Big things are stirring in the Alpha and Gamma quadrants in Star Trek Online with today’s announcement from Cryptic Studios that the Jem’Hadar are coming in June. In what will be the next expansion to STO, the Jem’Hadar are being added as a playable faction for users with “Victory is Life,” the fourth expansion to the game.
Aside from being able to start as a playable Jem’Hadar, current captains will find their level cap increased from 60 to 65.
The announced release date for the Victory is Life expansion will be June of this year.
The Jem’Hadar are a hardy race of reptilian warriors born from rapid-gestation tanks and trained rapidly to be fighters for the Dominion. They form the backbone of the Dominion’s tyrannical rule of the Gamma quadrant in the Star Trek universe and have only recently become less of a potential enemy to the species of the Alpha and Beta quadrants.
In another moment of huge pride for the franchise, Cryptic Studios also announced that 10 new voice actors from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine will be joining the cast in a galaxy-spanning story arc.
In the past, STO has added new playable factions carefully. The first two, of course, launched with the game in the Federation and Klingon Defense Force, although the KDF did not become a full-fledged faction until 2013 with the release of the Legacy of Romulus expansion, which also added Romulans as a playable faction in game.
After Romulans, the Federation received a hybrid-faction addition to their own captain’s ranks with the nostalgic taken-out-of-time Original Series captains with the Agents of Yesterday expansion in 2016.
The Romulan faction, although called a half-faction in that upon completing their personal story arc must choose to join the Federation or KDF, do have access to their own personal line of ships (in addition to their chosen main faction). It seems likely the Jem’Hadar faction will work very similar to this and assets already exist in the game for Jem’Hadar and Dominion ships.
To reflect their rapid growth and the infrastructure behind them, new Jem’Hadar captains will start at level 60 and have a variety of already completed reputations, specializations trees, duty officer tracks and R&D progress. This will make this new faction less of a chore for veteran players, but it could also make it extremely complex for new players who are just learning the ropes.
The Gamma Quadrant is the only part of the STO map that has not been added to the galaxy, although there are missions that take place there. With the release of Victory is Life, there will be a new sector map added – probably accessible via the wormhole near DS9.
Tweets from Cryptic Studios also suggest that this new sector map will be part of a battleground system that will involve the players in a sector-wide battle for the control of the Gamma Quadrant against an invading force.
At the end of the last episode released in Star Trek Online “Scylla and Charybdis,” named after the infamous Greek rock and a hard place, a multi-empire fleet of Federation, KDF and Romulan ships was brutally thrashed by an invading force and DS9 suffered terrible damage. A force of Dominion ships saved the day by emerging from the wormhole during the darkest hour under the command of Odo, a member of the shapeshifter race called the Founders who command the Jem’Hadar and the Dominion.
Odo’s actor, René Auberjonois, is cited as a voice actor coming on board with Cryptic Studios to be part of Victory is Life.
He is also the name behind a new secondary specialization being added to STO called “Constable,” named after the endearing term for Odo’s job on DS9. With this specialization slotted, captains will gain increasing buffs while targeting a single enemy that will increase their ability to take them down.
With this secondary specialization set, captains will gain access to a scaling passive that will increase armor penetration against a single target. Earning 15 abilities in this specialization will also unlock the starship trait “Arrest,” with this slotted bridge officer cooldowns are significantly reduced upon successfully defeating a target.
Abilities in this tree include a movement buff when facing a long-time target, weapons have a chance to remove buffs from that target, a heath regeneration debuff on target, increased damage resistance from other attackers and, of course, a bonus to all damage against the focused target.
This specialization’s bonuses and skill elements have not been fully detailed, but that’s the summary of what we know so far.
So far, Victory is Life looks like a dramatic new expansion for Star Trek Online, which brings in a new level cap, a new faction and a brand-new sector-based battleground system.
Cryptic Studios says that they have even more news about systems, reputations and other elements that will be announced as the June launch date approaches.
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