The year was 1995. It had been two years since a Star Trek series starring a former Benson regular debuted on television. It was also the first time in almost thirty years that a Star Trek series showed up on a network TV lineup, launching the new United Paramount Network on January 16th.
To refresh your memory, it was competing in the Monday at 8 pm timeslot with Coach, The Nanny, Melrose Place, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. For those of you under 30, shows used to air at specific times during the week. Maybe you could tape them to watch later, but half the time that didn’t work.
And now I feel like Gilbert Gottfried doing his old Groucho Marx impression.
Like TNG, and DS9 before it, it got off to a bit of a rocky start. The Kazon are still the most annoying Trek villains to me of the franchise, and Ceska just never worked for me. But they later found their footing, established their characters, and got people to not hate Neelix as much as they did at the start. For me, it never reached the pinnacle that DS9 reached, but the last few seasons were strong.
So here we are, 28+ years later, and now Voyager has come to Star Trek Fleet Command. And we’ve got the Delta Quadrant, the EMH, and B’Elanna Torres in the game, for starters. We’ve got a new building, and a whole new Armada system (that builds on a whole old Armada system.)
Maybe it’s just because I’m crazy tired from work and running around after my kids this month, but I’m kinda looking forward to exploring the Delta Quadrant. It’s always fun to explore.
More is coming. Probably a ship. Janeway and Tuvox, and a Seven of Nine article that will top the Carol Marcus article for the number of clicks that exactly related to game-strategy. Somehow we’re going to get Neelix in the game, though I can’t even begin to imagine how he’s going to work.
And you know there’s a Tuvix reference coming in the game.
And without comment, I’ll leave this here. If you know, you know.
New Building – The Artifact Gallery
So another arc set, and another new building. To be fair, the last few (the Armory, Mess Hall, and Command Center) have all been really useful, without costing any gas, ore, or crystal, so they’ve all been wins.
This new one, the artifact hall that you’ll be able to construct starting at level 26 will allow you to collect and upgrade artifacts. (Yes, upgrading an artifact seems like an odd concept to me, sort of like finding a chariot from ancient Egypt and upgrading it with a cd-player. But that’s as may be.)
The building itself, (located on the far left of your base) gives you nice bonuses to your hull health and shield health. It also gives you a bonus to your “Artifact Tokens.”
You’ll unlock the building and your first artifact from the Artifact Gallery Intro Missions. And the good news is that you can get these missions for free. Yes, there will be options to spend money on this feature in the near future.
The artifacts will give you various permanent buffs. Think of these like researches, or like Bajoran Favors. The word on the street is that these buffs will make a noticeable difference.
In order to unlock these artifact buffs, you’ll need to collect artifact shards, which you’ll create from artifact tokens. There will be two types of artifact tokens: standard and premium.
You’ll get tokens by defeating formation armadas. And speaking of those…
Formation Armadas
After adding solo armadas, and then Borg solo armadas, now we go the other way. Formation armadas.
These will involve the simultaneous destruction of three connected armadas. Each of the sub-armadas (that look like Species 8472 bioships) can have up to four players, for 12 players in total. Now you will get an armada chest for defeating one node of the Formation Armada, but you’ll won’t get any artifact materials unless you defeat all three.
Probably the most groundbreaking thing is that you’ll be able to complete these armadas with players from other alliances. Each node can only have players from one alliance, but other alliances could complete the other two nodes.
Like the Artifact Gallery, you’ll need to be ops level 26 or above to participate in these. It’s also not dependent on your Armada Control Center. The lowest available Formation Armadas will be level 30, but level 26 players should be able to defeat these (and reach them) if they work together. In total, there will be six different levels of uncommon Formation Armadas to start with.
You’ll launch these with new Formation Armada Directives, and you’ll get some of these for free each day through daily goals.
Each node will need to be launched with its own directives. So Armada A, Armada B, and Armada C will all need to be launched. They’ll operate on 15-minute synchronized timers, so the timer will start when the first armada is launched. The second and third timers will then sync up to the first.
You cannot start a formation armada if one of the nodes is damaged or missing. You’ll have to wait for them to respawn, and this time frame should be shorter than deep-space armadas, but longer than solos. But that’s as precise as I’ve been told. They are supposed to be a bit harder than normal FKR Armadas.
The last thing you’ll probably be asking yourself is “Where does a body find these newfangled Formation Armadas?”
Fair question.
Since it’s the Voyager Arc, you’ll find them in the Delta Quadrant, of course.
Delta Quadrant Space
Sorry Dean Wormer, but there is delta here.
About the Delta Quadrant. The vast section of space that was the setting for Star Trek Voyager is also the setting for the game this month.
There are two points of entry for the Delta Quadrant. One will be at the bottom of your screen after you restart your game (after updating your client in the app store.) This one is called the Border of the Alpha Quadrant and is accessible for players level 26+.
The second will be found in the top of your screen, above Federation Space and is for players level 34+. This one is called the “Depths of the Delta Quadrant.” Now you’re searching for the USS Voyager as it continues its journey home. (Not it’s Voyage Home, that’s got whales.)
The Delta Quadrant will contain new systems, in addition to “lost hostiles” pulled there by the caretaker. You’ll also come across Hirogen Hunters, who’ll have inflated loot and power, and should be harder to kill than other ships of their level.
It’s also where you’ll find “planetary missions.”
Two New Officers. One of them is Holographic. The other is not.
And with a Voyager Arc, we’ve got the first two Voyager officers, B’Elannah Torres, and the Doctor. Both of them have below-deck abilities, (so no Emergency Command Hologram here.)
He’s an epic science officer, whose officer ability will increase your armor, shield deflection and dodge for two rounds every time your ship takes damage from a non-armada hostile. His below-deck ability increases the resources gained from hostiles.
She’s a rare engineering officer, whose officer ability is also hostile-based. When you take damage, she the opposite of the Doctor, increasing your offensive stats (armor piercing, shield piercing and accuracy), though only for one round each time.
Her below-deck ability is also something new. She can trigger a hull breach on hostiles for one round, so you can pair her with your hull-breach crews. Not quite sure how big an impact this will really make yet, but it’s different. It’s the first below-deck ability to trigger hull-breach, burning or morale. Granted it’s only for hostiles, but it’s noteworthy.
Missions
There are lots of missions this month, focusing on the Voyager Storyline. You’ll have 10 core missions for players 34+, 10 “Planetary” side missions, and the three Artifact Gallery Side Missions.
And this month, SNW Part 1 missions come to the Holodeck.
Miscellany
Other things to look out for this month
- Species 8472’s Energy beam. Always looked cool on Voyager, and gives you a 20% piercing buff against all armadas. It’s currently only available for purchase.
- There are also three new prime nodes, prime ex-borg credit efficiency, defiant cost efficiency, and prime interceptor wrecking. The last of the three will give you a 300% damage buff when fighting other player’s interceptors.
- For those of you into avatars, we’ve got the Doctor, B’Elanna, a Hirogen Hunder Ship, Delta Flyer, and Species 8472 Ship. The new frames are Species 8472, Warp Core, and Artifact Hall.
- New hailing frequencies are an old-time pocket watch and a choosy Doctor.
Are You Looking for a Part-Time Job?
This was the view from my office yesterday.
So my main gig is helping charities raise more money with their golf tournaments, and we’re looking for on-course representatives to run games. I get to help charities, network with golfers, represent an eco-friendly product and get paid to do it. And we are hiring. If you’re interested in learning more, click here.