OK OK OK – it’s been awhile I admit. I’m not going to ramble on about my excuses for being so long, so I will just jump right into it!

Not a lot really happened with Star Trek Online between my last (first) post at Subspace Communique and last week.

We had a “Featured Episode Re-Run” – which was the players opportunity to grab a special reward that was offered during the episodes’ initial run and the C-Store was stocked with Oberth class ships and Section 31 uniforms … fun yes, but not something that warranted an article unto themselves.

(Intro from Captain Pyke -- Subspace Communique would like to give a warm welcome to blogger & columnist Terilynn Shull and introduce you to a new article series focused solely on Star Trek Online called "STO: Uplink". This new series will be written from a player perspective and cover the latest news and happenings in the STO universe. Be sure to leave comments below welcoming Terilynn to the site. We're sure glad she's here.)

Cryptic studios recently added more player purchasable items to the Star Trek Online C-store. New items include Multi-Vector Advanced Escort (i.e. USS Prometheus form Voyager), a new federation costume pack that gives you an open jacket option (like Picard's captain's variant uniform from TNG), new melee weapons, and finally Vulcan science vessels and support craft. We're especially excited about the melee weapons pack because it includes the Vulcan Lirpa from the TOS episode "Amok Time". Ya know, dah dah daaah daaah daaah daah dah dah dah.... anyway, you get the idea. Now we can only hope that appropriate music plays when wielding the lirpa. Oh, and, that our character's shirt gets slashed at the midriff. Check out the new C-store updates below.

Federation Multi-Vector Advanced Escort
(1200 Atari Tokens)

Have you ever wanted to visit Jupiter Station? Or maybe Utopia Planetia Shipyards? I know that we have and if you're a Star Trek Online player, this could be a distinct possibility in the near future. Executive producer Dan Stahl answers questions about this plus playable Hirogen, more pets (like Porthos), and a visit from V'ger in this month's round of "Ask Cryptic". When asked, "Is there a chance to see something like V'ger from The Motion Picture?" Dan answered, "Someday, oh yes. There is a reason my forum avatar is V’ger." Not only V'ger, but also that whale lovin' probe from Star Trek IV. Pretty awesome!

We've gathered a sampling of questions below, but you can check out the full Q&A session here on StarTrekOnline.com

Fractal_Eye - Q: When will we get Porthos pets?

A brand new series of Star Trek Online Feature Episodes is in full swing, this time centering around the Romulan Star Empire. The new series called "Cloaked Intentions" started February 5th with episode 1: The Vault, were the crew find themselves in a tight situation when they are ordered to investigate an energy surge on an abandoned Romulan starbase. Next up for February 12th is episode 2: Mine Enemy, where the crew investigate claims of illegal weapon use on Hfihar only to uncover evidence of greater atrocities.

Unfamiliar with STO feature episodes? They are weekly released gameplay story arcs that are available on Saturdays at 11am Pacific and are indefinitely playable for any character of any level in either faction. In addition to the standard mission rewards players will receive at the end of each episode, there is a special reward available for completing a Series during its initial release schedule.

Cryptic's award winning Star Trek Online turned one yesterday and celebrates by awarding players with a special sale and some new items in the game's C-Store. From now until February 4th at 10am PST, (act quickly folks...that's tomorrow morning) players can take 20% off all of the store's listed prices on select items. Also included in the new C-Store update are the addition of a brand new Delta Flyer (from Voyager fame) and timed skill point boosts. These point boosts provide the player with a 20 percent increase in the amount of skill points and bridge officer skill points gained during play for your choice of 1 or 8 hours. Check out the full details below.

In this month's "Ask Cryptic", Star Trek Online Executive Producer Dan Stahl gives a few hints to new species' ships including Andorian & Vulcan, plus improved crafting and much more. It seems that open PVP areas may be in STO's future and, for you Voyager fans, a player controllable Delta Flier may be here "sooner than you think." Those of you still waiting for the poker mini-game though, sadly, will be waiting a while. It appears that dev resources have been shifted away from the mini-games and put towards duty rosters / fleet action system. Also be sure to log on Feb 2nd for the 1 year anniversary of STO. Apparently Cryptic is planning something special at either Earth Space Dock or Qo'nos. No word on which yet, but be sure to check the STO forums for more info. Check out an excerpt from this month's question & answer series.

Q:deeboboy: In the up coming weekly series are you going to continue stories from the earlier missions in the game or are you going to continue down the same lines as the current episdes by adding new stories?

Cryptic Studios Star Trek Online was the proud recipient of 5 "Best of 2010" awards from Joystiq's Massively MMO blog. Not only did it dominate the category, but STO beat other popular newcomers like Lego Universe & Final Fantasy XIV. 2010 has been a wild ride for Cryptic and STO, starting with the launch in January, an executive producer change, and multiple massive update releases including Season 1 through 3.

According to Massively, Star Trek Online walked away with 47.6% of the vote on this one, while nothing else really came close. In fact, the next-highest vote count belongs to None of the Above (shown as All Other Responses in the graph), meaning the 11,820 people who voted in this one weren't really impressed with anything else in 2010.

In all, Star Trek Online won Best Launch of 2010, Best PvP in a 2010 MMO, Best Capacity for Roleplaying in a 2010 MMO, Biggest Surprise Hit of 2010, and Overall Best New MMO of 2010. Congratulations to the Guys & Gals at Cryptic. We're looking forward to what 2011 has to offer us in the Star Trek Online Universe.

It appears that Cryptic Studios has the holiday spirit. From now until January 3rd, you can take 20% off all of your purchases in the Star Trek Online C-store. This actually could come in pretty handy considering Cryptic has been steadily adding ship & costume updates over the past several months. The most recent editions include the first playable Nausicaan ship for the Klingon faction, plus the federation uniforms from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". (*Update* it appears that these two items are excluded from the holiday sale... LAME) We're kinda fond of the "Motion Picture" duds, since that film was our first experience in the Star Trek universe. It seems some Trek fans claim that the motion picture was "too beige", but we found it extremely fitting for the late 70s / early 80s. Anyway, check out more C-store details below.  

Oh, and apparently, the Nausicaan ship has lots of Guramba....