Monday 6 July 2020

STO round-up: Year of Klingon gets going, plus Discovery season 2 content

Star Trek Online's Year of Klingon has got into full swing with the first major story-content expansion, House Divided. Continue below for details of that, and other new updates to the video game:

House Divided picks up the story focused on the temporarily displaced Disco-Klingon J'ula, along with Aakar, Gowron's grandfather, voiced by Robert O’Reilly (Gowron himself). J.G. Hertzler has also returned as Martok. Here's how STO outline the story arc:
With the incursion of J’ula into the modern era, more and more Klingons are listening to her message of a return to “traditional” ways. What side will Martok choose?
Here's a trailer for the new content:



And here are some select images:





If you're not up to speed on goings on in the STO timeline, they've also released this handy "previously on..." catch-up video:



As previously announced, the Year of Klingon will feature a mix of new content like the new narrative arcs, and remastering of existing Klingon content in STO. That includes refreshed models of many of the classic Klingon ships. STO starship designer Thomas Marrone recently shared a closer look at and comparison with the older model of the refreshed D7 and K't'inga claa battle crusiers:




And the STO Twitter also took a moment to show off the updated Vor'cha class:


Meanwhile STO environment artist David Lopez has given us a look at his work on the revamped Klingon tutorial locations, on his ArtStation portfolio:




Here's a video of that location in action:



The tutorial along with early Klingon missions are among the first to get a revamp, but as the Year of Klingon progresses we can expect to see other older Klingon missions get an update too. An STO blog shows off some of the other upgrades, which include improved character designs too.


If you play through the new House Divided episodes, Task Force Operation, and Patrols, you can earn towards claiming a very shiny new prize in the game, the Red Angel Suit.


Here's how an STO blog describes what the suit does in-game:
When the wearer engages the suit, a number of things happen at once. First, a blast of energy knocks back, disables, and damages nearby enemies. Second, their appearance temporarily becomes that of the Red Angel. Third, they trade their normal weapon active abilities for a new set of abilities. Fourth, they receive large bonuses to speed, damage, and damage resistance.
Those new abilities include a temporal shockwave to damage nearby people, a EMP to knock out nearby tech, and built in hyposprays for healing. You can see the attacks available in these videos:









Also, if you die, the "actual" red angel will come back in time to revive you! As seen in this little video:




Meanwhile for more Discovery season two inspired content, you'll need to pick up one of the new The Angel's Wake Lock Boxes. These are packed full of Ba'ul goodies. The highlight of these is a new ship that you could obtain by getting a box, the Ba'ul Science Intel Spearhead



This ship has a pretty showing console included, the Sentry Mode. Here's how the STO blog introducing the ship describes it:
The Sentry Mode Universal Console calls in Ba’ul Sentry Vessels to assist you in combat. When activated, 10 Ba'ul Sentry Vessels warp in to assist you in combat, forming a ring around your position. While they remain, your and the networked Sentry Vessels will channel blasts of antiproton damage, amplifying them before sending them at nearby enemies.





Other Ba'ul things available include various Ba'ul weapons, which sometimes come with a Ba’ul Vanity Shield, so you can give other ships a Ba'ul asthetic.


The Ba'ul obelisk, which can be deployed en masse for dramatic effect:
The Obelisk can network together with others deployed by the Captain and even their allies; each captain can deploy up to three Obelisks, while up to fifteen Obelisks can contribute damage to the network. The network will only unleash one attack at a time, but the damage of the attack will be greater than a similar number of individual Obelisks. Captains are advised that very large networks will typically dramatically overkill weaker foes with a single shot, though some--especially those in the KDF--find they enjoy the spectacle.

See The Angel's Wake Lock Box blog for full details of everything available in the Lock Box.


To celebrate Cryptic 20th anniversary, there's also some stuff you can get for free! Including a whole bunch of platinum styled goodies: A vanity shield you can apply to your ships to make them extra shiny, a platinum Discovery-era sniper rifle, and a platinum tardigrade pet! See the Cryptic blog for details of how to claim them.



Finally for this round-up: Check out Hector Ortiz's concept art for the forthcoming Risian Science Ship. This will be a free ship available at this year's summer event!


For more Star Trek Online coverage, check back through my Online tag.



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