilities possessed by other Science Vessels.
• Some T6 pure Science Vessels have the ability to equip dual cannons, which most others lack:
• The T6 Eclipse Intel Cruiser and its fleet variant are Battlecruisers , despite their names.
• The T6 Hur'q Vedcrid Hive Dreadnought Carrier has all the characteristics of a Dreadnought Carrier except its Commander bridge officer seat is Engineering instead of Tacical
• The T6 Sphere Builder Edoulg Science Vessel is a Multi-Mission Science Vessel rather than a standard Science Vessel.
• The T5 Fek'Ihri Kar'Fi Battle Carrier and Gok'tad Carrier have 7 weapon slots, one more than other Science Carriers.
• The T5 Patrol Escort Refit has a fourth rear weapon slot with a fused weapon in lieu of an Experimental Weapon slot.
• The T6 Science Star Cruiser , Gorkon Science Battlecruiser and Tal Shiar Khlinae Adapted Battlecruiser possess the Sensor Analysis ability innately despite not being Science Vessels, but have neither subsystem targeting nor a secondary deflector.
• Likewise, the T6 Ketha Recon Raptor and its Fleet variant are Raptors, but with the Starship Mastery package of a Destroyer.
• Likewise, the T5 and T6 variants of the Guramba Siege Destroyer gain a hangar bay and loses a device slot compared to other Destroyers.
• The Federation and Klingon Empire T6 Command Battlecruisers (eg. Concorde Command Battlecruiser ) have the cruiser commands, device slots, weapon layout and ability to equip dual cannons of Flight Deck Carriers , but only a single hangar bay and the Starship Mastery package of a Battlecruiser. Thus, they could be considered a separate hybrid "Flight Deck Battlecruiser" type.

Purchasing Starships

Starships can be purchased with a number of different currencies, and several ships can be obtained for free. Extra ship and Dry Dock slots can be bought in the Zen Store. A single character can have a maximum of 50 ships but many more dry dock slots are obtainable.

Free starships

The Kobali Samsar Cruiser was originally an event giveaway, and is now available via the Phoenix Prize Pack.

Characters are assigned a tier 1 ship to command after completing the tutorial mission. At levels 20, 30 and 40 (players gain one rank for every ten character levels) players receive a token for a free ship of successively increasing tier, up to Tier 5.

At Tier 5 and 6, further free ships can still be found during special events , such as the summer Lohlunat Festival and Q's Winter Wonderland . Some may also be part of special giveaways.

Dilithium and Zen

Additional ships cost Dilithium or Zen from the shipyard or Zen Store. Tier 5 and 6 ships become available from level 50. Tier 5 ships can sometimes be upgraded to Tier 5U. These special upgradable T5 ships can then be upgraded using an upgrade token purchased with Zen from the Zen Store.

Fleet Credits

Fleet ships require Fleet Credits and Fleet Ship Modules; these are available for cash from the Zen Store or for EC on the Exchange. Active subscribers who have received the 600 day Veteran Reward , including all lifetime subscribers, receive a 'VA Token' that allows them to purchase a single RA/BG or VA/LG ship for free.

Lock and Promotional Boxes

Lock Boxes , Promotion! - Research & Development Packs and Phoenix Prize Packs all contain a chance to win a free starship. However it is important to understand the low chances of success when buying these packs and keys with Zen or Dilithium.

The NX Escort Refit from the Lobi store

Many ships mentioned above which are no bind-on-pickup can be found on the Exchange for varying prices in Energy Credits.

Customization

Ship Customization Screen

They are highly customizable, both cosmetically and functionally. Visiting shipyards will allow players to change all aspects of their ships. Each ship tier includes multiple classes of ships. Players can choose different parts (saucer, hull, nacelles etc.) of each class making a custom model, or stick with a set design. Along with the model the player can also adjust the color, windows, decals, registry number and prefix, which gives the player a custom feel to his/her ship.

Each time a player acquires a new ship they are allowed to edit aspects of the ship once for free. Each subsequent change will cost Energy Credits, depending on the change made. This includes exterior appearance, bridge and corridors.

To make changes to their ship, players must visit a shipyard. There are multiple shipyards in-game and they are found at all the major hubs such as Qo'noS for the Klingon Defense Force and the Earth Spacedock for Starfleet . A common list of items that can be edited on a ship are:

For certain starships, if the character owns a different version of a similar starship then they can use parts of both when customizing a ship. For example, if the player owned the Scimitar Dreadnought Warbird (T5) and the Shamshir Operations Dreadnought Warbird (T6) , then they could use some or all of the parts from the Scimitar in customizing the look of the Shamshir.

Material Types

Materials were usually designated "Ship Name" or "Type <number>". In addition to a ship's default material options, other materials could become available when the player gets access to other, specific ships. For example, the Epoch -class Aeon material became available to the commanding officer of a Wells -class ship if they owned both vessels.

Visual Slots

Visuals from the Assimilated Borg Technology set while equipped

Certain starship equipment, such as shields or impulse engines, can alter the appearance of a starship. Aside from equipping them in the usual slots, they can also be put into visual slots to override any visuals from the standard equipment. Alternatively, the visuals of slotted equipment can be disabled from the right click menu of that equipment.

• Space combat
• Admiralty System

External links

• Fleffle's Sortable/Filterable T6 Ship List spreadsheet
• Season 6 Dev Blog #16
• r/sto: Borticus on calculating Level 65 ship Hull Capacity (June 02, 2018)
• https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Material_(hull)
• 1 Playable starship