[AlexRider]

Hello, fellow Captains!

As you all know the new event campaign "Battle at the Binary Stars" is about to begin today after the weekly maintenance. We're looking forward to this and we're all going to have a ball.

However, there's more going on. From March 5th to March 9th an R&D as well as a Junior Officer Event will take place. So grab your scanners, grab a cadet and catch some blue particles - if you can.

We’re pleased to announce the return of the Research and Development Weekend! This event will run from Thursday, March 5th at 8AM PT to Monday, March 9th at 10AM PST, and features several bonuses throughout STO that will give Captains of all levels a leg up advancing their rank in the Research and Development school(s) of their choice.

For those Captains looking specifically for extra help with their projects, all R&D packs throughout the game will give out an extra 25% of the items they currently disperse for the duration of this event. Queue R&D Material Reward Packages (Normal, Advanced and Elite) will reward 25% more R&D Materials and have a chance to reward a Catalyst.

Alternatively, Captains wanting to advance through Research and Development schools as fast as possible should seek out Harvest Nodes, located in mission maps throughout STO, which will not only disperse 2 extra R&D Materials each time they are used, but will also reward 10 Dilithium Ore and have a chance to give out a R&D Catalyst during this event.

For all Captains that work on a Research and Development project during this weekend event, those projects will reward an extra 50% of the appropriate Research and Development School XP. This includes projects to make components as well as those to make items.

From Thursday, March 5th at 8AM PT to Monday, March 9th at 10AM PST, we are running a special weekend event where you can earn Bonus Commendation XP by completing any Duty Officer assignments!

To those junior officers who work tirelessly in cramped Jefferies Tubes, perish namelessly on away missions, or provide the endless streams of reports and analysis necessary for a starship to function – this event is dedicated to you!

During this event, you’ll gain a 50% increase in all Commendation XP earned by completion of Duty Officer assignments. You don’t need to do anything special for this bonus – it’s automatic.

Receive a FREE* special Purple quality duty officer with a unique active roster power by speaking with your duty officer contact. For Starfleet officers and Romulan allies, this is an engineering Exocomp duty officer; for KDF officers and Romulan allies, it is a Reman duty officer.

*This is not available if you already claimed it the last time we ran the event.

Duty officer packs** opened during the event will each have a FREE additional Green quality or better duty officer inside. This only applies to C-Store purchased packs, not to those awarded during rank-up, from recruitment assignments or mini-packs. Also, it applies only to packs opened during the event, even if they are purchased prior to the event.

**The packs included in this offer are: Delta Alliance Duty Officer Pack, Gamma Quadrant Duty Officer Cadre, Reinforcements Duty Officer Pack, Fleet Support Duty Officer Pack, Romulan Survivor Duty Officer Pack, Fleet Support Duty Officer Pack, Klingon Empire Duty Officer Pack and Federation Duty Officer Pack.

The Academy particle scanning events are now part of the Junior Officer Appreciation Event! Visit Starfleet Academy or Klingon Academy during the event and speak to Professor Meyer or Commander B’Tama. Pick a cadet to train, then engage in scanning particles all about the academy grounds. As you scan and capture particles you’ll help to train the cadet, and in exchange your faction will release a new random Duty Officer to you. The more particles you scan, the better the quality of the officer you can claim!

Scan a minimum of 5 traces to be rewarded a Common Duty Officer
Scan a minimum of 25 traces to be rewarded a Uncommon Duty Officer
Scan a minimum of 50 traces to be rewarded a Rare Duty Officer
Scan a minimum of 75 traces to be rewarded a Very Rare Duty Officer

Remember, additional reserve roster duty officer slots (in increments of 25 and 100) are available from the in-game C-Store, for up to a maximum of 500 reserve roster spaces.

Have fun, and try not to send too many duty officers to Sickbay!

Have fun!