[Federation News Service]

Hi! Samuel “Swallrus” Wall here - the new Art Lead for STO! I wanted to give you a sneak peek of what the ship team has been working tirelessly to give you. They outdid themselves with the command ships and have made each faction ship have unique interchangeable parts with its counterpart command ships. When obtaining 2 different ships of the same faction, the player will have the ability to interchange pieces between those 2 ships. Throughout the blog, you'll get to see a preview of some of the great customization options you'll have with your ships.


Introduction


We’re very excited to announce the brand new Tier 6 Command Battlecruisers that will be released soon. With the release of our anniversary update we added the awesome new Command Captain Specialization tree and Command Bridge Officers. These new starships will allow you to truly take advantage of these new Bridge Officer abilities.

Availability


Command Battlecruisers will be made available in the C-Store very soon. These starships have three variants per faction and are available in three ways:


Individually (3000 ZEN each)
Faction Bundles of all three variants at a discount (6000 ZEN each)
A Super Bundle that includes all three variants for all three factions at a huge discount (12000 ZEN)



Please Note: Captains who purchase single ships will be unable to purchase bundles containing that ship.





Command Battlecruiser Features


This new type of Tier 6 ship has several features that make them stand out, most notably is the presence of their Inspiration mechanic and Commander Engineering/Command hybrid specialist bridge officer seat. Below is a bullet point list of features for these starships:


All Factions

Inspiration Mechanic
Commander Engineering/Command Bridge Officer Seat
Can Equip Dual Cannons
1x Hangar Bay
All new Starship Traits
Special deployable Platform consoles


Klingons and Starfleet

Cruiser Command Array

Command – Attract Fire
Command – Shield Frequency Modulation




Romulans

Singularity Warp Core

40 Base Power for All Sub-Systems
Plasma Shockwave
Quantum Absorption
Warp Shadows
Singularity Jump
Singularity Overcharge









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Download Gif Of All Variations!




Inspiration Mechanic


Command ships are impressive vessels designed to inspire those around them. When the Command ship or its team mates activate any Bridge Officer ability, all Command Ships on the team will receive a small amount of the Inspiration resource. Command Bridge Officer abilities generate additional Inspiration. Once a Command ship's Inspiration meter is full, they can use one of three powerful abilities that can turn the tide of battle.


Inspiration


This resource is built when anybody on your team activates a bridge officer ability. Command Bridge Officer abilities generate more Inspiration. To account for fewer players activating bridge officer abilities when on smaller teams or playing solo, you gain a bonus to Inspiration generation in these circumstances. That said, you will generally be able to generate Inspiration more quickly in a full team.


Inspiration Abilities


When your Inspiration meter is full, you will be able to use one of these three powerful abilities:



Against All Odds

Team Damage Buff and Weapon Power Cost Reduction

While active, you and your team mates will gain a substantial bonus to damage as well as a massive reduction in weapon power cost. Activating this ability requires a full bar of Inspiration. Multiple stacks of this ability will extend the duration instead of stacking the potency of the effect.

Battle Preparation

Team Bridge Officer Ability Recharge

When activated, all of your team's Bridge Officer abilities will receive a massive reduction in remaining recharge time. This will cause most abilities to immediately fully recharge or very nearly fully recharge. Activating this ability requires a full bar of Inspiration, has a longer recharge time than other Inspiration abilities, and once affected by this ability, you can neither use nor be affected by this ability for a period of time.

Turn the Tide

Team Resistance and Hull Regen Buff

While active, you and your team mates will regenerate hull hit points very quickly and have their damage resistances increased substantially. Activating this ability requires a full bar of Inspiration. Multiple stacks of this ability will extend the duration instead of stacking the potency of the effect.




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Download Gif Of All Variations!






Command Specialist Bridge Officer Seats


All of these ships also include a Commander Engineering/Command hybrid specialist bridge officer seat as well as a second Lieutenant rank Command hybrid specialist bridge officer seat. The primary profession for this seat varies per Command Battlecruiser variant.


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Download Gif Of All Variations!




Keep your eyes peeled for a follow up blog for these awesome new ships that will reveal their stats, console abilities and starship traits!

In an upcoming blog the ship team, the concept artist and I will go into more detail about the command ship design process.

Phil “Gorngonzolla” Zeleski
Lead Systems Designer
Star Trek Online

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[vonLuden]

'Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or fill up our inspiration meters with our English dead.'

Interesting that in the future, inspiration will be a measurable and usable technology.