The Last Outpost

Source: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/352/feature/9843/Star-Trek-Online-New-Armada-System-to-Benefit-Large-Small-Fleets.html

Star Trek Online players have been enjoying the Iconian War story arc for a while now, a storyline that has been building for the past five years. Cryptic Studios will be bringing that particular tale to a close in the near(ish) future, though epic stories from all of the iconic television series are waiting in the wings. In fact, there is content over content that is coming throughout the balance of this year and even things that will be revealed in the coming months that will not seem to play a big part until later in 2016.

In between major stories, generally introduced through expansions such as Delta Rising last fall, Cryptic puts out mid-season updates that have been becoming larger and larger over the years. Half-season updates tend to be more on focused on system updates, but occasionally a big feature wends its way into one that gives players something wickedly awesome to both look forward to and to experience once the update goes live. Be sure that Season 10.5 will give players lots to explore.

STO's Lead Designer Al Rivera took some time out of his busy schedule to talk with MMORPG about what's next in the mid-season update for players.


The Armada System

For the Season 10.5 update, Cryptic will be adding the Armada System – a huge enhancement to the Fleet System.

For those who don't know, the Fleet System is essentially the STO version of guilds and can be anywhere from 5-500 players. Fleets get a number of neat perks, including a starbase and a number of additional holdings – an embassy, a dilithium mine – and projects that everyone in the fleet contributes to. In addition, players can gain access to Fleet Starships, some of the most powerful ships in the game.

All this is great, but over time, Cryptic noticed that Fleets had a significant shortcoming: Getting the balance right between larger and smaller groups. Small fleets are frustrated by the inability to complete projects while large fleets complete them so fast that players don't have time to contribute and don't earn credits to purchase special items from fleet vendors.

"We wanted to address this with the Armada system. Fleets can join together. Fleets can pledge fealty to one above them. Each can have three below them, each of those can have three, up to thirteen fleets total." Al explained. "There are no size requirements whatsoever to form an Armada. It encourages larger fleets to be alphas, smaller on the bottom for the best bonuses, but that is not a requirement, neither is a "full" Armada of thirteen required."


When asked if Armadas could be formed of thirteen tiny Fleets and then reorganized from time to time to place groups in different tiers, Al said that, while the team had considered such a notion in the planning stages, it was not something included in the upcoming 10.5 update.

There are a number of reasons why the combining of Fleets into an Armada is a boon to both ends of the population spectrum:

1. A larger community
2. Larger fleets can contribute to their beta or gamma fleets
3. All get bonuses – skill point bonus and dilithium discounts are based on the combined level of all fleets in the Armada and where each sits within the hierarchy. Gammas get the largest dilithium discount as they need it the most. Conversely, they get a smaller skillpoint bonus. Alphas earn smaller dilithium discounts, but get a greater skillpoint bonus. Mid-tier betas get a balance of both.

Armadas Aren't All That's Coming

Fleets will also have some other great things coming with 10.5 including a new Fleet holding, the Krenim Holding. Krenim offers a new space based research outpost to earn a lot of new rewards and comes just in time for the Armada system.


Additionally, Fleet leaders will be able to export to a spreadsheet all kinds of member data including ranks and promotions, contributions, time in game and so on.


10.5 will come with a new episode and feature Aron Eisenberg. He appeared in this new episode. His story continues in the next featured episode. We release one every 4-5 weeks and every time it's released, there are special rewards during that time and there are special rewards too.

"There will be additional episodes that will come out over time, more celebrities that we've recorded the VO for already. Some characters from the past will make a reappearance. There will be some surprises, some favorites who will make a return."

"And let's not forget that there will be things happening now that will extend beyond the Iconian War and all the way in to 2016. We are tying content in to the actual shows themselves. Our stories are always something from one of the series. We're always anchored in advancing stories that audiences may not have gotten the full story when watching."

All of this will be heading to the Tribble test server soon so be sure to keep an eye out on the Star Trek Online site for how you can get involved with helping test out the new Armada System!

Fleet leaders have been asking for improvements to Star Trek Online's Fleet system. We've listened, and the new Armada system that will go live in a future update is intended to help larger Fleets organize as well as giving an option for smaller Fleets who want to band together and help one another out. Here's how it works:

Fleets will soon be able join together to form vast Armadas to share resources and speed up the construction of Fleet Holdings. Armadas are composed of a top level Fleet, called the Alpha Fleet, which can invite up to three other Fleets to become subordinate Beta Fleets. These Beta Fleets can additionally each invite up to three other Fleets to become their subordinate Gamma Fleets, allowing for a maximum Armada size of thirteen Fleets.

All Fleets in an Armada share a new Armada chat channel, and can contribute resources to the Fleet Projects of any other Fleet in the Armada. Fleets will be able to control which projects other Fleets are allowed to donate to, and will be able to control both what resources their Fleet members can donate to other Fleets and what resources other Fleets can donate to them.


All Fleets in an Armada will receive bonuses that increase based on the total Fleet level of all Fleets in the Armada. These bonuses may include Dilithium discounts for Fleet projects or bonus Skill Points. These rewards will also vary based on a Fleet's position in the Armada, with Alpha Fleets receiving a higher Skill Point bonus than Beta and Gamma Fleets, and Gamma Fleets receiving a higher Dilithium discount than Alpha and Beta Fleets.

However, the Alpha Fleet of an Armada does not have complete control over all of the Fleets in its Armada. The Alpha Fleet can only invite or kick the Beta Fleets directly under it. Beta Fleets in turn are the only Fleets that can invite or kick the three Gamma Fleets under them. Additionally, if a Beta Fleet leaves or is kicked out of an Armada, the Beta Fleet will take all of its Gamma Fleets with them, and will become the Alpha Fleet of a newly-formed Armada, with its Gamma Fleets becoming Beta Fleets.

While any Fleet can leave an Armada at any time, joining an Armada is a big commitment. Any Fleet that joins an Armada will not be able to participate in any of the bonuses or Armada contributions until a probationary period has passed. During this probationary period, any leader of the Fleet above it can kick them out of the Armada with no waiting period necessary. Or, if during the probationary period any one of your Fleet leaders decides the Armada is not the right environment for your Fleet, they can leave the Armada, once again with no waiting period.


The waiting period for leaving/kicking only applies for Fleets with multiple Fleet leaders. During this waiting period, the Fleet cannot participate in any of the bonuses or Armada contributions. The waiting period can be bypassed if all Fleet leaders agree to the leave or kick action. Alternatively, if any of the Fleet leaders disagrees with the kick or leave vote, they can undo the kick or leave any time before the waiting period is up. Hopefully this will help reduce instances of abuse in case a Fleet leader decides to take action without the consent of the other Fleet leaders.

Management Improvements

Additionally, we've added a few new features that should make managing a Fleet a little bit easier. In the Fleet Roster window, the Status Column now has two new options: Join Date and Rank Changed Date. This will make it easier to see how long someone has been in the Fleet, and when they were last promoted or demoted. There is also a new slash command, /ExportGuildMemberList, that can be used to generate an Excel CSV file with all of the current information about the Fleet and its members. We hope that features like these prove useful to Fleet Leaders and Officers alike, especially those that are managing larger Fleets.

Daniel "FlyingTarg" Razza
Lead Programmer
Star Trek Online: https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/9436793

Yeah this is gonna be awesome. I am so glad We did not merge or drop our own TLO Starbase. It all works out for the better with hope and Us believing in one another.

This is really great news, I look forward to following it in more detail! Looks like it's time to dust off the diplomacy forums  :lol: