A brand new interview with Cryptic's Craig Zinkievich has been posted on 1UP.com.  Along with the interview they've revealed three new screenshots from the game.

1UP: The dissolution of the peace treaty between the Federation and the Klingons opens up a number of interesting plot points for players, but can also place the game in a convenient "let's create tension and combat-oriented gameplay" situation for an MMO. Has there always been the plan to have this in place for the game, or was this a decision that was made later on in the creation process?

CZ: You're right -- it is both interesting and convenient! At the end of Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Nemesis, the Alpha and Beta quadrants have become a rather peaceful and happy place, which was great for the way those stories ended. In STO, we're opening a new chapter.

It's true that we wanted to add some more conflict and action to the story, but if you look at the history of the Trek Universe, these conflicts tend to be cyclical. When the Federation is in a good place with one or more of its rival powers, another will step in to fill the void as the main aggressor. And there have been multiple periods of peace and war in the Klingon-Federation relationship. They are two very different groups and it's not always possible for them to be in harmony.

That being said, there's nothing to say that the Federation and Klingons will never cooperate to face a greater threat. We expect the relationship between them to shift and change as the story advances.

1UP: Additionally, why the decision to go with the "Horde or Alliance" dynamic (Federation versus Klingon), and not offer other types of races to play as such as the Dominion, the Borg, the Founders, etc.?

CZ: We don't want to spread the initial player base out too far -- space is big, but we don't want it to feel empty! With one major conflict in the beginning, it gives players a focus, and helps direct PvP and competitive PvE. But there have already been a lot of requests to play Romulans, Borg, Dominion, etc., so that's something we're going to be looking at post-launch. Also, sticking to one major conflict at first gives us a chance to make the two factions distinctive. Klingon gameplay and advancement will be significantly different from the Federation. (source 1UP.com)

Read the full article here.

View the Screenshots here.