“The Laurentian system is one of the Federations’ primary sources for quadratanium. Hundreds of people have settled at the Laurentian Colony because of the quadratanium industry. Laurentian Outpost is here to defend those settlers and the quadratanium processing facilities. Unfortunately, we’re close enough to the border of Klingonspace to be an attractive target.” – Admiral Grigori Yanishev
Some of the most intense moments in the Star Trek Universe, be it the original series, The Next Generation, Voyager, or Deep Space 9, are born of confrontation between spaceships. Every now and then we are treated to mass battles such as the one that took place in the beginning of the movie Star Trek: First Contact – The enemy stands ready for attack, lives hang in the balance and it is doubtful that even the massed fleet can save the day.
And where, we ask you, would Star Trek Online be without the possibility of experiencing this same moment of crisis?
Joining the fleet
Admiral Grigori Yanishev hailed our ship and told us of a battle about to take place in the Pi Canis Sector. Being the neophyte commander that we are (after all we ARE a junior grade officer commanding a star ship) he informed us of two ways to get in on the action: ask him or travel to a system where the fleet action is occurring. Having received our mission we gave orders to our helmsman to set course for the Pi Canis Sector. We had no sooner entered the sector when we came upon three Klingon Vor’chas class ships. Even though we were in an escort class ship we heard the words of the immortal bard ringing in our ears: “once more into the breach dear friends!”
We entered the battle and soon found ourselves amidst a fleet of 20 Federation ships. Our communications officer notified us of an incoming call from Star Fleet. “On screen” I ordered. The stern visage of Admiral Yanishev filled the ships screen. It seems the Klingons had sent a scouting party to the Laurentian System and we were ordered to send them back where they came from – the hard way.
“Scouting party?” I asked the Admiral over our subspace transmitter, “There must be at least sixty Birds-of-Prey, and Raptor class ships out there!”
“And we want you to give them each a chance to experience Stovokor first hand Lieutenant Commander!”
“But sir, that’s three to one odds!”
“And so?” responded the admiral from our view screen.
“Well,” I said to my superior officer hesitantly, “That hardly seems fair…they should have brought more Klingons.”
“That’s the spirit Lieutenant Commander”
With that the voice of the Admiral, who sat in his office hundreds of light years away from harm sent the 20 of us into battle.
The Task at hand
We had no sooner managed to defeat 60 of the birds of prey when our communications officer informed us of yet another message from Star Fleet. “On screen,” I ordered. It was the admiral again; telling us that what he thought was just a scouting party wasn’t what he thought. It seems the Klingons where better prepared than we thought – they had cruisers with them. And with a smile (or was a knowing wry grin) the admiral bid us defeat the cruisers. Our tactical bridge officers tells me that 36 cruisers were destroyed that day, along with a goodly number of birds-of-prey that came with them.
The bridge of the ship shook as the last cruiser vanished off our port side in a blinding flash of light accompanied by a minor shock wave. At least we thought it was the last cruiser.
“Um Captain…” came a hesitant voice of the communications officer behind me.
“Let me guess,” I said, “It’s the admiral.”
“On screen?”
“On screen” I grunted.
At this point I was wondering where the admiral was getting his intel. What he initially thought was merely a scouting party was in fact an invasion force that had managed to set up phaser turrets on nearby asteroids to clear the path for the battleships that entered the system hot on the heels of the Klingon cruiser class ships. And so the battle raged on. The asteroid fields were soon littered with quantum and photon mines. Phaser cannons blazed across the space, answered in turn by Klingon disruptor cannons. At the conclusion of the battle the total was 60 birds-of-prey, 36 cruisers, 15 turrets, and 12 battleships.
Congratulations were had all around and I was about to order the helmsman to lay in a course for Deep Space 9 and Quarks Bar when the communications console beeped again. I considered blasting it with a nearby phaser but instead I simply said, “On screen.”
A Quang Class Cruiser
“Have I or my crew done something to offend you?” I immediately barked at the view screen.
“I have another mission for you because I have confidence in you Lieutenant Commander. The I.K.S. Kaarg has been seen entering the system. We want you to destroy it.”
“The Kaarg?” I asked the Admiral.
“Yes”
“The Qang class heavy cruiser 479.40 meters long, 22 decks, a crew of 2,725 capable of warp 9.82. The same Kaarg that has 12 disruptor banks, 102 photon torpedoes, and 36 quantum torpedoes? You mean THAT I.K.S. Kaarg?”
“Yes” replied the admiral sternly.
“I won’t do it.”
“Yes, you will Lieutenant Commander.”
“You know, I said, it’s no wonder you are short on command grade officers to command your star ships. I’ll tell you what. I will do it if you make it worth my while.”
“What!” came the incredulous voice from the view screen, “What are you a Ferengi?”
Ignoring the admiral I continued, “…and speaking of Ferengi, not only do I want hazard pay for my crew and myself, I want a personal bonus in the way of equipment and while you are at it throw in a week at Quark’s bar at Deep Space 9”
There was a long pause at the other end.
“Done.”
As you may have surmised by now, if you were keeping track all this time, the fleet consists of 20 players and their star ships. The task is to destroy the following:
60 birds-of-prey and raptors
36 cruisers
15 turrets
12 battleships
And the I.K.S. Kaarg and her escorts
This last task takes quite a bit of doing as the Kaarg is accompanied by three Vor’chas class ships you saw at the outset. And the Kaarg is one tough nut to crack. No single ship can do it – in fact it takes most of the 20 federation ships to defeat it. Rewards come in the way of skill points for yourself, bridge officer skill points for your crew and star fleet merits which can be used for services back at Star Fleet or major star bases. There are other rewards to be had that are awarded based on your participation.
Next time – Fleet Feet.
See you online,
The No Prisoners, No Mercy Team
I joined a friend (and umpteen other randoms) in the middle of that fleet action this evening, him in his cruiser, me in my nimble little escort. Alpha-striked (stricken?) many times, I was.
Great fun!
I tend to get my escort ship blown out of space a bit as well. It’s hard to “unaggro” once you have it. But it’s alot of fun and for the first time in a long time I am really enjoying the pugs.
I had loads of fun surviving the aggro while the other ships get picked off. Sometimes I make it until the fleet arrives other times I don’t. But it’s definitely blood pumping PVE ship combat which I didn’t expect after EVE. Even those each kill takes much longer than EVE, it’s more strategic and exciting. With EVE you won or lost before you arrived at the encounter based on how you’d spec’d for the mission.
The only one who likes “one shotting” in any given scenario is the person who is victorious. Overall it makes for some VERY BORING GAMING and will drive away players in the long run. It seems that the good folks at Cryptic have put some thought into this and made the battles go on for awhile on purpose. Through closed and open beta I aloways found the ships to be evenly matched with few exceptions.