The setting for this ground-breaking update is, as the title suggests, based in the Delta Quadrant, the same section of space that just over 30 years ago, the starship Voyager traversed. Many new features have been announced so far, such as a few ships getting costume redesigns (most notably, the Intrepid class), the level cap being raised to level 60 (Fleet Admiral for the Federation and Romulan Republic, and Dahar Master for the Klingon Defence Force). With the level cap increase also comes a new line of ships – Tier 6 ‘intelligence’ vessels and Tier 5-U (an upgraded variant of current T5 ships to put them in line with the newly released T6 ships). However, new ships require new personnel to man them. To fit this task, a new breed of bridge officers have become available – ‘Intelligence Officers’, who can man new intelligence bridge stations.
To start with, one of the largest announcements is the reunion of Tim Russ, Garrett Wang, Robert Picardo, Jeri Ryan and Ethan Phillips for their roles as voice actors of their accompanying characters they played in the Star Trek: Voyager series (Tuvok, Harry Kim, The Doctor, Seven of Nine, and Neelix, respectively). These voice actors will guide you through the Delta Quadrant’s missions, dangers and undoubtedly new special task force events.
However, to have an expansion, there has to be a new area of space to expand into. Enter the Delta Quadrant, a sector of space vastly unexplored to the Federation, KDF and Romulan Republic. It is the mission of all three of these factions, uniting together as the ‘Delta Alliance’, to protect each other and their allies as they explore the Delta Quadrant. Currently, this expansion only includes the region Voyager explored after it crossed the Nekrit Expanse, however, in upcoming seasons, this may be expanded beyond.
Commanding a fleet into the Delta Quadrant isn’t a job for the ordinary gung-ho, newly promoted captain, mind you. For this reason, Starfleet has made sure to enlist a large suite of new fleet admirals (level 60), so that the command structure stays intact, and more opportunities are available to players. This includes new ‘specializations’, a new reputation tree, and the ability to purchase new Tier 6 ships.
Admirals and Generals who have proved their worth, not behind a desk pushing papers, but battling on the front line and aiding allies, et cetera, have worked hard to develop a starship for the people. This has come in the form of intelligence vessels – commissioned by request, the Starfleet Corp. of Engineers has developed three new vessels, the KDF Engineers have developed two, as have the Romulan Republic. These vessels are to be used on the front line, and have the most advanced technology yet – even to the point of adding a specialised console for a specialised bridge officer – the intelligence officer…
From hereforth, no crew will be complete without an intelligence bridge officer – an officer who has all the normal skills of a standard Starfleet officer (engineering, tactical or science), however, they also have new technologies and skills to assist the crews of the new Tier 6 ships, in the ways of their intelligence powers. These are used to severely cripple an enemy ship, make it vulnerable to a group attack, or reinforce their allies.
All of this only barely scratches the surface of what is to come in the next week and a half – stay tuned for Delta Rising - expansion two of the massively multiplayer online game, Star Trek Online!
For more information on the features mentioned above, please navigate to the other pages of this article.
WRITTEN BY CEHUS, TORINTH, & LEVON
EDITED BY TORINTH - STEPHEN.HALL@UFPLANETS.COM
[PAGE]PAGE 2 - RANK, SPECIALIZATIONS, AND REPUTATION[/PAGE]
Probably the most visible change with this update is the change in the level cap. With this change, Fleet Admirals and Dahar Masters will become even more powerful! Players will receive several unlocks as they level up. See the chart below for the list of unlocks.
| Level 51 | Gain a small pack of Duty Officers |
| Level 52 | Upgrade your Fleet Support ability from rank II to rank III |
| Level 54 | Upgrade your captain class ability Strike Team, Engineering Proficiency, or Scientific Aptitude from rank II to rank III |
| Level 55 | Gain a Bridge Officer Candidate |
| Level 57 | Upgrade your captain class ability Tactical Fleet, Engineering Fleet, or Science Fleet from rank II to rank III |
| Level 60 | Gain an additional Captain Trait slot Unlock Specialization System |
Once players reach level 60, they will stop receiving conventional Skill Points, and begin to collect Specialization Points. Players will still continue to ‘level up’. However, when they complete a level, they will recieve one point which can be dropped into a specialization tree. There are three trees as of right now that players can deposit points into including: Intelligence, Pilot and Commando. Pilot and Commando are considered secondary trees, thus you will only be able to have one of each active at a time.
The Intelligence Officer specialization will be the only primary tree available at launch. This tree will have many passive and triggerable abilities. A two big examples are: Starship Flanking and reduced cooldowns on Captain Abilities.
At launch of Delta Rising, there are two secondary trees available to players: Pilot, The space secondary tree, has access to exciting abilities including “Rock and Roll” which, as its name implies, takes your starship into a barrel roll. The Commando Tree is the ground tree which has abilities that would make any ‘ground-poinder’ weak at the knees. These abilities include reduced global cooldowns on all secondary abilities, and the Juggernaut ability, which allows players to literally plow through opponents by merely through them.
All three of these trees will give players some real access to game changing powers, and this is only the first peek at the system. Al Rivera has mentioned on Priority One that there are more trees en route.
The Delta Alliance Reputation has many players abuzz with excitement. The Gear and traits unlocked significantly expand the power players have access to. This reputation will be earned by completing one of three missions: Borg: Disconnected, an all-out slugfest against the Borg, Undine, and Voth, Bug Hunt, a Starship Troopers-esque invasion of a hostile insect colony, and The Battle of Korfez: where you and four other players defend Korfez against wave after wave of Vaaduar Warships!
In addition to the three missions, Cryptic Studios has designed another ground adventure zone, Kobali Prime. This truly massive map is unequivocally larger than the Dyson Ground Battlezone, giving players plenty of opportunities to get their hands dirty at repelling the Vaaduar invasion.
Please, allow me to state how beautiful this zone is. The buildings, flora, and terrain all are spectacular in their own way, to truly get an idea for its scale, there is no alternative to going there and getting your feet dirty.
[PAGE]PAGE 3 - STARSHIPS[/PAGE]
Another exciting feature with Delta Rising is the Upgrade system for all tier 5 ships. All ships will gain another console, hull strength that increases as you level, and several traits that you unlock as you dispatch more opponents in space combat. Al Rivera estimated that it will take fifteen hours of gameplay to max out any given starship. As listing all of the ship upgrades here would simply take up too much space, please see this document for a comprehensive list of stat changes with Starship upgrades.
Note: When purchasing Tier 5-U upgrades for Standard T5 ships and Fleet ships, you will receive an account unlock for that ship.
Unlocked at level 50, Tier 6 Starships are the first crack players will get at expanding their power. These starships will have 10 consoles, but each will have access to a unique Starship Trait, and another high level bridge officer ability. Additionally, all Tier 6 Starships have at least one Intelligence Bridge Officer seat. More on that later. All Tier 6 starships will also ‘level up’ with you, unlocking passives and hull increases as you progress in rank. Currently, there are no Fleet Tier 6 ships, but they have not ruled that out as a possibility.
Below is a chart of all current Tier 6 Starships at the launch of Delta Rising.
* Hover over orange text for more info.
| Guardian Cruiser | Dauntless Class | Mat'ha Raptor | Aelahl Battle Cruiser | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier | Tier 6 | Tier 6 | Tier 6 | Tier 6 |
| Faction | Federation | Federation | Klingon | Romulan |
| Rank | ||||
| Availability | ||||
| Hull Strength | 43,725-53,000 | 29,700-36,000 | 36,300-44,000 | 40,425-49,000 |
| Shield Modifier | 1 | 1.3 | .85 | 1 |
| Crew | 1,100 | 150 | 200 | 1000 |
| Weapons Layout | ||||
| Device Slots | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Bridge Officer Stations | ||||
| Console Layout | ||||
| Turn Rate | 6.5 Degrees per Second | 14 Degrees Per Second | 15 degrees per second | 10 Degrees Per Second |
| Inertia | 35 | 50 | 75 | 45 |
| Special Console | Particle Conversion Matrix | Particle Synthesizer | Heavy Disruptor Spinal Cannons | Destabilized Singularity Projector |
| Warp/Singularity Core | Warp | Warp | Warp | Singularity |
| Cruiser Package | Cruiser | None | None | None |
| Trait / Ability | Desperate Repairs | Radiant Nanite Cloud Secondary Deflector |
Overwhelming Force Cloaking Device |
Warp Shadow Decoy |
| Mastery Package | Cruiser | Science Vessel | Escort | Engineering Warbird |
| Power Modifier | +5 All | +10 Weapon and +10 Auxiliary Power | +15 Weapons | +10 to Weapon Power and +5 to Engine Power |
| Cannons | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Intelligence Starships are the biggest separation from the existing starship classes to date. All intelligence ships have some stealth component to them. Federation ships receive standard cloaks, KDF get Battle Cloaks, and Romulans get Enhanced Battle Cloaks. Additionally, they are invisible to targets at a range of fifteen kilometers, like Hirogen Ships, making them ideal ‘hit and run’ vessels, of which all can use dual heavy cannons. At the launch of Delta Rising, the Federation has access to the Scryer Science Intelligence ship, Phantom Intelligence Escort, and Eclipse Intelligence Cruiser. The Klingons have access to the Qib Intelligence Cruiser, and the Romulans have access to the Fahet Intelligence Warbird. Stats for all of these ships can be found in the table below.
| Phantom Intel Escort | Eclipse Intel Cruiser | Scryer Intel Science Vessel | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier | Tier 6 | Tier 6 | Tier 6 |
| Faction | Federation | Federation | Federation |
| Rank | |||
| Availability | |||
| Hull Strength | 31,350-38000 | 40,425-49,000 | 29,700-36,000 |
| Shield Modifier | .9 | 1 | 1.25 |
| Crew | 150 | 350 | 200 |
| Weapons Layout | |||
| Device Slots | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Bridge Officer Stations | |||
| Console Layout | |||
| Turn Rate | 17 Degrees per Second | 10 Degrees per Second | 14 Degrees per Second |
| Inertia | 75 | 55 | 55 |
| Special Console | Heavy Phaser Lance | Structural Integrity Field Siphon | Sensor Probe Swarm |
| Warp/Singularity Core | Warp | Warp | Warp |
| Cruiser Package | None | Cruiser | None |
| Trait / Ability | Reciprocity / Cloak / Gather Intelligence | Battle Ready / Cloak / Gather Intelligence | Emitter Synergy / Cloak / Gather Intelligence |
| Mastery Package | Escort | Cruiser | Science Ship |
| Power Modifier | +10 Power to Weapons and +10 Power to Engines | +10 Power to Weapons and +10 Power to Engines | +10 Power to Weapons and +10 Power to Auxiliary |
| Cannons | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Faeht Intel Warbird | Qib Intel Battlecruiser | |
|---|---|---|
| Tier | Tier 6 | Tier 6 |
| Faction | Romulan | Klingon |
| Rank | ||
| Availability | ||
| Hull Strength | 29,400-35,000 | 41,250-50,000 |
| Shield Modifier | .9 | 1 |
| Crew | 100 | 700 |
| Weapons Layout | ||
| Device Slots | 2 | 3 |
| Bridge Officer Stations | ||
| Console Layout | ||
| Turn Rate | 19 Degrees per Second | 11 Degrees per Second |
| Inertia | 75 | 55 |
| Special Console | Heavy Plasma Lance | Weapon Systems Siphon |
| Warp/Singularity Core | Singularity | Warp |
| Cruiser Package | None | Battle Cruiser |
| Trait / Ability | Tactical Retreat / Enhanced Battle Cloak / Gather Intelligence / Singularity Abilities | / Battle Cloak / Gather Intelligence |
| Mastery Package | Tactical Warbird | Cruiser (Battle Cruiser) |
| Power Modifier | +10 Power to Weapons and +5 Power to Engines | +10 Power to Weapons and +10 Power to Engines |
| Cannons | Yes | Yes |
[PAGE]PAGE 4 - INTELLIGENCE BRIDGE OFFICERS[/PAGE]
With this new expansion comes a new type of Bridge Officer, the Intelligence Officer. Intel Officers are simple bridge officers who have specialized into Intelligence, allowing them to use both their base abilities (Tac/Sci/Eng) in addition to mixing it up and using Intelligence abilities, however Intelligence officers can only be slotted into ships which have a slot for them.
Below is a list of abilities that the Intelligence Bridge Officers posses.
Feign Disintegration
Convince the enemy of your untimely demise by simulating the effects of a being vaporized by incoming fire, similar to the technique employed by Section 31 operative Luther Sloan (DS9 7x16). Masked by this ruse, you will gain an impenetrable short-duration Stealth, increased speed, and an Ambush bonus.
Frictionless Particle Grenade
Lob an explosive that will cover the area in an extremely slippery substance. Enemies hit by the substance will have their damage resistance debuffed, and any foes entering the area have a periodic chance to be knocked prone.
Harmless
The targeted foe is no longer able to target you for a decent duration. While in effect, the user also generates no threat toward the foe (if an NPC).
Incite Chaos
By scrambling the target’s neurological inputs, you can force them to fire upon their allies. Any allies they strike will subsequently become confused, thus spreading the chaos.
Neurolytic Hypo Injection
This volatile chemical compound must be injected from melee range, and will completely incapacitate any foe for a short duration. When they emerge from their stupor they will remain confused for some time after. These effects are enhanced if applied from a Flanking position.
Photonic Decoy
Spawn a duplicate in a flanking position near your foe. Nearby NPCs will be taunted into attacking this new target.
Resonant Tachyon Stream
A tachyon carrier beam allows the shield capacity of the targeted enemy to be stolen and applied to your own defenses.
Site-to-Site Ensnare
Fire a long-distance tagger that will then initiate a site-to-site transport, bringing your foe to your location. Because of the sudden unexpected transport, they will be disoriented for a very short duration, but damaging them may break this effect.
Sonic Suppression FieldYou are able to muffle the sounds generated by your actions, causing you to appear less threatening to nearby combatants to the point that they may ignore you entirely. While active, you will also deal additional damage to enemies you are Flanking.
Subspace Anesthizine Mine
Deploy a stealth mine near your current location, nearly imperceptible to foes. If triggered, it will release a cloud of anesthizine gas, slowing and reducing the damage output of any nearby foes. Those unfortunate enough to be caught in the cloud also have a chance of being thrown into a coughing fit, unable to act or move.
Tripwire DroneA small drone is deployed toward the targeted foe’s location, whipping out with energy tendrils in all directions as it moves. These have a chance to trip and ensnare any foes they encounter. Upon reaching its destination, or maximum distance, the drone will explode and deal additional kinetic damage.
The majority of these abilities can also be attained for personal use via the Intelligence Specialization and Delta Alliance Reputation once you reach level 60.
Electromagnetic Pulse Probe
This slow-moving probe will travel toward your target’s current location. The probe emits a debilitating field as it moves, periodically disabling any foes it comes in contact with. Upon reaching its destination, it will explode in a shockwave of electromagnetic energy, damaging and disabling nearby foes.
Energy Weapons : Surgical Strikes
Activating this ability will cause your beam and cannon weapons to fire more accurately for the duration of the buff, benefit from increased Accuracy and Critical Hit Chance. However, they will also fire more slowly while this is in effect.
Evade Target Lock
The victim of this ability will have their accuracy drastically reduced against the user. Additionally, the ship that uses this ability will be seen as an invalid target for all nearby mines and targetable torpedoes.
Intelligence Team
Intelligence Team grants the target (or yourself) a short duration Cloak, while simultaneously reducing the amount of threat the target generates against all nearby enemies. It will also remove the "Expose Vulnerability" debuffs that can be inflicted by enemy Intelligence starships.
Ionic Turbulence
Create a hazardous cloud at the targeted location. Foes caught in this hazard will have their damage resistance reduced, as well as their movement capabilities. Additionally, lingering in the cloud has a chance to cause affected ships to briefly spin out of control.
Kinetic Magnet
Resonate the enemy’s hull, causing them to take greater damage from all kinetic sources. This resonance will also draw in all nearby mines and targetable torpedoes, regardless of their allegiance.
Override Subsystem Safeties
Temporarily increase the maximum power thresholds on all subsystems. The bonuses gained by this ability fade quickly over the duration. Once the effect ends, a random subsystem will be shut down for a short duration. Higher ranks of this ability will reduce the offline time.
Subnucleonic Carrier Wave
This ability is capable of removing beneficial effects from nearby foes and playing havoc with their ability cooldowns. The effects of this power are far weaker than those of Subnucleonic Beam, but it is capable of affecting up to 5 nearby foes simultaneously.
Torpedo : Transport Warhead
Upgrade your next torpedo attack, and beam a warhead directly to the command decks of your targeted foe. After a short fuse timer, the explosion will occur, completely bypassing shields and granting a small chance for a random subsystem to go offline.
Viral Impulse Burst
Multiple nearby foes will receive a speed increase, but their turn rate and throttle controls will be disabled. The culmination of these effects is that foes will end up "running away" from the user, giving them an opportunity to regroup.
Subspace Beacon
Place a beacon at your current location. As long as you remain within a limited distance of this beacon, you may trigger the ability a second time to instantly jump to its location. Activating a jump, or moving more than the maximum distance away, will cause the beacon to expire. Although the beacon is destructible, it has a high stealth value.
[PAGE]PAGE 5 - LOCKBOX[/PAGE]
As with any other major release, 6 PM UFP marked the launch of the Delta Expedition Lockbox, which contains several new toys, including a Benthan Cruiser, Hazari Destroyer and a Kazon raider, which is taking the place of the now tiresome Mirror Ships.
Also included in this box: Corrosive Plasma Weapons, a suite of new traits for both ground and space, R&D packs and the standard bonus pools.
This lockbox's grand prize is the Benthan Cruiser. This ship may look unique, but its stats are anything but. As a tier 6 starship, it has one more bridge officer slot than its Tier 5-U Cruiser brethren. Aside from that, its higher turn rate is somewhat wasted in the fact that it cannot use cannons. The Qib, Eclipse and Aelahl can do everything the benthan can do with regards to bridge officer seating, and all of these cruisers have cloaking devices - unlike the Benthan Cruiser.
This ship's special console is somewhat similar to Feedback Pulse in nature, with additional effects.
“Polaric Chromoelectric Modulator: Usage of this device allows redirection of incoming energy damage into the massive reservoirs throughout their ship hulls, which can lessen the harm such attacks deal to their shields. This energy can also then be emitted toward an enemy starship, disabling their systems and overloading their EPS conduits to cause hull ruptures throughout the ship. Most criminals surrender after feeling the bite of this weapon. The few that don't tend not to live long enough to make any other bad decisions.”
Those who are looking for a unique looking ship, but are not concerned about stats or cost might find this ship interesting. States can be found below.
Unlike the completely average Bentham Cruiser, the Hazari Destroyer looks like it could be potentially be a lot of fun! The Hazari Destroyer combines an aggressive appearance with a wonderfully rounded weapons, bridge officer and console layout. Its console may not be all that special, but the Starship trait sounds rather awesome.
“After achieving level 5 in your Hazari Destroyer, you will unlock the Partners in Arms starship trait. This special trait can be used on any starship that you own. While the Partners in Arms starship trait is active your ally targeted heals and buffs now provide you with a boost to all damage for a short time. This buff stacks up to 3 times.”
Those who are looking for a well-rounded destroyer, the Hazari Destroyer will be an excellent choice.
At last, replacing the age-old mirror mirror ship tedium, along comes the Kazon Raider. Raiders are squishy by nature, and the Kazon Raider is no exception. This ship will provide a person looking to escape their faction’s ship selection at a very low cost, as these will be dropping relatively often in boxes. This will be the cheapest ship in-game that has a unique bridge.
Bottom line, if you are looking to fly a ship and just have a bit of fun, pretending to have coral and pumice in your hair, this is the ship.
The Kazon Raider does not contain a special console or trait.
Below are the stats for all of the Delta Expedition lockbox ships.
| Kazon Raider | Hazari Destroyer | Benthan Cruiser | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier | Tier 5/Tier 5-U | Tier 6 | Tier 6 |
| Faction | All | All | All |
| Rank | |||
| Availability | Delta Lockbox | Lobi Store | Delta Lockbox |
| Hull Strength | 27,000 (31,050-36,000) |
31,500-42,000 (Depending on Level) | 37,000-50,000 (Depending on Level |
| Shield Modifier | .8 | 1.15 | 1.25 |
| Crew | 80 | 400 | 850 |
| Weapons Layout | |||
| Device Slots | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Bridge Officer Stations | |||
| Console Layout | |||
| Turn Rate | 19 Degrees Per Second | 15 Degrees Per Second | 10.5 Degrees per Second |
| Inertia | .2 | 60 | .15 |
| Special Console | None | Console – Universal – Hazari Shield Drone | Console – Universal – Polaric Chromoelectric Modulator |
| Warp/Singularity Core | Warp | Warp | Warp |
| Cruiser Package | None | None | Standard Cruiser |
| Trait / Ability | None / Flanking | Partners in Arms | Load Viral Torpedo |
| Mastery Package | Raider | Destroyer | Cruiser |
| Power Modifier | +15 Weapons Power | +15 Weapons Power | +10 Weapon Power, +5 Shield Power and +5 Engine Power |
| Cannons | Yes | Yes | No |
